Clarity Track Tear Down
- Alice Headlam
- Nov 7, 2018
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 28, 2018
This track was one of the songs that The Jang sent me as a reference for vocal mixing mostly as well as some of the guitar sounds. The main reason this song is relevant to their mixing is the very distinct and interesting vocal layering.
This song was released this year and has been a huge influence in the indie rock scene I think due to their exposure on triple J as something a little bit different to the typical soft indie rock. The band is a duo that write their music and have been producing most of their music up till their big break this year. The lead singer and guitarist Dave Novak and drummer John Henry have been inspired by many huge Australian artists such as Jimmy Barnes and write all their music together. Their producer is Rosa Gollan and they are signed to Universal Music Australia. Their music captures the Australian new wave Rock vibe and this could also be a factor to their success. A great example of this is their ‘Like A Version’ they did this year of Flumes ‘Never Be Like You’. They rearranged the number one song of 2016 into a rock duo ballad and it was extremely well received. This vocal performance although doesn’t reflect that same style as Clarity gives me a better idea of what the lead singer of the Jang is aspiring to sound like and I know i'll need to use a condenser microphone to capture the rawness of his voice.
Other elements in this song other than the voice are guitar and drums only. There is layering of course but Polish Club perform as a duo and from what I can find on the internet and what I can hear there is only guitar and drums in the recording also.
Structure: The song is in 4/4 and has a BPM of 115. The key is in D from what i can hear and when I got my guitar out and tired to play the chords they were G, Em, E and D through the verse but I couldn’t decipher the difference in the chorus but I think it is similar if not the same. It follows a rocks song structure with an intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, guitar solo, chorus, outro form (ABC). There is also a classic rock and roll riff played through the verse that is based around the relative minor scale (B minor).
The drums: The drums follow a steady 4/4 beat throughout the song until the bridge where they completely drop out. There is a kick on the 1st and 3rd beats of each bar through the intro and verse, then in the course its drives to being on each beat. Through the bridge the drums are taken out for four bars then come back in playing a heavier beat. The song has a constant rock beat through the verse but the snare and hats are slightly swug and come in just before the kick rather than on the beat. In the chorus the beat reverts to a straight beat with the kick and snare driving the beat. In the second part of the second chorus the obvious addition of hi hats comes in they have a lot of reverb and sounds like they have a high pass filter on them as they are very jangly. In the bridge the drums begin and that same speed as the verse playing a driving tom and snare on the 2 and 4 beats then plays the same beat but double time. The addition of a double kick drum happened in the last bar of the bridge also. This is effective as it builds up the pace before the last chorus when the drums go back to the original kick and snare straight rock beat. This effect of push the time of the song to where it feels like it could slip out of time is something I want to explore myself a little bit more when adding to my own songs. The production of the drums is hard to hear is some spots as I think they have been put quite far back in the mix. There is some compression on the snare as it sounds muffled but sharp there is a slight reverb on the snare through the whole song and you can really hear the second half of the sound rather than the initial hit. The kick is mostly quiet and muffled though the song apart from in the bridge when the double kick comes in it is much louder and punchier.
Guitars: the guitar processing in this song is so huge not having bass guitar in a rock song is crazy. But the effects and layering makes up for it. The main riff is droning and has a lot of fuzz and reverb on it to make it sound fuller. This plays through the intro and verse and is panned to the right. This riff has a lot of overdrive and bassier tones a possible low pass filter was used to get this effect as well as a layered track with a long reverb on it to create a clashing effect. The riff follows the chords and plays a four note phrase over two bars. There is definitely a phase over this layered riff that created a swelling wall of sound. The second guitar part is a muffled clean tone that plays a ‘chuck-a-chucka’ palm muted chord pattern on the top three stings. This is panned to the left more than the right to balance the track through the verse. In the chorus the guitar playing the riff keeps the same tone and plays the chords that the riff follows by strumming the at the beginning of each bar. The guitar playing the cleaner reverb tone plays the same rhythm but with the full chords rather than the muted bottom three strings. The guitars sound pretty raw and the only effects I can here in the mix would be the distortion, phaser and reverb it's hard the hear for EQ’s through the rest of the song as the layer create this wall of sound that rock music is renowned for.
Vocals (main): Okay to the elements of Clarity regarding the vocal part is the types of Reverb, layering, compression and mix as well as the structure of the song and how the voice is driven through the use of frequeency range. It takes both processing and a talented performer to create an effective vocal mix in a song.
The overall feel for the vocal is almost thin sounding there is little high end and no low end at all. Its boosted around 450k - 8000k to take out the highs and lows. This is probably the most effective of the production elements as it creates a certain sound that is distinctive.
As far as reverb goes though this song the vocal is quiet dry when is comes to the main vox part in the verse sits around 500k from what I can observe using a multi-band compressor and spectrum analyser in Logic. The signal is mostly dry with a short reverb at the end of each vocal phrase. The compression is tight around the 500k mark and when the vocals dip into a lower or high register the compression expands allowing the rawness of the vocal come out. The pharyngeal sounds that the vocalist uses in this verse part is quiet attenuate through the use of eq without taking away from the rest of the vocal tone. This could have even been automated so that when this part comes in an EQ boosts only in these areas of the vocal phrase.
The vocals in the chorus reach a slightly higher frequency as the vocalist uses his falsetto voice which is airy but you can't hear the breathy of it as it is very clear. This means there would have been a compressor and an EQ automated in these parts to take out the plosive and breathiness of the voice. This is something I need to research using Lynda when I got to mix The Jang as I know that their vocalist uses his falsetto voice in some parts of the song but if I'm using this as a track to reference the vocals I'll need to learn how to exaggerate the crispy frequencies. The clear parts of the vocal line in the chorus are even cleaner than in the verse but the use of layering makes them appear more sparse.
Backing Vocals: The backing vocal through this song are very different from the main ones. There is a number of layering that occurs which creates a chorus effect. There is a lot of saturation when its comes to delay and reverb. It adds to the wall of sound vibe that the artists intend to create. In the bridge there is a number of different vocal layers one that is prominent in the mix where the vocalist is using his chest voice and two other conflicting layers that are set further back in the mix. They are conflicting because all three parts are singing different melodies but the main vocal is almost yelling and the range in harmonies in this section are very minimal for the main vocal unlike the rest of the song.
Over all this track gives me a distinct direction that the bad wants to take when it comes to the vocal processing of this track. There are a few main points I can take away from this track tear down that will definitely help me when recording and mixing as well as adding time-based effects such as reverb, delay and modulation to The Jang's EP.
Bibliography
Dwyer, M. (2018). The sweet sound of roaring success. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/the-sweet-sound-of-screaming-20170323-gv4ufl.html
Polish Club. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/polish-club/9210702
Yours and Owls - POLISH CLUB ANNOUNCE SHOWS AT UOW UNIBAR & ANU CANBERRA, PLAYING MAY 25 + 26. (2018). Retrieved from http://yoursandowls.com.au/polish-club-announce-shows-at-unibar-anu-canberra-playing-may-25-26/
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