I don’t understand why dudes can’t just let Adele LIVE, you know? If it’s not Noel Gallagher taking swipes at Adele over and over, it’s this guy, in the photo above. This guy is Tony Visconti, an American music producer responsible for some of David Bowie’s biggest hits. While his work with Bowie definitely makes him an iconic record producer, that doesn’t mean that I have to like what he says about Adele. You see, Visconti is joining a new reality show, Guitar Star, to find the next great rock star. And he just had to take a swipe at Adele.
Tony Visconti, the man behind Bowie’s greatest works, is disillusioned with today’s stars, so he’s joined TV talent show Guitar Star. And the Brooklyn muso, 72, says it will find more authentic musicians than Adele.
Visconti told me: “You turn the radio on and it’s fluff, you are listening to 90% computerised voices. We know Adele has a great voice but it’s even questionable if that is actually her voice or how much has been manipulated. We don’t know. There’s a sound to pop now that is so perfect it’s boring, because everything is fixed.”
Guitar Star aims to unearth old fashioned, raw ability. He said: “I’m looking for virtuosos like Hendrix, Cobain and Bowie. There’s no fluffy back story, there’s no: ‘I lost my pet dog in 97 and that made me want to play’ nonsense. No-one can mistake me for Simon Cowell. Today is the worst time ever in the music industry, but Guitar Star is a step in the right direction.”
Visconti co-produced Bowie’s final album Blackstar and there is more material coming.
I don’t see how another musical competition reality show is going to improve the music industry? Because those musical competition shows are awful and they’re everywhere, to the point where I wonder if the youngsters of America spend too much time wanting to be pop stars rather than wanting to be America’s Next Great Mathematician, or America’s Next Great Engineer. As for his particular shade of Adele for having a voice that is “questionable” and/or “manipulated”… the easy answer is just listen to her sing live. THAT’S HER REAL VOICE. She actually sounds that soulful in real life. But really, Visconti sounds like a guy who will discount any female vocalist just because.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Is he deaf? Adele’s voice isn’t perfect, not the recorded version and certainly not live.
She has a good voice but it is flawed at times. The only singer who had a flawless voice in her prime was Mariah, maybe Whitney.
The perfection is boring .It is the flaws who make an interesting and beautiful voice
@Dont I enjoy some of Adele’s music and I did say she has a good voice. I was commenting on the producer stating her voice is too perfect and therefore is manipulated. I don’t think her voice is perfect at all. I have no issues with her flaws, just his comment.
I think Celine Dion should be on that list with Mariah and Whitney.
Whitney had a fantastic voice.
I like when Adele sings low but her yodeling is not my thing.
I LOVED Whitney but, she often had a flawed voice when live. Stunning and powerful but, flawed.
Me too. When she… or any singer for that matter start shrieking it hurts my head. I really don’t know why they have to ruin every song like that nowadays.
This guy is a sound legend because he understands it as a science. His work at Hansa Studios has been ground breaking in the recording industry.
This wasn’t a dig at Adele. He was saying they are using technology now to over correct music that doesn’t need it. That most songs on the radio use the same kind of heavy handed production, even when it doesn’t need tweaking.
I read it that way too, I think he just awkwardly phrased it that he thinks that music now is over produced.
Yeah that was my take too. He wasn’t insulting Adele or questioning her talent; he was commenting on how over produced everything is.
That’s how I read it. We all know Adele can sing, when she’s not screaming but it wasn’t a dig at her.
Spot on, Tiffany.
+1
Yes I read it as even a voice as good as Adeles is now manipulated because that’s the current style. No dig. And he’s right.
That was my take.
Irrespective of Adele’s voice live, i always think she’s overproduced when i hear her on the radio or videos.
Adele is not my cup of tea therefore i don’t go out of my way to search for her performances.
I, briefly, fell in love with her when she sang at the Brit awards afew years ago, and that is the sound missing in the recorded output on the radio which is what he is talking about.
Generally speaking, i prefer live versions of most musicians and popstars. Even the auto-tuned ones like Britney. However, it’s difficult to discover anyone new or be surprised by anyone’s offerings via radio because everything is over-produced and auto-tuned.
Due to work, i’ve become increasingly sensitive to sound which means i can hear the different parts of the mix and often the reedy voice underneath, the poor singing technique are all distractions.
Yes, that’s how I read it, too.
But does he or anybody really think he can find the next Hendrix or Cobain via a TV show? I can’t see how “Guitar Star” will make anything better.
I’ve always gravitated to rock musicians because in the main they tend to play their own instruments or at the very least know how to play instruments and their voices tend to be secondary to the instrument playing. Exception Poison.
When it comes to singing, blues and Jazz singers ( and opera singers) because the voice sans auto-tuning is key.
I’m guessing this show is geared towards musicians who can play and sing as opposed to the poseurs who rely on auto-tune and cleverly marketed videos who turn out to be terrible performers when it comes to live performances.
Thank you!
I see nothing wrong with what he said. No swipes detected.
I’m jumping on this wagon, I don’t think he was swiping at Adele, either, but I do find it interesting he used male singers as examples of the natural greats and pulled out a female singer as an example of an over-produced great. For that, he gets my side-eye. 😒
I agree he wasn’t trying to take a swipe, he was merely saying that all POP voices are manipulated recorded and even live. It is how it is. It’s a choice to keep takes that have more “flaws” in them but as a producer and writer, I can assure you even those “raw” takes are tweaked and tuned in the mixing process. We have become accustomed to hearing voices that are almost perfect if you heard how some of those vocalist really sound without any reverb without any manipulation it would be different No recorded voice ( unless it’s pre 2000 record) is natural on any record. It isn’t the industry standard.
Please DO NOT MISCONSTRUE Tony’s remarks!
Tony Visconti tells it like it is, and does so with exceptionally informed perspective. He’s intending to raise the bar for popular music production, to bring the production quality back up. There is a gimmick to the sound of pop music production of this century—and that sound is basically crap.
He says “Adele has a great voice”. His comment is in CONTEXT of how much of what we end up hearing is actually compromised due to the production being so manipulative of the voice. That applies to the recorded version of voices as well as the “live” versions. People are easily fooled if they see someone singing into a microphone—that “live” mic has so much tech patched through it to replicate the “perfection” of the weirdly processed PRODUCTION that passes for the mediocre sound of pop music these days. Just like you can tell an 80s song by how the processed drums sound, you know?
I wholeheartedly support and agree with Tiffany and all of the comments between mine and hers.
Agree Tiffany. He was speaking from a production point of view. People are too quick to jump on an issue before reasoning it out. (Now I’ll get pummeled for saying that.)
That said, she’s not my favorite but that is a personal preference. I find most of her music too depressing to listen to. I miss the old time voices (in their prime) like Linda Rondstadt, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Etta James good wail in the best way. Yes, I’m ancient. Mariah gets on my nerves. If she would sing without all the extra manipulating notes it would be better.
Yep, this is what it sounded like to me too. He’s saying she has a great voice and they’re unnecessarily tweaking it.
I agree. I didn’t read it as a dig at Adele. He used her as an example because she does actually have a great voice- but even so, today we never know how much is manufactured digitally for anybody. So many poor singers out there are really engineering miracles.
Oh good. I’m not the only one who didn’t see any shade towards Adele in his comments. Too much of today’s music is over produced to prop up the less talented. Then you get someone like Adele with huge talent and they still over produce when it is clearly not needed.
Agreed. He wasn’t dissing Adele, he even says point-blank that she has a good voice. His beef is with the over-processing of music so that it pretty much all sounds the same.
I can’t stand her bellow.
I’ve been to Adele’s concert before. She is AMAZING live, strong, soulful, and powerful. Is it perfection? No… but pretty damned good! If this guy wants to pick on someone, there’s a WHOLE ROOMFUL of mediocre singing talent (Swifty, Katy Perry, Rhianna… so many now!) to pick on. He needs to take a couple of seats and sit DOWN.
People are easily fooled if they see someone singing into a microphone—that “live” mic has so much tech patched through it to replicate the “perfection” of the weirdly processed PRODUCTION that passes for the mediocre sound of pop music these days. Just like you can tell an 80s song by how the processed drums sound, you know?
He says “Adele has a great voice”. His comment is in CONTEXT of how much of what we end up hearing is actually compromised due to the production being so manipulative of the voice. That applies to the recorded version of voices as well as the “live” versions.
Tony Visconti tells it like it is, and does so with exceptionally informed perspective. He’s intending to raise the bar for popular music production, to bring the production quality back up. There is a gimmick to the sound of pop music production of this century—and that sound is basically crap.
Adele herself has said in interviews that she’s a “bit pitchy” and can get “screechy”; her voice clearly isn’t manipulated. Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, etc – yes all clearly manipulated. But not Adele.
“The only singer who had a flawless voice in her prime was Mariah, maybe Whitney.”
The only mainstream pop singer maybe? Opera and operatic pop singers have voices that are about two million times better than anyone in the mainstream pop charts. They often spend years learning how to breath properly and warming up and working their chords in a way that ensures longevity.
I agree though for me the best voices I’ve heard is Billie Holiday and Dionne Warwick. Beautiful, unique and no screeching and screaming like those mainstream pop singers.
You can manipulate the voices even in live
That too.
Prove it Mr Visconti – STRONZO!!!
Of all the auto tuned canned voices in the music industry, he chooses to come for Adele?
^This. Katy Perry, Swifty, the list is endless, but Adele?
@Bex Yes! Can we talk about Katy, Rihanna, and even Demi and Ariana?
I’ve watched some of Katy’s performances and the only passable one seemed eerily manipulated as if she was using a special microphone. The rest were tragic, just tragic.
Word. He’s not wrong IMO but picking at Adele makes zero sense as she can definitely sing.
I think he used her as an example because she doesn’t need it. His saying, ” but even” her voice gets manipulated in production is an example of unnecessary and overdone production.
That’s how I read it. ‘Even Adele is overly produced’.
Yeah, having re-read his comments I think he made a valid point about modern music production but phrased it very badly. Every media outlet that covers this is just going to run with the Adele angle.
Yes exactly. He was making the point that even though she has an unquestionably great voice, music producers still feel the need to slick it up. It’s unnecessary and it takes away from the natural variations (read: charm) that comes with a raw ballad. I agree with him…music is way too heavily produced these days.
I don’t even think he phrased it badly. It’s easy enough to understand what he’s saying.
Exactly. I’m way late in commenting but that was my take away as well.
I think it’s because she is a great singer, and maybe he wanted to say that she doesn’t need manipulations. Her natural voice is much better. Rihanna and Perry definitely need them.
If he said “Katy Perry/Rihanna/Taylor Swift/Britney can’t sing, their voices are manipulated”, he wouldn’t get attention. So he went for Adele, who isn’t perfect, but is great and people know it.
He is actually paying her a compliment because she doesn’t need auto-tuning and he is baffled that she is auto-tuned. He is saying hearing her auto-tuned voice makes him question her talent when he doesn’t think he should.
This. I fully agree with him about the state of music and the manipulation, but Adele was not the best choice for that example. It feels like he’s saying even the best could be fake, who knows, but she’s sang live enough to make it clear it’s real.
My first reaction is Swift/Perry/Britney too, but there are plenty of male singers faking it too.
I think he’s saying her voice is naturally great – we all know that – but if she hadn’t demonstrated that live, then we would all question her natural talent because of the unnecessary modifications done to it. These days anybody can “sing” with autotune and all that garbage, so it makes us appreciate real talent less I think.
Because she actually has a beautiful voice compared to most of the popstars of today, he was proving that even a beautiful voice gets processed to get on radio.
Why anytime Adele is mentioned even in balanced critques people lose their minds lol?
True and true
I think that’s why he picked Adele as an example, because her voice is so good it doesn’t need all the additional production tweaks, but the producers still use them on her recordings. If anything he was having a dig at Adele’s producers, not her.
Bex – yes! Add Gwen stefani – some years back – tried to sing live at some big event (which is good that she made the effort, I guess ) but it was awful. Shows how auto tuned she is too… I remember Shania Twain – was it at the Super Bowl? – where she leaned down to chat with fans & her ‘voice’ kept ‘singing’ – ha! Adele’s new album isn’t my cup of tea – but at least she can sing!
He chose Adele because it’s likely to cause the most outrage and it’s better clickbait.
Your solution to a lack of authenticity is a reality show???
His entire thought process is confusing. He wants realism and artistry so he’s going to do a reality TV show?
He picks on Adele instead of obviously mediocre vocalists like Taylor or Katie is a bit confusing but whatever. It’s nice to have opinions.
I have less issue with his general bitchiness and more issue with the fact that he’s looking for the next Hendrix, Cobain, or Bowie. Couldn’t think of any female virtuosos dude? Glad you covered a variety of musical styles too.
Oy! He is picking on contemporary pop music PRODUCTION. He is using the show as a vehicle to raise the bar and teach people the difference between the mediocrity they’re used to hearing and what excellent production sounds like. He is infiltrating the trenches that reinforce consumer acceptance of mediocrity so he can offer a counterbalance that has sonic integrity.
WTF? I don’t care much for Adele’s song selections but her voice is just undeniably fantastic! What a turd.
In fact that’s exactly why she doesn’t need any external help.
Tony is stating that Adele’s voice is good and that the mediocre production does her voice a disservice.
Just because you love Adele doesn’t mean other people have to. Get over it, some pleople don’t like her and they have the right to say it as loud as they want. Why are you so chidlish about it?
Well, she does like her and she has a right to say that, too, pot calling the kettle black.
Who are you guys talking to? Who is she?
Lol, we are referring to Kaiser.
Thank goodness Adele has confidence in herself. This kind of talk about her is shady and serves no good end. He’s 72 and sounds like it. I say that as a fellow oldish person, not that old but it’s not too far away. The reason things are in the past is because of evolution. If he can’t face it, he can enjoy his nostalgic take on things but that doesn’t require disrespecting today’s talent.
Ageist much?
Also, please note that you’ve misunderstood his comment.
He says “Adele has a great voice”. His comment is in CONTEXT of how much of what we end up hearing is actually compromised due to the production being so manipulative of the voice. That applies to the recorded version of voices as well as the “live” versions.
There is a gimmick to the sound of pop music production of this century—and that sound is basically crap. Tony Visconti tells it like it is, and does so with exceptionally informed perspective. He’s intending to raise the bar for popular music production, to bring the production quality back up.
I do think he has a point about a lot of pop music, however. It does all sound the same to me. Even my 14 year old son jokes with me about who sounds like who. It all was really brought home when they redid “We Are the World” with today’s stars. You could hardly tell who was singing. I made my son listen to the original and all the voices were so distinct. Not any longer. Most of the ladies sound like Taylor Swift and most of the guy groups sound like One Direction. Boys sound like Bieber or Justin Timberlake. Adele is a major exception to that, which is one of the reasons I think she is so popular. Her voice isn’t perfect, but it is real.
I like Taylor but I hope no one uses her voice as a musical muse. She is a lot of things but a vocal powerhouse is not one of them.
It’s becoming harder to differentiate between acts because there are so many now. I don’t even keep up with the new kids because anyone with a camera and access to YouTube is trying to make it.
When you heard a Christina, Beyoncé, or Mary J Blige song, you knew it. Being a pop star was about having your own unique sound (which is one of the reasons Rihanna is so popular).
Now everyone wants to be a clone of the girl before them.
I feel Jennifer Hudson has a unique sound as well.
They redid We Are the World? Somehow I missed that. How depressing.
Hmm, is he really criticizing her or the industry as a whole for its abuse of digital technology? Adele’s just an easy choice because she’s well known and well regarded as being legitimately talented. I agree that what he is saying is PR fluff, but I can see where he might have a legitimate point about an industry that alters even talented singer’s voices in order to generate a homogenized sound.
This!
Yes, Veroncia, that’s how I interpreted it too.
BINGO, Veronica!
He sounds douchey, but I didn’t think he meant that Adele had a questionable voice. I think he meant that everything in music today is manipulated to sound perfect so you don’t know when listening to a recording whether or not it’s real? I sort of agree with that, absent the Adele part, because I was listening to David Crosby singing last night and was thinking that someone with his voice would never make it today. He could carry a tune but his voice wasn’t conventionally “pretty.” Anyway, I stopped trying to follow what he was droning on about at the end.
I agree with your take, GNAT. I think his statement was a criticism of digital technology, and not Adele at all. He uses Adele’s name, imo, because she has such a great voice. Like, Adele has a great voice, but in today’s world of auto tuning everyone and their mother … is it actually Adele’s voice?
The title completely misconstrued his statement.
Yes, you said it better. Thank you.
We are talking about him, we know there is a reality show coming. We would not have knoa that if he kept the statement vague. Adele gets headlines. Point made Tony.
Ah…this. Excellent point.
As a musician, this is what makes me mad about people who make statements like this. Adele has a beautiful voice-full stop. There are so many people who love to take pot shots at someone with obvious talent who can replicate it night after night. When you sing you have to take care of your voice and your body because that’s your instrument. A lot of these producers can produce sound but not music and their egos are way out of control. If he said that about Aretha Franklin, people would take him down in a millisecond. Funny, I don’t hear him criticizing any male singers that way….
But not even Adele takes care of her instrument. She’s still a chain smoker.
You can’t compare the work Aretha put in to someone like Adele. Aretha arrived in a time when black women were seen as nothing more than maids and nannies, if that. Her voice in her prime isn’t comparable to what Adele does now.
Adele’s voice is good but it is not magnificent or even one of the greatest.
She USED to be a chain smoker. She gave it up, along with alcohol, reasons being her son and throat surgery. Here are some links:
(http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2015/12/20/fearing-death-adele-stopped-smoking-dr)
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/adele-quit-smoking_us_5676e9dae4b0b958f65707a6,)
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3366906/Adele-admits-quit-smoking-feared-25-day-cigarette-habit-eventually-kill-her.html)
If you are a musician you know I presume al about engineers mixing live vocals on the hoof and adding ‘;effects’ she has a nice voice but im pretty sure there is some additional sound engineer work going on with her when she does performances.
I’m not comparing her to Aretha. My point was Aretha is older and established, Adele is very young in her career so it’s an easy/lazy thing to do to criticize. And please I’m a black woman whose major at school was History-I don’t need to be lectured the conditions Aretha lived in. I also went on to study audio engineering so I’m not ignorant of the ‘effects’ that can be put on work.
I think credit should be given where credit is due and she deserves some. I know ‘nice’ voices, I see them all the time. However, if you don’t have something good to work with there’s only so much you can do(and yes I’ve had to do it live) and let’s be real, Adele’s got something. You don’t have to like it, or agree but if Adele showed up in your studio would you pass? I for one would be happy about it.
She does have a nice voice but there is a lot of post production on ALL voices these days – that’s partly what he in whinging about – I also know from knowing a lot of sound engineers and having done the basic training that manipulation also happens live – not milli vanilli levels lol but still…
As a musician, writer and producer ( in the pop world) and as someone who posted earlier, I just want to again re-iterate what so many of us have posted prior. This is not a comment on her ability. It is a comment on the industry and on how pop records are made. Her voice has been treated during the mixing process. Just like any other vocalists male or female has been on pop records since the early 2000’s. It is just the way it is. Period. This does not mean she doesn’t have a good voice. Every voice is micro to macro tuned in the final product. Its again the industry standard. We don’t make music the same anymore thanks to digital recording processes. ALL voices on all POP recordings are fixed. That’s it that’s all. It doesn’t take away from ones talent, it’s just how todays bland music gets made.
And yes I would compare her to Celine Dion before Aretha, she is not even close to being that calibre of singer in my opinion.
I love Adele but I can’t compare her to Aretha. I think the closest comparison is Celine Dion – both have big voices, and sing over the top, kind of cheesy pop/love songs. Hello basically could have been a 90s Celine Dion song.
this ^^^ + a million 🙂
The only potshot Tony takes is against what has become the accepted norm of overproduction in pop music. He actually praised Adele’s voice. It’s the gimmicky mediocre production he has issue with.
Adele is super overrated. I don’t like scratchy voices anyway and to me she DOES sound like a chain smoker or recent chain smoker.
This guy is an idiot. Plain and simple.
He didn’t attack Adele.he just says all sounds the same today .Even Adele’s songs are overproduced whereas her voice can support herself
Jane, you think he’s an idiot for saying that “Adele has a great voice”?
Tony says he takes issue with the gimmicky overproduction of today’s pop music, not Adele’s singing. Plain and simple.
Errrr you obviously know nothing about ‘live’ music and voice manipulation but your are going to call out a respected Producer anyway?
M’kay…
You don’t understand he attacked Adele ….Oh wait he didn’t attack Adele.He just says all was overproduced and manipulated today even Adele’s songs .
He says she has a “great voice.” He’s just talking all the wizardry that goes on in production that creates the sound we hear from the vocals in the quest for perfection these days when recording.
I love Tony Visconti, though.
I think he means everything sounds the same today. Which I sort of agree with.I don’t listen to Adele so I have no comment on that.
Mmhmm…I do think there are enough talent searching shows though.
I think he just meant that in studio sessions these days, a big part of the budget is put towards fixing flat or sharp notes that si gers sing. Rather then have them re sing the part, they just fix it in post. There that documentary “20ft from stardom” where they talk about the difference. That’s all he meant. And adele is OK but she does get flat and sharp sometimes. I’m really not that big of a fan though. I think she’s overrated like swift.
I didn’t read it is shade at Adele at all, but that everything is overly produced. And I totally agree. There’s very little artistry and soul in popular music nowadays – when you can make anyone sound decent with studio magic, the music becomes a product rather than a piece of art. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back soon.
BTW, has this guy made other comments about women in the music industry?
“But really, Visconti sounds like a guy who will discount any female vocalist just because.”
He produces women artists. Check out Kristeen Young who is amazing. I didn’t take his comment as a slam of Adele but of the music industry.
I didn’t either. It’s criticism. I feel like someone with his creditionals should be able to say that. It isn’t shade, I don’t think he said it to be malicious or discredit her.
Also, I felt like saying he would “discount any female vocalists” just because he mentioned one is a huge leap of logic.
Totally misread your comment. Apologies. Need more coffee. We are on the same page.
I read what he said completely differently. I read it like EVERYONE is using autotune, so when a beautiful voice like Adele comes around, you’re so jaded and paranoid by the autotune you can’t be sure that what you think is an authentic beautiful voice really is. He was using Adele as the example of the good voice he wants and needs to be real.
@OrigialTessa, yours is another voice of reason in this quick-to-judge-and-defend-and-misconstrue madness. Thankfully.
Bitch, Jimi Hendrix couldn’t sing! STFU.
Adele is great but she’s not Whitney Houston. She has a great soulful quality to her voice but she doesn’t have a lot of range.
Judy Garland didn’t have a lot of range. She had power-range is an indicator but not a necessity for a great singer.
That’s how i feel about Celine Dion. Power and high notes, but not much range in there.
1. The show is called Guitar Star.
2. Jimi played guitar.
3. Tony’s remarks are regarding the mediocrity of 21st century pop music PRODUCTION.
4. Jimi also sang.
A few years ago, I saw Adele be interviewed on 60 Minutes and she broke out in song. The woman has a great voice. Nobody has a perfect voice.
Which is why he is saying she shouldn’t be auto-tuned.
His comment was about the industry, and not a slam on Adele.
With all due respect, David Bowie’s music was very highly produced too, including those records Mr. Visconti was involved with. I understand his point and appreciate the idea of his show, but I think it’s a little hypocritical and I’m quite sure he can use a better example than Adele for crying out loud. Eye roll
well now I know this guy exists and he has a new show. Well played, Mr. Viscount I, well played.
Yup. This.
+1 EXACTLY!
We’ve all heard Adele sing live enough to know what her voice sounds like and it’s beautiful – maybe not perfect, but beautiful. She isn’t a singer I would ever categorize as “studio magic.”
And as much a fan of Bowie that I am, his music was highly synthesized, the music was very much “manipulated” as Visconti implies Adele’s is. It had to be b/c Bowie didn’t have a great voice. He wasn’t a great singer – he was a stylist and sort of a breed all his own. I think Viscotti’s using Bowie as his claim to fame is actually discrediting his own argument here.
I simply cannot see how Adele’s voice could last. She has a unique, fabulous and extremely effective style but also no technique to support her voice in the long run. I believe she has already had some surgery on her vocal chords, and no doubt there will be more with all that pushing and belting.
She scream sings. She’ll always have problems with the voice singing like that.
I always wince when i hear Adele singing because she sings from her throat and that’s a surefire way to ruin your voice. It makes me question what she did at the Brit School if not learning proper singing technique.
Xtina started out singing correctly, but somewhere, in her desire to compete, started singing from her throat, effectively scream singing as you put it, and you could hear the strain on her voice.
I’m always intrigued when people make comments like this, I don’t know much about singing and I have no idea what you’re all talking about. How do you know when someone is using proper technique?
My Little Pony/FingerBinger/LAK- yes, yes, yes. I am a recent fan of Adele and that’s the first thing I heard. A lovely, unique voice, but very poor vocalization. Her technique is bad and unfortunately it will end up costing her voice.
TrixC- it’s hard to explain; I can hear it plain as day but I’ve had vocal training. Adele always sounds very raspy and hoarse. In order to sing properly, you have to learn to resonate in you head, not your throat. Specifically, in your nasal passages and the soft palate at the back of your mouth. It takes a lot of training. Singing is almost like an athletic endeavor; you must be in shape for it and practice every day. I’m not saying Adele doesn’t practice, but her raspy sound is for a reason. Think of Stevie Nicks-very interesting voice but a lifetime of vocal chord problems because she never learned proper vocal placement. Also from a different perspective, the reason Barbra Streisand never got her nose fixed; it could have changed her voice. You do not mess with a voice like that!
Hope this explanation helps a bit. Sing in your throat, you will ruin your voice. Sing in your head and you can sing all day.
From one trained vocalist to another, I thank you for clearly breaking it down!!!
I’m a singer with 2 degrees in vocal performance and I had a nose job. Didn’t affect my voice one iota. That’s a myth.
I’m not a fan, her music is just okay but but I think she is stunningly beautiful. There is something about her face/style that reminds me of the Hollywood glamour girls of the 1940’s.
ITA, KBeth! She is stunning.
adele’s albums are a bad example of something overproduced — she actually sounds pretty close to what you hear on albums. plenty of less-talented singers are seriously autotuned but adele, katy perry, christina — these women have pipes. taylor swift, not so much.
Katy Perry??
She has a gorgeous voice but I can’t switch the radio station fast enough when Adele comes on and starts yelling at me. And all her songs sound the same, even down to the “We broke up and now I’m kinda stalking you” theme.
Folks, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s going after Adele – which he KNOWS would get press – when he’s got a reality show to promote (you know, the obvious venue to find a “raw” and authentic virtuoso).
Having seen her live back when her first album 19 had just come out. Nothing was more pure, more flawless then adele’s voice. Pure chills to this day from that memorable performance.
dude, watch James Corden and her do car karaoke and then tell me she can’t sing. For real.
This dude is old and needs to just kick the bucket. We don’t care about your opinion, grandpa. I didn’t even KNOW who Noah Gallagher was. Irrelevant people, irrelevant opinions.
@kok, YIKES. Someday, if you are lucky, you will become older—and hopefully wiser. And hopefully more respectful both of yourself and of others.
It is amusing that you’ve insulted yourself by inferring your own irrelevence with your statement—but it is also sad.
Where did he say she can’t sing for real? He said she has a great voice. That’s not what he was talking about. In fact, that was his point.
Saying a vital human being who is still out there engaged in life and passionate about his career needs to kick the bucket? Wow. How mature.
I just had this very conversation with someone and used Adele as an example. I love her voice but not the sanitized music we hear today where they simply loop the chorus over and over so it’s identical every time. That is what the public is now used to and expects. And that takes away uniqueness. Same producers for half of the music on the radio and most of today’s so called hits. I do get what he’s saying in that respect. I just don’t think his new show will change anything. BTW I used to teach singing/voice in college.
I don’t get the problem? She has an amazing voice for a pop star, but she’s not a well-trained singer and a lot of issues do get glossed over in the studio. What makes her voice special is the emotion she puts into it. There’s no shortage of singers who can hit the same notes, and do it without destroying their voice.
Not a big fan of Adele’s voice at all but aside, there’s nothing like a few well-timed controversies to get your new show’s ratings up there.
I totally see his point about pop music as a whole and it is true. He should have left Adele out of the equation because she has a great voice, can sing live without all the bells and whistles and certainly can improvise (see car her Carpool Karaoke with James Corden). I sometimes get bored with her as a singer though because her stuff is basically the same ‘belt it out angst’. I’d like to hear her do an album of classics with her own spin which might allow her shake it up a bit and get out of the song rut she is in .
Visconti is old in music terms and it seems like he is living in the past, you can never go back , you might keep the feel of an era alive (aka Michael Buble) but music will never go back it always moves on, no need to slam others because they don’t fit your ideal, just get on with your job and lets see these so called ‘real singers’. Hendrix, Cobain and Bowie were never my cup of tea either, great performance artists but I would never have dreamt of buying one of their albums or telling friends who liked them that they were rubbish because they didn’t fit my musical aesthetic .
Actually, it makes sense that he mentioned Adele because she knows and we know and he knows that she can really sing. If he named one of the many poor singers who really do have to be digitally fixed, that would have been unkind.
…So, he didn’t actually say her voice is questionable at all.
He said it’s questionable how much her voice is manipulated. That’s fair enough because these days even the most talented singers (and he did say she had a great voice) are manipulated to hell and back because that’s the sound that’s in vogue. I don’t see how what he’s saying is a ‘swipe’ or sexist.
He clearly used her as an example because she’s probably the single biggest talent out there in the music industry today and he’s saying that he wants a virtuoso whose voice won’t be manipulated to hell in the studio. There isn’t a male singer out there today whose popularity AND talent is equal to hers to use as a valid example.
To deny that her voice is manipulated in the studio is just silly. Of course it is. He didn’t say anything negative about her voice, or her live performances.
First of all, Tony wasn’t dissing Adele. He merely said she was overproduced, which she is.
Do you people even know who this guy is? He produced some of the most interesting and inovative albums of all time. He certainly knows his way around a studio and can spot talent when he sees it.
Adele is an acceptable artist for our times but that’s because the standards are ridiculously low. Pop music was dumbed down to absurd levels. She wouldn’t be so untouchable if there were two or three other artists who could carry a tune and write half decent lyrics/melodies without the help of 30 songwriters and a superstar DJ.