Do Coldplay cheat?

120_Minutes · 04-02-2009 1:03am #1

first off i'm not really a coldplay fan. i dont hate 'em...but i dont own any albums and saw them live once years ago at slane.

However, i love the song fix you, but i've always suspected that somethings amiss live, when during the second half of the song, when all members are singing...it sounds perfect. now i realise that chris martin is singing live, but is it possible the other guys are miming to a track or perhaps its being autotuned on the fly? isnt autotune at the stage where this is possible? (i've seen it at work in a studio situation, but i dont know its limits)

exhibit a m'lud:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKrceZxL8r8

i also remember them performing it on jonathan ross and thinking the same thing.

are they dirty cheats? should we kill them? why should i care about these things?

PaulBrewer · 04-02-2009 1:15am

Too feckin right!

I don't think there's anything underhand though, if you listen there's at least 2 Chris parts a low one and the live one.

Did you see them on Jools with that song where the drummer is playing a kick drum with a stick and also a bell.

Not much was actually played that night in my opinion ...

old gregg · 04-02-2009 8:45am

yea well you can't trust any of these Radiohead-lite bands.

Thom and the boys would never pull an underhanded stunt like this

studiorat · 04-02-2009 10:21am

old gregg wrote: »

Thom and the boys would never pull an underhanded stunt like this

well they wouldn't get caught anyway!

120_Minutes · 04-02-2009 12:26pm

so the experts opinion is a track? i feel somewhat vindicated. my ears havent crapped out on me yet.

PaulBrewer · 04-02-2009 12:28pm

120_Minutes wrote: »

so the experts opinion is a track? i feel somewhat vindicated. my ears havent crapped out on me yet.

Head, Relax ..... me Ma noticed it.:o

Stephen! · 04-02-2009 2:55pm

Isn't it possible that they're just really good musicians?

DamagedTrax · 04-02-2009 3:01pm

Stephen! wrote: »

Isn't it possible that they're just really good musicians?

:pac: ha!

ogy · 04-02-2009 3:26pm

Head, Relax ..... me Ma noticed it.

my grandad is super paranoid about this, if were ever in the pub and theres a
band playing he always convinces himself that "them fellas are playin to a tape!"

dav nagle · 04-02-2009 3:43pm

120_Minutes wrote: »

are they dirty cheats? should we kill them? why should i care about these things?

You can't cheat at writing great tunes but you can take production shortcuts live. You shouln't care about these things surely?

jonny oxford · 04-02-2009 4:20pm

Stephen! wrote: »

Isn't it possible that they're just really good musicians?

ah ha haha ha

PaulBrewer · 04-02-2009 4:27pm

Stephen! wrote: »

Isn't it possible that they're just really good musicians?

Chris is indeed a very fine singer. However he does only have one voice .... one would have to say the playing is very basic too.

deadhead13 · 04-02-2009 4:31pm

Made-up misery for the sake of record sales is a form of cheating.

jtsuited · 04-02-2009 4:55pm

deadhead13 wrote: »

Made-up misery for the sake of record sales is a form of cheating.

lol.
my favourite bit is when Chris Martin says he feels so unworthy of being married to Gwyneth Paltrow. Especially when he means 'Brad Pitt was shaggin that, now I am'.

ps. not my joke.

woodsdenis · 04-02-2009 5:36pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8smRRyoYGc

Billy Joel when the autotune ****ed up

Denis

woodsdenis · 04-02-2009 5:41pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4

The best one ever, Van Halen Jump when the backing track is playing at 48
instead of 44.1

Denis

Stephen! · 04-02-2009 5:53pm

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Chris is indeed a very fine singer. However he does only have one voice .... one would have to say the playing is very basic too.

Haha, ok I didn't mean their virtuosos or anything, but could a certain part of it not be that they're tight as a band and as musicians too?

Is it much different to some bands using string samples when playing live, instead of hiring out musicians to play it?

Haha, and who knows, maybe Johnny Buckland just sounds exetremely like Chris when he sings :P

PaulBrewer · 04-02-2009 6:11pm

Stephen! wrote: »

Haha, ok I didn't mean their virtuosos or anything, but could a certain part of it not be that they're tight as a band and as musicians too?

Is it much different to some bands using string samples when playing live, instead of hiring out musicians to play it?

Haha, and who knows, maybe Johnny Buckland just sounds exetremely like Chris when he sings :P

It's horses for courses - to my mind there are some elements that make a rock band somehow false if there's too much on a backing track- electronic elements , special FX , arpeggio sequences etc i.e. parts that aren't actually played by a human in the first place. That's cool. The band still have to try ...

Things like having a second guitar and vocals clicks things over into a karaoke type scene ..... they could be just strumming along thinking about getting a new Ride On Lawnmower (or the Aston Martin Convertible I saw the bass player roll up to Air Studio in last year!) if the track is doing all the work - as is the case with the Snowplay, Cold Patrol shows from what I've seen.

However it is mainstream music aimed primarily at people who aren't really into music, but entertainment, so that's fine.

I remember going to see Transvision Vamp in the Point back in the day and quite enjoying it too !

With additional musicians the band has the option to flow and change and react to each other - not so with sequences.

I remember when drum machines came out first a guy told me ' Yeah, they're great and all that, but there's no GIVE in them' .... he was , in fact, correct!

jtsuited · 04-02-2009 6:50pm

I remember seeing Snow Patrol at THAT festival years ago, and the whole gig was just a mess of backing tracks and badly sung live vocals.

If I go to see a band, I want to see them play the music, not some of the music. If I want to hear prerecorded material I'll go see a DJ/electronic liveact and have a better time.

In saying that, singer-songwriters with quirky backin tracks get away with it imo a la David Kitt, Jape, etc.

godfrey · 04-02-2009 7:20pm

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I remember when drum machines came out first a guy told me ' Yeah, they're great and all that, but there's no GIVE in them' .... he was , in fact, correct!

'give' = GROOVE!! ya can't sequence dat sh!t...

g

jtsuited · 04-02-2009 7:23pm

godfrey wrote: »

'give' = GROOVE!! ya can't sequence dat sh!t...

g

what the feck is groove quantise then?
lol

nah but seriously my only experience with a 'real' drum machine was a crappy old 808 that would not stay in time.

actually here's a joke:
what's the difference between a drum machine and a drummer?

about two seconds

woodsdenis · 04-02-2009 8:13pm

actually here's a joke:
what's the difference between a drum machine and a drummer?

you only have to punch the instructions once into a drum machine

unclebill98 · 04-02-2009 8:20pm

Well there is defo a session head somewhere playing along with keys/synth etc. Killers have a guy now sitting in the back, so do most bands now. If not, its defo a backing track.

PaulBrewer · 04-02-2009 9:07pm

woodsdenis wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4

The best one ever, Van Halen Jump when the backing track is playing at 48
instead of 44.1

Denis

Oh Phuck ... I'm blushing ... I couldn't watch that it was so bad..... I wonder where the McDonalds is where that Backing track Tech is now working?

DamagedTrax · 04-02-2009 10:28pm

woodsdenis wrote: »

actually here's a joke:
what's the difference between a drum machine and a drummer?

you only have to punch the instructions once into a drum machine

you've obviously never tried to program a battered old 909 then :pac:

eamon234 · 07-02-2009 7:01pm

unclebill98 wrote: »

Well there is defo a session head somewhere playing along with keys/synth etc. Killers have a guy now sitting in the back, so do most bands now. If not, its defo a backing track.

Most bands do that these days I can't understand why the can't put the poor guy on stage and give him a bit of glory!

frobisher · 07-02-2009 8:33pm

Not sure I'd call it cheating tbh.

PaulBrewer · 07-02-2009 10:22pm

unclebill98 wrote: »

Well there is defo a session head somewhere playing along with keys/synth etc. Killers have a guy now sitting in the back, so do most bands now. If not, its defo a backing track.

Are you definite about that?;)

DeVore · 07-02-2009 10:30pm

I'm more shocked at the thought that Jools let them play like that. Could it be true? I thought he was the last bastion of actual live music.

DeV.

PaulBrewer · 07-02-2009 10:34pm

I don't think the idea of backing is anything new - I'm sure many bands have pre recorded elements.

Also Jools is the bands editor. That's what they chose to do.

Survivin' Ivan · 09-02-2009 3:37pm

Backing tracks are everywhere..especially with the 3 or 4 piece that have to fill a stadium..I suppose what really matters is wether or not you think its cheating and wether it would ruin your enjoyment of a gig if you knew about the tracks.

PaulBrewer · 09-02-2009 3:44pm

Survivin' Ivan wrote: »

Backing tracks are everywhere..especially with the 3 or 4 piece that have to fill a stadium..I suppose what really matters is wether or not you think its cheating and wether it would ruin your enjoyment of a gig if you knew about the tracks.

Yep

Survivin' Ivan · 09-02-2009 3:49pm

Is that "Yep" mean "I agree" or " It would ruin the gig for me"? Or both?

PaulBrewer · 09-02-2009 3:51pm

Survivin' Ivan wrote: »

Is that "Yep" mean "I agree" or " It would ruin the gig for me"? Or both?

I wouldn't let such frivolities ruin a gig for me. In fact I wouldn't be at the gig.....;)

So yes I agree!

ball ox · 10-02-2009 11:18pm

woodsdenis wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjx_GjyXCs4

The best one ever, Van Halen Jump when the backing track is playing at 48
instead of 44.1

Denis

Jesus thats cringeworthy stuff
That video just made my day

Do Coldplay cheat?

Comments