When the band sounds the same on every song....

[jthisdell]

Boston?

The Band?

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Key? Tempo? Some singers especially have one note that they like. Prevent it by mixing up keys, tempos and genres/styles.

A couple years ago we were listening to an acoustic duo, guitar/vox & Cajon, I noticed them playing every song in the same key and at the same tempo.

Vocal range plays a big part in what can and can not be played.. limit that with just one decade of music and there you have it.

This is my suspicion ^

I've been in SO...MANY....BANDS....where everything was held hostage by a singer with poor vocal range or no real singing talent. Everything got dropped/changed to the same key and there was zero dynamics to their performing. I used the example of me forcing every song to be in a G Major scale since that's the hand position I was most comfortable in.

IDK what's worse though....that or somebody doing sloppy Christina Aguilera vocal runs

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I watched a band at a bar last weekend. It was a 90's band.

One thing I noticed was that although the band played covers from a lot of different artists, they basically sounded the same on every song. The same tones, the same blend, the same guitar solo tone, the same vocals. Any thoughts on how to prevent this? A band that sounds the same on every tune is boring in my view. I only stayed for one set.

Thoughts?

Interesting take. I’m pretty sure this sort of thing is highly dependent on instrumentation. Think of it this way. If you are a solo act, one singer that plays guitar. Now, he (or she) could cover all sorts of songs but in the end it’s one voice, and one guitar sound.

So in order to hold an audience, hard as this is to believe even for myself , I was once able to do that at one point in my life. It’s more than just the tones. Heaven only knows it wasn’t my vocal abilities that carried the day. It was the songs which were commonly known and relatable.

On the other hand, I play in a 12 piece Motown Review band with 5 singers and horns. I might suggest a dedicated fan of Death Metal came to one of our concerts performed by guys in their 70’s with no pyrotechnics would find everything we do sounding the same.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

The selection of songs is the obvious place to start, although managing the intensity and building to a climax (or several climaxes) will probably be much easier for an originals band than a cover band. Especially if you get requests that upset the balance.

Playing the songs in the original key, rather than transposing them into whatever key the vocalist is comfortable with is also worth considering. A different key can very easily mess with the "feel" and the magic of the original song and turn it into something that feels a bit generic. Especially if many songs are transposed to the same key. If the singer can't sing it in the original key, don't play it.

Another thing could be to use tube amps rather than modelling. Modelling can sometimes come across as a little TOO "perfect" and slick compared to the real thing. Especially if you use the same preset for every song. Another great thing with tube amps is that if you start the gig with relatively "cold" amps, the amps themselves will build the intensity of the show. A hot tube amp will sound significantly, well, "hotter" than a cold tube amp. This increasing intensity throughout a gig is actually one of the reasons why I love playing tube amps. No modelling can (so far) simulate the amazing feeling of ending a gig with a high intensity song and RED HOT tube amps. Pure magic! But again, maybe this would be more relevant for an originals band.

And of course, none of this will help at all it the musicians themselves have a "generic" style of playing, and don't try to replicate the feel and the tone/effects of the original song.

 

[Altitude]

There is a very popular indie-rock band right now that I am trying very hard to like. I do like them. Their sound is unique and the players are all very competent. But there is not a lot of difference in the overall sound from song to song, so unless you really buy in to that overall sound it can seem a little tedious after a while.

Won’t name the band but they are notable for using a lot of banjo.

 

[darwin-bass]

I said: "Boston?"

Bands can be monotonous in every major US city.

Riis

The Band?

Yes, I meant the band . To my ears, Boston sounded pretty monotonous.. YMMV.


More to the OP's question, I suspect the issue here is a lack of talent which contributes to a lack of variation. Folks tent to play the same thing over and over because that is what they know and are comfortable with. The less you know, the smaller your bag of tricks.

The beauty of covering a song is when you are forced to learn to play it the way they played it, not they way you play everything. But some folks don't value that and just want to keep doing what they do.

 

[Nedmundo]

Have multiple vocalists, mix things up.

Make sure one person isn't doing all of the song selecting and arranging.

Make sure there is one person who can tell the lead guitarist "no". Not joking - one of the things I hate is seeing a band doing a mix of music from whatever style/era, but every intro and every solo sounds Clapton-ish, or SRV, whatever.

In my experience, mixing up the lead vocals is very helpful. I discovered this by accident in college (1988), when I played in a band with one guitarist, bass, drums, and keys. The guitarist and I handled most of the lead vocals, and the drummer and female keyboard player each handled two tracks. We selected vocalists based on who sounded best on the songs, and then discovered audiences LOVED it.

A few years later, I was in another band that took it even further. Vocals, lead guitar, and bass shifted around depending on who sounded best singing the track, and who had been at rehearsal when we learned it. I played bass on several tracks, lead vocals on several, lead guitar on a few, and was off stage for 5-6. Again, audiences loved it. I realize a truly professional outfit won't do this, because changing instruments can disrupt the flow, but it worked for us in casual venues like student pubs.

I also think selecting tracks with a variety of chord progressions helps. I've been in original and cover bands that played several tracks with similar types of chord progressions, and this gets monotonous. For example, one songwriter had several tracks in which the primary verse chord progression was a one step move, e.g., A->G, D->E. When we selected tracks for an EP, we instinctively avoided those tracks, because they simply weren't as interesting. As we evolved, most of them disappeared from our live sets too.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I watched a band at a bar last weekend. It was a 90's band.

One thing I noticed was that although the band played covers from a lot of different artists, they basically sounded the same on every song. The same tones, the same blend, the same guitar solo tone, the same vocals. Any thoughts on how to prevent this? A band that sounds the same on every tune is boring in my view. I only stayed for one set.

Thoughts?

Songs sound different for reasons. Getting the details of each song right within reason will help tremendously in this regard, and it doesn't matter which position in the band. EVERYONE can choose to be detail-oriented to make sure the songs sound as much like the cover version as reasonably-attainable.

Or, maybe it's just one of those bands that says "We're going to make these songs our own, and to sound like 'us'", in which case said band is likely ignoring details and the differences between songs, and the end result usually is.... EVERY SONG SOUNDS THE SAME. Even if the songs don't truly sound literally EXACTLY the same, the bottom line is the songs don't sound significantly different from any other in a way that keeps people's attention, and it turns into audio wallpaper.

 

[SunByrne]

90's rock? All sounded the same? Hmmmm.......

Honestly - the 90's era music is some of the most sonically diverse you'll find. There is a HUGE variety of songs, all that were big hits, that sound very different from each other. I never understand why some people think it was homogenous.

I think you're both right.

The mid-1990s is when I stopped listening to commercial radio because I thought almost everything they played (admittedly with some exceptions) sounded pretty homogenous. Seemed like every alt-rock band was either trying to sound like grunge or like the 1970s or some combination of both. However, the problem wasn't really that other things didn't exist, it's that the stations all adopted homogenous playlists because that's what their corporate overlords wanted—this is when most stations killed the discretion of individual DJs. Man, remember the days before ClearChannel took over the world? Ack, I'm showing my age.

What was on any given radio station wasn't a good representation of what was really going on more broadly. Later on I went back and looked at the 1990s from other angles, and found all kinds of things that I like (even a little bit of the stuff that was getting through the corporate beige) and the variety of which @richntiff speaks (though honestly I still don't think the 90s were more diverse than the 80s, but I digress).

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

First, yes, it's not that hard to construct a 90s playlist of things that don't all sound exactly the same but are of a pretty snooze-worthy family (e.g., Everclear, Matchbox20, Seven Mary Three, Better than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Gin Blossoms, etc.—sorry to anyone who's a big fan of that stuff) where if performed by the same singer, well, it's not hard to imagine how it might all kind of blend together. The band would have to work pretty hard to make sure it didn't (much good advice already in the thread on what this work would entail), and if they didn't put in that work, it all sounding the same is not an unexpected result.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

I prefer working with players who recognize the the SONG is the star. Whether the aspiration is to make a solid effort to replicate the original or to pay homage by making it their own. I get to do both. Unfortunately, I'm also often faced with philosophies of "just play the chords, the audience won't notice", etc. On the other hand, I used to sing "Vehicle" in an acoustic guitar/electric bass duo and we pretty much nailed it, energy-wise. As a singer, who used to do quite a lot of solo acoustic guitar gigs, I learned to adopt appropriate moods for different songs. I would play "Shaky Ground" with a completely different attitude than "Have A Little Faith In Me". And simply don't play songs that don't work, whether they don't gel or they don't connect with the audience. Used to play a pretty smoking version of "Higher Ground" but audiences seemed to get a "deer in the headlights" look. Plenty of songs to choose from.

BBB

 

[zubrycky]

90's rock? All sounded the same? Hmmmm.......

This.

 

[bylar13]

Also, most audience’s don’t care/don’t notice.

Unless the band is a specific tribute band, most audiences need to only recognize the song and the playing of it competently to have a positive outcome.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

This is how I feel about most cover bands & why I prefer a DJ at a wedding over a wedding band.

DJ??? Sacriledge

 

[BassBrass]

I thought this would be about original artists and was going to nominate Morrissey who sings the same melody same intervals on every song regardless of JMarr's brilliance. As for cover bands...try different styles and idioms. Play a gangnam style and then some klezmer and then some reggae and then a Souza march. Get audience members singing and use you as a karaoke machine. Imitate the band in the original Star Wars cantina scene. Be a Joni Mitchell Motorhead tribute.

 

[Anjohl]

Key? Tempo? Some singers especially have one note that they like. Prevent it by mixing up keys, tempos and genres/styles.

A couple years ago we were listening to an acoustic duo, guitar/vox & Cajon, I noticed them playing every song in the same key and at the same tempo.

We definitely do. We have a couple of songs in a similar tempo that just *lock* us in like nothing else.

 

[namboy]

IMO some bands are just jam bands. They get together, jam a few songs to feel each other out and then never get past that point.

Dynamics is so important and unfortunately alot of musicians don't understand that

 

[Dlew919]

prefer working with players who recognize the the SONG is the star. Whether the aspiration is to make a solid effort to replicate the original or to pay

Nobody seems to get that the elvis, little Richard’s, Beatles, zeppelins, rolling stones', ac/dc's, queens, Joni Mitchell’s Madonna’s, metallicas, U2s and everyone else who you might consider legendary got there because they had great songs that resonated with a lot of people (even if you or I don’t like them ourselves) Sure Mick or Freddie might have pranced or preened, or Eddie van halen might have flashed and glittered. But it’s the song. Not the people. And most of them would tell you that.

Dynamics is so important and unfortunately alot of musicians don't understand that

This. More important than 'getting the right notes all the time'

 

[fdeck]

A band that sounds the same on every tune is boring in my view.

You've been infected by jazz attitude. There's no cure.

 

[sleddogn]

Gotta be the drummer's fault, what else could it be?

 

[FilterFunk]

Sure Mick or Freddie might have pranced or preened, or Eddie van halen might have flashed and glittered. But it’s the song. Not the people. And most of them would tell you that.

I think it's a combination of both.

"Don't Be Cruel" or "Hound Dog" sung and performed by some untalented, uncharismatic goofball wouldn't have had nearly the same impact as "Don't Be Cruel" or "Hound Dog" sung and performed by Elvis Presley. Singers and bands bring a song to life.