Dickinson voice change

T

Tilbert

Prowler
Greetings to all. I'll just get right to the point I guess. While listening to old clips of Bruce singing with Samson I got to wondering why his vocal style seemed to change upon joining Maiden. His voice seemed to get more raspy and less agile on NotB even though it had only been what, less than a year? His vibrato also seemed to slow down and sound less "free". What made him change his style? He did seem to be singing in a higher range for longer periods of time with Maiden, and that might have led to straining and a raspy quality. He started to take a more operatic approach. Did Steve have something to do with it? Listening to his audition tapes - was he trying to sound more like Paul? Anyway, the question's there. Just something that I've been wondering about.
 
I think the person who would have the most influence on Bruce in those days was Martin Birch, the producer. I do recall the Classic Albums: NOTB documentary where he pushed Bruce until he got just the right kind of scream in the first part of NOTB (the song).
 
Ranko said:
I think the person who would have the most influence on Bruce in those days was Martin Birch, the producer. I do recall the Classic Albums: NOTB documentary where he pushed Bruce until he got just the right kind of scream in the first part of NOTB (the song).
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Actually, I believe that Birch was having a hard time getting him to do the opening lines right, and in frustration Bruce did the loud scream, an Birch decided to keep it.  Sort of nit picking though.  Birch was a perfectionist.  But I do like Shirley's work as well.
 
chaosapiant said:
Actually, I believe that Birch was having a hard time getting him to do the opening lines right, and in frustration Bruce did the loud scream, an Birch decided to keep it.
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Wrong, Check the NoTB documentary (or was it The Early Days?), it shows the original paper on which the lyrics were written on, and it had a note that clearly said "great scream" in the spot in question. It was intentional.

By the way, aren't you on the Q?

Edit: And that's also what Martin Birch said in the documentary. The first part about Bruce being frustrated with the opening lines is correct though and as a result he was throwing chairs across the room.
 
Yax said:
Wrong, Check the NoTB documentary (or was it The Early Days?), it shows the original paper on which the lyrics were written on, and it had a note that clearly said "great scream" in the spot in question. It was intentionally.

By the way, aren't you on the Q?

Edit: And that's also what Martin Birch said in the documentary. The first part about Bruce being frustrated with the opening lines is correct though and as a result he was throwing chairs across the room.
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I do stand corrected; I believe my source was the "30 years of the beast" book.  What does "on the Q mean?"
 
chaosapiant said:
I do stand corrected; I believe my source was the "30 years of the beast" book.  What does "on the Q mean?"
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I thought I recognized your avatar from Rob Halford's forum, commonly referred to as "The Q". I guess I was mistaken.  :P
 
Yax said:
I thought I recognized your avatar from Rob Halford's forum, commonly referred to as "The Q". I guess I was mistaken.  :P
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No worries, i'm not a big enough Halford fan to join his forum.  I just like The Big Lebowski movie, it's my fave, so I figured it to be a somewhat appropriate avatar.  I figured at this point any thing Maiden oriented would have been used and abused by now.
 
The Mid-Distance Runner said:
I've always wondered when/why Bruce first dropped the second and third sixes in the chorus of Number of the Beast live and why he has never added them back in...
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Because the second and third six, is the crowds responsibility. He sings "six" then often points the mike towards the crowd.
 
Tilbert said:
Also, why did Dickinson sing songs like The Trooper differently in the past - like in this clip during the World Piece Tour. Maybe he wanted the melody to be like this and Martin changed it? Or maybe it was just hard for him to sing at the time. I don't know...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyYPVCkNxn8
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Nah, I think that just depends on the evening, maybe he was bored with singing it the normal way, who knows.
 
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