Tuning for jamming with my band question (iron maiden related)

[naranja]

So I play with a guy from work who's a pretty good singer, but he's way into his fifties and probably a baritone so he has limits.

We play every single song we learn in D standard. So even if it was written in E obviously when we play it it's a full step down and it really helps him and he normally sounds good.

We've played stuff by Free, CCR lots of 70's stuff and some great bands. And like I said we play it all a full step down.

Recently I've been getting a bit of Maiden into our rehearsals, because they're my favourite band obviously, but it's only been Blaze era material because Dickinson era stuff isn't particularly realistic for our singers abilities.

This means we can still play stuff with Maiden style chord sequences and melodies but just not the "classics" I guess.

We've done Maidens version of Doctor Doctor, Lord of the Flies and Virus so far. All tuned to D standard and our singer sounded really good. Interestingly this also means we did Lord of the flies in the same key as Maiden did it in 2003.

Anyway I want to do Educated Fool next but when playing it in D, it seems too low to me for a singer? Am I going crazy or is this because Blaze is already a low baritone and it might be really hard to sing it tuned even lower down? Maybe we should do that one in Eb?

I guess I have only been thinking of stuff being too high for our singer, but this is the first time I've thought it might be too low.

 

[Maturin]

Blaze isn't a low baritone. His material is still pretty high at times, but also goes very low. There is little consistency and while I personally believe he sounds the best in the mid 4th octave, lots of songs were both too high and too low for his rather limited range compared to Bruce.

Lowering "Sign of the Cross" to D (which I'm familiar with) would require a vocal range (IIRC) of D2-G4. Blaze lower notes are more lacking than his highs and Bruce has less issues with the intro/outro verses... It is whispered on the record. Blaze last comfortable note seems to be G#4 where A4's live have been very hit or miss (he was often flat on the first note of the "Sign of the Cross" chorus live).

Write out what notes are in the song and see what you come up with. I haven't personally studied "The Educated Fool" but it goes seemingly quite low. Unlike your other songs it is going to be more challenging because it varies a lot more. It is often much easier to sing high all throughout a song than going from low to high and back because of the change of registers. If you try to bring the weight of the low notes up towards higher notes your voice is going to crack...

"Lord of the Flies" is pretty much all in the same octave (4th) and a lot easier to sing. But if you did that with original vocal lines lowered to Em instead of F#m your highest note would have been G4 again (following the melody before the last chorus), otherwise D4 in the chorus IIRC which should be of no trouble even to untrained male singers.

Most untrained male singers have a break around D4-E4, over that leads to shouting or vocal cracks. It's just technique though. The great majority should be able to sing up towards A4-B4 with patient practice. Sounding good is another question entirely!

 

[Brigantium]

Interesting analysis. I'm not a technical expert on vocals, but always had the impression Blaze's strength was towards the lower end. Not necessarily the lowest notes, but his voice has a lot more character towards the lower end, while Bruce shines slightly higher

 

[islamtn]

You're not going crazy at all. This is actually a really smart observation.

The Blaze era stuff sits in a different place vocally because Blaze is a true baritone with a lower natural range. When you take those songs and drop them another full step to D standard, you're pushing them into territory that might be uncomfortably low even for a baritone singer.

Think about it this way. With Dickinson stuff, the challenge is always bringing those high notes down to something manageable. Your solution of playing everything in D works perfectly for that. But Blaze already recorded in standard tuning with his lower voice in mind. By dropping it further, you might be taking the melody below where it sits naturally and losing some of the vocal resonance.

Your instinct about trying Eb is solid. It's a nice middle ground. Still a half step down from standard, which takes some pressure off, but not so low that the vocal line starts to feel muddy or hard to project.

The other thing to consider is that sometimes what sounds too low in rehearsal might actually work once the singer gets comfortable with it. But if it feels wrong to your ears, trust that. You know your singer's voice by now.

Eb gives you that little lift while keeping the overall vibe. Worth a shot.