Week 8 Listening Guide

Week 8

               The song I chose was “With a Little Help From My Friends” by the Beatles. The song actually kind threw me off guard—it didn’t even feel like a Beatles song. Maybe I don’t listen to enough Beatles, but the sound was different me. One thing I like is the rhythm of the guitar and drums together. It’s such a simple bounce that still makes you want to head bob. It’s interesting how the simplest rhythms can have the most bounce. It just proves that creating a vibe and using the right sounds is just as important as patterns and melodies when crafting a hit song.

               One thing I really enjoys is the vocals. When they all sing it is layered and mixed so perfectly. I like vocal mixes with very spacy reverb, it just sets the vibe. Another thing about the vocals that is so capturing is the way they sing. They don’t necessarily have the most beautiful voices, but they have the right voice and cadence over the right instrumental. It’s actually crazy how many people it takes to make a super professional sounding tracks. If you can only sing, you need someone (usually multiple producers) for the instrumental, someone to mix the beat and vocals, probably a songwriter, and a label or other means of marketing. You can tell the Beatles ran much deeper than just the band.

               Overall the song is solid just not my style. The Beatles are so timeless it’s hard to say anything bad about them.