Case Study - Alive, Sia
Intro: The song Alive by Sia from the This is Acting album, while originally written for Adele, is a good representation of where popular music is heading, with the powerful vocals that take the lead, the use of real recorded instruments blended with piano and synth elements to create a unique synthpop sound that Sia is known for. Musical Theory: This song is played in 4/4 at 100 BPM for a total of 4:23, in the key of F# Minor, using a I-V-VI-VI-I-V-VI-IV structure. The key of F# minor really helps bring the songs mood down to a sad/sombre level yet hints of some level of positivity which really, enhances the power of the lyrics. The raspy high pitch vocals are blended well with the synths to balance the frequencies with more lower frequencies to give the song a smoother feel. The song structure is as follows: Verse x2 Pre-Chorus Chorus Verse x2 Pre-Chorus Chorus Bridge Pre-Chorus Chorus.
The composition is well produced and obviously written by someone with extensive knowledge of musical theory.
Instrumentation:
This song incorporates real recorded instruments such as acoustic guitar and a bass guitar as well as synth elements. Although the instruments are being imitated by synths, the sound they are designed to sound like is still important. The song opens with a piano soaked in reverb, immediately clearing the way for the regular thumping of the bass guitar that builds the song up for the chorus. The drums and background synth come into the mix, along with the return of the piano.
This new synth sounds light and is an imitation of a stringed instrument such as a violin. The synth is pushed far the the back of the mix and has some sort of double bounce echo effect
The drums have been layered immensely with clicks claps, cymbals, shakers and snares all blended into the sound of the snare hit
The pre-chorus is where the sound of the song changes it's tone, the synth bass comes in with some pre made samples made by modulating the pitch via the LFO rate to create these "engine rev" like noises. A short sharp plucking sound can also be heard, this synth sounds halfway between a stringed pluck such as a guitar or violin and a wooden xylophone.
The vocals are powerful and raspy, there is reverb and EQ on all the vocal tracks and during the chorus there are dozens of these vocal harmonies that were recorded and blended into the vocal track. The vocals are very unique due to her unique voice and the eq would have to befit this.
Something to note is how little of the highs are in the mix until the chorus comes along there is possibly a low pass filter that lifts during the chorus.
Soundstage:
The song uses a lot of reverb to help spread the sound around. The Drums: The drums have been panned in sections, so for the chorus the drums will expand to spread across the entire spectrum where as in the verses they are much tighter and have less layers. There is also a panning to the left from the hi hats The Vocals: The vocals have been mostly panned centred however during the parts of the song that have multiple vocal tracks, there has been panning of different vocal tracks to the left and right.
The Synths:
The chorus synths have been made using a blend of different synths and have 2 slightly different synth tracks, one panned hard left and one hard right. As you can see below, the goniometer shows that the majority of the sound is coming from directly in front, this is what the verse of the song looks like.
When the chorus opens up the goniometer shows that the direction of the sound encompasses a much wider stereo display
Spectral Balance:
As I touched on earlier, the song ranges from the narrow verses to the powerful open choruses. Below is an analyser image of the first verse of the song, as you can see the lows and highs have both been tapered off, this is used as the introduction, and a slow build, in volume but also frequency content.
From the second verse (below) the bass is brought in and opens up the song. The volume is slowly but constantly growing louder, this builds the song up for the chorus. The content is also growing in both bass and high frequencies.
Finally the chorus shows the increase in volume across all frequencies
Final Thoughts:
This song is well made and well produced. It takes you on a journey from soft and sad to standing tall and being proud which in part is due to the key of F# Minor. To me, this song was a chronicle of Sia's struggles in her life while ultimately making herself into the person she is today. This song fits Sia's style of powerful vocals front and centre, sang in a way more reminiscent of an instrument than a voice. Finally, This song is a great example of where pop music is heading, treating the vocals with more care, bringing back the real instrument sounds in conjunction with synthetic sounds create a much bigger brighter "band" type sound.
