What Makes This Song Great? - Season 2 Ep. 1 “The Killers”

hey everybody it's Rick piatto okay you've been asking for this for a long time I haven't done one of these in almost a year so today we're debuting season two episode one of what makes this song great the band is the killers and the song is Mr Brightside coming up next [Music] the bright side was off the Killer's first studio album entitled hot fuss which was released in June of 2004. the guitars are tuned down to half step and it's opening riff uses some really cool chord voicings check it out [Music] you notice the guitar is hard panned in the left speaker there's nothing in the other speaker and the three chords that are being played the first one is a d-flat major at nine then d flat major 7 over C so it's a third inversion d flat major seven chord then a g flat 14 and the picking pattern is really cool it's kind of tricky to play actually [Music] [Music] let's hear it again from the top foreign drums coming out of my cage a couple of things about it that are really interesting first of all the choice of drum sounds it's very weird here's a drum part by itself is this notice the uh that snare drum ring Cuts right off because it's edited to cut off there really cool part with it 16th note hi-hat and then the other thing that's strange is the distance that happens between the vocal and the bass it really happens between the vocal and the guitar because the vocals starting on the root of the d flat chord right so it's like uh [Music] so it goes from the root and then it becomes a flat nine interval with the bass and the guitar and then it becomes the so it's the flat nine it's the root against the major seventh of the chord and then it becomes the fifth of the third chord listen to vocals and up like this it was only a kiss it was only a kiss now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab while he's having a smoke and she's taking really cool bass sound listen how gainy it is and how powerful [Music] oh yeah that distortion on the base gives the Sun so much more power let's listen your ears [Music] so it's really kind of a one note Melody essentially in this verse and all the movement happens between the guitars and the bass there's also a little guitar feedback that happens here listen [Music] the right speaker so it completes a stereo image so you have the picking guitar and the left speaker and that feedback guitar and the right speaker foreign [Music] the drums change a little bit get more aggressive here in the section check this out [Music] really heavy let's check out the drums and the guitar the guitar has moved in the lower register [Music] before progression though and then they go into that Tom writing of the toms there before it goes into the chorus check it out tear it all together I love how the voice goes down on this B-flat minor chord that means B minor B flat so you go um so it's on the flat third of the chord then it goes down to a flat major uh then returns to the sus4 on this to add that tension there and you notice that the drum beat is going with the kick drum beautiful and there's this other part that comes in here listen this keyboard active with a saw wave sound that synth part there is one of the things that's hidden that actually drives that section and it's just octaves with a square wave part so it's B flat a flat g flat but a second part comes in and the left speaker listen on the offbeats that really goes against what the drums are doing which is really kind of funny so if I solo the drums in that section listen [Music] that's really an odd part that works to create what I call rhythmic dissonance there let's do it with the guitars because it really works well with the guitar [Music] and we're here love it I mean that right there is so full and that's just two parts then the vocal melee that happens here listen right there faces the lead there takes over the melody role during that transition [Music] [Music] me beautiful change there and say again and then the toms and that's really to build the anticipation of the next section right here listen [Music] it's very tough to move up levels when you have a drum part that starts so intensely it's like where do you go where you go with kick kick kick kick but it's like kick snare kick snare but it's really kick and then kick and snare together which makes it so powerful Central control this is a 16 Bar chorus part and it's just riding on those two notes the root and the seventh [Music] [Applause] it's it's a very melancholy right choking on your house the distance is in the chorus are what gives it that Melancholy mood that makes you want to listen to it again so it starts with that Major Seventh like I said then on the four chord it goes to the fifth and then as the sixth chord goes to the ninth right that minor ninth sounds beautiful then and the V chord is going between the third to the sus4 and that's sus4 creates that tension and then it resolves back to that Major Seventh of the one chord right so you have all this tension there I love the B part of the chorus the second half surprise and that goes eager eyes beautiful eyes cause I'm Mr Brightside really great vocal performance there's a interesting thing I read about this and it's not surprising to me that they use this vocal plug-in called Echo Farm that's been around in Pro Tools forever it was made by line six they're just using the stock sound it has some dirt on it meaning it has Distortion built into that sound and that's really the vocal sound on the whole record it's really unique a lot of mixers use that I use it on vocals all the time I love that sound and it's the sound of the vocals on the whole record it's just the price I pay Destiny is calling me open up my eagle eyes cause I'm Mr Brightside and of course the vocal is doubled in the chorus there and it makes it powerful that's why it sounds like a chorus because it's chorusing it's a guitar part in the chorus is broken into two different halves there's a lower part and then a higher part let me play along [Applause] then the side part next we have the interlude after the first chorus the only thing that changes here it's basically the chorus part of the keyboard part that's going on here so we got this part [Music] the melody changes slightly here on the second verse [Music] and then we have that Lo-Fi voice here let's check this out [Music] obviously that's distorted and panned in the left speaker guitar what's great about that is the way that the arrangement how that how that picking guitar goes with it [Music] very static Melody [Music] that's a real let me zero in on the base here because this is a thing that that's a real hook in the song [Music] so that that just little things like that a base change that happens there adds that melodic interest to keep the listener to pull the listener's ear back in it's all these little things like that that make you want to hear the song again [Music] [Music] [Music] well this is the bass and the drums here in this transition great that base now when you hear it in context you can really hear how that drives the lead in sane so another thing about this that is great is that these are not cut and pasted vocals in the choruses this chorus is different than the other chorus it's it's it's definitely a different singing performance and it's not auto-tuned that's that's another thing about this is that um if it is it's at you can't tell so the vocal performance is what makes the song so powerful I think it's got all these great hook lines in them but it's really very simple harmonically meaning the chord progressions and things like that lies joking on your eyes same as the other for us then the base what happens in the base there between the base of drums really makes this happen oh yeah that's just the Classic thing that you do to bring excitement if the base goes up and rides on on the eighth notes up the octave when it's playing it listen to it in context again okay get back down [Music] that's the other thing that happens here so this this drum fill that happens listen to build [Music] roll great Dynamics we put in the bay so you can hear the bass and drum lead in so basically carrying this with reports and then great drum Bill and then back to yeah love that one more time in context check it out [Music] car part and baseball just kind of work in concert with each other listen [Music] records in the bass [Music] great melodic change there foreign all those active up base notes that happen here and then this one last dissonance in the vocal so you hear that um he sings that sus4 that distance against this against the tonic chord and it just makes it so powerful when it resolves right here or this so that note the sus4 to the third on the one the one chord and then that note hangs over that becomes the major seven on the IV chord and that is really the money no right there three [Music] that's all for now make sure you leave a comment and hit the Subscribe button so you know when the next what makes this song great is coming out thank you so much for watching

Channel: Rick Beato

Views: 359,774

Keywords: rick beato, everything music, rick, beato, music, music theory, music production, education, the killers, dave keuning, the killers smile like you mean it, the killers when you were young, What makes this song great, WMTSG, Mr brightside, the killers mr brightside, Song analysis, Music recording, Isolated vocals, isolated guitar, isolated bass, isolated drums, isolated keyboard, Mr brightside isolated, mr brightside cover, Gibson guitar, the killers hot fuss

Id: VuCAFvcrtVc

Length: 18min 50sec (1130 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 08 2023