Does anyone have the original version? Last year, just before the album leaked/released, I seem to remember there being a different version of HLH (pretty sure it was this song) that most posters at the time preferred, and then when it was released Chris' voice had been doctored digitally to distort the song.. does anyone know what I'm talking about (pls) and have the orginal version anywhere? I've had a quick scoot around the forum, to no avail...

The only thing that I remember was that people had preferred the live version that they had been hearing for the past few months to the studio version when it was released. I believe this was due mostly to what some saw as an overproduction of the song and the vocal distortion as you mentioned. This is why I for one can't wait to have the live version that will be on Live 2012 even though I have little problem with the studio version as well.

 

At the time of the first leak there was some speculation that what we were hearing was rough mixes and that the album versions would be different (If i remember it right it had something to do with some track running times that were not matching on certain websites) but this was mostly just wishful thinking on the parts of some and turned out to be just that... speculation.

 

Hope that helped a little anyway.

thanks, maybe it was just the live versions!

Does anyone have the original version? Last year, just before the album leaked/released, I seem to remember there being a different version of HLH (pretty sure it was this song) that most posters at the time preferred, and then when it was released Chris' voice had been doctored digitally to distort the song.. does anyone know what I'm talking about (pls) and have the orginal version anywhere? I've had a quick scoot around the forum, to no avail...

 

I know exactly what you are talking about. While many tried to say this was an 'alternate' version -- it was the song we hear today. I just think people were in denial and tried to hear it differently.

it can be major minus? i think the ep version have some aditional vocals

Earlier versions didn't have the backup vocal mixed very high; therefore, it didn't sound like it was there. People gradually noticed around the time of iTunes Festival where it was actually mixed well.

No Change

 

it can be major minus? i think the ep version have some aditional vocals

 

No, the EP and album versions of Major Minus are the same. Nonetheless, it would definitely be interesting to hear alternate versions of all the songs!

 

As for Chris's voice in HLH, there's nothing done to his lead vocal to distort it. It's the backing vocal that goes along with the chorus that has effects on it that give it a more synthetic, robotic sort of a sound. If there's anything done to the lead vocal, it'll be layer of vocal takes to make it sound more powerful and rich. Oracle confirmed that auto-tuning is never used on Chris's voice, so that's not an option. Other than the possibility of vocal layering and maybe some reverb added onto the track, his lead vocal is pretty clean. The only notable place where the lead vocal has anything synthetic added would be the "Ooo's" at the very end.

 

So, that's about that! And to confirm what else has been said, the leaked tracks that came out ahead of the official release were the unfinished versions that had either not been completely mixed or had not been mastered.

 

If anyone should have any questions, I am an audio engineer and can analyze/tear apart any song about which you may have any inquiries. Of course, this being a Coldplay forum, I would be more than happy to give engineering information about Coldplay music. :)

I love the live intro of Mylo Xyloto so much more then the album version 

HLH is fantastic.

Does anyone have the 'unfinished' versions?