Charlie17

I had to re-read what I wrote as well. Not because it doesn't technically make sense, but my sentences were like 90 words long. That's funny you thought the reverb comment was funny. Most recordings of songs and records these days are not done the way that Parachutes was. There are essentially two approaches to recording a band. When the band plays together and everything (drums, guitars, bass, piano, vocals, etc.) is recorded simultaneously, this is called recording "live." It used to be the norm in the music industry for various reasons, mainly because recording was done (like Parachutes was) with physical electromagnetic tape machines. and for everything to be recorded separately and then mixed together wouldn't have been realistic for a number of reasons. But since ProTools and computers have replaced physical tape as the way recordings are captured and stored, it's more common for each element of a song to be "tracked" separately. Layering the various instruments and sounds one by one. When someone records one part at a time, like I do because I'm a solo artist and I play each instrument, it's called over-dubbing. It makes it possible for a band like Coldplay to record a song without the band members even being in the same country. Audio engineers also prefer this method, typically, because, it allows them to process each track in a song (an acoustic guitar for instance, or a vocal track) without "bleed" from other instruments. Recording live, has the issue of microphone bleed because if you think about it, while chris is playing and singing, the microphone he's singing into will also record his guitar, drums in the background, and whatever else is captured in his vocal mic. For a more modern approach, Chris would likely sing in a vocal booth that is acoustically very dead. If you've never been in one, they are weird little rooms. The second you stop making a sound, the room is utterly quiet almost instantly. Chris, or anyone recording in a vocal booth wears headphones while singing so that he can hear himself and the other instruments that have been recorded and sing along, but the headphones don't let the sound get recorded by his microphone. Reverb is a very common effect that would be applied afterwards to give the sense of "space" to his singing. Just think about the amount of time it takes for a loud noise to become completely quiet in a huge room or a really reflective room like a bathroom. Some reverb effects are expensive and use serious hardware, and some aren't expensive and use algorithms and software. It gets much more complicated than my explanation believe me. Things like pre-delays, early reflections, density...it's taken a musician like me who records his own stuff and made me feel like a physicist at times. I'll leave it there. But there's also compression, equalization, gating, delays, saturation, and all kinds of things done to make voices and instruments sound as good as possible and fit together in a song as well as possible. Sorry for the dissertation. :)

Michael Brauer who's mentioned as the mix engineer, he did a few tracks on Viva la Vida and did this thing to Chris' vocal that people call "Brauerizing." He Basically runs a track, likely the lead vocal, which is exactly what he did on the lead vocal of "Violet Hill," through literally all of his outboard equipment (compressors mostly). He doesn't actually process the sound or compress anything, but just running the audio through these dozens and dozens, maybe hundreds of tubes and transistors "colors" the sound in a subtle but interesting way. I personally think the vocal sound on Violet Hill, the only song I am positivity he used this little technique that no one without like a million $ of amazing gear can do, sounds really cool. It's not in anyway "cheating" like autotune or melodyne can be for people who can't sing in tune and can be artificially placed in pitch. Coloring the sound is one of the appeals of the real hardware vs. the software plugins and Brauer uses all the gear in a huge studio on Chris' vocal to color it, and it came out cool. The reverb sounds expensive too. Although he did use the Waves Renaissance De-Esser on that track which anyone with $30 to spare can obtain. De-essers aren't exactly sexy tools to work with though that's for sure.

I just noticed peoples interest in some of the more technical side of things/sounds/production etc. This article from quite a few years ago in Sound on Sound is about as good as it gets to get a first hand account of what the process was like recording parachutes. I'm curious to know which word Ken Nelson auto-tuned on the album. Also interesting that Yellow was done with a click track in ProTools while the others were played live essentially. Ken Nelson also mentions that pump organ that seemed to be so omnipresent in coldplay's early stuff. acted almost like a synth pad. It's a great article, I'm sure anyone who loves Coldplay and records music or is interested in this type of stuff will like this article. Cheers, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct00/articles/ken.htm

Here's the mix of Ghost Story. I found it kind of tough to record and mix for some reason. I like the song a lot though. looking forward to hearing that new one Miracles! https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/the-ghost-story-1

Thanks man. Appreciate it. Just wish I wrote some of those coldplay songs. I'd kill to have the ones they throw away! I'm mixing Ghost Story right now. Tried to give it something at least different from the record

Here's a cover of "Always in My Head" that I just reworked. I wish I could remember how i played the guitar, but if anyone wants to know the piano chords I used I am happy to share them. It's in a different key than the album track. https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/always-in-my-head_hwm_42

Apologies for the self-promotion. Just wanted to share a cover i did over Ghost Story. I used the DADGAD tuning tuned down a semitone. I also just looped that little shaker percussive sound at the beginning. There are probably hundreds of ways to play the chords in this song. I layered four guitars and played the chords for the chorus differently for each one. For one take, I made the first D chord in the chorus with 0-0-7-7-0-0. For another take i did 0-5-7-7-0-0 and for another take I did 0-5-4-7-0-0. I played the second chord of the chorus at...what must have been the 10th fret. it might be a fret off, but just adjust by one for each finger if it is. 10-10-10-9-0-0 or 10-10-10-0-0-0. Same for the chord. 5-5-5-4-0-0 or just 5-5-5-0-0-0. The transition chord to the chorus was always 0-3-0-0-0-0. just played plucked power chords for the verses. https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/the-ghost-story

Probably "Up with the Birds." Haha.

https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/o-10-13-14

Hey guys. Just heard the version of this song Chris did on the LeftRightLeftRight album, and thought i'd tty it out on acoustic guitar. I have been experimenting with a new reference pitch other than A=440Hz based on something I read in sound on sound. Evidently, A4=424Hz (approximately 64 cents flat) is the pitch that the great composers like Mozart used and also is related to the golden ratio, Pi, and other frequencies and numbers that occur repeatedly in nature and math. It might be gimmicky, but i like it for now. The album track and the live version album track of The Hardest Part is in standard concert pitch, so these chords and tunings will work fine even though my cover is not quite a semitone flat. I looked at the "little black book" of coldplay guitar transcriptions, which really gets a lot of the tunnies and chord formations true to how Chris Martin plays them. For this one, I think they just posted the chords with a capo because he plays it on the piano. I did something more Coldplayish and Took the coldplay tuning of E-A-D-G-B-Eb and tuned that whole thing down a semitone. so strumming an E chord gives you an Ebmaj7. And then i just played the chords like Chris Martin does in this tuning which was doable because it's contained within a major key. I'll write the chords as if the guitar isa not tuned down a half step. So, when i write Emaj7, it's actually an Ebmaj7. Doesn't really matter cause i'll provide the chords in my form of tab. Here are the Chords (in order from the low E to the high Eb with the numbers indicating the fret.) E (0-2-2-1-0-0), G#min (4-6-6-4-0-0), C#min (9-11-11-9-0-0) F# (2-4-4-3-0-0), B (7-9-9-8-0-0), D#min (X-6-8-6-7-0), Intro: E then G#min then C#min then E then F#. Verses G#min then E then B then D#min (then back to the G# to start again) Chorus (E then B then F#) Chorus Outro: (G#min then F# then E then D# (X-6-8-8-6-0 this time), then C#min then back to the Verse progression. The last time he does this, swap out the C# min for the F# chord. When he sings "everything I know is wrong" it's E then G#min then C#min and the final little outré is just and E and F#. Here's what it sounds like. You can fret the first string first fret to make the Emaj7 an Emaj, which is more true to the song. I left it as a Maj7 for fun though. Cheers. Charlie https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/the-hardest-part

Hey guys, Does anyone have an idea what would be a possible way to replicate the kind of sound Will uses on his Roland Octopad for Oceans. The idea of having a drum beat that is pitched to the key of the song is pretty clever and it sounds good to me. I'm just not gonna go buy the "Octopad" any time soon. Though it looks sweet. I use logic X btw. And also, here's a little cover I did of oceans. I played it while listening to the version they did at BBC 1 as a guide track. I used the tuning DADGAD. Honestly don't even remember how I played it. I don't think it's 100% the way Chris plays it, but it's close and I think the chords are generally good sounding. I pitch shifted the BBC version they did down 1 semitone and put the capo one fret lower. I just like it a little better in that key. Or maybe i just don't have the range to stretch all the way for the original key haha. thanks. https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/oceans-2 Here's a kind of fun cover of Magic I did as well. It's over-dubbed over the album track but it works I think. I added a different drum beat. For anyone curious, Magic happens to have a perfectly consistent metronome cooperative tempo of 93.469. Any fast or slower and it's slightly off by the end. Wonder how they arrived at that number. who knows. I used an irregular delay I made up in Logic for the solo. It came out surprisingly well. Take that back. I actually play all those notes. haha. not quite https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/magic

By ear, hear are the chords I think he's playing. I agree, they are pretty. And they aren't exactly 3 note triads either. The first chord sounds like a G9sus4/F (it could be argued or possible this is more accurately labeled an F 6/9 if not for that lone C note). See how it sounds to you. the /F just means that F is the lowest note of the chord even though it's not the root note of the chord. Starting with F2, the notes from lowest to highest are F, G, D, F, G, C, D, F, G, A. (Evidently Chris Martin likes using all ten fingers to make a lot of his chords). 2nd chord is an A#6/9. A#2 (or maybe it's A#3. that lone A# note at the far left of the piano is a blank spot in my keyboard knowledge), D, F, G, A#, C, D. Then Dmin7+5 or just try a Bbmaj 7 with D as the bass note. Something like D, F, A, A#, C, D. See if you like it better without the C in there. It's important to make sure the D is the lowest note in that chord though. and finally, a Cadd9/G or something with that flavor. That one is not quite as clear to me. But definitely use the notes C, D, E, G with the lowest note (probably G but see what sounds good) higher pitched than the lowest note of the 3rd chord. Let me know. That's just by ear and I don't play piano well. But my ear is usually not bad. not perfect. but generally not bad. Take care. -Charlie

yeah. there are at least two guitars playing simultaneously, for one, so if something sounds too low, like the Emaj chord in the chorus, it doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong (it's definitely not wrong), there are just other instruments in the arrangement playing the same notes at higher octaves. I'll just Tell you how I play it. Briefly. There are two guitars (i'm talking about the version that sounds like chris was writing it rather than the Natalie Imbruglia album version) and you can hear when the second one comes in that even though it's playing similar chords, there are open strings that sound like they're tuned differently. I just play it (or prefer to play it) with the high e tuned down to C#. Let the b string and detuned high e string ring open for each chord. For the verses from from Badd9 (7-9-9-8-0-0) to C#min (9-11-11-9-0-0) to A (5-7-7-6-0-0) then C#min then back to B. When you start the chord sequence the second time, you can put your index finger down on the b string 7th fret. and for the chorus. G#min add 11 (4-6-6-4-0-0) then F#sus2 (2-4-4-3-0-0) (or regular F# wight eh 2nd string 2nd fret covered) and then E6 (0-2-2-1-0-0) the back to F# and G#min. Should sound good. Can't replicate the exact sound of the instrumentation on the song because it's more than a guitar or two

I always thought of that DADGAD tuning as kind of lame, but I think i was wrong. It's rich sounding. Here's a little cover/reinterpretation of Ghost Story with DADGAD. or actually I think i went C#-G#-C#-F#-G#-C#. Same deal though. Thanks for posting marauder8112. Lookin forward to checking out more of your covers. Take care. Charlie https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/disappear-in-august

sounds good man. you should transcribe those chords. or at least the gist of what you're doing. sounds very good!

this might answer your question a little better. I wrote down the basic voicings of the chords. But there were some repeats of specific notes I left out. I just gave as complete a picture as I could of the voicing for each chord. If I wrote down 4 notes, i'd bet he played those 4 notes with 8 fingers across a few octaves. just my guess. let me know if those chords sound remotely correct. I didn't double check it with my ear. Melodyne is great sometimes and not so great other times. With a clear piano track (no hazy synthesizers and guitar delays) i'd bet it's pretty close at least.

I have no idea honestly. I didn't work that out by ear. I put it into melodyne, which is mainly used for correcting pitch on vocals, but also won a grammy for their "DNA" (direct note access) technology that can break apart polyphonic material into individual notes. It works best for clearer sources, such as a strummed acoustic guitar or a piano. Sometimes I'll use it on a recorded guitar if the intonation is off a little bit. I can bring one or two strings back into tune if they've sharpened cause of my playing style or the guitar just won't stay in tune for an entire song. It let's you tune one note of a chord without affecting the others even though they're all played together. Pretty amazing stuff. These are the notes that it detected. It's not fool proof. I rarely use it to figure out a song over using my ear, but sometimes, say if Chris Martin clearly has an open string or two that aren't in standard tuning, you can clearly see what they are. It's also good for experimenting with vocal harmonies. Like I said, my piano playing is not good. Working on it..but i've been playing for under two years. So I can't aster your question. Trust your ear man. And if you're doing a cover, i personally think it's a little better to not do it spec for spec like the recorded version and insert some of your own interpretation. that said, I'd love to play piano like chris martin so i wouldn't mind knowing exactly how he goes about it.

I'm not much of a piano player. But here are the chords for the intro, the verses, and the pre-chorus. maybe it's the regular chorus, i'm just dead and gotta go to sleep so this is only as far as i've actually listened. nice chords and melody though. I'll just write the key's (notes) as they're played by Chris Martin on piano. Intro: (F2-C3-A-3-F3-C4) then (F2-D3--A#-C4) ( he might use more fingers but those are the notes and voicings. ) Verse: (A#2-F3-C-4-D-4-A#4-A4) then (C3-G3-A#3-C4) "Such a.."" Fmaj 1st inversion "A long" Just A and C notes. almost an Amin (F2-A#2-C3 Transitional Chord ((A#2-F3-A3-C4-F4) Pre Chorus I think it is, Into my wild .. ( (A#2-F3-A#3) Side...(C3-G3-C4) Say Goodbye (F2-C3-A3-C4) To My (A2-G3-C4-E4-G-4), then the next chord switches from the E4 to an F4. That's as far as I could manage

if the chords are enough i can probably give you the voicings he uses. it sounds like a clean piano track. i can just be lazy and through it into melodyne and it'll separate that note for note without a problem.

This song was never released in my home country of the US, but I heard it for probably the fourth or fifth time yesterday. Even if you aren't a fan, there is something remarkably creative about it, I think. I did this cover by ear. Using an open tuning (E-b-e-g#-b-e) with a capo on the 7th. The key of the song is actually in C so to play along with the record the capo would go on the 8th. I just fretted the 4th string at the 1st and 3rd frets relative to the capo for the csus4 and I believe I fretted the 6th string fifth fret (whichever fret makes an F note) and plucked it with and A note on the fifth (10th fret maybe) then up to a B note toe frets higher then a half step to C all while keeping the F note fretted on the 6th string. I just played the rest on a midi keyboard. I like the song. Never heard anything quite like it. It was fun to cover it. https://soundcloud.com/cedmo013/a-rebel-yell-a-spell

Good song?

Um. Mostly just coldplaying forums about addiction. And narcotics. And soft rock. That's about it

Simpler versions of the chords should work too. F#min (2-4-4-2-0-0), Bmin (7-9-9-7-0-0). If it doesn't sound right, I'd try playing around with the order of the chords. I think these seem to be at least the essence of the chords used. Coldplay like to use alternate tunings, although much of their early early stuff, like Bigger Stronger, is in standard and remarkably ingenious. Especially the chorus to that one

ALSO, try following that chord sequence with the same chords but in this order, F#min/Amaj/Emaj/Bmin. That's about all I could hear from that youtube clip. Hope that helps

can also play the first two chords (x-9-11-11-10-0) then, (7-7-9-9-9-0)