Gaga's vocals in The Fame era compared to the actual album

[Kim Woodburn 219]

This has always fascinated me since the beginning, Gaga's vocals on The Fame album in comparison to her live performances around that time (2008-2010) were extremely different. I actually prefer her live vocals during this time, but I do recall people saying she couldn't sing (particularly with a few acoustic performances where her voice sounds extremely strained...I'm guessing she smoked a bit at this time!).

The closest she sounds to the the actual album version (of Paparazzi) is when she performed it at the Madison Square Garden show that was recorded for HBO, and I'm guessing that's because she was extra cautious not to sound too out of breath etc for the recording (the whole HBO special is quite 'careful' compared to fan recordings and stuff, most probably because it was being recorded).

On almost every track of The Fame (except Again Again, which kinda sounds like it was done when she was performing as Stefani) her vocals are exactly the same....pretty sounding and clean cut.

So was her vocals pitched purposely or what? Because I'm at the point in my reductive life where I'd live to hear the same album but with her natural vocals as opposed to altered.  I'm sure Paparazzi is pitched. That's one track I am adamant is pitched!

 

[PassTheTime 1,448]

I feel like she tries to go too high this time and sounds stained DH or PI but maybe it's just me 

[911 16,707]

Oh yeah, I noticed that too

Somebody evolved, some other artist not 

[SS77 1,945]

Her voice just...changed over time haha

From when they were recorded compared to when they were performed. 

Look at this video. Her voice her is the voice she uses in songs like Paparazzi, BDR, Brown Eyes, Summerboy, etc.

The Fame always makes me laugh because you can literally tell how old some of the songs are based on how high/low her voice sounds. For example, songs like Paparazzi and Summerboy were recorded in like late 2006/2007. While songs like Just Dance and Poker Face were the last to be recorded and completed. 

 

On another note, listen to her raspy low vocals during TF era live performances. Especially summer 2009. That's when she recorded TFM. 

[Alien Tulip 12,428]

Fame era vocals > Katy Perry & Rihanna vocals. 

 

 

[Pablo 7,670]

It's probably from smoking 

[Supersonic 49,376]

From what I've learned, I'm assuming she used to do a "headier" mix (mixing head voice and chest voice), which made her mid-range and upper-range sound a lot more clear, clean-cut and girl-ish, while currently she opts for a chestier mix which makes her sound a lot more growly and powerful. One is not "better" than the other, they're both valid non-damaging techniques (when done correctly of course) but having a chestier mix does require extensive knowledge and training of vocal techniques. It's also extremely difficult to maintain a chest-y sound above E#5 for a Mezzo-Soprano like Gaga, so that's why the majority of Gaga's songs after The Fame don't go above that note anymore (except for Do What U Want that has a very short F#5)

[sipthistea 21,099]

She gets better with the time. That confirms what many people say about her: "No one else in the industry works as hard as she does" 

[Delulu Rogers 7,146]

I always that her vocals during the live performances during the fame era always sounded so deep compared to the audio version and her vocals now

[HauntingHollow 4,310]

 lol no, it was because she recorded the album during 2007 - 2008 and then she started to do drugs heavily and smoke which changed her voice to what it sounded like in 2009, she actually suffered vocal damage from that, but her technique was fine already, she was not straining 

[Illuminati 15,901]

Her singing technique changed I think, TF/M were very overproduced though so the vocals especially on TF didn't match up very well with her not so well trained and also very strained from countless perfomances voice at the time. She can sing all of her old and new songs almost the same as they were recorded now though, which is interesting imo. 

And it's unrelated to smoking  cause she was smoking heavily the entire time and only "quit" recently.

It's also worth to mention that it seems like Joanne and C2C are the only albums of hers without edited vocals.

[Ferrer Zorola 3,966]

she has never sung again like she did in Poker Face sometimes I believe another singer recorded that track, same with paparazzi 
sorry not sorry

[HauntingHollow 4,310]

13 minutes ago, Supersonic said:

From what I've learned, I'm assuming she used to do a "headier" mix (mixing head voice and chest voice), which made her mid-range and upper-range sound a lot more clear, clean-cut and girl-ish, while currently she opts for a chestier mix which makes her sound a lot more growly and powerful. One is not "better" than the other, they're both valid non-damaging techniques (when done correctly of course) but having a chestier mix does require extensive knowledge and training of vocal techniques. It's also extremely difficult to maintain a chest-y sound above E#5 for a Mezzo-Soprano like Gaga, so that's why the majority of Gaga's songs after The Fame don't go above that note anymore (except for Do What U Want that has a very short F#5)

i dont think it was about the mix, i mean yeah she was using chestier, less balanced mix, but if she did that now, which she still sometimes does, she sounds nowhere near like 2009, i think that the reason she sounded like that was actually vocal damage from smoking and drugs 

[Supersonic 49,376]

3 minutes ago, Moncher said:

i dont think it was about the mix, i mean yeah she was using chestier, less balanced mix, but if she did that now, which she still sometimes does, she sounds nowhere near like 2009, i think that the reason she sounded like that was actually vocal damage from smoking and drugs 

 I think in 2009 and so she was starting to try to use a less head-voice dominant mix and therefore started to sound strained and shouty until she managed to the get hang of it somewhen in 2011

[Smother Em Eh 7,063]

3 hours ago, Alien Tulip said:

Fame era vocals > Katy Perry & Rihanna vocals. 

 

 

Gaga's worst vocals are much better than Rihanna and Katy's best vocals!