Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

  1. #1

    Default Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    I found a video from a guy who uploads isolated tracks from songs and while working on the isolated vocal he Apparently ended up finding a track that was like a crowd singing the “Still those voices are calling from far away, wake up in the middle of the night just to hear them say hey” and then the second chorus. I am not sure if he found this for the other choruses but it seems to be real as the “crowd” is singing seemingly in key. The guy said he had to turn the volume on the track up substantially to even hear it. Here’s a link to it https://ifunny.co/fun/rA10pguP4?s=cl do you guys think it’s real and if so why do you think they put this in the song?

  2. #2
    Stuck on the Border
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    24,191

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    Presumably it's an isolated track from a live version of the song. How could it be the studio recording?

  3. #3

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    Presumably it's an isolated track from a live version of the song. How could it be the studio recording?
    It could be but it’s not on the Eagles life there’s no crowd noise. I cannot think of any live recording with enough crowd noise to make that. It’s also pretty well in tune. The fact that it cuts out when don sings solo is also odd. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think It’s a live record

  4. #4
    Border Rebel Pippinwhite's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Alabama
    Posts
    949

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    I've got pretty decent on-ear, noise canceling headphones, and very good ears, and I swear I couldn't hear it, even though I had the volume up LOUD. Full disclosure: I was listening to the remastered version on Spotify. I don't have it on vinyl (boo!). You may not be able to pick it up EXCEPT on vinyl.

    Having said that, it doesn't mean it's NOT on the studio track, buried down deep in an overdub somewhere. And that may be the only way you can really hear it, is if you have the knowledge and software to isolate individual tracks and hear each one.

    We're talking analog masters here, not digital, so at some point, each track existed as an individual, physical reel of tape (again, sound/recording geeks, please correct me if I'm wrong). All the tracks were then layered over each other and mixed on to the master tape. Brian May from Queen has a fascinating story about how this was accomplished for "Bohemian Rhapsody." He said there were so many overdubs to create the desired effects, and the master tape had been run through the machine so many times, you could literally see through it!!

    Soooo, it wouldn't surprise me if someone said, "Hey! Let's get a bunch of people in here and have them sing the chorus! Wouldn't that be cool!" I mean, the Beatles had their friends in the studio, marching around, dragging chains and honking bicycle horns during "Yellow Submarine." So, it's not unheard of. It's probably 20-30 people, maybe as many as 40, but to me, it doesn't sound like any more than that. It does sound like they're singing in a tunnel, with all the echo, but that may be a microphone effect.

    In any case, they may have mixed it in with that verse, to suggest all the "voices calling", then later on, decided they didn't like it that well, and overdubbed it so it wasn't audible. It was easier to do that than it was to get rid of it completely, since again, we're working with analog, not digital. Sort of like covering up a bad tattoo instead of getting it removed altogether.

    So it's very possible to do that in the studio, and not have it be audible to anyone who's not taking the song apart, track by track. Just my two cents' worth. It's also an interesting bit of Eagles' ephemera.

    Thanks for posting the track, YEF!!

  5. #5
    Stuck on the Border
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Posts
    1,948

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    Very interesting - whatever it is.

  6. #6
    Stuck on the Border
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    24,191

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    Quote Originally Posted by Pippinwhite View Post
    I've got pretty decent on-ear, noise canceling headphones, and very good ears, and I swear I couldn't hear it, even though I had the volume up LOUD. Full disclosure: I was listening to the remastered version on Spotify. I don't have it on vinyl (boo!). You may not be able to pick it up EXCEPT on vinyl.

    Having said that, it doesn't mean it's NOT on the studio track, buried down deep in an overdub somewhere. And that may be the only way you can really hear it, is if you have the knowledge and software to isolate individual tracks and hear each one.

    We're talking analog masters here, not digital, so at some point, each track existed as an individual, physical reel of tape (again, sound/recording geeks, please correct me if I'm wrong). All the tracks were then layered over each other and mixed on to the master tape. Brian May from Queen has a fascinating story about how this was accomplished for "Bohemian Rhapsody." He said there were so many overdubs to create the desired effects, and the master tape had been run through the machine so many times, you could literally see through it!!

    Soooo, it wouldn't surprise me if someone said, "Hey! Let's get a bunch of people in here and have them sing the chorus! Wouldn't that be cool!" I mean, the Beatles had their friends in the studio, marching around, dragging chains and honking bicycle horns during "Yellow Submarine." So, it's not unheard of. It's probably 20-30 people, maybe as many as 40, but to me, it doesn't sound like any more than that. It does sound like they're singing in a tunnel, with all the echo, but that may be a microphone effect.

    In any case, they may have mixed it in with that verse, to suggest all the "voices calling", then later on, decided they didn't like it that well, and overdubbed it so it wasn't audible. It was easier to do that than it was to get rid of it completely, since again, we're working with analog, not digital. Sort of like covering up a bad tattoo instead of getting it removed altogether.

    So it's very possible to do that in the studio, and not have it be audible to anyone who's not taking the song apart, track by track. Just my two cents' worth. It's also an interesting bit of Eagles' ephemera.

    Thanks for posting the track, YEF!!
    Do you really think the Eagles were the type of band to do that? They used some friends on Greeks, when they couldn't be bothered any more.

  7. #7
    Border Rebel Pippinwhite's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Alabama
    Posts
    949

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    They used to get the road crew on stage to sing "All Night Long." It's not out of the realm of possibility, especially if they thought it would add something a little weird or unusual to the song. They were kind of testing limits on that song, and they knew it, so I'd say it's possible. Besides, all kinds of things sound like wonderful ideas when you're exploring better living through chemistry that might not sound so fabulous when you're sober.

    Did they do it? I don't know. The one to ask would be Bill Szymczyk. I wish I could.

    I don't have anything close to the technical expertise to do something like that, assuming I had the software to do it. All I can say is I personally couldn't hear it on the remastered version on Spotify. So I can't say with any kind of authority whether the track is real or not. If it is, it was obviously overdubbed into oblivion on the final version (but is probably inaudible except on the original vinyl album). If not, then it's not. It's an interesting tidbit, in any case.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Mysterious crowd track on hotel California

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    Do you really think the Eagles were the type of band to do that? They used some friends on Greeks, when they couldn't be bothered any more.
    Well Glenn did try to get that choir to do hotel California before he passed. I could see it being an idea or a concept type thing and then just replacing it. They could probably gather people around the studio

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •