Mike Patton

[andychamp]

What happened to his voice between "The real thing" and "Angel dust"?
Was the change in his voice or in the recording techniques used, or both?
Did they varispeed "The real thing" down for his vocal takes and then back up again?
Anybody here involved in those two albums?

Amazingly, there's one track on "Peeping Tom" where he's got that early voice.

Either way, he's got one of the most impressive voices out there.

(P.S. I found the other M.P. threads, but thought this subject deserved its own thread)

[Never1]

I've always thought Patton was one of the best rock vocalists out there. His range and ever changing tone from song to song and album to album is what makes him so great. That guy is truly amazing, vocally. FNM are one of my fav bands from the last 20 years or so. Just incredible.

[Sui_City]

Patton is the shit. His work and efforts in developing himself are absolutely awesome.

There was a Mike Patton and the Metropole Orchestra gig on Fabchannel, but i see it has expired. Bummer.

[PhilR]

I've often wondered the same thing myself. I suspect it was a conscious choice on his part. He did have something of a reaction to the fame he acquired after the release of the Real Thing which led to him rebelling against his newfound poster boy image, he probably wanted to get away from the voice as much as from the haircut.

He didn't really settle into the new style until later on I think. You can still hear undertones of his old singing style on Angel Dust. And don't forget he was still in Mr Bungle throughout that whole period, maybe he wanted to change to suit their sound as well? Who knows.

One of my fave vocalists though. There arn't many rock singers with a great voice who know how to use it to full advantage.

[theblue1]

I'm listening to Faith No More and Spark's collaborative version of the [weirdly great] early 70s Sparks song, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" -- and it is brilliant.

(So sad that the 70s sparks stuff seems to be completely unavailable in digital sale form. It's not on Rhapsody's subscription service or in their store and when I went to Amazon's mp3 store, just now, it was the same 80s and late stuff as on Rhapsody. No wonder Sparks released the really quite wonderful it its own way, Plagiarism, where they do even more tweaky versions of their old hits.)

Anyhow, props to Patton for apparently being a big classic-Sparks fan. (Sad to say I really don't care for their 80s/new wave oriented stuff. Cool Places my ass. )

[skiltrip]

If you listen to The Real Thing he basically uses ONE (possibly two) of his many voices. I do think it was a concious effort on his part and perhaps him kind of doing a few things at rehearsal and the band, saying, yeah do that! They were coming from a singer who had little to no range, so I'm sure they didn't want to get too crazy. But once people discovered the Mr. Bungle album and loved it, I think Patton was free to do his thing on Angel Dust.

I remember hearing Angel Dust for the first time and being like, holy c**p! It was heavy. And Patton was all over the map vocally (not quite as dynamic as Mr. Bungle, but getting closer). I loved it.

+1 to Patton being awesome. That guy is a true talent and innovator vocally.

[redvelvetstudios]

possibly off topic, but I hear he's also scoring movies these days, currently working on CRANK 2...

Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)

[organik]

Jeez PATTON is a bug musical idol of mine. Saw him perform many times with a lot of his different acts. He really is a huge creative force and can sing anything in any way you want.....

Just based on the fact he did the vampire screams in I AM Legend alone can suggest it was a vocal choice and he was also very young then so i am sure that had to do with his pitch a bit cause in mr bungle he had the same higher pitched thing going on.

I love that man ! LOL he is amazing live with john zorn...Thats something to see.

[abell1234]

I have always been under the impression that Mike was asked to join FNM after they had tracked The Real Thing, so all he did was sing some words to the music. And Angel Dust was the first time he wrote and composed with the band. I believe that caffeine was his first song (composition) with FNM. I would imagine that he felt much more comfortable with the band by that point (and they with him), and was able to freely use his voice. King for Day is one the best rock albums of all time (IMO). His "real" work (the stuff outside of FNM) is quite entertaining.

[aiff]

Yeah, loved his work for years. I heard the Faith No More track Epic recently after a long time and it still sounds like a great track. (The piano bit on the end is amazing..) Sometimes tracks can date quite badly, but it still stands up.

I enjoyed his .. er.. vocal performance on Bjork's (making of) Medulla DVD