New album is called Hope

[Surpinto]

Welcome Mary. I'm with kinda_k00l, tell us more about what made you really like those songs. As fellow fans we are equally interested in what makes others enjoy certain songs more than others .

As you are very new to listening to Libera, you may be interested in reading the Libera timeline which is maintained by a fan named Amy. If you are so inclined this would help acquaint you with the history of the choir. And, yes, please listen to more of their music; "Hope" is a fantastic album but so are many of the others! We would love to hear more from you either here about the "Hope" album or at the new member section via a formal introduction - whichever you prefer.

[Surpinto]

Libera has released a video of their new vinyl album being produced and pressed. The vinyl will be available for purchase on Dec 15 in just a few days.

[Jay_S]

Didn't I read somewhere that this LP was going to be made from white vinyl? Or am I just Hope-ing for a white album

[fan_de_LoK]

I would like your opinion on 'Venite Adoremus':
Merlin is the credited soloist and he sings alone on part 2:55 - 3:35.

But do we know who sings the intro and final harmonies, and does the high notes all along the song ?
I'm not sure it is Merlin.

At first, from the sound of the voice I would have said Leo, but now the more I listen the song to try to be sure, the more I doubt...
Could it be Rocco ? Or perhaps Adam ?
Someone else ?

What is your opinion ?

[filiarheni]

Interesting question and again I wish these singers would be credited like Joe Platt was in Voca Me.

About Venite Adoremus: I would also have had a guess on Leo singing the vocalises. In no way sure though! You do not name Taichi - do you think it can't be him at all?
But I am very bad at memorising voices when I only heard them once or very few times in concerts, so I probably can't help much.

Adam - where have we heard him? I can't remember at the moment.

[fan_de_LoK]

You do not name Taichi - do you think it can't be him at all?
Well, I may be wrong of course, but I don't feel it can be Taichi, because on Venite Adoremus the high notes are both powerful and long.
Taichi does high notes on many songs, like on Sanctus, of course Salva Me, and also on Dies Irae, and many more. But appart for Salva Me, he is quite always accompanied by someone, Leo, or Leo and Adam. When he started as high notes performer a while ago and was alone, at times it was not easy to always hear him distinctly.

Adam - where have we heard him? I can't remember at the moment
He contributes on high notes on various songs, mixed with others. it occurred that he also performed a bit alone some months ago, I don't remember well when it was... maybe Korea Spring 2016, or Japan May 2017... And I remember that during our usual concert debrief, we fans agreed about the great quality of his high notes, auguring good possibilities to have him more exposed alone in the future (which don't not really occurred so far).


The Hope CD was released in May 2017, meaning the recordings were probably done somewhere in 2nd half 2016 or start of 2017 for the latest (not speaking about Benedictus Deus of course). A that time, who was able to perform such strong and nice high notes ? Perhaps Alex M, Gregor can be added to the list of possibilities ?
So far my guess is inclined to Rocco, but likely we will never know the official answer

[Surpinto]

This is a fairly difficult question to answer. At the start of the song we hear two distinct parts. The first are clearly multiple lower voices doing a "hmmm" backup as well as singing "venite adoremus deus". In fact, some (all?) of the voices are not just treble voices, but are clearly the older choristers whose voices have changed. I think that identifying any particular member of the choir for that part is next to impossible as it is multiple boys. It's really impossible to identify because some are doing the "hmmm" and others are gently singing the words over top of one another. It's an incredibly dense harmony and that aspect, along with others, makes this one of my favorite songs on the album.

The second part, the higher descant part, is clearly a single member and that makes him more amenable to identification. I believe that those higher parts are in fact done by Merlin.

Here is my evidence: Listen to his solo at 2:55 and then listen as he transitions (at 3:32) to that same high descant as we heard at the beginning.

He has a rather distinctive voice and after re-listening several times I cannot imagine it being anybody else.

[dani]

I agree with the thinking of it being Merlin doing the high notes on the song as well as the main solo.

[fan_de_LoK]

Hmmm... I may be wrong, but for me this high voice doesn't sounds the same as Merlin's voice

In addition, if you listen carefully Merlin's solo from 2'55'' to 3'36'', there is something interesting at the end.
The solo lyrics are 'Venite adoremus Deum / Et procidamus ante Dominum',

From 3'32'' to 3'36'', where Merlin finishes the word 'Dominum', the high voices starts and we can hear both Merlin and the high voice simultaneously for a few seconds.

If it's Merlin that both signs the solo and produces the high notes all along the song, then the overlap from 3'32'' to 3'36'' can be realized only in studio editing. It would not be doable exactly the same on a live performance, which would be odd to me....

Perhaps I will dare to ask Merlin at a future meet & Greet

[dani]

We have seen that Mr Prizeman in the studio over laps voices and stuff. He can cut individual voices down and then slot them into a song to over lay the voice. We saw that from the SOP special.

That’s probably why it’s not been done live. A lot of the best songs on Hope have unfortunately not made live concerts.

[filiarheni]

This is a surprising theory I never thought of. Not yet having listened to it carefully to find out if it sounds Merlin-like to me or not, just from a practical point of view:

What would be the value added to have one and the same boy sing the solo and the vocalises throughout one song, as long as they have enough other boys capable of doing solos? In my opinion, the songs become more interesting if these two very different tasks are divided among two different boys, and it's more team work.

And as long as there are enough boys, what would be the value added to do a recording where this has to be cut?

And if Venite Adoremus has never been intended by Robert to be performed live, then I believe that the reason can't be such an overlapping, due of the above said, but something different. Maybe the intro is too difficult, which means: too risky. But who knows? The song is not very old yet. Maybe Robert wanted to wait if people like it; so maybe we will get it live one day?

Now I'm wondering if such a supposed double function has ever happened at all. I can't think of a song in a concert or please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Surpinto]

Hmmm... I may be wrong, but for me this high voice doesn't sounds the same as Merlin's voice
In addition, if you listen carefully Merlin's solo from 2'55'' to 3'36'', there is something interesting at the end.
The solo lyrics are 'Venite adoremus Deum / Et procidamus ante Dominum',

From 3'32'' to 3'36'', where Merlin finishes the word 'Dominum', the high voices starts and we can hear both Merlin and the high voice simultaneously for a few seconds.

If it's Merlin that both signs the solo and produces the high notes all along the song, then the overlap from 3'32'' to 3'36'' can be realized only in studio editing. It would not be doable exactly the same on a live performance, which would be odd to me....

Perhaps I will dare to ask Merlin at a future meet & Greet

Okay, I went back and re-listened to that a few times with your observations in mind and I hear exactly what you are referring to. I did not hear it before, but it still sounds to me like it is the same voice; but my ear is not sophisticated or trained enough to conclude anything definitively. Your point though is well made, FDL.

I do agree with Dani that Robert Prizeman and team very often does a lot of post production editing of this sort; and this may be an intentional audio artifact of exactly that so I am not excluding that possibility.

I hope you do ask him about this as now I am very curious!

This is a surprising theory I never thought of. Not yet having listened to it carefully to find out if it sounds Merlin-like to me or not, just from a practical point of view:

What would be the value added to have one and the same boy sing the solo and the vocalises throughout one song, as long as they have enough other boys capable of doing solos? In my opinion, the songs become more interesting if these two very different tasks are divided among two different boys, and it's more team work.

And as long as there are enough boys, what would be the value added to do a recording where this has to be cut?

And if Venite Adoremus has never been intended by Robert to be performed live, then I believe that the reason can't be such an overlapping, due of the above said, but something different. Maybe the intro is too difficult, which means: too risky. But who knows? The song is not very old yet. Maybe Robert wanted to wait if people like it; so maybe we will get it live one day?

Now I'm wondering if such a supposed double function has ever happened at all. I can't think of a song in a concert or please correct me if I'm wrong.

There are many songs that Libera has never sung live and will never sing live. "Secret" was never sung live and this is the best example that I can think of where Robert actually recorded a boy's voice into his digital keyboard and played the voice as a back up. We know this from the SOP special that Dani references (see video at 15:45).



So this is definitely something that is done with some regularity in recordings. Assuming it is the same voice on Venite Adoremus, for what reason would Robert Prizeman do this? A person harmonizes with themselves better than with another and it would create a more smooth transition and feel of the song. Using multiple soloists creates a different feel.

[dani]

Did Joe Platt not do the original high notes and then the solo on Stay With Me and then when it was performed live that was changed so two boys did the two separate parts?

That’s one occasion off the top of my head where that’s happened.


If you listen to the voice doing the high notes from the 50 second mark and then Merlin at 3.22 seconds it’s got to be Merlin. The voice sounds the exact same to me but I am obviously no professional

[Yorkie]

I take it you have ruled out Gabriel? I must admit you are much better at identifying voices but I thought it reminded me of the voice in Paddington 2...What we need to factor in is when the recording was made - the boys doing the high notes at that time are probably different to the guys doing it today.

On the issue of one boy doing two different parts on a song I think the original of 'Stay With Me' was recorded that way on the 'Free' album with Joe Platt. On the Video (and in concert performances since it also features two different boys) Joe Platt did the main vocal (think Ed Day) and Joe Sanders-Wilde did the high (Liam) part, but I read somewhere that Joe Platt actually recorded both parts for the album JS-W mimed it for the video. There is some credence to this in that the album sleeve notes only credit Joe Platt for the song whereas other tracks do credit multiple singers.

Coming back to the 'Hope' album, songs like 'Three Ravens' list multiple singers so why wouldn't that track? I think the high part is at least as important as the one in 'Three Ravens'.

[Yorkie]

Did Joe Platt not do the original high notes and then the solo on Stay With Me and then when it was performed live that was changed so two boys did the two separate parts?

That’s one occasion off the top of my head where that’s happened.

I was broken off by a phone call otherwise I would have posted mine first!