It starts out with a droning effect, followed by a harpsichord or harmonium that is panned from the left and followed by it being placed in the center filling up the entire mix. It has this long reverb effect that gives the song a sense of depth. The song starts out with 2 acoustic guitars panned left and right, while the drums just keeps a simple rim hit that has a lot of decay time. Gives a nice effect to the start of the song, while jeff buckleys voice sticks close to the listeners ears. The middle section of this part of the song is just the rim hit and jeff’s vocals that gives this intimate empty feeling to the mix, while the acoustic guitar strums away on the left and right. A kick drum also could be heard, playing on the one of every bar. The bass placed in the center of the mix as well just plays it very softly, backing up the vocals of Jeff. Soon after a lead guitar introduces the next section of the song that panned from the left to the right while the guitar is still playing the same thing. And soon after the lead guitar is panned sometimes both on the right and the left. Further in the song, a snare roll is introduced but not fully. The song is just building up towards the middle of the song, and finally a drum roll is introduced and a cymbal hit introduces another section, which is panned to the left. The guitar has a pitch effect on the track and jeff’s vocals gets louder and stronger.
Further in another drum roll can be heard. During this section you can hear all the toms clearly in the mix as though its in front of the mix. During this part a stop could be heard where the drums hits the snare and the instruments all cut off till the next section. It comes back in with a cymbal crash panned both left and right, signifying another part of the song. The harmonium is being played here again, while the drums plays a simpler beat, just a hi-hat beat with the snare and it slowly builds up again with the Hi-hat getting opened. A drum roll is introduced again to signify the next part of the song. The drums plays on the right and you can hear an organ panned on the left, just playing below the acoustic guitar. It brings it back down again, with the drums playing the kick and the rim hit. The reverb on the Rim blends in with the mix and just before the next part again, a Tom hit placed on the right is introduced. The next part of the song has more vocal layers added, singing just below jeff’s vocals. The choir liked vocals, introduces higher harmonies and different layers. As the song gets louder and louder it brings it back down, with ” maybe im just too young to keep love from going on” it has the back-up choir singing still.
After that small quieter section, it brings it back up with a drum doing a small build up and the organ doing a sweep to introduce the next section. The organ sweeps from the left to the right and soon after the drums gets heavier and heavier. The snare sound gets clearer and more cymbal hits can be heard both panned left and right, while jeff buckley still singing in his falsetto and it ends of with a more mellow drum beat again with the organ still playing. Overall the song gives you a good sense of how a song builds up and builds back down by just adding more layers but not making it muddy. The drums is one of the most essential component to introduce certain parts and Jeff’s voice still stays in the main focus while the rhythm section goes crazy.
Leon`s Listening Diary 