The siblings describe, in the track “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” how the final voices on Eilish’s studio recordings are pieced together from a number of different takes.
In a clip from Billie Eilish’s episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, which debuted on Netflix today, May 20, Billie Eilish and Finneas teach David Letterman about the complexities of voice production. The video can be seen in its entirety here.
Eilish says in the video clip that she creates her studio voice using a technique that is known as “comping”: Eilish records a large number of takes and “makes sure there’s something acceptable” in each one for every portion of the song. Rather than just singing the song all the way through and utilising that, Eilish uses a different take for each and every element of the song. Once all of the takes have been recorded, Eilish and Finneas will basically piece together the greatest aspects of each take to create the final performance that will be heard on the album.
In order to demonstrate this point, Finneas loads the ProTools session containing Eilish’s final voice on “Happier Than Ever,” which has a significant amount of dark lines interspersed throughout the recording. Each strike signifies the beginning of a new take, and while the song plays, Letterman watches in amazement as Eilish comments on the number of takes that were combined to make the song, saying, “And you would never know!”
Letterman comments, “To hear your voice in this situation is a bit weird, since I’m looking at stuff there representing, really, the voice. ” He is probably speaking for everyone when he makes this observation. I can now hear the voice, and it is saying, “Oh my God.” And you’re simply sitting there doing nothing at all. It’s getting a bit out of hand.”
Eilish not only showed Letterman her recording technique but also took the comic go-karting on the episode of My Next Guest that she hosted. In addition, the next season of the programme will contain interviews with Cardi B, Kevin Durant, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ryan Reynolds, and Will Smith (it has been rumoured that Smith’s interview was taped before he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars).
