Barbershop Quartet ACOUSTIX STAR SPANGLED BANNER

[DavisBraden]

5 hearing impaired people disliked this

[sasha14kelsee]

Good job. But the tenor could uses some critiquing...a bit nassal.

[bikingdervish]

such rich harmonies, that gave me chills

[lesleysuzanne]

fabulous

[PacinosTheRemix]

video has some really nice information, best of luck to you guys

[BoForever1]

I'll take ACOUSTIX above everybody!!! Also love their "Subway" show. They certainly prove singing is their thing! Keep it up guys.

[gerPzoidberg]

@eyeofexistence he is

[MusicalMeeky]

Are the two middle guys father and son?

[chrisring123]

@MusicalMeeky Not related. The original Acoustix won the Barbershop Harmony Society's international quartet championship in 1990. At the Society's annual conventions, there is a special event called Sing With The Champs, where selected individuals can come on stage and take the place of one quartet champ member and perform a song. Joel Rutherford got the chance to sing bass with Acoustix at one, and his blend with them was so great, they considered him for bass when Jeff Oxley left the group.

[badman620]

@MusicalMeeky lol no but they do bear a certain resemblance if not on purpose as that bass replace the original one(singing lead in the video).

[apocalyptica003]

I love this, but the high tenor sounds WAY too nasal. But as a singer I always end up criticizing vocal performances one way or another...it was still GREAT, though.

[danbo3330]

@trikly - I can only surmise that your complaint is with the 'miking/mixing' then, NOT the performance. As both a performer and judge for the SPEBSQSA I can assure you that their performance was spot on to designed melody.

[JordanDryceSchultz]

Wow, Jeff Oxley kind of looks like Bill Clinton with his hair short

[danbo3330]

@trikly - You're kidding right? These guys are the perfect example of a well-balanced quartet. The melody is often 'covered up' in Barbershop arrangements, that's what makes it different and instantly recognizable as what it is.

[trlkly]

No, I'm not kidding, and I can only suspect you didn't understand me. The melody should always be distinguishable, even with the most complicated harmonies. Go listen to as many barbershops as you can here on YouTube, and you'll notice the melody is always more prominent.except with the most amateur examples.

But it is a mixing problem, so it's unfair to lay all the blame at the performers. In fact, they do try to fix it from the second phrase on, and mostly succeed.

[trlkly]

I'm not as impresses as I should be. They seem to have balance issues. The melody is completely covered up way too often. It's a rookie barbershop mistake: whoever has the melody has to sing over everyone else--especially when it's not at the top. (I'd say in the tenor, but many barbershop arrangements have lead going higher than tenor at certain points.)

[DrPianoMan74]

@trlkly I totally agree. I'm quite sure this could have been fixed with simple mixing formulas until a desired sound is reached. This isn't the best example of their work, though.

[trlkly]

I don't know. I can't tell where the melody is in the opening phrase, and after that the problem is only spotty. The only thing I can tell for sure is that the tenor needs turned down. It's a gorgeous blended voice, but it overpowers everyone else.

[ScottyUrb]

Can we get these guys to do the National Anthem at the next Super Bowl? They're good, not flashy, and they actually know the words! (Well, either these guys or Straight No Chaser - they also do a great job.)

[icedteaforever]

Where's the tag?

[Rifalltoo]

HOLY CRAP.  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

I actually willingly stood up to watch this. I have never seen this done barbershop style, and not 5 seconds into the song, I was blown away.

[billingsboy123]

I don't understand i saw an older video of acoustix and it was the guy in the left middle and the one on the right with two other guys then the two on the right made a band with the two from the old video and then the two on the left made max Q (another band) and now they are like mixed? i need an explanation of this.

[sephiroth3782]

@billingsboy123

haha =P its a pretty misleading video title

This isn't really Acoustix, it just has two memebers/one ex-member

The guy on the right is Jason January, the Baritone for Acoustix

Second to right is Joel Rutherford, and he was Acoustix's second Bass

Second to left is Jeff Oxley, Acoustix's first Bass, but he now sings Bass in Max Q

and on the left is Greg Clancy, Max Q's Tenor, who has never been associated with Acoustix in any way =P

[sephiroth3782]

@sephiroth3782

I should probably also say that this isn't an actual quartet; they don't regularly sing together

But they are just four brilliant singers and friends who have come together to make a sort of 'filler' quartet, which is nonetheless awesome =)

[Rifalltoo]

@sephiroth3782 A quartet consists of 4 people singing or performing the same instrument with intention to sound deliberate with each other. Yes, this IS a quartet.

[mattdre88]

They're in the standard order. (Left to right) Tenor, Lead, Bass, Baritone.

[rarchnick]

Holy crap, Oxley is singing lead! its so weird to hear him singing lead.

[mllover13]

the bass in this awesome. just sayin.

[ilovegardettos]

@crwv im pretty sure the guy on the far left is singing high tenor because he replaced the old high tenor and i think it goes in this order from left to right ,

high tenor,  Bari, Bass, Lead

[ChrisisBass13]

@ilovegardettos actually it is tenor, lead bass, bari

[ilovegardettos]

@ChrisisBass13 That is so wierd though because the guy who you claim to be singing lead was the bass before they got new people... it seems unlikly

[ChrisisBass13]

@ilovegardettos you must not know jeff oxley than. :) he has the ability to sing the TENOR let alone the bass. Its perfectly likely. Jeff is the chuck norris of barbershop. The reason I say this is because I have heard him sing a low A live, and he sang a very high (bass) solo in you've got a freind in me. so....

[ilovegardettos]

@ChrisisBass13 Makes sense. 

[TakesixT9]

Acoustix plus MaxQ = best barbershop quartets in the world. The best bass and the best bari plus Joel and Greg....Definitely needed a lead though.

[Sing4Parts]

Umm, exactly how many basses are in this quartet?

[kankanlovers3]

if im not wrong i see those 2 guys on MaxQ right? singing you got the the friend in me

[scottjop656]

this s aswome!! plus great job on that chord at :30 it is VERY very hard to hold your part when it is a half step off

[bro2baseball]

Too much tenor!

[demulla]

Didn't you know it was a tenor learning track? ;)

[brockjarrett789]

lol nice

[zcobryant]

They are one of the greatest barbershop groups ever. I guarantee any ballance issue was because his gain was turned up too high, not because he was over singing. I've heard these guys sing with only one or two condenser mics and they have excellent balance.

[Johnny8109]

THe performed this for the NBA 2006 play offs too.. very talented guys !!!

[DanishCartoonist]

Awesome! Seeing their 2 basses sing together is just a bit cool...

[thepianomaniac]

Nice stuff... but I wish they had done their original ending, with the "America.... A---merica!". It makes it sounds so much better.

[DanishCartoonist]

I HATE that ending! It's not part of your anthem, anyway!

[mkiper]

hate is a terrible word to describe anything these guys do.  marvin, the bass

[acapellaman129]

Agreed danishcartoonist. I think it makes the anthem sound horrible. As written folks. Should be performed as originally written.

[Thehuskarl]

LOL, it was originally written as a poem, without music.

But yes, I agree with you, I especially don't like the chord on "light" at the beginning.

[lilmateo91690]

hahahahaAH!! thats funny. Do me a favor and find me the original arrangement, will you? As an "acapellaman" you should definitely be open to arranging music, otherwise your repertoire would be much more limited

[lilmateo91690]

i agree! i was waiting for "aaamericaaa"

[vanish129]

I thought that was Greg that was loud?

cause I could kinda hear Jeff's in his distinctive voice, only it's low sounding

[jg984507]

Lead needed to be louder :( Jeff is just so loud i guess they most likely turn his mic off :(

[bordonthestreet]

lol.. Jeff Was the lead

[jibcraip]

indeed I think "jg984507" meant that knowing Jeff's power, they turned is mic off !! o - O

[SignatureStampsFan]

Jeff is so versatile. Man is honestly good enough to sing anything. Without a doubt my favorite bass in the society.

[jibcraip]

Jeff on lead ???!!! Wow ! :-)

awesome I wish Jeff was more loud in the mix...

or It would have been better with just 2 microphones.

Great enought 5 stars

[AttractionQuartet]

What event was this sung for?

[stevehajime]

Maxcoustix...

[COMALiteJ]

In the immortal words of the Google Typo Error Message,

"Did you mean, MaxQstix?" ;-)

[ChikenHeart2]

Acous Q...

[plumbarb]

Always the problem using 4 mics.............balance!

Interesting line-up tho'

[bordonthestreet]

hahah on c'mon man :P this is still awesome! hahah

[PBQLead]

Why... oh why... oh why would Jeff NOT sing bass? Call me crazy, but I prefer him on bass.

[carjam2005cc]

Maybe Joel couldn't sing the lead part :S