Musician reacts to GEOFF CASTELLUCCI Blackbird

This Geoff Castellucci reaction is genuinely my first time ever hearing this song by him, or at all really as I'm not familiar with the original version by The Beatles either. Lovely arrangement, this "Blackbird". I did enjoy it overall.

0:00 Intro
0:32 Start of song
4:16 Summary

When I do my reaction videos I don't press pause because I don't want to interrupt the natural flow of the music as it was originally intended by the artist. I try to vocalise my thoughts in real time as I listen to the song, and then summarise my reaction afterwards.

Please do recommend songs or other artists for me to checkout in future by commenting on this video! I'm constantly on the lookout for great new music and things I've never heard before.

[scotthritz]

Geoff does everything himself. He plays multiple instruments and edits and arranges the videos.

[Broomrider]

He and his wife filmed this in their living room trying to be quiet as their son was sleeping. Geoff does play the piano/keyboard.

[kathrynmenzel]

He was definitely playing the piano. He plays quite well.

[BartonBreen]

Geoff arranges most of his own songs and many of Voice Play's songs. He's even arranged some songs for Home Free (He did the arrangement for their collaboration with the Oakridge Boys on Elvira. He's more than just a singer. He's the real deal as an all around musician.

I don't know about the auto-tune. Postproduction cleans up things of course, but in general, at least when he's part of the group Voice Play they don't do produced numbers that they can't perform live. I'm with you, that when he's blending 5 voice tracks over the ranges that he's covering, I wouldn't blame him for doing a little clean up to make the production tighter. Obviously he can't do these live unless he brings in his own background tracks. He certainly doesn't need auto-tune to cover any tone deafness or lack of singing ability. Given his ability to arrange and watching him for years, I wouldn't be surprised to learn he has perfect pitch, but whether he does or not, he's an incredible performer and has worked very hard on top of his natural talent to become the singer that he is now.

[jenniferandersen]

I hope you check out some Vocie Play. They're all wonderful. It's a cappella as well. They have a lot of music talent and you really get to see Geoff get to go deep. I love his range. He is so multi-talented. He does a lot of arrangements for Voice Play as well as himself. I'm enjoying your reactions to him and also to Pentatonix. Please keep going!

[allisoncameron-dicker]

I wouldn't recognise auto tune if it bit But I do know he can play the piano... He also plays it in Shenandoah, till then and Mele Maliki maka in which he collaborated with the American Sirens.. ❤🇬🇧

[bjspeck]

Paul McCartney was asked "What does this one mean?", he said it was in tribute to the American Civil Rights movement. Geoff did it lovely. Check out Geoff's version of the Carol of the Bells and the VoicePlay dropped Zat U Santa Claus?

[Hawk-ODA]

Welcome to the world of Geoff Castellucci.

[jonadabtheunsightly]

Geoff and VoicePlay definitely do use pitch correction (dunno if it's name-brand Autotune or a competitor) in some instances, most obviously in Stay Alive.

There are also live-performance videos of VP on YouTube; Geoff's "solo" stuff, not so much, since IRL there is unfortunately only one of him.

[Wildecat]

I’m assuming you are using auto tune as a generic term, since almost no one uses that software anymore. Almost all recording artists now use Melodyne for a more natural sounding pitch correction.

That said, I think most of what you are hearing is Geoff’s tendency to add a small scoop to the beginning of some tones, particularly ones that are sustained.

[Badger]

Not sure that Geoff has (or plans to) performed any of his solo stuff live, since the multiple vocal tracks would be impossible to perform without just singing/playing to a pre-recorded background track. VoicePlay on the other hand does do live performances, and a number of them are available on YouTube, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to find one that interests you to listen to.

[thebrits]

Please please react to “high and dry” by geoff. It will not disappoint.

[pearlmurphy]

Please react to home free man of constant sorrow

[christinestromberg]

I don't think that he uses autotune, ; occasionally you can hear him very slightly offkey. Just slightly but I have heard it once or twice. As has another reactor. :)

[scottrogers]

HE IS REALLY SINGING THAT LOW, HE IS REALLY NOT USING AUTO-TUNE, HE IS REALLY JUST THAT GOOD, Mr. Hyper-Critical. Say you really do like it, without saying you really don't. My first and thankfully last reaction video from you.

[scottrogers]

HE IS PLAYING THE Geez, Louise. Stop looking for conspiracy theories.