And VioLayne! I was just waiting for him to get to the point that the violin got tossed into the mix. 😂 They are all amazing. Geoff is astonishing, as is Eli, and everyone. Each of their guests brings a special quality. Rather than having losing members end the group, they’ve turned it into an opportunity to work with a variety of artists, each of whom brings their own magic. Pentatonix and Homefree are great. But no one does it better than Voiceplay, IMNSHO.
You’ve probably already heard it but when it comes to the top 3 acappella groups, Pentatonix is the ‘Classic’ group, HomeFree is Country, and Voiceplay are the theatre kids. They are all over the place and over the top in the best ways possible 😂
Yeah that seems like appropriate categorisation I noticed that they seem to do a really diverse range of songs. I’m saving them for more reactions though and it’s killing me! 😄
@@PrymalChaos thank you for an awesome reaction to Voice Play. Please do a reaction video of Voice Plays cover of ( Dream On ) originally by Aerosmith. That is a real treat. Also Voice Plays cover of ( Carry On My Wayward Son ) ( Eleanor Rigby ) ( Mr. Blue Sky ) & ( Queen In 5 Minutes ). You can't go wrong with Voice Play.
This is their latest release. They go back quite a few years had a couple of member changes and now feature other performers regularly. Enjoy this rabbit whole my friend
The fact that THIS arrangement is the one that introduces you to Voiceplay and Geoff's bass specifically is mind blowing. We've been amazed by them for so long, I can't even imagine what it would be like to see this particular cover first. Each piece of this ensemble is top tier! So glad you like it! And hope to see more reactions to their other work! 🙌
@@PrymalChaos Dude. They have a LOT on RUclips. Like, you can do two a week and still be working through their stuff next year. Particularly since they are dropping at least one every month, but usually two. This just hit like a week and a half ago…maybe 2 weeks now…and they’ve already debuted the next one to the Patreons. So it’ll be hitting public release soon. They’re gonna keep you busy. 😊
One of my favorite things is finding a reactor experiencing Voiceplay for the first time. You did not dissapoint! There have been personnel changes in the line up, especially in the last two years. Their high tenor, Earl Elkins Jr, member from the beginning (1997), left in 2020 for undisclosed personal reasons. J None left in 2021 when he was recruited by the US Navy to sing with them. Cesar, next to the beatboxer was added in 2021. They are one member short and use a variety of featured artists to fill out the group. They used to tour all the time, until the pandemic shut them down. Since then they have been doing almost solely studio work. The arrangements are usually done by either Geoff (bass) or Layne (beatboxer). Geoff started doing solo work during the pandemic which you will want to check out. Really. Recommendations for Voiceplay: Hoist the Colours from Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - mind boggling I Can't Make You Love Me - heartbreaking We Don't Talk About Bruno - just amazing fun Geoff: Till Then - sweet and romantic Ain't No Sunshine - heartbreaking House of the Rising Sun - he's just showing off Subscribed in anticipation!
Geoff = Bass Eli = Tenor Layne = Beatboxer/Percussion/Baritone Caeser = Baritone/Tenor 2 (Baritenor) Former members include: J. None = Baritone Earl = High Tenor Tony = Baritenor Frequent guest stars include: Omar and EJ Cardona Deejay Young Rachel Potter Adriana Arellano Jose Rosario Jr.
And please remember that 1997 year was when they issued their first album when they were just out of high school. They’ve been singing together since at least high school competitions and Layne and Earl met in middle school, and I believe that was in a music class.
I have paused your video in disbelief, you sir are set for a wild ild ride on this one. Voiceplay has so so many incredibly brilliant arrangements and performances. but you have picked their best to date to be your FIRST OMG you are gonna be broken I believe! Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Voiceplay sir!
It's hard to recommend VP videos as they cover such wide variety of genres. A lot of fun Disney covers. some rock such as Dream On, theatrical videos like The Dragonborn Comes, and just beautiful ones like Can't Help Falling In Love. And yes Geoff is singing subharmonics, and that's is an E1. He has a five octave range and has his own low bass cover channel. Geoff Castellucci. He is also a brilliant arranger. He arranged this one. I believe it was Layne, the beatboxer, did the mixing on this one so it would be up to him what he did with that. I read that Layne first sang the guitar solo and it sounded good but then Geoff asked him to try it on the violin and that's what they went with. In their cover of Warriors Both Layne and J.None play violins to some extent. If you want riffs and runs try their Tennessee Whisky. :)
Welcome to the wonderfully diverse rabbit hole that is Voiceplay. You have chosen a great place to enter! I have seen VP gobsmack many a reactor but you do far more than just react. Your insights and musical knowledge are much appreciated and your physical reactions are more interactions with what you are experiencing. Anyway, I'd like to recommend their cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On" as your next stop on your Voiceplay journey of discovery.
@@janetdw I'm pretty sure it's the only other appearance of his violin with VoicePlay. But you can actually tell he can beatbox while playing in 'Warriors'. Here, they apparently (from what I've read in comments) decided it looked to awkward, so you don't see it.
Welcome to what I believe to be the all-around best Acapella group out there (everyone has their favorites😎). "Enemy" by Imagine Dragon or "Dream On" are great but "Hoist the Colors", "If I Were a Rich man/girl" and "Warriors" show their range and talents. Just unbelievable productions. They also bring in some awesome guest vocalists. Have a great time on this journey👍.
You can’t go wrong with listening to any of their songs. I got hooked with their cover My Mother Told Me and they just keep topping themselves. Hoist the Colours is amazing, Enemy, and Oogie Boogie are just as amazing and fun. Oh yeah, there’s Queen in Five Minutes. So much ear candy to choose from. Amazing reaction!
One of my favorites still is Oogie Boogie's Song. Maybe because it puts emphasis on the 'play' in Voiceplay. And, of course, there is Geoff, showing his range.
You finally discovered Layne....he is an amazing beatboxer, an excellent baritone ( on those rare occasions when he gets to sing) and surprisingly a really good violinist. This is only the second time he's brought out his violin in all the years they've been together. The first time was a cover of Warriors.
left to right: Geoff Castellucci, bass. J.None, baritone. Eli Jacobson, tenor. Cesar de la Rosa, baritenor. Layne Stein, beatboxer/baritone/violin. Geoff also has a solo channel. His range goes from B0 to A5, and he plays piano. He's also one of two main arrangers of the group. J.None can sing bass, baritone and tenor. Eli can sing bass, baritone and tenor, he's the rock tenor of the group, and is responsible for the lighting in their videos, and does the occasional arranging. Cesar can sing baritone and tenor, and is the newest member of the group. Layne can sing bass, baritone and tenor, he's one of two main arrangers of the group, he co-owns a video production studio that often gets used by the group for their videos.
That is a subharmonic E1 you are hearing. His lowest chest voice is f#1. He can use subharmonics to go even lower! Without good headphones or bass speakers his voice just disappears because it is too low for phones and laptops! I never realized how awesome this group is till I got the speakers to handle it. Oh. As evidence that they can sing straight without tech.... Go to grim grinning ghosts from ten years ago (not their video but the one where you can see them in person.) As for mixing... Layne does separate the lines of his beatboxing for mixing. It is mentioned somewhat in the Charismatic Voice interview with him. So everything except the violin is made with voice. If they use an instrument they make sure you see it on video. Names... From the left .. Geoff, J, Eli, Cesar, Layne. Geoff plays piano. J plays violin. I do not know about the others. Layne was classically trained on violin for eleven years. Geoff and Layne do most of the arranging. Geoff did this. You should do the oogie boogie song by voiceplay next.
His depth on this is so, even with good headphones, you lose a bit of the body of it. I listened to this with 2 12s and 2400w. It was a religious experience when he hits those E1s.
Thank you for mentioning the grim, grinning ghosts. I always forget about that when somebody talks about autotune, I was astonished to hear how close it was to the video.
@@janetdw you're welcome! Layne does use autotune some on their studio songs. He shares a bit about it in a TopSail university video. But he showed how to use a very light touch on it because they want to sound natural most of the time. All singers have moments of pitchiness - even Frank Sinatra did - (well, Ella Fitzgerald never did, but she was a legend), so moments of slightly imperfect sounds do happen in live performances with Voiceplay, but they are rare. Singing a capella is hard and takes serious attention to pitch (I know from experience - I sang with an a capella group in high school) - they would not be this good if they "needed" autotune. Any autotune use they make is just to polish a studio song and they definitely could go without it.
@@johndeeregreen4592 This is true. My husband and I listened on headphones and were wowed. So we shared it at a friend's house and they ran it through their sound system. We looked at each other in shock - we had missed an entire layer of bass! It was. Amazing. We could feel it in our chests.
He actually went down even lower to a Bb0 in the live version of Way Down that he did on TikTok. It's crazy! And it was a proper sustained Bb0. Goodness me, Geoff
@@Stan_S_Stanman, if we want to split hairs, I would have to agree. My normal metric for range is being able to sustain a note for at least 3 seconds. I can do a D0 subharmonic, but it goes wonky after a second or so... but can sustain an Eb0, so that's what I count.
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole.... I think one of the things I find amazing(apart from their voices) is that unlike Ptx and Home free.... VP don't have record company backers and almost limitless money when they record.... They do the arrangement, editing,costuming etc on their own.. Paid for by patrons. And they still(in my opinion) are the best of the 3 .. They do Disney, Broadway, Pop, Rock, ballads and pretty much everything else... .. Then of course you have Geoff who started his own channel during lockdown... .... For VP I would recommend, Dream on... Tennessey Whiskey, Moana, mermaid, we don't talk about Bruno, boy bands in 5 minutes, queen in 5 minutes.... In fact I recommend their whole discography.... Some are just beautiful, some fun and some heartbreaking....... As for Geoff... My favourite is ghost riders in the sky, also love Shenandoah, ain't no sunshine, high and dry.... In fact, everything..... Subscribing in anticipation. 😊 x 🇬🇧❤
Geoff Castellucci = Bass Eliezer "Eli" (pronounced Ellie) Jacobson = Tenor Layne Stein = Beatboxer/Percussion/Baritone Caeser De La Rosa = Baritone/Tenor 2 (Baritenor) Former members include: J. None = Baritone Earl Elkins Jr. = High Tenor Tony Walkim = Baritenor Frequent guest stars include: Omar and EJ Cardona Deejay Young Rachel Potter Adriana Arellano Jose Rosario Jr.
Hello, welcome to Voiceplay's rabbit hole, you just reacted to their latest video (released, if I'm not wrong, just 5 days ago). They're incredibly good, and incredibly versatile. 🙂 As far as I can say, Geoff Castellucci (Jeff), the bass, plays piano, J None plays violin (although he says that Layne is much better than him at that, or so I read), Eli (pron. "Ellie") the incredible rock tenor, should have some practice on bass (in their last Halloween video - they just OWN Halloween 😁- he mimics the movement of SLAPPING a bass, and you don't do it that well unless you KNOW how to do it 😉), I don't know about Cesar, and well, Layne plays violin (he was classically trained on the instrument for 11 years, I read). 🙂 They cover pretty much every genre I know of, from Disney songs (they're based in Orlando, and all of them worked either at Disney or Universal) to Broadway to classic pop songs to rock to classical pieces turned something fun and mind-blowing (again for last Halloween they released "In the Hall of the Mountain King"... A must watch!) to cinema and video games soundtracks to whatever. 🙂 Thay also had a number of lineup changes throughout the years, so if you check some of their older material you'll see different people. The only founders still remaining are Geoff and Layne, Eli joined in 2010, J non was a full-time member from 2018 to 2021 and is now with the Navy (but lots of people hope he'll be permanently back with the group when he'll be done with the Navy). At the moment the lineup is of four permanent members, and they feature guest singers in every video they do... And make them seem to be part of the group since, like, forever. 😁 Just subscribed, I want to see your "new" reactions to them. 🙂 See you next time.
You're going to love them. They provide so much joy through their music. Boy Bands in 5 Minutes, Running Up That Hill, In the Hall of the Mountain King, We Don't Talk About Bruno are good places to start with them.
THIS! It's the JOY for me! I'm a middle aged lady, but I laugh and cry and squee and blush like a teenager for these guys. They move me all over the place, but the overall effect is that JOY.
I just want to say that you are seriously, hilariously (yes those adjectives go together in this context haha) entertaining in this reaction. I am laughing so hard (in a good way). 🤣🤣
The technique Geoff is using is called subharmonics; it's similar to Tuvan throat singing, where a vocalist sings one note with their true chords and get their false chords to vibrate an octave beneath it; in Geoff's case, he's singing those notes exclusively with his false chords - which is why there is no real resonance accompanying the note. That being said, Geoff is capable of very breathy chest voice notes in that part of his range; he chooses based on what the song's character demands. He claims to be a baritone because he prefers singing higher in his range (and can easily sing in the T2 range) but if you hear him talking it is clear he is a natural octavist/basso profundo who just happens to have incredibly supple vocal chords that are trained to be able to produce higher notes with precision and tone. And if you like this arrangement, you should check out Home Free's cover of Brothers in Arms (using Club for Five's arrangement of Dire Straits' original). It is gut-wrenchingly on point.
I think others have filled you in pretty well on the background of Voiceplay, but I wanted to welcome you too. Everything they do is great but this song is simply mind blowing. I seriously believe Geoff deserves a Grammy for this arrangement. You DEFINITELY have to check out his solo channel. The man is insanely talented, as is the rest of the group. Have fun in the rabbithole!
They are tremendous talents! They also do a WAY DIFFERENT cover of Aerosmith's Dream On. They're yet another rabbit hole to go down. They do fantasy songs where they dress the part too and rock like this. VoicePlay, PTX and Home Free are acapella groups, but you've learned that they're VERY individual and have their own sounds. I love them all. So glad you reacted to this! Thanks.
Geoff (Jeff) who is singing all over the place, arranged this time. JNone singing baritone and he has been a fulltime member 2018-2021 before, but at the moment he is in the army. Eli (Ellie) is the rocktenor with a fullon range, joined the group 2010. Cesar sings bartone to tenor and joined 2021. Layne or "VioLayne" is a beetboxer and full range singer. Geoff and Layne started singing together in 1997ish. If you dare to get to know VoicePlay, I can ensure you that you are going for a hell of a ride. Enjoy!
The bass is Geoff Castellucci, as many comments have mentioned. I highly recommend you go check out his solo work, he's a master of arrangement, and low and high notes alike. he's amazing.
The bass - Geoff (pronounced Jeff) Castellucci has an insanely low voice and that note that you were surprised by at the start was indeed an E1 except that it was a subharmonic - so basically he is singing an E2 but he's singing it in a way so that an undertone an octave down (E1) appears under it. So he uses the subharmonics sometimes, although he can go down to an F#1 in chest. This technique is still fairly unknown, I think David Larson was the one who popularised it.
I think whoever does the arrangement (Geoff-bass or Layne-Vocal Percussion) they arrange Layne as the drums. What is so cool is they record their parts at their homes and send to Ed Boyer for final mix. Whomever does arrangement does the video directing, sourcing of location for videoshoot, outfits. Layne and another guy (Tony Wakim, former member) own their own production company in Orlando area. Eli (bald guy in middle) taught himself to do the lighting controlled through computer. Geoff's wife Kathy keeps everyone in check on schedule.
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole. I fell down it in April and never looked back. These guys are fantastic. Left to right... Geoff (Jeff) Castelucci - Bass. J None - Baritone/ Featured Guest. Eli (elly) Jacobson - Tenor/Rock Tenor. Cesar De La Rosa - Baritone/Tenor. Layne Stein - Beatboxer/Baritone. Voiceplay live in Orlando Florida. All used to perform in shows at Universal Studios and Disney World. So love to dress up in costumes and put on makeup. Especially the last couple years. They have no particular genre. They aren't afraid to go out of the box. They are known as both "The Theater Kids" of acapella and "The Kings of Halloween". Anything you choose to watch you can't go wrong. There is plenty to choose from going back many years. Geoff also has his own channel where he sings solo with instruments. All of his are fantastic as well.
Geoff (Jeff) the bass - arranged this. Next to him in the line-up: J None, a former member who joined the navy, Eli (rhymes with jelly) the rock tenor (can dip to an A1), Cesar, the newest member, and Layne, triple threat here: baritone, beatbox, vioLayne (he also did the video editing, which normally is done by the arranger). You really need to listen to their cover of Tennessee Whiskey - completely locked in, impossible harmonies. Loved your sidebar on the guitar. Completely appropriate, and these guys are masterful in their craft. Geoff and Layne are founding members... all the way back to 1997 when they graduated from high school. Eli joined in 2010. Dream On is extraordinary - as is Queen in 5 minutes. Loved your reaction, looking forward to more!
Wasn't Earl Elkin a founding member with Geoff and Layne? They all went to high school together and performed at the theme parks at Orlando where they are from. Earl left fairly recently.
@@lazylady8591 Yes. Earl's last performance with them was "I Will Survive" released 4/25/20, and his departure was announced on 7/09/20. They'd clearly known for awhile, since they released the first of their two farewell songs, "The Heart of Life" the following day. Although he left much longer ago, another founding member was Scott Porter, who made a featured appearance in Halo. I don't know who the 5th one was.
@@Aurora-cv5to Was the fifth one Tony (sorry I don't know his last name)? I think he left to be a producer at Patty Cake Production. Patty Cake, I understand, is owned by Geoff and Layne and maybe some other former members of the group. I am not sure about all of this information. It seems harder to get information on Voiceplay than say Home Free for some reason. Voiceplay seems to be under bigger pressure than the other acapella groups because they do so much from their arrangements, producing, videography, makeup, costumes, not to mention their singing. They are all extremely talented,. Sometimes one get the impression that they are kinda frazzled from all the demands. Still they are fantastic performers. One thing about the top three acapella groups is that they are always trying new things. They are always looking for new challenges.
@@lazylady8591 PattyCake Productions is owned by Layne Stein (beatboxer) and former Baritone singer, Tony Wakim (Tony is still very much a part of Voice Play's production- he just did not like the demands of touring). Geoff is not part owner of PattyCake Productions but has been best friends with Layne since they were in Jr high school and both Geoff and Layne take turns doing the vocal arrangements of their songs (Geoff did the arrangement in this one).
@@lazylady8591 Tony Wakim (hope I spelled that right) is Layne's partner in PattyCake. I don't think Geoff is involved. Don't think Tony was a founding member, but - don't know. I don't really know if it's easy or hard to get info, since I don't usually drill down that much. I'm fascinated by the creative process so I do nose around for info on that - but mostly I've just picked it up through time, and have a good memory. I'm not dissing here, just stating a fact - I have never been able to get into either Pentatonix or Home Free very much. I feel I should like them more than I do, that a gazillion fans can't be wrong, but.... neither of them really holds my attention either aurally or visually. VoicePlay hits it out of the park on so many levels. I was watching Tennessee Whiskey with a reactor yesterday and was struck again by just how GORGEOUS the video is. The thing looks like it was assembled by renaissance painters... the placement and heights of the singers in that classic triangle, the misty light streaming in the windows, the muted colors... they don't even need theatrics to do gorgeous videos. smh. WHO DOES THAT? It's not that Pentatonix and Home Free aren't good, they are. But VoicePlay aren't singers/musicians - they're artists, and it shows in every move they make. It's the nuance...
Some VoicePlay songs to start your journey, their cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On", Hoist the colors, Halo Theme, Ding Dong feat Lauren Paley, The Dragonborn Comes (Skyrim) There is a good start, enjoy 👍🍻
To your mention of tuning and vibrato: All acapella emphasizes that singers can't lock a chord if they allow oscillation in the individual voices, and without that chord lock, it's extremely difficult to produce the overtones and undertones that fill in the resonance of good acapella. Layne and Geoff sang barbershop back in their youth, and as a former Sweet Adeline, I can tell you that barbershop is all about tuning. In addition, with voices only, they can employ Pythagorean tuning, which is a deep rabbit hole. Suffice it to say that it also helps facilitate that chord lock. You don't even want to get us started on matching vowels and turning diphthongs together! Heh. In regard to your question about the mixing choices, you might be interested in the interview that reactor "The Charismatic Voice" did with Layne a while back. They have a great discussion on VoicePlay's recording and mixing process, complete with screenshots and diagrams of settings and oscilligraphs.
i know geoff (mr Bass) plays the piano, and i'd wager that eli played the bass since he's mimicked it on a video, and nobody knows that weird finger motion if you havn't at least touched a bass. if you're into disney, you should check their disney covers, they're pretty much amazing. they also covered Hoist the colors from pirate of the carribean and dream on from aerosmith, that are both amazing.
Geoff also plays guitar though he claims not well (but then he also claims not to be good at growl notes, so take that with a grain of salt) J None also plays violin.
@@grischad20 The one in Misty Mountains is a subharmonic, but the one at the end of Enemy is a growl. He tends to use them more in the background than for "featured notes" I guess. There are some behind one of Santa's parts in Oogie Boggie that I remember.
I really enjoyed your reaction and comments. The impromptu mini guitar lesson and info about mixing was interesting! I see what you meant about getting close to the mic, and if you go down this Voiceplay rabbit hole, in some of their older stuff (and their live stuff) you will see that both Geoff (bass) and Layne (percussionist) are often practically eating the mics, while the rest of them can share a mic a couple feet away. I'm definitely subscribing so I can see more of this kind of reaction video, and I look forward to seeing you get acquainted with my favorite acapella group!
Goeff has several solos out there worth checking out if you want to see what he can do. Blackbird, Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone and 16 Tons are well worth your time.
Geoff’s chest range goes down as far as F#-G1. From there, he deploys extended techniques, primarily subharmonics (he has videos on how to do this). The real trick is making them sound good and keeping them steady-he’s killer at it. As far as I know Layne does not use any other instruments to do the perc-and we’ve only seen his violin twice in three years (Warriors is the other one). We love it, but of course it’s not strictly acapella. Geoff and Layne also trade off doing the arrangements (this one’s Geoff’s). Looks like others have done the introductions. I’d say Carry On Wayward Son should be next. But you might want to check out some of their more theatrical pieces as well, like Hoist the Colours, or The Dragonborn Comes. They go the whole way and do costumes, sets, etc. sometimes-yeah, nerdy/geeky, but they don’t ever short you on the music. One of my favorites is If I Were a Rich Man/Girl (Fiddler on the Roof). And PLEASE don’t miss We Don’t Talk About Bruno (yes, I know, Encanto has been done to death, but it’s very much like THIS song-it hadn’t been done by VOICEPLAY-they took it to a new level). And speaking of new levels, I LOVED this reaction! Some reactors really get out in the weeds talking about vocal techniques and music theory, and I love it, but you’re the first who really got into the details of recording and performing pieces and nailing the harmonies. I would love to see more of this! More Voiceplay, please!!
Thanks for watching! As soon as I was done I dived into some research, I didn’t even know subharmonic was a thing! But you can bet I spent all night attempting to figure it out! 😅according to my tuner I was flirting with some notes down in the 1 range, but not even close to the consistency and tone quality of Geoff. He is a wizard!
@@PrymalChaos He really is. It helps that he’s been singing since he was a teen and he’s in his early 40’s now, so his voice is mature (I gather it takes longer with basses). He’s had a lot of time to work on developing that velvety smooth voice. He has his own channel, which you should also check out. Geoff was my introduction to the “bass singer nation”-there are a lot of really gifted bass singers out there.
@@PrymalChaos if you’re interested in subharmonics, you should check out David Larson, who Geoff credits with introducing him to the technique. There is a really long video (about an hour ) where he really gets into detail with it about all the different throat singing type techniques. After watching one of the tutorials, I went around caterwauling in my house, and actually managed to do it once, but never since then. Besides, the dog next-door kept howling😂!
I really loved your sidebar about tuning and learning to play / sing individual notes perfectly before you can really excel at the bigger-picture parts of music. I can sit here and say "they sound great together" but it's really a treasure to hear that description and breakdown of WHY they sound great together.
Thanks for this reaction!! So glad you got to VoicePlay! One great thing about the Acapella world is that they all are doing completely different things. All the groups have a unique style and sound. As far as instruments go, I know Layne plays violin (when this happens we call him VioLayne, lol) and Geoff (the bass) plays piano. Kevin from PTX plays chello. For VoicePlay, is say check out "We Don't Talk About Bruno." It'll give you a sense of who they are and the silly, fun vibe they tend to bring. My fav before this was "Hoist the Colours" from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a don't miss, for sure. Geoff has his own solo channel as well where he clones himself and sings all the parts. His range is insane. Maybe for him stay off with something like "Shenandoah" or "Ain't No Sunshine."
I’m not surprised that Geoff has such a great range. I have a theory (with absolutely no research at all -just more of an opinion really) that people with naturally low voices have an advantage because I think it’s easier to learn to extend your range up than to learn how to sing down. You really have to relax down into your physical limitations to go low, but going up you have access to things like falsetto and mix. Having said that he seems to be one of the great wonders of the world. 🥲🤣
@@PrymalChaos lol. I can definitely see how you came up with that theory. It makes total sense. Though I wonder because Geoff wasn't a natural bass. He started off wanting to be a rock tenor. He described himself as a baritone with a bass and tenor range. Maybe Geoff is just an alien and your theory only applies to humans! 😂 And yeah, Geoff is absolutely a phenom! Some people just have too much talent! 😂
@@PrymalChaos that theory is pretty accurate. Geoff started off as a baritone, but as he matured his voice lowered a bit. he's been working on lowering his voice since his late teens, but has also worked hard on his high range just as long. it's taken him dedicated and consistent work over many years to develop his current voice, and he's spent the last years learning subharmonic technique as well. Geoff is often considered a big inspiration to young and upcoming bass singers, as he didn't become an immediate bass after his voice dropped, but had to work hard to develop it, and also has voiced the importance of developing your falsetto to help with developing your bass voice. You can learn to lower your voice a little bit, but extending your range upwards is a lot easier, and is also why so many bass singers have such a big range.
@@PrymalChaos Speaking of games , Please do a reaction video of Voice Plays cover of ( The Dragonborn Comes Skyrim ) this one you will get the full affect of their theatrical side. Also ( Halo ) the theme song Halo from the video game. Just remember to never stop the video before the credits roll. Sometimes they have a brief pause near the end for a special effect. Thank you for your awesome reaction ♥️
Welcome to VoicePlay. I really enjoyed your reaction and analysis. I hope that you do more. Geoff is the bass and he did the arrangements for this one. J. None the second from the left play violin too.
Welcome to the VoicePlay rabbit hole. #TheatreKidsOfACappella. This is Geoff's arrangement. Yes, an E1. He hit a C1 on his cover of Elvis's "Way Down" He also hit a B0 on VoicePlays' cover of the HALO theme. They are a journey. I was hooked on Geoff's cover of Sixteen Tons which lead me to his group VoicePlay. Your reaction to Layne #Violayne the beatboxer. Perfect!
The two guys in the group who do most/all of the arrangements are Geoff (bass, on the left) and Layne (percussion/VioLayne) on the right. They are both geniuses who can arrange the most unlikely songs into amazing a capella that will melt your brain. Welcome to the planet of VoicePlay. :)
Geoff is one of the MOST FLEXIBLE singers I've ever heard! He can be singing in baritone range and drop instantly and PERFECTLY to those sub-bass tones in nanoseconds! He blows my ears and brain every time I hear him sing. He arranged this gem, too. SUCH TALENT!
In order left to right: Geoff, J None, Eli (rhymes with jelly), Cesar, Layne (aka VioLayne). Both Layne and J None have violins. Geoff is a pianist and harmonica player (just did a solo of Imagine), Big Iron (Marty Robbins), Wicked Games (Chris Isaak). The members can do some beatboxing if necessary. In this case it was Geoff's project and he did the arranging, pre-mix, staging, costuming, Eli did the lighting - and set it up for the Black Album. Ed Boyer does the final mix for Pentatonix, VoicePlay, Home Free, Voctave. I've not seen you in a while and have missed you! Check out VoicePlay's - The Way You Make Me Feel (MJ), Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) dropped Friday, Sleeping in the Cold Below (WarFrame), Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden), and an incredible delight - Classical Chaos w/ Rachel Potter.
Wonderful reaction and music analysis! Welcome to VoicePlay. I am now fan of yours, and I subscribed to your channel in hopes I can see more video reactions to VoicePlay and other groups. Check Out Dream On and Queen in 5 Minutes, as well as epic videos like Hoist the Colors, My Mother Told Me, the the Halo theme, and the list goes on and on. Oogie Boogie’s song showcases Geoff’s 5-octave range and all their character singing voices and harmonies. Geoff Castellucci has his own channel too with this solo work - equally fantastic!
Welcomed aboard the VoicePlay "Rollercoaster'........they Bass and beatboxer are the founding members of the group in 1997....Eli (Ellie) The rock-tenor has been there since 2011-12 he is the Hair challenged individual....lol.....Geoff, the bass has his own RUclips Channel, where besides his music, he does tutorials and has a 5+ octave range.....Layne the Beatboxer, is a master vocal percussionist, singer, arranger, shares the arranging with Geoff. J.None is the featured artist, he was a full time member of the group,, he enlisted in the Navy, and does collaborations with them.....Cesar is the newest full time member of the group......'Strap yourself in, when you go down THEIR 'rabbithole'....they have over 180 videos, so you have a LOT of catching up to do.....>^^
"Fundamentally you can hide a lot of bad technique by shredding and playing fast." I subbed for that comment alone. Stayed for the rest of the reaction which was really good! Love finding other artists that really understand their instruments and quality.
In Warriors, J None and Layne play violin together. Geoff does piano and guitar and frequently plays on his channel. Not only do they "play" in music, they do everything....arrange, costuming, lighting, special effects, scenery, and on and on....except mixing. No group I know of does all that. They are creative and hard workers.
Subbed for more VoicePlay. What a way to be introduced to them. You're going to love this rabbit hole. Many great suggestions for songs in the comments, but I would like to add, since you mentioned their pitch control, if you want to hear a more "live" version of them, check out any of their ACA Top 10 videos. They sing them live, no pre-recording, with Geoff and Layne behind mics for projection, and they do the video in one take. Also, the description box of VP and Geoff videos are always full of good info about the video, and sometimes some humor. And, in case no one else mentioned it, you should always let a VP video play until their Patreon list rolls, because you might miss something otherwise.
Aside from the GeoffQuakes, and that moment of seeing the VioLayne be caught, what I love about this reaction (and so many others) is the unique things you bring to it -- explaining vocal pitch control in terms of being able to play a single note on a guitar (as opposed to shredding), talking about the difference between playing a guitar vs playing a violin. I love the ebb and flow of this arrangement, how they take us to tremendous heights and then pull back to very quiet moments that allow us to breathe. A wonderful performance of a very cool song, and I thoroughly enjoyed your reaction to it.
Oh! If you like bass? You HAVE TO HEAR THE BASS GANG. It's four LOW bass singers who formed their own a capella group, and they are amazing. They're relatively new, but seriously you should check them out.
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole. They do a lot fun stuff. Since you like this one you might wish to consider their covers of Carry On Wayward Son and Dream On. For more family fun try their medleys of the Little Mermaid or Moana. What I consider their most popular covers are The Oogie Boogie Song and Hoist The Colours.
Welcome to Geoff. He does a lot of solo work as well. His range is ridiculous. VoicePLAY is called that for a reason- much of their stuff is more... theater for lack of a better way to put it. Their videos are pure entertainment, and their voices are just amazing. Check out "Hoist the colors" and "If I were a rich man/girl" for the group's vocal capabilities on display. They do a lot of disney stuff as well which never, ever fails to make you smile. They play a lot, versus always being serious. Welcome to the rabbit hole.
I used to be all about PTX at one point. But VoicePlay has take over my music life for the past few years. Not only are they amazing singers, arrangers, producers, they are charming people. It's their personalities that captured me fully.
They don't need no stinkin' autotune. 😆 Seriously, they're that rarest of gems anymore, vocalists who can actually sing in key. Thanks for appreciating that!
@@DTA-Music You aren't far wrong, though. They use a very light touch, according to that top sail video from 6 years ago. And you can listen to their ACA 10 stuff and their old in-person Grim Grinning Ghosts to hear them sing without touchups. They are very strong singers and auto-tune is just polish. I think it's because they are perfectionists. :)
Awesome reaction and analysis. For your further listening..the Oogie Boogie Song from Nightmare Before Christmas was the one that really sent these guys, especially the bass, Geoff, over the top. Hoist the Colors blew the interwebs apart as well. You really can’t go wrong with Voiceplay. Pick a genre, and they’ve done it. They even took a classical instrumental piece, Hall of the Mountain King, and turned it a capella. Enjoy this new journey.
Enjoyed your reaction & discussion about production. Layne (the beatboxer who also does some of their arrangements) did an interview with The Charismatic Voice on YT about arrangement and production of VP's recordings. Worth checking out. Definitely worth listening to: Carry On Wayward Son; Tennessee Whiskey; Hoist The Colours; Oogie Boogie Song; Queen In Five Minutes; My Mother Told Me; any of their Disney stuff. Hell, all of it.
Sent me down a rabbit hole of “subharmonic singing”! Didn’t even know that was a thing. You really need a good set of headphones to even hear it properly. I was showing my partner the song on my TV sound bar that has a sun (admittedly it’s not an amazing system TBH) but I was blown away by how even with a subwoofer it wasn’t picking up all the detail of his low notes.
@@PrymalChaos Oh, did you watch Geoff’s “How to Sing Low” series on his channel or did you find info elsewhere? I highly recommend Geoff’s videos about it, but he also credits David Larson in them (I have not watched David’s videos though).
Voiceplay doesn't use auto tune these are true vocals and skill. You'll see more of what Voiceplay does and their talent and skill level if you continue your journey through their covers! Great reaction and commentary.
VoicePlay is amazing with the ability to arrange these songs (Geoff the bass and Layne the beatboxer alternate being responsible for arrangements, premix audio, video, staging, costuming, makeup, etc. Eli (bald tenor) has taken to doing lighting, computer backgrounds, green screens, etc. Final mix is Ed Boyer, best in the business. Layne is half owner of Pattycake Studios with Tony Wakim (former member that wanted to go into production) and the studio is home to a lot of VoicePlay's videos and Geoff's soloes. Cesar is the most recent addition. If you want to hear 3 of these guys doing incredible riffs with perfect precision, look up Tennessee Whiskey. There is no shortage of videos that will astound you, they are that good. Some of my favorites are I Can't Make You Love Me, Dragonborn Comes, Phantom of the Opera (Tony Wakim plays the Phantom, Rachel Potter plays Christine), Warriors, Dream On, Carry on My Wayward Son, Wicked, Man in the Mirror, We're Good, Hoist the Colours, Halo Theme, and more. One of the most unusual arrangements was In the Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg 1875) no lyrics, but they pulled it off. Geoff did the arrangement for this one and had written in the guitar solo for Layne and at the last minute asked Layne if he could do the violin so VioLayne stepped in. Warriors has Layne playing the violin for all of that video, J None played his violin in a few places. It only took 3 years for us to hear Layne play again. Geoff plays the piano and you can hear that in his soloes.
Welcome to VoicePlay! Just pick a song that appeals to you and it'll be fantastic. They're known as #TheTheaterKidsOfACappella because they do a lot of cosplay. Since they are from Orlando there's a lot of Disney in there, but it's ALL great. They've done everything from metal to Broadway. Queen, Aerosmith, Imagine Dragons, Michael Jackson, Beatles, video games--they've killed it. Some of their songs are hilarious to watch, and then they'll make you cry with I Can't Make You Love Me. If you want to listen to Geoff's lowest notes, listen to the last three from his solo cover of Elvis's Way Down, C1, and in the Halo theme with VoicePlay he hits B0. Yeah, we get it. Geoff isn't human and we love it. The collaboration between Geoff and Layne is what makes it. Between the bass guitar parts and the beatboxing they add a huge amount of depth. My favorite of their tag team is the last part of Friends On the Other Side. You won't remember it's not a bank of sub woofers and a drum kit. Layne (Stein) owns a production company know as PattyCake and it's on RUclips as well. He's got some really good stuff on there as well. It's also where VP does most of its filming.
I was surprised to find out that Pentatonix and Home Free are relatively newer groups. Voiceplay's been around for many years before the other two. I discovered Voiceplay a year ago and fell in love with their singing instantly! 😍
I enjoyed your reaction and comments and have subscribed. There are a lot of good comments here already, so I’ll try not to repeat. You can always look in their description under the video, but you’ll find that - unlike PTX and Home Free - they do most everything for their videos themselves. Geoff (bass) and Layne (beatboxer) mostly split the arrangements. Whoever does the arrangements usually plans and directs the video shoot, including costuming and sets. Eli (tenor) usually does the lighting, and they bring in makeup and cameramen as needed. Geoff’s wife Kathy is usually the Production Director for their shoots. The arranger usually does the audio editing (all except the final edit, which goes to Ed Boyer, who also edits for most other acapella groups) and the final video edit. This shoot was the exception - Layne took over the video editing so Geoff could finish his latest solo project. And most of their shoots are at Pattycake Productions, which is owned by Layne and his partner Tony Wakim (former VoicePlay baritone.) So you can see that they retain much more creative control than most other groups.
Excellent reaction and a lot of information. Subscribing in hopes that you’ll do more VoicePlay and also more of Geoff (in addition to other pieces that I may enjoy). Geoff often gets questions about singing low and has been quoted as saying that it is more important to sing well than to sing low. He has several tutorials on his personal channel and actually demonstrates his subharmonic technique, which helps him get down into that first octave and even below. Part of why they sound so in sync with each other is that they are very particular about getting just the right sound for these recorded videos. In Geoff’s cover of Way Down he said it took him 80 takes to get that C1 at the end. And I just read recently that in the web chat, Eli said it took him about 80 tries to get it to sound just the way he wanted it to . In their cover of Oogie boogie song , Geoff hit an E1 for the first time that it was used in the videos. That broke a lot of reactors. Since then he’s increased his range and tosses out E1’s and F1’s like they’re nothing on a regular basis. You probably didn’t notice Layne beatboxing because he didn’t start out beatboxing until quite late in the song. They pan to him briefly when he starts beatboxing . Then he goes to the violin,back to beatboxing and finishes up with singing. He was originally the baritone of the group, but when Scott left to pursue acting, he decided to take over beatboxing. We always like it when we get to hear him sing. He has a beautiful baritone. You might want to go out and check out Elizabeth Zharoff of the Charismatic Voice. She did one review of one of Geoff’s and used the raw footage to compare that to the finished It would give you an idea of how much or how little they actually use tuning. Also, there is a video out there of Layne showing how he uses the software to make the beatboxing crisper. Most of it went over my head, but it was interesting. Anyway, you would probably get a lot out of it since you were asking about how he achieved those drum effects. I think he was being interviewed by Full Sail University in that one. I would strongly recommend Tennessee Whiskey. It is beautiful. In that video, J was still a member, as was Earl, their former high tenor, who left in 2020. This was an arrangement by the bass. He and the beatboxer trade off doing 90%off the arrangements. Whoever does the arrangement is responsible for the video, venue, costumes, whatever is needed. The lighting and digital backgrounds have been done by Eli, the rock god, recently. The final mix is done by the same guy who does it for PTX and Home Free.
VoicePlay is an unusual group. They have been around for several years but they used to work at a theme park like Disney but another place. They were much more a combo of theater and singing. Much of their music videos have a theater atmosphere. People have come and gone from the group but from what I understand, Layne the beatboxer/singer/violinist and the bass Jeff Castalucci have been together from the start of the group. Eli bald head and beard used to sing with a rock group before joining them. He has been with them for awhile. J-None black guy with short hair has been with them for awhile but not as long as Eli. He was recruited by the U.S. Navy to sing with one of their groups so he has a 4 or 6 year hitch and when he has leave/vacation he comes back and sings with VP. Cesar is the newest member. He is a bit dramatic and a great singer so he fits in well with the group. You are in for a treat going down the VP rabbit hole. Welcome ! 🎉🖖🏼🥰 !
Yaaay, I'm always up for a Voiceplay reaction! And yes, there's no autotune going on (although I'm sure there's a little volume and reverb tweaking in their recorded material, but that's understandable, and on some there's layering, where they've sung extra parts which go on in the background while they sing over them - and even then they could still recreate the same effect in a live show with a looping machine.) Their catalogue is varied and sweeping, but they never disappoint. I see you already have a lot of info about the members, so I'll just add my recommendations here. For more of their rock-flavoured covers, you can't go wrong with 'Dream On' by Aerosmith, 'Carry On My Wayward Son' by Kansas, 'Warriors' and 'Enemy' by Imagine Dragons, and, from their earlier stuff, 'Queen in Five Minutes' - a medley of Queen songs with a video that tells its own little story based on a real-life health scare one of the members had. For Disney and theatrical-flavoured stuff, 'Hoist The Colours,' 'This Is Halloween,' 'My Mother Told Me,' 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' and 'In The Hall of The Mountain King.' And for computer game music, 'The Dragonborn Comes' and 'Halo' are an absolute MUST (the latter was created as a tribute to a friend of theirs who passed away, so well worth watching to he end of the video for that. Oh, and Bass From the Depths Geoff Castellucci has his own, solo channel too, where he is way more than 'just' a bass (his vocal range is off the charts.)
If you look at the video commentary for each VoicePlay video, you'll see they do their own arrangment and production. This one was arranged by Geoff Castalucci, the bass. Layne does a lot of their arrangements. Geoff has his own channel and does multitrack - he plays keyboard at least. I can't say for sure which other members play instruments, but I'm willing to bet most of them do. The song you reviewed today is their latest, released the second week of January 2023. Geoff's tour de force is the VoicePlay version of the Oogie Boogie Man (from The Nightmare Before Christmas) They do a terrific version of Carry On My Wayward Son. They also do a magnificent take on My Mother Told Me. For more theatrical entries, check out almost any of their Christmas and Halloween options. The Hall of the Mountain King has them doing an acapella version of an instrumental classical piece - and they're simultaneously funny and impeccable performers.
Thanks to VP I've found your channel, and I thoroughly enjoyed your reaction to my favourite group. I have no musical knowledge so I appreciated your not too technical explanation of things. Subscribed in anticipation of more Geoff/VoicePlay and who knows who else! 🙂👍
Love that you found VoicePlay! Favorites: Hoist the Colours, Warriors, Carry On Wayward Son, Tennessee Whiskey, Bang, Kiss, Dream On... and many more! As for Geoff (the bass), you hit the nail on the head! It's one thing to hit low notes. It's another to hit them with clarity, beauty and sustain them the way he does. He routinely hits down to a D1, and has hit a B0 and C1 in a couple of songs.
Okay, hmmm, I'd probably recommend Hall of the Mountain King, Hoist the Colors, the Wicked medley or the Halo Theme! Any of their stuff is great and I also really love their Disney videos but the ones I mentioned are S-Tier for me. 😁
I've been following Voiceplay for years and they just keep getting better and better! You're the first reactor I've come across to discuss tone and tuning for this track, and they simply are that good! Something that may interest you is 'If Only' by Hiss, Alexinho, Colaps and River', four incredible beatboxers :) And yeah, I'm a new subscriber to you 👍
New subscriber here! 👋 Omg you MUST journey further down the Voiceplay rabbit hole. There are SO many epic choices. All of their content is crazy good. ALSO... Their bass guy, Geoff, has a solo channel and he’s amazing. Great reaction!
I don't see it mentioned by other commenters is that the Engineer who does the final mix is Ed Boyer who also does it for Pentatonix, and another Acappella group Voctave.
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole. If you're going to watch more, make sure you watch to the patron list. There's always something after the song. Great reaction. 👍
Welcome to Voiceplay. They are absolutely fantastic. "Hoist the Colours", "Oogie Boogie's Song", and so so so many others.you really can't go wrong with VP.
Welcome to your first geoffquake! E1 is his bread and butter. I was shocked to see you picking this song, as it's their newest. My first thought was: dude, you are not ready for this. Great reaction, new subscriber
Welcome to the world of Voiceplay! You will have to do a deep dive of their work. And as has been mentioned, Geoff Castellucci (the bass) has a lot of solo work also.
Not knowing your channel (or you), I expected just a reaction -- but was delighted with your analysis and discussion. You've gotten lots of info already about the group, so I'll just recommend you check out whatever interests you (Dream On, Halo, and Hoist the Colours are personal favorites of mine). VP has leveled up markedly in the last couple years, but their older stuff is great too. Looking forward to seeing more from you!
Thanks Sandy! I strive to add as much extra value to my reactions as I can, so it’s nice to hear that feedback. I will definitely be revisiting Voice Play!
I love when people get to discover Voiceplay and Geoff Castellucci
Me too
Yup, I like to watch people react and hear Geoff the first time. 😄 But Eli has a great voice too. Love Voiceplay.
And VioLayne! I was just waiting for him to get to the point that the violin got tossed into the mix. 😂 They are all amazing. Geoff is astonishing, as is Eli, and everyone. Each of their guests brings a special quality. Rather than having losing members end the group, they’ve turned it into an opportunity to work with a variety of artists, each of whom brings their own magic. Pentatonix and Homefree are great. But no one does it better than Voiceplay, IMNSHO.
You’ve probably already heard it but when it comes to the top 3 acappella groups, Pentatonix is the ‘Classic’ group, HomeFree is Country, and Voiceplay are the theatre kids. They are all over the place and over the top in the best ways possible 😂
Yeah that seems like appropriate categorisation I noticed that they seem to do a really diverse range of songs. I’m saving them for more reactions though and it’s killing me! 😄
@@PrymalChaos thank you for an awesome reaction to Voice Play. Please do a reaction video of Voice Plays cover of ( Dream On ) originally by Aerosmith. That is a real treat. Also Voice Plays cover of ( Carry On My Wayward Son ) ( Eleanor Rigby ) ( Mr. Blue Sky ) & ( Queen In 5 Minutes ). You can't go wrong with Voice Play.
This is their latest release. They go back quite a few years had a couple of member changes and now feature other performers regularly.
Enjoy this rabbit whole my friend
JNone is a former member.
@@marshayoung9387 Good selection!
The fact that THIS arrangement is the one that introduces you to Voiceplay and Geoff's bass specifically is mind blowing. We've been amazed by them for so long, I can't even imagine what it would be like to see this particular cover first. Each piece of this ensemble is top tier! So glad you like it! And hope to see more reactions to their other work! 🙌
It certainly caught my attention! Sadly now I have to ration the rest of their catalogue because I want to react to it!
@@PrymalChaos it will be worth your patience 😆
@@PrymalChaos Dude. They have a LOT on RUclips. Like, you can do two a week and still be working through their stuff next year. Particularly since they are dropping at least one every month, but usually two.
This just hit like a week and a half ago…maybe 2 weeks now…and they’ve already debuted the next one to the Patreons. So it’ll be hitting public release soon.
They’re gonna keep you busy. 😊
One of my favorite things is finding a reactor experiencing Voiceplay for the first time. You did not dissapoint!
There have been personnel changes in the line up, especially in the last two years. Their high tenor, Earl Elkins Jr, member from the beginning (1997), left in 2020 for undisclosed personal reasons. J None left in 2021 when he was recruited by the US Navy to sing with them. Cesar, next to the beatboxer was added in 2021. They are one member short and use a variety of featured artists to fill out the group.
They used to tour all the time, until the pandemic shut them down. Since then they have been doing almost solely studio work. The arrangements are usually done by either Geoff (bass) or Layne (beatboxer). Geoff started doing solo work during the pandemic which you will want to check out. Really.
Recommendations for Voiceplay:
Hoist the Colours from Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - mind boggling
I Can't Make You Love Me - heartbreaking
We Don't Talk About Bruno - just amazing fun
Geoff:
Till Then - sweet and romantic
Ain't No Sunshine - heartbreaking
House of the Rising Sun - he's just showing off
Subscribed in anticipation!
Geoff = Bass
Eli = Tenor
Layne = Beatboxer/Percussion/Baritone
Caeser = Baritone/Tenor 2 (Baritenor)
Former members include:
J. None = Baritone
Earl = High Tenor
Tony = Baritenor
Frequent guest stars include:
Omar and EJ Cardona
Deejay Young
Rachel Potter
Adriana Arellano
Jose Rosario Jr.
And please remember that 1997 year was when they issued their first album when they were just out of high school. They’ve been singing together since at least high school competitions and Layne and Earl met in middle school, and I believe that was in a music class.
@@janetdw oh wow! I didn’t know they had been together that long.
When listing Geoff channel songs, you can't skip Sixteen Tons! All chest voice and a simple, fun arrangement that is very popular with the ladies. :)
@@RickoSidhe lol accurate.
I have paused your video in disbelief, you sir are set for a wild ild ride on this one. Voiceplay has so so many incredibly brilliant arrangements and performances. but you have picked their best to date to be your FIRST OMG you are gonna be broken I believe! Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Voiceplay sir!
Yep, those were E1s from the bass, Geoff. His overall range is A0-A5.
i thought he hit a Bb5 on Peaches...but i may be wrong
It's hard to recommend VP videos as they cover such wide variety of genres. A lot of fun Disney covers. some rock such as Dream On, theatrical videos like The Dragonborn Comes, and just beautiful ones like Can't Help Falling In Love. And yes Geoff is singing subharmonics, and that's is an E1. He has a five octave range and has his own low bass cover channel. Geoff Castellucci. He is also a brilliant arranger. He arranged this one. I believe it was Layne, the beatboxer, did the mixing on this one so it would be up to him what he did with that. I read that Layne first sang the guitar solo and it sounded good but then Geoff asked him to try it on the violin and that's what they went with. In their cover of Warriors Both Layne and J.None play violins to some extent. If you want riffs and runs try their Tennessee Whisky. :)
Welcome to the wonderfully diverse rabbit hole that is Voiceplay. You have chosen a great place to enter! I have seen VP gobsmack many a reactor but you do far more than just react. Your insights and musical knowledge are much appreciated and your physical reactions are more interactions with what you are experiencing. Anyway, I'd like to recommend their cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On" as your next stop on your Voiceplay journey of discovery.
Actually, try Warriors first. It's seen as the prequel to Dream On, storywise.
@@nightthornkvala94132 I'd forgotten about that. It was hard for me to recommend just one song .
@@nightthornkvala94132 And the first appearance of Violayne!
@@janetdw I'm pretty sure it's the only other appearance of his violin with VoicePlay. But you can actually tell he can beatbox while playing in 'Warriors'. Here, they apparently (from what I've read in comments) decided it looked to awkward, so you don't see it.
Welcome to what I believe to be the all-around best Acapella group out there (everyone has their favorites😎). "Enemy" by Imagine Dragon or "Dream On" are great but "Hoist the Colors", "If I Were a Rich man/girl" and "Warriors" show their range and talents. Just unbelievable productions. They also bring in some awesome guest vocalists. Have a great time on this journey👍.
the beatboxing is all vocal, yes. ofc mixed masterfully by Ed Boyer, one of the best a cappella sound engineers in the business!
You can’t go wrong with listening to any of their songs. I got hooked with their cover My Mother Told Me and they just keep topping themselves. Hoist the Colours is amazing, Enemy, and Oogie Boogie are just as amazing and fun. Oh yeah, there’s Queen in Five Minutes. So much ear candy to choose from. Amazing reaction!
One of my favorites still is Oogie Boogie's Song. Maybe because it puts emphasis on the 'play' in Voiceplay. And, of course, there is Geoff, showing his range.
What a good first song to start your Voiceplay journey with
You finally discovered Layne....he is an amazing beatboxer, an excellent baritone ( on those rare occasions when he gets to sing) and surprisingly a really good violinist. This is only the second time he's brought out his violin in all the years they've been together. The first time was a cover of Warriors.
Geoff has a HUGE range! Check out their cover of Halo. He also has his own channel for single work that is incredible as well!
left to right: Geoff Castellucci, bass. J.None, baritone. Eli Jacobson, tenor. Cesar de la Rosa, baritenor. Layne Stein, beatboxer/baritone/violin.
Geoff also has a solo channel. His range goes from B0 to A5, and he plays piano. He's also one of two main arrangers of the group.
J.None can sing bass, baritone and tenor.
Eli can sing bass, baritone and tenor, he's the rock tenor of the group, and is responsible for the lighting in their videos, and does the occasional arranging.
Cesar can sing baritone and tenor, and is the newest member of the group.
Layne can sing bass, baritone and tenor, he's one of two main arrangers of the group, he co-owns a video production studio that often gets used by the group for their videos.
Technically, using a growl, he reached A0 (slightly below, actually) on "Enemy".
That is a subharmonic E1 you are hearing. His lowest chest voice is f#1. He can use subharmonics to go even lower! Without good headphones or bass speakers his voice just disappears because it is too low for phones and laptops! I never realized how awesome this group is till I got the speakers to handle it.
Oh. As evidence that they can sing straight without tech.... Go to grim grinning ghosts from ten years ago (not their video but the one where you can see them in person.)
As for mixing... Layne does separate the lines of his beatboxing for mixing. It is mentioned somewhat in the Charismatic Voice interview with him.
So everything except the violin is made with voice. If they use an instrument they make sure you see it on video.
Names... From the left .. Geoff, J, Eli, Cesar, Layne.
Geoff plays piano. J plays violin. I do not know about the others. Layne was classically trained on violin for eleven years.
Geoff and Layne do most of the arranging. Geoff did this.
You should do the oogie boogie song by voiceplay next.
His depth on this is so, even with good headphones, you lose a bit of the body of it. I listened to this with 2 12s and 2400w. It was a religious experience when he hits those E1s.
Thank you for mentioning the grim, grinning ghosts. I always forget about that when somebody talks about autotune, I was astonished to hear how close it was to the video.
@@janetdw you're welcome!
Layne does use autotune some on their studio songs. He shares a bit about it in a TopSail university video. But he showed how to use a very light touch on it because they want to sound natural most of the time.
All singers have moments of pitchiness - even Frank Sinatra did - (well, Ella Fitzgerald never did, but she was a legend), so moments of slightly imperfect sounds do happen in live performances with Voiceplay, but they are rare. Singing a capella is hard and takes serious attention to pitch (I know from experience - I sang with an a capella group in high school) - they would not be this good if they "needed" autotune. Any autotune use they make is just to polish a studio song and they definitely could go without it.
@@johndeeregreen4592 This is true. My husband and I listened on headphones and were wowed. So we shared it at a friend's house and they ran it through their sound system. We looked at each other in shock - we had missed an entire layer of bass! It was. Amazing. We could feel it in our chests.
@@CJ_536, yeah, in headphones it is awesome; through a good sound system it's a full-body experience, lol.
The bass singer (Geoff Castellucci) has a 5 octave range from B0 on up. You should check out his solo work as well.
He actually went down even lower to a Bb0 in the live version of Way Down that he did on TikTok. It's crazy!
And it was a proper sustained Bb0. Goodness me, Geoff
He went to A0 on "Enemy".
@@johndeeregreen4592 that's not countable imo
It's very brief
@@Stan_S_Stanman, if we want to split hairs, I would have to agree. My normal metric for range is being able to sustain a note for at least 3 seconds. I can do a D0 subharmonic, but it goes wonky after a second or so... but can sustain an Eb0, so that's what I count.
Welcome to VoicePlay.
You've been given good examples, but I would like to add Carrry On My Wayward Son to the list as well.
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole.... I think one of the things I find amazing(apart from their voices) is that unlike Ptx and Home free.... VP don't have record company backers and almost limitless money when they record.... They do the arrangement, editing,costuming etc on their own.. Paid for by patrons. And they still(in my opinion) are the best of the 3 .. They do Disney, Broadway, Pop, Rock, ballads and pretty much everything else... .. Then of course you have Geoff who started his own channel during lockdown... .... For VP I would recommend, Dream on... Tennessey Whiskey, Moana, mermaid, we don't talk about Bruno, boy bands in 5 minutes, queen in 5 minutes.... In fact I recommend their whole discography.... Some are just beautiful, some fun and some heartbreaking....... As for Geoff... My favourite is ghost riders in the sky, also love Shenandoah, ain't no sunshine, high and dry.... In fact, everything..... Subscribing in anticipation. 😊 x 🇬🇧❤
It’s taking every ounce of strength I have to not binge all of their material so I can react to it later. 😅
@@PrymalChaos 🤣🤣
@@PrymalChaos I admire your willpower. They are addictive.
Geoff Castellucci = Bass
Eliezer "Eli" (pronounced Ellie) Jacobson = Tenor
Layne Stein = Beatboxer/Percussion/Baritone
Caeser De La Rosa = Baritone/Tenor 2 (Baritenor)
Former members include:
J. None = Baritone
Earl Elkins Jr. = High Tenor
Tony Walkim = Baritenor
Frequent guest stars include:
Omar and EJ Cardona
Deejay Young
Rachel Potter
Adriana Arellano
Jose Rosario Jr.
Hello, welcome to Voiceplay's rabbit hole, you just reacted to their latest video (released, if I'm not wrong, just 5 days ago). They're incredibly good, and incredibly versatile. 🙂
As far as I can say, Geoff Castellucci (Jeff), the bass, plays piano, J None plays violin (although he says that Layne is much better than him at that, or so I read), Eli (pron. "Ellie") the incredible rock tenor, should have some practice on bass (in their last Halloween video - they just OWN Halloween 😁- he mimics the movement of SLAPPING a bass, and you don't do it that well unless you KNOW how to do it 😉), I don't know about Cesar, and well, Layne plays violin (he was classically trained on the instrument for 11 years, I read). 🙂
They cover pretty much every genre I know of, from Disney songs (they're based in Orlando, and all of them worked either at Disney or Universal) to Broadway to classic pop songs to rock to classical pieces turned something fun and mind-blowing (again for last Halloween they released "In the Hall of the Mountain King"... A must watch!) to cinema and video games soundtracks to whatever. 🙂
Thay also had a number of lineup changes throughout the years, so if you check some of their older material you'll see different people. The only founders still remaining are Geoff and Layne, Eli joined in 2010, J non was a full-time member from 2018 to 2021 and is now with the Navy (but lots of people hope he'll be permanently back with the group when he'll be done with the Navy). At the moment the lineup is of four permanent members, and they feature guest singers in every video they do... And make them seem to be part of the group since, like, forever. 😁
Just subscribed, I want to see your "new" reactions to them. 🙂
See you next time.
Excellent summary.
This was a pretty good primer for noobs on their first ride down the VP rabbit hole. Nicely done.
You're going to love them. They provide so much joy through their music. Boy Bands in 5 Minutes, Running Up That Hill, In the Hall of the Mountain King, We Don't Talk About Bruno are good places to start with them.
Honestly, if he knows any Disney, then Little Mermaid is a masterpiece.
I like and appreciate both PTX and HF, they are both amazing. But Voiceplay brings me joy with every song.
THIS! It's the JOY for me! I'm a middle aged lady, but I laugh and cry and squee and blush like a teenager for these guys. They move me all over the place, but the overall effect is that JOY.
I just want to say that you are seriously, hilariously (yes those adjectives go together in this context haha) entertaining in this reaction. I am laughing so hard (in a good way). 🤣🤣
The technique Geoff is using is called subharmonics; it's similar to Tuvan throat singing, where a vocalist sings one note with their true chords and get their false chords to vibrate an octave beneath it; in Geoff's case, he's singing those notes exclusively with his false chords - which is why there is no real resonance accompanying the note. That being said, Geoff is capable of very breathy chest voice notes in that part of his range; he chooses based on what the song's character demands. He claims to be a baritone because he prefers singing higher in his range (and can easily sing in the T2 range) but if you hear him talking it is clear he is a natural octavist/basso profundo who just happens to have incredibly supple vocal chords that are trained to be able to produce higher notes with precision and tone.
And if you like this arrangement, you should check out Home Free's cover of Brothers in Arms (using Club for Five's arrangement of Dire Straits' original). It is gut-wrenchingly on point.
I think others have filled you in pretty well on the background of Voiceplay, but I wanted to welcome you too. Everything they do is great but this song is simply mind blowing. I seriously believe Geoff deserves a Grammy for this arrangement. You DEFINITELY have to check out his solo channel. The man is insanely talented, as is the rest of the group. Have fun in the rabbithole!
They are tremendous talents! They also do a WAY DIFFERENT cover of Aerosmith's Dream On. They're yet another rabbit hole to go down. They do fantasy songs where they dress the part too and rock like this. VoicePlay, PTX and Home Free are acapella groups, but you've learned that they're VERY individual and have their own sounds. I love them all. So glad you reacted to this! Thanks.
Thanks Lorri! I appreciate you watching!
Geoff (Jeff) who is singing all over the place, arranged this time. JNone singing baritone and he has been a fulltime member 2018-2021 before, but at the moment he is in the army. Eli (Ellie) is the rocktenor with a fullon range, joined the group 2010. Cesar sings bartone to tenor and joined 2021. Layne or "VioLayne" is a beetboxer and full range singer. Geoff and Layne started singing together in 1997ish. If you dare to get to know VoicePlay, I can ensure you that you are going for a hell of a ride. Enjoy!
Navy
Actually, Layne is more of a carrotboxer than a beetboxer. Bam dum tsssss I'll be here all week folks
@@sandyhausrath ROFLMAO that's great
The bass is Geoff Castellucci, as many comments have mentioned. I highly recommend you go check out his solo work, he's a master of arrangement, and low and high notes alike. he's amazing.
It is an E1 he can go to B0 and also up to A5 .Try his version of Blackbird where he sings acapella by himself .
The bass - Geoff (pronounced Jeff) Castellucci has an insanely low voice and that note that you were surprised by at the start was indeed an E1 except that it was a subharmonic - so basically he is singing an E2 but he's singing it in a way so that an undertone an octave down (E1) appears under it. So he uses the subharmonics sometimes, although he can go down to an F#1 in chest. This technique is still fairly unknown, I think David Larson was the one who popularised it.
I think whoever does the arrangement (Geoff-bass or Layne-Vocal Percussion) they arrange Layne as the drums. What is so cool is they record their parts at their homes and send to Ed Boyer for final mix. Whomever does arrangement does the video directing, sourcing of location for videoshoot, outfits. Layne and another guy (Tony Wakim, former member) own their own production company in Orlando area. Eli (bald guy in middle) taught himself to do the lighting controlled through computer. Geoff's wife Kathy keeps everyone in check on schedule.
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole. I fell down it in April and never looked back. These guys are fantastic.
Left to right...
Geoff (Jeff) Castelucci - Bass.
J None - Baritone/ Featured Guest.
Eli (elly) Jacobson - Tenor/Rock Tenor.
Cesar De La Rosa - Baritone/Tenor.
Layne Stein - Beatboxer/Baritone.
Voiceplay live in Orlando Florida. All used to perform in shows at Universal Studios and Disney World. So love to dress up in costumes and put on makeup. Especially the last couple years.
They have no particular genre. They aren't afraid to go out of the box. They are known as both "The Theater Kids" of acapella and "The Kings of Halloween".
Anything you choose to watch you can't go wrong. There is plenty to choose from going back many years.
Geoff also has his own channel where he sings solo with instruments. All of his are fantastic as well.
Great reaction! Keep posting Voiceplay reactions and your subs will explode! The VP crew are LOYAL!
Geoff (Jeff) the bass - arranged this. Next to him in the line-up: J None, a former member who joined the navy, Eli (rhymes with jelly) the rock tenor (can dip to an A1), Cesar, the newest member, and Layne, triple threat here: baritone, beatbox, vioLayne (he also did the video editing, which normally is done by the arranger). You really need to listen to their cover of Tennessee Whiskey - completely locked in, impossible harmonies. Loved your sidebar on the guitar. Completely appropriate, and these guys are masterful in their craft. Geoff and Layne are founding members... all the way back to 1997 when they graduated from high school. Eli joined in 2010. Dream On is extraordinary - as is Queen in 5 minutes. Loved your reaction, looking forward to more!
Wasn't Earl Elkin a founding member with Geoff and Layne? They all went to high school together and performed at the theme parks at Orlando where they are from. Earl left fairly recently.
@@lazylady8591 Yes. Earl's last performance with them was "I Will Survive" released 4/25/20, and his departure was announced on 7/09/20. They'd clearly known for awhile, since they released the first of their two farewell songs, "The Heart of Life" the following day. Although he left much longer ago, another founding member was Scott Porter, who made a featured appearance in Halo. I don't know who the 5th one was.
@@Aurora-cv5to Was the fifth one Tony (sorry I don't know his last name)? I think he left to be a producer at Patty Cake Production. Patty Cake, I understand, is owned by Geoff and Layne and maybe some other former members of the group.
I am not sure about all of this information. It seems harder to get information on Voiceplay than say Home Free for some reason. Voiceplay seems to be under bigger pressure than the other acapella groups because they do so much from their arrangements, producing, videography, makeup, costumes, not to mention their singing. They are all extremely talented,. Sometimes one get the impression that they are kinda frazzled from all the demands. Still they are fantastic performers.
One thing about the top three acapella groups is that they are always trying new things. They are always looking for new challenges.
@@lazylady8591 PattyCake Productions is owned by Layne Stein (beatboxer) and former Baritone singer, Tony Wakim (Tony is still very much a part of Voice Play's production- he just did not like the demands of touring). Geoff is not part owner of PattyCake Productions but has been best friends with Layne since they were in Jr high school and both Geoff and Layne take turns doing the vocal arrangements of their songs (Geoff did the arrangement in this one).
@@lazylady8591 Tony Wakim (hope I spelled that right) is Layne's partner in PattyCake. I don't think Geoff is involved. Don't think Tony was a founding member, but - don't know. I don't really know if it's easy or hard to get info, since I don't usually drill down that much. I'm fascinated by the creative process so I do nose around for info on that - but mostly I've just picked it up through time, and have a good memory.
I'm not dissing here, just stating a fact - I have never been able to get into either Pentatonix or Home Free very much. I feel I should like them more than I do, that a gazillion fans can't be wrong, but.... neither of them really holds my attention either aurally or visually.
VoicePlay hits it out of the park on so many levels. I was watching Tennessee Whiskey with a reactor yesterday and was struck again by just how GORGEOUS the video is. The thing looks like it was assembled by renaissance painters... the placement and heights of the singers in that classic triangle, the misty light streaming in the windows, the muted colors... they don't even need theatrics to do gorgeous videos. smh. WHO DOES THAT? It's not that Pentatonix and Home Free aren't good, they are. But VoicePlay aren't singers/musicians - they're artists, and it shows in every move they make. It's the nuance...
Some VoicePlay songs to start your journey, their cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On", Hoist the colors, Halo Theme, Ding Dong feat Lauren Paley, The Dragonborn Comes (Skyrim) There is a good start, enjoy 👍🍻
Great reaction! You might also like their version of My mother told me,The Dragonborn comes, Halo and Hoist the colours.
To your mention of tuning and vibrato: All acapella emphasizes that singers can't lock a chord if they allow oscillation in the individual voices, and without that chord lock, it's extremely difficult to produce the overtones and undertones that fill in the resonance of good acapella. Layne and Geoff sang barbershop back in their youth, and as a former Sweet Adeline, I can tell you that barbershop is all about tuning. In addition, with voices only, they can employ Pythagorean tuning, which is a deep rabbit hole. Suffice it to say that it also helps facilitate that chord lock. You don't even want to get us started on matching vowels and turning diphthongs together! Heh. In regard to your question about the mixing choices, you might be interested in the interview that reactor "The Charismatic Voice" did with Layne a while back. They have a great discussion on VoicePlay's recording and mixing process, complete with screenshots and diagrams of settings and oscilligraphs.
Thank you for that I didn't know Elizabeth had done a teatime with Layne I only knew the Geoff one...
i know geoff (mr Bass) plays the piano, and i'd wager that eli played the bass since he's mimicked it on a video, and nobody knows that weird finger motion if you havn't at least touched a bass.
if you're into disney, you should check their disney covers, they're pretty much amazing.
they also covered Hoist the colors from pirate of the carribean and dream on from aerosmith, that are both amazing.
Geoff also plays guitar though he claims not well (but then he also claims not to be good at growl notes, so take that with a grain of salt) J None also plays violin.
@@dianeschluter9995 i mean, he's done 1 growl on a recorded track? i think in "misty mountain" at the end?
definitely not his favorite
@@grischad20 The one in Misty Mountains is a subharmonic, but the one at the end of Enemy is a growl. He tends to use them more in the background than for "featured notes" I guess. There are some behind one of Santa's parts in Oogie Boggie that I remember.
I really enjoyed your reaction and comments. The impromptu mini guitar lesson and info about mixing was interesting! I see what you meant about getting close to the mic, and if you go down this Voiceplay rabbit hole, in some of their older stuff (and their live stuff) you will see that both Geoff (bass) and Layne (percussionist) are often practically eating the mics, while the rest of them can share a mic a couple feet away.
I'm definitely subscribing so I can see more of this kind of reaction video, and I look forward to seeing you get acquainted with my favorite acapella group!
Goeff has several solos out there worth checking out if you want to see what he can do. Blackbird, Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone and 16 Tons are well worth your time.
Geoff’s chest range goes down as far as F#-G1. From there, he deploys extended techniques, primarily subharmonics (he has videos on how to do this). The real trick is making them sound good and keeping them steady-he’s killer at it. As far as I know Layne does not use any other instruments to do the perc-and we’ve only seen his violin twice in three years (Warriors is the other one). We love it, but of course it’s not strictly acapella. Geoff and Layne also trade off doing the arrangements (this one’s Geoff’s).
Looks like others have done the introductions. I’d say Carry On Wayward Son should be next. But you might want to check out some of their more theatrical pieces as well, like Hoist the Colours, or The Dragonborn Comes. They go the whole way and do costumes, sets, etc. sometimes-yeah, nerdy/geeky, but they don’t ever short you on the music. One of my favorites is If I Were a Rich Man/Girl (Fiddler on the Roof). And PLEASE don’t miss We Don’t Talk About Bruno (yes, I know, Encanto has been done to death, but it’s very much like THIS song-it hadn’t been done by VOICEPLAY-they took it to a new level).
And speaking of new levels, I LOVED this reaction! Some reactors really get out in the weeds talking about vocal techniques and music theory, and I love it, but you’re the first who really got into the details of recording and performing pieces and nailing the harmonies. I would love to see more of this! More Voiceplay, please!!
Thanks for watching! As soon as I was done I dived into some research, I didn’t even know subharmonic was a thing! But you can bet I spent all night attempting to figure it out! 😅according to my tuner I was flirting with some notes down in the 1 range, but not even close to the consistency and tone quality of Geoff. He is a wizard!
@@PrymalChaos He really is. It helps that he’s been singing since he was a teen and he’s in his early 40’s now, so his voice is mature (I gather it takes longer with basses). He’s had a lot of time to work on developing that velvety smooth voice. He has his own channel, which you should also check out. Geoff was my introduction to the “bass singer nation”-there are a lot of really gifted bass singers out there.
@@PrymalChaos if you’re interested in subharmonics, you should check out David Larson, who Geoff credits with introducing him to the technique. There is a really long video (about an hour ) where he really gets into detail with it about all the different throat singing type techniques.
After watching one of the tutorials, I went around caterwauling in my house, and actually managed to do it once, but never since then. Besides, the dog next-door kept howling😂!
@@janetdw yeah one time I accidentally figured out overtone singing, but couldn’t get it to work again after that. There’s a real knack to it.
I really loved your sidebar about tuning and learning to play / sing individual notes perfectly before you can really excel at the bigger-picture parts of music. I can sit here and say "they sound great together" but it's really a treasure to hear that description and breakdown of WHY they sound great together.
Thanks! Great reaction. You’ll love VoicePlay.
They are truely amazing! Thank you for your support!
gotta love it when they say this is my first time watching Voiceplay, we all collectively agree their in for a shock and it's always fun to watch ☺
It’s great sharing these moments with the die hard fans!
So glad you enjoyed VP. They are beyond amazing! Btw, I just subscribed!
Thanks for this reaction!! So glad you got to VoicePlay! One great thing about the Acapella world is that they all are doing completely different things. All the groups have a unique style and sound. As far as instruments go, I know Layne plays violin (when this happens we call him VioLayne, lol) and Geoff (the bass) plays piano. Kevin from PTX plays chello. For VoicePlay, is say check out "We Don't Talk About Bruno." It'll give you a sense of who they are and the silly, fun vibe they tend to bring. My fav before this was "Hoist the Colours" from Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a don't miss, for sure. Geoff has his own solo channel as well where he clones himself and sings all the parts. His range is insane. Maybe for him stay off with something like "Shenandoah" or "Ain't No Sunshine."
I’m not surprised that Geoff has such a great range. I have a theory (with absolutely no research at all -just more of an opinion really) that people with naturally low voices have an advantage because I think it’s easier to learn to extend your range up than to learn how to sing down. You really have to relax down into your physical limitations to go low, but going up you have access to things like falsetto and mix.
Having said that he seems to be one of the great wonders of the world. 🥲🤣
@@PrymalChaos lol. I can definitely see how you came up with that theory. It makes total sense. Though I wonder because Geoff wasn't a natural bass. He started off wanting to be a rock tenor. He described himself as a baritone with a bass and tenor range. Maybe Geoff is just an alien and your theory only applies to humans! 😂 And yeah, Geoff is absolutely a phenom! Some people just have too much talent! 😂
@@PrymalChaos that theory is pretty accurate. Geoff started off as a baritone, but as he matured his voice lowered a bit. he's been working on lowering his voice since his late teens, but has also worked hard on his high range just as long. it's taken him dedicated and consistent work over many years to develop his current voice, and he's spent the last years learning subharmonic technique as well. Geoff is often considered a big inspiration to young and upcoming bass singers, as he didn't become an immediate bass after his voice dropped, but had to work hard to develop it, and also has voiced the importance of developing your falsetto to help with developing your bass voice. You can learn to lower your voice a little bit, but extending your range upwards is a lot easier, and is also why so many bass singers have such a big range.
@@PrymalChaos Speaking of games , Please do a reaction video of Voice Plays cover of ( The Dragonborn Comes Skyrim ) this one you will get the full affect of their theatrical side. Also ( Halo ) the theme song Halo from the video game. Just remember to never stop the video before the credits roll. Sometimes they have a brief pause near the end for a special effect. Thank you for your awesome reaction ♥️
Welcome to VoicePlay. I really enjoyed your reaction and analysis. I hope that you do more. Geoff is the bass and he did the arrangements for this one. J. None the second from the left play violin too.
I love watching first time reactors to VoicePlay! Welcome to the fun!
Welcome to the VoicePlay rabbit hole. #TheatreKidsOfACappella. This is Geoff's arrangement. Yes, an E1. He hit a C1 on his cover of Elvis's "Way Down" He also hit a B0 on VoicePlays' cover of the HALO theme. They are a journey. I was hooked on Geoff's cover of Sixteen Tons which lead me to his group VoicePlay. Your reaction to Layne #Violayne the beatboxer. Perfect!
They’re fantastic!
The two guys in the group who do most/all of the arrangements are Geoff (bass, on the left) and Layne (percussion/VioLayne) on the right. They are both geniuses who can arrange the most unlikely songs into amazing a capella that will melt your brain.
Welcome to the planet of VoicePlay. :)
Eli (sounds like b-elly or j-elly....short for Eliezer) also has played around with arranging (see VoicePlays Eleanor Rigby)
Geoff is one of the MOST FLEXIBLE singers I've ever heard! He can be singing in baritone range and drop instantly and PERFECTLY to those sub-bass tones in nanoseconds! He blows my ears and brain every time I hear him sing. He arranged this gem, too. SUCH TALENT!
First like! I can't stop listening this version. Loved it!
and yes, that's an E1 on the scale of Geoffs earthquakes!
In order left to right: Geoff, J None, Eli (rhymes with jelly), Cesar, Layne (aka VioLayne). Both Layne and J None have violins. Geoff is a pianist and harmonica player (just did a solo of Imagine), Big Iron (Marty Robbins), Wicked Games (Chris Isaak). The members can do some beatboxing if necessary. In this case it was Geoff's project and he did the arranging, pre-mix, staging, costuming, Eli did the lighting - and set it up for the Black Album. Ed Boyer does the final mix for Pentatonix, VoicePlay, Home Free, Voctave. I've not seen you in a while and have missed you! Check out VoicePlay's - The Way You Make Me Feel (MJ), Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) dropped Friday, Sleeping in the Cold Below (WarFrame), Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden), and an incredible delight - Classical Chaos w/ Rachel Potter.
@@bjspeck4337 it’s amazing when you somehow manage to get a group of insanely talented people together. There’s no weak links.
Wonderful reaction and music analysis! Welcome to VoicePlay. I am now fan of yours, and I subscribed to your channel in hopes I can see more video reactions to VoicePlay and other groups. Check Out Dream On and Queen in 5 Minutes, as well as epic videos like Hoist the Colors, My Mother Told Me, the the Halo theme, and the list goes on and on. Oogie Boogie’s song showcases Geoff’s 5-octave range and all their character singing voices and harmonies. Geoff Castellucci has his own channel too with this solo work - equally fantastic!
Welcomed aboard the VoicePlay "Rollercoaster'........they Bass and beatboxer are the founding members of the group in 1997....Eli (Ellie) The rock-tenor has been there since 2011-12 he is the Hair challenged individual....lol.....Geoff, the bass has his own RUclips Channel, where besides his music, he does tutorials and has a 5+ octave range.....Layne the Beatboxer, is a master vocal percussionist, singer, arranger, shares the arranging with Geoff. J.None is the featured artist, he was a full time member of the group,, he enlisted in the Navy, and does collaborations with them.....Cesar is the newest full time member of the group......'Strap yourself in, when you go down THEIR 'rabbithole'....they have over 180 videos, so you have a LOT of catching up to do.....>^^
"Fundamentally you can hide a lot of bad technique by shredding and playing fast." I subbed for that comment alone. Stayed for the rest of the reaction which was really good! Love finding other artists that really understand their instruments and quality.
So great seeing people find voiceplay the first time.
In Warriors, J None and Layne play violin together. Geoff does piano and guitar and frequently plays on his channel. Not only do they "play" in music, they do everything....arrange, costuming, lighting, special effects, scenery, and on and on....except mixing. No group I know of does all that. They are creative and hard workers.
Subbed for more VoicePlay.
What a way to be introduced to them. You're going to love this rabbit hole.
Many great suggestions for songs in the comments, but I would like to add, since you mentioned their pitch control, if you want to hear a more "live" version of them, check out any of their ACA Top 10 videos. They sing them live, no pre-recording, with Geoff and Layne behind mics for projection, and they do the video in one take.
Also, the description box of VP and Geoff videos are always full of good info about the video, and sometimes some humor. And, in case no one else mentioned it, you should always let a VP video play until their Patreon list rolls, because you might miss something otherwise.
Aside from the GeoffQuakes, and that moment of seeing the VioLayne be caught, what I love about this reaction (and so many others) is the unique things you bring to it -- explaining vocal pitch control in terms of being able to play a single note on a guitar (as opposed to shredding), talking about the difference between playing a guitar vs playing a violin. I love the ebb and flow of this arrangement, how they take us to tremendous heights and then pull back to very quiet moments that allow us to breathe. A wonderful performance of a very cool song, and I thoroughly enjoyed your reaction to it.
Oh! If you like bass? You HAVE TO HEAR THE BASS GANG. It's four LOW bass singers who formed their own a capella group, and they are amazing. They're relatively new, but seriously you should check them out.
Yellow Flicker Beat is my fave. I really like listening to the bass gang because each of them has such a distinctive sound..
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole. They do a lot fun stuff. Since you like this one you might wish to consider their covers of Carry On Wayward Son and Dream On. For more family fun try their medleys of the Little Mermaid or Moana. What I consider their most popular covers are The Oogie Boogie Song and Hoist The Colours.
Welcome to Geoff. He does a lot of solo work as well. His range is ridiculous. VoicePLAY is called that for a reason- much of their stuff is more... theater for lack of a better way to put it. Their videos are pure entertainment, and their voices are just amazing. Check out "Hoist the colors" and "If I were a rich man/girl" for the group's vocal capabilities on display. They do a lot of disney stuff as well which never, ever fails to make you smile. They play a lot, versus always being serious. Welcome to the rabbit hole.
I used to be all about PTX at one point. But VoicePlay has take over my music life for the past few years. Not only are they amazing singers, arrangers, producers, they are charming people. It's their personalities that captured me fully.
They don't need no stinkin' autotune. 😆 Seriously, they're that rarest of gems anymore, vocalists who can actually sing in key. Thanks for appreciating that!
Pretty sure they've said that they do use Melodyne in small amounts
@@MegaBumblebee666 I stand corrected, though the only reference I can find is from about six years ago. Thanks for setting the record straight.
@@DTA-Music You aren't far wrong, though. They use a very light touch, according to that top sail video from 6 years ago. And you can listen to their ACA 10 stuff and their old in-person Grim Grinning Ghosts to hear them sing without touchups. They are very strong singers and auto-tune is just polish. I think it's because they are perfectionists. :)
Awesome reaction and analysis. For your further listening..the Oogie Boogie Song from Nightmare Before Christmas was the one that really sent these guys, especially the bass, Geoff, over the top. Hoist the Colors blew the interwebs apart as well. You really can’t go wrong with Voiceplay. Pick a genre, and they’ve done it. They even took a classical instrumental piece, Hall of the Mountain King, and turned it a capella. Enjoy this new journey.
I will check it out
Agree with whole list here.
Enjoyed your reaction & discussion about production. Layne (the beatboxer who also does some of their arrangements) did an interview with The Charismatic Voice on YT about arrangement and production of VP's recordings. Worth checking out.
Definitely worth listening to: Carry On Wayward Son; Tennessee Whiskey; Hoist The Colours; Oogie Boogie Song; Queen In Five Minutes; My Mother Told Me; any of their Disney stuff. Hell, all of it.
"What is that?" that is Geoff :D
Sent me down a rabbit hole of “subharmonic singing”! Didn’t even know that was a thing. You really need a good set of headphones to even hear it properly. I was showing my partner the song on my TV sound bar that has a sun (admittedly it’s not an amazing system TBH) but I was blown away by how even with a subwoofer it wasn’t picking up all the detail of his low notes.
@@PrymalChaos Oh, did you watch Geoff’s “How to Sing Low” series on his channel or did you find info elsewhere? I highly recommend Geoff’s videos about it, but he also credits David Larson in them (I have not watched David’s videos though).
Voiceplay doesn't use auto tune these are true vocals and skill. You'll see more of what Voiceplay does and their talent and skill level if you continue your journey through their covers! Great reaction and commentary.
They do use Melodyne to tweak things sometimes but that's about it.
VoicePlay is amazing with the ability to arrange these songs (Geoff the bass and Layne the beatboxer alternate being responsible for arrangements, premix audio, video, staging, costuming, makeup, etc. Eli (bald tenor) has taken to doing lighting, computer backgrounds, green screens, etc. Final mix is Ed Boyer, best in the business. Layne is half owner of Pattycake Studios with Tony Wakim (former member that wanted to go into production) and the studio is home to a lot of VoicePlay's videos and Geoff's soloes. Cesar is the most recent addition. If you want to hear 3 of these guys doing incredible riffs with perfect precision, look up Tennessee Whiskey. There is no shortage of videos that will astound you, they are that good. Some of my favorites are I Can't Make You Love Me, Dragonborn Comes, Phantom of the Opera (Tony Wakim plays the Phantom, Rachel Potter plays Christine), Warriors, Dream On, Carry on My Wayward Son, Wicked, Man in the Mirror, We're Good, Hoist the Colours, Halo Theme, and more. One of the most unusual arrangements was In the Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg 1875) no lyrics, but they pulled it off. Geoff did the arrangement for this one and had written in the guitar solo for Layne and at the last minute asked Layne if he could do the violin so VioLayne stepped in. Warriors has Layne playing the violin for all of that video, J None played his violin in a few places. It only took 3 years for us to hear Layne play again. Geoff plays the piano and you can hear that in his soloes.
Welcome to VoicePlay! Just pick a song that appeals to you and it'll be fantastic. They're known as #TheTheaterKidsOfACappella because they do a lot of cosplay. Since they are from Orlando there's a lot of Disney in there, but it's ALL great. They've done everything from metal to Broadway. Queen, Aerosmith, Imagine Dragons, Michael Jackson, Beatles, video games--they've killed it. Some of their songs are hilarious to watch, and then they'll make you cry with I Can't Make You Love Me. If you want to listen to Geoff's lowest notes, listen to the last three from his solo cover of Elvis's Way Down, C1, and in the Halo theme with VoicePlay he hits B0. Yeah, we get it. Geoff isn't human and we love it. The collaboration between Geoff and Layne is what makes it. Between the bass guitar parts and the beatboxing they add a huge amount of depth. My favorite of their tag team is the last part of Friends On the Other Side. You won't remember it's not a bank of sub woofers and a drum kit. Layne (Stein) owns a production company know as PattyCake and it's on RUclips as well. He's got some really good stuff on there as well. It's also where VP does most of its filming.
Going down a rabbit hole of reactors who found this song, since i just found it myself this week. Great reaction.
I was surprised to find out that Pentatonix and Home Free are relatively newer groups. Voiceplay's been around for many years before the other two. I discovered Voiceplay a year ago and fell in love with their singing instantly! 😍
i Think you would also enjoy their rendition of warriors and ,dream on Voiceplay will not disappoint you ❤🏴
I enjoyed your reaction and comments and have subscribed. There are a lot of good comments here already, so I’ll try not to repeat.
You can always look in their description under the video, but you’ll find that - unlike PTX and Home Free - they do most everything for their videos themselves. Geoff (bass) and Layne (beatboxer) mostly split the arrangements. Whoever does the arrangements usually plans and directs the video shoot, including costuming and sets. Eli (tenor) usually does the lighting, and they bring in makeup and cameramen as needed. Geoff’s wife Kathy is usually the Production Director for their shoots. The arranger usually does the audio editing (all except the final edit, which goes to Ed Boyer, who also edits for most other acapella groups) and the final video edit. This shoot was the exception - Layne took over the video editing so Geoff could finish his latest solo project. And most of their shoots are at Pattycake Productions, which is owned by Layne and his partner Tony Wakim (former VoicePlay baritone.)
So you can see that they retain much more creative control than most other groups.
J. None also plays violin. Geoff the bass plays piano. He arranged this piece. I think Eli the tenor plays guitar.
Excellent reaction and a lot of information. Subscribing in hopes that you’ll do more VoicePlay and also more of Geoff (in addition to other pieces that I may enjoy).
Geoff often gets questions about singing low and has been quoted as saying that it is more important to sing well than to sing low. He has several tutorials on his personal channel and actually demonstrates his subharmonic technique, which helps him get down into that first octave and even below.
Part of why they sound so in sync with each other is that they are very particular about getting just the right sound for these recorded videos. In Geoff’s cover of Way Down he said it took him 80 takes to get that C1 at the end. And I just read recently that in the web chat, Eli said it took him about 80 tries to get it to sound just the way he wanted it to .
In their cover of Oogie boogie song , Geoff hit an E1 for the first time that it was used in the videos. That broke a lot of reactors. Since then he’s increased his range and tosses out E1’s and F1’s like they’re nothing on a regular basis.
You probably didn’t notice Layne beatboxing because he didn’t start out beatboxing until quite late in the song. They pan to him briefly when he starts beatboxing . Then he goes to the violin,back to beatboxing and finishes up with singing. He was originally the baritone of the group, but when Scott left to pursue acting, he decided to take over beatboxing. We always like it when we get to hear him sing. He has a beautiful baritone.
You might want to go out and check out Elizabeth Zharoff of the Charismatic Voice. She did one review of one of Geoff’s and used the raw footage to compare that to the finished It would give you an idea of how much or how little they actually use tuning.
Also, there is a video out there of Layne showing how he uses the software to make the beatboxing crisper. Most of it went over my head, but it was interesting. Anyway, you would probably get a lot out of it since you were asking about how he achieved those drum effects. I think he was being interviewed by Full Sail University in that one.
I would strongly recommend Tennessee Whiskey. It is beautiful. In that video, J was still a member, as was Earl, their former high tenor, who left in 2020.
This was an arrangement by the bass. He and the beatboxer trade off doing 90%off the arrangements. Whoever does the arrangement is responsible for the video, venue, costumes, whatever is needed. The lighting and digital backgrounds have been done by Eli, the rock god, recently. The final mix is done by the same guy who does it for PTX and Home Free.
VoicePlay is an unusual group. They have been around for several years but they used to work at a theme park like Disney but another place. They were much more a combo of theater and singing. Much of their music videos have a theater atmosphere. People have come and gone from the group but from what I understand, Layne the beatboxer/singer/violinist and the bass Jeff Castalucci have been together from the start of the group. Eli bald head and beard used to sing with a rock group before joining them. He has been with them for awhile. J-None black guy with short hair has been with them for awhile but not as long as Eli. He was recruited by the U.S. Navy to sing with one of their groups so he has a 4 or 6 year hitch and when he has leave/vacation he comes back and sings with VP. Cesar is the newest member. He is a bit dramatic and a great singer so he fits in well with the group. You are in for a treat going down the VP rabbit hole. Welcome ! 🎉🖖🏼🥰
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Nice! Thanks for the info!
Yaaay, I'm always up for a Voiceplay reaction! And yes, there's no autotune going on (although I'm sure there's a little volume and reverb tweaking in their recorded material, but that's understandable, and on some there's layering, where they've sung extra parts which go on in the background while they sing over them - and even then they could still recreate the same effect in a live show with a looping machine.) Their catalogue is varied and sweeping, but they never disappoint.
I see you already have a lot of info about the members, so I'll just add my recommendations here. For more of their rock-flavoured covers, you can't go wrong with 'Dream On' by Aerosmith, 'Carry On My Wayward Son' by Kansas, 'Warriors' and 'Enemy' by Imagine Dragons, and, from their earlier stuff, 'Queen in Five Minutes' - a medley of Queen songs with a video that tells its own little story based on a real-life health scare one of the members had. For Disney and theatrical-flavoured stuff, 'Hoist The Colours,' 'This Is Halloween,' 'My Mother Told Me,' 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' and 'In The Hall of The Mountain King.' And for computer game music, 'The Dragonborn Comes' and 'Halo' are an absolute MUST (the latter was created as a tribute to a friend of theirs who passed away, so well worth watching to he end of the video for that.
Oh, and Bass From the Depths Geoff Castellucci has his own, solo channel too, where he is way more than 'just' a bass (his vocal range is off the charts.)
If you look at the video commentary for each VoicePlay video, you'll see they do their own arrangment and production. This one was arranged by Geoff Castalucci, the bass. Layne does a lot of their arrangements. Geoff has his own channel and does multitrack - he plays keyboard at least. I can't say for sure which other members play instruments, but I'm willing to bet most of them do.
The song you reviewed today is their latest, released the second week of January 2023.
Geoff's tour de force is the VoicePlay version of the Oogie Boogie Man (from The Nightmare Before Christmas)
They do a terrific version of Carry On My Wayward Son. They also do a magnificent take on My Mother Told Me.
For more theatrical entries, check out almost any of their Christmas and Halloween options. The Hall of the Mountain King has them doing an acapella version of an instrumental classical piece - and they're simultaneously funny and impeccable performers.
Thanks to VP I've found your channel, and I thoroughly enjoyed your reaction to my favourite group. I have no musical knowledge so I appreciated your not too technical explanation of things. Subscribed in anticipation of more Geoff/VoicePlay and who knows who else! 🙂👍
Left to right: Geoff(Jeff)- Bass, J. None- Bari, Eli(L E)- Tenor, Cesar- Tenor/Bari, Layne Bari- beatboxing- Violayne
Love that you found VoicePlay! Favorites: Hoist the Colours, Warriors, Carry On Wayward Son, Tennessee Whiskey, Bang, Kiss, Dream On... and many more! As for Geoff (the bass), you hit the nail on the head! It's one thing to hit low notes. It's another to hit them with clarity, beauty and sustain them the way he does. He routinely hits down to a D1, and has hit a B0 and C1 in a couple of songs.
Came here because of this awesome cover, I need to check out some of your other reactions.
Okay, hmmm, I'd probably recommend Hall of the Mountain King, Hoist the Colors, the Wicked medley or the Halo Theme! Any of their stuff is great and I also really love their Disney videos but the ones I mentioned are S-Tier for me. 😁
My favorite thing is watching people react to VoicePlay and hear Geoff Castelucci for the first time. His lowest note to date is B0
Love the reaction ! Geoff slays another!
I've been following Voiceplay for years and they just keep getting better and better! You're the first reactor I've come across to discuss tone and tuning for this track, and they simply are that good!
Something that may interest you is 'If Only' by Hiss, Alexinho, Colaps and River', four incredible beatboxers :)
And yeah, I'm a new subscriber to you 👍
VoicePlay's and Geoff Castellucci's (bass) channels are my fave music!
New subscriber here! 👋 Omg you MUST journey further down the Voiceplay rabbit hole. There are SO many epic choices. All of their content is crazy good. ALSO... Their bass guy, Geoff, has a solo channel and he’s amazing. Great reaction!
I don't see it mentioned by other commenters is that the Engineer who does the final mix is Ed Boyer who also does it for Pentatonix, and another Acappella group Voctave.
I’ve watched a lot of voiceplay reactions, but you still brought some new knowledge. +1 subscriber :)
Thank you! I appreciate that!
Welcome to the Voiceplay rabbit hole. If you're going to watch more, make sure you watch to the patron list. There's always something after the song. Great reaction. 👍
This bassist Geoff (jeff) Castellucci is the GOD OF SUBHARMONICS he hit a B0 on HALO THEME.
Welcome to Voiceplay. They are absolutely fantastic. "Hoist the Colours", "Oogie Boogie's Song", and so so so many others.you really can't go wrong with VP.
Welcome to your first geoffquake! E1 is his bread and butter.
I was shocked to see you picking this song, as it's their newest. My first thought was: dude, you are not ready for this.
Great reaction, new subscriber
Correct! I was not ready for this! 😆
Subharmonics is how Geoff gets to the bottom of the keyboard notes. He actually teaches people how to do it.
Welcome to the world of Voiceplay! You will have to do a deep dive of their work. And as has been mentioned, Geoff Castellucci (the bass) has a lot of solo work also.
Not knowing your channel (or you), I expected just a reaction -- but was delighted with your analysis and discussion. You've gotten lots of info already about the group, so I'll just recommend you check out whatever interests you (Dream On, Halo, and Hoist the Colours are personal favorites of mine). VP has leveled up markedly in the last couple years, but their older stuff is great too. Looking forward to seeing more from you!
Thanks Sandy! I strive to add as much extra value to my reactions as I can, so it’s nice to hear that feedback. I will definitely be revisiting Voice Play!