Loading...A Capella is very impressive and entertaining branch of music. Without any backup instruments to support the vocalists, the focus of the audience is exclusively on the singers, meaning only the best voices can become great a capella singers. A capella bands tend to have 5 or more members, usually a beatboxer and a group of singers who vary in pitch. Pentatonix, for instance, has 5 members, hence the “penta” in the name: a bass, a beatboxer, baritone, tenor, and mezzo-soprano. And with a capella’s rise in popularity in recent years with the show “The Singoff” and Penatonix’s success, you can tell people like and appreciate the style of music. But what’s equally if not more impressive than traditional a capella, with many singers, is a capella sung by one vocalist. Peter Hollens runs an eponymous channel where he makes covers of various songs and artists using only his voice – and the power of editing.
By layering pre-recorded tracks of him singing over each other, Peter creates amazing covers in which he sings every part, from the highest to the lowest parts, and even the beatboxing. Because he can layer so many tracks over each other, many of his covers have an incredible choir-like sound to them, adding an interesting tone to the videos. This type of video, where one (or sometimes two) singers perform tens to hundreds of parts is especially impressive, as the singer has to have a wide range and the ability to sing high and low, along with beatbox, all of which Peter Hollens did very well. In the video above, many different tracks were used to create Peter’s medley cover of the artist Bruno Mars’ songs, featuring another YouTuber, Roomie.
In the video, Peter Hollens and Roomie cover a variety of Bruno Mars hit songs, from Grenade to Count On Me to Uptown Funk. Of course, both Roomie and Peter perform their parts incredibly well, emulating Bruno Mars very well while also adding their own twist on the song, since Roomie and Peter have very distinct voices. I may be slightly biased, as I like Bruno Mars songs in the first place, but you can definitely hear the impact of having many layered tracks in other Peter Hollens songs. Another great Peter Hollens video that I particularly like is his exquisite cover of the classic song “Over The Rainbow”, which you can watch HERE.
Basically, Peter Hollens is a YouTuber that creates amazing and very entertaining covers of a plethora of songs and artists. By layering pre-recorded tracks of Peter’s singing, he creates a interesting effect of many people singing in unison, when in reality Peter has actually sung every part. (which I’m okay with, as there’s no doubt Peter has a great voice) While he isn’t the only one using this technique, in my opinion Peter does it best, with great arrangements, editing, and of course, great vocals.