There's No "I" in A Cappella: Ben Folds Exploits the People

It all began when a friend told him about a YouTube clip of a college a cappella group doing one of his songs. "It was just so good," Folds recalls. "The first thing I thought was, you know, let's exploit these people." Inspired, the bespectacled piano charmer announced a contest last fall.

The premise was simple: Interested parties would submit YouTube clips of themselves doing a cappella versions of Ben Folds Five or Ben Folds solo tunes. Folds would then record the groups he liked best. Countless hours of sifting and some 250 clips later, the singer/songwriter packed up and traveled to most of the winners' home turf.


According to GQ editor Mickey Rapkin's book Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory, there are more than 1,200 collegiate a cappella groups in the U.S. So as much as Folds liked that first group that introduced him to the whole concept, it was unsurprisingly not one of the finalists. "It's just because that was the first thing that I heard, and it was really good. And as we got into it, and it became more competitive, it became obvious that there was some really, pretty serious stuff out there. So, I had to make the best album—for everyone involved—that I could. The more groups responded, the better it got, of course." Of course. But how would a seasoned, 42-year-old recording artist and a bunch of young admirers, many less than half his age, make an album together? It was an experiment to be sure. Folds wanted to capture these vocal ensembles live—no layering or fine-tuning whatsoever—within four hours each. "I was kind of surprised how pro they were," Folds says. "I think when a band goes in, we're familiar enough with the process. We know how it works, probably too well. All they knew is they'd better get it right." 

In Folds' words, the conversations in the sessions went something like this, leaving group members somewhat surprised: "We did a few takes, and, 'Thaz it. We done!' 'Oh, really? We can do it better.' 'But you didn't know, and that's what we got, and that's what’s great.'" Jonathan Schwartz of the Princeton Nassoons at Princeton University, the soloist and arranger for the song "Time" on the album, confirms these methods. "It was very flowing, almost scarily so in that Ben basically came in and we did it in four takes total," recalls 20-year-old Schwartz. "We were excited to do it several more times, cuz we didn't think it'd be perfect. But Ben was like, 'No, it's great. It's great.' We would've been happy to pore over it, and then just keep doing take after take. But I think that's not really what he was going for, and that he wanted a live feel, to have a few mistakes here and there, and to really capture the essence of our group. And I think we did."
   
Schwartz describes a cappella as an already "naked" music to begin with. Folds just wasn't interested in dressing it up. "To see kids singing so accurately and fearlessly live with just a few mics with no safety net, then it makes me think, 'Well, fuck. I can do that. I do that every night. Why do we go in the studio and think we've got a safety net?' Folds says. "I didn't give them a safety net. And if I was really producing myself like there was two of me, I would be a tyrant. I wouldn't let myself do more than two takes. So that's the way I was doing with them." 

Nineteen-year-old soloist Marianne Cheng, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Loreleis ("Jesusland"), says Folds was benevolent during the recording process. "For us, we were trying to nail it every time," Cheng says. "But it always seemed like to him, he didn't really mind. If someone messed up, he didn't want to hear apologies. He didn't want to hear, 'I can't believe that happened. I was terrible, you guys. Let's really fix this here. Let's narrow it down.' He'd just be like, 'No, y'all. That was right. That was good.' Just putting us at ease the whole time."

[Above: Ben Folds with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Loreleis; photo by Andrew Synowiez]

Using only six microphones, Folds was relaxed about the process, while many of the group members were more concerned about the technical side of the recording process. "I thought it was great," Folds says. "I don't want to sound hokey, but it was a really hopeful record to make, because you know, people come along behind you, younger. If everything's really goin' to shit, and the fiber of society is atrophying and coming apart at the seams, then it sure doesn't show to go in to record group after group who is well organized, articulate, polite, professional, talented—all that stuff. It was really impressive, especially when my peers can't fuckin' do stuff live, you know?"

Peeling Back the Layers

Folds had the ultimate task of sifting through about 250 video submissions for a university a cappella contest he announced last Fall. Those renditions he liked best would have the honor of recording with the singer/songwriter, appearing (alongside his own a cappella renditions of "Boxing" and "Effington") on Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!  

Here's a glimpse of how he narrowed it down to what he felt were the best: 

"Brick" - Ohio University Leading Tones
Folds: That was one of the very first ones I'd heard. And it was one of the ones I heard before I decided to make the album. That's one of the ones that inspired the whole idea. I was really moved by the lead singer's interpretation. That was the main thing. To me, it took on a more immediate, you-are-there feeling through an R&B interpretation that I felt like I hadn't been able to bring to it personally. A lot of these, I really do kind of feel like they're improvements somehow...There were a couple of [groups] I asked if they wouldn't kind of cheat and reform the group for me. That was one of them. I just thought it was great. 



"Time" - The Princeton Nassoons
Folds: The first thing I thought when I saw it on YouTube, was, well one, it was different. Sometimes the way that a group would make their YouTube clip would be a real window into the intent. They were coming back from somewhere—a gig or rehearsal—and the car or the van broke down. And so they sat out on the highway and they decided to get their video camera out and do the submission, sitting on a hill on the highway. That told me there's something cool here with these people. And then the performance was good—really good. Like it was all there. They weren't modern; they were very old school. They weren't beat boxy, and I liked that. They were very stoic. And there was an earnest approach that was very…yeah, stoic, that I thought was really cool. And it was reflected in everything. Like we got there and their choice of venue was this beautiful hall with stained glass windows, just like you would think. Very Princeton. Kind of caught in the earlier part of the 20th century. I thought that was really cool.

Schwartz: We were visiting one of the members' avocado farms in California. It was muddy that day, so his car—it was a big Ford Expedition or whatever—almost fell into a ravine and was stuck in the mud and toppled over. So we were waiting for about 30 minutes for the farm hands to tow out this truck. So on a nearby hill—we were muddy and disgusting, but we just decided to do it and sit on the hill and sing the song. No microphones, no nothing. We did it in one take, and then we got back in the truck. We didn't know if it would work, but it was a very authentic feel to have bushes in front of us and muddy outfits. It was fate, I thought.
 


"Army" - The University of Rochester Midnight Ramblers
Folds: There's another one. The YouTube clip gives you insight into what they're gonna be like to work with. It's not an American word to use, but it was cheeky. It was naughty. They were just fuckin' with you. The lead singer had his arm in a sling. I mean, who wouldn't have been interested in that? We had the job of putting that on tape. When you press play with not seein' this dude in the sling, you need to be there. That made me know that I had to push him. And I pushed the lead singer. And I think probably just about pushed his voice right out of his throat. Like, "We need more. I think it's really just a simple matter of just give it more." And, so he'd give it more, and I'd go, "You know, I think we're 80 percent there." And he doesn’t sound like he's screamin' his voice out, but he was really, really pushin' it, and I think that's what it took to keep up with that YouTube clip that I think is so good...It's really funny.



"Jesusland" - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Loreleis
Folds: That one was the one that kind of kept growing. It kept getting better. That is my perception of it maybe was what was getting better. I was originally attracted to that one because, one, I was having a hard time finding female vocal groups. The girls weren't as well-represented, and I couldn't figure it out. And then realized it's because they don't have basses, so that makes it difficult for them to arrange. It shined precisely because of their limitations. The whole arrangement had to be really innovative by nature, and it was. And it was also not the kind of song that I thought would be all that conducive to all vocals. Then working with them was a challenge, because we were recording in a really dead room. The room was horribly dead and it wasn't very inspiring. I kept getting the feeling that they weren't all that comfortable. And so we got some good takes in a certain formation, and then, I asked them if there was a way that they would rather set up—like they do in rehearsals or something—and they changed their configuration, and I just made the mics work towards them, and we got it. And I really liked the lead singer on that one. I've had to remind myself not to do the song live as if I’m covering her.



"Evaporated" - The Newtones from Newton, Mass.
Folds: They were really impressive. One, they were a massive group. So you've got high schoolers, and there's what, 20 of them? That in itself is pretty impressive, because if you could find 20 people that could carry a tune in my high school, like kiss your ass out on the front campus. It's not somethin' you think you're gonna find. And their attitude was just really amazing. They were so professional in the right way. They weren't just like getting the notes right. They were serious about catchin' the vibe. So we did a lot of talking about philosophy of recording and stuff, which was pretty cool that they got that far. A lot of the older groups—you know, they were great. We didn't get that far though. We didn't get to, "How we gonna make the greatest recording?" We got, "How we gonna get it right?" So I was very impressed with them.