I think sometimes, in the recorded versions, they do layer Avi's bass, but I am not sure. I know live, Scott covers bass whenever Avi (or Matt) sings lead. I hope you do the Sing-off series; you can watch their growth from their inception. If you do, most of us love the versions that include the introductions and judge's comments. We do understand when the video has to be blurred and covered with text. I hope that is enough to work for you because just having that little visual reminder is somehow more entertaining than no video at all. The members of PTX actually love reactors, it's their label that is so frustrating!
In 2011 Scott and Kirstie were in college, (USC and OU) and Mitch was a Sr in high school. Scott got the idea to to the a Capella show (competition) The Sing Off, But they had to have 5, so they found Avi through a friend and found Kevin on YT celloboxing. (Kevin was at Yale getting his premed) They all met together for the first time the DAY BEFORE auditions. They eventually won the Sing Off, $200k and a recording contract with SONY. They all moved to LA and Sony dropped them a week later saying they did not know what to do with them. so they went to YT and the rest is history. All the Sing Off performances are on YT.. There are 14 of them, including where they won.
These arrangements are the kind of thing choir kids do when they are bored. One kid starts singing "O Holy Night" with a Reggae beat, and all the other kids join in, improvising harmonies and doing body percussion and beatboxing. It was pure genius for a really good group of singers to do it right and release it on a recording. This was the first track on their first Christmas recording, 2012's EP PTXmas. The EP hit #1 on the Billboard digital album chart and went gold in the US and Canada.
If you listen again to the beginning of the song, you can hear the high-pitched tone of Avi's overtone signing behind Mitch, giving that extra layer of sound.
Scott covers bass when Avi sings lead. Note: doing the bass line is still singing. The Sing-Off was a singing competition TV show that Pentatonix win. Citywalk is a retail area outside of Universal Studios in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.
Me spitting coffee across living room when you pause mid Scott verse to say "look how good my girl looks " while Avi is just destroying speakers. Awwww 6am
In recording yes they do layer Avi's bass (especially in Hallelujah) but Scott does bass in live performances....he just can't do sub basement like Avi
Mitch sounds amazing in any of his registers. I know nothing beats his angelic upper range, but I really enjoy his lower range. I don’t think we hear it enough. If you really want know ALL about them you should read Alan-freeman’s comment, ok novel. 😂 but he tells you EVERYTHING except maybe their shoe sizes.
Pentatonix They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that. The founding members are:- Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead); Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”. Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease); Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese). Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on RU-vid, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings. Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma. While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition. They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his RU-vid videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing". Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours! They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on RU-vid), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building. But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an a cappella group could sell records. Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on RU-vid, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live. Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers. But when their cover of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label. They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys. Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry. Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group. If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently. It is an often debated subject among the Pentaholics as to just how soon we introduce the "Beginners Guide" as we don't want to overdo the introduction. This is a compilation of snips of a whole load of songs which PTX have released. It highlights each member with some of their solos and then a brief history in video. It is quite long - 14+ minutes and is a little dated now (Feb 2020) but is a good watch ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lDxIfwfCmQE.html&pp=ygUdYmVnaW5uZXJzIGd1aWRlIHRvIHBlbnRhdG9uaXg%3D. After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre. Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. A good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/ Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work. Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place. They have Grammy wins for Daft Punk Medley, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jolene featuring Dolly Parton. They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album Evergreen, but didn't win. Another nomination for Holidays Around the World album in the 2024 list! Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. No dates YET! They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. They are the only a capella group with a star! They came 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23. Things you need to know because if you get these wrong Pentaholics will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha!! 1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used autotune as an effect - so they had to. 2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album. 3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage.
The smile for Kirstie is great! I just smile whenever any of them smile into the camera! Have to say, they are good for my mental health as are your PTX/Superfruit reactions! Thanks! Oh, yes! Please react to all their Sing Off performances when Christmas is over! Please! Santa was creepy!
To see Kirstie at her best, making love to the camera, check out "Sweater Weather", Pentatonix's cover of The Neighborhood's 2013 hit. It's one of those non-Christmas songs PTX puts on their holiday albums, in this case because it mentions cold weather.
Zack You make me laugh. You are a Pentaholic. I like your humor and your appreciation for their music and all their talent. I even like your respectful crush on Kirstie. They are all so special. 3 years after my husband passed they raise my spirits every day. Today you did too. Hey Santa….
I second (third, fourth?) the request to watch their Sing-Off journey. It'll let you see them come together and find their sound, since they met days before the competition and were just "figuring it out" as they went.
I see a couple other commenters explained the Sing Off. I think it ran 4-5 years and PTX won season 3, Home Free won season 4......in the Home Free season, there's a fun video where PTX does a surprise visit to each of the remaining contestants and give advice to HomeFree. :) All pentaholics have their fave episodes of the competition but consistently at the top are 7, 10, and 12. The trio are only 19 when they won the competition, Avi & Kevin a year or two older.
Voice Play competed along with Home Free in Season 4. They've come a long way since then... A VERY long way! They've put out some award quality videos in the last 2 - 3 years! 😊
Hey Pentatonix was on the Sing-off season 3 in 2011. 2 years later Home Free was on the Sing-off season 4 in 2013. You have much more things to discover it seems.
I don't hear a bass at the end of Avi's verse, but it's possible. It's a studio recording and these days they routinely record extra layers for the studio recordings to fill in where they want a big sound. But not too much, because when they do it live without the added layers they need it to sound about the same. Usually, when the bass (Avi or Matt) is doing a solo, Scott fills in on bass, but here he is harmonizing with Mitch and Kirstie, in his baritone range. Maybe you are hearing Kevin, who is doing some rhythmic "whooshing" sounds. There are several live versions of this from over the years.
Where you were pointing, Avi had gone back to bass... definitely not Scott. That said, for most of their careers Scott really did/does take over bass during Avi and Matt solos. Scott has been clocked down to E2 in studio recordings last I'd checked. (Even Mitch has recorded down to A2 once or twice) And THAT said, in the most recent years (2020ish+) they HAVE been doing layers... mostly in the originals. Ben Bram has said they don't feel like they need to follow their "rules" fans will always cite with originals, since it's a whole 'nother ballgame. Only saying so we keep in mind that some songs do exist where Matt is layered rather than having Scott take over.
Actually, this is more jazz-like with those secondary chords with chordal extensions (9th and 11ths). Scott sings bass when Avi or Matt solo! They end the song on a major 9th with Scott singing the 9th!
