Candy Apple Blue Is Celebrating an Anniversary With Nick Bramlett

Candy Apple Blue With Pop-Rock Vocalist Nick Bramlett

This year marks our 10th anniversary of working with pop-rock vocalist Nick Bramlett.

To say that we enjoy working with Nick would be an understatement. Nick is uniquely gifted and a real powerhouse of a singer. He brings our compositions to life by pouring his heart and soul into his vocal performances. 

We first recorded with Nick back in 2014. After hearing that we were looking for a guest vocalist to sing on Detonator, a mutual friend introduced us. The first time I heard Nick doing his warm-ups, I knew he had a special talent. 

I often tell Nick that his singing voice reminds me of the male version of Christina Aguilera. It could be because they are both from Pittsburgh, PA and have similar intonations. Nick's vocal runs are out of this world! His vibrato is beautiful and he really sinks his teeth into the material we give him. Nick is a passionate singer and a passionate person. His vocal performance on our forthcoming record I Wanna Party, for example, encompasses everything that I've mentioned here! 🎉

Happy 10th-anniversary, Nick! Candy Apple Blue loves YOU!

Sincerely, Carly 🍬🍎🟦

We Used a Vocoder on I Wanna Party

Image-Line's Vocoder Effect Plug-In Vocodex

We used a vocoder on our 2022 song Graphic Equalizer. It was the first time we used this effect in our music. Hoyt and I loved the way it sounded so we decided to use it again on our forthcoming single I Wanna Party. 

The use of vocoders in electronic music is nothing new but for us it is. Vocoders were used a lot in early 1980s dance music. Many of you might remember it was used in the unforgettable hook of Michael Jackson's P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing). Stevie Wonder also used it in his sentimental ballad I Just Called To Say I Love You. And surely anyone enthusiastic about pop music remembers Daft Punk used it on their international big hit Get Lucky.

Pictured here is an early 1970s vocoder that was custom-built for the electronic music band Kraftwerk. Fortunately, these days many great VST options exist in the digital domain. I used a great plug-in by Image-Line called Vocodex to achieve the sound I was looking for.

It only took me a few hours to learn how to use this effect in our own music. I ran Nick's voice through it using a carrier synth and the end result sounds just fantastic. There's something futuristic yet deliciously retro about it. Our producer Matt Pop loved it so much that he decided to open the song with this fun element. 

Big love, Carly xoxo 🍬🍎🟦