Poopot's Cover Challenge #26 - the letter M

IMC1980

Sent one in @flying_pie ;

flying_pie

@IMC1980 in the playlist (and what a cracking song choice)

Bezzer

@flying_pie thanks my friend, but don’t get people’s hopes up. Only marginally less crap! 

thecolourbox

stickyfiddle said:

thecolourbox said:

stickyfiddle said:

It's 21:21 here and my recording is done. What's this mixing & mastering lark about again...?  

Put everything on max then reduce whichever is too loud

Ah.. the "Marshall stack in a pub" approach  

I like to pretend there's more to my mixes than that approach but when it boils down to it there really isn't much more.. but I'm sure it shows to be honest.

Your somewhat more studious and focused approach to the process is very much the polar opposite of mine, which will make for interesting listening as always in these challenges.

flying_pie said:

Housekeeping duties done

@thecolourbox in the playlist after he decided to send an audio file as well as the cover art

You'd think after how many I've sent in I would have got the knack by now wouldn't you. Maybe I should have just submitted the artwork and said the lack of an actual recording was a piece of performance art in itself

thecolourbox

Liner notes for my Master of Puppets one. I wanted to make a bloody racket to be honest so the guitar parts are kind of double tracked and octaved Fuzz Factory sounds from Helix. Guitar playing-wise I was kind of going for Get Behind Me Satan era live recordings of Jack White with a bit of St Vincent Fuzz sounds.

The solo at the end I tried to do the impressionist style with a shit tonne of delay and automated wah because I'm crap at proper soloing, and I like the old Soundgarden guitarist approach of just playing a lot of notes quickly. Nicked the intro to Yeah Yeah Yeahs Maps as well, the album that was on is the closest I really get to listening to metal style playing I think.

I'm not a metal player, which I assume is pretty clear. I know I'm not playing a lot of it correctly but I don't really care.

The vocals are sub standard, I'm sorry about that. I learnt and recorded the guitar parts early on and didn't consider I should have just played it in A rather than E for me to pitch it. And yes, a lot of the time I am saying "bastard" instead of Master

flying_pie

Entries close tonight. At this rate there's plenty of time for about another 5 tracks...

stickyfiddle

thecolourbox said:

Liner notes for my Master of Puppets one. I wanted to make a bloody racket to be honest so the guitar parts are kind of double tracked and octaved Fuzz Factory sounds from Helix. Guitar playing-wise I was kind of going for Get Behind Me Satan era live recordings of Jack White with a bit of St Vincent Fuzz sounds.

The solo at the end I tried to do the impressionist style with a shit tonne of delay and automated wah because I'm crap at proper soloing, and I like the old Soundgarden guitarist approach of just playing a lot of notes quickly. Nicked the intro to Yeah Yeah Yeahs Maps as well, the album that was on is the closest I really get to listening to metal style playing I think.

I'm not a metal player, which I assume is pretty clear. I know I'm not playing a lot of it correctly but I don't really care.

The vocals are sub standard, I'm sorry about that. I learnt and recorded the guitar parts early on and didn't consider I should have just played it in A rather than E for me to pitch it. And yes, a lot of the time I am saying "bastard" instead of Master

I really liked this one! Sort of like if Muse at their most electronic/Skillrex-esque covered it. 

I'm happy to admit I got far too far into an attempt at Shania Twain's Man I Feel Like A Woman before I realised I am far from being able to hit those notes... Mine wasn't salvageable though. Perhaps one day with one of our girl-singers...

flying_pie

stickyfiddle said:

thecolourbox said:

The vocals are sub standard, I'm sorry about that. I learnt and recorded the guitar parts early on and didn't consider I should have just played it in A rather than E for me to pitch it

I'm happy to admit I got far too far into an attempt at Shania Twain's Man I Feel Like A Woman before I realised I am far from being able to hit those notes... Mine wasn't salvageable though. Perhaps one day with one of our girl-singers...

Hint for the future guys - find the hardest part of the song and reference that before you start your arrangement. I regularly fall into the same trap so will try to remember my own advice.

FWIW for most guys a good high note to test your voice is the "and through it ALL!" In Angels by Robbie Williams. It's an F#4 which is respectable to belt but not crazy high for the average guy, especially if you use head voice (aka bed wetting vocals) instead. You'll need to be very careful with your key choice if you struggle with it.

On the other hand if you can the ending "Hallowed Be Thy NAME" in the eponymous Iron Maiden track it's a B4 and you've got plenty leeway up top but watch out for the lower notes in the song you're choosing unless you're blessed with a huge vocal range

thecolourbox

Yes my problem with the key wasn't that I couldn't reach the proper pitch, it was that the tone and accent of the phrasing sounded off and I didn't like it, so instead I sang it the octave lower and added some doubling at the octave above to create a wall of vocals rather than just one. So with the pitch test, this song would still have passed it easily but by the time I got to the point of singing it I'd invested too much time to abandon it haha. If it hadn't been my choice of song I probably would have done though...

stickyfiddle

flying_pie said:

stickyfiddle said:

thecolourbox said:

The vocals are sub standard, I'm sorry about that. I learnt and recorded the guitar parts early on and didn't consider I should have just played it in A rather than E for me to pitch it

I'm happy to admit I got far too far into an attempt at Shania Twain's Man I Feel Like A Woman before I realised I am far from being able to hit those notes... Mine wasn't salvageable though. Perhaps one day with one of our girl-singers...

Hint for the future guys - find the hardest part of the song and reference that before you start your arrangement. I regularly fall into the same trap so will try to remember my own advice.

FWIW for most guys a good high note to test your voice is the "and through it ALL!" In Angels by Robbie Williams. It's an F#4 which is respectable to belt but not crazy high for the average guy, especially if you use head voice (aka bed wetting vocals) instead. You'll need to be very careful with your key choice if you struggle with it.

On the other hand if you can the ending "Hallowed Be Thy NAME" in the eponymous Iron Maiden track it's a B4 and you've got plenty leeway up top but watch out for the lower notes in the song you're choosing unless you're blessed with a huge vocal range

Yeah, I'm usually well aware of this stuff as our singers cover the full range from baritone up to soprano, so it's usually just a question of "who sings" then maybe a minor adjustment, but rarely "let's shift this down a 5th"  

flying_pie

thecolourbox said:

Yes my problem with the key wasn't that I couldn't reach the proper pitch, it was that the tone and accent of the phrasing sounded off and I didn't like it, so instead I sang it the octave lower and added some doubling at the octave above to create a wall of vocals rather than just one. So with the pitch test, this song would still have passed it easily but by the time I got to the point of singing it I'd invested too much time to abandon it haha. If it hadn't been my choice of song I probably would have done though...

Aye. Finding the right key for your tessitura (money shot range)is trickier.

One approach I often use is to work out the chords for the chosen song and then think of other songs that use the same progression that I can sing. That worked well with me for G and H, and also this month. I knew it wouldn't be an issue to base it around Master of the House from Les Miserables as it's a song over very comfortable with. Then I stupidly decided to add a bit based around I Dreamed A Dream which was a lot more of a challenge to sing and I should really track again as I know I can do it cleaner....

flying_pie

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, I'm usually well aware of this stuff as our singers cover the full range from baritone up to soprano, so it's usually just a question of "who sings" then maybe a minor adjustment, but rarely "let's shift this down a 5th"  

Haha. I recall a previous band where the song choice was more important than the original key and we did a lot of messed up key changes to accommodate our singer. Summer Of 69 in A was fucking horrific!

thecolourbox

Yeah and that's always been my frustration with my guitar based music making stuff is that the styles I like the most I simply can't do as my voice won't do it - I have a fairly clean and polite bed wetter voice which is fine for stuff like the Buckley and Radiohead impressions lol and the beige acoustic covers but just sounds bored and disinterested when I try to do anything with any real punch.

Habanero

My original intention was to do 'My Sacrifice' by Creed. Whether my voice would have coped I'll never know, because I never got past the wacky guitar tuning that the internet told me was needed.

flying_pie

Entries closed

IMC1980

Wrong fucking thread....