Tom Petty cover - Steenamaroo

Bruthish said:
Your probably right, A/B from yours to the original its probably not the exact tone, but it sounds pretty close when you don't have a comparison to judge. Besides, you made it your own...your vocal doesn't sound like Tom Petty so your guitar tone and the rest of the music doesn't have to sound like theirs either or you may risk sounding karaoke. I think its well done and I am sure was fun recording.
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I'm glad I didn't do a Petty impression on the vocal! :p Sometimes that's cool and sometimes it's not.
Thanks man. Much appreciated.

Greg_L said:
I actually like the first snare better. The "fattening" on the second clip fattened all the wrong stuff for a snare IMO. The kick also seems slightly tighter for some reason in the first clip, which to me is better for the song. The rest sounds fine. No problems.
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Hey Greg. Thanks for stopping by. :)
I struggled to get near the sound of the original snare. I know what you mean about the first one.
I kinda like both but the fuller one sounded less wrong, I think. You've a much much better ear for drums than me, though.
Thanks for listening.

This is pretty much the first time I've been OK with my guitar tones. :)
They're all done on that little DIY amp I made a few Christmases ago.
 
I thought it sounded real good. Guitar on the right was really cool. Liked the bass sound as well.

I'd bring up the harmony vocal a bit.

I'd bring the kick down a bit.

I'd bring up the guitar riff in the chorus on the left side a little bit.

I liked the snare in the first mix better. The additional harmonies were an improve. Just nudge them up a bit.

The lead vocal performance was decent. But I got the impression the vocalist was trying to get through the take without screwing up. There wasn't quite enough energy in the performance.
 
TripleM said:
I thought it sounded real good. Guitar on the right was really cool. Liked the bass sound as well.

I'd bring up the harmony vocal a bit.

I'd bring the kick down a bit.

I'd bring up the guitar riff in the chorus on the left side a little bit.

I liked the snare in the first mix better. The additional harmonies were an improve. Just nudge them up a bit.
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Thanks for the notes man. I'll take a look at those things now. :)




TripleM said:
The lead vocal performance was decent. But I got the impression the vocalist was trying to get through the take without screwing up. There wasn't quite enough energy in the performance.
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You're sharp. Lyric sheet was at the ready! :p
The vocalist is me, by the way. It's all me.
 
Forgot to mention the first time... There are some backing vocals doing some accents (e.g., @ :39). They're pretty soft. Also hearing some crackle at 1:20 and 1:22 that I didn't hear the first time. I went back and checked and it's there in mix #2. Just didn't hear it yesterday.

Did you pull the kick back a little bit? Kind of sounds like it. I think you could pull it down a bit more. But it's just about right.

Harmonies sound good. I think you could still nudge them up a bit more tho. Just a bit. Or put just a bit of a chorus effect on them. Just barely enough to be heard. That might fill them in nicely.
 
Yeah the snare sounds better to me. At this point, I think you can pull the whole kit down some. Not much, but the kick and snare is really popping and there's room to sit the kit into the mix a little better. Leave the overheads, just drop the kick, snare, and toms a little.
 
TripleM said:
Forgot to mention the first time... There are some backing vocals doing some accents (e.g., @ :39). They're pretty soft. Also hearing some crackle at 1:20 and 1:22 that I didn't hear the first time. I went back and checked and it's there in mix #2. Just didn't hear it yesterday.

Did you pull the kick back a little bit? Kind of sounds like it. I think you could pull it down a bit more. But it's just about right.

Harmonies sound good. I think you could still nudge them up a bit more tho. Just a bit. Or put just a bit of a chorus effect on them. Just barely enough to be heard. That might fill them in nicely.
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Greg_L said:
Yeah the snare sounds better to me. At this point, I think you can pull the whole kit down some. Not much, but the kick and snare is really popping and there's room to sit the kit into the mix a little better. Leave the overheads, just drop the kick, snare, and toms a little.
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Hi,
I think you're both right about the kit, or rather the kick and snare.

The little vocal parts at 0:39 are in the original, but they're behind a harmonica solo that I left out.
You should hear it again at 1:39 and 1:45 under the lead guitar.
They're meant to be proper background but they come across as being in no man's land without a lead break over them, I think.
Thanks for mentioning it.

The crackle is plectrum sound, I think. I used a close mic and an ambient mic but the guitar amp is so quiet that the picking is very audible.
I boosted the ambient mics for the very short lead-ish licks, right where you pointed out.
Check the intro with your right speaker turned off to see what I mean. That's the ambient mic you're hearing on the intro riff!

Now that you've pointed it out it's taking my attention on the left side quite a lot! Maybe I'll tame that a bit.

Thanks chaps.
I think I'll pull the kick/snare down a bit a drop in new verse vocals (verse 1 at least) to get it a bit more slick and natural.
Then I'll close the book.
 
Hey Steen - I think this is sounding quite good. Not a Tom Petty fan myself, but I know this tune well enough. I listened to the "final" mix at the top of the selections in the first post, so I may be kind of late. Guitars sound good and close to the original I think. I thought the vocals on the chorus were very well done, and that's the payoff on this song, so you delivered.

I know the snare has been the theme here. I don't remember the sound from the original, but this one certainly stood out to me. It seems plenty fat enough, just maybe a bit loud at this point? Not sure. I shouldn't have read so many comments while listening! I think I wanted to hear more of the snare wire sound myself. It seems really dry in that sense.

It's nice to hear something mixed by you that you performed as well. Nothing against the guys you work with of course! Good job.
 
Hey man,
I missed this because of the clinic malware thing yesterday.
Thanks for listening. :)

All good comments ^. You agree about the snare so that's cool.
It's good when two or three guys pick up on the same thing.

Aye, it's a nice change doing a cover on my own once in a while.
I'm going to start keeping them all on youtube/soundcloud.
I'm hoping to do them more often than I have been. The last one was in August!
 
One last mix for you all.
Thanks to everyone who commented and listened.

I played with the snare and latest backing vocals a little.
Also took a look at the pick sound of one of the guitar tracks - It started distracting me...

I'm not going to bother redoing the vocal after all. There's probably merit in it but, as always, this was a bit of fun and I've had as much as I'm going to get from it, I think.

You can listen directly here. (private server)
 
I'm late here Steeno, but I really enjoyed it. The guitars sounded great to my ear and I think your voice suits it well.

Nothing to add that needs to be changed, but I had a blast listening!
 
Oh, I didn't even notice you'd done a new mix!

I think it's better, yes. I like the newest snare sound better although it still kind of stands out in a weird way from the rest of the mix for me. I dunno. Maybe I'm just fixated on it now since it was a theme of conversation in the thread. I think that happens sometimes and I know I'm guilty of falling into that. Overall, its a very clean and faithful mix, and it sounds like you're done with it which I can understand.

I don't remember those dual lead guitars that have that southern rock kind of sound to them in the original, do they do that too?
 
I don't normally comment on the performance ... but the lead vocal was delivered by an actor reading from a dictionary. Zero conveyance of attitude and emotion. Whoever delivered it needs to act more.

The rest of the mix is not bad.

It's a producer's hat versus an mixer's hat.

The delivery is technically on, emotionally void. The performance does NOT draw the listener into the song. It's sort of like reading a tech manual.

Just my comment ... but I found the performance to be the problem here. It was very milquetoast.
 
Steenamaroo said:

Final? mix, updated after post 22.
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Listened to this one. Snare down a decibel? No, that's not right - the level's good. Snare body EQ down a dB? It's sounding just a tad tubby right now.

Gee, I enjoyed this one. You're good. The harmonies are just showing off :D.
 
heatmiser said:
I don't remember those dual lead guitars that have that southern rock kind of sound to them in the original, do they do that too?
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Thanks, Heat!
Nah, they didn't have those lead guitar parts in the original but they did have harmonica on a similar melody, I think.

K-dub said:
I don't normally comment on the performance ... but the lead vocal was delivered by an actor reading from a dictionary. Zero conveyance of attitude and emotion. Whoever delivered it needs to act more.
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Can't really argue with that. I mean, the original isn't exactly a heartfelt performance but still, I know it's is an area where I fall down.
Thanks for pointing it out and being honest. :)


dobro said:
Listened to this one. Snare down a decibel? No, that's not right - the level's good. Snare body EQ down a dB? It's sounding just a tad tubby right now.

Gee, I enjoyed this one. You're good. The harmonies are just showing off :D.
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I do like a good harmony! ;)

Cheers guys!
 
I've been avoiding commenting on this for a few days, as I thought the post was done. Final mix posted. But since others are still commenting, I'd like to gush just a bit.
Really enjoyed this one, Steen. Your vocals are top notch as always. There's something about hearing a 2.4l at 6000 RPMs. It's just sweet. But this is like a 6.0 v12 tuned to the gills and running at 10K! Despite your one detractor, who exaggerates a bit (your delivery is just a bit lackluster, though well performed), I really appreciate your throwing this out for our enjoyment :thumbs up:
 
Hey man.
Wow...Thank you very much.

Hey, I can't disagree with K-dub's point and it has been mentioned before.
I'm hit and miss with that kind of thing but I'll certainly pay more attention next time I do a cover.
I have to admit the vocals were a get-it-done scenario. I tend to rush things when it's just for fun.

Thanks for the kind words. :)
 
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