___Imagine___

[Scott Tansley]

Any comments welcome.

http://www.feel-rock.com/music/feel_imagine.mp3


Scott.
www.feel-rock.com

[ashulman]

I don't envy you because covering a Lennon vocal is one of the hardest feats in rock. Pulling off those falsettos and melissmas like he did is near impossible, and this song has plenty of both. I didn't mind the arrangement, though I did not care for the vocal fx. They sounded sort of ok when the drums came in but too exposed in the beginning and not at all natural. I would go a different route on those.

[Guernica]

Hey Scott,
Nice version of a true classic. I'm guessing that the effects on the vocals were done for "effect". If so, it's kind of a cool vibe thing youve captured. I might agree though, that a bit of a cleaner, more roots oriented processing approach would be nice... ...but that is preference. I like your rockier ( ) approach to the instumental part of the tune.
Very nice man!
g

[TripleM]

Your voice sounds much like Lennon's

Decent version. Lot's of power to it. I liked the "you're a dreamer" shouted from the background. That was funny. Liked the way it kicked in at :38.

One performance thing, the little guitar lick (done originally on the piano) wasn't smooth like in the Lennon version.

The word "can" at 2:01 had a little click to it.

Little pitch issue on the words "easy" at about :20 and "hell" at :26.

But overall a fun listen.

[rustyfingers]

I liked it.

I'm a pretty big fan and this didn't piss me off or anything.

Replace the hi-hat on on every 2nd beat with a thunderous bass every 8th at the beginning. Make it very distant...

That might be cool or it might suck. The hi-hat at the beginning was the only thing I didn't like.

Good Job
Dennis

[groovejunkie]

nice.. I liked it!

[mixmkr]

I listen to songs like this and wonder where all the good songs are nowadays. Your version was very nice and I certainly enjoyed listening to it (twice). I liked the verbed drums coming in, the gtr parts, the singing, drum sound.. I liked pretty much of it all.

I am in agreement that if you backed the effects off the intro vocals by 50% and left as is during the song, you would probably be ok.

A great choice to cover, and when the song kicks in, it kicks in. Great job Scott.



.... I can understand "playing around" with the HH, doing something different in the intro.. probably would work too. How far you stray away, and how well you do it, would be the issue, of course. I mean, I suppose I could even hear a rauchy B3 in there somewhere with your "down and out' power sound that you get, but no need to get completely wacky, I suppose!

[Scott Tansley]

Thanks for the comments. This forum is so usefull to us homerecordists.
I sometimes go off in strange ways with some sounds. Mixing late into the night, on monitors and headphones and think that sounds good without sitting back and thinking does it sound right. I agree with everybody about backing of the vocal effect at the start.

TripleM, I know what you mean by the
"little guitar lick (done originally on the piano) wasn't smooth like in the Lennon version."
Whilst being a nice simple melody on the piano its real hard to use the same technique playing this on the guitar. On first takes I tried doing those little bits as a separate take. That worked better but if I cant play it that way live in one progression. So I chose to stick with it.

I think I will ditch the hats at the begining too. They're to distracting from the flow.
I really appreciate the advice from all.

Scott

[participant]

Scott,

Sounds like you mute the hi-hat track in the intro, when its off (noticeable fuzz when unmuted)... probably an unrecoverable thing unless retracked (a mic issue, no doubt) That's the only really glaring thing to my ears at this point (throughout the track the fuzz on the cymbal tracks) Retracking drums just for the cymbals seems naughty... or time consuming?

Nice Liverpool accent, btw... "aboov us... only sky"

Really a good version. Sounds larger than life. I shit you not -- but I just burned your "Public Relations" to disc last night... not 24 hrs ago... I've been listening to your Black Crowes cover over and over for some time now.... and you're back on board today. Good to have you around.

BTW will the singing potato be lip-synching this one, too?


Chad

[B.SABBATH]

good to see ya around..

nice version..

the drums sound kinda live to me.. like the drums have that rehearsal studio sound as opposed to being recorded and mic'd seperately.. a good listen.. I didn't mind the vocal effects because it made it sound even more live..

[B.SABBATH]

Originally posted by participant
I just burned your "Public Relations" to disc last night

that's definitely on my list of all time greatest tunes posted here..

[Toki987]

good stuff man. I fresh new perspective on that tune. The drums were just a teeny weenie dominant for me but sounded really good.

[Scott Tansley]

You guy's make me feel very welcome. Glad to see Public Relations getting some BBS play. Will have the animation done one day too. Soon I hope. It takes soooo long to do I just need to do other things like this Lennon cover cover to break the monoteny. Animation is still my second love though. Second to music. I've even gotten carried away with cheesy 2d animated clip using cutouts of us playing. A quick no brainer low budget thing. Lots of fun. 2d animation is so much quicker.
Her's a snippet,
http://www.feel-rock.com/2/feel_mistaken_f5ed08.jpg
http://www.feel-rock.com/2/combi_r_0008.jpg
http://www.feel-rock.com/2/flipflop_0612.jpg

And Punk Potato does make a brief apearance,
http://www.feel-rock.com/2/punk_output_0626.jpg

Cheers to all.

[SLuiCe]

Nice sounds Scott! The clean guitar is nice and warm and the distorted part is not overly distorted. Nice guitar lick at 1:15...smooth!
I also really like the vocal track a lot. Your voice is perfect for this. I also dug the effects on it. I think you chose reasonably good settings.
I actually think the drums could stand to come up a tad with those bigger guitars, but that could be just me. Just maybe a dB or two for a touch more punch.

Good cover... well worth your efforts and my download.

Tom

[Rod L.]

Very nice rendition-thanks for the link

Rod L.

[Fab4ever]

Excellent job, Scott! I love the heavier production - I bet he would approve!

Fab

[CrankyOne]

The whole track has a very live quality to it. I like the fullness of it. The drums are absolutely AWESOME. The mix is great. The vocals are the only thing that don't sit in as well as the other stuff. It's not the performance, but the mix. It sound a bit too live compared to the other stuff but it's a minor nitpick. I wouldn't bother to fix it

Again, the drums... damn they're good. The drum mixing sounds a lot like on the Opeth's "Damnation" album. I really envy you now. Maybe it's the performance too.

...and ... I've never actually heard "Imagine" How's that for living under a rock, eh?

[SLuiCe]

Cranky, you have got to be full of shit.

Unbelievable.

[Pedullist]

Agree with Tom on the guitar lick at 1:15. Very tasteful cover. Thanks for sharing!

Cranky, how on earth is that even possible?! Wait, you're from Finland right? OK, you've got an excuse! *Ped suddenly feels the need to play Waltari and Värtinna records*

[skids]

This is a great cover of this song. Great performance and mix. I really liked the take on it, the style. I am usually not a big cover person, but I like when someone makes a cover their own (especially when it is done this well!).

First rate.

*****

Cranky - Come on man!

[Pedullist]

Originally posted by skids
Cranky - Come on man!

Skids, come on...how many finish music do you know?

[macle]

[skids]

Originally posted by Pedullist
Skids, come on...how many finish music do you know?

Ped-
Lennon was not American either.

[Scott Tansley]

On the same day we did this song (Imagine) we also recorded another new song. Its a bassline melody writen by our new bass player Mark. I thought I'd post it here instead of taking up another thread.
Its called "Like to like you"
And since I went for a more live sound with both of these, I took the live thing a bit further with this one and added in a live crowd. Sounds wanky to do that but it just might work.

http://www.feel-rock.com/music/feel_...o_like_you.MP3

Scott.


We (all three of us) appreciated the feedback on Imagine. Thanks.

[participant]

Originally posted by Scott Tansley
http://www.feel-rock.com/music/feel_...o_like_you.MP3

Nice... a "live" feel... alternate tuning... sounds similar to stuff I've tried... Drop D? DADGAD?

KickASSS drumming!! God, I love that. A drummer that lays down a groove. LIKE THAT! (gush)

Ok... wart-picking mode...

Man, this sounds so fulll.. it's difficult...

Whoa... uptempo... solos, etc... solo gets buried under the hail of cymbals... this part needs a remix... guitars gotta peek thru a bit more, I'm thinkin..

Really an excellent track. Your voice gets loud in spots... as if it's just over the compression threshhold, then one or two notes pop under it and are louder... kinda distracting... (the second singing part... right before the second uptempo)...

Really sweet... some static on the fade-out... Would need about a dozen more listens to try to pick out more little details like the vocs thing...

*****

Chad