Nick Drake - "Place to Be"

Well played and sung.

I'm vaguely familiar with this Drake singer. I can't picture or hear his tone right now...but yours sounds ok. Maybe a little mid orientated. Maybe that's how you wanted it. I guess you certainly don't want vibrant twangy guitar for a mellow tune like that.
 
i think you've done very well on this!

not everyone (almost no one actualy) can do drake but apparently you can. (and this comes from a huge drake fan ...)

being brave and shameless pays off :D:D:D
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Monkey Allen and faderbug. I don't know that I pulled off the vocals (Nick's voice is so dreamy and warm, not to mention he sings in odd rhythms that are so often asynchronous to the guitar rhythm), but thanks for the kind words!

TelePaul: It's from the great, great Pink Moon album.
 
I'll be very honest about this. NOBODY covers drake's stuff, because iot's so hard to make it sound even remotely decent. You've done it. Hat's off to you.

The mix could use a little work, but the playing and singing are both outstanding. I know that Drake sound you are going for, but it seems like you might benefit dropping te EQ, mainly on the guitar, around 100hz-600hz. I know that's a pretty broad range, and I don't know what kind of EQ you have available on this, but if you could get it dialed in a little lower in those areas I think it would improve the clarity of te track, but retain that dark Drake mood. Again, thank you for this recording. - Matt
 
89gtsleeper - Thanks for the advice, that's exactly what I'm looking for. While my monitors are great for reference, I don't have a whole ton of experience mixing so it's a skill I working to cultivate. And thanks for the kind words about the performance, though I know it doesn't compare to the original. :)
 
Last edited:
Sounds good to me.

As far as the mix, I think the levels are good between the guitar and vocals.

Sounds like you picked up too much 'body' or resonance from the guitar, which makes it sound kind of unclear. Sounds like it was miked no more than a foot back (probably closer) pointed near the neckjoint/body of the guitar, but I could be wrong.

It also sounds like the vocals/guitar were recorded separately, not sure if they were or not. If they were, and you have some control between the guitar/vocals, I might even try a stereo widener effect on the guitar. There's a free VST plugin called mda Stereo that you can download here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/797.html

I find myself recommending that plugin a lot. It's an idea anyway...
 
Cool song, i like the vocals, but the guitar seems muddy on the bottom. There is some resonating going on that could just be mic placement issues.
Keep at it!!

JasonBird
 
danny.guitar - It's uncanny how easily you were able to correctly guess my mic placement. It was pointed at the 12th fret, about a foot away! I know next to nothing about mic placement. You were also correct that the guitar and vocals were two different tracks. I'm definitely going to check out the mda stereo plugin to widen the guitar a bit too. Ideally I'd like to be consistent enough in my playing and singing to double the tracks and pan them hard left and hard right to get that nice, rich sound that Elliott Smith was known for. I don't know if I'll ever be even remotely skilled enough to pull it off but it's good to aim high. Thanks for the feedback!

JasonBird - You too, are correct sir. I wish I had your ability to tell that much about the mic placement just from hearing a mix. Hopefully one day I'll develop an ear for it. Thanks for the comments!
 
That's always been one of my favourite Nick Drake songs. Kudos for playing it so well. I'd love to hear more. Maybe a little "Parasite," or perhaps "Fly"? Great work.
 
Pretty cool! The auto tune does become very apperant at the end.
I'd re-track to fix what ya need to or try manually editing the vox.

Good job on the song.

F.S.
 
I think you did a really good job overall.

I've entertained thoughts of doing a few Nick Drake covers myself, just never got around to actually doing it.

I love how he employed many alternate tunings.

I used one of Drake's more unusual tunings on one of my original recordings.
 
Pretty good job, but I have to agree about the auto tune. Your voice is fine and the autotune really does nothing but cheapen the whole performance, especially because it is a folk song and it is so intimate. That's what I really love about one singer and an acoustic guitar...the sincerity to the performance. There is no cincerity in autotune. I actually think autotune is the worst thing that has ever happened to popular music. I can't stand it. Sorry if this is turning into a rant, but honestly, stay away from it, especially with this kind of performance, as it will only date and decrease your credibility to the listening audience. Just practice and sing your parts until they sound the way you want them to. You'll be much happier about the final product, now and many years from now. Nick Drake would never have used it, nor did he need to. I'm definately no Nick Drake, and your voice comes much closer than mine, so, overall nice job. I would go back, and retrack the whole thing using the advice given thus far. I think you will be happier with the guitar sound and the vocal performance.;)
 
cool. i love playing nick drake stuff. you did well. the autotune gives it a different feel, but it's kinda neat. keep it, throw it away, whatever you want to do.

if you guys like this, i encourage listening to drake's 5 leaves left. pink moon is pretty bare like this with acoustic and guitar. it's a great album, but i really like what robert kirby did with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top