Led Zep cover

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RAMI

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OK, so I don't have Plant's range or the raunch he had in his voice at this point in his career, I can't get Page's guitar sound with my Strat and Peavey Studiomaster, I can't get a drum sound like Bonham's in my room and without room mics. Other than that, I had fun doing this cover. :laughings:

Whenever I do a cover, I try to track and mix it all in one day. Any more than that is too long for a cover. So, I just finished mixing it for the first time after getting everything tracked today.

Let me know if there's anything I can do to make it sound better or maybe closer to the original.

Thanx

CUSTARD PIE
 
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Wow, 6 hours and no comments. A slow weekend indeed.

I don't know the original, which is kind of weird. I think vocally, this is a challenge for you. I can hear you pushing yourself at that range, but you did pretty good.

Overall, nice and punchy and tight... as always. Not crazy about the guitar tone. Just doesn't bite enough for this song. I wonder how the Gerg's new stack would sound here. Ever thought about collabing with him?? :D
 
Heh I've tried covering this damn song and I know how hard it is to get right. You did a real good job on it.

The drums are great as usual, performance is spot on. To get closer to Bonham's sound you could try doubling the kick and hi passing, compressing, verbing, whatever to fuck it up and get it to boom then blend it with the original which is pretty dry.

Tough getting Jimmy's sound with a Strat, but it's decent enough. For the riff though I think Jimmy mixes it up a bit. Instead of playing duh duduh duduh all the way through, every now and then he throws in a duh duh duduh duduh, digging the pick in on the upstroke.

I'd like to hear JPJ's keyboard?bass? riff much louder, gruntier and in the lower register.

Vocals are good, pitch perfect almost too perfect. You could try hard compression and maybe a distortion plug in to get a bit of Plant-like grit. Either that or a packet of Camels and half a bottle of bourbon.

You've got a good version here, it's just a bit too tidy at the moment
 
I had a go at nastying up your tune. Apologies in advance for any offence!

 
Bulls Hit said:
I had a go at nastying up your tune. Apologies in advance for any offence!

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Cool, I can't listen right now, but I'm looking forward to checking it out later.

I agree with you guys. I'm not really worried about the vocals, I know I can't get that rasp that he has in his voice. I'm just happy I was able to hit the notes. Same with the drums, it's not his sound but I don't think mine are that bad.

It's the guitars that bother me the most. In the original, he has more sizzle that I just couldn't get without sounding "buzzy" with my set-up. I need to mangle the guitars a bit more. I tried putting them through a few different distortion plugs but it didn't work.

I'll check out Bull's mix later. Should be cool. :cool:
 
Don't sell yourself short Rami. Sounds very Zeppy to me. As this tune dictates, your tune is very tight. My son and I do a lot of covers for shits and grins and I've learned a long time ago not to worry about cloning the cover and rather just have fun with it. This sounds fun.
 
RAMI said:
It's the guitars that bother me the most. In the original, he has more sizzle that I just couldn't get without sounding "buzzy" with my set-up. I need to mangle the guitars a bit more. I tried putting them through a few different distortion plugs but it didn't work.
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Count me in as one that has never heard this song before.

Yeah the guitars sound really scratchy to me. Almost like they have a static blanket over them. It's weird. I've never heard your guitars like this before. I say redo them if you have the time. It's hard to really comment on the rest of the mix with those guitars like that. I had to listen to something else to make sure it wasn't my setup crapping out or something. :o

Drums and bass seem great as usual. I think, just my opinion, you could drop the tuning a half-step and it would sound better for your voice. You're not really flat or anything, but it seems like you're really pushing and it's thinning you out.
 
Track Rat said:
Don't sell yourself short Rami. Sounds very Zeppy to me. As this tune dictates, your tune is very tight. My son and I do a lot of covers for shits and grins and I've learned a long time ago not to worry about cloning the cover and rather just have fun with it. This sounds fun.
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Thanx Track. Yeah, I'm always caught between wanting to do some things like the original, but not others. I usually end up just playing it and seeing how it turns out. I don't want to spend too muich time on a cover. Did have fun with this, though. :cool:
 
Greg_L said:
Count me in as one that has never heard this song before.

Yeah the guitars sound really scratchy to me. Almost like they have a static blanket over them. It's weird. I've never heard your guitars like this before. I say redo them if you have the time. It's hard to really comment on the rest of the mix with those guitars like that. I had to listen to something else to make sure it wasn't my setup crapping out or something. :o

Drums and bass seem great as usual. I think, just my opinion, you could drop the tuning a half-step and it would sound better for your voice. You're not really flat or anything, but it seems like you're really pushing and it's thinning you out.
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Yeah, I can't even remember what I did to the guitars, but unfortunately, I printed it all to the track, so I probably need to re-track them. I'll see if I can put them through some impulse responses to save them first though.

Here's the original. I wish I could get that guitar sound, it really bites: Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie - YouTube

I know this is at the top of my range, but I either do songs in the same key or I don't do them That's just me. I don't even think that guitar riff can be played anywhere other than in that open "A" position.
 
This is my fav track from Physical - it struck me at the time as the most ROCK of the double album's tracks.
It also had cool wah.
It retrospect it was another LZ attempt to get funky in their own odd little way.
Still works for me & is still my fav from that album.
Your cover is pretty cool RAMI. It's probably a big task to do the vocals - your diction is way better than RP's.
I enjoyed this - your perspective on time spent re covers is good - do it, learn from it, don't overcook it.
When's the new Album?
 
Sorry RAMI,
I was probabaly in one of my recent No Go phases. I'll chase it now!
 
RAMI said:
Here's the original. I wish I could get that guitar sound, it really bites: Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie - YouTube
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Tubes, bro! Everyone knows Page used LP's and big ol honkin Marshalls, but I'm pretty sure he used a lot of Teles and Vox amps too. Whatever the case, it was tubes. That guitar sound is pretty typical vintage tube breakup - british style. Your songs, skills, and recording chops are more than good enough for you treat yourself to a nice little tube amp. Go get you one. :)
 
Greg_L said:
Tubes, bro! Everyone knows Page used LP's and big ol honkin Marshalls, but I'm pretty sure he used a lot of Teles and Vox amps too. Whatever the case, it was tubes. That guitar sound is pretty typical vintage tube breakup - british style. Your songs, skills, and recording chops are more than good enough for you treat yourself to a nice little tube amp. Go get you one. :)
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Yeah, guitars sound is the one thing I struggle with, mainly because I don't really know a good guitar sound (or bad) when It's coming out of my amp. It will sound good to me, and I usually don't have a reference unless I'm doing a cover and have the original to compare it with. I really find guitar the hardest thing to "hear" for me.

Can I get a tube amp to sizzle the way it should without waking up the neighborhood, or do they not have to be loud to sound good?
 
RAMI said:
Yeah, guitars sound is the one thing I struggle with, mainly because I don't really know a good guitar sound (or bad) when It's coming out of my amp. It will sound good to me, and I usually don't have a reference unless I'm doing a cover and have the original to compare it with. I really find guitar the hardest thing to "hear" for me.

Can I get a tube amp to sizzle the way it should without waking up the neighborhood, or do they not have to be loud to sound good?
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Well it varies. Will a non master volume equipped Marshall Plexi like Page used sound "right" at bedroom volumes? No. It will have to be literally blowing your face off. Literally. It will blow your face clean off of your skull. So that's obviously out of the question if noise is a concern. But there are many low watt (1-5w) combos that will get a sweet ass sound while not being too incredible loud. Keep in mind that 5w of tube power can be really loud, but it's more manageable. Also, a lot of the modern low watt tube combos and heads come with built in half-power switches, knobs, or built in attenuators. The Marshall Class 5 could be a great amp for you. It's got some classic Marshall mojo while not being deafeningly loud and the newer ones (I think) have a low power option that's barely more than conversation volume. The new one-watt Marshall re-issues also have low power options, but they're expensive. Look around. Most amp companies have low power models just for recording or small gig use. You don't need much and they'll give you true tube sound. The Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18 is pretty badass. The Egnater Tweaker is another little amp I like a lot and it has a lot of tonal options for pretty cheap.
 
Greg_L said:
Well it varies. Will a non master volume equipped Marshall Plexi like Page used sound "right" at bedroom volumes? No. It will have to be literally blowing your face off. Literally. It will blow your face clean off of your skull. So that's obviously out of the question if noise is a concern. But there are many low watt (1-5w) combos that will get a sweet ass sound while not being too incredible loud. Keep in mind that 5w of tube power can be really loud, but it's more manageable. Also, a lot of the modern low watt tube combos and heads come with built in half-power switches, knobs, or built in attenuators. The Marshall Class 5 could be a great amp for you. It's got some classic Marshall mojo while not being deafeningly loud and the newer ones (I think) have a low power option that's barely more than conversation volume. The new one-watt Marshall re-issues also have low power options, but they're expensive. Look around. Most amp companies have low power models just for recording or small gig use. You don't need much and they'll give you true tube sound. The Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 18 is pretty badass. The Egnater Tweaker is another little amp I like a lot and it has a lot of tonal options for pretty cheap.
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Thanx man. I'll definitely look into a few of those. I'd really like to get my guitar sound together and take the guess work out of it. Are these all combos that you mentioned? I wouldn't even know where to start trying to match cabs to heads, etc....I'd like something as simple as Guitar Rig 4 in a physical amp. Hell, I'd be happy if the only sound I was able to get was Angus Young's sound. That would pretty much suit everything I write. Not saying I write ACDC type tunes, but that guitar sound would work for me in pretty much all my tunes.

Maybe I'll consider something like Guitar Rig 4 in the mean time. But I'd love to have a sweet sounding amp for distortion. My Peavey is actually pretty good for clean sounds, it's the distortion I have trouble with.

Thanx again, man. :cool:
 
Greg_L said:
If Angus crunch is a sound you'd like, the Marshall Class 5 is about just right for you.
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Awesome. I'm on my way to E-Bay just o get a ballpark price for one. Thanx Greg, much appreciated, dude. :cool:
 
Greg_L said:
Count me in as one that has never heard this song before.

Yeah the guitars sound really scratchy to me. Almost like they have a static blanket over them. It's weird. I've never heard your guitars like this before. I say redo them if you have the time. It's hard to really comment on the rest of the mix with those guitars like that. I had to listen to something else to make sure it wasn't my setup crapping out or something. :o

Drums and bass seem great as usual. I think, just my opinion, you could drop the tuning a half-step and it would sound better for your voice. You're not really flat or anything, but it seems like you're really pushing and it's thinning you out.
Click to expand...

Agreed the guitars are quite harsh sounding. That popped out at me right away....
 
I've got no negatives for you, Rami. I jammed all of the way through. Fun stuff!!
 
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