The Misfits - Skulls - Hillbilly Version - Classic Horror Punk Butchery!

[FoulPhil]

This is a REALLY rough draft and I plan to re-record some stuff. Of course the drums are crappy Sim Drums. Not really much I can do about that. If you have any suggestion on what I can do to make it better I would appreciate it. I been messing with micing up my acoustic and voice as well.

I ran out of time recording the vocals. By the time I recorded the acoustic I was left with 20 minutes until I had to pick the kids up from school. So, I basically comped the vocal from 3 takes that I was able to squeeze in.

 

[Greg_L]

Well the drums are horrid, but that's a significantly better cover than turning it into cookie monster metal like that last one you did.

 

[FoulPhil]

Well the drums are horrid, but that's a significantly better cover than turning it into cookie monster metal like that last one you did.

Is it the sound of the drums, the programing or both? I can try another kit, but I'm not sure it'll really do too much for the sound. I might end up doing future acoustic stuff with no drums just because drums are a pain in the ass for me. Today I'm going to try to squeeze in a decent vocal recording session and re-record the vocals

 

[Greg_L]

The never ending and unchanging wide panned crash cymbals and hi hat are dead giveaways. Every snare hit sounds exactly the same. The floor tom fill sounds like a typewriter. Stuff like that makes fake drums sound stupidly fake. That's the kind of stuff drum program users need to work on.

 

[FoulPhil]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to work on those issues, if at all possible. I'll see if I can find some videos on YouTube to help figure it out.

 

[Schwarzenyaeger]

The drums sounds kinda weak. One of the strong points of sampled drums are that you can use the heaviest and best samples available. I can't hear the kick and the cymbals are a bit randomly spread left and right.

The guitars are a bit muddy and are fighting the vocals a bit.

 

[FoulPhil]

The drums sounds kinda weak. One of the strong points of sampled drums are that you can use the heaviest and best samples available. I can't hear the kick and the cymbals are a bit randomly spread left and right.

The guitars are a bit muddy and are fighting the vocals a bit.

Yeah I can't really get the drums to sound better. It's one of those things I get frustrated with and end up wanting to quit trying lol. I'll probably remove the drums and record the guitars again because the drums help cover up some accidental noises of the pick hitting the guitar while I'm playing. I'll probably just record the guitars until they can stand on their own and then record the vocals again after that. Maybe eventually I'll find someone to record some drums etc.

 

[Greg_L]

Maybe get rid of the drums all together and use some hand percussion.

 

[FoulPhil]

Maybe get rid of the drums all together and use some hand percussion.

That's actually a cool idea, but unfortunately I don't have any hand percussion.

 

[Greg_L]

That's actually a cool idea, but unfortunately I don't have any hand percussion.

I'm sure you have beer coolers and cardboard boxes laying around. Make your own. Bluegrass guys didn't go to guitar center to buy proper hand percussion.

 

[Schwarzenyaeger]

Maybe eventually I'll find someone to record some drums etc.

You and me both. I want to have child just so they can be my personal drummer bitch.

 

[FoulPhil]

I'm sure you have beer coolers and cardboard boxes laying around. Make your own. Bluegrass guys didn't go to guitar center to buy proper hand percussion.

haha another good idea. I think I'll do a little research on the subject and see if I have any similar materials mountain folk might have used for percussion instruments LOL...

You and me both. I want to have child just so they can be my personal drummer bitch.

I do have kids man, but they don't really want to play often enough to play good. I got them a few beat up acoustics I found on craigslist, rock smith, and also have a huge double bass drum kit in my back room. The "jam" room that never get's used. One of my old lady's friends was dating a guy that I became friends with and he left this massive drum set at my house. Been almost a year and he hasn't come to get it.

Only problem with it is the cymbals are cracked and trashed, and the snare sounds like shit as well... I can't play anyway lol...

 

[heatmiser]

Hey Phil - I don't know the original, but I like what you did with this. I think your vocals came out pretty cool, especially on the chorus. Guitars sound pretty good too, but they get masked by the swirling wash of trashy cymbal sounds at times. Yeah, the drums are holding this one back I think.

Why can't you tweak them at all? What are you dealing with here, just a stereo loop, or individual tracks? You can do a lot with just EQ, comp and verb and stuff to alter the sound of software drums I think, but I guess it varies depending on what type and how many tracks, etc.

 

[FoulPhil]

Hey Phil - I don't know the original, but I like what you did with this. I think your vocals came out pretty cool, especially on the chorus. Guitars sound pretty good too, but they get masked by the swirling wash of trashy cymbal sounds at times. Yeah, the drums are holding this one back I think.

Why can't you tweak them at all? What are you dealing with here, just a stereo loop, or individual tracks? You can do a lot with just EQ, comp and verb and stuff to alter the sound of software drums I think, but I guess it varies depending on what type and how many tracks, etc.

Well it's ez drummer. I've already gone in and manually "humanized" the velocity and tried a bunch of other things that took hours and it still didn't sound too good. I guess I could try sending it into individual tracks and using effects next.

 

[heatmiser]

Cool. Although I don't much care for the drum sound they have either, so...

You really did capture the essence of what they have going on with your vocals I think.

I don't know much about ez drummer I'm afraid except for what I've read here. They seem pretty popular though. I can totally understand how spending hours messing with fake drums could be a real drag. I wouldn't have the patience for that.

 

[NotThatBright]

Yeah I can't really get the drums to sound better. It's one of those things I get frustrated with and end up wanting to quit trying lol. I'll probably remove the drums and record the guitars again because the drums help cover up some accidental noises of the pick hitting the guitar while I'm playing. I'll probably just record the guitars until they can stand on their own and then record the vocals again after that. Maybe eventually I'll find someone to record some drums etc.

For Christ's sake, Phil, you know he's a Misfits fan... just ask him. This is like watching a girl in junior high say to the guy, "Well, I'd like to go to the dance, but nobody's asked me... I have such a nice dress to wear, too..."

You and me both. I want to have child just so they can be my personal drummer bitch.

Now that is entirely the wrong attitude to have. What happened to loving the girl that you're knocking up first? You Germans are so concerned about efficiency that you have taken all the humanity out of even one the most basic of human functions- "reproduction", as you people would likely call it so as to make it sound like something you can do in a factory... or as we humanistic Americans call it, "having kids". I'm ashamed to be half of one of you (ancestor-wise)!

I liked the cover, Phil. Is that your "inside voice"? I know you will always carry the flag for that shitty singing you love so much, so this will probably the only time I compliment your vocals.

 

[FoulPhil]

For Christ's sake, Phil, you know he's a Misfits fan... just ask him. This is like watching a girl in junior high say to the guy, "Well, I'd like to go to the dance, but nobody's asked me... I have such a nice dress to wear, too..."



Now that is entirely the wrong attitude to have. What happened to loving the girl that you're knocking up first? You Germans are so concerned about efficiency that you have taken all the humanity out of even one the most basic of human functions- "reproduction", as you people would likely call it so as to make it sound like something you can do in a factory... or as we humanistic Americans call it, "having kids". I'm ashamed to be half of one of you (ancestor-wise)!

I liked the cover, Phil. Is that your "inside voice"? I know you will always carry the flag for that shitty singing you love so much, so this will probably the only time I compliment your vocals.

You lost me somewhere along the way LOL. Ask who what? Actually I don't just do the death metal stuff. I just always have a hard time making my clean voice sound good to my ears. Last year I noticed the day after any night of massive beer drinking and smoking 2 packs of cigarettes that my voice was easily "scratchy" or "rocked out" sounding. After some time I figured out how to sound like that even when I wasn't completely hung over with a splitting head ache. So, I've been working on different vocal approaches and it works OK for the Misfits type of thing. I'm still trying to get my clean voice where I want it, but hopefully I'll figure out how to sing in a way that I actually like when I hear it playing back in a recording.

 

[NotThatBright]

You lost me somewhere along the way LOL. Ask who what? Actually I don't just do the death metal stuff. I just always have a hard time making my clean voice sound good to my ears. Last year I noticed the day after any night of massive beer drinking and smoking 2 packs of cigarettes that my voice was easily "scratchy" or "rocked out" sounding. After some time I figured out how to sound like that even when I wasn't completely hung over with a splitting head ache. So, I've been working on different vocal approaches and it works OK for the Misfits type of thing. I'm still trying to get my clean voice where I want it, but hopefully I'll figure out how to sing in a way that I actually like when I hear it playing back in a recording.

The core of my comment was that it could appear you were waiting for Greg to ask you if you wanted him to play the drums for you, thus the "junior high girl" comparison. I was just busting your balls, of course. Who knows, he might be happy to do it if you promised not to pervert his playing by putting death metal vocals on top of it. But that's none of my beeswax.

Last year I noticed the day after any night of massive beer drinking and smoking 2 packs of cigarettes that my voice was easily "scratchy" or "rocked out" sounding.

I have noticed the same thing about my voice after proper drunkenings, which is when I record my best vocals. I never recorded anything completely sober, as I have to save those times for my day job, but my voice sounds the best after serious benders.

 

[FoulPhil]

The core of my comment was that it could appear you were waiting for Greg to ask you if you wanted him to play the drums for you, thus the "junior high girl" comparison. I was just busting your balls, of course. Who knows, he might be happy to do it if you promised not to pervert his playing by putting death metal vocals on top of it. But that's none of my beeswax.


I have noticed the same thing about my voice after proper drunkenings, which is when I record my best vocals. I never recorded anything completely sober, as I have to save those times for my day job, but my voice sounds the best after serious benders.

I wasn't going to ask him. There's some guys around here who play drums, if one of them wanted to volunteer I would be cool with that. It's not like a serious thing though.

I use to do the same thing many years ago and drink before recording thinking it gave me some kind of confidence or something, but in reality it never really helped. It's better to be sober and well rehearsed than buzzed and sloppy. My voice doesn't get rocked out while I'm drinking it's usually the next day, but like I said I managed to figure it out sober

 

[NotThatBright]

I wasn't going to ask him. There's some guys around here who play drums, if one of them wanted to volunteer I would be cool with that. It's not like a serious thing though.

I know that. Just busting balls. I'll do one for you if it's something I know and know I can play like the Misfits, but I should be a last resort, as my drumming ain't great. Greg's drumming is the equivalent of the hot girl at the bar, while mine, though not terrible anymore, is closer to the girl that you will take home if you're drunk enough and you don't think any of your friends will find out.

I use to do the same thing many years ago and drink before recording thinking it gave me some kind of confidence or something, but in reality it never really helped. It's better to be sober and well rehearsed than buzzed and sloppy. My voice doesn't get rocked out while I'm drinking it's usually the next day, but like I said I managed to figure it out sober

I don't need "Dutch courage" to yell into a microphone with no one around. In fact, I have been known to yell into microphones that I wasn't supposed to be yelling into, and with lots of people around. I just generally find myself being in a recording mood after being out carousing. As far as voice quality sober vs. drunk... My normal voice is smooth and high-pitched enough that any amount of raspiness or lower tone is an improvement in my opinion, so while some people might prefer my sober tone, I think my "been drinking" tone is way cooler.

Back to the original point of all this- you sounded good on this one.