Beatles - Norweigian Wood cover

braden_

braden_

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what do you guys think?

Norweigian Wood by seaandsilence on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free


i have a hard time judging my own vocals, can you let me know if i'm even hitting the right notes? i'm sure a little bit of "tasteful" (i.e. not robotic) autotune probably couldn't hurt but i don't know how to use it.

mix wise, the cello and violin (reason 4 with midi controller) are panned 60/-60, the guitar (akg perception 220 and mxl 991) i only tracked once but i copied it and slid it over a hair and eq'd a bit different and panned 60/-60 as well. i wanted to do 2 different tracks, but i couldn't get all the notes just right so i just said screw it. bass (amplitube 2) is centered, as are drums (also reason) and vocals (mxl 990).

anyway, please listen and let me know what you think!
 
Well, the vocal was the best bit, so stay away from the autotune. You don't need it, you have a good voice. In the "She asked/told me ..." bits you are not hitting the correct notes, however.

Practice the guitar part and double track it. That should be something you can do without problems if you are serious about making music, IMHO. You don't need to be able to replicate exactly: keep strumming the chords on one take and play the lick on the other, and perhaps even alternate a bit. Listen closely to the original, that's actually a good example of this technique. From what I heard I think you should definitely be able to do that.

Don't touch any midi until you can play the guitar part(s) to your satisfaction, and then only add something to enhance what you have by then, which should really be quite good already. Some of the bits you have now are not that bad, but some are downright terrible. What's with the klopfgeist?! :0)

All in all, you have a great cover in the making, I enjoyed listening to it.
 
What software are you using to record and does it have a pitch shifter built in? The vocals are pitchy. At times it sounds like you are in too low a key, and you're struggling to stay on pitch. The ends of some of your phrases are too ong/drawn out and allow for pitch issues too.
Solution: Try a higher key. Shorten the phrase endings. Good headphones to hear your vocals. Autotune if you tried all that and want perfect pitch.
 
hppnq:

Thanks for the input! Do you really think I should double track the guitar on this song? I kinda thought there was enough going on, it didn't really need it.

And what is a klopfgeist?


ido1957:
i'm using Audition 3.0. i think it has a pitch shifter, i'll have to look for it. i agree with everything you said about the vocals... it's my least favorite part of the song.


manslick:
thanks! i'm actually really proud of the arrangement. i wanted to do it completely different then the original, i think that's the only way to really do a cover, otherwise it's just doesn't stand out at all.
 
I think the strings are horrible. I think the recording would work really well without them. You talk about double tracking the guitar and I don't think it needs it but if you are trying to evoke the 12 string sound of the original, you could try messing about with some chorus effects, or even duplicate the track and shift it by a notch. Or not. Your vocals will be fine when you learn the melody for the bridge.
 
braden_ said:
hppnq:

Thanks for the input! Do you really think I should double track the guitar on this song? I kinda thought there was enough going on, it didn't really need it.

And what is a klopfgeist?
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry: a "klopfgeist" is a "knocking ghost", it was a bad joke. I meant to say you may want to rethink the drums. Personally I would make them more subtle.

I would definitely add an acoustic guitar and lose most of the midi, but you are right that in your current arrangement it is not a requirement. Do whatever sounds good to you. But seeing that you have a good sounding voice and can play the part on the guitar, I would start from there and build it without adding any unnecessary processing or fluff. Good luck!
 
beatlebum said:
I think the strings are horrible. I think the recording would work really well without them. You talk about double tracking the guitar and I don't think it needs it but if you are trying to evoke the 12 string sound of the original, you could try messing about with some chorus effects, or even duplicate the track and shift it by a notch. Or not. Your vocals will be fine when you learn the melody for the bridge.
Click to expand...
I agree with this 100%...and not only because his name's Beatlebum. :D

The strings turn a soulful tune into major cheese, in my opinion. I mean, really, strings???? :eek: Even Phil Spector ruined a fine album by trying that.
The melody in the bridge is wrong, or you're only singing the lower harmony and forgot to put it in the lead melody. Whether you double the guitar or not is secondary to me. But adding strings and changing the melody of the bridge doesn't make it better. Some songs are not open to "interpretation", in my opinion. If you're going to do your own interpretation of a CLASSIC song, you better make it either exactly the same or WAAAYYYY different. And even then, you're playing with fire.
 
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I'm afraid I have to go along with the last post, as a long time fan, it's hard for me to listen to a Beatles song that is just a little different, and not as good.
Sorry, I wanted to like it, and there are some good things, I do like your voice, even though, as mentioned there's pitchy spots.

Listen to the "I AM SAM" soundtrack, there are a few really good Beatles covers on it, and they might give you some ideas.
Good luck.
 
well i appreciate everyone's comments (to an extent! lol)

i'm keeping the arrangement as is. i love the strings and the slower vibe of the song. but i would never even imagine that everyone else would agree with me. if i was going to play it exactly like the original, why bother? like i said, i love the strings and am really happy with that aspect of the song.

i think i might try and add another guitar track, and possibly take the drums completely out. i did really like the build up aspect though that they added into the louder parts of the song. i know the melody is off on the bridges, but i think i changed it to match my abilities, i was having too much of a hard time in the higher range.

but thanks everyone for listening! at least giving it a shot means a lot, even if you don't like the arrangemet.
 
Agreed on the lack of value to doing a carbon copy type of cover. The only benefit I can imagine would be as a technical exercise for the performer (as a form of practice or just to satisfy your own curiosity about whether or not you can pull it off), but as a listener, the only reason I want to hear someone cover a tune is to see what they can do differently with it.

I think this version is different enough that it satisfies that part of the equation. I like all of the ideas here and think that the strings and drums work conceptually here. I just thought the string sounds themselves were a little too much on the synthethized side - especially when left all alone at the end.

I too like the build up aspect with the drums, but wonder if you might hold off and introduce them a little later? When they first appear near the beginning I found them a little intrusive. I'd bring the level of the strings overall down a bit too.

I don't mind that you changed the melody in the bridge. You had your work cut out for you with such an iconic number, and I, like anyone else, expects the harmony with Paul's smooth tones and Lennon's rougher, more nasally sound. That obviously worked really well on the original, but you're not going to have that same sound anyway, so you busted out a variation on that part which I think works reasonably well in the context of your version. You have a good voice.
 
I like the arrangement. I am also a HUGE beatles fan so it's hard to judge covers of their stuff. I like the vocals, strings, guitar is a bit muddy at first, drums are distant and roomey.

Nice idea, and pretty good outcome.

Oh, and like some of the others, I don't dig the strings by themselves at the end.
 
the verses sound great, reminds me a lil of elliott smith doing john lennon ala Jealous guy...not feeling the higher register. pitchy. Try deeper breaths and more relaxed, tention free excecution.Double track it too. try a b4 organ instead of chezy strings...JMHO
 
As everyone said, great arrangement, and as james said, the verses sound great.

However, try Deessing your voice a little bit in the Verses. I can hear them a lot sometimes.

Your voice is already pretty bright, which is Ok, but try lowering the volume of it just a little bit in the verses. So it blends a little more with the whole thing. but since it's very bright, it will still stand out.

In the chorus, watch out with the mid range freq of your stereovocals, check when you say "anywheeeereeeeeee".

I like the strings, but be carefull with putting them in the middle of the stage, if you know what I mean. MIDI strings are best mixed with the whole thing so they don't "look" unreal.

nice song man, I really liked it, like your voice too, keep it up.
 
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