Covid Quarantine Cover - Led Zeppelins Dancing Days

  • Thread starter Thread starter stratmonkee
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Hey cool song to cover. Some thoughts....

Vocals need to come up a lot. I thought the pad/string track was way louder than the vocal and that's kinda backwards. Is that the ebow thing?
More reverb than I care for, but that's a personal preference. (I'm a recovering reverb junkie)

A few tweaks here n there...

Good performance all around. Wouldn't mind doing this song with my band.

yeah man.
 
Cool yeah, ears where pretty well saturated I think after messing with this all day, the pad string thing is several tracks of unison, octave and ebow ...agree it's a little overpowering now. When I hit this again will knock them down a bit, dry things up a little, and raise the vocals....thanks for your ears and feedback Chili!!
 
Good song to do! I agree vocals are way back. and there is a ton of reverb...which I would turn down some on the overall song I think its muddying up everything. Good job though...your close.
 
I think its unanimous... back down the reverb. The track is pretty solid from start to finish, and doesn't need to be drowned in echo. Like a lot of us, you probably consider your vocals to be a lot worst than anyone else does. I think they work, but need to rise up a bit in the mix.

As Chili said, tweaks here and there.
 
Overall I think this sounds good. I like that you stayed close enough for this to be easily recognizable without sounding too close to the original (which would be boring).

There's a bunch of little things I would change in the mix myself, but maybe mostly personal preference things?

I actually really like the way you treated the vocals here. While I might raise the level a db or two, I wouldn't back off on the effects personally.
I did think the guitars had a little too much verb though. I feel like if they were just a bit drier, they would have more edge or bite or something.
I feel like the drums are actually a bit too bright and dry by comparison.
Lastly, I think the bass could use more definition and perhaps a small volume bump.

So for me, mostly some relatively minor spatial issues here, but it depends on what you're going for.
 
We used to jam the hell out of this back in the day. You've done a very worthy cover. Good job on the vocals, they need to be more forward. Your guitars are spot on in some places, and you've got your own thing going in others. It depends on how close or different you want to get to the original which has a slightly slower tempo and a more slithery groove. Pretty tricky to emulate Bonham with software. On headphones there's plenty of vacant space down below you could use to beef up the production. Overall great job, I enjoyed the trip back :)
 
Ok , I guess I went a little reverb crazy again :facepalm:, Dried up the lead vocals and , gulp, brought them more up front , also tried to bring the bass guitar up as well , tried to adjust the drums brightness and did add just a little verb to that track , I did try to do this one a little more close to the original then I normally do with my covers, although I did change up the fill guitars to fit my style more , and wanted to try getting a "string" sound by using e-bow . Bulls Hit , the drums where especially challenging for the way I do them, I had tried slower tempo and without the kinda slightly lurching groove Bonham played it , it kinda dragged, so I chose to raise the tempo and play it a little more straight time if that makes sense...my band tried this one live as well, but we really struggled getting that groove right....
Here is new mix, old mix still up for comparison:
DANCING DAZE Nu Mix 4 17(3) by stratmonkee | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
Again, this song is done so well. Great listen.

I think the pendulum swung the other way on the vocals. Maybe a little too out front. With the drying up and the level change, it stands out above the mix. I definitely like the drier version more, just bring the vocals down a notch and I think you'll be in the 98% on this mix.
 
Listening to the newer version. Much better! I agree with chili..vocals need to come down a little now. Also they seem to be off center a little to the right. Not sure if that was intentional? Don’t recall the original being that way.

Also, just nit-picking but on the main riff there is a hammer-on and pull-offs that you either are not doing or they are just coming through. Regardless, great song and great job on it!
 
I think I agree with the prior two posters.

If you brought the vocals down a tad, you'd have a pretty good mix.

Personally, I'd try to more or less split the difference between the 1st and second mixes. I like what you did, and it's better, but you went just a bit too far.

Turn down both the vocals and the bass guitar a little and I'd be happy.

You did a great job with this tune that I thought I was tired of.
 
Dancing Days was a great Zepplin tune.

The first mix was treble heavy, imo.
The second one is blurrier but removed the trebleness.
The guitar part seems to be missing something, like a another overdub part missing.
The singing isn't Plant at all but its a cover tune of their song, so that's understandable.
It doesn't sound professionally done, as in Zepplins version, but the ability to do all the parts that are on it is pretty amazing in a HR way.

ADD> you got me to listen to the 2012 version...
Listening to Zepplins 2012 ReMaster.
The bass is center and dry, the drums are weaker than I recall it back in the day.
The guitar parts are busier and more going on...but Im amazed at how thin this remake sounds too.
in some ways I like your drumming tracks better, and theres even some clarity and life I like better than the Zepplin track!! doh!!

the Zepplin recording kind of sounds like crap actually?

I just got done listening to McCartneys RAM album that sounded clear and amazing mixing but the songs were poo....and reminds me why I dumped the solo-rutles for Led Zepplin.

sorry,,,,memory lane self thoughts added.
 
Ok,this one has been really fun to work with and I appreciate all the great feedback! Have lowered the lead vocal a bit and recentered it...had thought panning it a little may help it stick out better, but I didn't like the way it sounded either. Lowered the bass a little, but I have to say , I kinda dig it :). Brutish, I am playing the main lick a differently...was trying to put my own spin on it , and, using the ebow to do a track of the riff , was hard to pull off the little triplet type thing. CoolCat yeah I kinda looked at all the guitar parts and tried to duplicate the parts I liked with my own spin....this one is definitely a studio creation, Zeppelins live versions of it back in the day where very rough in comparison. I agree with you on the remaster, always thought the song could use a little more kick! Cool on the Ram album, I find it kinda a wet noodle songwise, but really dug a couple..Uncle Albert and Too Many People.
Here is my last mix, putting this one to bed and moving on with some other stuff...thanks again guys!
DANCING DAZE Nu Mix 4 21 by stratmonkee | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
Great job. I think your latest mix fixes all of the issues of the previous mixes.
 
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