Disco 2000 (Pulp Cover)

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jonny deep

Disappointing Member
Hi all. What with the recent demise of the real life Deborah and a couple of days off between university hand in and term start dates, I knocked out this cover. See if you can guess how much is fake.

 
Where are you from, Jonny? You must be from somewhere near me, with that accent. Unless, Of course, you're putting it on! :D This is a fun cover. I'm guessing that the vocals are fake? It's definitely not Jarv, anyway. ;)

Mix crits: Well, not too many - it's obvious that you've not been spending a month polishing this, so it'd be a bit daft to pick too many holes, but the bass wants to come up a fair bit. The bass is fairly beefy and driving in the original and it's what holds the song together. It's possible that the guitars and vocal could come down just a touch. Or the bass and drums come up a touch. Either way, the guitars and vocals seem a bit up front and "lonely" for want of a better word, they need more backup from the rhythm section. I really enjoyed listening to this, I like the song a lot and have played it myself a few times in previous bands. Well done. :D
 
A fab song from a landmark album.
Chockers with social commentary & Mi Shapes being a personal anthem for me as a teacher.
Lots of pervvyness as well - but that's Jarvis.
The mix...
Yeah, bass needs to propel the song
I'd properly pan & balance the guitars - one seems over to the L & the other up in the air 1/2 way to the R.
Personally I'd throw a denser reverb on the keys to move them into early 90's and further back in the mix.
The drums sound a bit discodrum machine lining them kick & bass a little tighter might be useful.
When did Deborah cark it?
I do like the more guitar driven nature of this version.
I'm glad study days are long over for me - I didn't fail anything but did get a quadruple resubmit for one assignment. In the end the lecturer passed me just so he wouldn't have to bother with me the next semester.
 
Bubba po said:
Where are you from, Jonny? You must be from somewhere near me, with that accent. Unless, Of course, you're putting it on! :D This is a fun cover. I'm guessing that the vocals are fake? It's definitely not Jarv, anyway. ;)

Mix crits: Well, not too many - it's obvious that you've not been spending a month polishing this, so it'd be a bit daft to pick too many holes, but the bass wants to come up a fair bit. The bass is fairly beefy and driving in the original and it's what holds the song together. It's possible that the guitars and vocal could come down just a touch. Or the bass and drums come up a touch. Either way, the guitars and vocals seem a bit up front and "lonely" for want of a better word, they need more backup from the rhythm section. I really enjoyed listening to this, I like the song a lot and have played it myself a few times in previous bands. Well done. :D
Click to expand...

Hey Bubba. Thanks for the listen! I'm from Grimsby originally - I still have something of a northern accent, but I ham it up a bit for my vocals so I don't sound American or southern. Agree it's not Jarvis - I sound quite like him in places, but I lack the variety of expression.

The bass is fake (it's a Scarbee VST bundled with Komplete) and sounds B.A.D., so I made it a bit of an indistinct rumbling down in the depths there. I've always had trouble giving the vocals any clarity in a dense mix like this, so I thought I'd done quite well with them this time, but maybe they're just too loud! It doesn't sound bad on the various headphones I tried it on and I listened to it on some little Logitech speakers to see how it was on them. Note that I mixed almost entirely on my Sennheiser HD280 headphones - with no treatment in my current room, I can't trust my monitors at all right now.

rayc said:
A fab song from a landmark album.
Chockers with social commentary & Mi Shapes being a personal anthem for me as a teacher.
Lots of pervvyness as well - but that's Jarvis.
The mix...
Yeah, bass needs to propel the song
I'd properly pan & balance the guitars - one seems over to the L & the other up in the air 1/2 way to the R.
Personally I'd throw a denser reverb on the keys to move them into early 90's and further back in the mix.
The drums sound a bit discodrum machine lining them kick & bass a little tighter might be useful.
When did Deborah cark it?
I do like the more guitar driven nature of this version.
I'm glad study days are long over for me - I didn't fail anything but did get a quadruple resubmit for one assignment. In the end the lecturer passed me just so he wouldn't have to bother with me the next semester.
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking it out, Ray! Pulp weren't my favourite when I was of the age, but this song is a classic. The guitars are equally panned and seemed fine to me, but I hear what you mean now. I don't think there's any reverb on the keys - I wanted it up close, but I'll have another listen and see. The drums are fake, as is the bass - the alignment is perfect, so must be something else off. I'm the same - I like the more guitars in this version, but obviously mine lacks most of the quality of the professionally made original. Mine is faster, though, which makes it better, right?!

Deborah died on the 30th Dec. - BBC News - Pulp's Disco 2000 inspiration, Deborah Bone, dies aged 51

Being in my mid-30s, my study days should also be long gone, but I thought I'd initiate the next stage in my early-onset mid-life crisis.
 
I did a beefier mix with more drums and bass and I sorted out the backing vocals. It's in the same link in the OP.
 
Bubba po said:
MUCH more like it. :D
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Lol, thanks Bubba! I like it a lot more now.

I listened to your Radiohead cover recently - don't know if I commented at the time (uni work has been mad busy lately!), but it was excellent - had I had more time then, I would have had a crack at the vocals. Have you considered doing Lucky?
 
jonny deep said:
Lol, thanks Bubba! I like it a lot more now.

I listened to your Radiohead cover recently - don't know if I commented at the time (uni work has been mad busy lately!), but it was excellent - had I had more time then, I would have had a crack at the vocals. Have you considered doing Lucky?
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Yes, it's much better than the first mix.

Thanks for your comment about Paranoid Android - I was very pleased with how it came out. :D I've never thought about doing Lucky, although I like it a lot and I do know how to play it! I always fancied doing Airbag, to be honest. :D

I had a few people who expressed an interest in attempting it but only two had a go - Calimoose and a bloke local to me. The local guy's attempt was hopeless, though. I felt Like Simon Cowell on the preliminary rounds of X-Factor. :D It was just completely flat!
 
I like this. I like you brit dudes that sing and still sound british. I never understood how british people ended up sounding american when singing. Anyway, I like the mix. It's tight and punchy. All the elements seem well balanced to me. I like the guitar sounds. What'd you use?
 
Greg_L said:
I like the guitar sounds. What'd you use?
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks Greg.

I used Guitar Rig 5!

I can't run amps a lot of the time, I usually work when my son is asleep. Even with the isobox, the house vibrates and the recorded tone isn't so great. That's why I knocked out a quick cover this time, as I wasn't bothered about the tone.

(NB That's why I haven't finished the song you drummed on, Greg - I need to take some time getting a decent guitar tone recorded as I care more about it, but school work is busy busy busy.)
 
Shit, I forgot that I did those drums. I remember liking the song. Finish that thing!

Good job with Guitar Rig. You got a realistic "chunk" kind of thing happening. It doesn't sound all flattened like sims tend to do.
 
Greg_L said:
Shit, I forgot that I did those drums. I remember liking the song. Finish that thing!

Good job with Guitar Rig. You got a realistic "chunk" kind of thing happening. It doesn't sound all flattened like sims tend to do.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I didn't do much, just switched the amps until I found one I liked the sound of and dialled it in a bit. I don't know which amp it's supposed to be - it looks like this: -

gr5_zps0bf2e4b7.png


I'll get on the other song when I have chance to sort out recording some decent tone from the new amp I built. I can run it full volume through my 2x12 in the iso box (in the daytime!), but I haven't managed to get a good recording of it yet.
 
Greg_L said:
Yup, the Van Halen 5150. It's surprising you got such a nice sound out of such a gay hair metal amp. :D
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Watch out, someone will have a pop at your recordings with comments like that!

Both guitars are the same amp, but the right one uses the lead channel, but you can see the gain turned right down in that pic.
 
jonny deep said:
Watch out, someone will have a pop at your recordings with comments like that!

Both guitars are the same amp, but the right one uses the lead channel, but you can see the gain turned right down in that pic.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the Marshalls sound crap in GR5 (at least, with my ability to use them).
 
Those amps in real life are actually very nice amps. They're basically just modded Marshall clones like almost every other high gain amp out there, but they are pretty good. I always like them when I plug into one.
 
jonny deep said:
Unfortunately, the Marshalls sound crap in GR5 (at least, with my ability to use them).
Click to expand...

Don't use the "matched cabinet". Pick your own cab. Pick multiple cabs. I'm sure there's a provision for that in GR5. I think the last Guitar Rig I looked at was GR4, and you could pick like a 60s cab, 80s cab, Mesa cab, etc. The 60s cab sounded good with the Marshall sim heads.
 
Greg_L said:
Don't use the "matched cabinet". Pick your own cab. Pick multiple cabs. I'm sure there's a provision for that in GR5. I think the last Guitar Rig I looked at was GR4, and you could pick like a 60s cab, 80s cab, Mesa cab, etc. The 60s cab sounded good with the Marshall sim heads.
Click to expand...

Yep, you can switch the cab easily. I'll give that a try next time, thanks.
 
Cool tune. Never heard it before. I'm going to have to google them.

Any way, you sounded very good. I like it.

Thanks for sharing and introducing me to Pulp.
 
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