feeling good cover recording by me opinions

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobbieD
  • Start date Start date
Bass line in the intro is too loud, it distracts from the vocals.
There's too much reverb everywhere, just dial it down a bit.
Other than that, the only thing holding you back is the MIDI, which needs to be 'humanized' a bit. It's all a bit to clinical without any real dynamics or changes in accents etc.
 
Well I mean, that there's no sense of performance. No accentuation or phrasing, it's all very bland and is quite tedious to listen to.

Go listen to the Muse version and listen closely to how much phrasing goes into the instrumental performance, because it's epic. He phrases almost every bar.

It's the drums that sound 'clinical' to me. It's clearly just a midi drum pattern programmed into a sampler. There is no human performance in it... again, no accents, no phrasing, not a single change in the tone of each hi-hat hit (and no the open hi-hat hits don't count). And just fyi it's quite unconventional to have the hi-hat panned centrally because it's too distracting there. It's way too straight to have ever been played by a real drummer, as they would have put in loads more little nuances and little fills here and there that fit with the beat.

In short, MIDI sampling just doesn't compare to having real life musicians, because they perform!

Notice how I haven't said anything about the vocal part? That's because actually there's a lot of expression, dynamics, phrasing, sustain, timing... all that stuff which is great!

Clearly you're a singer first and foremost... so go sing!! get your mates to come and record an acoustic cover of the song with you. Even if they can only manage four chords between them it'll at least have some variation in it. Besides, it'll be way more fun!!

Keep going Rob!!
 
ok i programed the drums with midi, but lets say i played every part manually on my keyboard, cuz thats all i use for now for all parts, if i got into the groove and did the drums the whole way thru without copy pasting would that make a difference, cuz honestly i dunt feel like setting up drums in my room haha
 
No, I'm afraid your missing the point.
I don't think you're hearing me so I'll spell it out.

You can do as much MIDI programming and playing of the other parts with a keyboard as you like, but dude its just noise if there's NO PERFORMANCE.

It's all very well playing the right notes in the right order, but a clockwork musical-box can do that. The amazing thing about music is the performance.
The mistakes, the missed notes, the interaction between musicians as they play, the way different people make changes to their parts. All that stuff is interesting.
Did you go back and listen to the Muse version of Feeling Good again like I suggested? Probably not, so here's a link and really listen to how he plays the keyboard part. It's just as simple as what you're playing, but he gives it some life with all the accents he's playing, and the way he makes phrases even with just one chord repeated. It's got a pulse to it. Listen closely!

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Yes, I already know you played all the other parts on a keyboard, because that's exactly what it sounds like!!! It doesn't sound like an electric guitar, it sounds like a keyboard with a guitar sound switched on. (I actually wrote this in my original post but I thought you might have got there on your own so edited it out.)

The harsh truth is that if you continue to play all the other parts on a keyboard like this, you won't get a convincing sounding track. It will just sound like another demo disc, because that's how song writers build up ideas, a rough sketch or an outline of how the real track should sound. It's not how Muse make their double-platinum albums, they spent weeks in the studio recording.

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The huge plus that you have is that your vocals sound good, they have got soul because you sang them... you gave a performance. Mate, most people can't sing in tune and even fewer can sing like you can. So play to your strengths. You clearly put effort, thought and practise into that vocal part.
All you did with the other parts was play the right notes in the right order.

I said before "Go get your mates to come and record an acoustic cover of the song with you. Even if they can only manage four chords between them it'll at least have some variation in it." and I stand by that. They probably can't play as well as you sing and no it won't be perfect, but it won't be boring. And the individual instrument sounds might have to be compromised with limited equipment, but it won't just be a collection of samples recalled in order by a keyboard.
It will sound ten times better with a different backing part to that same vocal part.

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Playing parts on a keyboard might seem like a shortcut to getting good quality sounds, but you're sacrificing the most imprtant part if you play everything on the keyboard in that monotonous way.... the performance

Please try and get what I'm trying to say to you. Don't waste your vocal talent on recording MIDI parts and keyboard samples. Write songs, fool around with cheap and half broken microphones, get involved with your mates, be creative.
 
(a bit of an essay I know... but hopefully you get the point now)
 
wow thank you so much that means lot and yes i get what your saying thank you
 
I didn't want to colour my thinking so I listened to your song before reading the comments above. My first thoughts were: too much reverb; what an amazing voice; and what was that loud fizzy sound in the left channel? cobaltaudio seems to have covered all these.

For someone who has only been recording for 3 months I think you are doing well. Listen to those with lots of experience and build on what you have accomplished. You know what too much reverb sounds like; you are hearing people say that you have a great voice and use it well - so exploit that; and you know that keyboards will never (without a massive amount of skill) sound like other instruments.

One suggestion regarding cobaltaudio's comments on your MIDI hi-hat sound: buy an egg shaker and record yourself playing the hi-hat pattern. Then listen to how much the timing is not perfect and the sounds vary, it is a strange truth that minor imperfections are what gives music its natural sounding character.
 
thanks dude, let me ask you guys what do you guys think of electric drums and get a real drummer to play, will that make a big difference
 
Sure, a capable drummer will sound better that MIDI drums, that is what cobaltaudio was saying.

While there are 101 improvements you could make - to the arrangements, the room, the instruments, mics, mic placement, preamps, recording, mixing, EQ, compression and so on - don't let this stifle your creativity. The "<name a country> has Talent" shows show that with the best recording environment and people on hand, a poor performer is still a poor performer. By all means keep working to improve what you can and in the meantime keep writing, performing and recording.
 
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hey guys since youve heard my voice, which mic would best suit my voice i need to buy a new mic? any ideas
 
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