For no one (Beatles cover)

Paulina,

I don't think there's a problem with the vocal reverb. The vocal is clear, and not buried in echo.

But I would suggest you rework the accompaniment. It really needs to be tighter. There are a number of places where you lose the timing, and a few "clams" on chords. Did you do this as a single performance or did you put down the guitar track first?

I watched a few of your other videos, and you should be able to pull off the guitar part cleanly with your abilities. Your original song is much better, consistent on the timing and more confident in the delivery. That would be my target for this song.
 
TalismanRich said:
Paulina,

I don't think there's a problem with the vocal reverb. The vocal is clear, and not buried in echo.

But I would suggest you rework the accompaniment. It really needs to be tighter. There are a number of places where you lose the timing, and a few "clams" on chords. Did you do this as a single performance or did you put down the guitar track first?

I watched a few of your other videos, and you should be able to pull off the guitar part cleanly with your abilities. Your original song is much better, consistent on the timing and more confident in the delivery. That would be my target for this song.
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Thank you, Rich. You are absolutely right. I am changing from strumming to fingerpicking all of my covers and at this point, I'm not doing great with any of them. This is a new song that I'm still in the process of learning and I did the guitar track first, not looking for perfection. This recording was my Good Friday little project. I will try again when it's more in my system. Many thanks for your thoughts. My original song is one I've been playing for years which is why it sounds more consistent/confident.
 
Ah, that makes perfect sense. I have been working on my fingerpicking technique for years. For this song, I have tried 3 different patterns before settling on one. I would say to keep at it until you get it rock solid. Then move to the next step.

As I said, the vocal sounded pretty good to me. The guitar has a unusual kind of tone to me, almost like a small guitar or a ukulele. What is your setup?
 
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I've never heard this song before, like many other Beatles tracks.
The chord changes do smack of Beatles.
It kept my attention all the way.
I wonder what two guitar tracks might do for it. A strummed guitar, and a picked guitar?
 
Slouching Raymond said:
I've never heard this song before, like many other Beatles tracks.
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Wow that's really hard for an old fart like me to comprehend. I cover this one and love it, in the original there is a very cool french horn solo...In the OP version she hums a little melody @ 1 minute that takes it place.....I throw in a lyric line that kind of follows the theme of the solo in place of it...

"Though you love her so, you must let her go, she no longer needs you."

Here an orchestral version I dig ( no piano like the original release) that has the French horn solo and then he plays it again behind Pauls singing...LOVE that french horn



Here's the original release.

 
TalismanRich said:
Ah, that makes perfect sense. I have been working on my fingerpicking technique for years. For this song, I have tried 3 different patterns before settling on one. I would say to keep at it until you get it rock solid. Then move to the next step.

As I said, the vocal sounded pretty good to me. The guitar has a unusual kind of tone to me, almost like a small guitar or a ukulele. What is your setup?
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Knowing myself, it could take me years of practice to get things rock solid. Thankfully, I busk as a means of refining my songs and as soon as I know the lyrics by heart, I'll jump in there and see what happens. It took me many years to do Blackbird comfortably. The guitar is a PRS Tonare SE 50 which has maple back and sides. Capo on 2nd fret. I like it because it is unusual. Many thanks for your comments!
 
Slouching Raymond said:
I've never heard this song before, like many other Beatles tracks.
The chord changes do smack of Beatles.
It kept my attention all the way.
I wonder what two guitar tracks might do for it. A strummed guitar, and a picked guitar?
Click to expand...
Thank you. Yes, two guitar tracks is something I can start thinking about.
 
What kind of compression are you using on the vocal? Are you right on top of the mic? I hear what sound like mouth-clicks, or other noises, which might be getting pushed up with make-up gain. Or, you might want to look at something like iZotope RX to clean up the track just a little before you do any other processing.

p.s. You don't get the best audio at 480p with YouTube, at least it used to be that way. I'd put together a 1080p video (720 no longer is HD for YT, and gets down-res'd to 480. Kind of POs me since I used to upload just 720p - smaller files and allowed cropping on 1080 recording. We're all being pushed to 4k...)
 
keith.rogers said:
What kind of compression are you using on the vocal? Are you right on top of the mic? I hear what sound like mouth-clicks, or other noises, which might be getting pushed up with make-up gain. Or, you might want to look at something like iZotope RX to clean up the track just a little before you do any other processing.

p.s. You don't get the best audio at 480p with YouTube, at least it used to be that way. I'd put together a 1080p video (720 no longer is HD for YT, and gets down-res'd to 480. Kind of POs me since I used to upload just 720p - smaller files and allowed cropping on 1080 recording. We're all being pushed to 4k...)
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Yes, I sing close to the mic and a have a new pop-blocker which is better than before. I'll look into RX. I also heard about Neutron. Are you familiar with it? I use a preset that's called "female pop louder" and added the plate reverb to that. I'm trying to keep it simple and clean, but even that's a challenge!
 
Fromthenorthwest said:
Like others mentioned a couple little guitar playing hiccups but overall it sounds nice, you have a nice voice. Do you have a plate reverb at home?
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I used the flat plate reverb that's in my Studio One package. There are so many different kinds but a musician said that plate is a good idea if I want to achieve James Taylor or Karen Carpenter type vocals.
 
highvibrational said:
Yes, I sing close to the mic and a have a new pop-blocker which is better than before. I'll look into RX. I also heard about Neutron. Are you familiar with it? I use a preset that's called "female pop louder" and added the plate reverb to that. I'm trying to keep it simple and clean, but even that's a challenge!
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Some time back I got iZotope’s whole “production suite” and I use Neutron on the individual tracks - usually just for EQ and sometimes compression, though I have a couple favorites in Logic Pro’s own compressor models that I have set into my templates and will usually pick if I’m not being too lazy. The EQ has a nice feature they lets you see other tracks and identify areas of “masking” and you can also view the EQ from Tonal Balance on the master buss, which can be useful.

The “suite” gives you RX standard and that includes most of the individual repair tools as plugins, so it’s worth experimenting with those or doing more specific editing in the standalone RX to see which gives the best result.

The whole suite is expensive - I’ll suggest watching for a sale. And then you can use it for years and ignore most upgrades. I’ve only upgraded once, after skipping one or two that were offered. The version I have, at least one behind the current one, does all I need.
 
I applaud it that you chose to record your cover recording of what I consider to be one of the best songs recorded by McCartney.
Should you decide to re-record, my only suggestion would be to slow the tempo. You have a great voice!

My favorite cover of "For No One".......Emily Lou Harris

 
60's guy said:
I applaud it that you chose to record your cover recording of what I consider to be one of the best songs recorded by McCartney.
Should you decide to re-record, my only suggestion would be to slow the tempo. You have a great voice!

My favorite cover of "For No One".......Emily Lou Harris

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Thank you! My feeling is that you learn by diving right in and seeing what happens. I'm familiar with the Emmylou Harris version and like it because it's her own style. The challenge is to retain the essence but to do it your own way. So much to learn and I appreciate all of your comments!
 
I'm going to break w/ sentiment here. The reverb makes you sound like you're singing down a long narrow hall. It is wholly distracting and frankly kind of overly boxy. I'd go w/ a much closer, drier and more intimate approach for the style of this piece.

Performance sounds "live" and that's perfectly fine ... as a few warts are always anticipated when listening to a live version, but the reverb on the vocal makes things sound way too stylistic (production-wise) and therefore, a bit artificial (inauthentic). This song is too personal to render in a "stilted" way.

My two, anyways.
 
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