"Game Over" - a lost classic rescued.

[Bubba po]

As I wrote in my previous thread on this:

So, back in 1992 in Wakefield, England, some mates had a band called "Cable" and they wrote this song. They promptly split up and the song never got properly recorded or released.

I've never been able to get it out of my head from that day to this - I think it's a lost classic - so I decided to re-record it. The original singer will be re-doing the vocal.

As usual, I play the guitars and Frank plays the drums.

The original singer recorded his vocal yesterday, so now I can share the song as it was originally meant to sound.

Original demo cassette version:



2016 recreation:



You know how to spring a surprise
And you know how to shatter some illusions -
Some illusions I should never have had anyway.
I get the feeling that the honeymoon has ended
This game is over - I don't want to play

Just throw your arms around me
I wanna feel that kind of thing
I wanna see you smile
I wanna know just where you've been.

I won't tempt you when I know I should
You don't love me but I think that you could
I don't remember every word
But I remember every curve
And I felt every touch and hit go deep
Now I can't sleep.

Just throw your arms around me
I wanna feel that kind of thing
I wanna see you smile
I wanna know just where you've been.

You left me without a name
I felt like I wasn't going to have anything
But I want you so fucking much
Game over - you... kill... me.

Just throw your arms around me
I wanna feel that kind of thing
I wanna see you smile
I wanna know just where you've been.

Aah, you never know
Unless it hits you first
Nah, you'll never know
Unless it hits you first.

 

[JDOD]

Surprising that he's got such strong Wakefield accent in the intro... or not that surprising considering he's from Wakefield.
You did a pretty good impression of him in your cover mate.
This version is excellent though - You know there's some bloke in Wales who releases lost songs compilation albums? You should submit it.

It doesn't sound that different to your version to be honest, he's probably a bit more confident on the high notes and he's giving it everything. He also has a bit more "gravitas" in a Morgan Freeman kinda way in the quiet bits.

 

[paulman77]

This mix sounds awesome. Full and warm, I love it. I still like your vocal better. You mixed the original singer's voice better, but if you give your vocal track some "oomph" in the right places I think your version sounds more believable. Makes me feel the lyrics.

 

[Armistice]

Man, he's just owning that chorus - well worth getting him out of retirement. Nice work from the lot of you - as you know, I'm a fan of the song - now I'm going to be singing the damn thing in my head for the next week.

 

[rayc]

Terrific resurrection of song & man.
Is it me or it it a tad essy?

 

[VomitHatSteve]

The remake is certainly less noisy!

Pretty solid recording. Nothing leaps out at me initially as not working.

 

[Btyre2013]

that's a great re-creation of an old track, I think yours sounds miles better than the original, much cleaner and clearer in every way, also preferred the new vocals.

 

[fat_fleet]

Sounds decent to me, dude.

 

[RFR]

Oh, man! That turned out good. The vocal is perfect. The thicker accent on the verses is very cool and the choruses are powerful. You did a great job on your vocals, but this one has 'ownership'.

Just woke up and am having my first coffee listening through earbuds, but sounds pretty damn good.

However, in parts of the vocal, particularly 2nd verse, it's tough to hear, and sometimes the chorus vocals are a bit too loud.
Oh, it needs some de- essing, at least in the first verse, didnt notice it so much later.
The bridge section vocals are outstanding, and I love how the dual solos kick in.

I'll have a proper listen later, but fucking outstanding! A song worth redoing.

 

[Robus]

There's some rumbling going on under the bass. I hear it clearly in the early part of the song when the bass is soloed, but I think it continues throughout and contributes some muddiness that may also be affecting vocal clarity (can't understand the lyrics during the spoken part). I'm hearing a harshness in the louder parts that usually comes down to compression, limiting, boosting on the master bus, just a guess. I notice it on the snare especially, but generally. The two problems--if you consider them to be so--could be connected. All that low frequency energy could be triggering your compressors and producing unexpected results. You might try high passing various tracks if you want more clarity and a less smastered sound. Interesting contrast between your singer's young/older voice. I think I prefer his older voice.

 

[JDOD]

Robus, you probably can't understand the lyrics cos you've never met someone from the north of England.

Listened to this a bunch of times today along with Armistice's Stalking Horse (been driving to meetings) so I've had it on in the car, sounds great.

I can here some essing in it but it doesn't matter at all. It sounds like a real performance. What's going on in the bridge before the solo? Is that you doing backing?

 

[Nola]

The remake is better.
The vocal is slightly loud at times (chorus). I'd ride the fader to tuck it in where it's popping out.

I'm hearing a harshness in the louder parts that usually comes down to compression, limiting, boosting on the master bus, just a guess.

This is correct, too, on second listen with my headphones turned up, so maybe it's a larger volume issue.

 

[Robus]

I have actually met a few. It's not the accent. He's got a deep voice, is mixed a bit low (for my taste) during the spoken part, and mainly is being masked by other things happening in the low mids.

 

[Bubba po]

Oh, wow! So much to reply to. I suppose I'd better start at the beginning.

Surprising that he's got such strong Wakefield accent in the intro... or not that surprising considering he's from Wakefield.
You did a pretty good impression of him in your cover mate.
This version is excellent though - You know there's some bloke in Wales who releases lost songs compilation albums? You should submit it.

It doesn't sound that different to your version to be honest, he's probably a bit more confident on the high notes and he's giving it everything. He also has a bit more "gravitas" in a Morgan Freeman kinda way in the quiet bits.

You know, Andy told me just before we started the session that he'd been listening to the old track and said to himself "WTF was that accent you were doing, there?". He asked if it was ok to revert more to his real voice this time. I told him "Aye, lad, just don't make it sound like John Shuttleworth"

Andy's vocal was definitely needed on this. His tuning on that high note is better than mine (but it took us a few takes) and his tone for the song is irreplaceable to me. I'll check out the compilation guy, once I've run it by Andy.

Man, he's just owning that chorus - well worth getting him out of retirement. Nice work from the lot of you - as you know, I'm a fan of the song - now I'm going to be singing the damn thing in my head for the next week.

Thanks, Armistice. Yes, he owns the song in every way. And there's an even more intense vocal available.

This mix sounds awesome. Full and warm, I love it. I still like your vocal better. You mixed the original singer's voice better, but if you give your vocal track some "oomph" in the right places I think your version sounds more believable. Makes me feel the lyrics.

Thanks so much, Paulman. Even though the subject of the song never happened to me, I feel the song is so well written that it brings up the emotion in me when I sing it. Andy tells me it came totally from a real experience.

Terrific resurrection of song & man.
Is it me or it it a tad essy?

Cheers, Ray. Yes, it's a bit essy. When we were sampling mics at the beginning of the session we had a choice of an AKG C414, a Mojave MA 200 Tube and the Shure SM7B. I went with the Shure because it had the most aggressive tone, but I slightly regret it, now. It didn't gel with the 1176 compressor too well as regards the esses. They're fixable, though.

 

[Bubba po]

The remake is certainly less noisy!

Pretty solid recording. Nothing leaps out at me initially as not working.

Thanks, VHS, I appreciate the listen.

that's a great re-creation of an old track, I think yours sounds miles better than the original, much cleaner and clearer in every way, also preferred the new vocals.

Nice one Btyre. Not difficult to improve on the backing track and I much prefer the "proper" vocals myself. When we started tracking the vocal I got proper goosebumps and it took me back 25 years in an instant.

Sounds decent to me, dude.

Cheers, thanks very much for taking the trouble.

Oh, man! That turned out good. The vocal is perfect. The thicker accent on the verses is very cool and the choruses are powerful. You did a great job on your vocals, but this one has 'ownership'.

Just woke up and am having my first coffee listening through earbuds, but sounds pretty damn good.

However, in parts of the vocal, particularly 2nd verse, it's tough to hear, and sometimes the chorus vocals are a bit too loud.
Oh, it needs some de- essing, at least in the first verse, didnt notice it so much later.
The bridge section vocals are outstanding, and I love how the dual solos kick in.

I'll have a proper listen later, but fucking outstanding! A song worth redoing.

Great comments, RFR. The vocal needs de-essing a bit, as you say. As regards being able to hear the vocals properly, first and foremost when I'm working with tracks that are basically punk rock, I tend to go for overall effect and emotion. When the singing is blasting out with the music I feel that the time investment of repeated listens, teasing out the meaning of the song later, is a bit of an "Easter Egg" if you get my meaning.

I'm really happy you enjoyed it.

 

[Bubba po]

There's some rumbling going on under the bass. I hear it clearly in the early part of the song when the bass is soloed, but I think it continues throughout and contributes some muddiness that may also be affecting vocal clarity (can't understand the lyrics during the spoken part). I'm hearing a harshness in the louder parts that usually comes down to compression, limiting, boosting on the master bus, just a guess. I notice it on the snare especially, but generally. The two problems--if you consider them to be so--could be connected. All that low frequency energy could be triggering your compressors and producing unexpected results. You might try high passing various tracks if you want more clarity and a less smastered sound. Interesting contrast between your singer's young/older voice. I think I prefer his older voice.

Yep, the rumbling is called a strummed low 'A' under the bass melody. It's part of the song. Without it, it isn't the song.

I wonder whether you've ever witnessed a loud punk rock band raging away in front of you in a cellar bar, blowing you away with one of the best songs you've ever heard, and how you would go about recreating that feeling of the instruments fighting to be heard and a singer who really has something to say, straining to convey that emotion through it all.

That's what I'm going for, here. In all likelihood, If I'd approached the guy with a sanitised, pristine backing track, he would have told me to forget it.

 

[Robus]

Okay, I'll leave you to it.

 

[TripleM]

I'm noticing a low frequency rumble. That should be an easy rolloff.

The new version is an obvious improvement. The verses in the old mix kind of hold up, but it gets real messy in the chorus. The new mix is solid all the way though.

Levels on things are good.

Other than the rumble, I thought this was really good.

 

[heatmiser]

Geez, as partial as I am to cassettes, this just isn't fair. The original is pretty brutal objectively even from an early '90's cassette perspective. Sounds like the heads are misaligned or something. The vocals are super buried and the hiss and the warble and whatnot...still, this tune is hiding in there somewhere, and from what I could hear of it, you've reproduced it with great care in a more sonically acceptable context.

I was surprised by how similar the singer sounds today! The verses were super buried on the original, but he reproduced the feel of the chorus almost exactly which is remarkable after so many years. I bet he really enjoyed doing this, and I hope he appreciated your enthusiasm for this song and fed off of that. I would have been quite flattered in his shoes.

So, your mix is great. I like the constant low rumble from the bass. I'm not so much a fan of the twinkly chorus-like effect on the guitars, but that was there on the original too, so it makes sense. Lyrics are great. I'm totally into that painful shit right now, so this worked for me, and he does seem to give it some heft with his delivery.

I'm not so up on UK geography or linguistics, but during the verses, he sounds almost Scottish to me? I wasn't wild about the talking verses, but the chorus worked big time. Sorry, most of that shit is totally subjective and doesn't help you...I'm just thinking out loud. Carry on.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Geez, as partial as I am to cassettes, this just isn't fair. The original is pretty brutal objectively even from an early '90's cassette perspective. Sounds like the heads are misaligned or something. The vocals are super buried and the hiss and the warble and whatnot...still, this tune is hiding in there somewhere, and from what I could hear of it, you've reproduced it with great care in a more sonically acceptable context.

I agree with all that but I also think the original had a less refined beat or something that actually added some feel. The new one has great feel too, but there is a little intangible something to the old one. It's got some added soul.

The vocals on the new one sound fantastic to me.

The mix is real nice. I got no complaints, and I am trying to find one. I am not hearing bass rumble but I don't have a sub or anything. Just Yamaha HS80s in a well-treated room.