OK - so I'm late - cover challenge

[Jagular]

I originally wasn't planning on doing covers of anyone's stuff here, just because I have been so busy lately. However, there have been a few songs here that have really touched me recently so I decided I would like to pay tribute to those songs. This is the first one of two or three, depending on how much time I can dig up to do this.

I wasn't able to spend as much time on this as I would have liked too. There are a couple picking bobbles in there and I would have liked to rehearse the vocal a bit more...but this is what I had time for...for now...maybe a retrack later

I'm very interested what you think the guitar sounds like. This is a mix of a mic'd & DI celebrity ovation. I haven't listened to this anywhere but on my computer speakers so it could sound like complete ass, in which case I will remix.

I think I'm fairly crazy for picking this one (actually all of them that I'm thining of) because they were excectionally well performed by the original writers/artists. This is a tough act to follow.

Well here it is

My version

Too Beautiful For Me

crawdad's version (yeah right, like you haven't heard it yet )

Too Beautiful For Me (the good version)

 

[chessrock]

Wow, that accoustic guitar sound is to die for. Sounds like it's right in front of me. Nice song; hats off to Crawdad -- and great performance by Jagular. I think I'm going to go cry now.

 

[Jamal Bucket]

man that guitar sounds great its so upfront without being...well TOO upfront...!!...great sound....this is a cool song nice choice..!.
you have that listener freindly voice too...man i need one of those...lol...great vocal performance...and you have that slight scratchy sound at the begining of a word ...man i love that...



cool job
jamal

 

[crawdad]

Wow! That was a fantastic experience for me to hear this song "outside myself" so to speak. When I was writing in Nashville, I had a few chances to hear what other artists did with my songs. It was always a revelation to me--like hearing a song for the FIRST time--even though I may have worked for a long time on the writing and the demo. I always heard things that another artist did and I'd go "why didn't I think of that!?"

There were certain phrases that you slightly altered that made this your own and I really liked that. Especially in the bridge, your phrasing was incredible. I imagined walking into a club and hearing somebody I didn't know performing this and you moved me with something I thought I was familiar with! For the first time, I heard what this song is!

Personally, I think you could nudge the vocal up by a couple of db. I thought the guitar sounded really good but the direct part puts it so in your face and up front in the speaker, that a little more vocal would be a good thing. maybe more miced guitar and less direct would be the approach to try.

Yeah, there were a couple of picking timings that weren't quite there, but for me, the performance more than makes up for that. Of course, I have a vested interest in this song!

I'm not only tremendously flattered that you covered this, but I want to thank you for allowing me to hear my song with new ears. I was very moved and amazed by this. If you could have felt exactly what I felt when I was listening, I think you'd be happy. Since its my song, I feel funny about posting stars, but you have five from me in spirit. Thank you very much!

 

[darwinsdoggy]

So...I smacked my Ovation and asked it why it didn't sound like that...to which it replied it had something to do with the new guy that just moved in, named al-varez. And then, I'm rambling...


Outstanding guitar sound. I agree with Crawdad about boosting the vox just a hair. Otherwise, I think it sounds great.

A very good cover of a very good song.

 

[Gidge]

loved the original and love this version.....vocal up a tad and it'll be perfect.......

 

[Jagular]

Well I posted that baby here last night an then went straight to bed. I was beat. This was good to wake up to (well actually arrive at work to ) this morning.

Chessrock – Thanks…here’s a hanky . I’m glad you liked the guitar sound. I didn’t have a lot of time to monkey around with it. I basically had from the time that I put my daughter to bed (about 9:00) until I couldn’t keep my eyes open (about 11:30 – actually I should have gone to bed earlier than that) to do this. I was a little leery about posting a song with a DI guitar track but I was listening and started thinking that it was a pretty damn good DI sound. One only thing I would like to get is a little better stereo interplay between the two tracks. I might try sliding one of the tracks just a hair to see what that does. But I’ll probably retrack it at some point first to see if I can get rid of some of the bobbles.

Jamal – Thanks man…erm…your voice is just fine. Trust me. My wife still makes me play (not that I object too much ) Last Hurrah. We both love that song and you do very well on it. I’m trying to get mine back in shape. I figure it’s at about 80% right now. I need to keep working out and singing.

Crawdad – Thanks. I was most worried about what you would think of it. This is the first time I’ve covered anyone I actually knew, so that was kind of weird. I actually tried to not listen to you singing it too much. Just enough to get all the words and practice in the car. Then I started singing it acapella, in the car, in the shower…. My wife asked me, “Wow…is that something you are writing?” I had to tell her, “I wish” . But I did it on purpose that way so as not to do an exact “copy” of your style. Plus I decided to raise it a half step to get a little more into my comfort zone and took a couple liberties on the changes . It’s truly a good song man and was easy for me to find the motivation. I just had to think about my daughter (only 3,but I can see it coming already).

Roger bringing the vocal up. Although in my car (great monitoring eh?) it actually sounds pretty up front in some spots, like the bridge & choruses. Maybe I just need to do a little surgical volume enveloping?

Picking timings – uhhhh…yah…erm… well all I can say as I found out how rusty I really am. It took me quite a few takes to get this one, bobbles and all. Of course, my pride wouldn’t let me pick bits & pieces and cross fade (actually I’ve never done that so it would probably take longer to figure it out than to start the track all over ). I wanted to get all one take. I will probably retrack the guitar just for the fun of it when I am more familiar with the changes and I don’t have to think about them so much. I’m pretty sure I can get it a little smoother .

I’m very glad (and relieved) that you enjoyed it. This made my day

darwinsdoggy – Thanks man. I constantly (well since I started seriously trying to record which hasn’t been very long) struggle with trying to get a good recorded tone out of that guitar. I am still experimenting with the help of you guys here. I did find that the DI tone did add some body to the sound that seems to be missing when I mic it. I might use it more often in the background just to thicken the sound up a little when needed. Glad you liked it. It was a great song to work with for me.

Gidge – Thanks for the listen. I’m glad you liked it & rajir on the vocals (at least in spots). Man do I need monitors. But soundcard first eh? Saving my pennies….

 

[Pedullist]

There are a couple picking bobbles in there and I would have liked to rehearse the vocal a bit more...but this is what I had time for...for now...maybe a retrack later

Although I did hear them and I know what you mean, I don't think it's annoying. It kinda adds up to the 'vulnerability' of the song (hope that's the right word)

Good job! Very pleasant voice indeed!

 

[twist]

Hey Jagular, glad to hear another contribution to the challenge. And a very worthwhile one it is too. Excellent choice of material. We all know how popular the father/daughter theme has been here!

I like the position and presence of the guitar in the mix, but I would prefer a miced guitar to a DI'd guitar for this song. It would be a little warmer. Or maybe just a LESS DI'd sound.

So you still working on another one? Come on, spill the beans!


Twist

 

[rustyfingers]

Damn fine tune. That's what it's all about...


Dennis

 

[Guernica]

Hey Jag,
Very very cool cover man You are pure country music. Its kind of a trip hearing this after hearing Dad's original. When I first heard the song, it struck me as country, ...but not until I heard this version did all of the other influences that make Al's music unique become clear. Played and sung your way, the song is pure country. That is neither a compliment nor an insult, ...just an observation. I guess its also a testament to his songwriting. ....this could easily be a great rock song as well.

You have a beautiful voice man, ....very nice stuff!
g

 

[JR#97]

beautiful. i loved the crawdad version, and i love this version. Great guitar sound. It is in my face, but so what. Great job. Post more.

 

[Jagular]

Pedullist - Thanks. You should have seen how vulnerable I really was when I was cussing at my fingers take after take saying "I know you guys have done stuff like this before…what's the matter with your sorry asses. I 'm gonna cut all of you off and stuff you down the disposal if you don't $*$*%&#** get moving." They didn't listen. Just like kids

twist - Thanks for the listen. IF I could get a warmer sound micing my cheap ass guitar I would definitely agree with you . I'm still trying . It's a very thin sounding guitar. I was thinking about mixing the two sounds together in mono with the mic'd sound prominent and duping the tracks and panning one pair left and one right and offsetting the time by a few ms to see what that sounded like. Could be a recipe for ass, but who knows?

And yes, I may have another one or two hiding somewhere…but I ain't a tellin

Rustyfingers - Thanks, from one old man to another

Guernica - Thanks for tuning in. I appreciate the compliment on my voice. It's the only instrument I can still play fairly well. I spent all my foolish youth trying to sing Rock & Roll badly (well, maybe not always badly ) when I had this Country voice just waiting to bust out . George Strait is Pure Country (ok, bad pun, but true). And yes…this is very well written song IMHO. Kudos to Crawdad once again.

JR - Thanks. Yeah played this and scratch tracks of two songs I have written recently for my Mom tonight who is visiting from Wisconsin. First time I heard them on the stereo downstairs. In your face is right. It about knocked me out of my recliner . I'm still trying to figure this recording thing out. I'll get there eventually (better equipment will help some, but I have enough to kind of learn the ropes a little while I save up my pennies .

 

[chrisharris]

Very well done, man. On the first listen, the guitar sounded a little DI'd, but I forgot all about it listening to you sing. Then I got pissed off at myself for not being able to just listen to music on here and enjoy it for what it is...so I did that; (i.e., just enjoyed it).

Again, very well done.

If you said it, I'm sorry, but how was the guitar recorded? Was it the Ovation/Celeb?

 

[B.SABBATH]

sounds great jugular.. it's must be really hard to do something this clean.. I say this because I heard some very minor guitar clams, but it's still a very sweet version of a crawdad classic..

yeah I'll probably post my first entry to the challenge today..


nice job!

 

[Roker1]

great song, great performance, great sounds....
Jagular, what was the vox recorded thru?what mic and pre?

thanks man, beautiful song.....well done crawdad too.

 

[Jagular]

Chris - Thanks man. Yeah I really had to do this kind of quickly, so there is some recorded the mic'd & DI guitar simultaneously, panned the mic'd track left, DI right. They are approximately the same volume so yeah you are hearing a lot of DI guitar . I will probably retrack for the fun of it (try to get rid of the clams) and spend more time trying to get a good guitar sound. I am struggling with that, but experimenting is fun, but time consuming. Every time I do something like this I learn something to make future projects sound better, quicker

B.Sabbath - Thanks…yeah…clam is my middle name . This was good for me to do. I found out just how rusty my short stubby little fingers are. It's actually worse than I thought. Nothing playing for awhile won't fix though. Thanks for the listen.

Roker1 - Thank you. Well the signal chain is not all that impressive. It's an AKG C 535 EB condenser mic to an Audiobuddy preamp to Alesis 3630 compressor to SBLive value sound card. I am starting to save $$ to try to upgrade. Soundcard is definitely first, then either monitors or a better mic - don't know which yet. I'm expecting the vocals to sound a tad better once I upgrade a little. But it will be a slow process.

 

[Smokepole]

Great job on a great song. I was waiting to hear your answer to Chris's question but you kind of skipped over it. Which guit. do you use on this?

I've been experimenting with acoustic sounds all week for a tear jerker ballad. I'm gonna try a mixture now to see if I can improve things.

Nice playing too rusty!

Joe

 

[Roker1]

Chris
Roker1 - Thank you. Well the signal chain is not all that impressive. It's an AKG C 535 EB condenser mic to an Audiobuddy preamp to Alesis 3630 compressor to SBLive value sound card. I am starting to save $$ to try to upgrade. Soundcard is definitely first, then either monitors or a better mic - don't know which yet. I'm expecting the vocals to sound a tad better once I upgrade a little. But it will be a slow process.

pretty bloody good for a s/blaster...keep it up man...great work
I love when people achieve good results with minimal gear (well yours is not minimal, but as you say it can be better)..
that's great

cheers

 

[Jagular]

Great job on a great song. I was waiting to hear your answer to Chris's question but you kind of skipped over it. Which guit. do you use on this?

I've been experimenting with acoustic sounds all week for a tear jerker ballad. I'm gonna try a mixture now to see if I can improve things.

Nice playing too rusty!

Joe

Thanks man!!

oops...it was early and my daughter didn't sleep well last night. Reading isn't one of my strong points this morning .

Yes it was my one and only acoustic guitar the infamous Ovation Celebrity . Oh wait, I have an old beat up Fender 12 string that I haven't played for quite awhile. I might have to try to record that on something....hmmmm...