Skyscraper [Cover]

HRmusic90

HRmusic90

21st Century Digital Boy
So this is a mostly finished cover of Bad Religion's "Skyscraper" from 1993's Recipe for Hate. The only thing I'd like to add to it would be to have my brother fill out the background harmonies. (He's interested in doing it, just incredibly busy lately.)

I did my best to counteract the nasality of my voice. I cut the mids, and I raised the mic about 6 inches above my head.

https://soundcloud.com/therudeawakening-1/skyscraper-cover
 
It was set to private. I thought one could listen to private tracks provided the URL was given :wtf:
 
I can hear it now.

The vocal has got to come up. Your drums could be a bit further back. The snare sample needs some sort of velocity change. It's too repetitive at the moment and it's overpowering the rest of the mix. Trying playing around with the MIDI.
I liked the twangy bass.
 
Never heard this song before today...looked up the original to compare. I think your missing some energy here. Guitars don't sound thick enough, maybe add a little presence to them or bring them up. The drums are monotonous and lack some of the fills separating verses from choruses. Snare is a little loud and like what Schwarz said, it sounds like the same exact hit every time which causes it to lose some "human" quality. As far as vocals, they are not bad but the original has a little more "grit" to them. Also the harmonies are powerful on the original. Maybe you need to add a couple more tracks of harmonies to get a fuller sound when they come in. Regardless, sounds like a great start.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
I can hear it now.

The vocal has got to come up. Your drums could be a bit further back. The snare sample needs some sort of velocity change. It's too repetitive at the moment and it's overpowering the rest of the mix. Trying playing around with the MIDI.
I liked the twangy bass.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I pieced the drums together years ago, before I had any MIDI finesse. I need to go back to that.
Glad the bass came out well!

Bruthish said:
Never heard this song before today...looked up the original to compare. I think your missing some energy here. Guitars don't sound thick enough, maybe add a little presence to them or bring them up. The drums are monotonous and lack some of the fills separating verses from choruses. Snare is a little loud and like what Schwarz said, it sounds like the same exact hit every time which causes it to lose some "human" quality. As far as vocals, they are not bad but the original has a little more "grit" to them. Also the harmonies are powerful on the original. Maybe you need to add a couple more tracks of harmonies to get a fuller sound when they come in. Regardless, sounds like a great start.
Click to expand...

I knew there was something missing with the guitars... I think you're right.
I know what you mean about the "grit" of the original vocals. I did actually try to strive for that, but when I couldn't get it, I just chalked it up to "Well my voice doesn't sound anything like Greg Graffin's,so..."
But thanks!
 
You could bump the lead vocal but it's harsh somewhere around 2000-3000 and it'll get worse just raising the overall level. Try narrowish cuts around there and then bump the whole track.

You might try looking at that same freq (whatever it turns out to be) in the side guitars tracks too and then cut a little there. The whole mix is harsh there.

It's got great energy...more than I have these days. :)
 
StuGort said:
You could bump the lead vocal but it's harsh somewhere around 2000-3000 and it'll get worse just raising the overall level. Try narrowish cuts around there and then bump the whole track.

You might try looking at that same freq (whatever it turns out to be) in the side guitars tracks too and then cut a little there. The whole mix is harsh there.

It's got great energy...more than I have these days. :)
Click to expand...

That's a good idea. I actually tried boosting that very range you mentioned hoping to add some grit to the vocals, but you're right, it would just add harshness.
 
First of all... I know I've seen your name before, but I haven't seen it often... are you the guy that recognized the somewhat-obscure ALL song I did a while ago (Can't Say)? That would alleviate my surprise at the fact that someone picked such an excellent song to cover and posted it here.

I actually tried to cover this one a while ago and put it up on here, but my timing was all over the place and it sucked. I was still at the point in my "musical development" where I couldn't play this song all the way through on the drums without my right shin getting sore. This is much better than the one I did. My critique would be that the vocal is too prominent (your voice is fine, I just prefer vocals to be a little more buried) and the guitar is too quiet. Your vocal-to-guitar ratio is pretty close to the original, though.

Are these real drums? I suck at being able to tell. Unfortunately I have an excellent memory (a good memory + a conscience + moronic behavior = trouble falling asleep sometimes), and if you're the guy I think you are, I listened to a song of yours way back when that had fake drums, so I would assume these are fake, too.

Both of us have voices that are too sissy (as in high-pitched) to cover songs sung by Greg Graffin, but hopefully you are as shameless as I am and will join me in continuing to cover them. Keep 'em comin'! Nice work.
 
Yes! That's me.

Unfortunately they're not real drums. It'll have to be that for a while yet. I would love to get an electronic drum kit but there's just no room in our apartment, so MIDI drums it is.
I always loved that galloping beat that Bobby Schayer played. I even made one of my SR-16 patterns mimic it (the one heard in this cover in fact).

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I might like to tackle "Man with A Mission" next.
 
HRmusic90 said:
Yes! That's me.

Unfortunately they're not real drums. It'll have to be that for a while yet. I would love to get an electronic drum kit but there's just no room in our apartment, so MIDI drums it is.
I always loved that galloping beat that Bobby Schayer played. I even made one of my SR-16 patterns mimic it (the one heard in this cover in fact).

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I might like to tackle "Man with A Mission" next.
Click to expand...

That "galloping" beat... yup, you can always tell the albums he played on... anything mid-tempo or faster was pretty much a variation of that beat. I actually prefer the other guys. I like a lot of hitting, and I'd say he's the most "minimalist" of their drummers, if that would mean that he pretty much just kept the beat and didn't go nuts. But still liked him.

Man With a Mission... isn't there a steel guitar in that, the kind they use in country?
 
NotThatBright said:
That "galloping" beat... yup, you can always tell the albums he played on... anything mid-tempo or faster was pretty much a variation of that beat. I actually prefer the other guys. I like a lot of hitting, and I'd say he's the most "minimalist" of their drummers, if that would mean that he pretty much just kept the beat and didn't go nuts. But still liked him.

Man With a Mission... isn't there a steel guitar in that, the kind they use in country?
Click to expand...

There is! That's gonna be a challenge. I'll probably see what I can do with my regular guitar slide. I would like to cover some more recent Bad Religion songs. I know the guitar parts (minus the leads) and the three-part-harmonies for "Who We Are" which is a B-side from Punk-O-Rama 8, but no way can I simulate Brooks Wackerman's drums with MIDI. He's too nuts :p (I wish Sonoma would come out with a Brook's Wackerman pack for KitCore. I would love to have some of his rhythms and fills.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top