Velvet Underground -- Heroin (Cover)

Sheesh...third cover in here in a row where I've never heard the original. lol

I think I've heard this title before though. The only song of theirs I've really heard all the way through is that one (probably their most popular?) where the colored girls go, do, do-do, do, do, do-do, do...I guess I'm not a fan. I prefer your orginals, which is odd with all of the lou reed comparisons you've gotten lately. Your voice and delivery certainly fits his material!

So, again, I can't compare it to anything, and again, it seems like you're going for a pretty faithful cover, so I can't really help there, but mix-wise it sounds pretty good to me.

I thought the vocal sounded good out front like this. Good job holding that low note in Herrrrrroin!

I didn't really get why the tempo changed so much, but you must be trying to replicate what they did with that.

Maybe I need to do some smack.
 
Tadpui said:
Nice guitar tone and playing. Vocals are too loud to me, with respect to the backing tracks. I like the drums, what are you using?
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Thanks for the feedback, Tad. So it's just a kick and tom sample and I rolled off all the highs (6k and above and the lows at 50hz and below) so it's very dark sounding. The original's drums sound this way imo.

RFR said:
I do think the 'band' needs to come up a bit.
'Lou' is a little loud. :D
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Haha.
Yes, he is! Some people think it works. I guess it's on the cusp? I wasn't really sure but felt it was a bit loud. I have a new mix I'll post shortly where I tried to address that and some of the other stuff.

robgreen said:
It's really cool you took this on nola. It's a great fit for you and I think you've done a fine job.

I agree the vocals could come down a little - they clearly need to be way out in front, but I think they're a little too far even against the original. I'm not crazy on the fizzy guitar that comes in at around 3.55 - I do think it needs to break up to contrast with the clean main part, but it's too much gain.
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Thanks, Rob. I worked on the mix today and turned down the fizzy gain a little bit. Your thoughts on the tempo change were spot on. Even programming it I had to do all the drums, then do a guide vocal over them alone just to better feel the tempo changes while playing the instruments over the vocal, then come back and do a real vocal take.

heatmiser said:
Maybe I need to do some smack.
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I think so! Heat, I used heavy reverb on the vocal!

Thanks, guys, took it all into consideration and tried to fine tune this. I'll post the 2nd mix in an hour or so.
 
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Guys I made some changes in the original post, "latest mix" link.

Changes:

-- raised the drone quite a bit, and the other instruments a little
-- lowered the gain on the distorted guitar
-- lowered the vocal
-- did some vocal riding/automation to match the dynamics better

Please let me know if this is an improvement. Thanks guys.
 
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Finally getting around to listening to this now. Sounds really good. Its a song I know really well too.
I think the driven guitar on the left could come up slightly.
 
JDOD said:
Finally getting around to listening to this now. Sounds really good. Its a song I know really well too.
I think the driven guitar on the left could come up slightly.
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Thanks JDOD appreciate it!
The final mix is up in the OP. Unless there's something seriously wrong with it I'm going to call this one finished.
 
Hey Nola, sorry I missed the remix. It still sounds like the vocal is out there alone. I guess it's a pretty sparse arrangement, so there's not much to bring up. Is there a bass?
 
Robus said:
Hey Nola, sorry I missed the remix. It still sounds like the vocal is out there alone. I guess it's a pretty sparse arrangement, so there's not much to bring up. Is there a bass?
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No problem, Robus.

There isn't any bass in the original, so I didn't add any to this.

I lowered the vocal a lot and brought up the instruments...darn, it still sounds too loud?
 
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Hey Nola, I think the second mix is mostly a good improvement. The vocal sounds at a better level to me now. It's a song that needs the vocal way out in front if you're being faithful to the original - and it still is, but not too much so any more. I also like the distorted guitar a lot more now with the reduced gain - in fact it sounds really good.

The only thing I like less is the drone part in the update. It's just too prominent now and in the sparse sections it sounds like a test tone or something and gets fatiguing/tinnitus inducing pretty quickly. It sounds at an ok level from about 5 minutes on when there's some variation, but too loud for a drone prior to that imo.

Other than that, all sounding good :)
 
robgreen said:
The only thing I like less is the drone part in the update. It's just too prominent now and in the sparse sections it sounds like a test tone or something and gets fatiguing/tinnitus inducing pretty quickly. It sounds at an ok level from about 5 minutes on when there's some variation, but too loud for a drone prior to that imo.
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That's very good to know!
I'll lower it.
That's exactly what I needed to know -- if something was majorly off. I mixed it for a few hours and just couldn't tell anymore.
 
Wow, you're so right, Rob. I lowered it 8db and it's still totally audible during the softer parts. I'm not sure how I missed that. Maybe I got tinnitus? lol.
I'll lower the vocal a db or two as well since there will be less in the mix now.
I'll post the fix shortly.

Edit: I think I give up on this one and will just go with the first mix...lol. Burnt out and just can't hear it correctly anymore.
 
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I haven't heard the original. Maybe that's good because I won't be comparing it to any preconceived ideas of what it should sound like.

I like the clean guitar sound. There are two parts in some of the song, and only one in other parts. When there is only one of the parts playing, the mix gets narrow.

The low end is kind of weak. The kick is kind of soft and doesn't have a huge low end. And there's no bass. So there is not much of anything going on below 90hz or so.
 
Sounds good and pretty authentic Nola. You really do sing like Lou Reed. Was the droning keyboard part on the left so prominent in the original? Guess I need to go back and listen. I can see that you've dropped it from what you had it before. The guitar solo toward the end sits oddly. It's pretty busy and wants to be the center of attention, but is mixed quite low. Anyway, good job. I'll check out the video.

Re the video: Interesting collage of clips. It's well done, though I'm not how it relates to the song.
 
Robus said:
Sounds good and pretty authentic Nola. You really do sing like Lou Reed. Was the droning keyboard part on the left so prominent in the original? Guess I need to go back and listen. I can see that you've dropped it from what you had it before. The guitar solo toward the end sits oddly. It's pretty busy and wants to be the center of attention, but is mixed quite low. Anyway, good job. I'll check out the video.

Re the video: Interesting collage of clips. It's well done, though I'm not how it relates to the song.
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Hey thanks for the feedback, Robus. I'm not sure if the droning was as prominent because I started tinkering with things and lost the original mix in the process. But I do remember people suggested the instruments come up and the vocal go down, and that's what I heard as well, so I tried to make it happen. I like this mix more since the vocal is sitting better.

I can't stand working on video and left that all to my lady. She said the clips don't follow the songs in the literal way (though I guess a few do) but she just liked how they looked with the song.
 
Mix was good, call it done

Video was great. It followed the moody and chaotic nature of the song.

:thumbs up:
 
You suit this very well, you have the vocal down, I bet some of the phrasing must've been difficult.

I had to listen to the original again, I was surprised at how wide it is and I think I prefer yours, its easier on the ears :) great mix:)
 
bruiser1964 said:
You suit this very well, you have the vocal down, I bet some of the phrasing must've been difficult.

I had to listen to the original again, I was surprised at how wide it is and I think I prefer yours, its easier on the ears :) great mix:)
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Hey thanks Bruiser that means a lot to me since I love VU.

The vocal phrasing was actually easy for whatever reason but the mix did give me fits so I'm glad it turned out well.
 
new mix is good. Vid is good. Both are good and that is good too.
Well done Nola - I enjoyed the process as well as the result.
 
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