Hey folks. I did a rock cover of a song by The Who. I'm playing everything. Please check it out.

The song is called "The Kids Are Alright".

I'm doing the singing, all guitars, bass, and drums as well as the recording, mixing, and mastering.

I don't know if this is good or not, but I sure did put a lot of work into it. Check it out and let me know what you like or don't like about it.

I personally think the vocals might be the weakest link. The mix might be alright.



The original song (1965):



For the ones who like technical info, here is some:

The key is in D major with an accidental (C) in there.

My DAW to record with is Sonar 8.5.

There are 7 guitars that have all been layered. We have 2 acoustic (left and right, all played separately), 2 clean guitars (L&R) that are coating the acoustic guitars. Then, 2 distorted guitars (L&R, which come in later), and finally a heavily distorted guitar in dropped D tuning that comes in at the choruses but stays at the end. All other guitars are tuned to standard (E).

The electric guitar I'm using is low end ESP that I bought on Craigslist a few years ago. I changed the stock bridge pickup to an EMG 81.

The acoustic guitar I used was given to me by a very good friend recently. It's an electric-acoustic Gibson Epiphone. Awesome guitar.

The Bass I used is an awesome Tobias 5 string that I am still paying off from a friend.

For the drums, I used Battery 3.0. I meshed out the drums by playing on an electric set for a few weeks at my friends house until I got something I wanted. I then used the MIDI data from the kit and threw it in to the DAW. I'm very happy with the result. Of course some timing issues were fixed, and I changed the trigger samples to a better sound kit; but it's still me playing. I just don't live in a place where I can have an acoustic drum set.

As far as vocals, my friend let me use his Blue Cactus, which is a tube condenser microphone. I think he said it costs about $3,000. I really wanted to use a Neumann U87, but he didn't have one.

Regardless, I'm happy so far with the mix. I just think the vocals might be weak (I was never fond of my own vocals). I also believe I should add some vocal harmonies to the second to last pre-chorus as well as some lead guitar doodles at some spots. I don't know - I'm kind of at a loss of where to go from here.

Anyways, I really hope you guys like it, and if not, please give me some pointers. If you did enjoy it and want a higher quality version (.WAV, .MP3, .FLAC, etc.), just ask and I'll send it to you.




Please listen to this version of the song instead. I fixed many issues. One of them was that the guitars were a little out of tune. That problem was taken care of - thanks to an awesome program called "Melodyne Editor".

I also raised the levels of the bass guitar, lowered the levels of my vocals, lowered the amount of pitch correction on my vocals, and increased the low end of the kick drum.
I think it sounds so much better.

Good job! I love your voice! Do you have any originals?

a reply to: Night Star

Thanks! I do. This one is dark. Recorded a few years ago. Might be bland:



And here is another cover I did of "Losing My Religion" by REM. It's a punk cover. This was recorded 5 years ago - wow.

Oh...my...God! I just started listening to your original and LOVING it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, going back to hear the whole thing now. WOW! Most impressive!!!!!

originally posted by: impaired
a reply to: Night Star

Thanks! I do. This one is dark. Recorded a few years ago. Might be bland:

And here is another cover I did of "Losing My Religion" by REM. It's a punk cover. This was recorded 5 years ago - wow.

That first track sounded great man! I haven't listened to the second yet.

a reply to: Night Star

Thanks again. I just heard that original one for the first time in years and it elicited a lot of feelings I've buried a while ago. It really is a deep song and it shows where I was at the time. :/

a reply to: impaired

I love all your stuff! Your original is great! Now you're doing all this stuff by yourself? Dude, you need a band and need to play out and share this! Really!

a reply to: impaired

Honestly, you have a good voice. Don't sweat that.

The mix and playing is good, but perhaps too 'perfect' which takes out some of the 'edginess' and makes it sound more pop than rock.

Also, I realize that the YouTube video format compresses audio a fair bit, so it may not be fair to pick on you about it, but less compression would make a 'more live' feel. You could still have the same compression and it wouldn't be as noticeable if you arranged the instruments to 'feature' different phrases through the piece (imagine each instrument taking turns to 'solo' with accompaniment rather than a wash of balanced sounds).

Still, it's very impressive and definitely better than anything I have done.

BTW, I can also hear the accent difference between you and Daltry. As a New Zealander (who has a different accent to both) I probably notice it more than most.

a reply to: jackjoedoe

Your original is really good!

Stop doing covers and do some more.

a reply to: Night Star

Well, the reason I am a one man band is because it just never worked out having a full band. Scheduling conflicts, deaths (my old best friend and lead singer was awesome, but he ended his own life a few years ago). Also the fact that I've always wanted to sound a certain way and do things on my own (I am a control freak with this), and others weren't cool with it and/or wanted to do their own things. Ego clashes; the whole nine. From the beginning, it was to be a story about me. But I can understand others wanting to work together and be a real band. It just never worked out for me like that.

Plus, I love computers and always have. Nowadays, you can do a lot with a decent computer and a bunch of instruments.

Also, I'm 35, so I've had a lot of time to work on this.

I first started recording in like 1997 or 1998 when I was 17 or 18. The recordings were mono and were terrible, but I was amazed that I could (hehe) play with myself and record it.

As time went on, I learned new things. I never went to school or had lessons musically or engineering-wise. I just looked things up and asked people.

Now, I have a crapload of awesome plugins (effects like compressors, limiters, delay, reverb, etc.), a few instruments and a decent amount of know-how that I've accumulated throughout the years. If you listen closely, you can see the evolution of my recording and mixing skills throughout the years.

So that's really the gist of it. I work on and record a song or two every few years. I have more songs that might be good, but I can't be loud where I live so I'm very constrained in what I can do most of the time.

I hope to make of video of The Who cover song I did. It would be me playing everything and everything would be composited together looking like a full band (just like the Outkast "Hey Ya" video). All I need is a green screen, a few cameras (still working on that), and some time at a rehearsal studio and I might be able to pull this off. I've always wanted to do something like that. It would be awesome.

Each character/band member (all me) would be dressed differently and have their own personalities - emulating the guys in The Who. I hope I can pull it off!

And so, that is my story of Lifelong Lesson.

a reply to: chr0naut

Thanks for the input.

You should hear it in 24 bit at 48khz.

I have it to send if you want. I also have a 320 kbps .MP3 as well.

a reply to: chr0naut

I have this one I've been itching to get out, but I have to work on the vocals for the chorus.

I just can't be loud where I'm at, and I need to get loud. One of these days I'll get on that.

There are also some more of my originals (not all of them, though) on Youtube. You can find them if you look up my videos, but I don't want to post them here because I'm not that confident with them. They were recorded probably in 2008 and 2009 and the mixes aren't too good in my opinion. I've come a long way since then.

There's also a 311 cover there (Eons) which came out somewhat decent.

i was ready to go to bed when i discovered this thread.
i was rocking!! the Who cover was really good.
would like to hear more "force" or throat in your singing though.
a little gravel once in a while is good.
just my opinion though..great job!! im going to listen again.

a reply to: impaired Excellent cover. Wow!

listened to your music yet again..i cant imagine the work it takes to pull this off.
Paul Mccartney used to do this in his younger days..i was amazed then, im amazed by you now.
thank you

a reply to: autopat51

Thanks. Yeah. The work was grueling. Many, many hours over the past few weeks. It's a lot to do.

a reply to: impaired

I couldn't play an instrument or read music to save my life
I do know what I like to listen to though, I like listening to your music

Well done, seriously well done, keep it up and I hope you get to where you want to be.

a reply to: impaired

I adore your voice! These are really great!

On The Kids are All Right and Losing my Religion, I thought your vocals should have been a little louder as compared to the music. It seemed they are lost in the music. I had never heard the other song, but it's very good. You're talented, for sure! Thanks for sharing these.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Thanks! This is the input I also need as well. I will raise the levels of the vocals. I have a lot of automation data going on (knobs moving by themselves because of what I set, etc.). But I will fix that.

Thanks again for listening!

a reply to: impaired

I have been around musicians my whole life and completely understand the problems that go along with egos and what-not. I am very sorry to hear about your best friend and how he ended his life. So tragic. Perhaps a tribute song to him and friendship would be nice to do?

Please keep us posted of any new material. You have made yourself some fans here.