Overkill - Men at Work

[ronws]

Normally, I don't make excuses. However, I like a "day in the life." How does any of us approach a cover, even one we are familiar with?

I have posted some songs where, without telling any one, it was the first and only take, cold shot, right out of the gate. And others, a few different recording sessions with several attempts in each one. Sometimes due to environmental noise popping in, or I foul up a chord change, or lose my place in the lyrics.

I know, we are suppose to present the "A game." And we will eventually. If anything, a testament to how much work, whether in recording, or in arrangement, one can expect to make in doing a song.

This is not the first recording. The first, I thought was fun because I was still searching for the vocal line I wanted to use. And not worrying about environment. You could hear my wife in the background putting something in the microwave to be "nuked."

This second one took two sessions. The first session of several recordings yielded iffy results. The second session, I had the vocal line I was looking for and even channeled some of the style of the original singer. And I mixed the results with more of an eye for a balance of the whole recording, rather than vocal-heavy, which is easy for us singers to do. The one thing that bothers me is the sibilance in this recording. But I aim to re-do it. And I was play with different ways of recording parts. The guitar and singing is with the zoom h1 and my acoustic. The solo is my Flying V jacked directly into the interface with some post-recording reverb added.

https://app.box.com/s/zy1rxny2xpv1gsys1ujt

[Keith]

I like that you are doing songs that go low lol. I would like to hear what it sounds like if you just say the lyrics to this song in your normal voice. As with Owens latest post, it sounds like the both of you are leveraging your tongue to the point of losing some pronunciation. I may be wrong, of course - I usually am! Other than that, I thought is was great for a practice run. Lots of feeling, and very little noticeable pitch flaws. You playing and singing at the same time, or did you sing over your guitar track?

[ronws]

Playing and singing at the same time. The guitar solo with the Flying V is overdubbed.

I am intrigued by just reciting the lyrics with my speaking voice, per your request.

[Keith]

Playing and singing at the same time. The guitar solo with the Flying V is overdubbed.

I am intrigued by just reciting the lyrics with my speaking voice, per your request.

I asked about that because I want to hear your pronunciation of all the words while not singing. lol. I know, may sound like an odd request.

[gno]

Sounds nice. I like that song. I thought you had Cubase where you could record guitar and vocals separately?

[slstone]

I posted elsewhere. Cheapy redneck pop/sibilant filter.

Go to walmart. go to craft section. grab needlepoint hoop(4 to 5 incher). head to ladies apparel grab thing of pantyhose. go to register and pay for goodies. head home. once home, drill a hole on both sides of outer hoop. place panty hose over inner hoop. insert hose through holes of outer hoop. pull tight and tie ends. attach bottom of hoop to mic holder and place on mic stand in front of microphone. total cost less than $5. works great.

There. I helped again....

[MDEW]

Sounded good Ronws. Right now this may seem a little low for your voice but the more you sing it the more your voice will settle into it. Keep this in your set list.

[ronws]

I think the problem is my teeth, at least the ones I have left.

Here you go, Keith.

https://app.box.com/s/7oax23z538bot6at7lho

[Keith]

Perfect! That's what I expected. You can enunciate all the words just fine. Also, I am missing a few teeth myself lol.

[ronws]

Perfect! That's what I expected. You can enunciate all the words just fine. Also, I am missing a few teeth myself lol.

I just paid off the wife's car and I have a house insurance bill of about $1k coming up. Maybe after that, I can buy some new teeth.

[Gneetapp]

Hey ronws, I really liked your tone (timber?). I think you should record the guitar first and then record the vocals, cause it seems that you are getting confused between the playing guitar and the singing/pronunciation, and losing track of time/timing. I enjoyed the second part better. Also, I was wondering if you used a pinch of twang here and there on the lower notes if it would sound too heavy or just the perfect balance. I liked overall for a practice, but really think you should record tracks in separate to sound your best. Keep on Rocking! :cool:

[ronws]

Hey ronws, I really liked your tone (timber?). I think you should record the guitar first and then record the vocals, cause it seems that you are getting confused between the playing guitar and the singing/pronunciation, and losing track of time/timing. I enjoyed the second part better. Also, I was wondering if you used a pinch of twang here and there on the lower notes if it would sound too heavy or just the perfect balance. I liked overall for a practice, but really think you should record tracks in separate to sound your best. Keep on Rocking! :cool:

Thanks, Gneetapp. Believe it or not, the plan is to record the tracks separate. Part of my song learning process is to first learn it as a whole song, even if I separate the parts, later.

And thanks for pointing out the timing. I usually do worse on timing with separated tracks, which means I was missing something, here.

As for twang, I wasn't really thinking of that. I was thinking of forward, actually.

[Xamedhi]

It's nice to hear you singing lower. I like your tone a lot on those notes. If you have a bottom, a dead end down there, your timbre doesn't hint that at all. It sounds as if you could go even lower and just sing. You could try to do some heavy TA exercises like the one CunoDante explained in one of the Vocal Technique threads, mate

Also, what mic are you using? It sounds like there is some environmental reverb or something, which doesn't let us hear your voice "dry". I didn't notice any sibilance, btw. I don't use a pop filter so maybe I'm used to it, haha.

[ronws]

Thanks, Xam. These are preliminary run-throughs for purposes of arrangement, learning the tempo of the song. I do have a bottom end to my voice around E2. That is the lowest noise I have ever created, with small volume and below that is just air.

Interesting suggestion. I had to go look and refresh my memory. So, you think this song would be helped by the TA exercise Dante was talking about where you take a note to the loudest you can make and the hardest you can push? Or were you just thinking I could use that, in general?

I usually used to sing quite loud and I've been learning to dial it back, a bit, for greater control. For example, to get that Colin Hayes vibrato, I have to slow down the air and take the load off the larynx.

For my first few practice runs, I am using the Zoom h1 portable recorder.

But for recording separate tracks, I will be using my condenser mic, not a name brand but okay, nevertheless.

[Chavie]

Really liked your singing on this, you had this very nice vibrato on the end of different phrases,

hard to describe but i liked it. You have a different setup this time? Mix is a little different then normal.

[ronws]

Thanks, Chavie. I don't know what happened, I think I pressed the wrong button on the zoom because it usually records more crisply than this.

The vibrato is a very tight vibrato, like that used by Colin Hayes and one of the things I admired him for. And I happen to be able to do it. I don't do it on every song but seems to fit on these songs. And the only way I can describe it is that I cut back on air speed and take the load off the larynx, leaving it flexible to do this.

[David]

Your speaking voice reminds me of Bill Clinton ... ;-)

I think you sound MUCH better singing lower - mid range stuff.. I really don't think your dental situation is the reason, it appears more to be a manipulation of your tongue / jaw, and over emphasis on vowel modifications that causes the pronunciation issues that were mentioned. You only need to alter words / vowels when you sing higher to increase the range / tone and prevent slamming the consonants. When singing lower, you can sing them as you speak them.

Remember to keep your mouth open, drop your tongue and make your tone brighter (especially when singing high -- I find you sound muffled / extremely covered on your high notes in other songs - but you have a great vocal range)..

There is no mistake that you definitely have a lot of range and can reach high in the note scales. Just some simple things to work on, that will make you even better Ron.

[ronws]

Thanks for sticking with me, guys, and thanks, David.

Anyway, so two files to link.

The first one actually precedes the first file in this thread. This first one was my actual first run through the song and I thought it would be fun to share because I was searching for the vocal line I wanted. I was not concerned about "quality" and this is really a day in the life. In the background, you can hear my wife operating the microwave, nuking something, and I forget what it was. Probably a veggie burger. We eat a lot of those.

The second is my earnest attempt at recording this song, using all that I have learned so far about recording and editing.

"overkill - fist run"

https://app.box.com/s/qtrdtft0egyc9yajq2xy

"Overkill" by Colin Hayes

https://app.box.com/s/e5f726fmwzxlk515lhnt