kevmsmith81
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Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJQ6ptSBouQ This is one I originally recorded before I was a Sonar user, however I have redone the mix in Sonar, using different reverbs etc to what I had used originally and I like how the new mix has turned out. I know it is quite reverb heavy, but that is the sound I was going for. Let me all know what you think!
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jimfogle
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/16 18:58:57
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The vocal tracks were very well performed. You have a good ear for matching the harmonies. I think the reverb and your mix are fine. For sure much better than I could have done.
I do think all the verses sound too much the same because the backing tracks do not vary throughout the song. Adding something simple like different percussion parts for each verse (like a tamborine or shaker) might add interest.
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kevmsmith81
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/16 19:55:22
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jimfogle
The vocal tracks were very well performed. You have a good ear for matching the harmonies. I think the reverb and your mix are fine. For sure much better than I could have done.
I do think all the verses sound too much the same because the backing tracks do not vary throughout the song. Adding something simple like different percussion parts for each verse (like a tamborine or shaker) might add interest.
Thanks for the feedback. It will be probably be tricky to add anything to this which requires soft synths, purely because when I recorded this originally I did it all by feel and didn't follow a metronome at all, so I don't know exactly what tempo it is (and it probably changes slightly over the course of the song!). But I do appreciate the feedback and thank you for the kind words. 
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Wookiee
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/17 08:52:14
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Hi Kevin not a bad cover the guitar is very good and as noted the vocal and harmonies work quite well. There is just a little thing that just takes the edge off it for me. I do not usually make many comments about vocals as it is known how dangerous it is for none humans to hear Wookiee singing, but your vocal could do with a tad more emotion, it is an emotional song.
All in not a bad cover and the guitar work is well captured along with the vocal's, thanks for sharing.
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bitflipper
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/17 10:51:42
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Cool. You not only got the harmonies and phrasing right (it'd be tempting to elaborate on the original) and you even duplicated the reverb. Don't be afraid to flesh it out with some synths, percussion or orchestration. The picked guitar should work to generate a tempo map using AudioSnap, and then you'd have a framework for layering synths and sample libraries.
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bapu
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/17 11:37:28
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Others have said what is necessary to improve the overall presentation.
Great start though.
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Lynn
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/19 14:12:53
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Don't worry about the tempo or MIDI timing, play it by ear. Great vocals, but as stated above, no variation from verse to verse. Doing covers are tricky; imo, you either have to copy it very well, or own it yourself ( like Hendrix's cover of ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER). This kinda falls in between.
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Alex Elzer
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/19 15:15:44
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Nice. I love the guitar sound. So bright and crisp.
Thanks for sharing
Alex von Elzer Dark music (www.secretdemo.nl)
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Leadfoot
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/20 21:32:41
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I agree with the other suggestions for improvement. Your harmonies sound very nice, though. I enjoyed listening.
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Mesh
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 10:43:20
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Very nice Kevin, I enjoyed it very much and was quite clean/clear via headphones. I also agree with the others on adding a little percussion will improve on an already well done project.
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kevmsmith81
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 11:23:27
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bitflipper
Cool. You not only got the harmonies and phrasing right (it'd be tempting to elaborate on the original) and you even duplicated the reverb. Don't be afraid to flesh it out with some synths, percussion or orchestration. The picked guitar should work to generate a tempo map using AudioSnap, and then you'd have a framework for layering synths and sample libraries.
Would you be able to share how this might work? Or indeed if it would work if the tempo does vary? As I said, I didn't follow a metronome when recording this originally so it is very likely the tempo isn't constant throughout the recording. Just that I don't have a hardware midi input I can use, so it may be tricky to do. But I am willing to incorporate some extra elements into the recording if I can make it work. Thanks all for the kind words. Getting the harmonies as right as they are (and I know they're still not perfect) took more takes than I care to remember! Quite a few of the recorded tracks ended up with me swearing loudly when I hit a complete bum note.
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kevmsmith81
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 11:30:17
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Alex von Elzer
Nice. I love the guitar sound. So bright and crisp.
Thanks for sharing
The guitar sound was produced through my old Zoom effects pedal using my favourite clean preset I've set up on it, with further reverb added through a plugin on Sonar and some EQ done on it. It definitely sounds nicer than the original mix I uploaded. I think the EQ took some harshness off of the audio, and I prefer the reverb I've used for it on Sonar (this was recorded in Studio One before I'd started with Sonar, but the mix I've uploaded was done by importing the tracks into Sonar).
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philz
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 14:53:47
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Very nice job, but I missed the drums.
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bapu
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 15:11:20
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philz
Very nice job, but I missed the drums.
So did everyone else 
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Rimshot
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 20:10:06
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Nicely sung. I really like your voice. Harmonies are good. Guitar is pleasant and clean. Like others, would like more instrumentation.
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Bert Guy
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/21 23:56:33
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Kevin, This reminds me of the original version of SOS on the first S&G album Wed Morning @ 3 AM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4Its a similar arrangement. S&G solve the problem of pauci-variation mentioned above by picking up the tempo (slightly) with the 2nd verse and switching from an arpeggiated part to a chordal strummed rhythm part. Interesting, considering the suggestions above, this first version of SOS is the basis of the more familiar version as the producer Tom Wilson in June 1965 took the original version of SOS and added electric GTR, bass, and drums - without telling S&G about it. The Byrd's had had a #1 hit the month before with the 1st folk-rock smash Mr Tambourine Man (which Wilson apparently wanted to knock off), and S&G got a big hit as well. Your version has some great vocals. I wish I could do that. Cheers, Bert
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kevmsmith81
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Re: Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
2015/05/22 08:25:34
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Bert Guy
Kevin,
This reminds me of the original version of SOS on the first S&G album Wed Morning @ 3 AM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4
Its a similar arrangement. S&G solve the problem of pauci-variation mentioned above by picking up the tempo (slightly) with the 2nd verse and switching from an arpeggiated part to a chordal strummed rhythm part. Interesting, considering the suggestions above, this first version of SOS is the basis of the more familiar version as the producer Tom Wilson in June 1965 took the original version of SOS and added electric GTR, bass, and drums - without telling S&G about it. The Byrd's had had a #1 hit the month before with the 1st folk-rock smash Mr Tambourine Man (which Wilson apparently wanted to knock off), and S&G got a big hit as well.
Your version has some great vocals. I wish I could do that.
Cheers,
Bert
Thanks for the comments. My own version was inspired more by the original version as that's the version I prefer - in the later version, there's a lot of distortion on the electric instruments which detracts from the beauty of the song, in my opinion. But I am going to see if I can add anything else to the track, using tempo maps etc. I don't have any hardware synths so I will be relying entirely on Sonar being able to map the tempo accurately, as I didn't use any form of metronome or tempo guide when recording this. I suppose if nothing else, I could add some extra guitar work and see if that fits at all.
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