Vallhagen - Catch me

Hello folks:)

I just uploaded a new one on my myspace page;
www.myspace.com/vallhagen ("Catch Me", fist song in the Myspace player)

Direct link, download or play in your browser (a bit better quality than myspace) here:
http://bengt.vallhagen.googlepages.com/CatchMeBeng2.mp3

This song is actually a cover, originally written by swedish upcoming band Korea (also on myspace). The singer in Korea arranged a song-cover-contest for this one, which is an older tune that doesnt fully fit Korea's actual repertoire. And well.. i won the contest..

As the original is a lightweight poptune, i took the harmonies and lyrics and ran through my machinery and made it a bit more dynamic and heavy (even though, the word "heavy" maybe doesn't really fit here).

I hope you enjoy! All comments are welcome :)

***

All recorded and mixed in Sonar 6 PE.


cheers
/Bengt
Sweden

**

Edit: Put up a direct link to the song.

Lots of great rhythms, lots of hooks. I like the vocal layering. Thanks - I enjoyed it!

Love the bass on this! Very good voice! Great use of dynamics here. Very, very good song. This is well composed. Wow, wow, wow!! Reminds me of Bowie. Eclectic.. I can tell a lot of sweat went into the making of this...

well done i can tell why you won, also checked out korea they`re really cool too.

Excellent vocals and harmonies. The changes in dynamics make it very interesting. Love the guitars, the quiet ones and the loud distorted ones. Well balanced mix. Very good work, fellas, I look forward to more.
Mark

just had another listen...damn catchy!!! what are you running you're guitars thru?

Sean.

Outstanding - arrangement & production - very pro in every respect.

ORIGINAL: Vallhagen

ORIGINAL: Ironsack

Outstanding - arrangement & production - very pro in every respect.

Thanx indeed!

I can handle that kind of "positive critics" too :)


cheers
Bengt
Sweden

LOL...i bet you can. Try giving it sometime.

This is fantastic. I didn't like the intro to the song, but everything else is great. The bass guitar is freaking awesome. The drums are recorded and mixed real nice. The whole thing is pretty amazing.

ORIGINAL: No How


LOL...i bet you can. Try giving it sometime.

I read you... ... I know that this (kind of) forum is sort of "give and take" about songs and productions, and I havent been very much active. I will try to do better. Thanx for your post, I take it as a hint hint...!

Cheers!

ORIGINAL: picklebunker

Nice and hooky. great guits. very deep rich vocals. What mic are you using for vox?

al

Thanx al :) . My "bedroom studio" is pretty much a lowbudget place, nothing extremely expensive or fancy. The mic is a MXL V67G fed through a Studio Projects VTB1 mic preamp. On almost all of my vocals i use the Blockfish compressor, which is really a great - pretty well-known(?) - little free plugin (www.digitalfishphones.com ). Then richness is often overdubs and more overdubs... On "Catch me" i use up to 8 vocal tracks in the ref, while the start of the verses is just a single voice. A little bit of this and a little bit of that :).

ORIGINAL: egervari

This is fantastic. I didn't like the intro to the song, but everything else is great. The bass guitar is freaking awesome. The drums are recorded and mixed real nice. The whole thing is pretty amazing.

Thank you very much egervari! The drums on this one are the (1st generation) DFH.

Cheers guys!

...and happy new year!

ORIGINAL: SongCraft

and the guy obviously thinks it's OK to ignore anyone who goes out of their way to listen to his song (several times) to give an good honest and respectful reply.

Hello SongCraft. I am sorry. I actually did miss your earlier post when i wrote my last response. We posted them about the same minute. I have no intention at all to act ignorant. I truly appreciate your time spent listnening to my song, and your comment.

Of course i shouldn't missed your post in the first place. I apologise for being late with my response, my bad.

ORIGINAL: SongCraft

Great song, excellent arrangements along with dynamics, rhythm accents adds a lot of character, in one part it does seem a little too choppy with the accents but again it certainly adds a ton of character. The change to the chorus kicks it up a notch.

Your lead vocal is spot on and sounds superb, good harmonies, in fact all performances are outstanding.

Thanx for that, SongCraft. Very nice to read that you like what you hear! And again; Thanx for your time

Cheers and happy new year!

/Bengt
Sweden

This was a cover song? You did a really good job. Production wise it's beyond me, so I can't add any crits.

Nice clean recording/mix, I hadn't heard the original cover, but I like it. I like the use of dynamics, very nice. The song breaths, there are quiet parts, and loud parts, but the vocals seem to sit perfectly regardless, I'm still trying to learn that trick.

WOW, that is a great tune. Love the bass line and your vox sounds killer. Great sounding mix and very well performed. KUDOS!

LATER

ORIGINAL: robby

Nice clean recording/mix, I hadn't heard the original cover, but I like it. I like the use of dynamics, very nice. The song breaths, there are quiet parts, and loud parts, but the vocals seem to sit perfectly regardless, I'm still trying to learn that trick.

Thanx Robby:) . I guess the basic trick is overdubs (and more overdubs) when goin from soft to loud. At least i work that way. And i do separate takes for (soft) verses and (heavier/more fat) refs, and keep them on separate tracks. Try to dub 4-10 times (different pan for each take) and see what happens. More is more ;) . I dont use very much effect plugins; compressor, EQ, delay and reverb, and distortion on some parts.

ORIGINAL: Mamabear

Wow! Very well done! Great dynamics and great voice. Great tune--I enjoyed that!

Thanx Mamabear :) I am really happy that u enjoy what you hear!

ORIGINAL: drumstixkev

WOW, that is a great tune. Love the bass line and your vox sounds killer. Great sounding mix and very well performed. KUDOS!

LATER

Thank you too kev! Lots of positive things said in this thread about the song (where is the "blushing" smiley??? ) , and i cant help gettin that "special happy feeling" when i get strong compliments about my voice. Thanx.

ORIGINAL: Taylor_514C

Excellent performance and production - especially on vox. Lots of fullness and energy to this mix. +1 on the bass, it sounds great.

Your vox reminded me of Edwyn Collins, a singer I like a lot.

I don't now the original version of this, but it's a cool tune, your version of it anyway.

Hi Taylor! Thanx for your time and nice response. I have to check out Edwyn Collins, never heard of.

***

And it is actually no surprise that you guys havent heard the original. Korea just released their debut album, and "Catch me" is an older demo song, that never hit the stores (i'm not even sure if its out on the Internet somewhere, due to copyright reasons i guess i can't put it up on my server).

Cheers!