Hi All,
Inspired by some very good Beatles covers I've heard here over the last year or two I finally worked up the nerve to tackle one of my favorite Beatles songs - A Day In The Life.
 
My goal was to create a version somewhere between "faithful reproduction" and "modern interpretation", so hopefully I'm somewhere near the target.       As always, any comments and suggestions are welcome!
 
https://soundcloud.com/steve-cocchi/a-day-in-the-life-the-beatles-stevec-cover
 
 
Edit:
I just uploaded version two to the same location.
 
Mix changes made per previous suggestions:
- Notched out some boominess on the bass and lowered about 2dB
- Reduced the low mids on the acoustic guitar to remove some of the boxiness/room tone and slightly adjusted the highs
- Remixed the vocal "ahhs" section for better balance
 
Artistic changes:
- Added two shaker parts and really thinned out the hihats
- Replaced most of the acoustic guitar in the first three verses with my own simplified parts
- Sprinkled a bunch of vocal harmonies throughout
 
Thanks!
 

Steve,
 
I'd cut down on the hats and maybe use a smallish shaker instead.
 
The acoustic guitar is kind of cool, but I'd like to hear less room on the mic.
 
Vocals are really well done.
 
Bass could come down a hair, but not too much.
 
Piano and other instruments are spot on.
 
All the best,
Dan

Interesting. Here are my off the cuff reactions:
 
* I'm guessing this was a ton of work to put together. I would never ever attempt it. Kudos, you should be proud of getting through it relatively unscathed! Ambitious indeed.
* I love how the drummer paid homage to what I think is the most underrated part of this song, and what was Ringo's finest hour, and that is that every single fill in the song is different. The drummer approximated them all, and that was fun to hear.
* I would do some back and forth A/B listening to the mix in the verses. Your vocals are great and all the playing is great, but the mix sounds a bit cluttered
* I was a little disappointed that it was most of the way through almost completely faithful to the original, so I found myself wondering why I was listening to it. In general, if someone's going to cover something, especially "sacred" songs like this one, I prefer them to say "hey, what about this?" rather than "here's what they said". This falls mostly into the latter camp for me. Mind you, it was quite a good rendering, but not very far afield. My favorite change from the original was the different way you did the final big chord. Nice idea to make it the whole band instead of just the piano, and to hold it instead of letting it fade. That was a cool idea.
* One bass riff got the notes wrong and that bugged me, because it sounds like a mistake rather than on purpose, and that is the descending pattern in E in the bridge (2:32 under "found my way downstairs" etc.). He plays E, D C#, C, B, and it's E, D#, C#, C, B. Subtle, but I noticed it, and it bugged me.

...in my top 5 Beatles faves too.
Good version - loved the way you went into the 'aaahs' after 'went into a dream'
 
(fnar - I just said that I liked Steve's aaahs)

Dan - thanks!   I did go back and forth on those hi-hats quite a few times since the original mainly uses percussion instead (I think maracas), but in the end I chose the simpler option.  I will try some alternatives though, perhaps some mix of the two...   I'll also have another listen to the acoustic and bass. 
 
Jim - thank you for breakdown!  There was some effort involved putting it all together, but it was a labor of love.  Regarding the drums... I agree 100%!  I've always thought this was a high point for Ringo and for me a memorable part of the song, so I wanted to cop those fills (drums are a mix of two AD2 kits).  Regarding the mix during the verses, that could be the acoustic that Dan pointed out...  For the "artistic" aspect, I intentionally stuck to the verses mostly as-is because that's just the way I heard it.  Now the middle section (Paul's part plus the dreamy ahhs) along with the crescendos, they were a different story...   And I will most certainly look into that bass note!  I pretty much just played it as a standard blues bass riff.  
 
Daryl - thanks!    Yeah, for me it's always been one of those Beatles songs that just transcended its time.  And for some reason is just felt like the right song to do (probably not the last though).   While the verses wanted to be mostly "as-is", that ahhs part was just the opposite and practically screamed to be more literal in reference to the "dream" line that precedes it.  Glad you liked it!

You've definitely captured the sound and spirit Steve! Well done!

Hey Steve, I always believe if your going to go....then go all out....who picks an iconic song like this, and then posts it on the internet?
 
You I guess. 
 
I'm only listening on computer speakers, so take my following comments with a grain of salt.
 
The vocals are buried in verb, but maybe that is how it in is on the original.  Can you sing in a lower register? Maybe use the vox you have as backing, and sing it lower, like that leonard cohen guy
 
Nice effort partner.  I'm thoroughly fired up that you did this.
 
Jesse Q. Screed
 
 
 
 

Thanks, Tony!  I appreciate it.
 
Thanks for the feedback, Jesse.   There's not a lot of verb on the vocals, but the delay is fairly present as in the original version.   While I could sing it an octave lower I'm not sure it would be an improvement.    However, a few harmonies sounds like an interesting idea...
 

Version two uploaded to the same location.  Details are in the OP.   Thanks for the suggestions!

You did great. All performances sound great. Mix was good in my headphones. And modernization was a treat too.
Edited