Don't Let Me Down - Beatles cover

[paulman]

Finally got something done. It's only been since January. This should have taken a weekend, but it took about a month thanks to the annoying need to work and sleep. I have so many other more important recordings to work on, original stuff, and so little time. But for some reason I chose to do this. Oh well. It was fun. The guitar solo at the end uses my new Karma Suture fuzz pedal, which is what I ended up buying when I started out looking for a Fuzz Face-type pedal (which the Karma Suture is not). I also put echo first in the pedal chain, which is new for me. Between that, the fuzz pedal, and Muttley's pickups, it makes for a real screamer.

Don't Let Me Down master.mp3

[Lt. Bob]

I'm not sure where this modern thing of "oh it's just a cover" came from ..... I hate it as there is no difference between doing a recording of an original or a 'cover' as the point is to do a good job regardless plus no one EVER said to Frank Sinatra or any of the other jazz/pop greats that they were only doing covers.

Ok .... that out of the way I gotta gush over this ..... it's so well done and the singing is just perfect.
It's excellent all the way around .... great playing and sound and the high point has to be the vox ....... I'm very impressed.

Aren't you close enough to me that I could get up there to play with ya' sometime?

[rayc]

This demonstrates how the "stage" stereo image works for Beatles stuff. Pity the WHITE album remix couldn't have tried it - it may have been my one Beatles purchase.
Nice version...the guitars crunch well.

[paulman]

I'm not sure where this modern thing of "oh it's just a cover" came from ..... I hate it as there is no difference between doing a recording of an original or a 'cover' as the point is to do a good job regardless plus no one EVER said to Frank Sinatra or any of the other jazz/pop greats that they were only doing covers.

Ok .... that out of the way I gotta gush over this ..... it's so well done and the singing is just perfect.
It's excellent all the way around .... great playing and sound and the high point has to be the vox ....... I'm very impressed.

Aren't you close enough to me that I could get up there to play with ya' sometime?

Oh, don't get me wrong. I love covers, and I plan on putting out some of the ones I've done along with my originals. But I have an agenda of stuff to record, including covers I plan on putting on albums, and this just came out of left field. But it was a good study on guitar tone, as I worked on the subtleties of boost, fuzz, and the volume knob on the guitar to get different flavors of crunch.

Thanks for the comments Lt. Bob! Yep, we're close. I know we were talking about getting together a couple of years ago, then covid hit and everybody forgot about going anywhere for a while. I'd love to meet up sometime. I'm trying desperately to work things out so I have more time for music and, well, anything else in life other than working and sleeping.

[paulman]

This demonstrates how the "stage" stereo image works for Beatles stuff. Pity the WHITE album remix couldn't have tried it - it may have been my one Beatles purchase.
Nice version...the guitars crunch well.

Thanks Ray! I'm not sure if I've heard the specific White Album remix you're talking about, I think they've redone every album several times. I just checked out the new Revolver remix yesterday on my studio monitors. Sounds really good. They used the audio technology that they used in the Get Back documentary, separating the tracks (I guess they were all bounced) so that they could mix them from scratch. I think Revolver is the first remix they used this technology for, if I'm not mistaken?

[Lt. Bob]

This demonstrates how the "stage" stereo image works for Beatles stuff. Pity the WHITE album remix couldn't have tried it - it may have been my one Beatles purchase.
Nice version...the guitars crunch well.

Thanks Ray! I'm not sure if I've heard the specific White Album remix you're talking about, I think they've redone every album several times. I just checked out the new Revolver remix yesterday on my studio monitors. Sounds really good. They used the audio technology that they used in the Get Back documentary, separating the tracks (I guess they were all bounced) so that they could mix them from scratch. I think Revolver is the first remix they used this technology for, if I'm not mistaken?

I know the Sgt. Peppers remix they did a couple of years back was almost a revelation .... like a layer of murk was removed ..... it was amazing.

The Abbey Road remix was improved but the Beatles were using better stuff by then and were better in the studio so their recordings didn't have as much room to get better.

The White Album ( I have the LP box set ) is also better but not as relevatory as Sgt Peppers.

Revolver is even before Sgt Peppers so I'm betting ( and reviews have said so ) that it's a pretty great improvement .... I'ma gettin' the super deluxe version.

[paulman]

Revolver is even before Sgt Peppers so I'm betting ( and reviews have said so ) that it's a pretty great improvement .... I'ma gettin' the super deluxe version.

Nice! I just listened on Apple Music. One of these days I'll put together a good home stereo system so I have a reason to buy physical albums again, especially audiophile stuff like the Beatles reissues. It saddens me that society has moved away from quality audio and just completely embraced mp3s/streaming/shitty bluetooth speakers as the way we listen to music.

[TripleM]

Excellent performances - of everything. That's especially true of the vocals.

Guitars sound excellent.

The snare sounds a little thin - at least at times. Kick could use some attack and some low mids cut I think.

The bass gets boomy and loud on certain notes. It's a bit low-end heavy.

I like the "almost feedback" at the very end.

[Lt. Bob]

Revolver is even before Sgt Peppers so I'm betting ( and reviews have said so ) that it's a pretty great improvement .... I'ma gettin' the super deluxe version.

Nice! I just listened on Apple Music. One of these days I'll put together a good home stereo system so I have a reason to buy physical albums again, especially audiophile stuff like the Beatles reissues. It saddens me that society has moved away from quality audio and just completely embraced mp3s/streaming/shitty bluetooth speakers as the way we listen to music.

well I haven't .... there's never been so much as a day that I didn't have a good home stereo ..... I've never listened to Apple Music and have never streamed .... well, I will put on a music channel from my cable when I'm house cleaning but that's it.

I have 6000+ LPs though so I kinda have to listen to full quality, otherwise I'm stupid for having them.

If I die, better get over here ..... wifey'll want them gone

[Mr Clean]

Very nice cover, faithful to the original and a little bit personal at the same time. Sounds great to me. Solo at the end could come up a notch but not a deal breaker.

Really enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing.

[Manslick]

Well now.
This sounds fantastic.
Miss the keyboard part but, yeah even without that it works.
Solo is reminiscent of Iron Butterfly. Love it.

[Greg_L]

I've never heard this song in my life so if it's Beatles it's lost on me.

The bass seems very boomy and kind of overriding the kick drum. Maybe that's a Beatles thing, I don't know. The guitars and vocals sound great but combined with the bass guitar they've all conspired to pretty much bury the drums. The snare seems okay, but I'd work on tightening up the lows and low-mids to get some definition in the bass and kick.

[vomitHatSteve]

I like that moving background guitar in the second verse a lot. Cool tone there

Overall, the mix is very bassy, especially for a Beatles song.

Solo sounds good, but it is overwhelming everything when it comes in.

[paulman]

Thanks guys! I need to study bass tone like I have with guitar tone. I always fuck around too much with bass in the mix, I need to get it right at the source. I want the bass to stick out in this, but without the boom. As far as the drums, well, I could easily make them stick out more but my performance is better off partially obscured. I've been having an existential crisis when it comes to playing all the parts myself when I record. I've come to realize how much better I play drums when I play with people, as opposed to a robot click. So I'm trying to figure out how to lay down tracks in a more organic way. This drum performance is the sound of that journey in progress. :-) It's all one take, no edits, and it may or may not be one of the takes I did without a click. In any case, it's not my best work so I don't mind it being covered up a little more than usual.

The guitar solo is something that shouldn't have been an issue, if I hadn't deviated from my usual method of miking my cabinet. I usually use both a ribbon mic and an SM57. The ribbon mic gets the best of the sound, and I can mix in the 57 for presence and bite. I did this for both of the other guitars on this recording. Well, on the solo I thought the Karma Suture pedal gave it enough bite that I didn't need the 57. I was wrong. It sounds too roomy, and I can't really seem to fix it. Not the worst thing, but I won't make that mistake again.

[CrowsofFritz]

You need more mids in the bass. I can record a bass to this and you can A/B it if you want. I’ve gotten REALLY close to McCartney’s tone. I used to thing it was all low end and thud but I realized it’s a lot of mids and just lack of high end.

Great vocals!

[musicturtle]

Very nice @paulman

I agree with the bass tweeks the others are mentioning, but just a great listen all around.

[rayc]

[quote=paulman post_id=110154 time=1667861762 user_id=69

Thanks Ray! I'm not sure if I've heard the specific White Album remix you're talking about...
[/quote]It the Giles Martin remix

Here's an example of what I mean... the bass is left of centre though the bottom end may have been bass managed to centre...the snare is to the right sometimes etc.
A wasted opportunity...

[Greg_L]

I've been having an existential crisis when it comes to playing all the parts myself when I record. I've come to realize how much better I play drums when I play with people, as opposed to a robot click.

It is much easier when you are the click.

And you are far from the only person that feels that way. But click tracks don't need to be restraining or robotic. They're just a guide. What you need to do...*puts on hypocrite hat*...is practice. In my own experience from decades of drumming with click tracks, and pretty much any drummer I've ever recorded, what happens is the click disappears when you lock in. You don't hear it anymore. You can still meander around and play with feel or whatever, but if you get too far off the click pops back in to remind you to get back in line. This is a good thing for pretty much all pop, rock, blues, country, whatever. The steady beat is what drives a song. With practice you get used to the click, you become the click, and your drumming gets way better, and easier, because of it.

[paulman]

You need more mids in the bass. I can record a bass to this and you can A/B it if you want. I’ve gotten REALLY close to McCartney’s tone. I used to thing it was all low end and thud but I realized it’s a lot of mids and just lack of high end.

Thanks for that advice, I'll try that. Not necessarily trying to imitate McCartney's tone any more than I did with the guitar tones, but getting something close to him on my very un-McCartney bass setup would probably be just what it needs.

[paulman]

I've been having an existential crisis when it comes to playing all the parts myself when I record. I've come to realize how much better I play drums when I play with people, as opposed to a robot click.

It is much easier when you are the click.

And you are far from the only person that feels that way. But click tracks don't need to be restraining or robotic. They're just a guide. What you need to do...*puts on hypocrite hat*...is practice. In my own experience from decades of drumming with click tracks, and pretty much any drummer I've ever recorded, what happens is the click disappears when you lock in. You don't hear it anymore. You can still meander around and play with feel or whatever, but if you get too far off the click pops back in to remind you to get back in line. This is a good thing for pretty much all pop, rock, blues, country, whatever. The steady beat is what drives a song. With practice you get used to the click, you become the click, and your drumming gets way better, and easier, because of it.

Yeah, I definitely need to practice more. I go through spurts. I consider myself a good drummer for a guitarist, but I have a lot of work to do on basic technique. My sticking is inconsistent. I didn't play drums in high school band or anything, so I never had rudiments beat into me. I just practice them sporadically.

Thanks for the pep talk Greg. You're a lot nicer than my Navy chief guitar teacher was when it came to getting me to practice.