Beatles cover using APOGEE DUET

[Mr. Liszt]

Just got my Duet today. Finally I can throw out my Tascam US-122. I decided to cover a song by The Beatles "I Will" as a test of the raw sound of the Duet. Never covered a song before. It's fun. I did almost nothing to the audio so I could see what kind of sound I am going to get to work with a a base. Here are the only things that I did:

- adjusted mix levels a bit.
- panning of some tracks.
- reverb on the lead guitars only.
- boosted gain on the output a smidge.
- Limiter.

Nothing else. No compression no EQ no nothing.

Microphones used were:

- pair of Samson CC02s for guitars and percussion.
- SE Electronics 2200a for vocals and bass.

Chain was:

mic > Duet > Logic Pro 8

Tracked the song note for note of the original. I always wanted this song to sound even a little looser than it was but it ended up being a little to loose. Couldn't manage to get much of a tone like Paul today - somedays I can sorta and somedays I can't. I tried to imitate his subtle childlike off-pitchness but I think I went overboard in the first verse.

Tracking was as follows:

1 - 2 rhythm guitar stereo pair
3 - lead guitar
4 - lead guitar overdub I
5 - lead guitar overdub II
6 - lead guitar overdub III
7 - percussion
8 - main vocal
9 - main vocal overdub
10 - harmony vocal
11- bass

I don't know how much of this is the sound of the Duet, how much of it is the mics, how much of it is the performance or how much of it is the material but I guess it sounds not too bad for a pretty much raw tracking session.

I think the Duet will work out I guess.

Here's the link to the song:

http://www.jeromeperry.com/I%20Will.mp3

[George Necola]

will listen to this asap...

from the threadtitle, I thought Apogee was already doin converters in the 60s..

[macleodgrant]

i will have a listen to this too

[macleodgrant]

considering no EQ it's not bad at all

[Audio Hombre]

is there a low vocal in unison with the bass? sounds weird.
overall pretty nice.i love the sound of apogee preamps.underrated.

[Mr. Liszt]

Originally Posted by Audio Hombre

is there a low vocal in unison with the bass? sounds weird.
overall pretty nice.i love the sound of apogee preamps.underrated.

LOL. The 'bass' is the vocal... doom... doom... doom... doom doom etc. Paul did the 'bass' with his mouth for this track off of the White Album.

[Audio Hombre]

Originally Posted by Mr. Liszt

Tracking was as follows:

1 - 2 rhythm guitar stereo pair
3 - lead guitar
4 - lead guitar overdub I
5 - lead guitar overdub II
6 - lead guitar overdub III
7 - percussion
8 - main vocal
9 - main vocal overdub
10 - harmony vocal
11- bass

hence the confusion

[Mr. Liszt]

Originally Posted by Audio Hombre

is there a low vocal in unison with the bass? sounds weird.
overall pretty nice.i love the sound of apogee preamps.underrated.

It's so hard for me to tell for sure but I really feel like the sound is more defined maybe more clear then the Tascam US-122 or the Firepod I had (which died.)

I mean there are some things I would like to try to get a better more fitting sound for this recording but it really doesn't sound half bad for doing nothing other than tracking. I can't recall thinking that to the same extent about any tracks I have done with other preamps.

[chk027]

nice job, love that song.......

Its easy to be picky with a few minor things, but why bother, I thought it was well done...and doing a beatles tune aint easy.....

[Mr. Liszt]

Originally Posted by chk027

nice job, love that song.......

Its easy to be picky with a few minor things, but why bother, I thought it was well done...and doing a beatles tune aint easy.....

Thanks, chk,

I would love to hear the things that you noticed short of things particular to processing. I spent a good deal of time on getting the arrangement right. Anyway, it's all in the interest of getting things right so what'd you notice?

[Kammy J]

Did ya'll use a click track, some of the rhythms are off... but pretty solid. Good voice!

[Mr. Liszt]

No I didn't use a click track.

The first track that I recorded was the rhythm guitar and I recorded while listening to the original in the cans. No click track was used in the original and so I wanted to keep that feel. Since nothing was played live it was a challenge to get everything lined up in performance of the subsequent tracks with the fluctuating tempo. With more time and study of the original track I recorded I would have been able to anticipate the fine tempo variations. But I did not have that much time to commit to it.

Besides, as I said in my first post, I like a really loose feel for this track anyway. But I do say that I went a little too far in spots.

[Factory101]

I used to have a US-122 - a nice starter...the Apogee sounds much better ...really crisp (in a good way) and articulate.

Your vocals and the guitars came off really well - nice 'Beatles character'.

[chk027]

Originally Posted by Mr. Liszt

Thanks, chk,

I would love to hear the things that you noticed short of things particular to processing. I spent a good deal of time on getting the arrangement right. Anyway, it's all in the interest of getting things right so what'd you notice?

Well if you want me to be picky, ok, I find the timing is off in a very minor way in different parts of the song.

As a listener, I want to hear the perfect strum, on the ups and downs fixed on the drum tracks and there are times when it sticks and delays a bit, even slightly in the transition solo's at times.....just very little in the beginning and the middle, but enough to notice.

Just a note I have been listening to that song alot in my beatles rotation so the song is with me when I hear your cut, like I said I think it is done very well....

I have the same problem when I swap out different drum tracks in logic, the strumming fits one beat then you adapt and tweak to something else and it sound off time in some places, I just go back and focus on the back beat and make the guitars rhythm tight. Sometimes I'm lazy and leave it go.......

[scrizly]

yeah the sounds are quite nice.. pleasing and open. The vox sound cool too, but the unsteadiness of the rhythm makes it really hard for me to enjoy. The percussion part really does not jive with the strumming IMHO.

[Les]

Sounds great Jerome. I like the double tracked acoustic. Good Idea not using a click track. I'm having to use a drum machine and I'm losing those fine tempo changes, and it's messing up my songs some. I'm gonna fix that problem though.

Les