Take 2

[vhguitar009]

Hey Guys,

We were able to roll out another studio cover the other day.  I think everything is much better done on this video.

Please check it out.

https://youtu.be/CeIype35fzw

[Mladen]

Great job.  But the transitions before the chorus really are tricky, aren't they? 

[SeRoX]

That was good but dat vocal. 

Music flows well but the vocal doesn't fit. Not saying that because of JLB's vocal and his tone we used to hear, but this vocal is mostly off. Especially the last part.

[WindMaster]

Vocals do not fit at all. But instruments rocked.

[lithium112]

I think people don't think the vocals fit just because you're not used to them. They are undoubtedly different from JLB's but they're cool and definitely unique. Cool cover guys!

[Flacracker]

Guitar needs work. Sounds slurred.

[Stonestef]

Good job. I didn't mind the vocals, I thought it was a nice twist. The drummer needs a lot of work though. I know that it was recorded in only 3 hours and that it is a hard song but he needs to work a lot on the basics. I mean, it's nice listening to this hard-to-play music and learning it hit by hit to play it exactly but if he plays it like that and then another drummer plays, let's say, a Nirvana song but stays stable and keeps a nice groove, he will make a much better impression to the others even if he plays the simplest song there is.

[vhguitar009]

Appreciate the feedback.  The reason we are doing these videos is to see where we are with our playing.  We plan on continuing to drive ahead and address every problem area.  I think the drums aren't that aren't that far off (I am the guitarist), but Brad agrees with what you said.  He was a bit flustered yesterday during recording and was getting frustrated.  We are all working on laying down takes in the moment.  Learning to get in the correct headspace and perform under pressure is part of this process.  It will only get better from here (i hope...) And my playing was sloppy on some parts... but if you haven't seen our first video, the guitar is 20x better sounding.  I will continue to pursue tone and technique to my best ability.

As for Darren on the vocals... the guy straight up rocks. All I have to say on the issue.

Overall for us, it was a win.   

[Stonestef]

Yeah man, I think what you do with the pressure and all that is good for you. But as a next cover I would suggest one of the simple songs, like Repentance or The Mirror. It may sound boring instead of Metropolis for example but it will be good for you, you have to do the boring stuff before you are ready to move on to the impressive things. You know this as a guitar player, you didn't start with The Best Of Times solo on the first day you touched a guitar, you started with chords. Also, these don't have hard keys so you can program them if you haven't found someone. I'm glad you didn't take my comment as an insult, waiting for the next cover! 

[vhguitar009]

Totally bro! We are glad there is realistic feedback out there.  We are definitely going to attempt something more simple for the next cover.

[theseoafs]

I'd really like to see some serious time and effort put into the next cover you do. Every instrument here was really very sloppy. Again, you guys are all really talented, but why bother with what looks like a very expensive professional production if you're not going to master the material?

It was kind of a shock to hear the vocalist at first, because he's really very different, but I don't think he's bad. Just different. It was cool to hear a different interpretation of the melodies.

[vhguitar009]

the goal of these is to get relatively high production in a short amount of time. We recorded and shot the video in an hour and a half and we mastered the tracks for another hour and a half.  Total of 3 hours in the studio.  It is to see if we were to invest time into trying to perfect a cover or original if it would be worth our time and money

[theseoafs]

But wouldn't you be able to determine that more easily if you perfected the song first?

[vhguitar009]

thought I addressed that question already.  It was not expensive for us to do.  Yes if we had had more time to perfect we would have... Our mindset was to get material under our belt sooner rather than later...  We were given a deadline to do another cover, and we met that deadline (2 weeks to learn and practice this cover) with everything else going on in our lives.  If we were full time musicians right now we would totally be concerned about perfection.  Its obvious that there are imperfections. Do you really think we don't see that?  We put our necks out there because we had an opportunity.

Remember we are doing this as a tribute... We aren't making money on this or anything, we are huge DT fans trying to do this as a fun side project while we are in college...

These covers are an experiment for us.