clivemurray.com

I mentioned recently that I was going to be branching out into vocal tracks, and this is definitely very much the aim. It’s pretty daunting though, seeing as I’ve never done lead vocals before*, so I thought a bit about how I got started with instrumental stuff, and that goes back to my 4-track days.

Ah, bless the Fostex X-26. What a machine! On it I started out by learning and then recording cover versions of Joe Satriani tracks, and it was though doing this that I learned not just how to play some cool tunes, but how best to go about everything from starting to write an instrumental right down to getting it on tape and mixing it. Latterly this has translated well to digital recording and that’s where I find myself nowadays, but with no experience of doing things vocally. It followed that I should perhaps start by doing a cover song or two.

I tried doing a Nickelback tune to start with, but quickly found that I couldn’t reach the high notes. So I ended up doing something that’s pretty easy to sing, although I’ll be honest, I did manage to pick something with some tricksy guitar parts. Anyway, I’ve just lobbed together an MP3 of the first cut of it, and here it is.

The Devil Went Down To Georgia. [MP3, 192kbps, 5314Kb]

The mix is well off in places and things go up and down seemingly at random due to my eccentric approach to punching in and out, but I think you can see where I’m going with it. Hopefully I can find time in the next week or two to get a proper consistent mix done.

Anyway, let me know what you think! (Unless you’re Charlie Daniels… I think he might not be my bestest friend for what I did to his poor song…)

–c.

* A few years ago I did record a version of “The Old Apartment” by Barenaked Ladies, but it was pretty rubbish. I was even using Antares Autotune to cram my wavering voice into the right key.