"I Wonder" Cover

[Brent]

Hey everyone,

I took my day off today to record a cover of "I Wonder".  And just a quick disclaimer, as I know someone is going to make a comment about this: my intentions were to try to mimmick the Ozma recording as closely as possible, so there have been no changes made to the arrangement really.  It is very similar to the Pasadena version.  I was just having a bit of fun recording one of my favourite songs from the new album.

Anyways, the cover can be downloaded here (right click and save as):

www.elitetapes.com/iwonder

Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Thanks and all the best,
-Brent

P.S. The guitar chord voicings are a bit different than the way Daniel performs it.  This version is the way I tabbed it out (the tab is available from this site under the Tablature section).

[hipsun]

no crickets?

sounds great. more in tune than the album version. good emulation of the strings. if i were producing, i would suggest a little less enunciation.

[Fantastic Max]

no crickets?

sounds great. more in tune than the album version. good emulation of the strings. if i were producing, i would suggest a little less enunciation.

I don't like your singing voice, but I agree with hipsun, and I also think you should give it a bit more feeling like Dan does, stretching out notes, and flowing over the cracks. Kind of abrupt at points. But otherwise, pretty close to the original via guitar, I believe.

[Brent]

i was actually tempted to add the crickets, but resisted.  i definitely agree with your statements about the enunciation.  i am generally pretty anal about intonation and i think at times my vocals become rigid and a bit too over enunciated and the natural inconsistencies and vibrato is lost as a result.  it really just depends on my goals when recording the track.  with this recording in particular, i knew that i was going to have to layer the vocals with multiple harmonies so i was really striving for solid intonation to make recording the harmonies painless.

another issue was just the melody.  it falls into an awkward part of my vocal range.  i think a little less projection and vulnerability would solve the problem and allow some more vibrato and shakeyness to occur which would give the vocal track a more natural feel.

thanks for your feedback though hipsun.  i appreciate it.

[I Like Ozma]

yeah i really liked it other than not dragging out the words such as "breeeeeaaaak" and "deseeeeeeeeeerve"

p.s. i cant stop listening to "hello future"

the only complaint i have about that song is the chorus it seems just a little bland. the verse and prechorus are Samuel but the chorus kind of just changes the feeling of the song and makes it just feel different. but overall it is a brilliant song.

[Brent]

Thanks.  Hello, Future is an old one...wrote it when I was 13 actually and I think the lyrics show it (but I like the candid youthfulness of the whole song).  My brother (the guitarist) is the one who keeps bringing it back to life...to be completely honest I have never really dug the song too much myself until we recorded this version.  I do agree, the chorus is a bit weak at the moment.  I think that it is a result of the vocal melody.  While the chorus melody is obviously the big hook, it is in a lower range than both the verse and pre-chorus which causes the song to lose some juice.  However, keep in mind, that it is only a pre-production demo (a rough one at that).  I think your impression of the chorus will change when you hear the final version.  There have been a few additions to the arrangement, including some nifty guitar work over the chorus now and tweaked the vocal harmonies to make the melody a bit more upfront.  In addition, I think the chorus vocals need just a bit more attitude (and there are some intonation issues with the lead vocal track), but after putting a bit more work into the tune it is really starting to take shape.  But thank you very much for the compliment.  I really appreciate it!

All the best,
-Brent

[ooohbecka]

i did really like it, should have help some words out longer though, but i know it was you playing around...voice sounded too digitalized though..