Am I on the right tack? Input please..

[Tunesmith]

Nice version Linda and really nicely delivered. they way you have presented it really works. I'm thinking it needs something like a B.V in the chorus or something. the reason being, that you kept the same strum throughout, so there needs to some sort of contrast to bring the chorus out a bit more. Or on the other hand, you could reduce the guitar to whole notes at some point for the contrast.
For me, the little quick licks are not necessary. they are not really in character to the rest of the piece. Maybe reduce the lick to 8th notes or play a double stop pattern?? Just my opinion for what it is worth. I certainly think you have a shot on this one.

Thank you Kit..I am definitely going to play around with this..I am taking everyone's advice! I actually recorded it in 1985..no idea what for..I used to play it live, solo back then..I found the recording on my 4 track..

Linda

[Tunesmith]

Hi Linda.
FYI - the Soundcloud link in your signature does not respond (as least for me).

I fixed it! Thank you Peter!
Linda

[andygabrys]

Hey Linda - that's a pretty clean version of that tune. Nice!

I can see what the screener was talking about.

......."Cool take on this song. I think this could be made stronger and more compelling overall if you added in some vocal layers, harmonies etc. I'd also work on getting a cleaner guitar performance and tone (there is some buzz going on right now).........

i am going to go out on a limb and guess that was an acoustic direct through the onboard pickup. Its a clean through a little bit sterile sound. Its a good choice if you want to add FX when playing live (like a delay etc) but for a recording its usually a better choice to break out a mic and get a nice full round sound.

For film / TV that seems to be part of "broadcast quality".

Just for discussion - in the brief they talked about

“I’ll consider a cover of ANY song that’s been commercially released -- ideally the more famous the better. I’m especially interested in the originality of the cover; it can’t sound like the original. It has to be unique and stand on its own.”

It might be interesting to listen to Taylor Swift's recent cover of EWF's September https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMvxYPfFFY and this earlier one by Pomplamoose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xycnv87N_BU and this bluegrass one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE3Fm7NseA4

You can hear a lot of different ways that you could take a popular song. A lot of people hate TS's version although its the most "unlike" the original and arguably the more original reimagination of these three. Seconded by the bluegrass one. Pomplamoose has a lot of very imaginative covers of other songs on their Youtube page but this one is fairly like the original.

[Tunesmith]

Hi Andy!

I really appreciate your input on this. Yes it was direct in piezo..and the tracks I have were recorded with minimal FX you hear. I don't know why I did it that way except maybe perhaps it was for a demo with not much time to mix...It was a while back I did this recording and came upon it just as that listing got posted so I thought I'd give it a shot. It is amazing how one can go over/edit/perfect/alter just a guitar and vocal. I want to try everyone's input on this thread.

I have been recording guitar with a mic recently.

I really enjoyed listening to the 3 versions of September and got some ideas for covering popular songs! I have performed many cover tunes (still do) as a soloist, with duo, and trio playing gigs for a living. However, a lot of these were to sound similar to the original artists.

I like the TS version..I like them all!

Thank you again,
Linda