Man at Work

[DannyWeber]

I’m remixing my Cover Songs. I’m trying to get them ready to pitch. Do I have this one right? Specifically the production, mix, mastering etc..

Thanks for your help!

Dan





Here’s the original version..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECVGN4Bsgg

[lesmac]

Really nice! It'a a great song and you did a great job.
The only niggle I had was I thought the kick could have been a little too prominent and I lost the bass in places.

[DannyWeber]

Really nice! It'a a great song and you did a great job.
The only niggle I had was I thought the kick could have been a little too prominent and I lost the bass in places.

I made the drums less aggressive and fixed the bass from becoming so lost in the mix by making it darker and raising the level.

Thanks for your ears, Les!

Dan






Here’s the original version..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECVGN4Bsgg

[nicotina]

Your covers are really good, as usual. Just curious, are you doing these just as an exercise, to become a better mixer? If so, it's probably a great idea, and one I should emulate myself. However, you said something about pitching.... where would you pitch these? When Taxi asks for covers, they usually want something different then the original, like try "Who can it be now?" as a Blues tune, or acoustic. I'm not sure anyone would want a note-for-note cover of a hit. They might as well spring for the real thing if they want that song...

I could be wrong. Maybe Taxi asked for direct clones? Or maybe there is a market for cheaper knock-offs of hits?

Vince

[DannyWeber]

Your covers are really good, as usual. Just curious, are you doing these just as an exercise, to become a better mixer? If so, it's probably a great idea, and one I should emulate myself.

Hey Vince,
I do these remixes as both an exercise for mixing and to see where my covers stand with others on this forum. I have gotten a lot of helpful feedback here!

When Taxi asks for covers, they usually want something different then the original, like try "Who can it be now?" as a Blues tune, or acoustic.

I could be wrong. Maybe Taxi asked for direct clones? Or maybe there is a market for cheaper knock-offs of hits?

Thanks for your comments. While I would never consider my sound-alikes as cheap knock-offs, TAXI has asked for sound-alike cover songs in the past. I remember listings that extended several days if not weeks. TAXI was asking for sound-alike covers from all the eras of rock from the 60's to the 2000's.

I'm not sure anyone would want a note-for-note cover of a hit. They might as well spring for the real thing if they want that song...

You have to remember.. the sound-alike covers we do, were originally done by established mainstream artists. Those artists will usually ask for a whole lot more money for placements than home studio musicians like us can. Plus, production companies would have to pay those artists royalties for repeats of a TV show, movie, advertisement etc..

When we get placements with our covers, we get a substantially lower sync fee and we cannot receive royalties from songs we didn't write. Sometimes it's a no-brainier for Music Supes on a tight budget.

However, you said something about pitching.... where would you pitch these?

I am hoping to pitch these to one of the Music Libraries I'm working with. BTW my relationship with this Library came about through a TAXI forward I received back in 2016. The Library told me, they may be open to these type of tracks in the future.

I have signed a ton of instrumentals with them in the past and I thought this might help get my foot in the door as a vocalist/producer for sound-alike covers in the future.

Bottom line..
It might surprise you the wide variety of music, Music Supes and Libraries need. Especially, if you can save them time and money instead of going to established artists or composers for their needs!

Thanks again, Vince for your comments! I hope this helps!

Good luck,

Dan

[songmaster]

Hi Dan You really nailed this song and I think it would be a great addition to any library. Nice job

Tom

[DannyWeber]

You are always a voice I love hearing from Tom!

Thank you,

Dan

[johnnyrowing]

Thanks for sharing man. I don't have any coaching notes. I just wanted to say that I enjoyed the track. Men at Work were the second band to earn my "favorite band" title - displacing the Beach Boys. I really think Colin Hay is an underrated songwriter. Anyhow, thanks for sharing.

Johnny

[jaywilliams]

DannyWeber I do admire your skills!

There's something about the production or mastering in your version that's feeling off to me.

Without a doubt it's a solid cover version, but to A/B tweak it closer to the original I think it needs a different polish.

I'm tempted to say something about the LUFS levels in your mix being too high but I don't even know what that means exactly, it's just that your mix is sounding a little "thick" in comparison, and I know the loudness wars have us all conditioned to push everything up to the borders of the sound envelope.

I think what I'm trying to express is if you can "soften" the mix a little it will truly shine.

Hope that's helpful, and if not, well, keep on keepin' on!

Jay

[DannyWeber]

Thanks Johnny! I think Men at Work are great too and I totally agree with you about Colin Hay but I also think his vocals are great too. The man can belt em’ out.

Hey Jay, I really appreciate your help. That being said, sometimes modern recording can be difficult when trying to emulate the Classic Rock sound. In this instance though as far as loudness wars, I’m afraid the ones who like it loud are winning this argument and I agree with them, sorry.

Even for sound-alike Classic Rock covers, the louder track is going to get the attention of the listener and I think that’s what we want to do as composers when we submit tracks to Libraries.

The people listening to our tracks want that wow factor to hit them right away or they will go on to the next one. I agree with you though, my covers don’t sound totally authentic using loudness plugins. I suspect it will be that way for a long time. Classic hardware is totally not an option for me.

Thank you guys for chiming in! I appreciate it!!

Dan