I chose to do a different song, but stay with the same group. Coldplay. After I had put up "Violet hill", I got a large number of requests to try "Viva la vida". Too many requests to ignore really. So I set about recording that one. It's another one from their latest album with the same title.
I know that some people think that it's a bit of a cop out to do cover songs to backing tracks, but I always find a use in everything I attempt in music. I really want to improve my production skills. It's ok to record all the right bits for your song, but if the mix isn't produced properly, then all that work means very little.
One of the aspects I've been concentrating on is vocal production, and I've been trying to match that of the original song. I think it's made a big difference in the result, and I'm learning how to produce my vocals in different ways, for different types and styles of music.
I've implemented vocal boosting on this song. Plus low to moderate plate reverb in the verses. I've used the Chorus effect and a heavier plate reverb in the choruses.
This is the result. Viva la vida.
Now for the statistics digest for my Youtube channel.
Subs have come and gone, but yesterday I awoke to the pleasant sight of 6 new subscribers. That puts the figure at 727.
The channel views are now up at 16,529.
The overall video viewings have made it! They've gone past the quarter million views. All of this within a year of putting up my first Youtube video. At the last check, the number stood at 254,512.
I'm hoping I can now do that old album track cover that I said I was going to do in the first place
Now for some covers. This one is quite a recent tune, and is called "Violet hill". It's taken from the latest Coldplay album entitled "Viva la vida".
I had several Coldplay songs lined up to cover, and I chose this as the first of the batch. It was extremely hard to get the falsetto on this song, so I dropped the music by a semitone. Even then I still struggled, but I just about managed it.
It's been quite noisy in the skies above my village over the past weekend. I live a few miles away from a place called Goodwood. They hold a number of annual events and one of them is called "The festival of speed". So while it was on, I snapped a few of the aircraft from my back garden. I've put those in the video. All I will say is that one aircraft in particular got extremely close, and it wasn't the smallest flying object in the world!!!
Check out my cover of this brilliant song, and see my snaps:
The Youtube stats are still moving well.
I've now got 721 subscribers.
My channel viewings are now up to 16,254.
The total viewings of all my videos are a shave away from that milestone. 249,532. If nothing drastic happens, it should pass the quarter of a million tomorrow morning
It's quite likely that my next song will be another Coldplay tune. I've got my eyes on an album track from a few years ago
This is the third of my old original songs selection. The title of this one is "Winner". The lyrics can be interpreted in many different ways, but I wrote it for mistaken friends who need support.
This is another number that was written with Mick Paul. I've put some information about what Mick is up to now.
If you watched the last vid I posted, you will have learned that Mick played bass on a David Hasselhoff single. There aren't many people who don't know who he is. After being in such shows as "Knight rider", "Baywatch" and "America's got talent".
This is "Winner" by Mick and I:
Mick is spending a good deal of his time touring at the moment, with a band called "The David Cross band". David Cross used to be in a band called "King Crimson". They were very well known. If you come from Italy, There's a good chance that you've heard of David Cross. He's quite popular there, and hence the reason why Mick does most of his touring there.
Now for some youtube statistics news.
My subscribers have seen a really good jump in the last few days. Racing past the 700 barrier to 717.
Channel viewings cruised to 16,017. That's the 16k barrier broken.
Finally the overall video views are still racing forward. They are now at 246,003. I was hoping that they might reach the quarter million by the 17th July. Which is the first year anniversary of my first video upload to Youtube. At this rate, it looks like it's going to get there on the 15th!!
I'm probably going to do a few coldplay covers in my next few videos, and I'll hopefully be bringing some more news on the progress of my upcoming album release.
I've set up a mailing list for first hand news about progress on the album. The email addresses will only be used for that purpose. It's so I can tell anyone interested about events regarding the album, before the information is made public.
If anyone is interested in signing up for it then you can do just that if you go to the homepage on my website. Here's the URL:
It's the 2nd of 3 songs written by Mick Paul and I a while back, that I have selected to upload. Ths one gives you a taste of Mick's bass skills. I just wanted acoustic guitar and Bass in this, and I think it worked quite well. The vocals are a little off key in places. This song, and most of the others written with Mick. were written hours before they were recorded, so I'm not really surprised at the mistakes.
The song is about a contreversial subject, though I'm not going let you know what it means here. You'll have to watch the vid to find out. I reveal the meaning near the end of the video. It gives a completely new angle on the words.
Returning to Mick. Here is some information on the history so far of this very talented guy:
Played on 2 singles in 1970.
He joined "The Hotshots" in 1973. They got to number 4 in the british chart with one of their releases.
Joined "Union express" in 1974 and toured Europe for 2 years.
From 1978, did session work for the BBC and various publishers.
He was also an in-house bass player at Abbeydale studios in West London.
Co-wrote the Labour Party campaign song in 1987.
Joined "More tea vicar in 1990.
Wrote and played on a single called "Aquarius" for Yello records, which was produced by Tyrrell.
He played bass on the "David Hasselhoff" single "If we could only say goodbye" (Yes. It's The Hoff).
and there is more..
I'll provide a link to his recording studio website:
Mick is the person doing all the music in this song. He also did the music for the song in the previous post, and the next post I do.
Anyway. This one is called "Losing my mind". I hope you enjoy it, and the Bass
Now for the Youtube stuff.
Subs are up to 692.
The Channel views are 15,540.
The total video views are now at 237,970. Still on schedule to reach a quarter of a million by the 17th. Rising at roughly a thousand views a day.
Next up is the third and final upload of my three old original songs.
I'm still beavering away on my album. Yesterday I woke up singing a song. Weird I know, but it was pretty good. So I'm going to put it together to see what it sounds like, and if it makes the grade, then I'll consider putting it on my album.
I'm going to go back in time a little with three selected songs I wrote when I first started to record music seriously.
A few years ago I wrote and recorded 9 songs in about two weeks with a very talented guy called "Mick Paul".
Mick is an excellent bass player and has done a lot in his career to date. He also owns his own recording studio, and this is where those 9 songs were recorded.
I've picked 3 of those songs to upload to youtube, and this is the first of them.
The title of the song is "Amber falls". The meaning is quite dark. I wonder if you can work out what the song is about, before the video tells you near the end.
Check out the video here:
I've included some information about Mick in the video, and I will be putting more information in the following 2 videos from that collection. It's possible that you may recognise a name or two from the information to come.
I added a warning in the video description of this particular song, because the song has what is known as "Speaker busters". Extremely deep high volume bass notes, that can cause damage to a bass speaker when it's turned up full. So be warned
Now for some youtube food.
I'm only 10 away from 700 subscribers now. So I've currently got 690.
The channel viewings have increased to 15,424.
The overall video views are up to 235,621. The way things are going, I might hit the quarter million by the first year anniversary of my first video upload.
In my next post, I'll be bigging up the second of the three selected old original songs .
It's been a really hectic week. I've done a little work on my own website, so that I can prepare it for the album release. I've updated some of the info. Added some links. I've also put an email registration on my home page, so that people can register for updates on the progress of my album.
I've stressed that the email address will only be used for that purpose, and will not be shared with anyone else. I have also added that same registration feature to another website I have a page on.
So now I can finally give out my website address. I've had it for a few years already, but it's just been sitting there
There is a music player on there that has got a selection of songs that I've created over the last 4 years. I could have removed them, because the recording quality is not very good on some, and the vocals are less than perfect on a number of them. However, I want to leave them there for a while to show where my recordings started, and all the flaws with it.
The next bit of news is really interesting. A friend messaged me on Youtube, who had created a live internet TV channel, and he asked me if he could use some of my original music in his shows. I agreed, of course. He informed that when the first show aired, it received over 1,000 viewers in the first 3 hours!!!
He needs some more original music videos for his TV channel, so if you compose your own songs, and would like it broadcast on a live internet television channel, then visit the link I've provided above and contact him via the email address that is shown on the channel. It could provide you with some essential exposure, just like it has for me
Finally I'll finish up with the Youtube figures.
I gained 2 subscribers, but then I lost 2 So it's still 681.
The channel viewings have increased though. They are 15,146.
Another increase of a few thousand on my total video views. The are now 229,501.
There has been another cover version done of one of my own songs. The tune this time is "Broadcast fantasy".
It was performed by "PetesBehr" on Youtube. His recording of this song is a bit like an unplugged version.
He has done a cover version of one of my songs before.
I think that this differs quite a bit from the original song, but I quite like what he's done with it. He has created his own interpretation of it, and that is something I really like hear people having a go at with music. Especially when it comes to my music. Engraving their own signature on it.
First up, is the Original version of "Broadcast fantasy". Check it out at the following link:
So now you know how the original goes. This is his cover of my song:
It feels good when other people like your songs enough to want to record their own versions. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right
Now, the regular Youtube digest:
I've got 681 subscribers. Only nineteen more to get to 700.
The channel views are moving along very nicely, and have now reached 15,037.
The overall viewing figures for all my videos is 227,028. Only another 23,000 to the quarter of a million, and it's going at roughly a thousand a day.
I have been doing a bit of work on my personal website over the last week. I thought that if I'm going to release an album, I might as well bring my site up to date. So I'm changing the info on there. I'll be giving out the URL when It's done, for anyone interested
Jeffstunes Music
So it's still 681.