Project putting the lyrics to one song to the tune of another
KaiEllis
Pro, 2.0 PRO Posts: 215
Chris Cornell famously put the lyrics to Metallica's "One" to the tune of U2's "One", and it was GENIUS. I took the idea and adapted it a little further rather than just doing the straight transposition of lyrics the way he did it. Guaranteed not to be on the same level as Chris's composition or execution, but eh, that's just life 
This is just me singing straight into a cell phone mic and then "mixing" it (Ha!) with the karaoke track in Audacity. It's mostly one take with just a little cleanup to get rid of background noise.
This is actually part of a larger "To the tune of" project I'm working on - taking one song's lyrics and putting them to the tune of another. Can't wait to show everyone why the theme to Baywatch actually fits perfectly to the tune of Soundgarden's "Burden In My Hand" lol
Love to hear ya'll's feedback!
Much love!
@TommyM @blondiewales @highmtn
This is just me singing straight into a cell phone mic and then "mixing" it (Ha!) with the karaoke track in Audacity. It's mostly one take with just a little cleanup to get rid of background noise.
This is actually part of a larger "To the tune of" project I'm working on - taking one song's lyrics and putting them to the tune of another. Can't wait to show everyone why the theme to Baywatch actually fits perfectly to the tune of Soundgarden's "Burden In My Hand" lol
Love to hear ya'll's feedback!
Much love!
@TommyM @blondiewales @highmtn
Comments
Thank you for your feedback and your encouragement! I will keep plugging away at it!
Btw, I meant to post Chris's version with this for comparison! Here it is:
How exactly are you recording? I know you mentioned just recording into your phone while singing over a backing track that's presumably playing on your laptop or something - Are you basically using your phone to record your voice and then importing that into Audacity? If so, maybe try using one earphone and leaving the other one out so that you can pitch yourself externally and also within the song. It's not ideal as you want to learn how to pitch yourself within the track itself, but that takes practice in itself so work with what you've got and do whatever helps to remain on pitch.
Your support sounds good, your throat sounds open and, as I've said, your tone is really good and consistent so keep it up. Just work on that pitching while you're recording and you'll step it up even more. Good work mate, great to see you pushing yourself creatively as well as vocally.
I literally just record audio and video onto the phone while I listen to the audio track through a separate device, then sync them up later in Audacity or in Sony Movie Studio. I'm going to invest in a real microphone and pre amp soon!
Do you have any opinions about the kind of headphones one should wear while recording? I've just got these ear buds I'm really fond of, but it seems like most people I've ever seen video of recording are wearing big ear muffs.
Also, went ahead and recorded a take of another mixup I've been working on - "Like a Stone" to the tune of "More Than Words". I'm just going to start posting new "to the tune of" songs in this thread instead of cluttering the forum with new posts every time
I took the lyrics to Chris Cornell's classic James Bond theme, "You Know My Name", and put them to a little known, almost Industrial sounding Def Leppard song. It comes from their HIGHLY underrated Slang album. The song is called "Truth?"
I took multiple vocal tracks, composited the best phrases from each of them into a single vocal file, and added some effects in Audacity to help my vocal match the production of the original. Just trying to get my feet wet with mixing and producing my own demos. Even if all the audio was recorded straight into my phone haha!
Here's my demo
Here's the Chris Cornell song
Here's the Def Leppard tune
@blondiewales @TommyM
I'm mostly just trying to contribute to the forum myself. The feedback I've gotten from pros and amateurs alike has been worth the price of the program to me! And I know we're all busy with our lives. So no worries on when it takes a minute to reply
Pitch and tempo are my obsessions right now! It's good to hear that I'm not imagining the challenges I'm having with them. It's so funny. I have a ten year career as a dancer, so you'd think it would just translate to great rhythm as a vocalist. Nope lol
It's no excuse for not getting a recording to functional perfection, but this guy in particular I sat down that night and said ok, I'm not going to go the Chinese Democracy route on this, I've got this long to record vocals, this long to splice it together and add any effects, and then I'm putting it out there to a few people, warts and all. It was a challenge in meeting a deadline
I'm a little confused about your comment on the "digital distortion". Are you saying that my attempt to add an effect in Audacity to make the vocal line sound like the effect they used in the original Def Leppard song (on the line "why don't you tell me") makes it sound like the audio is getting clipped or like I'm too close to the mic? I totally don't know my way around adding effects yet, so it sounds like I might have gotten it waaaaay wrong haha the original vocal track is normal volume and nowhere near clipping.
Thank you again for your feedback and encouragement!
My recording gear is nothing wild (yet!). Bought everything for $300 based on this list from the Recording Revolution. The preamp is supposed to come with Pro Tools, but I can't figure out where or how to download it yet
Focusrite Scarlett Solo 2nd gen
Samson C01 Condenser Mic
Sony MDR7506 Large Diaphragm Headphones
Pop filter and shock mount
Samson MK10 mix stand
You're right about the song being strangely mixed, especially for Def Leppard. That whole album is a bizarre detour for them. If you get four spare minutes, give this other track off the Slang album a listen. It's incredible to realize this is the same band that wrote "Pour Some Sugar On Me" lol If you get a chance, I'd love to hear more about the song "Truth?" from your production point of view. What's weird about the track to you?