Helpless - IanR covers Neil Young

IanR · August 20, 2016, 07:36:47 AM

Hi Folks,

Here is my cover of Neil Young's Helpless.

I'm reading his book: Waging Heavy Peace at the moment, so I thought I would pay tribute to him. It is a lovely song and has a simple arrangement. If you listen carefully, you can hear my voice paired with my imitation of Neil. So, I am singing a duet with myself. I have also borrowed kd lang's phrasing for the lyrics. Neil's phrasings were too nuanced to learn in the 20 minutes that I took to do the vocals.

BTW: I recently upgraded my DAW to Sonar Platinum, which is the top of the range Sonar. They offered a deal with the upgrade of lifetime membership. It means that I will get every future upgrade forever FOR FREE.

The package is fantastic. There are so many plug ins that I will never get to the end of them. The basic recording software, with effects, channel strips and mastering tools, is mind blowing. It makes it really easy to get a good sound from a recording. I recommend that you check it out because the offer closes at the end of the month.

UPDATE: 28/08/2016

I just reloaded a re-mixed version of this song.

I was listening to it and I realised why the guitar sounded so bad in places. Besides my poor playing, I had actually played the organ part using an Am chord instead of an A chord, so there was some horrible dissonance. I re-recorded the keys, so its better now but the guitar track is the same one, so you still hear where I squeeze the neck too much and bend the strings out of tune a little bit. Its a bad habit.

ALSO, I have used Sonar to synchronise the vocal tracks better. I was a bit sloppy when I recorded them and I used the vocal sync function to align them. It sounds a lot tidier, although the singing is still a bit crap and even clipping a little bit in parts. Rubbish in - slightly better rubbish out.

cheers,

Ian

kenny mac · August 20, 2016, 01:44:31 PM

Nice cover mate,this song reminds me of knocking on heavens door in its structure.
Also ,Sounds like a great deal on the recording front.
Well done.

Groundy · August 20, 2016, 11:14:42 PM

Yeah well done Ian...
Nice cover,
Great deal on Sonar Platinum..

Alex

fenderbender · August 21, 2016, 03:22:52 AM

Great recording Ian--
Congrats.

Must look up that Sonar ..altho I'm not into DAW- find it a little complicated

Tommy

Redler · August 22, 2016, 01:10:14 AM

Really good sounding acoustic guitar - very dynamic tone!

Top class job with the vocals as well! Doubled (or tripled) voice with panning L/R works extremely well here! Enjoyable listening!

Farrell Jackson · August 22, 2016, 03:37:23 PM

Fantastic cover Ian! I've always liked this song and you've done it real proud!

Farrell

Johnny Robbo · August 23, 2016, 06:56:08 AM

I'm not the world's biggest Neil young fan, but I really love what you've done here. Gorgeous acoustic sound & those layered vocals are just beautiful! Sounds like you got a heck of a deal on Sonar... I used to use it myself, but my poor PC used to struggle with it, so I went back to Music Creator.