Candy Says (The Velvet Underground)

[Zoltan]

Inspired by JP's adventures in the Lou Reed / The Velvet Undergound land.

A quick headphone job so mix will probably change once i get to it. It's a bit barebones. I checked the original after recording and that was super slow. This is 140bpm. I didn't know how it ended as the lyrics just went "doo doo wah" and i did something like that...

[StephenM]

sounds wonderful... it would fit right on the radio... admittedly I am listening on cans right now, and cheap os at that... but usually if the song sounds good here it will be good most places... I don't hear anything that makes the mix odd in any way..
actually this reminds me of songs from tv shows back in the 70's like The Osmonds, The Partridge Family, The Monkees, and a plethora of others... nothing wrong with this... it works... sure you could add more but only if you feel compelled.

[Zoltan]

I'm currently hearing this from the earbuds and it sounds like i'm Zoltan the Singing Frog.

Burp, burp...

[Geir]

I don't know this singing frog, but I kinda like him.

Gives him a certain innocence.. 

Nicely done mr Zoltan Frog.

[Jean Pierre]

I'm French, so I love frogs (a well-known cliché).

Just before reading the comments, while listening (on headphones) I was thinking I like the way the voice is treated here (what kind of microphone treatment??Eq?, rev,? compr??).

Well, following on from the "Lou Reed series" I'm going to try and find another one to do, one with lyrics that aren't too obscure and that I can understand a bit
I don't dare do Walk on the Dark Side..but I'd like to, especially because of the mythical double bass line, and then the treatment of the voice during the songs that go Doo Doo Doo
where the reverb gradually diminishes to finish on a completely dry voice, at the time I thought it was brilliant

[Zoltan]

(what kind of microphone treatment??Eq?, rev,? compr??)

It's mostly the same random treatment i'm always using: Somekind of compressor. Somekind of random setting to bring the level up for the singing. Somekind of reverb. One, or two EQ's.

I think the main thing with the vocal sound in this one was that i played around with the pre-verb setting. I also sang thru the reverb and when mixing i kept on lowering the reverb again and again.

I think the annoying "push" -type of quality to the main vocals is because i sang with the reverb and it sounded "ok" when doing so with the full reverb. The vocals are at times open and at times strangled sounding.

The backing vocal stack was recorded x4 and i just sat in a different place while doing so. So they're naturally a bit different sounding. Backing vocals have a slight delay effect added to them.

[Zoltan]

I'm not sure if this is any better, but i made some changes:

- changed the tempo -2,4%
- upped the reverb level a bit for the main vocs
- cut some of the high end from the main vocs
- added a touch of ambience to the drum track
- added a shaker
- added FerricTDSmkII (tape plugin) into the master buss

[Jean Pierre]

Personally, I prefer the first version (as far as the voice is concerned anyway).

I find the reverb effect too important in the 2nd version and then it's a reverb that sounds more like a dubbing of the voice with a slight delay (or a short delay with little feedback).

If you listen to my Youtube version of "Sunday morning" in the chorus at around 0'40" (...watch out etc... ), I've duplicated the voice and slightly delayed the duplicated track by a few milliseconds

 but I don't really like this effect, in any case applied to the whole song... it's personal and subjective but I find it "tiring" for the ears

[Zoltan]

but I don't really like this effect, in any case applied to the whole song... it's personal and subjective but I find it "tiring" for the ears

I kinda agree. The problem is that this whole track is a bit tiring so i don't think it would benefit from a lot of work (excluding maybe the addition of spring reverb lead guitar overdubs here and there + cheesy organ ).

I think it's the pre-verb setting that makes it "delay" -like. I was seeing this as an old(ish) garage rock type of production so there's not automation, or anything fancy. It would be easy to pull back the reverb and bring it on at crucial points. That might make it better.

Overall i think the song would benefit from a new more relaxed vocal performance and a slightly slower tempo. Even way slower tempo and possibly (in my case) even key change. That would make it more "Velvet Underground".

The first version does have a tv-show kind of vibe. It's more "youthfull" in a sense. Which makes it hilarious because the song is about a sex change operation...! If that was a tv series the second season could be about the reversal process.

Actually... now that i think about it this would benefit from The Sparks (Half Nelson) type of production! But i'd rather make a new song with that style...

Thanks for the comments everyone!

[Jean Pierre]

It's more "youthfull" in a sense. Which makes it hilarious because the song is about a sex change operation...!

        That's the crux of my problem! I don't understand English (or very little) and since I was a teenager, like a lot of young French people, I've been rocked by Anglo-Saxon music (from Eddy Cochran, Buddy Holly, Elvis then the Beatles and so on), but what we liked was the rhythm, the beat, the groove, the melody... and not the words. .), but what we liked was the rhythm, the beat, the groove, the melody... and not the words, we didn't give a damn about the words! (..and that's perhaps not a bad thing given the often poor, insipid nature of song lyrics at the time


Anyway, even now I have to be wary! For example, I listened to Lou Reed's "Walk on the wild side" again and I said to myself I'm going to do it, I really like the bass line, the Doo Do hearts with a rather amazing dinuando reverb effect and then Lou Reed's voice, the melody

So I love this song, without understanding the lyrics, and then I read the translation and the meaning of the song and this story about historical transexuals ...and it's not "my thing" at all ...but anyway, I'll probably do it!