My Experience Covering 'King of Anything'

 

Ha!



Wow, this song was a lot harder than I expected it to be.  When I first attempted to play/sing at the same time, it was atrocious.  I wish that was an exaggeration.

I've been working on it for a week or so (and I guess that doesn't sound 'too' bad in the grand scheme of things, but it was frustrating nonetheless).  I didn't feel like purchasing music for it because A) I wanted to exercise my ear, B) I am cheap, and C) I am cheap.  So instead I sat down with some manuscript paper and a pencil and figured out the main gist of it...

Once I figured out the 'general' rhythm and chord changes, I scrapped the music and tried to work it out.  It's not exactly like the recording, but I'm okay with that; that wasn't really my goal.  After listening to the song over and over and over in my car, I realized there were a lot of layers I didn't hear the first hundred times I'd heard the song.  So I felt obligated to add them.  For example, there are horns at the beginning.  (?!?!?!?!?!)  I don't know how I didn't pick up on that.  I guess I wasn't actively listening...

I have learned to appreciate that about doing covers.  'That' being all the layers of tracks that comprise the general sound which get hidden in the initial texture we hear.  It's a good exercise for listening, fo' sho' (Don't judge me, I just spent the whole day doing this so I may be a little wacky).  There were harmonies for almost the entire song and I never would've guessed it before actively listening.  I also realized the "oohs" at the beginning were done in two separate tracks...so I followed suit!

In terms of my recording order:

-About 40 takes of the base keyboard/vocal track.  Haha, you think I'm kidding...
-Another lead vocal line because the vox were too quiet on the main one.  Since I couldn't increase the volume of the base track without increasing the piano to an annoying level, I just recorded on top of it.  That's why you hear some discrepancies in syllable changes.  Too impatient to fix those things...for now :)  I also added the little improv vocal lines on this track because I was too focused on playing keys to worry about it then.
-Vocal harmony line
-"Ohs" and "Ohs"
-Clapping!  I love to clap.  I actually recorded two separate tracks and copied another to make it sound more full.  My camera makes my clapping sound like nothing more than a weak snap.
-Violin (Beginning/choruses)
-Violin  - Sustained pre-chorus and bridge

In all, it turned out to be 11 tracks making it one of the heftier songs I've worked on...


Trying to line up the video clips to the final audio was a nightmare.  My next cover will probably be something simple and cutesy.  For my own sanity...

So that's my experience covering SB's 'King of Anything'.  It took 7-8 hours or so to record everything, edit, and export.  Sunday productivity?  Check.


If you haven't yet, please make sure you read the last post (click here) and submit a question for my next video!  It's going to be a surprise :)

And as always, thank you thank you thank you for reading!

xo.