Moonage Daydream
August 26, 2013 2:03 PM
Better late than never is "Moonage Daydream", my entry for the Bowie Summer Challenge.
I hemmed and hawed all summer long trying to decide if I wanted to try a lot of stuff in Audacity that I didn't really know how to do — and I mean simple stuff like trying to lay down the vocals and guitar separate or maybe take the guitar solo on kazoo or something — or just record myself playing the song. My decision got made for me by looking at the calendar and the fact that for the first time in months I had the house to myself for a couple of hours today.
So, here it is — warts and all. The first and perhaps only time the Authentic Obi-Wan Experience has been recorded and uploaded to the Internet. It's just like you and I burned one in my bedroom in 1989 and you asked me to play "Moonage Daydream" for you. Except with another 25 years of smoking and drinking on my voice.
Recorded in one take (after a couple of rehearsals) in Audacity on a five-year-old Dell XPS 630 with the Rock Band USB microphone. I know. It's what I had.
I hemmed and hawed all summer long trying to decide if I wanted to try a lot of stuff in Audacity that I didn't really know how to do — and I mean simple stuff like trying to lay down the vocals and guitar separate or maybe take the guitar solo on kazoo or something — or just record myself playing the song. My decision got made for me by looking at the calendar and the fact that for the first time in months I had the house to myself for a couple of hours today.
So, here it is — warts and all. The first and perhaps only time the Authentic Obi-Wan Experience has been recorded and uploaded to the Internet. It's just like you and I burned one in my bedroom in 1989 and you asked me to play "Moonage Daydream" for you. Except with another 25 years of smoking and drinking on my voice.
Recorded in one take (after a couple of rehearsals) in Audacity on a five-year-old Dell XPS 630 with the Rock Band USB microphone. I know. It's what I had.
posted by ob1quixote (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
Thanks, y'all. Although listening to the others, I gotta step up my game on this recording thing.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:25 PM on August 27, 2013
posted by ob1quixote at 8:25 PM on August 27, 2013
I don't know, I think this was totally the right approach. Your game's at the right level of step-up.
posted by COBRA! at 5:18 AM on August 28, 2013
posted by COBRA! at 5:18 AM on August 28, 2013
Lately I've been increasingly attracted by the singer who simply backs himself with an acoustic guitar, like Nick Lowe, Freedy Johnston, Paul Curreri, Kelly Joe Phelps. It's really nice and it's often the right way to convey the singer's kind of energy. Great !
posted by nicolin at 2:19 PM on August 30, 2013
posted by nicolin at 2:19 PM on August 30, 2013
Great, once I turned you up! It helps that I love the song of course. Better a good vocal + guitar performance, than that disparate bunch of fragments in Audacity (which is what I ended up with for my Bowie attempt coincidentally). You're an alligator, sir!
posted by comealongpole at 6:42 AM on September 10, 2013
posted by comealongpole at 6:42 AM on September 10, 2013
Thank you.
I knew it was low, but when I tried turning up the gain on the track in Audacity I got a bunch of weird artifacts. It sounded like I was transmitting the recording from the dark side of the moon. So I left it where it was.
My first rehearsal I popped the mic at the first 'p'. I didn't have a sock and I was going for an audio vérité thing anyway, so I moved it back a couple of feet. Next time I'm going to try to keep the mic closer to my head.
When I get the scratch I'm going get a better mic with a no-lag headphone jack.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:14 AM on September 10, 2013
I knew it was low, but when I tried turning up the gain on the track in Audacity I got a bunch of weird artifacts. It sounded like I was transmitting the recording from the dark side of the moon. So I left it where it was.
My first rehearsal I popped the mic at the first 'p'. I didn't have a sock and I was going for an audio vérité thing anyway, so I moved it back a couple of feet. Next time I'm going to try to keep the mic closer to my head.
When I get the scratch I'm going get a better mic with a no-lag headphone jack.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:14 AM on September 10, 2013
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Love it.
It's just like you and I burned one in my bedroom in 1989 and you asked me to play "Moonage Daydream" for you.
shoulda been a plot point in "Freaks and Geeks"...
posted by dubold at 12:34 PM on August 27, 2013 [1 favorite]