Zygen's MLP Cover's Thread! ("Bats" Cover Out Now!)

[Zygen 6,066]

Alright, so this is basically going to be a thread version of my blog in a way that I have, where I post a bunch of song covers, except well, I guess the ones here will all be MLP since this is for the MLP fan music, I may make another thread for non MLP stuff when I start doing more of that.

 

If you want to see all of my cover stuff, and in greater detail, check out my blog on here! http://mlpforums.com/blog/1973-zygens-cover-junkyard/

 

My newest MLP song cover will be posted here on the OP, because I cannot post but a certain amount of Soundcloud links on one post. If you want to check out previous song covers, feel free to check out my blog. 

 

The newest of my MLP covers is here! Have a listen! https://soundcloud.com/zygen/bats-cover-2

 

If you'd like to see me ramble on and hear more thoughts on the whole thing, again, check out my blog!

 

Hope you enjoy! And please feel free to leave feedback! It is more than appreciated, even if you just say something really simple! It's just nice to hear that people are listening!

 

Have a great day!

 

 

Oh and also, if you'd like to provide input on how you think this thread should be setup regarding the format, feel free to give opinions on that, i'm still undecided.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Zygen

[Miles 2,512]

As I noted in your blog, I wished to place my comments here in your thread:

So, how/what/why did/do I half-way disagree with Arctic Night?
 

Here is Artic's quote from Zygen's blog:

 

I think that you're doing great! But since you asked for honest responses, I do have a few suggestions.

 

My first applies mostly to Cover 4, in which you sounded very enthusiastic and passionate, but seemed to stretch a few of the notes out longer than they needed to be. And yet it was very enjoyable and cheery nonetheless.

 

I think Cover 3 was the opposite. You hit all of the notes almost perfectly, but sounded as if you weren't enjoying it as much. (I'm not sure if this is true.) Just remember to have fun singing yourself or the audience might not feel as into it.

 

Overall I think that you have done a very good job, and please remember that I'm not like a voice expert or anything. XD

 

(The blue is what I agree with; the red is what I disagree with)

 

So, let me explain, firstly, to why I disagree with the above red selections: 
In my opinion, cover 4 was damn near spot on [as in, near perfect] --> as far as hitting the right notes goes, as well as the lengths of the notes.  
I did not hear any over-stretched (too long) notes, and I heard less errors (really, there were very few of them, like seriously, barely any) in cover 4.
And, to what I would like to say is my most important combatant point; listen to both version's endings, starting from 3 minutes, 9 seconds.

You can't argue with that  - there's a noticeable difference [for the better, in cover 4].

Eeyup, I swear to you Zygen, you did make me smile  at the end of cover 4 (well, I was smiling through the whole thing, but, at ~3:14, the note you hit was just... perfect!  I mean seriously, you did it; you hit the note and made it sound beautiful - like it was meant to be). 

 

--- The only one negative thing I can think of is... from 2:34 to 2:58 - the parts where the singing is more like quick-talking; it seems a tad bit jumbled - not that I couldn't understand you - I could just fine - just that, it's the one thing that might need a little bit more careful work regarding enunciation/pronunciation with the fast paced words.  But it wasn't "bad" either, so don't get me wrong. ---

 

To the blue - to what I agreed with Arctic Night [about] - cover 3 sounded a slight bit less enthusiastic; maybe not so much that you weren't enjoying it so much as it may have been trying to overcome nerves.

But nonetheless... Dear Luna.... I mean, dude... cover 4 was a huge, wonderful improvement from your cover of Pinkie's Lament you did a while ago (not that it was bad - it wasn't bad at all - it's just, I can tell how much more confidence you have brought to the table microphone with cover 4 of "Smile," and I am honored to say it, too).  You've blown me away, really... I can honestly say that I am proud of you, because you've done something that takes alot of guts, alot of practice, and alot of confidence to do - and, you did it very well.

I hope you keep up the good work, and keep the song covers coming, man, because you have a great voice, and you are an inspiration.  

Yours Honestly, 

Miles

 

 

Edited September 4, 2014 by Miles

[Poetic Justice 170]

NOOOOOO, I LOST A PARAGRAPH OF CRITIQUE. -facepalm-

 

WELL THEN.

 

Definately, the biggets drawback is the equipment you are using. Since I assume this was something done as a hobby and you don't plan on singing covers for money, I'm not going to drone on and on about microphones. That stuff is boring, but it did slightly distort your voice, and I know I'm not the only one hearing that buzzing.

 

Besides that.

 

Your voice was excellent. Both covers are great in their own aspects, but overall, I like the latter of the two options. I cannot give a list of what was better for two reasons:

 

I already did and it took 5 mins to type and I am lazy.

 

Overall, the second option just felt like there was a lot more energy put into it. Like the first cover you did was a warm up and the second one was your performance.

 

I have virtually no complaints in your vocal style.

[1111 1,284]

i my have had my volume up high and blasted it wich scared me cuz im in the stabe about being a brony

[Zygen 6,066]

 

As I noted in your blog, I wished to place my comments here in your thread:

 

So, how/what/why did/do I half-way disagree with Arctic Night?

 

Here is Artic's quote from Zygen's blog:

 

 

(The blue is what I agree with; the red is what I disagree with)

 

So, let me explain, firstly, to why I disagree with the above red selections: 

In my opinion, cover 4 was damn near spot on [as in, near perfect] --> as far as hitting the right notes goes, as well as the lengths of the notes.  

I did not hear any over-stretched (too long) notes, and I heard less errors (really, there were very few of them, like seriously, barely any) in cover 4.

And, to what I would like to say is my most important combatant point; listen to both version's endings, starting from 3 minutes, 9 seconds.

You can't argue with that  - there's a noticeable difference [for the better, in cover 4].

 

Eeyup, I swear to you Zygen, you did make me smile  at the end of cover 4 (well, I was smiling through the whole thing, but, at ~3:14, the note you hit was just... perfect!  I mean seriously, you did it; you hit the note and made it sound beautiful - like it was meant to be). 

 

--- The only one negative thing I can think of is... from 2:34 to 2:58 - the parts where the singing is more like quick-talking; it seems a tad bit jumbled - not that I couldn't understand you - I could just fine - just that, it's the one thing that might need a little bit more careful work regarding enunciation/pronunciation with the fast paced words.  But it wasn't "bad" either, so don't get me wrong. ---

 

To the blue - to what I agreed with Arctic Night [about] - cover 3 sounded a slight bit less enthusiastic; maybe not so much that you weren't enjoying it so much as it may have been trying to overcome nerves.

 

But nonetheless... Dear Luna.... I mean, dude... cover 4 was a huge, wonderful improvement from your cover of Pinkie's Lament you did a while ago (not that it was bad - it wasn't bad at all - it's just, I can tell how much more confidence you have brought to the table microphone with cover 4 of "Smile," and I am honored to say it, too).  You've blown me away, really... I can honestly say that I am proud of you, because you've done something that takes alot of guts, alot of practice, and alot of confidence to do - and, you did it very well.

 

I hope you keep up the good work, and keep the song covers coming, man, because you have a great voice, and you are an inspiration.  

 

Yours Honestly, 

Miles

 

ss (2014-04-11 at 07.44.25).jpg

 

 

 

 

Wow, First of all i'd like to apologize to you, and all the others for not replying sooner, I have been busy.

 

But when I did first read your reply, I got a little watery eyed, just because your response was so passionate, and meaningful, it really meant a lot to hear all the things you said.

 

Just wanted to mention that . 

 

Onto replying to the actual post.

 

I think both were pretty equal on correct notes hit, idk, I can still notice several out of tune notes in both covers, to the point where some are essentially wrong notes. So I feel they're mostly even from what I heard, but maybe I just need to listen and compare more.

 

As far as note length, I guess it's really up to personal preference. I mean this is a cover, so in reality, I'm not necessarily going to follow every single bit of the song to be the exact same as the original, nor do I really have to, because it's a cover, and in my eyes covers are meant to be interpreted by the one who sings it.

 

Of course, lacking a way to create my own instrumentals i'm a bit limited, but regardless. 

 

I guess it's kinda just preference, I think there were some slightly to long notes personally, or maybe some that I kind of oddly exaggerated or stretched a bit, but some of it comes down to personal taste really.

 

As far as which ending was better, I have to agree that cover 4's was better. Just much cleaner overall. That is no question really in my eyes.

 

And I'm glad I made you smile, this song is fun to do just in general, not only to listen to, but especially to sing, and making people smile is just icing on the cake . 

 

And thank you, I guess it was a pretty clean note.

 

And yeah, I'd have to agree with you on 2:34-2:58, that part is kinda fast, and I kind of suck at enunciating many times, not just in singing, but in conversation too. So it is something I have to work on especially when it comes to singing, as I can be kinda unclear when speaking sometimes. I am a bit crappy at talking I guess xD.

 

And while I don't remember my emotional state during recording of both covers, i'd say it's probably true that I was holding back more on it. Or maybe just unsure or more concerned with hitting the notes.

 

Usually it takes me a attempt or two on recording atleast before I really get the feel for things, especially if I've never done the song before. And sometimes it takes me some time to work up the courage to passionately sing everything so it sounds good. 

 

Or sometimes i'm just trying not to fumble the lyrics(You'd be surprised how easy it is to fumble lyrics to a song you've heard 100's of times. Especially with that deceptive chorus that has similar lyrics that then change up ;p.)

 

So a number of things could be to blame for the general lack of enthusiasm or nervous sound on the 3rd cover(Or 3rd attempt, or 1st attempt, whatever you wanna call it, I just have them labeled on my computer by attempts, atleast the ones I bothered saving, I sometimes record extras but they suck to much, or I give up halfway because I make a big mistake, or I just sometimes do a warm up beforehand along to the music to get a feel for everything.)

 

And thanks, Maybe the general cheeriness of the "Smile song" makes it easier to sing comfortably, idk, or maybe I've just got more experience and am more comfortable, who knows. I guess I do sound more comfortable and confident on this than on "Pinkie's Lament" but then again I haven't listened to that in a while. 

 

I suppose part of that could be that I am more familiar with the "Smile song" considered I've heard it a million times, and have already technically covered it once before(a much crappier cover, somewhere on my other main blog I think, if your curious, if you can't find it and want it, PM me.)

 

And that last part is the part that just made my day when I read it. I can't describe how it feels to hear such compliments. To hear that someone thinks of my singing so highly, when a like a few years ago I couldn't sing worth dirt. And I just liked to sing because I enjoyed it.

 

Now, I just don't sing like dirt, but still enjoy it just as much, if not more because I don't have to sound like crap when I listen to myself on recording.(Atleast most times ;p.)

 

So thank you, very much Miles for your post. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort as well as emotion into it, so thanks .

 

Love ya buddy .

 

(Ps, I totally want to do a cover of essentially the entirety of "Filli Vanilli" at some point, just as soon as I figure out how i'm going to go about that, and get time to ;p. Just a side note that your picture brought up.)

 

 

 

NOOOOOO, I LOST A PARAGRAPH OF CRITIQUE. -facepalm-

 

WELL THEN.

 

Definately, the biggets drawback is the equipment you are using. Since I assume this was something done as a hobby and you don't plan on singing covers for money, I'm not going to drone on and on about microphones. That stuff is boring, but it did slightly distort your voice, and I know I'm not the only one hearing that buzzing.

 

Besides that.

 

Your voice was excellent. Both covers are great in their own aspects, but overall, I like the latter of the two options. I cannot give a list of what was better for two reasons:

 

I already did and it took 5 mins to type and I am lazy.

 

Overall, the second option just felt like there was a lot more energy put into it. Like the first cover you did was a warm up and the second one was your performance.

 

I have virtually no complaints in your vocal style.

D:, I'm sorry to hear, it would've been nice to see it all and read it, but I am still happy you left some critique regardless.

 

I suppose my equipment is kinda meh, I have a Blue Snowball microphone if your curious, but it really has been kinda a let down in quality overall, I expected better from it, but it really isn't that overly impressive, my headset I have is almost better quality than it, plus the input level of the mic is quite low, which isn't really a problem for singing, but can be if I try and use it for much of anything else like chatting on skype, so switching mics can be sometimes annoying.

 

There are probably plenty better mics out there I could get, but I don't know if I really want to invest in anything big at the moment. I don't really necessarily plan on doing this for money at the moment, whether that will change idk, but for now I doubt it. Especially since I'd need much more improvement before that.

 

And yeah, the mic distorts my voice, that may also be partially due to my crappy skills at audacity, honestly I didn't even know how to do noise removal until a while ago, and that makes things much cleaner, but even then I have trouble getting the settings right so it cleans noise, but doesn't alter my voice a bunch.

 

I also don't have things like a pop filter, which can be an issue in some cases. 

 

So yeah, overall I could have done better utilizing my equipment, and with the equipment I have. But regardless. (The snowball was purchased for YouTube commentaries originally btw, back when I did them.)

 

Maybe I will purchase a better mic in the future, just so I can get a cleaner quality, for myself to hear, and others.

 

And thank you, I don't tend to think highly of my voice, but I am happy to hear you like it .

 

I'd have to agree the latter is better, especially after the input of others. It does kinda feel a bit warmupish.

 

Thanks for your critique!

 

i my have had my volume up high and blasted it wich scared me cuz im in the stabe about being a brony

Sorry D:. I tried my best to balance the audio and stuff, but it's setup around my own audio settings, which may be higher or lower than yours.

 

And I'm wearing headphones ;p.

 

I'm actually a closet brony as well, which is partially why I do these only when I'm home alone. (The other reason is I'm to shy to sing when my family is home for multiple reasons.) 

[Miles 2,512]

Wow, First of all i'd like to apologize to you, and all the others for not replying sooner, I have been busy.

 

But when I did first read your reply, I got a little watery eyed, just because your response was so passionate, and meaningful, it really meant a lot to hear all the things you said.

 

Just wanted to mention that . 

[snip]

 

And that last part is the part that just made my day when I read it. I can't describe how it feels to hear such compliments. To hear that someone thinks of my singing so highly, when a like a few years ago I couldn't sing worth dirt. And I just liked to sing because I enjoyed it.

 

Now, I just don't sing like dirt, but still enjoy it just as much, if not more because I don't have to sound like crap when I listen to myself on recording.(Atleast most times ;p.)

 

So thank you, very much Miles for your post. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort as well as emotion into it, so thanks .

 

Love ya buddy .

 

(Ps, I totally want to do a cover of essentially the entirety of "Filli Vanilli" at some point, just as soon as I figure out how i'm going to go about that, and get time to ;p. Just a side note that your picture brought up.)

 

 

Oh you... 

 

Of course I'm gonna put time, effort, and emotion into it.  I'm passionate about offering my appraisal of your singing.  And, you deserve it.

 

Love you too, bud'  .

 

(Oh joy!  I'd love to hear that... it's like, one of my favorites!  It will be a task, to decide how to go about doing it, though.  If you have a hard time sorting through how to do it, feel free to discuss the options you had in mind with me in a PM, and I'll see if I can't help you decide.)

[Zygen 6,066]

img-2762858-1-1351149759693.gif

 

Oh you... 

 

Of course I'm gonna put time, effort, and emotion into it.  I'm passionate about offering my appraisal of your singing.  And, you deserve it.

 

Love you too, bud'  .

 

(Oh joy!  I'd love to hear that... it's like, one of my favorites!  It will be a task, to decide how to go about doing it, though.  If you have a hard time sorting through how to do it, feel free to discuss the options you had in mind with me in a PM, and I'll see if I can't help you decide.)

. Thanks! I very much appreciate your work in that case. Critique is very nice, especially with passion and effort as you did .

 

(Yeah, It's one of my favorites too . But it is a bit odd, so I'm not sure how i'd go about it, I'll have to figure out how I'm going to do everything. I may discuss it possibly with you in PM, it's nice to get extra input, but it'll probably be tommorow, because I'm probably going to bed right now, it's late, and I have school to attend too.)

[Zygen 6,066]

Newest cover is up! This time it's "Bats". Check it out in the OP!