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Artist Statement:

It was interesting being able to work with each other during the covid situation. Sometimes we were not able to pay all together, but practicing alone allowed us to improve our skills over time. Before being able to jam out together, we had to practice and work on our individual parts corresponding to the rest of the song so that we would be able to keep up with one another while playing live. For this song it was interesting for Johnny, as lots of the piano was very repetitive, but the timing of transitioning to the chorus, and the riff that was played after the transitions were challenging. As the guitarist, Henry had to learn his part while simultaneously teaching himself the guitar. This was challenging at first but as time progressed, the song helped accentuate his playing abilities.

The main verse was easiest to understand, while the chorus offered some difficulty as it was more fast paced and had more movement on the guitar. For this song, Sam took on the vocals and learned the bass part. This was not Sam’s first time dabbling with the bass but he was not a very skilled player. For the vocals Sam learned the lyrics and had to work on his diction in addition how to sound similar to how Ian Curtis sings the record. On the drums, Charlie found success playing in a new style that he was not accustomed to. The drums are a very important part of the band, keeping rhythm and holding the band together, but it was very interesting to work on a song that didn’t have such a clear arrangement. Because of this we all had to work together, signaling when the beat or melody would change and we learned a lot from that collaboration. When choosing our song, we went through multiple different options, all in similar Genres, but landed on Disorder by Joy Division because there was almost some type of spark in the air, and we knew this was the right choice for us.

Credits:

Originally composed by Joy Division

Henry B (guitar)

Sam S (vocals)

Johnny (keyboards)

Charlie (drums)

Jack T & Charlton St. Studio (engineering & production)

Artist Statement:

In the beginning of quarantine I began studying with a new drum teacher named Nick Baglio over zoom, something I had never done before. At first the process of lessons was slow and full of technical problems but eventually once we figured out the setbacks with sound quality and connection, they became way more enjoyable. It was with Nick that I embarked on making this cover. We began by transcribing the tune, trying to recreate the fills we could and improvising some as well. The song in and of itself wasn’t an extremely difficult one but it pushed me to improve when it came to my transcribing skills, something I am still relatively inexperienced in. I recorded the track electronically, which was somewhat of a bummer as I wanted to do an acoustic take but it saved us the time of micing a drum kit and doing too much production. With a little editing we had our final product which I think turned out pretty well. Overall studying online has been a great experience, and I’m so glad it allowed me to meet such a talented artist that has pushed my skills to another level and inspired me to continue improving and expanding into other genres I hadn’t before. Overall quarantine has somewhat opened my eyes to the possibility that zoom lessons have when it comes to getting wisdom from people too far to reach and I hope that even after Covid is finished, I am still able to continue taking online lessons from people all across the country and possibly the world. 

Credits:

Originally composed by Jared Leto (30 Seconds to Mars)

Miles (drums)

Artist Statement:

We decided to pick the song Put Your Head On My Shoulder by Paul Anka. We had heard this song a lot on social media (ex: Tiktok), and liked the sound of it. I, Farin, personally hadn’t played a song in this genre before, so it was a nice challenge (as well as playing two instruments on one song). I also think that it was abnormally hard because of COVID. It made it harder to coordinate with our group, and less time to practice in person. Motivation is also hard during COVID times as days seem to blend together. However, we managed to make it happen, and created something we are happy with.

Finn played piano, and ended up doing two different piano parts. There was the piano backing that was in the original song, and added a piano part to substitute for the backing vocals. Miles played the drums, and added a tambourine part as well. Farin played both saxophone and electric guitar. The saxophone part was to replace the vocals, and the saxophone has a unique sound which added an original twist onto the song. Electric guitar was also an interesting choice as the original song used acoustic guitar. These changes added a personal touch to the piece. 

Recording instead of playing live gave an interesting experience where we got to learn more about the recording process. There are pros and cons to both recording and playing live (ex: recording gives more leeway for mistakes, but is a lot more time consuming). Overall, it still ended up being a fun experience despite the challenges of a new situation. 

Credits:

Originally composed by Paul Anka (1959)

Farin (sax, guitar)

Miles (drums, percussion)

Finn (piano)

Artist Statement:

Since our group consisted of online students, we decided that using instruments and recording a part of a song may have been a bit too difficult to manage. We were all at different places trying to sound in sync using software. Instead, we decided to make a produced beat using a loop or two and then branching our own sounds and melodies. We used Soundtrap which made it easy for the three of us to work at the same time. 

We started the beat with a simple bassline and dragged in a few drum loops. Seeing that the beat didn’t have many characteristics, we decided to make our own drum beats which was pretty easy using sound trap’s integrated drum machine. Our next challenge was to make the actual melodies and beats flow together like a real song; we didn’t want the beat to just sound like a bunch of random loops forced together. 

After adding our own melodies, making our own drum beats, and making it flow together, the last part was to equalize the tracks in order for the beat to sound well made. Adding sound effects here and there, the beat represents collaboration from three separate locations and how we were still able to collaborate and make a song.

Credits:

Co-composed by Marco, Luca, Harrison (production, Soundtrap)

Artist Statement:

Overall, the process of completing a cover of “The Less I Know The Better” by Tame Impala was a complex process in which we explored various music elements that really resonated with us. Our group; Jade, Anna, and Tess, had originally expressed an interest in this band as we had previously been a fan of their music. We decided to take on the challenge of learning this song by seeing which instruments each of us felt like we could play to our best extent. There were a few challenges, as working during this pandemic presents issues. These ranged from just not being able to be in person half the time, from having to be distant from each other, to not being able to use as many school instruments. Despite these challenges, it was overall a really good experience as we personally went deeper into my performing and recording abilities, something that we were not so comfortable with before. 

Credits:

Originally composed by Kevin Parker (Tame Impala)

Jade (synth bass, keyboard melody)

Tess (synth chords, keyboard harmony)

Anna (guitar)

Charlton St. Studio (drums, vocoder)

Artist Statement:

This project was somewhat simplistic in terms of the work put into it, but there is nonetheless a story behind it. First, I landed on Highway To Hell as a song I wanted to cover. My dad had played it for me when I was little, and we’d listen to it every time we were upstate in our old, beat-up truck. The song always stuck out to me as a song I’d like to play someday. Even with my limited knowledge of manipulating tracks and recording, I made the drum track by using my extensive familiarity with the song to do it by ear. Then, I found an audio of Highway To Hell without a drum track and put my drum track onto it in GarageBand. It was difficult to align them perfectly, and I don’t quite think I got it, as the drum track sometimes sounds misaligned by a millisecond. However, the rest of the time, including during the chorus, it is aligned just right. Please forgive the misaligned parts of the song. I don’t claim to be an accomplished drummer, or even a competent track mixer, but I did my best and for what it’s worth, I am proud of my efforts. 

Credits:

Originally composed by ACDC

Drums recorded and produced by Mason L

Artist Statement:

First off, thank you for clicking on this song. The song you either are listening/just listened to is called Cruel Angel’s Thesis, by Yoko Takahashi. If you are at all an Anime fan, you will recognize this song. It’s the opening to a very famous anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion. I just recently started watching the show, and I absolutely love it. One way I connect to the shows that I watch is to listen to the soundtrack from the shows. Because I just started watching Neon Genesis Evangelion, I thought it would be a fun idea to learn and play Cruel Angel’s Thesis. Though, taking it on as a single person project proved to be difficult. It was a lot of responsibility and music learning. But, I think that the song turned out great and I’m very proud of how it turned out.

Credits:

Originally composed by Yoko Takahashi

All parts recorded via MIDI and produced by Max

Artist Statement:

The original idea for Feel Good Inc. came from Ethan! Ethan originally wanted to play the song in 10th grade for class then, but it never fully came together. He brought up the idea to Dylan and the two began working on it. Spencer didn’t come in until later when they started looking for a bass player, and he happened to already know the song. The song gave a great opportunity for everyone involved. It let Ethan really work on his drums, Dylan to learn how to play bar chords and work on rhythm, and for Spencer it was a great chance to work in Logic Pro with mixing. We decided to record in class and began by recording all together alongside the original recording with a metronome in Logic. This let us hear the original as well as each other and really feel the groove of the song. Once we laid down this initial recording, we layered a second guitar on top of the initial to add fullness to the mix.

After we felt confident in these instrumental parts we began recording all the vocals. To do this we individually recorded the entirety of the vocals, and had Dylan go back to add the “shoobadooba’s” throughout. With all of this together Spencer finally sat down and worked on the levels, effects, as well as the general mix. One of the ones worth noting is the pitch shifter he placed on his voice in the second verse which duplicates his voice, with one being digitally pitch shifted 2 octaves lower. This helped get the booming deep voice heard in the originals. Another worth noting is the silververb (a reverb plugin) heard on almost all the vocals. Finally Nick came in and helped put some final touches on and it was done! We had a lot of fun making the piece and hope you enjoy it!

Credits:

Originally composed by The Gorrilaz

Ethan (drums, vocals)

Dylan (guitar, vocals)

Spencer (bass, vocals, production)