Reply To: Video Killed the Radio Star – Cover – Electric and Unplugged

[Peter DeLegge]

On Ross said

Really nice work on this Peter! You definitely captured the sound and vibe of the original. Excellent performance and production. Curious, what processing are you using on your vocs?

Thanks. I don’t know what I’m doing production-wise. I made reel-to-reel and cassette multi-track recordings since I was probably 11 yrs old. By the time I was 18 and working as a drummer semi-professionally and started getting studio experience, I never learned very much about what engineers were doing. It was pretty much being asked how I liked the sound of the drums and cymbals and how I’d like things tweaked. I spent a lot more time — 12 years — working with live sound engineers, who would tell me what mics and effects to purchase (I played drums and sang background vocals semi-professionally before a repetitive stress injury resulted in lifelong tendinitis that limits what I can play and how long I can play — which on the drums, is often far less than a song; one the keys, if the tempo isn’t to fast and the parts are simple, I can play through one or two songs; so live performance is out). At 18, I was playing clubs, and by my mid-20s, I began playing with a more popular band playing up to 2,000 seat venues and a lot of colleges. We had two live sound engineers, but I’d be on my drums for a live sound check and they’d be on the board. At most, I learned about micing the drums, mic choice, and bought the effects they recommended when I would tell them what I was looking for. Subsequently, more than two decades since I stopped performing, and I largely haven’t attempted to finish any music since I began attempting to play again around 4 years ago, I haven’t exactly become fluent on mixing or mastering (for the later, I really just rely on Izotope Ozone to do the mastering).

For vocals, I use ezMix and Izotope Nectar. I originally started using MIDI instruments because it was so much easier than dealing with recording live instruments. Out of everything, I find singing and dealing with vocal tracks the most complex part of recording songs. I’ve tried to persuade my teenage daughter to sing them, but I’ve had no success with that.

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