Attempt at "With Or Without You"

[theedgeu2]

I was just screwing around with WOWY a few days back and thought I'd give you guys a look. I used Garageband on this one. I'm not a drummer, just a guitarist, I tend to focus more in that area. I was experimenting and not trying to be exact as the original. Thank you guys!

YouTube - U2 "With or Without You" Attempt

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

Not to be negative but to offer some constructive thoughts.

Try the quantize function for the drums. I'm assuming Garageband has it? That should get the drums in time.

Your guitar doesn't seem to be in tune with the track. Guitar tone seems really muddy too.

 

[theedgeu2]

Hmmm...quantize? I haven't heard of it. Luckily for me I saved the track to the computer so I can go back and redo anything that needs touching up. I always have to do several takes before I can actually get a completely successful track. But you learn from mistakes. I might need to mic an amp instead of running direct. Might solve the muddiness issue on the guitar. I think the bass is the standout here. I really didn't like the guitar sound at all.

 

[Edge_Orchestra]

Hmmm...quantize? I haven't heard of it. Luckily for me I saved the track to the computer so I can go back and redo anything that needs touching up. I always have to do several takes before I can actually get a completely successful track. But you learn from mistakes. I might need to mic an amp instead of running direct. Might solve the muddiness issue on the guitar. I think the bass is the standout here. I really didn't like the guitar sound at all.

Quantizing will correct some of the timing errors in the drumming. Try that.

I agree that the guitar tones are off. What guitar, effects, amp are you using?

The bass part was not bad. It is probaby the standout. But that ain't bad! That is a start. I you can get the bass and drums in time with one another... then you can concentrate on the guitar.

As previously mentioned, it seemed that your guitar was out of key. What key is the track you are making/using? What is your guitar tuned to?

It's all about learning. So making mistakes is all part of the game. I am not saying that I'm an amazing guitar player. I can honestly say that I merely suck a little less today than I did yesterday - which is progress. And that ain't a bad thing. =O)

 

[theedgeu2]

The guitar was a Gibson Les Paul, into an Line 6 M13 that I modeled Digital Delay w/ Mod and modeled a TS9. All of that went direct into an M-Audio Fast Track Pro (which is where I think I went wrong).

The bass part was played at half step down. I tuned my guitar a half step down but I didn't go over the tuning multiple times to make sure that it was keeping in tune. Either that is the fault or the bass is out of tune.

 

[Chill Mike D]

Somewhere I have a loop of the backing sequence that they use. If I can find it I'll email it to you if you want it.

 

[theedgeu2]

Somewhere I have a loop of the backing sequence that they use. If I can find it I'll email it to you if you want it.

Cool! Here's my email in case you find it vincentmag@hotmail.com

Thank you!

 

[theedgeu2]

YouTube - With or Without You (Attempt #2)

I finally had some time to go back and redo my attempt at WOWY. I tried a few new things but mostly the only change is the guitar and bass. They were out of tune before and now they should be in tune.

ETA: Also the drums were not redone. They sounded ok to me to go with. So please don't criticize me for the drumming. I ain't Larry Mullen.

 

[Chill Mike D]

You're on your way, it's an improvement. Any advice I could give would be to embrace being a little sloppy at times. I don't mean off time or shanked notes, but more like slight inconsistency and the noise of your fingers. It will make the performance come through in the recording.

Good job

 

[theedgeu2]

Thanks! And I think I need to try some other U2 songs. Hopefully the drumming shouldn't be too hard next time. Messing with these songs and making mistakes is one way to learn and get better. Plus making these demo type instrumental tracks is real fun, at least this one was. Now I am off to look for another track to work on.

 

[Chill Mike D]

Oh yeah, whenever I get tired of working on my own stuff or pissed off with dealing with them, I'll mess around with a cover to just play and get out of my rut.

And then sometimes that leads to something new of its own.

 

[theedgeu2]

Oh yeah I do that too. And because I've done that I've written a few of my own tunes as well. I'm moving on with Beautiful Day next. Kind of basing it off David Holmes remix from Artificial Horizon. Also adding a bit of my own flavor to it as well. I got the bass track and drum track done and will move on to the rest tomorrow due to parents sleeping. I can't wait to get up tomorrow and see what I can make of it.

 

[Chill Mike D]

Very cool.

Post it when it's done.

 

[HBK-79]

I spotted this thread and started thinking:

Would WOWY sound better with an E-Bow-

YouTube - With Or Without You - ZOOTV Tour Zoomerang '93

Or with a sustainer guitar-

YouTube - u2- live - with or without you

For an amateur to attempt at, that is.

 

[mirrorballman]

For an amateur I'd say a sustainer guitar. The eBow takes getting used to, but once you get the hang of it it's alot of fun.