I’ve not posted anything in a while…not since my first song production last year in fact…but I enjoy listening and watching every else’s posts.
This is my cover of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song that was released when I was in high school back in the early 90’s - called “I Could Have Lied”. Justin did a lesson on this song last year and it made me want to learn all the parts and record it - thanks Justin! The original has a nice mix of acoustic guitar and some great John Fusciante solos with a Strat tone.
The guitars and vocals are me…the drums and bass are a backing track.
Bravo. I didn’t know this song until now. I’ve listened to the original too, so i had something to compare your version with. Your version holds up pretty good.
Keep up the good work! Can’t wait for the next one…
Sure, my pleasure. The process I use is to first get a drum backing track to set the timing to work around. Next thing was to record the main acoustic guitar and the variations. Then I added in some acoustic overdubs for the parts towards the end where you can hear Fusciante has done something similar to bring out the little melody lines.
I recorded all the vocals next, so I could get a better feel for exactly where the solos would need to go. The vocals overlap the 2nd solo so I thought better to do it that way to get the right feel.
I use Ableton Live Lite which is limited to only 8 tracks so I have to use them somewhat sparingly.
I used an NT-1 mic to record the acoustic guitars and vocals and recorded the electric parts with my Strat and tube amp and used pedals for delay and reverb.
I then started the mixing process. I built a voice rack previously that I can now apply to make the vocals sound more produced - basically some EQ, compression and reverb etc. I apply EQ to each track to help keep them in their own lanes. For instance to cut out the low frequencies of the guitars so they don’t overlap the bass guitar and drums.
My tube amplifier has a nice feature with an XLR out which allows me to record directly into the DAW. So that saves mic’ing up the speaker cabinet etc.
Anyway, those are the steps I used to put this song together. Hope that is helpful.
Here is the recording with no vocals to hear the other parts more easily.
Rich,
Good job. I enjoyed this alot. I have not heard it and the RHCP are not on my go to list. Based on your offering, I should up my game and take in more of them. Good play and vox. Just a nice production, all around!
Sounds amazing! I’ve always promised myself I’d try and learn the solo to this track but have never got round to it. This has inspired me to do so. Very well done
Thanks @LBro, yes well worth checking out RHCP, they have made some great songs over the years. They always sound best when John Fusciante (guitarist) is in the band in my opinion. He’s left and re-joined 3 times over the years…just joined back recently after 15 years being out of the band. They started out as a punk/funk band in the early days and then started making some hits in the 90’s with the first album Rick Rubin produced with them.
Thanks a lot @Strummer_of_69 - glad you enjoyed my version. There’s so many great RHCP guitar solos to learn…and I too have wanted to learn some of them. When Justin posted this song, it inspired me to learn it and record it. Definitely had a lot of fun with this one. I especially like the feel of the outro solo John F does, it’s not too difficult actually but he’s one of those players that just has a great feel and tone. He is heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and I think it comes out in that song and a number of songs on that album.
