Porch by Pearl Jam

[Socio]

@brianlarsen

he does put his heart (and lungs) into it giving it some ‘wellie’ in all the right places.

He channeled his inner Eddie

[nzmetal]

Hey Adi, so good to see another performance from you, and WHAT A PERFORMANCE!

I saw this pop up a couple of days ago but didn’t have the opportunity to give it the time it deserved. I had a single listen through and was suitably impressed! But there were a few things that stuck out to me, which I will come back to below. However, firstly, the one I am most impressed by…

Playing it back initially, I thought that it was a purchased backing track that I know a few on here tend to use (rather than what I tend to use being the original with guitars stripped which admittedly can be poorer quality I’ll agree). However, then I read Brian’s initial post and his point here:

@brianlarsen

i presume that’s a commercial backing track? Sounds great, except for the vocals. I found it a little distracting the way they were panned so far to one side. (That wasn’t actually you singing, was it? If it was you smashed it out of the park)

So I saw he’d assumed the same as me, but then had also wondered if it might have been you. I hadn’t considered that so listened again and thought, well, it could in fact be! But didn’t have enough confidence to decide either way. But then to hear later that it was actually you was so great as I was leaning towards it being a BT. I am hoping you will take that as a massive compliment, as when listening to the vocals, at least to my ears, they could easily have been supplied via purchased BT. Yes, tonally different to Eddie’s and a few notes not perfect (but this is rock right!? Actually grunge for that matter! ) but the passion that had gone into it closely matches the intensity of the original and sounds great to my ears! Super well done!

I’ve listened through it a few times now and there are some specific points I’d like to mention…

The couple of "waaaaaa-ooooh"s followed by the “waoh!” at beginning (~19s-33s) is very well done imo. This could easily have been an awfully cringeworthy start with that being a super hard section to launch the song with after the initial run of fast-ish lyrics. To get that to sound right and not be way off tune would be super difficult, and although it might not be exactly on tune, it’s close enough for me and the scream at the end has exactly the right amount of angst to it

Also, from around 1m03s -1m25s I thought was brilliant, love the little bit of grit you can bring in with your vocals, just great

Then the ending from ~2m24s was immense! Filled with passion and intensity. Would have loved to have seen you singing that, incredible

This is the best vocal performance of yours I have heard, super impressed.

Regarding the guitar playing, that was superb as always and little for me to critique as it’s well beyond my capabilities! I did spot a couple of slight misses on close inspection but infinitesimal in all reality. Bends were great and the fast runs during the solo were most impressive. I enjoyed that you had both guitar parts recorded as it was interesting to watch how the two parts flowed in unison, especially at the end.

My biggest beef would be about the tone (which is pot calling kettle black from me! ). However, I read this and so that’s totally understandable:

@adi_mrok

I could have fiddled a bit more with FX, but due to limited time on my hands I just went with my last preset

Tone-chasing can be really time consuming (and very subjective of course) so I appreciate that in this instance it probably wasn’t the primary focus. Although putting that to one side for a second, I felt that the lead lacked a bit of the punch/spark of the original and was a bit flat, which undermined the quality of your playing. The rhythm was all good though, a warm, chunky tone that I liked and sat well under the vocals. So, if you chose to revisit this down the track (or a similar PJ tune), and I really hope you do (including visuals of your singing ), then some time crafting that tone to match your exceptional playing would be well spent imo, and if you do so, I can’t wait to see/hear it!

Final point I’d make is that I think it was on your previous performance there was some discussion around sharing some emotion with your audience. I feel you are an understated kind of guy and your relaxed demeanor with lack of facial expressions whilst shredding the guitar perhaps hides the intensity we would love to see, however I imagine if we were to have seen your singing on this, that might have been a totally different story! Perhaps channeling some of that into your playing would elevate you to an even higher performance level?

Anyway, thank you for sharing this and please keep more coming our way, really inspiring stuff!
(Actually has made me go back and listen to the full Ten album! I haven’t for ages but it was huge for me as a teenager, that and Vs. Those two were really the only PJ albums I really got in to, Vitalogy a bit, but nothing after that pretty much. In fact, I always actually preferred Vs over Ten, but re-listening to Ten now after so long, it really is a great album and Porch is fantastic track. Thanks for re-igniting that )

[LBro]

Hi Adi,
Gave this a proper spin and found it impressive. Pity you did not have more time with it. I liked your play and vox. Not feeling as warm about the mix. Maybe it is true to the original or ref track? Not sure as I did not compare it to the target source.

I would probably have tried your vox center and pulled most of the guitars in on the sides. If there were not enough guitar in there to fill the sonic field, I would have looked into dual tracking the main rhythm guitar(s) and splitting them L & R. What do you have going on bass in this? Is there any? If so, it did not come though to my ears. That as well would help round out the sonic field.

All in all good stuff, yet I am pretty confident you could raise the bar on this one even further if desired. A tip of the hat towards your direction and all the best as you rock on down the road!
LB

[SgtColon]

Great to see you back posting Adi. It’s no fun when life gets in the way of your guitar.

That was a great way to rock it and the solo was sweet. Not a bad job on the vocals but I have heard you better, though I could tell you were really giving it some.

You just keep getting better and better but then I guess that is the whole point.

[adi_mrok]

@brianlarsen

In the real world of commercial music consumption, our critical sorting hats can be ruthless
You still smashed it out of the park

@brianlarsen

It may not be Eddie’s voice but he does put his heart (and lungs) into it giving it some ‘wellie’ in all the right places.

You’re too kind my friend, really love your enthusiasm and encouragement! No need to warm up the crowd for me haha, those who know is enoguh for my ego, no need to blow the trumpets anymore

@nzmetal

Playing it back initially, I thought that it was a purchased backing track that I know a few on here tend to use (rather than what I tend to use being the original with guitars stripped which admittedly can be poorer quality I’ll agree).

Just fyi, I have just downloaded off youtube mp3 track with bass and drums, that was it so totally possible to do it free!

@nzmetal

but this is rock right!? Actually grunge for that matter!

Haha I take any justification for wrong notes my friend!

@nzmetal

Then the ending from ~2m24s was immense! Filled with passion and intensity. Would have loved to have seen you singing that, incredible

Thanks Jeff, took 3-4 attempts to get to the recorded version but happy it paid off to try and try again although i disagree, you wouldn’t like to see my expressions during recording

@nzmetal

This is the best vocal performance of yours I have heard, super impressed.

Wow really appreciate you saying this Jeff! It also shows how same things are received differently by others, which is an interesting observation!

@nzmetal

I felt that the lead lacked a bit of the punch/spark of the original and was a bit flat, which undermined the quality of your playing

I’m glad you picked that up as that’s exactly what I was thinking as well when relistening again. I think next time I would apply a bit more compressor to improve sustain and perhaps a tad more gain too.

@nzmetal

Perhaps channeling some of that into your playing would elevate you to an even higher performance level?

And I was thinking this was already energetic comparing to my regular self I think I am just feeling a bit camera shy to be honest to loose my mind into playing, this bloody RLS!

@nzmetal

Thanks for re-igniting that )

Glad I helped! I am a PJ junkie so any album except last one is more than fine to me

@LBro

I would probably have tried your vox center and pulled most of the guitars in on the sides. If there were not enough guitar in there to fill the sonic field, I would have looked into dual tracking the main rhythm guitar(s) and splitting them L & R. What do you have going on bass in this? Is there any? If so, it did not come though to my ears. That as well would help round out the sonic field.

Thanks for some good production tips LB, I am not so sure why do I always pan out vox to rest of the instruments. I guess my thinking is vox to be standing somewhere to the side to make guitar more prominent? Clearly didn’t work this time and have to rethink it for the next recording. As for bass - I had a BT with both drums and bass together. I guess boosting some frequencies would help.

@SgtColon

Not a bad job on the vocals but I have heard you better, though I could tell you were really giving it some.

Thanks Stefan and duly noted, clearly I got people into thinking I am only into slow acoustic sets once every now and then I might give it a go to my inner rocker voice though!