This is my looping cover of Radiohead’s ‘Weird Fishes’ by Radiohead
I started working on this song over a year ago, but I found the timing very difficult so I never got very far with it. Then a few weeks ago it just clicked.
Trying out a few different things here:
Recording using my phone instead of a web cam - it allows for wider field of view, but doesn’t seem to keep focus very well at times. (advice?)
Vocals have a lot more reverb than I would normally use, but I think it suits the song.
The lighting was added for some fun on an atmospheric song, and I just got it and really wanted to try it out.
beat boxing - not something I every thought I’d type, never mind try - but it was the only way I could get fast enough percussion
Spent a lot of time tweaking sound and mix - I recommend some good head phones.
This song breaks one of my looping ‘rules’, which is to always be playing. There are several bars where I’m just singing while the loop does it’s thing. In the end I realized I was just forcing it and making it worse trying to stick to a rule I made up.
All comments welcome, and I would very much appreciate any comments on mix, tone, eq, levels as this is something I’m very focused on, but still learning.
Always love a bit of looping Dale, and was aware I hadn’t seen you post one up for a while .
Great job, I’m always impressed by anyone that can juggle so many elements of timing and hold it all together.
I didn’t know the song but enjoyed it non the less, congrats on a job well done with all your experimenting. The only thing I wish had been better was the video, as you say it didn’t seem to be particularly well focused and that made it hard to watch your footwork on that pedalboard.
Wow Dale no time no see, and this was really excellent and fantastic. I think tone wise you captured all the essence of Radiohead, so won’t give you any advice since I enjoyed it A LOT!
As for lighting looks really cool and sexy although I reckon that light change might be the reason why your camera was loosing focus. You should be able to switch auto focus off and go to pro mode, but what settings to set I have no clue
As it goes for constructive criticism I would do a bit of a different drum track at around 2:32 (now here comes a funny way of me trying to explain it ) - you played a pattern da-DA-da-DA-da-DA, whereas it would sound better in my ears with da-DA-da-da-DA-da-DA-da-da-DA arrangement. Hope you know what I mean, otherwise I might need to record it somehow
And last note could do with some nice feedback and a bend, was cut short in my ears, but thats me being fully immersed in your performance! Stellar job Dale as usual, shame you’re not playing this on next Community OM!
All the best and hope you are keeping well! Clearly you do by looking how you’re continuously improving your skill set!
@CD02 , @adi_mrok, thanks for checking it out and your kind words.
Yes, it has definitely been a while for me. Busy spring followed by a busier summer.
I still get practice time in, but didn’t make the time to record any videos, never mind doing an OM.
On the various comments:
My ultimate goal with the light is to be able to control it with a foot pedal to have a few ‘modes’ of varying colour/pattern/intensity, but I’m not there yet. But I think you are correct that it was interfering with the phone camera…I just checked and see no ‘auto focus’ setting - but I’ll look into my options before I do any more recording this way.
I agree on your rhythm suggestion. I wanted to add the extra percussion to continue to build the song, (and also because I want loud percussion when I bring it back in later). What I added was a admittedly uninteresting, but I find these midi pads very difficult to use to get anything beyond a simple beat in time. Most likely this is a user problem .
I also agree on the last note - this actually ended more abrupt that I was intending…but I didn’t want to record another time!
Loved the beat box Dale . Very complex task to put all that together and not get mixed up. Very impressive and a terrific version of the song. Well done.
As an aside, I’d rather have seen a focused video than the fancy lighting effects. But hey that’s just me!
I’ve always been super-impressed with your pedal/looper work (not to mention your musical chops), Dale- but you’ve taken this to the next level. Wow!
I’m just wondering though, that’s a lot of effort for a video Are you thinking of performing this kind of thing live at some stage?
You are exactly right. I’ve been working on building up a repertoire, hoping to do a set at one of the nearby venues at some point when I have enough songs and confidence that I have the kinks all worked out. The lights might be part of that, which is why I started experimenting here.
However, the songs I’m putting together for that are more familiar/up-beat tunes.
I don’t feel this one is very 'pub audience ’ friendly. I know a lot of Radiohead songs aren’t for everyone.
This is more a labour of love that isn’t likely to get performed, so it’s nice to have a place to share it.
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) - you played a pattern da-DA-da-DA-da-DA, whereas it would sound better in my ears with da-DA-da-da-DA-da-DA-da-da-DA arrangement. Hope you know what I mean, otherwise I might need to record it somehow 
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