Hi All,
Our latest in our year of covers - gone for the classic, Wicked Game.
Katja sounding brill on vocals and doing a great job on piano.
Katja took inspiration from the Lusaint cover, then we added in some feel from the original.
Been interesting working with cleaner guitar/bass tones.
A bit of a challenge for me trying to balance piano and guitar.
Hope it works.
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game [Cover by The Comfortably Strange] - YouTube
Digger & Katja
Hi Katja and Stephen
This can easily compete with the original, and this version has my preference 
Greetings…
Another fabulous production, Digger. Great song, even if more comfortable than strange.
As you say Katja brilliant on the vocals (lead and backing). Loved the piano and guitar parts. And must mention the video image.
Mix instrument and vocal balances all sound pretty good to me. If anything I’d have chosen for a mix that is not quite as wide. Sounds to me like piano and guitar panned 100% left and right. How wonder how it might sound with less extreme separation, perhaps 40%? Enough to hear the separation but more left and right in the middle than far out. And that is a reflection of my taste, not calling out an issue.
I noticed the overall level was 1.1dB over YT norm. I imagine not enough to introduce unwelcmome side-effects from being turned down but easy to rectify.
Great to hear another from The Comfortably Strange.
Wow, that’s damned impressive guys, an intriguing version and haunting vocal, sort of brought London Grammer to mind. 
Wow, that’s really impressive! I did an instrumental cover of this a few years ago, it’s nice to hear it’s not to complex, it’s one of those songs where being a bit stripped back is the right way to go. Katja’s singing is gorgeous and your accompaniment is thoughtfully crafted and blends well with the vocals. Love it 
Hi Stephen and Katja,
just one word: Amazing!! 
What an impressive production, all sits together so well! Brilliant vocals, piano playing and also guitar sound awesome to me. I liked the mix a lot and must admit: I favour your rendition over the original! Bravo!
Getting lazy in my old age Digger, so I’ll lift n shift my YT comments 
Wow Digger and Katja this is simply awesome. Great arrangement and Katja vox are just so enchanting. JGC needs to hear this asap. Loving these recent covers, some great song choices.
Wow that was truly wonderful Digger & Katja. Superb playing and arrangement. The vocals were just haunting and mesmerising. A fantastically wicked cover.
That was really great ! I especially love Katja’s voice. The whole arrangement sounds fantastic. So well done 
.
Every production is a new gem.
Perhaps thats why the band logo IS a gem
Always a treat to be hearing you guys doing what you love
big love!
THIS. 
There was a catchy quality to the original, but surely it was supposed to sound like this all along?
You guys remain the gold standard.
Standout features (apart from the overall arrangement/production):
The silences/pauses in Katja’s singing.
The reverb-laden husky/whispering quality of her voice.
Sigh…
(nice squiggles )
Wow, that was just amazing. I have to agree with @roger_holland - I also prefer your version over the original 
That was superb! Haunting and mesmerising vocal from Katja along with some terrific piano playing .
You guitar and production were top class Stephen. Well done both of you.
Wow! A very moody track. Excellent work Stephen and Katja. Loved the piano playing and the guitar was sounding great Stephen. Another fantastic cover.
Hi,
To my ears it all works and works well. Nice keys work and vox. Guitar work and bass is spot on. I think on the mix you got it right. Nice production work and great job on this one.
All the best you two,
LB
Hi David,
How do you go about monitoring the YT level thing?
Got to be honest, Katja does the uploading, etc., so I’m not too familiar with the ins and outs of how it compresses stuff.
Hi All,
Thanks for the kind words.
Was fun to do.
I reckon doing covers is really showcasing Katja at her best - some of the other bits we’re working on she sounds equally as brill. Just finding the time to get things done.
Why did we mess around only doing originals for so long?
Thanks again.
Digger
Hi Stephen
I listened to this last weekend, but within the first few bars I stopped listening in a critical way and just enjoyed it while I was reading.
I’ve just listened again and again it’s hard to focus on it as a critic because it’s just so good!
The drums, the guitar and the piano are all spot on.
And Katja’s voice!! Wow! Truly amazing! I could listen to it all day long.
Great stuff!
Digger, I do it pretty much by trial and error. If you set up some loudness monitoring on the master when mixing a level around 14-15 LUFS Integrated is usually close. But once done I check the level using YouTube Stats for Nerds (right mouse-click on the video when it is playing and the last option on the pop-up) after uploading. I’ll settle for anything around 0 to -6dB for content loudness. If not in that range I go tweak the limiter on the master accordingly, ensuring I don’t go too hard on limiting.
You can see it in the image below. My mix level on that original was spot on at -0.9dB.
Digger
I use Youlean Loudness Meter 2 and cross check with DP’s “Nerd Stats”
This may help.
