"Brightside"

(original track by The Killers)

So, a confession: the initial premise of this assignment lasted about as far as the first song. I wound up recording a cover of "Mr. Brightside," the real breakthrough single for The Killers. Retitled "Brightside," the main focus of it for me was mixing and layering.

I wound up buying a USB condenser mic this week for about half the regular cost. I don't recall the model, though I'll update this post with a look at it as soon as I get home. What I do know is that it captures audio at a decent fidelity and works well with Garageband. To tell the truth, it's probably the nicest my vocals have ever sounded.

Initially I was thinking of just doing this with mandolin and voice, but I realized it needed guitar to add a little richness and depth to it. Since I have the condenser mic now, I can actually work to create a bit of that depth, which was largely missing when I used the treble-centric microphone built into my Macbook. I understand that the lo-fi feel that came across with the built-in mic - complete with pops and buzzes that sound nearly like tape hiss - were a good deal of the charm that came with the previous covers, but the idea and process behind these were the same. The new fidelity meant I could record, mix and layer vocals more effectively, so the ending is something I was completely unable to do before. (For reference, see the kind of odd vocal sound on "American Idiot." Even putting reverb on those voices did nothing to separate them.)

There were two percussion tracks that I wound up cutting out from the final version of this song. I tried to use a tambourine almost like a hi-hat, but the jangle of it detracted from the pacing of the cover - the song's story of a jilted lover is far more suited to a more measured feel. Even the mandolin strumming in the chorus is balanced by slower, lilting guitar. The second percussion I wound up trying was a kick drum struck lightly with a padded mallet. It sounded great with the pacing but I couldn't get the timing right, and loops sounded too fake, so I had to cut it.

Enough talking. Here's my cover of The Killers' big hit, translated as a folk ballad.

The Killers - "Mr. Brightside" (retitled "Brightside")