The Fountain (Fan Cover)

[chase1996]

hello!

I hope your weekends went well. i just finished my fan cover of The Fountain.

I don't usually post my covers here, but i tried something different this time and wanted your feedback. Constructive criticism would be useful.

usually i try to piece together snippets of classical instrumentals here and there, but this is my favorite song and i wanted to try something different.

Everything I used in the cover is "from scratch", everything from background vocals to harmonies like i usually do, but this time i also did the instrumentation. that's me playing the synthesizer piano + violin in the background.

so yeah, any sort of constructive criticism would be useful. it'd help if you click the video and watch it on youtube, since i get views that way.


thank you in advance!



Please watch this video in HD. The audio quality is SO much better!





[youtube][/youtube]

[Murkskis]

Hi, Chase !

Sounds really good, as always
I seriously think so.
Keep it up. Especially because you enjoy it. I suppose it took quite a lot of time to create this.
So you play at least 2 instruments, it's quite remarkable as well.

I can hardly find any important criticism. You have a good voice, confidence (no shaking) and I'm sure you didn't miss a note here and in other recordings. Although you can do all the editing necessary.
You 'feel' the music. I like your motivation. Not much can be achieved without it.

Like that you didn't place that counter (3-2-1) in the beginning of the song for this recording- it looks good and but the sound (tick- tack) may get a bit disturbing. But it could be just me.

I think the recording quality (technically) was the highest possible for Ave Virgo (my favourite of your recordings ) I mean you can clearly hear that the mic is 'on' between the words. But don't worry about it much- it's quite impossible to avoid background noises in a usual room. I hope you will have a chance to use a studio room in the future if you continue with music.
Anyway, it's impressive to get so high results with so simple equipment.

Can't provide a very ''deep'' review, because I never studied music. So you know the subject better, that's for sure. You could try to contact someone who does music professionally for better reviews and advices. A lot of the forum members are capable to provide you with better feedback.

Have no doubts- a lot of the people listen to everything you post and just love it ! I could be one of them
I was blown away when you posted Ave Virgo ! As you shared the MP3 files I have most of them even on my mobile phone along with Libera's and other my favourite songs.

P.s. I noticed that some fans thought it was Tom on your Ave Virgo cover or Josh on your Faithful hart cover ( I'm regarding to Youtube comments). This is not just a moment of confusion. Their difficulties to tell you apart are some kind of proof that you have high potential.

[xsakurax]

Hi Chase,

I recently listened to your cover for The Fountain and boy, you never fail to amaze me! I like the overall feel and the echo-y effects, and the way you made it seem like a whole choir singing. There's one small bit around 0:35 -0:40 when you kind of went real low for your range. But really, your interpretation of the song is beautiful, especially 2:00 - 3:18 where could really feel all the emotions.

[Jude Andrew]

Hey Chase, great job kiddo, keep up the good work and keep striving for excellence.

[music4]

I watched the video and I would say excellent job Chase on the video!!!

[bar]

This newest cover is excellent work, Chase.!

I've noticed your covers are getting progressively better. It seems like your level of experience both with singing and the mixing (eg. mic placement, music arrangement, etc.) is really getting better every single video!

Don't want to sound like a broken record, but this cover is now officially my favorite.

How did you figure out the all the underlying harmonies? That sounds like pretty complicated stuff, and it sounds exactly like the original. Just out of curiosity, do you have perfect pitch? It really sounds like you do.

Same for some of the other ones with layered harmonies, especially You Were There and Ave Virgo. That's pretty impressive.

Keep up the great work!

[Freak]

Sounds really good, as always

[chase1996]

thank you for all your encouragement!

is there anything specifically that i can work on? the key of this song is actually about a pitch lower than ralph sings it. it's just that i've discovered i get waaay better quality on my (cheap) microphone the lower i record.

you can really see this in my original cover of sanctus. it's rather annoying! it doesn't matter how nice i sing it, i just can't get the microphone to capture anything higher than about a concert E5 with good quality.

other than the equipment issue, for this song i also started singing in the basement. there's a little secret area behind all my mum's old boxes where i get better acoustics. my mum's boxes full of her old clothes absorb a lot of the ambient noise.

but yes, other than the equipment issue, what are some things i could improve on?


thank you!
-chase

[xsakurax]

Actually, the toilet has got better acoustics. Close your toilet door to add some echo-y effects. Nah, I'm just kidding! Actually I'm pretty amazed that mic you bought from a dollar store could actually capture your voice quite nicely.

Seems like there isn't much constructive stuff I could comment on really. Your voice, layering and all other stuff you do on the mixcraft is more than perfect.

[Murkskis]

Actually, the toilet has got better acoustics. Close your toilet door to add some echo-y effects.

Funny indeed.
A lot of secrets are unveiling recently !

Sorry for not providing any further ideas for improvements- just like to hang around here.

[chase1996]

Round 2! Again, any and all constructive criticism would be nice. As per previous feedback, I did sing part of this in the toilet!

it worked...for a bit. haha...

[youtube][/youtube]


Any comments on what worked and what didn't would be appreciated!


cheers!

[MWheeler]

Chase, Wow - great job! Today was the first time I had checked out your recordings. Your pitch is excellent! Very nice job with nailing the starting pitches right off the bat, especially on some of the larger intervalic leaps. As far as constructive criticism goes... you are doing SO many things VERY well... but I'll suggest what can. Maybe you will find a nugget or two of info. that you might find valuable. Or, maybe not! :-p

I've taught vocal music for 19 years in the public school setting... if your were a student of mine, I'd say one of the next areas that you could fine tune or expand upon is finding the natural rise and fall of each musical phrase (extended phrases and sub phrases too) that you sing. Give each phrase sense of life and spirit. You already do this at times, but I think if you were more consistent in this regard, your music would take on a higher lever of sophistication.

Example: Think about where the climax of the melodic phrase would be as well as the important words in the text and push toward them with increasing intensity (giving them slightly more weight to emphasize their importance) and then back off a bit toward the end of the phrase. You still want to be sure that you complete the phrase though.

I'll use your recording of O Sanctissima as an example - The "solo" phrases at the beginning are very nice, however, I think they could be expanded upon even further by thinking about the phrasing. In my opinion, the background parts from :53 - 1:09 are a good example of better phrasing on your part. They have a very nice & natural feel to them... very good shaping! They have a clear start, then some good energy and direction, and then a nice tapered ending. (YAY!)

I think your phrase endings in The Fountain are wonderful... great attention to detail. As I mentioned before, I think there needs to be just a bit more shaping and direction in the middle of your phrases. Strive to give the listener a clear sense of exactly where each of the phrases are going. Generally, a slight crescendo toward the middle (not always the middle though) will help do the trick and also be aware of giving weight to the important words.

Well, that's enough rambling from me. I think you are are superior musician and I enjoyed your recordings very much & will be looking for more of them! I hope that I may have been of some help to you. Continued success!!!

[Jenn]

I have to be honest, I was NOT a fan of your first covers. It seems since then you have gotten better. To be clear, I'm not speaking of your musical talent - I've always seen that. But the quality of the recordings has gotten better. If you lived near me, I would personally take you to buy a decent microphone just so your voice can be recorded to its fullest.

Might I suggest you ask your parents if there's a way you could earn some money to get a nice mic? I would so love to hear you without being restricted by the quality of equipment

I really enjoy listening to you though, thank you so much for sharing your work. Please never give up music!