A Very Noisy Cover of Nobody’s Diary
Posted on August 27, 2017 Posted by John Scalzi 19 Comments
I was left to my own devices today, and rather than just slump on the couch and watch TV, honorable pastime though it might be, I decided to play with my audio software and record another song. This one is from Yaz(oo), the seminal electronic band from the early 80s, featuring Vince Clarke (post-Depeche Mode but pre-Erasure) and Alison Moyet, who is one of my favorite singers (and who as it happens just released a new album). It’s the song “Nobody’s Diary,” from their second album You and Me Both.
As is my wont, I’ve made the cover very noisy and grindy and drony, in part to cover up my terrible guitar playing, but also because I sort of dig the sonic aesthetic, and it’s fun to hear how many sounds I can wrench out of an acoustic tenor guitar and some audio editing software.
In any event, here it is.
And in case you’d like to compare and contrast with the original, here that is:
Such a grand voice, Ms. Moyet has. I’m going to see her in concert in a month!
You really turned up the effects on the vocal track, didn’t you :-0 That’s kinda fun, thanks for posting it.
A bootleg tape of Yaz’s double German import-to-the-UK album was playing in my car the night I met, parked for 3 hours and clicked with my late wife. So I feel I owe Alison “Alf” Moyet an assist. That annoversary of meeting is coming up Monday. It is usually a very heavy, Frodo-on-Weathertop-type of draining anniversary of meeting. So, thanks for posting this, John. You made me smile.
So lucky! Enjoy the concert :)
I was very young when this song came out; I don’t remember it, but something about her voice made me listen to other songs by then, and I recognized a few of them. Thank you for this link to my musical past — and for informing me that that voice is female, I had no idea. She does have an absolutely awesome voice.
You have the BEST taste in music, John (in other words, similar to MY taste, lol)! I was randomly listening to Yaz a couple days ago.
Just looked up Alison Moyet’s tour dates, she’s playing at a big historic synagogue September 11 here in DC. Thanks for the heads-up about the tour–it will be really fun to see her!
Empty nest, eh?
Reminds me of my high school band…All. The. Effects. All. Of. The. Time….What kind of amp are you using? And thanks for sharing!
No amp. All done in the computer using Adobe Audition software. The guitar (and voice) were recorded using a Yeti microphone.
Wow. A few times there, your guitar sounded just like the reverb when I’d bang into an old Fender tube amp. Music software is just amazing. Yes, I’m old. Rock on, Sir.
Now I’m going to have “Bad Connection” stuck in my head all day.
I mean, not that that’s a *bad* thing.
Sounds like the cover version that David Bowie never recorded.
i second gottacook
Okay, now can you do a cover of Sagan Diary?
Hmm . . . Can one do a cover of one’s own originals? For instance, is Clapton’s 1992 Layla a cover, or a revision, or what?
. . . Is McCartney’s Revolution a “cover version” of Lennon’s Revolution? What’s covered by the term “cover”?
gottacook, yeah, I was thinking, “That sounds a bit like Bowie singing” too.
Cover usually means “not recorded by the band that created it”.
There are quite a few songs that only became hits after a talented group worked up a cover version.
Bravo!
Adobe Audition is a reasonably good audio editor, but a pretty weak digital audio workstation. You should consider getting a real DAW. I’m a big fan of Ableton Live, but for what you are doing, Pro Tools is likely your best bet since you tend to mostly record live tracks and the comping capabilities are much better. The capabilities of a real DAW leave Audition in the dust (think going from Microsoft Paint to Photoshop). Be careful, though. Modern software for music-making is so incredibly powerful it can be highly addictive! All of the plugins you are using will work in any DAW, BTW.
I used ACID Pro for a while but got away from making stuff with it. I still have a copy buried somewhere deep in my hard drives. I suspect if I get back into full-scale music production I would go back to that. I use Audition at the moment because it’s part of my general Adobe subscription.
Very cool! I too will be seeing Alison Moyet, at the end of Sept in SF.