What's the Frequency Kenneth?
Monster | 1994
Listen Original Listen Final Mix

Wuh-Wuh-Wuh-Wuh-Wuh-Wuh-Wuh-Wuh

Peter’s guitar tone on the original song sounds so mid EQ’s. Like a narrow radio band. I ended up playing the rhythm part twice. That’s the main rhythm track, panned out across the two takes. I copied one of the takes and reduced it to an extreme narrow-band EQ on top of the others - right down the middle. I couldn’t get mine like the original, but I ended up on something I like.

I need some time to catch up on non-REM projects. Music and otherwise. Kenneth feels like anm appropriate intermission point. I’ve done eleven of these and I’m excited to do more. They’re not getting easier or harder. Just different as I go. I’m most looking forward to what I do next. Some of this has turned into ideas for other music. If nothing else comes of this, it’s given me something mmore to listen to and learn from.

Final Tracks (15)

Vocals (5)

  • Main vocal composited
  • Main vocal alt take
  • “I Couldn’t Understand” End Backups
  • Backing Vocal Composite
  • Soft Backing Vocals on Pre-chorus

Guitar (8)

  • Tremelo Effect (2)
  • Rhythm Track Takes (2)
  • Rhythm Track Narrow EQ Band
  • Rhythm Track Narrow EQ Band Chorus Regions
  • Lead Verse Fills
  • Solo

Drum & Bass (2)

  • Robot Drummer
  • Bass

Faithful Cover?

Another pretty close attempt. Guitar tones are way differnt, but again all the right parts are here.

Learnings

  • Listen to that rhyhm guitar. There’s usually another one ducking in at crucial moments
  • The bass part on this song is God
  • I have a pretty good compromise for getting quick excellent drum tracks until I get a kit

Next Up

Taking a brief REM break to catch up on a couple of other projects. I have 16 songs left to go, so I won’t be off for more than a week or two. See ya soon.