Okay, here's the deal. Having both a job and a social life, I haven't had any time to work on my pillows contest entry, and figuring out how to record a video (and what to record...and then doing it) is just out of the question. Many of you are probably more talented than me, so I figure at least five of you would get in before me anyway. However, I did manage to find some time to arrange and record the music. I'm just looking for any of you to record vocals over it, so I can pick the best one for our tribute album. Since no other projects are really moving along, anyone who sings can probably find the time to do this. Thanks in advance.

If you're a singer with no nonvocal musical talent whatsoever, and you want to enter it into the pillows copy band contest, then by all means record your voice over it, make a video, and submit it as if it were your own. I won't tell Sawao, I promise.

Anyway, here is the audio. If you also need the GarageBand file or an aif file, let me know in a PM or something.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=741c ... f6e8ebb871

If it's just for the tribute album, I can definitely record some vocals over this for you, but I don't know that I could do so for a contest entry since I already have one and don't want to jeopardize my entry with Grey. Sounds really damn solid man, as I expected of you.

I'm down to give my vocals aswell. I know Mare alreadyvolunteered but I would like to do this aswell.
I could get an audio down by the end of the week if you really wanted me to.
I really like your take on the song

Let me clarify - if anyone's going to enter this into the contest, I'm not going to be credited or appear in any video, and it will be for your own fun and games. I am only posting here to get some good vocals for the album.

I'm working on a recording of the vocals right now. I have a draft mostly done, but I'm going to keep working at it a bit before finalizing and uploading it for you.

First draft sounds good.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nmuygzgtjwm

Because of favoritism, I'm probably going to opt for Mare's take. However, I look forward to your draft too, Brye, as well as anyone else's. I may want the MIDI strings to be louder and more pronounced (I'll have to make everything else softer instead, since +6 dB is all I can do), so I recommend that if anyone is going to give this a shot, that they keep the vocal file separate to send to me in addition to the draft so I can play around with it and set the volume appropriately.

Just a little tidbit: Hybrid Rainbow isn't even one of my favorite pillows songs (I mean, it's still amazing). I just picked it because I remember (perhaps mistakenly) Sawao saying it was probably his favorite song, so it was a calculated move to one up all of you in the contest.

I really regret only being able to enter one thing into the contest, because your recording of Hybrid Rainbow easily trumps every other HR entry in the actual contest.

if sheer wants to enter it into the contest, i'd be willing to do vox for him. That is if he even likes my vocal style.

I'd love to do that with you, but I don't have the time to make a video. That's the real issue. If you would still like to do it, I could try to find the time, but I can't guarantee anything.

yeah, I don't know anything about making videos, honestly...If you can find the time, sure. but if not, it's fine, i wasn't planning on entering anyway.

Mare's vocal technique is much better than mine, but I have a higher range, so I thought I'd give this a shot. I couldn't get the last chorus to sound right because I wore my voice out, but here's my vox. Recorded on my Mac's built-in mic using Garage Band and a pop vocals setting. Hope you all like and apologies in advance for the huge volume dynamic between verse/chorus.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=3aa0 ... f6e8ebb871

Jomei: The higher range is really great and apparent during the choruses. Fantastic, really. A few aberrations, but it came out really well.

I like Mare's verse and Jomei's chorus. Jomei's verse kind of...lacks presence, I'd say. Mare has great technique and ability, but he's limited by his range - the curse of being a bass vocalist - which impacts his choruses. However, I've known him to be really good at overcoming or working around said limitations. I'm just musing. Or rambling, rather.

P.S. I could just be making this up because of senseless associations in my mind, but for some reason, I think Jomei sounds like a Japanese person. I'm not talking about the execution of the language (since I'd have no idea), but rather the timbre of the voice and such.

Thanks for the feedback. That was my second take, so if I record again I'll work on those verrrrrses.

New (better?) mix. Higher quality. For further work on the matter, use this one. Or tell me if it's shit so I can fix it. I wanted the strings to stand out more.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=741c ... f6e8ebb871

I think anyone should give this a shot. It's like karaoke - a blank slate for vocals over what I think is a faithful reproduction of the original.

I swear to god I could almost get a Mac just to have garageband, that program is awesome. I really dig Jomei's take, and I definitely see what Sheer's saying about having a Japanese sort of timbre to his voice.

Suggestions for improvement:

1. More expressive verses. They sound good, but sometimes they don't sound fully involved emotionally (I'm also guilty of this lol).
2. Take the time to make every part of the song perfect. It doesn't have to be one take straight through. If you have a rough part, cut it out and re-record it. For example, the first chorus was REALLY good, but the last one didn't have that sort of raw, powerful feel to it...it almost sounds subdued, which is the opposite of what you want on the climax of the song. Maybe just pushing through the tiredness in your voice and forcing out the energy could work, it might give you the sort of raspy, powerful rock sound that Sawao has on live performances.

Basically, just play around with it, and don't be afraid to do it phrase by phrase, recording and re-recording as many times as necessary to get a product that you're 100% satisfied with. Obviously what we've both offered up are drafts, but yar.

On a side note, in addition to my lower range, I'm also limited by my recording environment...an apartment on the third floor. I only really dared sing so loud because I was afraid of pissing people off and getting a noise report or something. If I had an actual music room or something to record in, I could try for full-out Sawao-yelling on the very upper notes of those choruses.

I dunno. If you guys were to piece together a short video of some sort, you two could have an entry into the contest.

Also looking forward to hearing Skool's take if he does one.