Well, what the hell just happened? I’ll tell you what happened. I got my dream job. That’s what. So all of this was put on hold while I tried to find my balance of life again. I’m still trying to find the balance of working full-time as an online instructor/administrator, and working “Casual” hours for my new job with Disney.
But let me tell you something. I – freaking – love – it.
So if you’re new here, I have a collection of covers I’ve been working on over the last year. These are just a chance for me to stretch my creative muscle, try out some new plug-ins, and just make music.
End Of The Innocence by Don Henley. I chose this song for a myriad of different reasons. First off, Don Henley / The Eagles are the constant reminder of my dad. This is his influence in my musical life. So there will be quite a few of Henley’s songs in my collection of songs by the end of all of this.
This song reminds me of Georgia. Long days, people long-gone from my life, car rides, late-night sleepovers. But also, it sits perfectly now. “They’re beating plowshares into swords, for this tired old man we’ve elected king.” Fitting.
Musically, I was inspired to take this a slightly new direction. It’s inspired by a bunch of different things. First off, to tie it to the Eagles, they did this song on their “Hell Freezes Over” tour. The final verse is where they had more floating feel. So I wanted to get that. It does feel a bit more country than the 80s version that had the incredible Bruce Hornsby on piano.
The drums and piano are a pure rip-off of “Gracie” by Ben Folds. It’s such a perfect execution of a rhythm section that I could feel it on this one. I’m particularly in love with the single crash cymbal at the end. The tapping of the rim…representing time. I think I’m sensing a theme through these song choices.
I think as I listen to this, I realize I’m also vibing off of Phoebe Bridgers and “Scott Street” at the end. I blame my dear friend Fabi for that. Thank you for introducing that into my life and letting me play that tune with you.
Technical Notes
DAW: Cubase 12/15. (I upgraded a few weeks back and wanted to try these out.)
Interface: Universal Audio Apollo Twin
Drums: Superior Drummer – The IndiePendent SDX. This was the song I wanted this particular SDX expansion to work on. That big fat, floppy, kick, with that really tight and try snare. It’s perfect for this production.
Piano: Keyscape – Wing Upright – Dark Indie preset. Clearly we have a theme going on here. It has a nice fragile sound to it, but it is dark. You can really hear the wood of the piano in this preset.
Pad: Arturia – Keylab V – Sine Wave pad. Simple. Pimple.
Upright Bass: Kontakt – Soul Sessions. This bass sounds really nice. I wanted an upright and this just sat right into the mix and didn’t get too “farty” in the low end. Great plug-in!
Acoustic Guitars: Ok. Don’t hate me. None of the guitars on this track are real. I wanted to try these plug-ins from Native Instruments out. In your left ear, you have Session Guitarist, Picked Acoustic. In your right, Session Guitarist, Strummed Acoustic 2. This took work. The reason I wanted to do this, was because this Original song is in Ab, I transposed it down and honestly didn’t want to fap about trying to figure out the new chords on the guitar. So here we are. There’s a lot of automation happening to cut things off and get things to come and go as I wanted. But damn, they sound good. It’s NOT AI! It’s…..well….JI? (Jameson Intelligence!)
Lead: The lead here is another Arturia – Analog Lab lead sound. It just fit.
Vocals: When I went to record the vocals through my Universal Audio Mic, the chain sounded like shit. So, I took everything off except for the Sphere Modeling and did it all in the DAW this time. We are running into the Manley VOX Box > into the Neve 1073 for some gentle EQ > TR5 De Esser from T-Racks. These are all sent over to a UAD Realverb Pro to give it the sauce. The vocals are bright on this one to kind of counteract the dullness of the other instruments. Not my best vocal performance, but I wanted this done and dusted.
Mastering: Ozone 10 on this one. Nothing fancy.
So I’ll say this at the bottom. Don Henley, I know you hate people putting covers of your tunes up. And it’s a shame, because we love your music and are just trying to show our appreciation. If this has found you, I am making NOTHING off of this performance. Nothing. At. All. No ads. No revenue. This is really just for the 4 people who will find this page. But if you need me to take it down. I will.
Thank you to Don Henley and Bruce Hornsby for creating such a beautiful song.
I am not claiming to own any rights to this music. This is just a cover to show my production skills and to show ya’ll how I’m feeling. If anyone feels the need to ask me to take this down, please email me, and I will be happy to do so. I am not monetizing this in any way, and will never plan to monetize the work.