I just posted a new video, where I cover a Band of Horses (slash Cee-Lo Green, if that's the version with which you're familiar) song called "No One's Gonna Love You." Go watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/iambendickerson.
"No One's Gonna Love You" is the third song on Band of Horses' 2007 album "Cease to Begin" (and the last song on Cee-Lo Green's 2010 album "The Lady Killer"). Until recently, I had actually forgotten that I had that album -- I have, like, 25 gigabytes of music on my iPod, and about 65 on my computer (concert archives and mixtapes and such). So it was very easy for it to get lost in the mix. But I was digging through my files, and I found it. It started playing, and it was awesome. (You should know that both the Band of Horses version and the Cee-Lo version are far more intricate and interesting than mine (this is why when my own songs come up on iTunes shuffle (yes, I have my covers on my iTunes), I have to skip them)). Sometimes, I just hear something and have to do it. That's what this was like.
I started learning it about two weeks ago. I started with just the chords -- the basics, you know? Then, my dad and my piano teacher helped me arrange it (Dad did the chorus, and my piano teacher helped with the verses). That took a while. I had decided that I wanted to start small and build up, but come back down at the end. Dad's take on the chorus -- even though I had to edit it slightly -- was too awesome to change. Anyway, I finally got the arrangement down, I learned the vocal, and it was time to record.
Recording is always the worst part of the process for me. I always have to position the camera and get dressed up, etc. Also, since I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I have to film, like, twenty takes before I can finally keep one. This was very much the same, with one exception: I GOT A NEW CAMERA. That's why the video streams in 1080p, that's why the audio is better, and that's why my head is now head-shaped. Unfortunately, this may have made things even more complicated. I have to use a plug-in microphone with this camera, and setting it up was a doozy. It's simple to use: just plug it into the side of the camera. But I couldn't figure out where to position it, because I wanted to get the piano and the vocal. I tried clipping it to my shirt, to the carpet -- I even clipped it to the actual piano! Eventually, though, I settled on clipping it to a piano book. This proved most effective, although if you pay very close attention, you can see my microphone chord at the bottom of the screen. Blerg.
Anyway, I hope you like the video. It was fun to film, fun to learn, and a heck of a lot of fun to play. I'll see you guys soon.
-- Ben
