The New Loud :: 2+2=5

2+2=5 is D.O.N.E.

2009-08-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

The New Loud has finally finished up the Radiohead cover we've been hard at work on for the past few months. This will be the last blog dedicated to it EVER!

Before the final blog, Jessi has a quick message in reference to her last video:

There you have it! Back to 2+2=5!

This week the focus will be on the vocals. Because Thom Yorke has such a wide range to his vocals from his lower voice to his falsetto-ey upper register,
we decided to split the vocals up between Jessi and I with Jessi handling all the upper register parts and me taking care of the lower parts.

The Radiohead song is separated by 4 parts in 2 distinct halves. The first half is drone-y and quiet while the second half is loud and aggressive. In order to differentiate the 2 halves even more we decided to split the singing in half between Jessi and I.

For the end of the song we decided to do some crew vocals with all 3 of us shouting. Radish ends up getting a little TOO into it - LOL!!!

So without further ado. Here is The New Loud's complete version of 2+2=5 by Radiohead - Mixed by Mark Trombino:

Special thanks to everyone who checked out all four blogs!!! If you haven't yet, you can still do so. They show you step by step how the song came together. Hope you enjoyed it! Please take a moment and check out the links at the bottom.

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

***OUTTAKES***
Radish Beat gives some additional insight into how he perceives the lyrics to the song and America in general:

If you're not familiar with the original Radiohead song, 2+2=5, check it out here:

Last but definitely NOT LEAST - Subscribe to The New Loud's vlogging mentor:
Miltownkid - http://www.youtube.com/user/miltownkid

2+2=5 Keyboard Is DONE!

2009-07-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

The New Loud has finished up 2+2=5, the Radiohead cover we've been hard at work on for the past couple months. This week we're going to tell you all about the keyboard parts and give you a little insight into the parts.

In order to really put the focus on the keyboard, we decided to remove the guitar and vocals from the mix of the audio examples.

In our minds - as I explained in the blog about the bass and drums - 2+2=5 has 4 distinct parts that make up 2 halves of the song. I'll take you through each part and explain the keyboard ideas.

SECTION 1

Verse 1 starts out with a very spazzy arpegiated keyboard part. We have it mixed lower mainly to create tension.

After verse 1 we have a little melodic line to fill in the space. Toward the end of verse 2 a sustained organ comes in to support the vocals harmonies.

SECTION 2
The vocals in this section are very light and effected so we decided to make a really edgey keys part to counter the floaty-ness. The part is basically made by changing the tuning on one of the synth layers with both course and fine pitch adjustments. We feel that jacking everything up at the end gives it an almost guitar-feedback-like blast before the aggressive part kicks in. The keyboard is a Nord Lead 3.

SECTION 3

This section is definitely weighted more toward aggression than melody. We decided to use a synthy pad with a stronger attack. Toward the back half, a 2nd keyboard doing sustained organ comes in to build on the aggressiveness more.

SECTION 4

We decided to add some melody key parts in place of the effected guitar from the original.

WHOLE TRACK - Drums, Bass, Keyboards

Next week: Vocals!!

If you're not familiar with the original Radiohead song, 2+2=5, check it out here:

Here's a link to the Radiohead comp page:
http://www.ftcrecords.com/

Here's a link to the good blokes that hooked us up:
Mr Russia - http://www.myspace.com/mrrussia

Last but definitely NOT LEAST - Subscribe to The New Loud's vlogging mentor:
Miltownkid - http://www.youtube.com/user/miltownkid

2+2=5 Drums, Bass and Guitar

2009-05-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

So, The New Loud has been hard at work on our cover version of 2+2=5 by Radiohead. This week we finished up the drums, bass and guitar.

As most of you know, all our bass is sequenced. We tried a bass player - couldn't really find one that stuck, so, like so many other aspects in our lives - we left it to the machines.

In our minds 2+2=5 has 4 distinct parts that make up 2 halves of the song. The first half is building and somewhat floaty. The second half is very aggressive. When we were working on the bass we kept in mind the 2 halves. We retained a heavy/sub-bey low end for the first half and then made an abrupt switch to a very abrasive/sawtooth sound for the second half.

Here's the complete drums and bass parts:

Next up was Guitar!!

Here's my first stab at the guitar parts - a lot of which I kept on the final::..

If you're not familiar with 2+2=5, check it out here:

Here's a link to the Radiohead comp page:
http://www.ftcrecords.com/

Here's a link to the good blokes that hooked us up:
Mr Russia - http://www.myspace.com/mrrussia

Last but definitely NOT LEAST - Subscribe to The New Loud's vlogging mentor:
Miltownkid - http://www.youtube.com/user/miltownkid

2+2=5 Radiohead - Introduction

2009-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a little audio clip of some initial beats Radish worked out for the drums. It was just recorded with 1 stereo mic at our practice space which also doubles as my recording studio - how convenient.

The song is separated into 4 distinct parts:

-The first part is in 7/4. We decided to make the rhythm a bit more aggressive than the original.

-The second part has kind of a floaty feel. The New Loud incorporates a lot of electronic drumming, so, we thought this 2nd part would be a good place to showcase that. The electronic drum roll definitely ramps up the tension just as much or more so than the original.

-The third part is the explosive part. We needed something quite aggressive here so we chose this beat with a lot of cymbal crashes.

-The last part is rhythmically aggressive, but not in a rock sense so we'll scale back the crashing and have the rhythm be tighter here.

If you're not familiar with 2+2=5, check it out here:

Here's a link to the Radiohead comp page:
http://www.ftcrecords.com/

Here's a link to the good blokes that hooked us up:
Mr Russia - http://www.myspace.com/mrrussia

Last but definitely NOT LEAST - Subscribe to The New Loud's vlogging mentor:
Miltownkid - http://www.youtube.com/user/miltownkid