Uncover #03: Slow Up by Jacob Banks
F*ck the Metronome!?
This one’s a really fun one. Jacob banks did a thing with Slow Up. When I first heard the song in 2019, I liked it on the very first listen. It somehow made its way into my rotation recently, and I decided I’ll take a stab at it.
Like always, you can skip right to the last section if you just want to hear the cover. If you’re interested in the process and learning some new chords, continue reading.
The Instrumentals
The original song’s key signature is C major. It has a Beat Per Minute (BPM) of 96, and a chord progression of 1, 4, 6, 5. I, however, made the cover in the D major scale instead, because It suits my voice better. The keys in D major scale are D, E, F#, G, A, B and C#.
Using the number system, the chords become:
1: D (D major chord) → D, F#, A
4: G (G major chord) → G, B, D
6: B (B minor chord) → B, D, F#
5: A (A major chord) → A, C#, E
Normally, I’d play the chords once on my piano, record it to Logic Pro, and just loop the chords for the duration of the song.
But when I did that, something felt off - the song seemed too fast in some sections. I set the tempo correctly; I was sure. To make sure I wasn’t going crazy, I imported the original song into Logic Pro to verify the tempo. And that’s when I realized the downbeats didn’t align consistently with the 96 BPM. It seemed to change from one bar to another.
What the hell?
But then it eventually all made sense to me. When we listen to songs, our brain often makes predictions about what comes next in pitch, tempo, etc. That’s how we know when to join in on the chorus to a song we don’t even know the lyrics to.
However, when you play Slow up, if you try to sing/hum along, you’ll find that you’re either getting in too soon or too late, because the tempo is not static. I believe this was a creative decision. Well done Sir Banks.
Long story short, automation would not work here. I had to play the song from start to finish while singing along to it, so it matched the song’s unique cadence. If the metronome were a person, it would’ve wept.
Then, for the bridge of the song that featured some heavy drums, I did a piano solo instead. I played the same chords but in major and minor 7th(a variation of a regular major/minor chord. It adds an extra note) and as arpeggios, which means playing each note of the chord one at a time, rather than all at once. For A major, I just played the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th note in the A major triad shape, because the Amaj7 chord just didn’t sound right.
Last, to make things interesting, for the last chorus I switched the keys from D major to D minor, to give it a darker tone.
The Vocals
This was fun and challenging for a few reasons. For one, I didn’t record the vocals the same time I recorded the keys. So I had to sing over the pre-recorded keys. This would’ve been straightforward, except the keys were not following the bpm strictly. And so, even though I sang the song earlier, my brain was having a hard time predicting where I was suppose to come in. After several takes, I got a version of the vocals I could live with. It wasn’t always in sync with the keys, but I liked anyway. Beautiful chaos.
Second, I had to replicate the emotional delivery of Jacob banks, or something close enough. This was a mix of fun and challenge, because I had to try out different variations in my vocal timbre and emotional expression to see what worked best. The lyrics, however, made it easy to play the character because they were deep and emotional.
Third, timbre. To add a little more character to my voice, I performed the song with a little more fry/raspiness, especially in the 2nd verse. It just sounded better.
Last, switching to D minor was fun. It was one more thing to make the cover a little different. The chorus for this was straightforward. But the ad-lib not so much. Humming a counter melody without a lot of breathing was a challenging. It didn’t come out perfectly, but sounded good enough.
The Mixing and Arrangement
Like the previous covers, nothing too complex happened here. I mostly leveraged the Mastering Assistant in Logic Pro to create the final mix. But before that, I did a few things.
First, I adjusted the EQ in the vocals and the piano, so they don’t sound like they’re competing for space.
Second, I applied reverb to the vocals and the piano, so it doesn’t sound like I’m singing too close to your ears, but a little further back, perhaps in a garage or small room.
Third, added some sound effects because I liked how they sounded.
Fourth, added automatons to decrease the volume of the piano and sound effects when I’m singing, and bring them back up when I’m not, i.e. the beginning of the song and on the piano bridge.
Last, I applied some panning to the ad-libs in the second and last chorus, so it sounds like different voices coming from both your left and right ear. These are just different takes I did.
The Song
There’s always room for improvement, but I like the final product. Especially how the piano blends with the sound effects, and how the vocals cut through. Here’s the song.
Are you a fan of Jacob Banks? What are your favourite songs from him? Let me know in the comments!
Notes
Here’s the link to the stems for the song. Have fun!
I learned some valuable tips on EQ here.
Some more valuable tips on Reverb here.
What am I listening to right now?