I always wanted to do a cover version of “The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel that was a bit rockier.
No Praat or Synth V audio-to-MIDI, doing the vocals “by hand” gives better results in my opinion.
I hope you like it!
Feedback (good or bad) is very welcome.
nicely done vocals. if i was arranging this, i might introduce the strings in the second verse, and then the rock guitar in the third verse, and the drums with everything to cresendo. then the final line with just the acoustic. i’d also not use 4 on floor for the drum but something more timed to the strums to reinforce the “heavy” in it.
Well, I listened through once and then made a couple of notes. First, the overall production and use of the vocalists is superb! My personal standard for these sorts of tools is “Do they sound realistic?” and indeed these do!
As for your re-imagining of this awesome classic song, first I would say you took a huge risk. I would have advised anyone that this is one of those songs that don’t need covering. They stand the test of time.
BUT, you managed to not only cover this song beautifully, you made it yours with a fresh rock interpretation while retaining those sweet tender vocals! This sort of cover doesn’t happen often in my opinion. A cover that stands up well against the original. A cover that might even surpass the original! The only other time I recall this was when Metallica covered Bob Seger’s Turn The Page!
Now, for my critique/suggestion. At 1:38 and 2:49 you cut the heavy rock section and switch to a soft section. The switch itself is brilliant and provides terrific dynamics to the song. But I feel you cut too abruptly in both cases which kinda makes it sound like a mistake rather than an intentional transition. My suggestion would be to fade rather than cut the rock section. Maybe even a fast fade but I believe that change would make this a perfect cover.
So, KUDOS to you for an excellent production! You have almost single-handedly validated my recent purchase of Synth V as a viable tool for adding vocal tracks where I can’t or do not wish to sing them! Excellent work on this!
Wow! Excellent job on making the performance human. I really like what you’ve done with the instruments and the general vibe. I guess the only criticism I have is that I would not double the vocals the whole way through. From my perspective, the song is about being alone. I’d start the double from the line “And in the naked light I saw” since that’s when the dissonance of being alone and being with 10,000 people. That’s also when the heavy guitar is about to start. Just a suggestion.
Really great! Good job on the programming of the voice, the mix and the playing of the instruments!
Beautiful reimagining of a classic. Nice dynamics in bringing the rock elements in and out. My only nit-picking comment is that some phrases seem rushed and a bit quantized. 1:47 “do not”, 2:02 “reach you”, 2:26 “neon”, 2:32 “flashed” are examples. Real singers would relax words off the beat to fit them better in the flow - especially at the end of a phrase. Try singing it yourself (even badly) and get a feel for how the phrasing and timing could be smoother. As I said. just one of my nit-picks. Otherwise, a worthy achievement for something you always wanted to do.
Thanks for listening and your detailed thoughts on the arrangement, Glenn.
I really appreciate it, and you make some good points because I also considered a build up to the grand finale in the last verse.
I decided against it because there are many, many cover versions of this song and I wanted to make it clear as soon as possible that this is not just another acoustic version.
Like you, I’m not usually a big fan of a 4 on the floor kickdrum, but in this case I liked the drive better because it makes the song sound faster than it is, adding a bit more contrast.
But, as I said, these are valid points and I really appreciate you taking the time to write down your thoughts.
Thanks a lot for that!
Thank you, VocalDabbler, for your really positive and encouraging feedback.
You make a good point about the transition from the rock part to the acoustic part, I’ll definitely look into that.
Maybe just adding a reverb tail will help, if not I’ll try fading it into the soft part.
Good suggestion, thanks a lot 
Thank you Larry for taking the time to listen and to write down your thoughts
From a semantic perspective, you’re absolutely right, it would make a lot of sense to illustrate the loneliness by having a single singer start the song.
But the main reason I did this cover is because of the beautiful vocal harmonies (I just LOVE them).
It would have broken my heart to remove a single line of it.
But I understand 100% what you mean, I would probably have done it that way with a song I had written myself.
Thanks again!
That’s a great review, thank you SynergyV.
I thought just the opposite, that singing some words faster would reduce the feeling of quantization and make them sound cool.
But obviously I was wrong, which is what happens when you’re as dumb as me and write in a non-native language.
Thank you for taking the time to precisely note the most obvious problems.
Much appreciated
One of my all-time favourites, nicely done!
Thank you Atlasman for your nice comment.
Very much appreciated!