303 Magazine's Cover Challenge
The Story
How it started
We're big fans of Bill Withers. It was the height of the 2020 pandemic and when he passed away, founder Max decided to pay homage to this legend by re-arranging and recording his song 'Lovely Day'. By happenstance, a few days later 303 Magazine announced their Cover Challenge!
Arranging
Lovely Day has a beautiful arrangement with horns, strings, and a great rhythm section. In order to save time (and because that bass line is so damn fun to play) Max recorded drums, bass, and keys from a temporary home studio in the mountains.
We wanted to keep the elements of the original with just a little twist on some of the parts.
Instrument Tracking
By recruiting musicians from across the state, the layers were added remotely, one at a time. The musicians were able to play and sing along to a mock-up of the track and sheet music was provided as well.
We always mock up a version of the arrangement before recording to save time and eliminate any confusion!
Editing & Mixing
Once all the instruments were recorded, we mixed and mastered everything and edited the video of each of the musicians recording in their separate spaces.
All together now
After submitting the tribute to 303 Magazine, we were awarded with the first place prize! Check out the full video and final audio below.