Ben Folds Five - Magic (cover by Ben-Ezra Sound Project)

[SquirtgunWarfare]

GREAT guitar arrangement and playing!

[clarkem]

Spot on, friend. Don't change a thing. That was fantastic.

[siggism]

What, can't you play end sing at the same time?

[skislippers]

I think you had a lot of help on your voice from the computer

[allysabc]

u have such a good voice which honestly wasn't my first impression, but wow ur really good

[ColinJackson69]

Gosh I love this, the guitar is amazing man, keep it up! Ben Folds has to be the most underrated artist of all time.

[Stax63]

Very Well Done!

[92rachh]

This is brilliant!! I love this song ( ben folds version) but i've got to say, I think your cover's taken first place, great job! did you figure out the tab yourself?

[summut2do]

fantastic mr , nice clean sound good luck

[electriceyeshowreel]

BRILLIANT!!!

[clemsontigers90]

Im surprised you dont have your own set of tympani haha. But on the real that was a great cover. great job with the chords. ben tends to make these things difficult for us...

[eidlawnairb]

unbelievable... but try opening the back of your throat next time, a little nasally.. but hey nobody's perfect.. ive got my flaws too, great job..

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Thanks! I agree, I tend to be nasal at the best of times - I'm trying to work on it. Thanks for the constructive criticism, I appreciate it.

[steadrick]

got rid of that thumbs down someone gave when you actually gave good constructive criticism. I did kind of notice it but you have a unique sound because of it, the only part i didn't like was the "Sha la lai" part. Take what you will, you're doing some great work and i love all your stuff, keep going :).

[eidlawnairb]

haha  thanks! he commented back to me, so i know at least he appreciates it..

[Devinclair91]

@eidlawnairb And work on vowels. . . a lot. If he matured his vowels he wouldn't suck.

[eidlawnairb]

@Devinclair91 he doesn't suck

[myrsky27]

What a great cover!

[thygerson]

This is an outstanding cover!  Great voice & nice playing.

[clemsontigers90]

INCREDIBLE. disregard all negative comments man. very smart composition, and great execution. this is goin in my favorites. now i am inspired.

[calimagfan]

Big A plus... well done, man.

[flashcat7777]

Excellent job. The vocals were dead on the entire time. I was quite amazed.

[troutsrevenge]

i love benfolds..... and this cover shows hard work and a real appreciation for the music..,. well done.... i'd like to hear some original stuff. i know you have some.

[calvinemerson]

the guitar is amazing, but the singing has a heavy twang on the r's and its distracting. great job otherwise!

[erwincc]

good job!

[SARGEmas]

Impressive man, nice job.

[cwcowell]

That's incredible arranging, playing, and singing.

Who are you? Are you a pro musician? How much training have you had? Please don't tell me you're a computer programmer who just dabbles in music in his spare time--that would just be too depressing.

If you're not a pro musician, you should consider it. Tons of talent on display here.

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Wow, thank you for the kind words! Right now I'm a med student by day and musician by night. I trained in classical guitar for about 7 years, but am self-taught in other styles. Music has always been a big part of my life and I definitely plan to keep it that way.

[lufc550]

You're very good. Well done.

[egab18]

This is aMaZiIiIiIiIinnnnNgGgg* nice job!

Any way that you could post an instructional video???

[m0nkey13]

Great job, I enjoyed it. Do you write as well?

[thosedreams]

Mike, you are talented. I read a comment you wrote about a left-handed classical guitarist on another video and followed you to your channel. Glad I did. You will go far, my young friend...

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Thanks so much! I remember that video, it was quite an impressive performance. Glad you stopped by!

[DSAhmed]

You might want to add a touch of reverb or a light echo chamber effect to the vocal track. It would add some depth to the sound.

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Thanks for the input. I do have some reverb on the vocals here, but maybe I toned it down too much. I was worried about drenching everything in reverb, so maybe I went too far the other way. The echo is something I never tried on this...that's a really good suggestion!

[DSAhmed]

I don't know what kind of recording software you're using, but with CoolEdit Pro, you have and echo chamber option that's not the same as reverb, as it adds 3D echo chamber effects to mono recordings. I also discovered that the only way to add echo depth to a tambourine sound is to record it in stereo with 2 mics.

To do this, you'll have to get a special mono-stereo splitter/adaptor and record from line-in on your PC, since the microphone jack is mono.

[DSAhmed]

One draw back, is it really should have some kind of pre-amp, since the levels are too low. Unless your mics are very high quality, you might get a little noise in your recording. (at least this was the case for me).

I no longer have my recording set-up, but I'll make a video of an original track I recorded a few years ago that was recorded in stereo with 2 mics. I'll post the video response later. Please give feedback.

I but I'd be careful about the nasal sound and narrow vowels.

[adzo92]

Wow dude, this is amazing. You are amazing.

This is such an amazing song! You did it perfectly.

Keep up the good work!

[BenEzraSoundProject]

I'm thrilled you liked it so much! More recordings/videos on their way soon, feel free to subscribe ;)

[flowerdiary]

Hey Mike.. Good job.. were watching you from the lab (one guess at whos name may be flowerdiary)and are very impressed. Especially love the tambourine part. Very nice.. great job!!

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Lab? What lab? I know not of what you speak ;). I think I told John I was planning to start recording an album like 3 years ago...better late than never, I suppose!

[aljay022092]

awesome man..simply awesome!!..

wow, mike!.u really are a genius in guitar!..haha..i think ur one of the acoustic guitar gods..haha

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Wow, thanks! I think you give me a bit too much credit, but I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

[bukofezra]

very very nice Mike....great guitar playing and singing. Never heard that song before....sounds cool.

[arielsandersmusic]

Sounds very pro!!!!

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Thanks! That's what I aim for, hehe.

[cllc623]

thanks so much for this. this is my song, and you really fucking nailed it man. keep it up

[BenEzraSoundProject]

I'm so glad you liked it! This song moves me every time, I'm glad to hear it means a lot to you as well. I had so much fun doing this, trying to come at it from a different angle while staying true enough to the original.

[bobostonepony]

what video and audio software are you using?

[BenEzraSoundProject]

I mostly use Cakewalk Sonar as my DAW, and the video program is Adobe Premiere. PM me if you have any questions about specific plugins and things like that.

[bobostonepony]

great VOICE! Great arrangement.

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Wow, thanks. I'm not much of a fan of my voice, yours is in a whole other galaxy.

[MoonlightHorses]

It sounds excellent, mate! What's more, if you add &fmt=18 to the end of the URL it sounds way better. What make is your guitar?

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Thanks! And thanks for telling me about how to get it to play with high-quality audio! It makes such a difference. The guitar I'm playing here is an Alvarez-Yairi WY1K.

[Cameragirl803]

You rock Mike:)Nice cover dude:) How Beautiful! 5*****

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Thanks so much.

[artgirlsreality]

You are a one man band! Ok what can't YOU do Mike? lol ROCKIN! I got check em out. This was cool. cheer,Meg

[BenEzraSoundProject]

Haha, thanks Meg!

[spiritrelaxhq]

wow ... I don't know the original one, but I like what you did whit it : )

[BenEzraSoundProject]

thanks!