OK, I did the vote, tough one. After a bunch of listens on each, my thoughts if you care:

@daveo1977
At the start I had to do a double take, thought it was @Yeti singing, your voices sound quite similar. I think you managed to get really close to the MTV Unplugged sound. The stereo guitars sounded good and your vocals were great.

@studmissile
Bonus points for composing your own track. I don't really listen to enough motown to tell how close you got to the sound, but I really like what you did with horns.

@guidothepimmp
Dude, what a insanely hard song choice to turn into an acoustic track! I would've thought it impossible but yet here we are. Are the violins your real violin? I also really liked the way you layered the guitars. Agree with @Yeti, drums could be a bit louder for my taste

@Meticus
Man your interplay between the guitars and pipes is so good! I also like the way the percussion builds between 0:20 and 1:00. What is your recording setup like? Your recording quality sounds good (at least to my not-very-good ears)

@Yeti
Liked the groove on the backing track. A bit biased here since I played on it, but I think the result is good. I had fun coming up with my bit. My guitar teacher was telling me to play more deliberate and clean, so that's what I was trying to do here. My last bar has a bit of slop on it, but I'm fairly happy with the rest.

@RCVN
Glad to see you putting that LP to work. Very well executed and as with @studmissile, bonus points for an original composition.

As for my own:
I think @Yeti saved the day here. I spent a bunch of time trying to come up with a vocal harmony that works, but I didn't really find too much that I was happy with. I don't have anything to record vocals and acoustic with so it's all from my phone. I used n-track DAW for android. While recording the guitar I had a click going into headphones, but for some reason it bled through to the actual recording, and it is especially prominent towards the end of the track. Not sure if it was leaking out the headphones themselves or if there is some crosstalk issue inside the phone's audio circuitry itself. You can also hear my kid watching Paw Patrol in the background. I recorded the vocals in my car after seeing @NorioDS's post. I think it worked well, pity I couldn't fit the guitar in the car as well.

The last week before lockdown ended up being a bit of a nightmare for me at work so I didn't have time to record real stereo guitars ---- I ended up using @morph's double and shift by 15ms trick. The solo has real stereo guitars though.

Thanks for the feedback guys, this was a fun one.

ScottyDogg Alternatively, does MT Power Drum let you set panning within the VST?

i'm pretty sure it does; check out what @morph has to say above. i haven't really had much of a go at these things yet; like i said, i've been sticking everything pretty much down the centre, especially when it comes to drums.

but, thanks to your post, will be playing around with stereo panning much more from now on.

thanks again ScottyDog
dh|

You too @morph, top class entry.

Nicely played @klaasvakie & @morph . Some great tracks all round.

Yeti @klaasvakie
Love the mashup idea. You’ve managed to blend the live guitar and samples to really create an enormous sound. Timing on the portion where the guitars follow the unlimited theme could be a bit tighter but otherwise really cool.

Yeah that's pretty accurate. I actually wasn't planning to play the unlimited bit (with the off timing) on guitar -- I had the "no no limits, just reach for the sky, no valley too deep, no mountain too high" bit planned as a solo played high on the neck, but after recording it it sounded really thin and didn't fit well with the thicker sound of rest.

I ran out of ideas (and time) to try and thicken it up, so I decided to play the pew-pew-pewpewpewpew-pew-pew bit lower down the neck instead, but since I hadn't played it before, I struggled to play it fast enough and thus the timing is poor.

If I have to add more self-criticism:

• The first time the "no no, nono, no, no" theme gets played on guitar, it starts a fraction too early.
• The first two times the money theme gets played on top of the synths+drums, I copied and pasted the wrong part of the unlimited song, so the synths don't have quite the right bassline. Somehow I got it right for the last ones.
• I think I would like the guitar softer in the mix, but I hesitated dropping it since this is a guitar-themed competition.
• The one time where I play the "there's no limits" bit higher up the neck I misfretted a note badly (looking at you pinky-finger)

I stumbled on the mashup idea by accident --- I was playing money for my son and he interrupted me at exactly the right moment for my fingers to mumble into something that sounded like no-limits. The two actually go together pretty well on their own, and it didn't take much to figure out way to blend them together. I still think it would've been nice to work the "no no limits, just reach for the sky, no valley too deep, no mountain too high" bit in there somehow, but couldn't figure it out a way to make it sound good.

Reading everybody else's process, I think I spent way less time on the final mix and levels, and I think it shows -- I have some learning to do there.

Thanks for the feedback @Yeti and @morph, appreciate it!

I’ve put together a short review of the various entries… although I do feel little foolish giving a crit on such fantastic work.
@Stoffeltoo
Love the instrumental version. Particularly enjoy the chord melodies and the guitar tone in general. If I have a criticism it’s that the drums are a little bubbly as if they’ve been exported at low quality at some point in the process. Overall love it.

@morph
Fantastic rendition. Love the tone and balance overall and the use of panning. Particularly enjoyed the acoustic on the left channel, is that a bit of tremelo? Nothing wrong with those vocals at all. Only complaint… and I’m stretching is that the end is a little abrupt. (My vote for what it’s worth)

@studmissile
Great track as always, love the drums, love the synth build up in the beginning and the overall structure. I love how you’ve incorporated your normal vibe and given it a more poppy flavour. The only thing that I would work on is your position of your vocals in the mix… I don’t think it’s the level though. I reckon it just needs a tweak with the graphic EQ to bring out the sweet spots. Should help them to cut a little more and let us hear more of your words.

@guidothepimmp
Congrats on your first DAW experience. Hope the bug has bitten! You’ve got some great tones in there and the ‘misinterpretation’ is really funny. Enjoyed the cameos and whistle verse. Vocals are great although straining a little on the low note, may have been worth shifting it up a tone or so to make it more comfortable.

@RCVN
Cool groove and nice sound. Mix is really solid with each part clearly distinct. Vocals give a cool swagger and attitude. Really like the multi-guitar instrumental parts. Only criticism is that the rhythm loop seems a little tight. If you lengthen it a little then it won’t stand out as much.

@klaasvakie
Love the mashup idea. You’ve managed to blend the live guitar and samples to really create an enormous sound. Timing on the portion where the guitars follow the unlimited theme could be a bit tighter but otherwise really cool.

@guidothepimmp and @RCVN definitely roping you guys into vocals at the next garage days!

Squonk I know! But I couldn't get the poll to give us more than one each...boo! But don't let that stop ya from commenting on the ones you especially liked!

While not cheesy. I'm quite digging @morph's - playing and tone are grrreat and the vocals really suit the laid back nature of the tune.

Though, I havn't voted yet, still gotta listen through all the entries properly.

Hey Guys. Thanks for the replies.

@morph & @modulator thanks for the tips and advice. I think a sunk in bolt will do the trick nicely and I assume it doesn't have to be a 'huge' big bolt either. Maybe a 6mm or max an 8mm? (Cant believe i am going to be drilling a hole through my guitar's neck. Ouch.

I also found 2 cracks on the body when I stripped the rest of the finish last night. Don't know how/when this could have happened. Possibly bought like that.

I now have to strip the wood sealant. I was thinking a sander, but if there are easier ways then please do tell!

Hectic busy at work at the moment so I will reply and update as I get time.

Thanks again for the advice gents!