Firefly Theme [Cover by Devin Mooers]

[@LostTempler]

You keep playin, we`ll keep listenin

[@DevinMooers]

Hey thanks! Steadily working toward my first album, excited to share it with you all when it’s ready!

[@Elohist2009]

Where my brown coats at? 👊🏾

[@DevinMooers]

Gotta keep that dream alive!

[@Keltook]

Yes, Devin, the sky can't be taken from us. Thank you for the reminder in these times of unknowing. Your gift grows, expands and encompasses the spirit of love. Peace brother.

[@DevinMooers]

Thanks so much Pat for your warm thoughts! Hope you enjoyed the holidays, and a happy new year to you!

[@BenMagargee]

Not a cover I was expecting, but a welcome one! Might be a sign to give the series a rewatch, lol

[@DevinMooers]

An old favorite of mine, along with Serenity. Such a great show!

[@joashsembiringg]

We're waiting you, always ❤

[@stocksconfidential8862]

Oh my gawd !! He speaks !!! Brilliant love it !!

[@soysauce05]

So much life and love in your music!! I can’t wait until more people recognize your talent.

[@DevinMooers]

Thanks Silas!!

[@michael.walker]

so good man!

[@DevinMooers]

thanks Michael! 🤘

[@therealsnaily]

Words can't describe how I love your channel. Pure, raw gold.

[@DevinMooers]

José! Great to see you on here, and thanks for your kind words! Lots more coming up. I'm curious, if you could pick, would you rather me put out fewer songs with a video for each one, or more songs with videos for a few of them but not all? (e.g. on Spotify)

[@amystraussmusic]

Beautiful Devin!!

[@71Corvette454]

Beautiful!

[@Brigant70]

The only problem with this cover....it is too short :P. As usual Devin, this was a pleasure to listen to. That is the problem with theme songs. Glad you liked Firefly. A somewhat underrated series outside it's community.

[@DevinMooers]

Such a great show, really wished they had been able to finish the season and more. This was a good bite-sized cover that I could handle during hte holidays, but I'm aiming to pick up speed again in the new year. If you have any ideas for covers, do let me know! It's a bit tough for me to figure out how to balance covers vs. originals - I just seem to get so much more reach with covers at this stage ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Brigant70]

@@DevinMooers Originals vs covers is the old problem. Most famous artists started as cover bands, even the Beatles. Once you have established an audience it is easier to promote your own stuff. Example: Teddy Swims. You have a special musical style, also you are a multi-instrumentalist. I listen to your original once a day or so. People often go down the medley route and are often successful with it. Like Disney Medley or Taylor Swift etc. As those artists have a built-in fanbase and the KZbin algorithm favors that kind of stuff. I do however not see you covering Disney songs. You could of course, but I am not quite sure, that this is your cup of tea. When I think of you, I think Peter Gabriel would suit you quite well. His arrangements are really good, a lot of talented artists on his crew like Leland Sklar. I could see you doing some Solsburry Hill, Sledgehammer covers/medleys and extent your reach with it. I do think, that this is not too far off your personal taste. Also Sting of course. I could also see you doing some folk covers like the Loch Lomond (The Parting Glass), Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair. I am sure you could come up with some great arrangements and those are royalty-free material, so that is always nice. Things that are almost certain to be successful are catering to fandoms. Like covers of movies (Far over the Mountain Deep, The Hanging Tree, Into the West, Toss a coin to the Witcher) or Video game music. Here is the key to be somewhat recent to be favored by the algorithm. Also John Williams my most beloved composer is now 94 years old and still working (god bless him). Someday his gift will be taken from us (in many years from now I hope) but when it does, I will be grieving for a week. All original tributes to John William's body of work will skyrocket. There is no doing wrong in a tribute to the master. Pick any of those suggestions, but also continue doing your own stuff. The most important thing however is: Be yourself and enjoy yourself. Do not cater to an audience, if you stop being you. Your audience will find you if you just dare to be authentic. Have patience. Great things will be in store for you, but you can't brute force it.

[@iver56]

@@Brigant70 ooh yes, I would love to hear Devin do Scarborough Fair too

[@DevinMooers]

I'm so honored that my original is a regular companion! So cool! And true, I do not see me covering Disney songs either. :) Teddy Swims looks like a great source of inspiration on using covers to reach new people. You've got some great cover ideas here, thanks for those! Scarborough Fair was already on my list, maybe I'll do that one next. I was thinking of doing "I See Fire" (Ed Sheeran) from The Hobbit. It's hard though, I have about 35 original songs queued up to record, so I get a bit impatient sometimes to get my own stuff out there. Have to keep reminding myself there's time enough for everything important. And yes, I was also thinking of doing some film music covers (LOTR, Rings of Power, Miyazaki, The Mandalorian, etc.). It's been many years since I played video games, but I played Diablo I/II, WoW, Oblivion, Skyrim, etc. way back when. John Williams' music is so amazing. I wish he had more vocal songs, but it would be fun to do some instrumental arrangements of some of his gems!

[@DevinMooers]

@iver56 I added this one to my list recently - thanks for the +1, maybe I'll do this one next!

[@brianmi40]

Welcome back! Sounds great. Looking forward to the next Devin original track!

[@DevinMooers]

Hey! Thanks, it feels like it's been forever! Tough to know how to balance covers vs. originals since covers as far as reaching new people - my Little Blue cover has gotten 30x the reach of my "In Our Bones" original. O.o I hope that will change as I build up a little more of an audience but covers seem to be a great way to reach new folks at this point. I'm curious, would you be interested in hearing more songs without videos, or fewer songs with a video for each one? That's another thing I'm trying to figure out how to balance. These videos do take a while, sometimes as long as recording a whole new original song.

[@brianmi40]

@@DevinMooers Not much to be done about the Holidays fitting in there and quality time with the family! I think balancing covers with originals is the way to go since as you recognize, it helps draw people in. You could start with 2 covers then an original and go back and forth. I also think you could reduce the effort on the videos in a bit of a rotation also. Not sure, but maybe the covers could take the simpler approach and showcase the music, whereas the originals really try and reach out with a richer video concept to showcase them. If the music still meets your quality standards you set for yourself, I think people would be willing to see more raw or unpolished footage of "how the sausage is made", saving you some time to get on to the next piece a bit sooner. Perhaps saving the intense video work for those that feel really special to you as you're building them, that way there's a built-in willingness to go the extra mile. I know a fair number of channels hire out to someone to assemble the videos based upon your priors as examples and giving some thoughts toward the new one (theme, color, style-wise, etc.), maybe you could land someone on Fiverr or elsewhere that could become a reliable partner to do some/many of the videos from your raw footage. Hope this helps and Happy New Year!

[@DevinMooers]

2 covers vs. 1 original sounds like a great idea. And making some of the videos simpler would also definitely be worth trying. Setting up a camera while I'm recording the original audio recordings might be worth doing, so I don't have to re-do all the musical parts when I'm dubbing the music video, but can just edit the raw footage together. For instance, for the Little Blue video, I had to record ~70 video clips after I had already recorded and mixed the whole song. The Fiverr tip is a great one too, I'll think about that going forward! Grateful to have you along for the ride!

[@brianmi40]

@@DevinMooers You're very welcome, happy to help. We'll all benefit when you get to maximize doing what you enjoy best: making the music that means something to you.

[@Splines]

@@DevinMooers wow, i didn't even notice the video footage does not show your original audio recording, great sync. I struggle with this too and getting raw footage is probably not an option for me as I just don't feel like being on camera when I'm in the mood of creating something new. Thinking about camera work / lighting etc. would then get me out of the zone. Do what feels best for you. Also looking forward to hearing more originals from you ;)

[@devirus6513]

This is actually so insannee wtf

[@DevinMooers]

😁😁😁

[@tomfoth]

Is there anything you can't do incredibly well?

[@DevinMooers]

Bagpipes, bassoon, and backflips! Among many others haha. Part of the artifice of recording is that I can make myself seem better at, for instance, violin that I actually am - I'm quite bad! 😁

[@tomfoth]

We are going to see what I suspect is one of your favorite multi-instrumentalists, Jacob Collier, on April 24. Perhaps you should open for him?

[@DevinMooers]

No kidding, in Boston? I have tickets to the exact same concert! Haha I would not know how to perform a single one of my things live! Fun idea to chew on though for someday. And good guess, he is indeed my favorite multi-instrumentalist! I'm just finishing up a video cover of Hideaway :)

[@tomfoth]

@@DevinMooers Yep, Boston. Perhaps we could bump into each other!

[@DevinMooers]

I'd love that!

[@brianmi40]

Sorry to see that life doesn't always make room for one's dreams. Your absence is noted.

[@DevinMooers]

Hey Brian, thanks, your support is felt! It's been a hard stretch of constant illnesses with both kids the last couple months, and I've had to spend a bunch of time doing paid programming work. I'm actually sitting on a finished video (Scarborough Fair cover), but I'm waiting until I can finish setting up some monetization avenues for folks to support my music & get more involved, so I can build toward generating a real income, and eventually stop programming and be able to make more music faster. The video should drop Tuesday ish. If you use Discord, I have a nascent Discord server here that it'd be great to have you on as I hatch plans, bat around ideas, get feedback/suggestions, etc.: discord.gg/qBNeyDRCbp Otherwise I'll see you around YT. Hope you're well!

[@DevinMooers]

Well, I got a bit sidetracked making a cover of Jacob's song Hideaway. I still have a few website admin things to take care of before launching my Scarborough Fair video, but it should be out soon! The Hideaway video will follow a bit after that.

[@brianmi40]

@@DevinMooers Sounds fantastic, good to hear Devin. Been a bit busy myself, I'm doing me 2nd van conversion along with some other projects so may be able to take a look at your Discord later. Looking forward to them!

[@DevinMooers]

Oh cool, what van? We did a basic Chevy Express conversion to move across the country to Maine just before COVID

[@brianmi40]

@@DevinMooers I did a small Ram ProMaster City as my first conversion right before Covid to see if I would actually enjoy traveling like that. 2 trips and 5 months on the road total I was bit hard with the bug so sold the van and started looking for a larger one. I'm about 2/3 through converting a full size 2018 Ram ProMaster 2500 now, 600 watts solar on the roof, 200ah lithium, double bed and guest bed, fridge, shower, microwave, 27" monitor for laptop, all my own design with plenty of new ideas used. Pretty much the whole kit but done fairly stealthy. I was up as far as Portland ME last Fall and took the harbor tour. Where were you before ME?

[@luukvanderlende6970]

ofcourse you also play the violin...

[@DevinMooers]

Haha not very well, but I'm improving! It only takes 20 tries now to record a part decently well instead of 100 hah! Tbh I thought my mandolin skill would translate better to violin, but not having frets is wicked hard for me, and the whole bow thing. All that said I have a much easier time on the cello :D

[@ScottRainey]

That's a very angry song to me. I like your cover but it's too sweet.

[@DevinMooers]

Great feedback! It is a little incongruous compared to the original isn't it? My voice starts breaking up in a not-great way when I sing with a louder, more aggressive chest voice, maybe I can work up to that someday and do Sonny's original more justice!

[@ScottRainey]

@@DevinMooers You were raised in a house/faith that didn't let you even growl? Dang! Forgot to thank you for covering a tune I REALLY like. A tiny growl or rasp would have made all the difference to my ear. -- Always assumed it was an anthem for the side that did NOT win. May be worth practicing a rasp or growl. Perhaps adding a double note voice to your box of tricks. Most of the TV singing contests I've watched, favor someone with a rasp or growl, and down-select purely sweet voices. BTW & OMFG: Loved the hammer dulcimer on Little Blue.

[@DevinMooers]

@ScottRainey Glad you liked the hammered dulcimer in Little Blue! My folks' company built that dulcimer in Seattle, and I grew up with it. Have you played one? My uncle has an amazing voice with a bit of edge and grit to it, but around the campfire I always hid my voice behind everyone else's and was just too shy to be heard. Never took a voice lesson in my life either, so I'm finally trying to piece it together! Awesome feedback RE rasp. I did a quick re-recording of the main vocal with more edge/bite, aided by the fact that I've had days and days of laryngitis and coughing, haha. My voice is pretty rough right now, but the increased rasp is interesting - I also just leaned into it technique-wise. What do you think? Better? Too much / go for somewhere in the middle? soundcloud.com/devinmooers/firefly-theme-03-grit-test/s-P1YYBGXmRJx?si=0e2884899ee24c1785e25693efa9f796 Either way, it's a nice color to have on tap!

[@ScottRainey]

@@DevinMooers If there's a musical equivalent of "A face made for radio" it would apply to me. I'm terrible at playing but fairly good at listening / buying music. I have my Tix for Jacob Collier come late May in Portland. I saw Led Zeppelin (quite by accident) during their 4th USA appearance - Dec 28, 1968 - as an Opening Act. I suggested my fave Hammer Dulcimer tune on your sound cloud page, which I'll repeat here: Simple Gifts. Haven't seen a multi-voiced version on YT but honestly, I haven't looked. I did hear 6 Hammer Dulcimer's play Simple Gifts once. Probably at a meeting I attended in Idaho. Haunting. Beautiful. Awesome. At least as Awesome as the arrangement John Williams did for Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnjSg3yHbsiqfZosi=tdmMTee29NdZwdmQ Here's a sweet version with female vocal overbyte.com/simple-gifts.htm. Covering it as presented here would be fine but you wouldn't "own" it, unless you give it your own twist; like voicing it as a high-testosterone Russian military chorus - singing for peace (probably a bad idea - but at least it's twisted) What I had in mind was the chorus from the theme for The Hunt for Red October by Basil Poledouris kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3bXZWSYjrZ1nacsi=5b02pKee5if74mtz Basil's works are awesome. I also love his soundtrack for Conan The Barbarian - anything you can steal from him would be separate from this project but hell I'm sharing. Everything from the movie plus lots of extras: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqCkiXSVh9Jla6Msi=mxvgkkInkJM2qMNk ( I love The Orgy for some reason) or kzbin.info?search_query=conan+the+barbarian+soundtrack