At The Risk Of Feeling Dumb¶
"At The Risk Of Feeling Dumb" (ATR hereafter) is the second-to-last track on twenty one pilots' 2024 record, Clancy. I've discussed it in Review of Clancy (2024) that it
Starts off like circus music, but I feel it's the most serious song on the record. It tells you to check on your friends' mental health, no matter what they say — even at the risk of feeling dumb.
It's also the track that "sounds like them" and "feels like them". They spread a message, like "Neon Gravestones". The strongest track, and energetic as well.
So naturally given the comically long summer break, I am gonna cover it. From scratch.
The goal of this cover is not to reproduce the original; instead, I opted to be more creative with sounds and arrangement.
While you read, you can open my Faircamp in a new tab and hit play.
What's in the song?¶
Oh boy.
Since it's from scratch, I could not reuse stems or sample the original. This endeavor ended up being my most complicated audio project ever. There are 52 tracks. Fifty-two. Ardour lags as I scroll up and down.
A synopsis:
- Synths: lead, 4 pads, vibraphone, harp, high-pitched hum
- Drums: 808, Black Pearl (plugin), and a real snare drum
- Vocals: main, falsetto, lofi, tenor, and rap
- Autotune for each pitched vocal track
- Ukulele: some with fuzz effects
- Bass, where one track is shifted one octave up to emulate guitar
- Samples: see below
Samples¶
I had to be creative with household items.
- 0:00 - Cassette player
- 0:21 - Vernier calipers
- 0:22 - Spray bottle
- 0:55 - 2.54mm pin headers sliding against edge of table
- 0:56 - Ziploc of CR2032 battery holders (sounds like sleighbells)
- 2:12 - Two pencils
- 2:24 - Nitrile glove
Timeline¶
I recorded ATR over 13 studio sessions (in my bedroom) in total. Eleven were in the first half of June. Then I procrastinated two weeks. Then I picked up where I left in early July.
Rather unconventionally, I recorded the track one part at a time, rather than laying out a complete backing track before vocals. When I was recording Chorus 2, for example, everything following that was blank. Thus, I had no idea where I was going. I came up with most of the creative ideas halfway.
Notable inspirations:
- The intro is sung along to tøp's "Friend, Please" (which carries the same message as ATR)
- "Nude" by Radiohead inspired the slap-like, one-octave-up bassline you hear in Chorus 2 thru 4
- Original Verse is a commentary on Clancy's track listing
- I yanked the last bar of drums from "Levitate"
Technical details¶
Chord progression¶
Really simple song in terms of chord progression. Everything is G-Em-Bm-D except the post-chorus where it's G-Em-Bm-A-D. Turned out challenging as I had to improvise rhythmically to make the same chords interesting over and over again.
Mic rig¶
Mom bought a phone tripod with a swing arm. The threaded hole on the phone clip is identical to that on the mic holder, so naturally, up it went. No more stacking boxes under the short-ass mic stand.
I had no windshield so I improvised with a napkin wrapped around the wire mesh tied with a rubber band. Can't keep out the hard P's though, so I had to automate the fader.
Balanced cable¶
I bought a balanced XLR cable to replace the XLR-quarter inch cable my mic came with. The noise disappeared like the money in my wallet. 5/5 would buy again.
Drums¶
I used three drum kits in a single song.
OK, one of them is a single snare drum I practiced on when I was 12. Played with Trench-era Josh Dun drumsticks. You can hear it in Chorus 2 and Post-Chorus 1. I did not record the rest on the drum, because my neighbor might complain.
One day I was cleaning out some junk at my late great-grandparents' house when I found my old electronic drumkit. I brought home the console, the snare drum, and all the cables. With some hackery involving a MIDI-to-USB adaptor I was able to record drums with real drumsticks. But I did not because the drum pads worked just fine.
The Black Pearl kit was a late addition. Before that, I used a built-in kit, but the snare lacked punch, and the crash is just not wet enough. Luckily, I have a few drumkits installed for unknown reasons, and this Black Pearl kit blew my mind.
Pedal¶
There's a pair of pedal switches (cost like 10 CNY each) I bought back in 2019 for a kinetic game I made (which didn't work, btw). So I soldered the wires to a cable with a quarter inch tip-ring plug so that the contacts short when I stomp it. It functions as a sustain pedal for my keyboard and hihat open-close control for the drum kit. Neither turned out useful but they sound cool.
Ukulele¶
Didn't have the money to buy a condenser mic so it is what it is.
EQ & compressor¶
I recorded the kick, snare, hihat and other cymbals on separate tracks so they have different EQs. I used "Calf Equalizer 5 Band". The kick is lowpassed and sidechained to many other tracks (such as bass) to compress them so they don't muddle the 60 Hz range.
Autotune¶
Yes, my vocals are autotuned. The plugin is "x42-Autotune". To avoid sounding like an unnamed rap star, I had to keep the correction ratio below 0.6. For each group of pitched vocal tracks singing the same melody, I have a MIDI track for the autotune plugin to refer to.
Sometimes I sing off-key so bad I have to do another take. And sometimes the autotune overreacts so I have an automation track to taper down the correction ratio temporarily.
Cassette player¶
The click and whirr you hear at the beginning are a real AKAI cassette player. I wish it worked. If it worked, I could have run my vocals through an aux cable on tape and played it back to achieve physical lo-fi.
Album cover¶
I reused assets from the recent reflow workshop 2. The color scheme is inspired by Clancy itself, and the title typesetting is inspired by Radiohead's In Rainbows (2007). The smoke is a photo by Tigerzeng on Wikimedia Commons.
Tools used¶
Software¶
- Ardour: arrangement, recording, production
- Helm: synths
- Calf: plugins
- Black Pearl Drumkit: plugin
- Guitarix: plugins
- x42: plugins
- Krita: album cover
- Inkscape: album cover
Hardware¶
- Interface: Behringer UMC22
- Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M20x
- Keyboard: AKAI MPK mini play
- Mic: Shure PGA48
- Bass: Ibanez GSR200
- Ukulele: second-hand "Nalu", model unknown
- Drumsticks: Zildjian Josh Dun "Trench" artist series
- Snare drum: Majestic AK14D
Lyrics¶
Yanked from Genius. Differences:
- Added Intro
- I keep saying "on my lowest" instead of "at my lowest"
- Added Original Verse
- Numbered Choruses and Post-Choruses
- Minute changes in backing vocals
[Intro]
I don't want anyone to drop anything for me
[Chorus 1]
I don't want anyone, know me or not
See me [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop, drop, drop Don't have to
drop by Nothin' you can do this time I don't want anyone, know me or not
See me [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop Drop, drop, drop anything
for me Just keep your plans, I hope that you never have to drop
[Verse 1]
Used to be you and me, matching Kawasaki Zs
Ride around 270 in Kawasaki tees
Two fighter jets matching energy
Trying to forget that we're in ejection seats
[Pre‐Chorus]
So please, keep it in mind
Check on your friends
Every once in a while
Even if they say
[Chorus 2]
I don't want anyone, know me or not
See mе [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop, drop, drop
Don't have to drop by
Nothin' you can do this timе
I don't want anyone, know me or not
See me [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop
Drop, drop, drop anything for me
Just keep your plans, I hope that you never have to drop
(Drop, drop, drop)
[Post-Chorus 1]
At the risk of feelin' dumb, check in
It's not worth the risk of losin' a friend
Even if they say
"Just keep your plans, I hope that you never have to drop"
[Original Verse]
I can read your mind man, where is Tyler's verse man?
Chill, let me have some words of my own man
The new record, it's called Clancy
On a scale of Trench, I'd say that it's a ninety
Can't forgive The Craving so close to Lavish
Your eyes are steamin' up? Here comes a colonoscopy
Upbeat (yeah), down thoughts (nah), guess it's called tradition
Thank you for your patience, program resumes shortly
[Verse 2]
If I'm bein' real, man, don't know how I feel, man
'Bout you sleepin' so close to a weapon you conceal, man
Those night terrors are not somethin' to take lightly
I know that it's a risk sayin' this, don't fight me
(Stoppin' me, fight me)
(Stoppin' me, fight me)
(Stoppin' me, fight me)
[Chorus 3]
I don't want anyone, know me or not
See me [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop, drop, drop
Don't have to drop by
Nothin' you can do this time
I don't want anyone, know me or not
See me [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop
(Drop, drop, drop) Anything for me
(Stopping me, stopping me, stopping me)
Just keep your plans, I hope that you never have to drop
[Post-Chorus 2]
At the risk of feelin' dumb, check in
It's not worth the risk of losin' a friend
Even if they say
"Just keep your plans, I hope that you never have to drop"
[Chorus 4]
I don't want anyone, know me or not
See me [on] my lowest, you don't have to drop
Drop, drop, drop anything
For me
[Outro]