Bandcamp: https://cloudskater.bandcamp.com/album/never-again-with-lamoni-jackle-app-cover
Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1364116

Credits

Lamoni - Synth programming, drum programming
cloudskater - Vocals

Lyrics and music originally composed by Jackle App

Produced by Lamoni and cloudskater
Vocals recorded by cloudskater
Mixed and mastered by cloudskater

Artwork by Voxaz
Cover designed by Lamoni

Follow Lamoni here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LamoniMedia

Follow Voxaz here:
https://voxaz.carrd.co/#contact

This cover has been in the works for a while. Lamoni originally sent me his instrumental multitracks on the first of December, 2023, but I didn't even realize they were his own. I thought he had dug up the stems to the original song somehow and wanted me to see them, but no, he created them and I was just too distracted by final exams at the time to check it out.
I eventually got through finals, recorded my vocals on the 18th and then it all just... sat there. I mixed his instruments together at the time but we never got around to finalizing art or putting it out into the world. Until now.

Lamoni took the art he commissioned from Voxaz and designed the front cover, while I tweaked and finalized the mix and master. The hardest part was getting my vocals in the right place. I wanted them to be really upfront and in your face, like the original track, but without it's abhorrent mastering. It was because of this, though, that I kept putting my voice too far in the front and it overtook everything else in a bad way. Ugh. But I eventually got it just right, I think, and I adore the final result. Singing like that is not natural for me, and you bet the pitch correction does a lot of heavy lifting. As much as I love the sound of breathy vocals, it's easy for my pitch to fall off a cliff while I'm focused on not running out of air. Something I need to work on, for sure.

Mixing annoyances aside, I'm really proud of how this all came out.
Lamoni's instrumental is mostly untouched aside from me boosting the kick and treble on the amen break drums by just a couple db, if that, and adding some reverb to make them sound wider. I also did a treble cut on the bass that comes in halfway through the song and pulled the very highest frequencies out of the lead synth. Its harsh top end kept me from placing it where I wanted in the mix, though I hope I didn't reduce too much of it's bite in the process.

I... think that's everything. Here's to my first ever true collab! Thanks for doing this with me, Lamoni, you killed the instrumental. I love this song in it's original form and it was a pleasure to cover it with you!
And, of course, thank you to Voxaz for the beautiful artwork! It fits the vibe perfectly.