Man decides to create "Take On Me" cover by smacking himself in the face a whole lot

Without any preamble other than a warning not to try to replicate Ramses’ musical stylings at home, the video kicks off with five appropriately comic book-style panels that show how each noise in the cover was created. The solo slap-fight involves the YouTuber flicking his cheeks, tapping his teeth, and repeatedly hitting himself in different parts of his face for more than a minute straight.

In the video description, we learn that the song “was assembled by creating all of the sounds … using the exact same methods seen in the footage.” After whaling on himself long enough to collect the samples, Ramses “linked them to a number of virtual instruments, then arranged a MIDI file that played pitch-adjusted notes with a bit of reverb on them.” He says “the melody was performed live” through several takes—which offers a great image of a man alone in front of his computer, repeatedly smacking himself in the face—”then overlaid with a MIDI track that gave the melodic component more prominence.” The final step was to mix the resulting face torment, throw in an air horn at the end, and call it a day.

This is inspiring stuff not just for would-be covers artists, but also for everyone out there who believes that not having the proper equipment is stopping them from achieving their musical dreams. If a guy who calls himself RamsesThePigeon can create music of this calibre by hitting himself in the face over and over again, not having a nice guitar doesn’t seem like much of an excuse for a lack of creativity anymore.

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