Post by mcarp555 on Nov 1, 2018 10:01:28 GMT
With nothing new in the pipeline at the moment, and the holidays approaching, I'm finally getting around to a project I've long wanted to do.
As longtime visitors to this site will recall, this site started out focused on the PS5. Then around 2004 or so I was able to purchase a 788 directly through TASCAM (thanks again, Jace, wherever you are!). That was my main recording device for quite some time. Now I'm using Cubase on a computer, along with a DP-32SD. And along with a program called Musescore 2 I'm able to score and orchestrate passable string and woodwind parts. And Melodyne helps me autotune the vocals. The upshot is that the quality of my recorded sounds have improved over the years. Many others here have followed similar paths. All well and good.
But, some of the older songs still rankled me. Out-of-tune vocals, string parts that sound like asthmatic accordions, etc. I've long wanted to revisit some of those 788 tracks and finally 'fix' them. So here we go. I've selected three songs that particularly bothered me and have begun to resurrect them. I've pulled the 788 out of storage and started to restore the songs from their archive CDs. Then I burn the individual track WAV files onto a blank CD and import them into Cubase.
The first track is Silent Lullaby. It is probably the saddest song I've ever written, based on a true story about an actress in the UK who fell off a balcony, suffering massive head trauma. Her mother was told there was no hope of recovery, and after a few days, life support was withdrawn. Eventually the young lady passed away. The song is about what must have gone through the mind of her mother, sitting by the bedside for the inevitable to happen.
I still have the original score for the string quartet I wrote back in the day, so I entered it into Musescore, generating a much more lifelike string section. I then used Melodyne on the original vocal track to pitch-correct the melody. Finally, I EQ'd the piano part to make it a little brighter and less muddy. The whole song was remixed through Cubase with various plugins and compressed to make the mix louder and more cozy. Also, I was able to correct some small timing errors from the original recording, such as the Celeste and the piano not quite meshing up. Overall, I finally feel like the recording does a much better job of bringing justice to the material. I've long wanted this one to be better than it was. I think it's a lot closer now.
You can hear it from the link below, but be advised that it just might grab you, especially if you have children. It was difficult at times to work on this without being affected, but I'm glad I've done it.
Silent Lullaby
Currently there are two more songs in the queue for upgrading/remixing. I've already started working on the next one, and will post about them as they are completed.
As longtime visitors to this site will recall, this site started out focused on the PS5. Then around 2004 or so I was able to purchase a 788 directly through TASCAM (thanks again, Jace, wherever you are!). That was my main recording device for quite some time. Now I'm using Cubase on a computer, along with a DP-32SD. And along with a program called Musescore 2 I'm able to score and orchestrate passable string and woodwind parts. And Melodyne helps me autotune the vocals. The upshot is that the quality of my recorded sounds have improved over the years. Many others here have followed similar paths. All well and good.
But, some of the older songs still rankled me. Out-of-tune vocals, string parts that sound like asthmatic accordions, etc. I've long wanted to revisit some of those 788 tracks and finally 'fix' them. So here we go. I've selected three songs that particularly bothered me and have begun to resurrect them. I've pulled the 788 out of storage and started to restore the songs from their archive CDs. Then I burn the individual track WAV files onto a blank CD and import them into Cubase.
The first track is Silent Lullaby. It is probably the saddest song I've ever written, based on a true story about an actress in the UK who fell off a balcony, suffering massive head trauma. Her mother was told there was no hope of recovery, and after a few days, life support was withdrawn. Eventually the young lady passed away. The song is about what must have gone through the mind of her mother, sitting by the bedside for the inevitable to happen.
I still have the original score for the string quartet I wrote back in the day, so I entered it into Musescore, generating a much more lifelike string section. I then used Melodyne on the original vocal track to pitch-correct the melody. Finally, I EQ'd the piano part to make it a little brighter and less muddy. The whole song was remixed through Cubase with various plugins and compressed to make the mix louder and more cozy. Also, I was able to correct some small timing errors from the original recording, such as the Celeste and the piano not quite meshing up. Overall, I finally feel like the recording does a much better job of bringing justice to the material. I've long wanted this one to be better than it was. I think it's a lot closer now.
You can hear it from the link below, but be advised that it just might grab you, especially if you have children. It was difficult at times to work on this without being affected, but I'm glad I've done it.
Silent Lullaby
Currently there are two more songs in the queue for upgrading/remixing. I've already started working on the next one, and will post about them as they are completed.