Unwanted UPDATE mix #5 - 2022

[John Vere]

Unwanted 2022 updated April 4th version #5     https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14415473    

Edit: April 4th:  I added a low C bass note as well as turning up bass and lowering Reverb on snare as per suggestions here. 

  Another old song I originally recorded in around 1994 using a real drummer and a Tascam Cassette 8 track shown below. I've made at least 4 other attempts to re do this song and I even have a Bed track that I used for performance that has the vocals removed. I used that bed track to rebuild using the method I demonstrated in this video -  https://youtu.be/HuPc1RjBRbc

I've included a link to the original version if your curious to how wonderful Analog Cassette recording really was. I can't beleieve those things actually fetch more than they did back then https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l5gBXT153knsz2iFwJy9ecJt0Oj2YFZ1/view?usp=sharing

I first dragged the bed track to the time line to create a tempo map. I played real bass and converted to midi via Ample P Bass. I them played 2 piano parts, True PIanos and Lounge Lizard and an analog synth pad using Ultra Analog . I also found a flute sort of sound in Artura Analog Lab that works perfectly for the lead line.  

I then deleted the Bed track, set the tempo at a little more than the original and recorded 2 identical guitar parts panned and then a lead part. Then lead and Harmony vocal tracks.  

 

 

 

This was the heart of the original Cactus Music Studios 1992 until I got the Yamaha MD8. I sold it for $100 to a guy who says he still has it and it still works. 

. 

UNWANTED OLD Short.mp3

Edited April 4, 2022 by John Vere
Updated link

[mark skinner]

 Great immigrant song .  I think it's the Native Americans who should have built a wall..   I used to own a syncaset but seems like it was a Teak. Still own an Tascam 8 track cassette recorder and a suitcase full of tapes. Nice job bringing life back to your old but still relevant song .  Enjoyed it ..             mark

Edited April 1, 2022 by mark skinner

[DeeringAmps]

43 minutes ago, mark skinner said:

Nice job bringing life back to your old but still relevant song .  Enjoyed it

ditto!

the original recording holds up just fine!

t

Tascam 688 midi studio was my introduction to home recording. stripe one track with SMPTE and Cakewalk 3.0 was off to the races.
20 inputs, 24 if you count the two stereo effects returns. I'll still miss her...

Edited April 2, 2022 by DeeringAmps

[John Vere]

@DeeringAmps   Yep Had to save track 8 for midi time code to drive my Atari. But It was rare I used midi in those days on recordings because of that hassle. It was cool when I got the MD8 which could transmit MMC. 

I think I would record 5 tracks of drum kit peices and then a guitar in Trk 6 for the arrangement. I'd bounce that to Tracks 7/8 in stereo and then re use the first 6 tracks again. I think I was mixing down to a HI Fi Stereo VCR. 

Just clicked on your My Reel link hand had a gas listening to your stuff. Lots of fun.  I liked reading your Liner Notes. You've inspired me to do the same as most of my songs have a long history as well. Many have been played hundereds of times live using backing tracks or with a real band. 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by John Vere

[jack c.]

song/harmony well done.jack c.

[AndyB01]

Great song John - cool ending - love the tape original too, it has a really authentic feel. ?

Andy

[KSband]

Good song. sounds pretty good too. The only thing I would do is turn up the bass a bit.

[John Vere]

Thanks @KurtS    Funny you mentioned the bass track. Because when I listened to the original I realized I must have played it on a 5 string bass.  Right in the intro there’s a low C.  Bummer is Ample P bass free version is only the 4 string range.
I’ll add SI bass just to play that one note. 
 

And thanks to all who did listen to the sample of the original version.

And yes it was about as good as what I was capable of back then working with very crude gear.  

Those were the days when there was definitely a huge difference between home studio and real studio gear. 

The problem is all those old songs sound so radically different from my new stuff and therefore I can’t mix them together in album or playlist format.
The goal is to try and make all my songs fit together sonically and quality wise.   

I’m overall satisfied with the music but I think I’ll look into a better vocal signal path including mike and pre amp. I’m going to try and sell off all my live gear and use the money for studio toys. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by John Vere

[Bapu]

Really good song John. Such a small/tiny/minor crit: the verb on the drums feels way out of place with everything else. If I were the producer I'd put a tad more dry drums upfront.

[noynekker]

Nicely done John . . . cool song that tells a story, and the recording sounds great to my ears. After the instrumental part I really liked how you punched the drums and instruments together to change things up a bit going back to the verse, which actually became an outro or coda. Well written there, for a first time listen, a few surprises.

We used to use a Tascam 688 MidiStudio with a midi time code track, 7 channels ! . . . what an upgrade from the 4 trk Portastudio.

[John Vere]

@BapuNoted and agree. I had just changed the snare in AD and it has more bite than the first one I used so it’s driving the reverb harder. I normally don’t use much but I was going for drama this round. 
 

@noynekker Thanks. That transition is a great example of taking multi tracks of both audio and midi and syncing them up. I sort of had that punch on the drums and followed with the guitar. Then I zeroed in on the midi stuff matching the drum hits. 
I tend to spend a lot of time in PVR syncing parts. This song was tricky because it is 6/8 feel. That means Quantize can be either 1/8, 1/8-triplets and 1/16 - triplets. I had to keep switching grids an snaps 

Edited April 4, 2022 by John Vere

[John Vere]

I just did a quick remix    https://soundclick.com/r/s8kz1t 

As suggested by @KurtS   I turned up the bass 1db using Boost 11- Don't laugh, It's a good tool if used correctly. 

As suggested by @Bapu    I lowered the reverb send on the snare by 1/3.

 I added a Low C note on Bass in the into and the bridge to match what I did on a 5 string bass in 1994. 

I also swapped out the BT stereo imager for  the much better Alex Hilton A1 Stereo Control on the Analog synth track. Thanks to @scook  for sharing the link to another great freebie.  https://a1audio.alexhilton.net/a1stereocontrol     This one has a SAFE BASS button which works brilliantly to solve low end phasing issues when using a stereo widener. I had also tried Ozone Imager but it's a CPU hog. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by John Vere

[Makke]

Unwanted 5

Good song and performance.  pleasant soundscape... great job.

[John Vere]

Thanks for listening.