Just Joined....

[BTStudio]

So... how do you like this one... This is about a woman, who while playing games, broke her own heart...

P.S. The music is too loud...

Yah it is hard to hear the lyrics in that one. You’ve got the old style country music nailed. Like Dude country isn’t very high on my list of favourites but if I do listen it will probably be something old. Your Cheating Heart works for me.

 

[Tom Hicks]

Sounds like you want to remix the individual tracks, to get a balance of volume levels more to your liking.

There are multiple ways to skin this cat.

Old School - get hold of an analog mixer having at least 8 channels and patch the 1/4" outputs of your Blackface or XT ADAT to tge mixer. Play the tape and mix away. When you are happy with the levels, patch the stereo master out from the mixer to the stereo mic line in on your computer sound card. Record to a wave file on any DAW. Audacity is a free one. CD resolution is 44.1/16 bit if you intend the CD format. If you intend streaming you can select higher bit rates.

New School - have a transfer service extract the 8 individual tracks of each song and deliver them to you on a data disk or perhaps a USB thumb drive or cloud download.
Put them on your computer and mix the songs "in the box". As before when you are happy with the mixes, render them to your preferred format according to how you want to make them available.

CD, thumb drive, streaming platforms like SoundCloud, YouTube, bandcamp, Facebook etc.

ADAT tapes were at one time a professional standard, but that time has passed by for the most part.

Don't wait on this .The magnetic tapes degrade and the ADAT mechanisms wear down and develop flaws.

Get your tracks transfered to the current digital media.

Best of luck.

 

[ecc83]

I'm surprised nobody has said this yet, but you're not going to be able to change much in these recordings since they're just stereo tracks. You can't re-mix a stereo recording. You can do things to make the stereo recording sound better, but you're not going to be able to bring up the vocals if they're too low, etc...It just doesn't work that way.

I mean, you can run them through SPLEETER to separate the instruments, but the sound quality will degrade quite a bit.

This is not strictly true. There are now some amazing digital tools that can 'unbake' a mix to a surprising degree. The software is however very expensive and only high end studios will have it. Maybe a top bloke like James P will give an opinion as to whether there is any point in approaching such a studio with the material? Gonna cost ya.

Dave.

 

[Random dude]

This is not strictly true. There are now some amazing digital tools that can 'unbake' a mix to a surprising degree. The software is however very expensive and only high end studios will have it. Maybe a top bloke like James P will give an opinion as to whether there is any point in approaching such a studio with the material? Gonna cost ya.

Dave.

Yes, that is why I mentioned SPLEETER in my last sentence. I know it is possible. Anyway, turns out he has separate tracks, fortunately.

 

[CeeBee2]

The recordings sound good to me. Too bad the vocal is panned hard right on some of them, odd choice.

I've read this entire thread, but am still unsure of your intent. Do you want to redo parts of these songs, or just remix them?

Most of my songs just need to be remixed, to get the clanging toned down or GONE..! A few songs have had lyric changes & will get a re-do (maybe) (Singers/Artists might like to do their own mixing..). My final product will be re-mixed songs and/or redone songs & a separate songs, with no vocals.

Can you tell me what "Panned Hard Right" means...?

These songs were demoed by a Studio in Tennessee & supposedly cleaned up by a man in Washington State.... He just took my money. Then they were transferred from ADAT 8 track Tapes, to Stereo CDs (i.e... almost unusable as is...)

 

[Eric Malone]

The first song you posted has the vocals in the center of the mix. The second and third song you posted has the vocals panned, so that they are coming out of the right speaker, rather then center stage. There are no rules, and comes down to personal preference. There are many recordings that have the vocals mixed this way. Especially 60's music, Beatles etc. Are you the singer on all 3 of these songs?

 

[rob aylestone]

Spectral Layers is really excellent at unmixing now. If you want, you could send me what you have and I'll extract the tracks - the result, if you solo it, does have a few artefacts, but you can take a typical stereo mix, split it into drums guitar, piano, voice and bass, and then you can rebalance and add effects and things.

The Beatles stuff that is left/right/centre sounds odd to me - I can live with left and right instruments, but left and right vocals is just weird!

 

[CeeBee2]

I looked at Spectral Layers... It hurt my 81 year old brain... That 's not for me... Trying to learn all the new Jargon, will be the death of me... let's don't go there...

I really thank all of you, for giving me your thoughts & I appreciate them, immensely.

Sounds like you want to remix the individual tracks, to get a balance of volume levels more to your liking.

There are multiple ways to skin this cat.

Old School - get hold of an analog mixer having at least 8 channels and patch the 1/4" outputs of your Blackface or XT ADAT to tge mixer. Play the tape and mix away. When you are happy with the levels, patch the stereo master out from the mixer to the stereo mic line in on your computer sound card. Record to a wave file on any DAW. Audacity is a free one. CD resolution is 44.1/16 bit if you intend the CD format. If you intend streaming you can select higher bit rates.

New School - have a transfer service extract the 8 individual tracks of each song and deliver them to you on a data disk or perhaps a USB thumb drive or cloud download.
Put them on your computer and mix the songs "in the box". As before when you are happy with the mixes, render them to your preferred format according to how you want to make them available.

CD, thumb drive, streaming platforms like SoundCloud, YouTube, bandcamp, Facebook etc.

ADAT tapes were at one time a professional standard, but that time has passed by for the most part.

Don't wait on this .The magnetic tapes degrade and the ADAT mechanisms wear down and develop flaws.

Get your tracks transfered to the current digital media.

Best of luck.

The New School is an option for me, but these clowns around here are talking 2-3 hundred dollars an hour.... The problem is they are really R & R guys, with nothing to do & they couldn't tell you why Your Cheatin' Heart is still a player. The result would be a genuine toss up, with the losing side magnetized...

"Get your tracks transferred to the current digital media." *** WOW, What a concept...! Even If I had that on my computer today, I wouldn't know what to do. I'm too soon oldt & too late Schmart...

 

[TalismanRich]

Nah, CeeBee, you're never too old.

There a bunch of us here on the high side of retirement age. Learning never stops until we do!

The fellow who did the transfer to MP3 did you a big disservice. He should have given you the individual tracks for each tape. Listening to Givin In and Turntable Trouble, he's even left the click track at a high level! That borders on incompetence.

Atlanta On Your Mind is pretty good, a little less stereo separation is all it really needs unless you're doing new vocals.

Where in the country are you located? Maybe someone here is in your area who might be able to help.

 

[rob aylestone]

I'm busy today and tomorrow on a job, but I'll see what spectral layers can do with the three tracks and report back as soon as I can.

 

[Serendipity Records]

I've read this entire thread, but am still unsure of your intent. Do you want to redo parts of these songs, or just remix them?

To me it sounds like he has old 8-track tapes that he wants transferred to digital (computer) files so that they can be remixed into more appealing demos. That right, @CeeBee2?

 

[CeeBee2]

To me it sounds like he has old 8-track tapes that he wants transferred to digital (computer) files so that they can be remixed into more appealing demos. That right, @CeeBee2?

That's sorta correct. I can buy an Alesis ADAT & I know how to push the buttons to balance the song, but that's it. I don't even know how to hook it up. I'd rather not spend that money & time, I'd rather send the 8-Track SVHS tapes to someone, who can do this service. Maybe they would like to be a partner in this endeavor. Some songs will then get new vocals & the others will be ready to ??? But if their charge is exorbitant, I'll buy the equipment & try to learn...

Then I'll be ready to see which artist wants to record them.

You guys are the greatest... I'm sorry that all I have to offer is the "want to".... I'm in Tulsa, OK

 

[rob aylestone]

zip of 6 audio files
Try this - spectral layers split out these tracks - but that damn click is is many of them. Some are empty - as there is no piano etc. If you bring them into the DAW with the faders in a row,m it sounds similar - but you can increase or decrease vocals drums bass and guitars. It's taking a long time to upload so it's not yet up on my server.

 

[CeeBee2]

zip of 6 audio files
Try this - spectral layers split out these tracks - but that damn click is is many of them. Some are empty - as there is no piano etc. If you bring them into the DAW with the faders in a row,m it sounds similar - but you can increase or decrease vocals drums bass and guitars. It's taking a long time to upload so it's not yet up on my server.

Thanks a bunch for your efforts...

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I wonder if the people who did the original transfer still have the individual tracks.

 

[CeeBee2]

I have the original ADAT 8 track tapes in my Possession. I also have the CDs they transferred the songs to... I even have the small DAT 8 track metal tapes

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Maybe the transfer service just mixed it down in real time off your tapes, but maybe they transferred the individual tracks to audio files and then mixed them in a DAW. If the latter, perhaps they still have those files and could send them to you.

Small DAT 8-track?

 

[CeeBee2]

Maybe the transfer service just mixed it down in real time off your tapes, but maybe they transferred the individual tracks to audio files and then mixed them in a DAW. If the latter, perhaps they still have those files and could send them to you.

Small DAT 8-track?

YES, the tape is SMALLER THAN A CASSETTE TAPE. Fat chance, the transfer guy could NOT tell you anything about what he did. The first try, the vocals couldn't be heard, then I complained a bit & he re-did it.

 

[CeeBee2]

a DAT Digital Audio Tape The tape is about half the size of a standard analog cassette, measuring 73 x 54 x 10.5 mm. Its tape is 3.81 millimeters (1/8") wide. It is a 16 bit format.
Professional DAT tapes are small, eminently portable, and quite sturdy. They have the advantage of being housed in sturdy plastic cases

 

[CeeBee2]

The first song you posted has the vocals in the center of the mix. The second and third song you posted has the vocals panned, so that they are coming out of the right speaker, rather then center stage. There are no rules, and comes down to personal preference. There are many recordings that have the vocals mixed this way. Especially 60's music, Beatles etc. Are you the singer on all 3 of these songs?

NO, I paid for the Song Demos through a service in Tennessee, which has sadly gone away.