Remix project: The first album revisited 20 years later

K

K-dub

Well-known member


When I first started working on this album, I was still in my early 40s and JUST learning how to do this recording stuff.

Back when, the internet's paint was still wet, and knowledgeable folks flocked to it to check it out. Trolls eventually drove them away, but before they left ... I got to chat w/ some of the top engineers in the sound biz. I only wish I'd known back when what I do now. I could have learned so much more asking intelligent questions.

But I was pretty much clueless about everything in those days. Right about then, I found here.

Folks from here play on these recordings.

The challenge about opening files not touched since 2003-4 (I still use Cakewalk), apart from whether they will still open and haven't been corrupted, is that NONE of the tools I used then loads now. None.

Each project then becomes "faders down" to build from.

The benefit is that I've got incredible new tools and 20 years more knowledge under my expanded since then belt; and ALL I have to do is mix. The creating is done. I don't have to worry about that part AND the mixing. Consequently, there's a certain relaxation to the approach that allows for a different perspective as a "new listener". When doing all at once, lines blur, and x-ray vision can impede in over pedantic detail.

Sadly - 20 years in ... some of what was on that album is lost to corrupt files. I'm trying to piece one of the songs back together. I may need to recreate it. We'll see.

Anyways - If of a mind to give a listen, thank you!

This is not as avante garde as the first one I posted here. It was my first release ... and I hadn't arrived there yet. It's straightforward 70s singer songwriter pop in the vein of Billy Joel, Tom Petty, and a host of other influences.

Enjoy - and if you think of anything to offer?

I'm listening.
 
Excellent mix. I like the song (Shadow of a Dead Rose, I assume that's the one you're asking about?). Does put me a little in mind of Billy Joel. Vocals might have just a smidge too much effects on them, but that's mostly a taste thing. Good work.

I also started recording on Cakewalk (PA9 iirc). I eventually did upgrade to Sonar X3, but stopped there when they went to the subscription model. Have the same issues though in opening old files. Most of the plugins are gone or don't work.
 
"In the Shadow of a Dead Rose" is VERY influence by Joel's style.

They've all been remixed, so folks can listen to any which one they want or all of them if they've any interest in doing so. I actually paid CW the "lifetime subscription" for upgrades, and they plowed under three months later. :D

I started on Pro Audio 6.

Roland bought them, but really had no resources for them, so they stagnated. Bandlabs eventually bailed them out.

The new CW is constantly being upgraded, and is probably more robust than when CW was independent. The product and the upgrades are also now completely free.
 
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K-dub said:
The product and the upgrades are also now completely free.
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I saw that when Bandlabs first took over, but I thought there was some kinda catch. Something like the files weren’t on your hard drive, but were hosted on their site… or something along those lines that stopped me from taking the freebie.
 
There is, but it's minor. You have to become a member of Bandlabs, which is also free. Once joined, then their software suite becomes available to use. CW is part of that suite. Outside of the occassional reverification of membership, there's nothing left to do. Everything operates as it always has, and all files are kept locally.


The updates are usually monthly - but I can't complain. The price is right -- AND I BOUGHT THE LIFETIME UPGRADES!

:D
 
Just an update on this collection. Dobro (Paul) will testify that I have a penchant for remixing until I'm 100% certain I've done each piece justice in the best way I can.

This was, originally, a bit all over the map. The mixes were close, but the disparity when moving from track to track showed some mix levels were softer than others, and some ... well, were rushed and rather lazy. When I dropped back in, after admonishing myself for my inattentiveness, I found routing errors - where I had tracks going to some rather strange places, and parts that even were not included properly in the mix.

I'm now done w/ this re-release. Each song is now well constructed and the flow from one to the next has a continuity and feel between the tracks that is consistent in the overall flow. Enjoy.

No comments necessary and this can slide down the board, but just wanted anyone who had been following (there were lots of listens prior to me replacing most of the pieces w/ new mixes) to have the heads up.

It's better now.
 
RFR said:
I’d be willing to buy a physical hard copy (cd) if you have one.
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Nope. Not taking your 50 cents. PM me an email, and I'm happy to share MP3s. Burn your own goddam CD. :D

Curiously, when released in 2004, this had an explosion of material on it that I was just working on as of that time. Since I sold all of basically nothing, I decided that not only would I re-mix the album, I'd change the composition of songs to make it better fit in the "not just shit I had ready at the time to release" fashion. It didn't have a flow. It had, "Shit I worked on during that time period."

Now I get to go back and say, "I can put a comprehensive collection together." w/o thinking about it in a frame of work that I randomly worked on.

I'm in the process of rearranging ALL of my albums into such.

"Unfit for Consumption" was just my first design in retrospective reinterpret fashion.

I'm having fun.

So PM me and the MP3s are totally yours.

I live in a place that looks out on this. I've enough money to hand my music out to be simply shared.

:D

20210925_181008.jpg
 
I remembered, after commenting last night, that I could let folks download the wav files right from Soundcloud. I went in this morning and gave permission to do so for the album - should anyone wish to avail themselves.
 
That’s quite nice of you! Both on the personal “bun your own damn cd” and the broader offer.
Thank you.
Does that apply to your earlier stuff you had posted here as well?
 
Very nice stuff K-dub. The mixes sounded excellent. Very easy to listen to. Cakewalk 'eh? My first bit of digital recording gear was Guitar Tracks Pro 2 which I tinkered with 17 years ago or so before heading overseas for work and to live in a shoe box for 15 odd years. I'm pretty sure that was by Cakewalk. I used to post quite a bit on the old Cakewalk forums there too.
 
Monkey Allen said:
Very nice stuff K-dub. The mixes sounded excellent. Very easy to listen to. Cakewalk 'eh? My first bit of digital recording gear was Guitar Tracks Pro 2 which I tinkered with 17 years ago or so before heading overseas for work and to live in a shoe box for 15 odd years. I'm pretty sure that was by Cakewalk. I used to post quite a bit on the old Cakewalk forums there too.
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Did you sign up for Bandlab and get the free version?

It's the same damn thing as their flagship product.

Free.
 
K-dub said:
Did you sign up for Bandlab and get the free version?

It's the same damn thing as their flagship product.

Free.
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Nah, I switched to Studio One in around 2011 or so. But wasn't doing any real recording anyway. Just mucking around. I was kind of getting into it in the Guitar Tracks 2/ Sonar days, then yeah, like I said, moved overseas for the next 15 years. I've only recently come back home and have had the time to kind of resume.
 
I finally got time to just sit, throw on the headphones and start giving things a listen.... Wow, what a treat. Great tunes you've got there, K. The arrangements are first class, a far cry from the the processed, homogenized fare that you hear so much of today.

It's fun revisiting stuff from the past. If the rest of the vault has more like this, you've got a gold mine.
 
Monkey Allen said:
Nah, I switched to Studio One in around 2011 or so. But wasn't doing any real recording anyway. Just mucking around. I was kind of getting into it in the Guitar Tracks 2/ Sonar days, then yeah, like I said, moved overseas for the next 15 years. I've only recently come back home and have had the time to kind of resume.
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Truth told, they're all good, and largely we lock into traditional formats we deal with.
 
TalismanRich said:
I finally got time to just sit, throw on the headphones and start giving things a listen.... Wow, what a treat. Great tunes you've got there, K. The arrangements are first class, a far cry from the the processed, homogenized fare that you hear so much of today.

It's fun revisiting stuff from the past. If the rest of the vault has more like this, you've got a gold mine.
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This is why the remixes are such fun!

I've a whole new generation to ignore me!

(Thanks bud)
 
Little anecdote...I helped my mum buy a laptop the other day which means she gave me back this old all in one PC I had bought in 2012 that I had given her for the past few years. I got it back to my place and turned it on to see if it was still going alright and all that. Runs ok, so naturally I had a listen to some of my songs on soundcloud to see the state of the mixes on another playback scenario. Just for fun. Well what a bloodbath. But your mixes sounded nice. Admittedly, the sound on this PC wasn't doing audio favours to anything. But your mixes held up really, really well.
 
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