I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

I could give Viv Campbell's parts a try. His playing style is right up my alley.

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Was hoping to see you here!!! LOL!!!

Vivian Campbell. My nemesis. So you can be sure I’m gonna be listening carefully!!! LOL!!!

Well. Go for it. Thus far he’s not “taken” so go for it.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Just so we’re clear here :

Are you saying that you are using the official long version from YouTube as the backing track when making these recordings???

Oh and can you make the files downloadable i.e. available for direct download in file permissions on SoundCloud.

Yup, I used the original. There was no way I could record over the midi thing. So I used :
- standard speed as the original
- standard tuning, same as the original

Made them downloadable.

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

^^^ OK. Got them. Thanks.

Going to try to fit them with the MIDI track.........

Yeh. Only discovered late yesterday that by enabling that permission it allows you to download the file in its original format i.e. without any of SoundCloud's streaming related tweaks that are done post upload and save on SoundCloud.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Our vocalist appears!!! LOL!!!

How’re you doing???

Yeh listen up: I got no problem at all if it is decided that somebody better qualified and kitted out than I does the stitching together and the mixing and mastering.

But if the above be the case then all I do ask is that the same audio and video is made available to me so that I can do my own production of this if for no other reason than the experience.

And one other point that I believe needs to be made is this: everyone concerned to be allowed to critique whatever is done so that it can be corrected or finessed if necessary and without the individual concerned taking offense and realizing that it’s for the common good of the project. In other words: if something looks or sounds like sh*t then it is noted and discussed and corrected and such criticism is taken and accepted in the spirit that it is given. There is no point in ending up with a bunch of lousy clips that are simply accepted and praised for fear of upsetting the contributor. It helps nobody concerned: not the individual and certainly not the project as a whole.

Of course. That's not an issue.

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Yup, I used the original. There was no way I could record over the midi thing. So I used :
- standard speed as the original
- standard tuning, same as the original

Made them downloadable.

Dude.

I got some bad news for you. This ain't gonna work. It involves too much time aligning and stretching to align your audio to the MIDI (audio) backing track. Even if I use something that extracts and matches beats: it kinda starts out alright for the first few bars and then drifts in and out of time. Not to mention the fact that no matter which option I use: it involves quantizing and time stretching of the audio which affects the audio (in a not so desirable way) anyway. This is why I said: let's see ya do it with the backing track i.e. not that easy without the original audio and video as prompts.

Put another way: the above is way above my pay grade not to mention far more time consuming than it needs to be even if there were a chance that the end result was going to be acceptable.

I do see what you meant yesterday though i.e. it's the keys that are a semitone lower than they should be in the beginning and a semitone higher in the middle and at the end of the track. So I've corrected in the file below. This being said: I'm not particularly happy with those keys anyway so will redo them myself at some point.

Here's the backing track. 44.1kHz/32-bit IEEE Float WAV. Tempo is 110.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

That sucks. Ok, understood, but hard to believe those bps or bpm on the midi cannot be tweaked to much the original. Have you tried that?
Anyway, in order for the midi to be useful, I'd need the full song, including the intro clean part (standard A tuning). Otherwise there is no way to synch.

In the meantime seeing more members contributing would make this easier!

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

I haven’t tried to synchronize the MIDI file with the original audio version. Will try it but not convinced it’s going to make life easier. The chances of the Tab./MIDI file being the same as the original are slim to none. @LLL has already discovered an additional bar or two in the Tab./MIDI file.

The actual MIDI file itself is in one of my posts above. You should easily be able to download it and play it in your DAW using GM instruments. That way you can turn on or off any of the tracks you want to hear while laying down your stuff. I will upload the updated MIDI file later (only difference being my sorting out of the keys in the current version).

Only way I can see this working is to use the backing track, maybe even with the MIDI file, and to note your precise in and out positions especially for your solo parts. Be a lot easier if we could lay each solo down in order one by one but I cannot see this happening as things stand now without having enough guitarists or double ups. Suppose we could simply remove solo parts and shorten the solo i.e. not ideal but an option.

If anybody has suggestions here then don’t be quiet and keep them to yourself i.e. feel free to chime in!!!

And the video part seems to be being ignored just by the way. Given the complexity of these solos I don’t see anyone miming these things to the degree of them being believable. If we’re going to do this it’s going to take some time and practice so that you are so familiar with the song and the sections and the timing that it is so tight that you can do each video take exact and on the fly. And some, quite understandably, may not have such time at their disposal. Just putting this out there is all.

 

[LLL]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Well, we need to make an official backing track first and foremost... before we start slapping any solos on it.

Need drums, bass and rhythm guitars (BTW, there are technically two rhythm parts; each different - one is the chunka-chunka main thing, the other complements a little higher up fretboard)

Then any soloing needs to be done over said backing track.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

this is supposed to be the said MIDI (the final one - backing track in correct tuning). Apart from the beginning, which is something completely different than the original, I think its workable. In the intro, the choir kind of thing is completely confusing to the (future) singer and has to go/be muted.

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Well I've an idea that may help:

I can always add a "vocal" track (vocal melody) using keys or possibly even simply the right chords. That will sort out the timing, acoustic guitar, vocals, rhythm etc. for the intro. and most of the rest of the song with the exception of the solos. And maybe while I'm doing it I come up with a brainwave to demarcate the beginning and end of each solo. Then the acoustic intro. and the rhythm tracks can be laid down and then simply remove the keys "vocal" track and we (you) should be good to go with the solos.

It's going to take a while though I'm afraid i.e. about a week. Not because it's difficult but because this particular week (unlike most) I've got some urgent things that I need to take care of on a personal level (non-music related unfortunately but nothing I have a choice in).

I'd say this though: continue trying to get those solos as tight as is humanly possible. The format of the MIDI file is not going to change (unless I find some serious errors). In particular: the timing, length, and layout of the solo parts is not going to change.

This would also be a good time to get more takers for the solos.........

Please let me know if you think this is the way to go before I spend days doing it!!! LOL!!!

Oh and for the sake of curiosity and learning: just how do you think they actually did this in the studio when they recorded this thing anyway??? I know they're good but I cannot see them having worked off of just a bass line and drum track with click tracks. Logic tells me it could only have been arranged with keys and then they were substituted as the they went along completing the different parts. That's how I've worked anyway (on the very few bits of original stuff I've mucked about with anyway i.e. keys first while at the same time laying down the drum track, then bass but with the keys in mind, and then guitar obviously).

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

For the record: I've just attempted to match or "fit" the original audio track to the MIDI audio backing track and they're not only different but even if I manage to align the drums in the beginning of the song they drift in and out of time until they go completely out and that's the end of that. So there's something not quite right with the Tab./MIDI file I'm using OR there's a problem with the source video. Remember that ALL of these video clips have been taken from VHS and digitized. It would only take the slightest glitch on playback of the tape to knock everything sideways (which I actually suspect is the case). Could have been dropped frames while converting to digital which could have been caused by tape dropouts. Too may unknowns here.

The alternative is to actually download or buy an original on CD and use that (but I ain't forking about nearly $400 for one CD i.e. I don't like it THAT much and not to mention that for me that's almost half another Jackson Dinky!!! LOL!!!). Maybe somebody around these parts just happens to have bought this thing when it was released and wouldn't mind copying the track and uploading it for us??? The FULL LONG version that is (if that is indeed what's on the CD i.e. as I noted to you guys earlier there are two different versions of this song and one is a lot shorter, with less solos, than the other and I have uploaded that audio track already). There's a few sites that purportedly have the track in MP3 format but they're dodgy and I ain't risking my PC for this.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

MIDI-based : Clean part and chunga chunga part :
https://soundcloud.com/greekdude888/clean-session-we-are-stars-midi
https://soundcloud.com/greekdude888/rhythm-session-we-are-stars-midi

screwed up a little with the beginning of the rhythm losing some fraction of the second, but I managed to edit, without the need to re-re-re-re-re-record. Now the clean could be split easiy, but I guess if we kill this choir thing, the singer will easily follow just by hearing the clean part. I made as real and close to the original as it gets, timing wise and generally.
No time for solos, as all time slots were consumed this weekend. Also I tried to shoot a video and failed. IMHO the video should not be real time. It is impossible to do all the freaking clicks at once, taking care to play correctly and looking happy on top of this. So the vids will come later.
As LLL said, there has to be some central coordination here, and this is Dale's job by the looks of it.
In the mean time I'll work my yngwie solos better, and maybe shoot some others' like this Goldy dude, the Ojeda between them and maybe some George Lynch, whatever I can nail, without trying 20 hrs/day anyway

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Downloading now dude!!! LOL!!!

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Can you do me a big favor and render your entire session (guitar and backing track) and send it to me or upload it to somewhere where I can download it. I need to check something. Don't worry about the mix or anything i.e. as long as I can hear both tracks.

P.S.

Low quality .MP3 will do.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

https://soundcloud.com/greekdude888/master-session-we-are-starts-test

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

okie, so mp3 is cool?
anyway if you include them with your backing MIDI it should work right out of the box. What do you need to check?

I just want to make 100% sure that YOU were out of time on the "chugga chugga chugga" bits is all!!! LOL!!!

Seriously though: I just pulled in the two tracks you uploaded and they fit like a glove with absolutely no shifting or any fancy tricks. Sounds pretty amazing (in most all parts). So in principle this works absolutely perfect UNLESS you were NOT out of time in which case there's a serious problem.

That's what I want to check i.e. compare your .MP3 to what I render out now with the tracks that you've already done together with the backing track.

Really just want to be sure before we go any further i.e. just to make sure there's no glitches and that we've got no compatibility issues or sample rate issues or anything like that.


P.S.

Do you mind if I upload what we've got so far??? Pretty excited about this.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Ok, you may check the mp3 above. Cool to upload, to keep us posted on the idea of the final product!

Forget about being out of time, it was a small mistake I corrected in my DAW, you shouldb't be able to notice by ear.

hey hmm which means I WAS NOT OUT OF TIME... what do you mean we have problem, I dont quite follow...
problem + correction = correct
correct + correct = correct
we aint got problem + problem = correct situation, that's for granted.

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Hello.

Well the good news is that technically we have no issues at all i.e. it works perfectly with no fancy footwork at all required to time align the tracks. Simple matter of pulling up either the original MIDI file or the audio backing track and overlaying your contributions.

The bad news: you're out of time!!! LOL!!! Sorry. Mostly on the "chug chug chug chug" bits i.e. on the little hook you come back in almost perfect time every time. Same on your .MP3 I'm afraid so it's not a technical problem.

Listen to the beginning of the song. Pretty much on target (time). But (for example i.e. it's out before here but this is more pronounced) when we get to 1:40 the timing goes out until 1:57. Then you come right back on time at 1:58 thru 2:32 and then out again. And so on and so forth. And it's not a technical problem because the very end of the song is dead on (pretty much a good yardstick).

 

[dpaterson]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

Anyways.

All I can say is well done and thanks for the effort. By the time you've practiced this for the next month and played it 10 000 times it'll be perfect (and you'll be so sick of the song that you'll never want to hear it again!!! LOL!!!).

Nice tone too I must say.

I am at least confident that we can do this now in sections taking files from all over the world and stitching them together nicely. I know that theoretically there should NOT be any problems doing this but there was no harm done in checking before going further. As I said at the beginning: "we have the technology"!!!

And NO: you're not getting off the video thing that easily either!!! But we'll argue about that later.

 

[greekdude]

Re: I Can Haz Hearing Aid?

No 10,000 times, just one more time. The problem is that the MIDI drums+bass track is a souless construct that is boring and dull as hell to play along. I mean you should be worried if I kept on time 100%. Anyways, I got distracted at times, talked to my son, wife, etc .... I will give it another shot next saturday. The clean part I guess is here to stay.