DARK SUN arisen Greg's drums n Ido's lead

[rayc]

I wrote this with the intention of Joey Mizzi singing it but, quite reasonable, he'd done three songs with me and didn't want to do any more. We co-wrote a couple for his solo project but this one was left behind, (#4 in a trilogy).
Gerry/Ido57 & Greg played on the backing.
About five singers have offered to have a go at it over the intervening decade or so, but it came to nothing until this week.
Original Pygmy Beat singer/sax player/flautist/writer had a crack at it...only draft work so far, & lo fi MP3 files were all I had to work with, but the song shows promise and means that the excellent work of Gerry & Greg isn't wasted. Terry modified the melody a bit which is great because, as you know, my melodic sense is nonsense.
Gerry on leads
Greg on drums
Terry on vocals
BIAB provided the odd harmonies, (LOTS of pitch work, cut n paste etc needed but that's fine) and
I did the rhythm guitars and bass.
1st Nov Mix.

DarkSun 0111.mp3

A chap on another forum offered to run Terry's vocal through the WAVES Clarity plug. It did a far gentler, less artefact ridden and aggressive job while cleaning away most of the awful noise. That means the vocals are clearer so the bvox and everything else can be a little brighter and not mask the voice. It's a pretty good cleaner for persistent noise - not so flash for intermittent stuff.

NEW MIX. I've addressed the vocals as best can be managed...I shan't get a cleaner track from Terry so will have to work with what I have. This is one fairly tidy I HOPE:

[b][color=#FF4000]DarkSun 2410.mp[/color]3[/b]

DSmixD.mp3

Here's the latest.
I secured the .wav files from Terry BUT they're really, REALLY bad.have a look at the noise in these two snaps.
Using three levels of ReaFir and EQ I've managed to reduce the noise but it also dulled the vocal a lot. Some exciter brought some top end back but it had to be very cautiously used lest it raise the hiss again.

feq of hiss.JPG

freq hiss 2.JPG

DarkSun 1610.mp3

Noise wise he uses a REALLY ggod Sennheizer mic into a really bad mixer into an even worse converter. I'm also concerned that he may not have a balanced cable into the mixer. I've asked those questions but he hasn't responded for a week - usual.
He does, as the images show, crank the mic pre, the channel level and the master level so that MAY be the issue.

20231009_170256.jpg

NEW MIX. I've addressed the vocals as best can be managed...I shan't get a cleaner track from Terry so will have to work with what I have. This is one fairly tidy I HOPE:

DarkSun 2410.mp3

[Greg_L]

Jeez when was this? I don't remember this at all, but it does remind me of the original Pygmy Beat sound.

[vomitHatSteve]

Yeah, this does sound like your older work now that it's mentioned.

Obviously, it needs the better take on the vocals, but everything else seems to be sitting ok.

[Lt. Bob]

Well I'm one of the vocal attempters but I couldn't get anything decent at first and then it dropped off my radar when daughter's cancer took over life activities.

He did well and better than I think I would have managed.
Greg's drumbing is wonderful as always, nothing new there.

Pretty cool .... guess I need to check out BIAB .... you do some cool stuff with it.

[rayc]

Jeez when was this? I don't remember this at all, but it does remind me of the original Pygmy Beat sound.

2011 or 2012 Greg.
I knew I was pushing it but with such a dream team of you, Gerry & Joey, why wouldn't I try to milk it.
I'l get your input on the drum mix before it's finished.

[rayc]

Yeah, this does sound like your older work now that it's mentioned.

Obviously, it needs the better take on the vocals, but everything else seems to be sitting ok.

All in C and with as few chords as possible - that's me.
I have trouble convincing Terry that an MP3 isn't up to scratch - particularly one recorded on a phone.

[rayc]

Well I'm one of the vocal attempters but I couldn't get anything decent at first and then it dropped off my radar when daughter's cancer took over life activities.

He did well and better than I think I would have managed.
Greg's drumbing is wonderful as always, nothing new there.

Pretty cool .... guess I need to check out BIAB .... you do some cool stuff with it.

Yeah, you had a crack - you did a draft of the 1st verse with some guitar too but seems you lost stuff in a hard drive crash and, yes, you've far more important things to get on with so it was fine with me.

[Armistice]

When you get a better vocal, I'd consider taking some reverb off it, and the lead guitar as well, which are both sounding a bit echoey...

I'll await further developments.

[rayc]

When you get a better vocal, I'd consider taking some reverb off it, and the lead guitar as well, which are both sounding a bit echoey...

I'll await further developments.

It was reverb and delay making it icky. I've a better pair of vaocal takes to comp from but the noise issue, as has been the case with Terry since about 2010, is always present.

[TheTestingYak]

good choon brav