East West Quantum Leap:

[JohnG]

Yeah, I found the description of accumulating all the gear fascinating. the EMI Abbey Road studio in California(?). Just shows HOW influential the Brit scene was, and in many ways still is to the music business.
Good to know.
JG.

Should have said UK scene or indeed wider, McCartney is an Irish name I firmly believe, so the influence of the fair isle too.

[rainbow]

Thanks for the Fab Four pdf John ... I felt a rumble of GAS there for a moment when reading that list of instruments again ... have to contain myself and I need to be familiar with all these new CCC sounds first ;D
Cheers ... Graham:)

[JohnG]

Yea, tell me about the GAS.
Me too for Fab Four.

Been having a deep nostalgia day, kicked off by re-listening to the EW Fab Four demos. Abbey Road, the White Album, Sgt. Peppers and the newer Love album. I remembered where I was when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" first came out. Brought back memories of Brooklands Tech College days, and friends long since lost touch with. Sitting strumming out Buddy Holly songs on an old acoustic guitar. Peggy Sue, Guess it Doesn't Matter Anymore, It's so Easy and so on.

And in there somewhere is the intro to Blue Jay Way. Was that on the Magical Mystery Tour EP? That song always got to me. I guess it was the Indian influence. Being brought up in East Africa, Indian music was frequently in the background (a large Indian community there, back then) and I suppose the unusual, for western ears, note intervals and portamentos and so on just crept into my psyche.

Just love a good evening raga. Are you listening Shyam?

Soggy with nostalgia,
JohnG.

[rainbow]

OK fellas, here's a cover of Vangelis '12 'o'Clock' from the 'Heaven & Hell' album where I've added a couple of EWQL solo voices as straight plug-ins. This was my first attempt, a few weeks ago, at sequencing anything from scratch using only the software instruments in GarageBand originally and played by ear after listening to the track on CD:

www.box.net/shared/z60maqael3

The original featured Vana Veroutis as Lead Female Vocal and she gives a wonderful emotional, breathy performance which really is the soul of the track and which is nigh impossible to reproduce in this way. However, I've used a combination of Female Vox Ah FX (Goliath) and Wales Vowels Master (one of the articulation options from Voices Of Passion) and used as a plug-in it is a 'snap-shot' of the 'performance' of the raw sample ... I need to revisit this project and use the EWQL vocal samples in 'stand-alone' mode and really make more use of the articulation possibilities and the modulation wheel on the key controller to get a more convincing ,fluid performance. This mp3 is meant to give some idea of how the raw vocal sample stands up as just a basic plug-in with no added effects via the player itself.
I've speeded up the tempo from the original recording a little as it has a fairly repetitive and somewhat mournful feel to it.
To my ears it always sounded like Vangelis was acknowledging Ennio Morricone's style on this one and it conjures up a 'high noon western film scenario' ... to this end I've added a little Strat fill towards the end.
Hope you like it and I'll put a couple more slightly less mournful mp3s over on members stage a bit later today ... again featuring EWQL vocal plug-ins.
Best regards ... Graham:)

[rainbow]

Finally got all the EWQL composer collection loaded ... the last to go on was the pianos gold set which I thought might take ages and be difficult to load but it was a breeze ... just 5 hours including authorisation and they sound great. Phew!!! ;D ;D ;D

[JohnG]

Well done, Graham,

Loved the Vangelis BTW. As you say, it needs some work done on the articulation of the voice, but it's amazing how just using a good sampled voice sounds without that. My advice would be to focus just on CC#11 and get some swells and fades into the articulation. If you've got a swell pedal it can be done in real time but recorded by the sequencer. Otherwise assign one of the wheels to CC#11 and give that a go. I'm finding I can use the breath controller of my Akai EWI 4000s to control expression very naturally.

Yea, it takes more than a little effort, doesn't it, to load it all? I'm still battling a bit with my new sound card, an EMU 1212M. It has an amazingly complex software mixer system which takes a little getting used to. As I've been away here and there, it means I keep coming back to it and thinking "now where was I?" And I'm away again this weekend.

I need to do a quick demo track too and might pick a suitable Pink Floyd number I think. Meanwhile I am trying to complete Mozart's Laudate Dominum with a choral section near the end, for my wife. I finished the notation whilst in Paris and now need to find the time to do the MIDI file. Oh well.

All the best,
JohnG.

[rainbow]

Thanks John I was looking at expression/sustain/volume pedals for the m-audio 88es over the week-end ... next bit of kit on the list!! I thought about a breath controller but figured I probably haven't got the breath. ;D ;D Seriously considered a ribbon controller to add some real-time touches to the CS 80 patches in Goliath though.
Hey, if you're gonna do a Pink Floyd cover then I 'll put in a request for 'Great Gig In The Sky' ... you could really go to town on that one with the vocal samples.

Best regards ... Graham:)

[JohnG]

The Great Gig ...

"I'm not frightened of dying, any time will do, I don't mind.
Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."
...
Ah ... etc.

Definitely a case for Voices of Passion. But to sequence all those pitch shifts and portamenti would be ... challenging, to say the least.
I might start with something simpler to cut my teeth on though!

;D

JG

[rainbow]

Yeah ... don't blame you John, it's a tall order that one. ;D ;D

[rainbow]

Well, I thought I'd have a go at this one anyway:

www.box.net/shared/okde11h1yo

EWQL Steinway from the Piano library, Welsh & American voices from 'Voices of Passion', Hawaiian guitar/dobro from 'Ra', plus real slide electric guitar via the Strat, Hammond Organ from AMG, drums & bass from GarageBand.

Not a patch on the original, but a bit of fun in the making

Best regards ... Rainbow:)

[JohnG]

Wow! Well done,

I really like that mix. I can see that I'll be listening to that a few times.
Now, just where did I put DSotM, and WYWH?
ATB,
JohnG.

[rainbow]

Cheers John!! ;D ;D ;D