Hi everyone,

Here's my first vocal cover (apart from the Quando thingamajig) recorded using only the PSR-3000 for instrument sounds...

It's called Almost In Love

Beguine style... extra instruments include Live Piano, Class.Flute and Sweet Trombone.

I hope you enjoy it

All the best,
Rich

Rich.....

Another Excellent performance as usual, looks like you took the 3k buy the horns my friend and made it talk. Simply Amazing!!

Thank You

Donny
www.donnypesce.com

Rich,
Great job . I especially liked the occasional piano fills - they sounded great in the mix. The intro was superb too. Thanks for sharing.
zuki

Do you still have the Quando thing online? I'd like to give that a listen

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qqqwq@hotmail.com

Just one word need to describe this one "Outstanding"

Gary

Excellent, as usual! Rich, could you tell us your recording method? I think you did once before, but it's among the 'vaporized' posts... thanks.

Glenn

[This message has been edited by GlennT (edited 08-24-2004).]

Couldn't have said it better.

You have a wonderful voice...And you play well too.

I hope you're making some money using your talents. Cause you definitely deserve it!

-mike

RICH --

Fabulous !! It's good to hear more of your music (and this was really great). Don't stop - we want more.

vc

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Vern

Donny, thanks very much... I'm glad you enjoyed this! Still lovin' the 3K...

Zuki, many thanks for the listen and feedback... much appreciated. It's really good to have so many useful sounds on one compact keyboard.

Mike, thank you for your kind words. Here's that excerpt from Quando Quando Quando. It was really just a quick live test to see if the harmonizer on the 3000 was functioning correctly (and before I'd found the EQ tab). I still plan to do a full Quando soon.

Gary, thank you kind sir!

Cheers Glenn. For this one (after making the backing) I ran the phono-outs of the PSR to the phono inputs of a DAT machine, then ran the digital out of the DAT to my Roland HD recorder's digital in to make the recording.

I then plugged my dynamic mic into the DAT machine's XLR input and utilised the digital out again, to go to the Roland's digital in.

I ran through the song to get acceptable levels on the input, then had my dinner (not a heavy one) I came back and recorded the vocal... probably not an ideal recording method. I didn't use a boom stand this time, just held the mic.

Once the vocal track was down I took the headphones off and monitored the results through my hi-fi. Made a couple of tweaks on the reverb, EQ and adjusted the volume of the vocal and keyboard tracks accordingly.

Next I ran a lead from the digital out of the Roland to the digital in on the Sound Blaster Live Drive to record the master in Nero wave editor. Saved the resulting wav file, trimmed it, applied DC offset correction, normalised... then re-saved. The wav was then ready to encode to MP3 format for posting...

I think that's about all, but please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike, thank you for listening and kind words. As to the money side of things, I'm seriously considering gigging again with this keyboard.

Vern, much appreciated! Hopefully this'll be the start of a steady stream of PSR-3000 with vocal numbers

Thanks again guys,
Rich

[This message has been edited by RichUK (edited 08-25-2004).]

Rich,

Thanks loads for the run-down. Just a couple of basic questions... hope you don't mind, I'm still a novice at recording. Why do you go thru the DAT and then into the HD rather than go directly into the HD? And what is DC offset?

Thanks again,
Glenn

Hi Glenn,

I mainly utilise the DAT machine for its analogue to digital converters and to bypass the onboard mic pre-amps on the Roland. The mic pres on the Tascam are supposed to be quite good. Also, going into the HD recorder digitally does make the recording process a bit quicker and easier for me.

However, there is at least one song on my website which was recorded (both sounds and vocals) straight into the HD recorder... 'Unchained Melody'.

I read once that performing a DC offset correction (I missed out the essential word 'correction' on my last post) was a recommended step after recording a wav file. I found this that will explain it better than I could:

'If the average between the positive and negative wave peaks in your file is not zero, the result is inaudible low-frequency distortion. Although you won't be able to hear it in the .wav file, it will seriously degrade your compressed file, as well as introduce further distortion if other filters are applied to the uncorrected wave. The DC offset function corrects this problem, and should always be applied as the first step in optimizing an audio file..'

Also:

'A condition known as DC offset can occur in sound files that were recorded with improperly grounded sound cards. This problem is more common with low-end sound cards. DC offset forces the baseline of the audio signal to be offset from the centerline. You can determine if this is a problem on your system by recording a few seconds of silence and zooming in on the signal and checking to see if it’s centered. Most sound editing programs have filters that can correct a DC offset.'

I've just performed that test and the signal was indeed centered, but I'll still carry out the DC offset correction just as a precaution.

This recording lark (as you're probably finding) is an ongoing, but enjoyable learning process. Something I need to investigate further is the use of compression. I haven't used it in (or after) recording yet... so may experiment with that sometime.

Give me a shout again if you have any other questions or queries... I'll help out where I can.

All the best,
Rich

Exceptional!
DonM

Hi Rich, nice early 1960's reminiscent sounding arrangement. Which Yamaha PSR3000 style did you use? The song contains some very interstingly unusual melodic intervals. Was this song from a broadway musical? If so, what show, and who's the composer?

Rich, as usual, I always enjoy hearing your music. Thanks for sharing.

Scott

Thanks Don!

Scott, thanks for the kind feedback. You're right, it is from a musical of sorts... one of those gems hidden away in an Elvis movie called Live a Little, Love a Little (1968). Composed by Randy Starr and Luis Bonfa (according to Google).

The style is 'Pro Beguine' on the 2nd page of the 3000's Latin styles. Songs with this kind of style (with those kinds of chord changes and melody) always catch my ear. Kind of a mysterious, dreamy, sway with the music sound...

Cheers,
Rich

Hi Rich,

Superb....as usual...! I'm glad to hear (again ) something from you..
Take care,
JJ

Hi Rich,

Very good MP3 and your voice and PSR3000 sound great.

BTW, how can one reduce the bass in one's voice when using the Vocal Harmoniser? I don't have any external equipment to adjust anything.

Del

Thank you JJ, much appreciated

Del, many thanks for the kind feedback...

You could reduce the 'EQ Low' setting by a suitable amount (under 'Mic Setting' > 'Overall Settings'). That will reduce the 'boom' in the lead vocal (and any harmony parts).

In your own case, you'll need to reduce it before you start recording... maybe do a few test recordings to find a suitable bass EQ level. I usually have to reduce mine to at least -2dB.

Thanks again,
Rich

[This message has been edited by RichUK (edited 08-26-2004).]

And a very fine vocal cover it is. Very nice job.

Thank you for sharing that with us.

Heather

Rich-

Listened to a lot of your audio on your website. My compliments. IMO, I think you have a distinctive style that is very easy on the ears. Combine that with your obvious skill on your keyboard, and I'd say you're doing some of the best work of anyone on this board.

Regards-

Bill in Dayton

Don't think I have have heard the song before. Sounds like it would be a good one for one of the James Bond movies. The quality of the voice, singing and playing ranks right up there with the production quality of the 007 films.
Eddie

Yo Rich,

I hear a little bit of "Elvis" in your voice. Thank You...Thank You Very Much

Good Job
Larry

Great job Rich. Your musical arrangement is very tasteful balanced with a vocal style that is a pleasure to listen to. You make the PSR-3000 backing track sound very natural. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you kindly, Heather Glad you enjoyed this.

Thanks Bill, I appreciate your words. The amount of styles on this thing (and the availability of the Tyros') really opens up the possibilty for recording so many different songs. Just a matter of deciding which one to record next!

Eddie, many thanks. Definitely something about those Bond songs... We even have a Secret Service style tailor made for some of them now. Goldfinger sounds great with that

Larry, thanks for the listen and feedback. Elvis, what a guy!

Nigel, thank you...
As I discover more and more functions on this keyboard, I really feel it's ideal (for me at least) for producing backing tracks... and original music too.

All the best,
Rich

That's a very good performance.
You already told us the Elvis song was from the 1968 movie 'Live a little, love a little', but I found out that the song was on a 45 single with on the B-side ... 'A little less conversation', you know.. the Nike commercial... Junky-XL. It's from the same movie.
OK, back to your recording: I was a bit disappointed when the solo came along. Nothing against your playing, but somehow the sweet! trombone doesn't sound very realistic. Is that voice really like that?
It sounds worse than the DX7 (FM) trombone sound!

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drdalet

Hi Herco,

Hmmmmm... I'm a bit wary of that solo too, so yesterday I re-recorded it (re-mixed the whole backing while I was at it) but this time used the Sweet! FlugelHorn... I think it sounds maybe slightly more realistic, what do you think?

Here it is (622KB)

Another thought was trying a human trombone solo... for that Bobby McFerrin feel.

Thank you for the feedback, yep... two great songs from a fun film! Presley's own Great Dane stars in that one.

Cheers,
Rich

P.S. Here are the stock demos of the Sweet! brasses from the 3000 so you can hear them out of the mix:

Trombone, flugel horn and trumpet... followed by muted trumpet.

[This message has been edited by RichUK (edited 08-27-2004).]

Yes, it sounds definitely better.
I think it's a transient thing, probably influenced by the keyvelocity - I have to figure that one out when I get my PSR. I come to that conclusion because the voice demos sound realistic enough, but the Flugelhorn has a more expressive transient, and that's what improves it in the mix, I think. Although you know you're playing a flugelhorn with a slide, don't you?
I listened to your original again - I'll add it (with the new solo) to my superdemos of the PSR3K - and I like to complement you on your singing.

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drdalet

Thanks Herco

Hehe, I just had to pretend the flugel was really the trombone.

EDIT:
Oops...

I was using an edited trombone, which while sounding quite nice on it's own as a softer sound... the subtleties were being lost in the mix. Must have been this that was nagging me...

Well here's that flugelhorn solo simply revoiced to the 'out of the box' sweet trombone (obviously the velocities here were produced while the flugelhorn was sounding, so aren't quite right for the trombone).

Trombone solo (372KB)

Any word on your 3000 yet? Where did you order it from in the end?

Cheers,
Rich

[This message has been edited by RichUK (edited 08-27-2004).]

Ahhh, now I hear a trombonesolo.
Very nice. I downloaded the mp3s and edited them in Wavelab.
Great!
Now when I was doing that I heard in my head, coming out of the trombonesolo, a high violinsection playing a countermelody (or something like that). You know, starting in the last measure of the trombone solo with a fast scale leading up to the melody. (Sorry it's the arranger in me )

And about the PSR3K; I (sort of) ordered it in a shop near my place. He will sell it for 1575 euro (ab. 1057 Pounds). I tried other places, but 1599 euro was the lowest I could get anywhere else, so 1575 is not a bad price (it includes 19% VAT). But none of the shops has the PSR3K in stock.
I got a mail from Yamaha-Netherland though, telling me there was a shipment on its way right now to my country, so I hope it won't be long now.

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drdalet

[This message has been edited by drdalet (edited 08-28-2004).]