... well it more of mashmix actually, so I'm kind of testing the water here.
Anyway, for this mix, basically what I did was use a Karaoke MP3 version of the old Minnie Riperton song “Loving You” as well as the proper version of the song.
As for the Freddie vocals, I used Audition to extract the centre channel and then did some extra filtering to remove as much as I could of the background stuff that the extraction process left on. I then added some effects to the vocal which I also did with Minnie's vocal. Once I was happy with what I had, I then put that over the Karaoke version of Loving You. I purposely did that because when I tried to remove the vocals from the proper version of “Loving You” there were some traces of Minnie’s vocals, which I didn’t want. This meant that Freddie’s vocals were laid over a “clean” track. As for Minnie’s vocals, after extracting the vocals from the proper version, I cut up and used what I wanted to use and sort of fitted it around what Freddie was singing so that it sounded as if she was actually singing to him. To tie the whole thing up, I used a slight sample from TATDOOL, so that it sounded as if Freddie was actually replying to her so to speak.
Finally, some key changing compromising had to be done here. Freddie’s vocals are originally in the key of D and Minnie’s are originally in A. So what I did was key Freddie down 1 to D flat and take Minnie’s up 4 to the same key (it was the only key I thought worked well for both that didn’t seem to make each other sound truly silly). This whole thing tooks a fair few hours, but hey I had fun doing it!!
Now I don’t expect everyone to like this, but what would be nice is if you downloaded this I would like some sort of feed back with some constructive criticism – either good or bad.
Here’s the link:- link
It has some charm when you realise that Freddie does fit the track. Nice stuff. But why didn't you use anymore of Fred's IABD vocal? Any particular reason? However, I could hear that Freddie's voice was lower than usual and it wasn't a nice surprise. Sorry.
Same thoughts for Minnie's voice. The pitch shift kinda messes with the idea of the two of them singing together. For me at least.
But hey, it's a great thing to hear and it's cool that you thought of this. Nice work.
Peace,
Adam.
P.S. In my recent Melodyne fanatical days I'm trying anything I can to see what happens. Can you tell me where to find these tracks you used, excluding IABD as I have 3 versions of that one.
Adam, there wasnt any particular reason why I didnt use the rest of IABD other than I thought that bit worked best. The vocal for that I got from the track from actual CD. The Minnie stuff was MP3 sourced - the Karaoke version was from some stuff that I got from a torrent site and was ripped from a Sunfly Karaoke disc. Similarly, the proper version was ripped from "The Best One Hit Wonders..." CD. I can send you these if you wish. infact give me a few minutes and I'll Rapidshare them
It's too bad that you can hear that Freddie's voice is lower than normal, but after a few times listening to it, it doesn't matter :).
I don't think that the "It's a beautiful day" line fit very well in the song, sorry :)
I have to agree with Adam, that the pitching is too obvious.
But the rest I enjoyed :)
Well done for effort and inspiration! It's certainly an interesting combination!
As far as the pitching goes, although Freddie's lower pitch is noticable, it's not too unnatural after a couple of listens, whereas Minnie Ripperton sounds more like Minnie Mouse!!
I've always hated that song anyway, with the bloody tweeting birds, so I have to say this mix didn't do a lot for me, but it does show what could be accomplished with a little imagination, and the vocal isolation you have achieved from IABD, is very good.
Daniel vZ wrote: It's too bad that you can hear that Freddie's voice is lower than normal, but after a few times listening to it, it doesn't matter :).
I don't think that the "It's a beautiful day" line fit very well in the song, sorry :)
I have to agree with Adam, that the pitching is too obvious.
But the rest I enjoyed :)
No need to say sorry, your just doing what I asked - its cool!! The pitch shifting thing will always be a contentious issue especially with Queen material being posted on this site because people expect, say, Freddie's vocals to be in the same key. And thats natural I suppose. But thats part of the choice that I made when doing so - I decided to compromise Minnie's vocal more than Freddie's. I tried dropping the key down to C and although it suited Minnie's vocal it didnt suit Freddie. It sounded as though he was singing from below his feet if you see what I mean. But hey, I kinda knew that would be a problem when I started on this project.
And thanks for the crits so far!!
Dave