Double Core Remastering Begins

[PooF]

Let me know how these work. If they are OK I will know what encoder to stick with for the rest of the tracks.

I tried Deep Horizon. It's fine now. But sorry, haven't had time to compare with the original yet.

[bpmolder]

Magnolia is certainly one of the outstanding tracks on this album. So, by popular demand, I have remastered this one next. Here are the links for MP3 and FLAC respectively:

http://uploadingit.com/files/366138_i8a ... red%29.mp3

http://uploadingit.com/files/366259_ptf ... red%29.zip

This track was recorded so well that I had to insert a small imperfection or two just to make it flow with that "same room" feel of the rest of the tracks. Don't get me wrong, it's not wrecked. In fact, the differences are so subtle that they aren't easily noticed. There is a HUGE difference though when played alongside another one of the tracks I have remastered.

Please give it a try and let me know what you think.

I have figured that with my current schedule and all I have on my plate this week, I can get one track done per day, so the next one will come tomorrow evening. Stay tuned!

[bpmolder]

*BUMP*

OK, here are today's files. I worked on No Heaven No Hell and have an MP3 and a FLAC posted below for your listening pleasure:

http://uploadingit.com/files/376790_8rj ... red%29.mp3

http://uploadingit.com/files/376716_k03 ... red%29.zip

That makes 4/10 done. The next one will be somewhat of a remix. I will keep it a surprise until I reveal it tomorrow or the next day, depending on when I get it done. If I don't get it done by tomorrow evening, I will post another remastered track instead.

[Neil1567/2]

Dear BPMolder,
Thanks for remastering Magnolia.Just had a chance to hear the MP3(on poor laptop speakers,admittably) and it sounds good.The snare seems a bit punchier,the lead guitar a bit brighter and the singing a bit more reverby-all of which is good.Mind you,I could be totally out on all of these comments as I haven't heard the original for some time! Minor point though,you seem to have chopped a tiny bit from both the start and end of the track.I guess this will be totally irrelevent when mixed back in with its brothers and sisters on the album.Thanks again,bud.Looking forward to having a listen to Patrik's song later and the whole thing in Moldersound when you get it all finished! Cheers.

[oz1701]

well i downloaded the flac file for victory but i still couldnt play it - i think when i was trying to get the other files to play i buggered something up. i was able to convert the file to a 300+ kps wma though and then play it - which i was unable to do before - which suggests the problem is at my end this time.

the sound is noticably brighter but my personal preferance is for a little more at the bottom - still, when you are not working with the original masters and your aim is to normalise the tracks, there is'nt really much to work with.

i will have another go tonight as i think i changed the output on the flac plugin to the wrong soundcard in winamp.

if i can get it to work i will transfer the tracks to a cd so i can compare on a real system.

[bpmolder]

@ Neil: I had to chop the tracks differently because they weren't chopped precisely enough for me to run them through the 4 sets of tools necessary to get a fat sound out of them. I had to be able to compress and normalize with one set of tools, switch to another to add a few things to some tracks for a subtle remixing, then over to a third for equalization and frequency boosting to get a rounder, wider sound and add a little reverb, then finally to the mastering suite to give them all a uniform sound overall. If I didn't put them together and re-fade where necessary, then split them precisely to a 100th of a second interval, it would have been impossible for me to run them through so many channels and have them come back together seamlessly in the end without losing a total of at least a second of original material.

@OZ: Yeah, it looks like something got messed up in your settings there buddy whenever you tried the FLAC file that didn't work. I apologize for the inconvenience. I'm glad you got a good quality sound file nonetheless. You are also right about the bottom end being a little thin. The next track I'm posting reflects changes I have made on the parametric EQ that will enable me to get as good of a bottom as I can without muddying it up any. It came out pretty damn good.

So tonight, the track I am posting is Stars. I went above the standard set of bells and whistles I have been using on the other tracks and have done a subtle remix without changing the overall sound as well. I have talked with mossy about Stars and Come And See and I believe I have a pretty good understanding about his vision for these two songs, as well as the album as a whole.

What I did with Stars is go through, second by second, interweaving other sounds to accentuate the track. This was a very long and tedious process that took me several hours to complete but I believe it was well worth it. These are the things I wove into the track:

1. A second bass line to give the song more low-end rumble without impinging on the "twinkly" higher end sounds. This bass line is right over the top of the other one, played note-for-note.
2. A second set of piano chords on the intro and other parts of the song. This was for the same reason, to give it more rumble and power to parallel the crisp high hat flams. It really gave the track an epic sound.
3. Cymbal crashes over the existing ones to give the drum sounds a more layered feel, more like a real kit and less like a digitally programmed one. I used random velocities and pitches to make them sound more genuine but without losing the digital feel of the overall performance. It still clicks in places nicely like mossy intended.

The new settings on my mixer's EQ give a much better balanced 2-channel output, catching the highs, mids and lows very well and enabling the listener to hear every single part. The result is really a new listening experience. You will hear things pop out of this track that you didn't know were there.

Anyway, here are the MP3 and zipped FLAC:

http://uploadingit.com/files/383088_vi8 ... red%29.mp3

http://uploadingit.com/files/383076_erd ... red%29.zip

Keep the opinions coming. I am taking note of all of them and will put them into the final master.

[oz1701]

YAY! i can play flac through winamp again

silent victory sounds so much better in lossless flac than in high quality wma

still needs some oomph at the bottom for my taste but much better than previously converted.

there would be thumbs up smilies here but npf server is going too slow again grrr.

[bpmolder]

I went back over the first 4 tracks I have worked with and added more bottom to them as suggested. You were right, Oz. That's just what they needed. It's always best to have a second set of ears when mixing.

Within the next 5 days, as I continue to finish and post tracks, I will re-post the first 4 with the fatter bass.

Silent Victory wasn't able to handle too much of a bass boost because of the type of reverb used on the original recording. Too much bass will muddy the mix and make it sound garbled and hard to listen to. So I cranked it up as much as I possibly could without losing the clarity on the mid range. It came out pretty good.

[oz1701]

I went back over the first 4 tracks I have worked with and added more bottom to them as suggested. You were right, Oz. That's just what they needed. It's always best to have a second set of ears when mixing.

Within the next 5 days, as I continue to finish and post tracks, I will re-post the first 4 with the fatter bass.

Silent Victory wasn't able to handle too much of a bass boost because of the type of reverb used on the original recording. Too much bass will muddy the mix and make it sound garbled and hard to listen to. So I cranked it up as much as I possibly could without losing the clarity on the mid range. It came out pretty good.

yes i thought so - i look forward to hearing the reposted tracks - just remember to take some time out from the work or you will get sick of it very quickly

[bpmolder]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I am still working on the project and am just about finished. I have made a lot more progress this weekend than I hoped to. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to share any links in the past few days due to my server's bandwidth usage dangerously approaching its ceiling.

Good news though. I have a couple people test listening to the sweetened files and giving me their input based on listens on many types of equipment, speakers and formats. The album is just about right. I have a few minor tweaks to make and it will be done.

More good news! CDWheeler has again generously offered us server space for this album, so I will be sending him the remastered files when they are completely done. He will add the links to the page on his html page that will enable easy downloading, just like with the original files.

So please bear with me another day or two and you will hear Double Core live, breathe and jump in a new way. I am very much a perfectionist, so I won't release the files completely and consider them done until they are absolutely the best quality sound I can get out of them. That quality of sound will really surprise you though.

More info later.