Just posted five new MP3s on my website, all recorded through one of those cheesy keyed Yamaha PSR-2000s, on a dirt-cheap, OEM sound card that came with my off the shelf Compaq Presario 5001, and some nasty midi files that were played through a second-hand laptop hooked up to the keyboard's host connectors. Oh, I almost fogot--also used a $39, off-the-shelf recording program to do the job.

I could have lied and told everyone that I used some fancy rig that cost as much as the national debt, but I decided against it. You'll find them at http://www.bcpl.net/~keyboard/mp3s.htm

Enjoy,

Gary

[This message has been edited by travlin'easy (edited 03-02-2004).]

I could picture Dino sliding down the fire pole at the beginning of his show. Nice work Gary. Am I hearing C# for the Dean Martin number? Suits your voice very well. I've got renditions of Roy Orbison on my site: Demo2 and a Sting cover Demo5
Again, very nice voice Gary.
http://members.shaw.ca/shboom

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...L

[This message has been edited by shboom (edited 03-02-2004).]

Gary, really enjoy your 'laid back' vocal approach ala Dean and competant keyboard playing, especially considering you say you never had formal music lessons, right? You and the PSR2000 make a good marriage. I'm interested in hearing how you recorded these songs. Did you record both the vocals & keyboard parts in live simultaneously, or were the backing tracks recorded (on the PSR2000) first, or were the backing tracks commercial midi files you played along to? Either way, very professional sounding. - Scott

I especially liked Cab Driver Gary. Very well done.

Best regards,
Mike

Gary,
beautiful songs, sung with a lot of sentiment and expression. It's hard to pick up a favorite between "Everybody loves somebody" and "Night and day".
I agree with the others that your delivering technique reminds of the great "italian" singer Dino Crocetti (Dean Martin).

[This message has been edited by Dreamer (edited 03-03-2004).]

Damn bro..you can def. sing...Big ups to you man. You def. got talent. I'm lovin' all the songs, would sound even better if it was studio recorded and if you used a Technics KN2600...lol...anyway great job! keep bringin' the good stuff!

Gary
Cab Driver: The mix sounds thin and cold to me, not alot of depth. Everything panned on center, so the band sounds like they are all sitting on top of each other.

Can't Smile Without You: This cut is a bit warmer, but the same on panning. The vocals are further back in the mix than the first cut.

Everybody Loves Somebody: Vocals better and warmer on this one, rest of the mix the same as the other two.

Key Largo: Same on the mix. I believe the original of this used more powerful vocal dynamics and drama as it went from verse to chorus to be more effective. This has a sameness sound as it transitions.

Night And Day: Mix the same but I think your vocals are more suited for this type of cut and sound better here.

Overall not bad. I think the mixes can be made more effective and believable though. Pretty clean, but not much depth or presence. There are spots in the vocals on each cut that it sounds like you may miss the higher note by a semi tone as well.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Bravo! Nice job.....
I hope to hear more songs in the future.
Website looking good Mon!!

Thanks for the kudos guys and gals. As for the recording technique, backing tracks with some personal touches. Put the vocals on another track and combined everything. Terry, there is some loss of fidelity between the MP3s and WAVs--the WAV's sound fuller. I guess that's all part of the compression problem.

Cheers,

Gary

Grrreat voice Gary! You crooner you... effortless delivery.

Would it be possible to convert a couple of your original WAVs to 128 kbps 44.1kHz MP3? Would love to hear that, server space permitting of course.

Really nice Gary, thanks for sharing...

All the best,
Rich

Rich
You could take the mp into something like Acid or Music match jukebox etc. and convert back to wav you know, for the fuller version of sound, that's what I did on all the cuts before posting my comments.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html



[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 03-03-2004).]

Really? I didn't think you could 'reverse-engineer' MP3s back to their former glory.

Cheers,
Rich

nice music Gary,keep on making people happy,it is needed in this world to day, best regards ,BENNO

Gary, I really like the groove (feel) on 'Cab Driver'. I'd like to find out what Yamaha PSR2000 (internal?) style was used on this song? Your vocals (albeit your Yankee accent ) & arrangement style on this tune kind of reminds me of Merle Haggard on his classic 1981 "Big City" album (one of my FAV Country albums):

Listen to: Haggard's song: 'Big City' http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?PID=1140772

and 'Let's Chase Each Other Around The Room": http://www.towerrecords.com/product.aspx?pfid=1030532

and tell me if you don't agree.

Scott

"Your vocals (albeit your Yankee accent ) & arrangement style on this tune kind of reminds me of Merle Haggard on his classic 1981 "Big City" album (one of my FAV Country albums):"

Some folks might agree with you on that one Scott, while others will tell you that I sound more like Roger Whittaker. One day, when I get another free day, I'll try to record the Last Farewell and post it. It's among my favorite Whittaker songs.

Gary

Roger Whittaker is a big favourite, in fact I bought 'His Finest Collection' CD back in the early 90s for that very song, along with Durham Town and I Don't Belief In If Anymore.

Cheers,
Rich

Hi Rich,

Yes, you can reconvert the MP3s, and I didn't know this until I tried it a few minutes ago--it actually worked.

Roger Whittaker is among my favorite singers, probably because we're both old guys and still making a decent living as performers. From what I've been led to believe, he really didn't become polular until he was in his mid 50s, which by today's standards is a half-step away from the grave.

Thanks for the Kudos,

Gary

Gary.....50s a half-step away from the grave?!?!?!? .... NO WAY, man.... I'll be 63 next month, looking to retire from the day job in a couple of years, and THEN concentrate on fully reviving my second career, which has always been my first love...
t.

Gary



Terry



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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

MP3 is lossy compression... how have you regained what has been lost forever?

Come on Terry, is there some kind of sorcery involved here?

Btw, has anyone used lossless compression, e.g. Monkey's Audio or FLAC? That's fantastic for broadband users.

All the best,
Rich

"I'll be 63 next month..." Wow! Tony, do you realize that at one time I was twice your age--man you're catching up quick. In case I forget when it does roll around, Happy Birthday old guy.

Gary

Rich
Much like one compresses a zip file then uncompresses it same concept.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Hi Gary,
Thought is was well done... All the tunes... I sipped a beer and was transported to the lounge...
DJ

Hello Gary.

Greeeat job !!!
Your performance is a tribute to Yamie cheesy keys
I loved your songs.

Chico

Hi Gary,
Loved Cab Driver. I had never heard this song before. The music to me sounded reminicent of The Elvis films. Very nice!

You have a drawl that I would love to perfect!!! Sounds so laid back and natural. I would love to be able to do that but you try it with a north lancashire accent! You sing "Cab driverrrrr" (purrr) and I sing "Taxi eee by gum lad"

Really enjoyed 'Can't Smile Without You' too.
Very best wishes
Tony

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www.tonywmusic.co.uk

..... thanks 'kid' .....
PS it's the 16th of April and don't forget...
t.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by travlin'easy:
[B]Just posted five new MP3s on my website, all recorded through one of those cheesy keyed Yamaha PSR-2000s, on a dirt-cheap, OEM sound card that came with my off the shelf Compaq Presario 5001, and some nasty midi files that were played through a second-hand laptop hooked up to the keyboard's host connectors. Oh, I almost fogot--also used a $39, off-the-shelf recording program to do the job.

You'll find them at http://www.bcpl.net/~keyboard/mp3s.htm
Enjoy,
Gary

SHOWOFF..... ........
seriously, Gary, nice job .... Are the backgrounds your creations, midi files or styles?

t.

Honest Tony, they're all midi files I pirated from DNJ. Some I play along with, and some were modified, but overall, they're pretty close to the originals.

Gary

Nice job Gary. Sounds just like you!
DonM

Sorry, but that is utter nonsense. MP3 is no lossless compression format. If you convert to WAV, all you do is take what's in the MP3 and save it as WAV-file. You will NEVER get back what was in the original WAVfile when you recorded the thing.

(Wondering: For some odd reason people here make a big fuzz about the sounds in an arranger board and then create their MP3's on 64 kbps. No not just this time, I've seen that a lot here. Why?!)



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Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

"Sorry, but that is utter nonsense. MP3 is no lossless compression format. If you convert to WAV, all you do is take what's in the MP3 and save it as WAV-file. You will NEVER get back what was in the original WAVfile when you recorded the thing."

Of course that's the case--what did you expect? You didn't think for a second that you could convert it back to the quality of the orriginal--that'll never happen. However, if the MP3 sounds good, then you'll get a good sounding conversion back to WAV--but it ain't gonna' be the same as the original--it can't happen. And, no one said it would sound as good!

AS for posting 64kbs MP3s, why not. You can jack up the rate as far as you want, but they're still compressed files. Fortunately, the vast majority of the folks listening to them will not hear the difference, and most don't care what the rate is as long as it sounds good to them.

Cheers,

Gary

You're yelling at the wrong guy. I never said I expected anything. I replied to people who said it made any difference to convert MP3 to WAV.
I don't understand how someone who spends lots and lots of time finding that perfect sounding arranger, will ever settle for 64 kbps. I never make MP3's (if I ever make them) below 192 kbps. You might as well buy an old AM-radio in a garage-sale if you think 64 kbps is good enough...



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Roland EXR-5 user - http://www.exr5.tk

Gary and others,

You could also encode the .wav files to .mp3PRO format. With .mp3PRO you still get 64kbps but the quality is comparable to a higher encoded .mp3. Plus with that mp3PRO quality you still get the 'smaller' size file vs. a standard .mp3 which is not only convenient for those on a dial-up connection but it will take up less space on your Server vs. storing a larger sized encoded .mp3.

You will need the Thomson Multimedia Player/Encoder though. PS: There are a few Media 'players' that will play .mp3PRO encoded files, eg., MusicMatch Jukebox, Winamp, Thomson Multimedia's own player, plus others.

You can find the Thomson Multimedia Player/Encoder here:

Thomson Multimedia Player/Encoder

Btw, it's free of course.

Best regards,
Mike

Thanks Mike, that's good information for everyone.

Cheers,

Gary

Burkels, I thought I was a lonely voice there, regarding this MP3 to WAV lark, till you spoke up. I suppose I started this by asking for higher quality MP3s of Gary's great voice.

From how I read it, Terry and Gary seemed to be implying that they were converting the MP3s back to their 'original' WAV state.

This was why I especially said "I didn't think you could 'reverse-engineer' MP3s back to their former glory" and later on, "MP3 is lossy compression... how have you regained what has been lost forever?" and mentioning sorcery

The only compressed audio files which can be 'unzipped' to their original former WAV state are ones produced with the lossless codecs... hence my mention of FLAC and Monkey's Audio.

I took some time finding a codec that wouldn't produce flanging or other artifacts in the 128kbps MP3s on my site.

I purposely wanted to keep file sizes small enough for internet distribution... but, they had to have sound good.

Scott Yee has one of my recordings in FLAC format... 'If'. Once he listens to it... then compares it to my 128kbps MP3 file of the same song... I think he'll be impressed by how much of the original sound was retained during conversion to MP3 using this older Fraunhofer codec.
http://www.ping.be/satcp/eac13.htm

If I was using bundled codecs in programs such as Nero... Total Recorder... Musicmatch etc... I'd definitely have to go 192kbps or above to get the same kind of quality.

Gary, there would be a marked difference in quality between your 64kbps 22kHz MP3s and at least 128kbps 44kHz encoded MP3s (depending on the quality of the original WAV master of course)... I'd still love to hear em if you get a chance!

MP3-wise, it's the jump from 192kbps to 256kbps and beyond when most people start finding it harder to discern any improvement in quality.

All the best,
Rich

[This message has been edited by RichUK (edited 03-05-2004).]

Rich
I was not implying anything other than they could be converted back to wav. files. Perhaps you read more into it than that.

What is true though, from my readings on the subject, is that the data that is compressed and lost to mp format is usually not within normal hearing range anyway @128kbs.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Possibly Terry!

It was your

'You could take the mp into something like Acid or Music match jukebox etc. and convert back to wav you know, for the fuller version of sound'

...which I couldn't understand.

Cheers,
Rich

Rich,

I'll burn some higher quality MP3s sometime in the near future, but for now, between the music and writing biz, I'm too busy to tackle another project.

I would personally like to thank everyone that took the time to listen to the files, and I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments from everyone.

Back to the salt mines,

Gary