Rhythm Tracks

[Panamark]

Originally posted by ELVIS
Yes...

Cool ! You just saved me some money. I was thinking of registering the other proggie..

[Panamark]

Sin are the backing tracks just Bass and Drums ?
(Non-midi ??)

[YankeeRose]

Thanx siN....

[jabrow75]

If you have the original CD's (Not the remastered Versions), you can download a trail version of Sony Sound Forge 7.0 from CNet and pull the rhythm tracks off that way too.

When you open the songs in Sound Forge it will be divided in to two tracks, copy the bottom track and paste it to a new file. It will automatically copy into the new files as two tracks. That will rid you of most of the guitars ('cept for a few over dubs and solos here and there) and leave you with the Bass, Drums and Vocals. Once you have the new file, go into the Channel Converter (under the Process menu) and select "Stereo to Stereo - Pan Center, use both channels (100%)" just to boost the sound up a little.
Save it as an MP3 fle and burn to CD.

[Panamark]

Hey Jabrow that sounds interesting !

*Warning* I checked out some of those backing tracks at VH Fans. Some are not the correct timing. Two I tried, Metallica's Master of Puppets and Seek and Destroy. Seek and Destroy in Particular was way out in the main verse timing. Master of Puppets was way too fast and had sections where they played extra bars where there should not be extra bars.

Having said that, there are some there that are reasonably
accurate.

Im having fun with them, even with the inaccuracies..

[jabrow75]

When you open the songs in Sound Forge it will be divided in to two tracks

Oooops, I meant to say Channels instead of Tracks. Anyway, it's basically the same effect as switching off your left speaker on your stereo, or is it the right...?!@ because they were originally recorded with the rhythm track on the right channel and guitars on the left. Of course they fixed that with the Remasters.

[ELVIS]

What do you mean "fixed" ??

[jabrow75]

What do you mean "fixed" ??

From what I have read in previous articles...
When the Original VH albums were recorded (up to about OU812/
F.U.C.K I think, If I remember correctly), the songs were recorded with the rhythm tracks (Bass, Drums and Vocals) coming through the right channel (i.e. Speaker) and the Guitars were on the left channel. Therefore, if you turn the balance on your stereo all of the way to the right (shutting out the left speaker) you will drown out the guitars, with the exception of a few overdubs here and there. When you do the opposite, you drown out the drums and Bass. Yes, can still hear them, but very faintly. And actually, I think that the vocals were spread across both channels. There are several albums that were recorded this way, not just Van Halen. I guess it was a cheap way of getting a "Stereo" effect... I am by no means a music expert mind you!!!
Anyway, when Balance was released there was an EVH interview in one of the Guitar mags (sorry don't remember which one, but I may still have it around somewhere). He was talking about the recording process and about how much he disliked the finished products of the earlier albums because of that. He went on to say that this was changed (for them) with the Balance CD in that all tracks were spread evenly throughout both channels, both right and left. This was also done with the remasters, although you can still use the balance to drown out on some of the "remastered" songs, it does not stand out as much as it did with the original recordings. I vaguely remember reading another article about the remastered CD's where EVH said that the intent of issueing the remasters was to "fix" the older recording process and hence go back and spread the tracks out across both tracks to improve the sound and get more of a true Stereo sound.
As I said, I am by no means a music expert, so I hope that this makes sense.

[YankeeRose]

This is very interesting...I just might try this..doesn't sound to "out of myb league". So, if I get this right, I go to CNet and download this program....can ya gimme a link?

[ELVIS]

Hmmm...

Well I do consider myself somewhat of a music expert and I am very familiar with most of what you are saying...

I remember the article you are talking about and Edward's comments criticizing the recording of the first six and only real =VH= albums...

Well Edward is full of shit.. The guitar being panned mostly to the right channel sounds AWESOME and was done ON PURPOSE by the producer who knew what he was doing...

It's not a "cheap" stereo effect...

Also.. there is no difference from the original and the remasters...

They were remastered.. not remixed.. the guitar is in the same sweet spot it has always been...

[Panamark]

Elvis, I just downloaded Media Player 9. Cant fucken find the CD slow downer shit. Are you running XP by any chance ?? (I notice there was a different version for XP) Ive still got Win98SE...

[ELVIS]

XP Pro...

[ELVIS]

Sorry.. I wasn't thinking...

[jabrow75]

This is very interesting...I just might try this..doesn't sound to "out of myb league". So, if I get this right, I go to CNet and download this program....can ya gimme a link?

Here's the Link: Sound Forge 7
It's about 33Mb's. After that, just follow the intructions I gave before. ***I stand corrected, this will work on the remasters, thx Elvis for clarifying.*** Sorry for any misrepresentation on my part. I was not quoting, only going by what I remembered from the article I read years ago. I haven't had a chance to look up the mags, but I know I got em somewhere. I do not have the remasters myself, I have the original CD's, I haven't yet found the need to go out and re-buy the same CD's just because they are remastered. The originals sound just fine to me, although Fair Warning just got a bad scratch right through "Sunday Afternoon in the Park" and "One Foot out the Door" so I might have to break down and do some replacing soon.

I did find this bit from the old VHND regarding Remastered v. Remixed

http://65.200.23.221/archive/0900.shtml

[YankeeRose]

thanx jb....