KVR Audio

Krakatau · Post by **Krakatau** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 7:05 am

Let me tell you a short story
.
from nov 1999 to oct 2001, i've been living in Bobo-dioulasso, a small town in the south-west of Burkina Faso ( Western Afrika ) to a friend's family, himself quite famous in his own country by the past.
I intended to built up a small home-studio there because i was severely dissapointed by artist's attitude between each other and it sharp spirit of rivality.in my country
Though i had the illusion that it should be different between African's artist ...
( at least the general society's behaviour is much more smooth and relaxed than it is the case in our western countries, if it counts to you and your personal sensitivity it can make a huge difference )
...the musician's situation in there induce me to improvise myself as producer.
( i should say "producer" because i wasn't prepared to take entire responsibilty of such a rôle at all ! )

This song/composition is the result of a collaboration i could achieve with a young local artist wish sing in his own ethnic language ( Bobo-Mandare )
A young artist that went to me with a casstte of 8 songs cleverly recorded with his only voice at one side and some rythm box patterns at the other...

The first link is for the original demo, exactly as it has been recorded in my home-studio in Bobo-dioulasso
The voice part where "digitalised" in 8 bits inside a LC475 Macintosh, that wasn't intended to process any audio at all, but the fact that the only options in my sequencer was two mono or one stereo audio track, ( but a few small audio editors for mac ) make me learn a lot about the work in "offline/destructive" mode in general and on how to introduce prepared audiofile inside a composition.

(It iwas for me a big personal satisfaction to have the feeling of doing the best i could get with such a modest configuration)

http://www.anak-krakatoa.net/~downl/sogotege2.mp3 (4.7 M downl )

You may find other mp3 and gif of different artist musicians, comedian and painter by clicking the link on my website ( but all in frensh i'm afraid !)

The second link, unlikely, is for the final work, made this one on my home-studio here in Geneva, with many additionnal arrangements and orchestrations,
( beeing myself and old and big fan of progressive rock music )
Just hope if you'll have the guts of dowloading both of them that you may appreciate the quality of the edition's work and its evolution between the two final states !

http://www.anak-krakatoa.net/~downl/sogotege.mp3

I just apologise for the size of this download ( about 9 M octets )

Maybe i need some more experience to choose the appropriate compression ratio, beeing obseeded by the idea to not degrade the quality the final mix

Enjoy and, please, feedback are highly appreciate !!!

mystahr · Post by **mystahr** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:20 pm

After listening to the original recording quite a few times I started to love the roughness of it all with the quite catchy african singing.

And even though the musication in the Geneva-track is more lush and cleaner produced I somehow am not too fond on how the vocals are mixed. Too processed I'd say, but that is I must say a personal taste more rather then something wrong. So in short my preference would still go to the original recording.

Limitations make one have to work harder but can offer better results imo

MickGael · Post by **MickGael** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:40 pm

Fantastic, Krakatau!

I'm a long time fan of Les Tetes Brulees and Fela Anikulapo Kuti, so I really enjoyed them both.

However, like Mystahr, I think that I ultimately prefer the original version.

There is a spontaneity, joy and - dare I say "youthful"? - quality in the original version that I think is a tad muted in the remake.

I've downloaded and will keep these on my HD. Thanks!

PS - What are the lyrics?

Krakatau · Post by **Krakatau** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 6:17 pm

MickGael wrote:
PS - What are the lyrics?

Well great question...

Be aware that i had first to find someone able to make a transcription in the official alphabet choosen for that language ( Bobo-mandare concerns about 6% of the Burkina's population that has about 66 used languages ! ) then had to find someone for translation in frensh

But the thing is the translation doesn't mean much things because of the impossibility to translate original metaphors correctly,

If you understand frensh you can have a clear idea about what i'm talking about if you try to understand the lyrics of some Yvory coast's artists like "Petit Denis" or " Petit Yodé et l' enfant sirop"

Lyrics that would really make sense to you if yourself live into their own way of life from long time enough, and at least have some serious introduction into their animistic religious system

Sepheritoh · Post by **Sepheritoh** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 6:55 pm

I am a lover of film music and as such love the 2nd / final mix much more. It really has a soundtrack feel, especially in the beginning. The vocals are a bit over processed and under compressed. The vocalist is supposed to be the focal point of the mix, but in the final mix the background music distracts while singing. It is a great orchestration I must add, but I'd love to hear it calm down where the vocalist sings to make space. The other but more minor aspect may be that you have lost a bit of the African Latin rhythm feel in the final mix.

Great production job overall.

a fusion AFRICAN ETHNIC / PROG ROCK, ( in african language )