Rise and Shine (Vintage synth "restored")

[Paulieworld]

Originally written and recorded in 1994. Synth was the great Korg O1/W. Computer was a Compaq 16-bit PC running Cakewalk MIDI sequencer. Recorded audio directly from O1/W into Turtle Beach Quad 4-track. No external effects used, i.e. reverb, EQ, delay etc., just default presets from the O1/W. Added a nice jazz guitar overdub and a few others bits, then went directly to DAT recorder and had some CDs made from that. This was before you could easily burn your own CDs. The final product was very flat and mono sounding. I put it on a shelf and forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2022. Found the CD on a bookshelf and imported a few of the tracks into my iPad Pro. Tried a few different mastering tools such as Final Touch and Grand Finale, but didn't like the results. Finally settled on FabFilter Pro-Q 4 and a stereo width expander. I wish I could have worked with the original stems, but they are probably buried in a landfill. 28 years later, this is what I was able to "restore".

https://soundcloud.com/paulieworld/rise-and-shine

[procrastive]

Wow, that was nice!

So the guitar was a live instrument? Were bass and drums live or done on the Korg? The stereoizing went well, at least to these old ears.

[Paulieworld]

Wow, that was nice!

So the guitar was a live instrument? Were bass and drums live or done on the Korg? The stereoizing went well, at least to these old ears.

I'm going from memory, but I think it went something like this... I created the drums, bass, and piano melody on tracks 1, 2, and 3 using the MIDI editor. Then Tony Iovino laid down a really nice live guitar part on track 4. Tony was known for being an incredible high-speed shredder, but for this one he said "how about something a little jazzy", and did this in one take! Then I bounced those 4 tracks down to stereo on a decent metal cassette deck, and moved them back to Quad, giving me two more tracks to overdub with. I played a live piano part and overdubbed something that sounded like an English Horn. I think we bounced a few more times and added a few more embellishments. I brought my computer to a local studio and recorded everything to DAT and made a few CDs from that. Seems like a lot of work, but we didn't know any better at the time.

When I rediscovered the track, it sounded terrible. I think I ended up making 2 duplicates and put them on tracks 1 and 2 in Cubasis. Then I applied the FabFilter EQ effects along with different stereo width presets and panning for each track. All modesty aside, I thought it "restored" pretty well.

Thanks for listening and commenting. I enjoy talking about this kind of stuff. Have a great day!

[Mike777]

This is fantastic and great work on the Korg creating a slick jazzy/fusion type track. Then adding the extras for that extra touch. I never had a Korg keyboard but I've had Yamaha and Roland and it was a lot of fun creating full songs on them. And it's fun to restore old tracks as well. You achieved a great new remix that sounds live and full. Nice work restoring it!

The tracks I made on my workstation keyboard 20 years ago don't sound as good today. So I'm also restoring them with new virtual instruments. I will be posting my latest remix from a track I made 20 years ago.

[Paulieworld]

This is fantastic and great work on the Korg creating a slick jazzy/fusion type track. Then adding the extras for that extra touch. I never had a Korg keyboard but I've had Yamaha and Roland and it was a lot of fun creating full songs on them. And it's fun to restore old tracks as well. You achieved a great new remix that sounds live and full. Nice work restoring it!

The tracks I made on my workstation keyboard 20 years ago don't sound as good today. So I'm also restoring them with new virtual instruments. I will be posting my latest remix from a track I made 20 years ago.

Hi Mike!
Thank you so much. The O1/W was a game changer for me back then. I played in bands for most of my younger days and was limited in what I could do. Musicians had widely different musical tastes and skill. They also had schedules that meant I couldn't just get the band together any time of day or night. Then came the O1/W... and MIDI!

I have about 5 or 6 more like this and have been working on bringing them back. Please let me know when you post your first restoration. I have a personal interest in this subject. Best wishes!