C_Matt's "A Kind of Magic (HD Revision)"

I have not visited this site for 60 days or so...frankly, you are one of the only reasons that I still visit from time to time.

All I can say is, WOW! Your mixes are like getting new Queen songs. They replace the originals on my Iphone every time.

Bravo.

im blown away at the awesomeness of these revisions. Far superior to the official versions and a breath of life into old songs without taking away the core structure of the songs themselves

If anything, he brings MORE to the core structure of the songs than anything. Far superior to the originals? That's a BIG yep right there!

Hi everybody! Wow, this post has grew a lot these days! I just post this short reply today, but tomorrow I'll be here again, I really want to read everything and upload a new song, but I've been bussy as hell these days, trough I could almost close DLYH, ADRRfMD and 'New York, New York'.

See you tomorrow!

[QUOTE] [b]C_Matt wrote:[/b]
... and 'New York, New York'.
[/QUOTE]

You're our hero, Matt. This is f@@@ing amazing!

I'm really happy by reading all this comments. At the beginning I was doing all this as a personal thing, but now I have another reason to keep going with the project. Thanks to all of you, everybody, even (like PabloARG says) those who listen this works but don't comment.

I'm having almost no free time, that's why I planned this album to be done in no more than three months, but it got really delayed. Still a lot of work to do, but some songs are already almost cooked. Then I have to balance the EQ and volumes between every song... uf!

It took me like two hours to close 'DLYH' and upload it with this message, that's why I need time to do it, a lot of work to be heard only in 4:45 minutes lol, and not all the changes can be fully noticed without checking the list, that's why I write it, which is the more boring part. With the multitracks it would be soooo much easier to do everything.

Might this next song doesn't reflects it, but entire days of work were put on it. I always think this, but this time I think is true: This is the first time I can fully enjoy an album from this revisions and call the songs, like Bambams said, as definitive versions. But just imagine all the things that still are hidden and can't be rescued or heard at all without the multitracks, things that are absolutely inaudible. I enhance them by using different sources, in 'DLYH' it was really healpful The eYe version of the song to have an idea of all the lost sounds I can.

Again, thank you all for your comments, everyone of you, I read them all and think about them. Even Blaise's "We want more!" hahahahaha, I feel the same way here, want to bring a new song every moment!

Haystacks, welcome again! I'm glad you decided to come back, just in time! And Darcy, I hope you enjoy these songs as if they were totally new, you got the idea! Like you and Bambams say, I try to maintain the central core of the songs and not drastically change the priority of the main elements.

Now, I'm really thinking how I'll work with 'Queen II'... Mmmh... It'll be hard.

[b]With you, 'Don't Lose Your Head':[/b]

[b]General:[/b]
   -Eliminated a very annoying 15.600 Hz frequency during all the song, more audible after the 'Don't lose your head' second voice bits.
   -This song had a particular problem with the highs, a bit loud, a bit excessive, which make that sound which an old TV makes when you turn it on, the one that you can here if you put it in "mute". You know...
   -Extended intro.
   -New cut and aggressive ending.
   -More aggressive general sound.
   -Messy sound for the "guitar solo" at 1:00.
   -The "Don't drink..." part is more connected with the rest of the song, it had a drop at its start.
   -The song is more like "up", and not so sunken in the lows.

[b]Drums:[/b]
   -Restored and added some fill snares during all the song. Some of them were there but inaudible.
   -Stronger and boxier snare.
   -Reinforced the snare whip.
   -Deeper kicks.
   -More defined panning shakers.
   -More defined hi-hats.
   -More mechanic drums sound.
   -Shiner general sound.
   -Panned both hi-hats to different sides to combine them better when they are together (find them separately at the "Hear what I say" part and other at the "Don't lose your heart" part, both at the 1:28 part.
   -More whip like sound to the claps  which starts at the "Don't drink and drive my car" part.

[b]Vocals:[/b]
   -Scarier monster "Don't lose your head" bits.
   -Cleaner Freddie.
   -No more ear-driller Freddie, especially during the long notes (ex. "tall", "wall", "all"...).
   -Lowered down and panned Joan's robot "Don't lose your head" bits, really loud, and must be just a detail.
   -Added reverb to the monster and Freddies voices.
   -Enhanced the 1:02 monster "Don't lose your head" bits.
   -Lowered a bit backing vocals, which were a bit loud.

[b]Guitar:[/b]
   -Cleaner and more understandable sound.
   -More dirty guitar at some points.
   -Enhanced lots of lost bits (ex. 1:42, 2:37...).
   -No guitar abrupt cut on the right channel at 3:49.
   -Electric start to the "Don't drink and drive my car" part.

[b]Keyboards and Effects:[/b]
   -Shine given to the keyboard, more 80's keys sound, not so muddy mids.
   -Panned main riff "Tutaru tacu taru" during the song.
   -More noticeable keys hits, mainly at the "Remember..." parts.
   -Enhanced lots of really almost inaudible whip bits during the song.
   -More embracing keys.
   -Enhanced that "twichi tichi wichi" effect going through the speakers.
   -Added a panned effect from 'ADRRfMD' at 1:11.

[b]Bass:[/b]
   -Not so mattress and muddy bass.
   -No more lost notes.
   -More defined sound.
   -More relaxed bass at the "Don't drink and drive my car" part.

Vali, I'm re-revisiting my past albums to do a real thing with them and not leave the first revision of them as the definitive versions. At the moment, I'm working too with 'Jazz' and 'The Miracle' as a rest from the main album. Trying new things with 'ADatR' too, but by now I have them all on stand-by, I barely have time for 'AKoM'.

Here are a few examples, but be careful, the EQ diferences might make you think that one song sounds, for example, opaque. Have in mind the studio quality differences.

Hi, great work again on "Don't Lose Your Head" !!!

But there's a kind of "stop" after 10 seconds,isn't it?? Sounds like not wanted.

Hi! Mr. Bed Guy, well spotted. I forgot to put that on the changes. It would be something like "Enhanced the 0:10 stop". If you hear closely, the original song has that stop at 0:07 and every four times during all the song always that the main "riff" effect is being played. It occurs because the drum kick doesn't fill that. The sequence is like this:

[b]EFFECT: [/b]      TU TA RU TA CU TA RU       TU TA RU TA CU TA RU       TU TA RU TA CU TA RU       TU TA RU TA CU TA RU  
[b]SNARE:[/b]                          PAF                                      PAF                                       PAF                                      PAF
[b]KICK:[/b]       PUM                                     PUM                                      PUM                                                  PUM

The blank space between the 3rd and 4th "Tutaru tacu taru" is the blank space that you hear, because the drum line doesn't fill that space with its 4th kick, which is a bit after that. That pattern is repeated during all the song, but at the beginning of the song you can hear it better because there are only drums and no keys or guitars, etc... I enhanced specially that stop to give to the song a more abrupt and aggressive cut.

I hope this explains why that cut exists!

I'm more and more excited about your work, Matt.

DLYH : Great job done on the drums ! They're less "messy" than before. They're actually sharper and much more balanced than on the 2011 remasters series. Gotta love the guitar bits during the last seconds of the song, too. It's much more "readable" and the new stereo panning really gives it some space. Freddie sounds absolutely gorgeous. You nailed it.

Jazz and The Miracle 2nd revisions teaser : Excellent. The improvement is noticeable. The experience you gained from your previous projects is obvious. I Hope you'll carry on bringing us your miracles.

Queen II is on your agenda next !? Hell yeah !

Yay! Queen II ! Thanks for not forgetting Matt :)

I think QII will be your biggest challenge ever: it's so crowded with sounds it really should receive an official surround mix.
Compared to the rest of the 2011 remasters, it's still quite a 'muddy' album, so it'll be interesting to see what you can do.

Jealousy revisited.
PLEASE remove that blasted Kick Drum. It wasn't on the original album and I'm peeved they fouled up and put it on the remaster by mistake.

Awesome, Don't Lose Your Head really sounds way more fresh :-) I like that you added the "cold" ending. I almost always prefer cold endings over fade-outs. Any chance that this Freddie's falcetto bit "ooouuh" at 4:26 can be brought out a bit louder? I always liked that bit. Other than that I love it. Keep up the great work!

Wonder when it's Innuendo's turn? It's one of my top albums and I reckon it could sound a lot better :)

AKOM, QII, Innuendo being requested (I second Chief Mouse´s petition!), revisiting the already revisited ..... and our friend Matt complaining for his lack of time !!! :-)

such a pitty you cannot find the time to do what you enjoy the most .... because we suffer that directly, hahahaha !

Matt, Don´t Lose You Head sounds incredibly well, best than ever !! AKOM is a very special album for me and I´m dying (as I did with ADATR) to listen to it in full glory once you´ve finished.

This is not a much beloved album amongst most fans, but it was the very first Queen release I experienced. I was 10 years old and had discovered Queen through Radio Ga Ga & IWTBF a couple of years before, so this was the very first release I was expecting and fully enjoyed knowing that I was a Queen fan ! So I devoured every second of the album thousands of times before I started getting older albums. That´s why AKOM always stands in a very special place for me.

And, of course, now you´re working on it at your prime since you started these revisions, so the output gets better and better each time. Queen II will be quite a challenge ... !!

And thanks, thanks, thanks, for not forgetting your previous efforts ! You can clearly hear the enhancements !! Knowing that we´ll get a Jazz 2.0 or The Miracle 2.0 in the future is exciting !!

I've read all your replies, and I'm happy about them, thank you very much! Good to hear that you liked DLYH! I really like the new cold ending too, to me it's like a better introduction to PotU, and I like them more than the fade outs too. I made that falsetto a bit louder too ;)

AKoM was one of my first albums too! But my very first no GH album was 'The Miracle', and that's my special one, then Innuendo (which scares me a bit), and then AKoM! I listened to late Queen before the 70's one. I remember being strangly attracted to DLYH and PIsCtP specially, two songs that I love despite all the critics. I don't know why I really like DLYH, it has very basic lyrics (related to the movie I think, until the "Don't drink..." part, and without those forced "Remeber, love..." parts). I think I really like the music. For some reason I mentally formed couples of songs on this album: OV/AKoM, OYoL/PIsCtP, GtP/DLYH and WWtLF/PotU. The only one which doesn't fits in the theme is FWBF.

Hahahaha, I really love doing this... but love won't pay my bills. I really like my job too, but it requieres a lot of time. I don't know how to spell it correctly in English, but my job consist on walking on the street visiting food related places (like restaurants, grills, dietetic stores, vegan stores, hotels, etc...) to sell them spices, condiments, dry fruts, snacks, cereals, and more, and then distribute them. It's a self employement business that I started with a friend on Febraury, and it needs spent time to grow bigger. I really like it trough! I love the freedom it gives to me on my work time, own routine, own schedules, own prices, personal customer attention, possibility of permanent grow, etc...

[b]Anyway, let's go to the point. Here's 'A Kind of Magic'!
[/b]
[b]General:[/b]
   -The general sound has more priority levels and a new depth feeling.
   -Not so flat percussion.
   -Powerful general base.
   -Powerful explosion and no cut after the 2:34 fill.
   -Less "Glub glub" sound after the isolated bass part.
[b]
Drums:[/b]
   -New sound to the whole drums.
   -No more carton kick, now is deeper and punchier, like it was actually meant to be.
   -More body to the snare and a stronger snap to make a punchier pop base.
   -More audible panned cowbells during the whole song, and added some new ones.
   -Not so flat shakers, new pan.
   -More noticeable cymbals.
   -Added a new hi-hat to some key parts.
   -Enhanced double retarded snares at the "Is this a kind..." parts.
   -Not so loud drums after the isolated bass part.

[b]Vocals:[/b]
   -Depth to the initial "It's a kind of magic"s.
   -Wider Freddie main vocal.
   -More body to Freddie.
   -Not so loud "Will soon be, will soon be..." at 2:41.
   -More audible Roger at the 2:45 "Dooone!!".
   -New panned and clearer falsetto Freddie at 2:47.
   -More relaxed and panned Freddies at the isolated bass part.

[b]Guitar:[/b]
   -More relaxed sound and more body, not so harsh.
   -Separated and stereo expanded guitars to create a wider orchestra (ex. 1:48, 3:58...).
   -More silly and playful guitar sound at 2:11 part, like going and coming.
   -New pan to the guitar bits after the 2:34 fill.
   -Restored a guitar part to the three bits.
   -A bit more harsh but clearer final guitars (after the isolated bass part) and more priority.
   -Added the extended version guitars at the very end.

[b]Keyboards and effects:[/b]
   -Sharper sound to the finger clicks.
   -Deeper sound to the initial synthesizers.
   -More audible effects (ex. Now they keep going once the drums starts)
   -Louder and more ambient keyboards.
   -Restored some synths bits at 1:15 part.
   -Not so harsh panned flying magic thing at 1:34
   -Restored some synths bits at 1:36 part.
   -Added a new reversed cymbal at 3:16
   -More audible effects at the isolated bass part.

[b]Bass:[/b]
   -New volume levels to the bass, not so low at the beginning, and not so loud at the end.
   -After some seconds, the bass started to take over the song, now it's more balanced.
   -More rounded sound, not so carton.