Monday, July 21, 2008

THE ULTIMATE BEATLES GIFT

The ultimate gift for a serious Beatles fan would be an all-in-one contraption (by this I mean computer program) that would allow users (read "purchasers") to remix Beatles tracks any way they'd like using available multitracks. I've pondered various versions of this idea in the past but what really got my juices flowing was something I practically tripped over online on a Beatles forum (Doug Sulpy's excellent 910).

What I saw in one of the posts was that someone had leaked a number of multitracks for a few Nirvana (an overrated group if ever there were one) songs. Big deal, right? Well, this led to another post where someone referenced the availability of a few Black Sabbath multitracks (now there's a real band) that although possibly not the real thing had been stripped from a game called Rock Band. I'd heard of Guitar Hero (my nephew has it: it's fun, but no Beatles songs are on it) but Rock Band was new to me.

I followed a few more online threads to find out that Rock Band is essentially made up of songs and their respective multitracks, the majority of which are all legitimate individual tracks. The mother of all the threads led me to a website where someone had cracked the ROCK BAND codes and extracted the multitracks for posting. I was overwhelmend by the number of songs but one in particular attracted my attention: the Stones' "Gimme Shelter." I immediately downloaded it but then realized I had no way to play it! "Ka-rap!" thought I, until I did another search and found out that all I had to do was download Audacity (a free program) and simply drop the "Gimmen Shelter" file into it, which I did.

H-O-L-Y M-A-C-A-R-O-N-I

For the next 45 minutes I listened to 8 or 9 different instrumental/voice tracks that composed "Gimme Shelter" and was floored. Overjoyed. Enraptured. I don't know what else to say.

Which brings me back to the Ultimate Beatles Gift. If one were to have all available multitracks for Beatles songs (starting with "I Want To Hold Your Hand," since that was their first 4-trackk recording if I recall correctly) one could mix the music any preferred way (artistic intent be damned!). You like more bass? Then increase it in the mix! You want it sans vocals? Then mute 'em! It could be that easy.

Sure, the whole thing would probably only interest rabid fans (i.e. those reading this post) but it sure could be profitable for Apple. How so Jeremy? Well...I'd avise Apple to hire someone to create its own hack-proof Audacity-like software so that the only person who could use the program would be those who purchase it. [I know there's no such thing as hack-proof, but they don't need to know that!]

Can you imagine mixing your own version of your favorite songs?

I can. And some day we will!

As always...comments always welcome.

Jeremy Boob


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay...I'm looking all over the usual places to find such goodies and am coming up empty. I've already got Audacity. Can you guide a brother to multitrack glory?

Please e-mail me directly at bagofsoup@optonline.net if you'd prefer not to post a link here. Love the blog, BTW!

Thanks!

Eddie

JeremyBoob said...

Here you go:

http://www.echoingthesound.org/phpbbx/viewtopic.php?t=29040&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=100

Glad you enjoy the blog!

Jeremy

Anonymous said...

HOLYCRAPTHISISAWESOME!!!!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I'm having a ball! (I've wanted to isolate Pete Townshend's ARP synth since I was 10 years old!)

Eddie

Hemms said...

finally! thank you...I DO NOT CARE FOR THIS CIRQUE THE SOILED IT either. IT IS ALL BOUT THE MUSIC>

EDWIN