Hello folks,
This one needs ears, suggestions and recommendations.
I won't drop the lyrics yet as I need the sound assessed rather than the narrative, sorry.
BIAB does piano (sort of), organ, drums & lead guitar.
Terry Berman does the vocals.
The piano, flute and cello are via MIDI. The latter two using Mellotron VSTIs & the piano, that's a complex story.
I found a cool piano in BIAB and there were snippets of the REALTRACK I REALLY liked.
The MIDI from BIAB was too clinical & clean so I tried a different strategy: I imported the piano track from BIAB into REAPER...ran Melodyne across it & rendered that detection result to midi. I imported the midi, copied out the snippets I wanted and reconstructed the song.
Melodyne heard & registered the overtones, ghost notes, grace notes and mistakes REALLY well. I linked the MIDI to a good free piano sample source, played it through. Edited to increase the level of the notes I wanted to carry the part, wrote in lines to "move" from one part to the next and then removed or reduced those bits that cluttered or clouded the piece. Even so there were a lot of notes & sounds BUT it seems quite cool to my ears.
The original BIAB bass was a very good piece of work BUT it was quite pitchy, mostly a little flat, and had the occasional very odd note choice so I, reluctantly, tracked my own bass, added guitar, sorted the lyrics & melody then sent it off to Terry who spent some time, changed a word here & there and embellished the melody.
Only a mix bus limiter on this...not finished, not mastered.

Thanks in anticipation of you listening & commenting. I need fresh ears on this thing.
060725 update/tweak
Upped the bass, did a version of the Motown Exciter - both suggested by FJ -
CRIM HIST 060725
MORE VOCAL mix[/color] - it's also quieter to keep it all at a safe streaming level as I removed the mix buss limiter
Criminal Histories - v2[/b][color:#990000][/color]
[b]ORIGINAL MIX[color:#CC33CC]
CRIMINAL HISTORIES [color:#CC0000][/color]

BIAB parts:
DRUMS - RealDrumsPopAdore6 04
ORGAN - 3099
LEAD GTR - 3348

MIDI parts (written in the piano roll editor in Reaper):
DSK The Grand (free)
REDTRON Free - (Mellotron flute - verses & cello choruses)

FX:
Ambience Reverb Free
ReaEQ native to Reaper
ReaDelay native to Reaper
AirWindows Iron Oxide (main vox) free
Modern Deathcore Comp of backing vox. Free

INSTRUMENTS:
Vantage Bass
Squire Bullet Mustang

AND FINALLY
The Lyric:
Criminal History 3
v1
In the last century
There's overtime & more
No longer pestilence
But the victims of war
From Barbaossa to the Killing Field
Aggression is now a shield.
c1
Death needs a holiday
But can't take the risk
With natural attrition
The business was brisk
Death needs a holiday
But there's so much on the plate
With the uptick in business
It doesn't pay to be late
v2
But in modern history
Between commerce & the poor
Inhuman commodities
The slave and the paramour
All collateral damage done
Former victims fill the garrison
c2
Death needs a holiday
But pre-emption changed the game
Now that old Lebensraum
Has sought to change it's name
Death needs a holiday
Can't keep up with the times
As the Lions and their genocide
Play at their war crimes
v3
From the Belgian Congo
From Dresden to Auschwitz
From the gulags to Nagasaki
Death quietly joins the bits
c3
Death needs a holiday
But is not a fool
For business is brisk
When starvation is a tool.
The faces of the children x 4

This is the piano roll for the chorus piano...heavily edited.

Attached Files (Click to download or enlarge) (Only available when you are logged in)
chorus piano.jpg (101.25 KB, 45 downloads)
Last edited by rayc; 07/05/25 07:54 PM.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe