UPDATE: see below for newer version

I’ve been meaning to do this since 28.04.2007 - ie. the day I unboxed my XS and discovered PRE7 G08 “Paris at Night” (by Peter Krischker - kudos!) voice - I thought it was perfect for this piece.

Paris a Nuit (Souvenir de Chine) (new version - 1.02.2009)

Paris a Nuit (Souvenir de Chine) (version 30.01.2009)


(originally composed by Jean Michel Jarre)

Unlike my previous JMJ covers , this is not a “replica” cover. It comes very close to the original, but it has my own touch notably the “Paris at Night” arpeggios, solo strings and an accordion. I also added an extra “solo” verse (03:20-03:44 or 03:43-04:07 in newer versions) to expose the main voice that I love so much.

Everything was done on XS (there are custom samples though), except the synth solo at the end - that one is from Roland D-50 (VariOS+VC1 to be exact). Recorded in one take and very light mastering applied (stereo enhancement and exciter).

It’s not 100% finished - some sfx and a couple of drum hits are missing.

UPDATE: see below for newer version

Enjoy.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

X-C-LLenT .........

if you ever make a video of this one, get a hot blond model in fur coat stepping in the room and photographers clicking and flashing taking snaps from every direction.

This can be a great track for cat walk and runway models.

Great job

thanx 4 sharing

cheers

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Yeh! JMJ has become a classic.
This way he is honoured like Satie or Chopin.
Will they play him like this after 30 years? I do hope so.

;JOOP!

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Great work Jote!

I like the new “touch very much, it’s nice and fresh. Where are the digital choirs from?

If I had to chose only one JMJ album to keep it would be Oxygene 7-13, I love the sound of it. And Oxygene XIII is the only piece I can play in real time…

Two months ago I bought an V-Synth XT which came with the VC1-D50 board, and it sounds really glorious! Unfortunately I have had to sell it because of lack of time and financial reasons. I may get a D-550 in the future, although the Varios seems to be a better alternative. I suppose that the VC1-D50 comes with all the original D-50 wave expansions?

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Thanks.

Where are the digital choirs from?

Actually it’s a sample from one of Sound Blaster Live! factory banks passed through LPF, Talking Modulator (vowel “a") and Symphonic chorus.

FYI: the drums were painstakingly extracted from the original intro. I used a short snippet (0.1-0.2s) of the original choirs as a Noise Reduction profile and managed to extract the drums with neglectable artifacts.

If I had to chose only one JMJ album to keep it would be Oxygene 7-13, I love the sound of it. And Oxygene XIII is the only piece I can play in real time...

Over time I learned to appreciate the album (especially the “A"-side) but I still think it doesn’t deserve to be called “Oxygene”. It’s a good album on it’s own, but I can’t think about it as Oxygene - maybe except parts 7, 8 and maybe 9.

As for the VC-1, unfortunately there are some differences with regards to the original D-50. One of the gate reverbs is panned in stereo, some chorus effects have different characteristics and looped sample playback is too accurate. The original D-50 had an OS error, which in some circumstances caused 3 last sample bytes to be omitted in the loop. In VC-1 this is “fixed”, however it makes some of the original D-50 voices loop incorrectly - one notable is “Machine Run” (sound from “Industrial Revolution (overture)")

I may get a D-550 in the future, although the Varios seems to be a better alternative

I’d get both. Wait, I did. I got both D-550 and VariOS to replace my broken D-50, and it appears it was a wise path. I got the D-550 to have “the real deal” and VariOS is merely a failsafe in case the D-550 breaks.

I suppose that the VC1-D50 comes with all the original D-50 wave expansions?

There were no “wave” expansions for D-50, there were just additional voices. Incidentally though VC-1 features over 20 all-new PCM waveforms and extra 64 voices utilizing them. Good stuff.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

WOW comes to mind as I listen to this song post.
That camera sound, where did you get it?
Overal mix is professional to my ears.
You may say it’s not finished, but to the average listener, it’s beyond it and ready for sale.


Thanks for sharing your work

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

IMPRESSIVE! very PRO-fessional
everthing about song top notch damn sweet playing



Peace:Q

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Thanks for the comments so far.

New version - almost final.

Paris a Nuit (Souvenir de Chine) - version 1.02.2009

Added some fx, some Simmons SDS-V toms and additional claps.

Also, a fx intro with some sounds from Paris Nord (gotta love their jingle) - since my knowledge of French is less than decent there is a possibility I cut that French announcer sentence in half /forums/images/icons/wink.gif alt=

P.S. Jerry - the camera sound is from the original piece ("Souvenir de Chine” by Jean Michel Jarre, published in 1982). Rumor is it was a camera of Nikon brand.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Hey man I like what you have done here, I like this style of music also, different, but it keeps you interested and focused on the sounds throughout the entire tracks.

Well done.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Its fabulous ! Can listen to it , on and on again !

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Jote, the new version sounds really good. Is it all mixed, played and EQed in the XS??

EDIT: I see in the original post that it’s not mixed on the XS. What program or device do you use for mastering?

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Jote, the new version sounds really good. Is it all mixed, played and EQed in the XS??

Almost. As I mentioned earlier the “screaming lead” sound ("Griitttarr 2") is from VariOS/VC-1, and the Paris Nord sound effects were added separately.

Other than that, yes, what you hear has been mixed and EQ-d in the XS and recorded as a single audio track in one take via SPDIF (44kHz/24bit) in SONAR 7.

A “stereo enhancer” effect has been applied on the entire mix.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Jote, I see your working with Sonar 7, after doing the mixing on the XS.
Yes, this is the way I use Sonar 6, recording an audio track, then from there, I use Waves and Ozone 3

Do you plan on upgrading to Sonar 8 ?
Have you checked out the demo version, and if so, your thoughts please.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Jote, I see your working with Sonar 7, after doing the mixing on the XS.

Yes, but it’s not always the case. For instance, with Airwolf Themes project I did preliminary mixing on the XS, but then recorded each part as a separate audio tracks and did some final tweaking (volume/EQ) in Sonar. Then I put a Compressor, master EQ and a Limiter on the entire mix. It really depends on a project and the results.

Do you plan on upgrading to Sonar 8 ?

Not at the moment, it’s not cost feasible. I just upgraded from Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.0 (mk 1999) to SONAR 7 and the amount of new features and workflow improvements is simply overwhelming. I don’t think I need more features for the time being, plus PLN/USD and PLN/EUR exchange rates skyrocketed (+33%). The 8.3 upgrade looks nice though, I wish 7.0 users had similar one. I think I’ll wait for SONAR 9.

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Jote,

Your ability to “replicate” JMJ is next to none other I’ve heard. You get so darn close to the original, that only a true fan (like me) could hear the difference. And where that is immensely impressive, it’s also your problem, because if I wanted to hear Souvenir de Chine, I’d mount my Live In Houston/Lyon LP (yes I have it on vinyl!!) and also get the feel of the huge crowd and I’d also get that chinese woman saying “picture - picture”.. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

You are so very, very talented. Your productions are so damn amazing, your ability to match JMJ’s sound is awesome. But why limit yourself to making covers? I mean, you should be out there composing your own stuff! The world needs someone to take over from JMJ. And you seem like a pretty darn good candidate! When I was a bit younger I thought it was going to be me, but I didn’t have the patience to work and meddle with my synthesizers, so I chose another path. But you - if you compose as well as you reproduce, you could make it big in the new-age/synth niche-market.

Souvenir de Chine is among my favorite 3 JMJ tunes and your reproduction made me realize how much I miss listening to Jarre!

Thomas

Re: JMJ “Souvenir de Chine"/"Paris at Night”

Thomas,

Thank you for your kind words. I remember very well how you said a while back a very similar thing in this thread - you said my covers lack my “own touch”. Well, this one has my own touch! There’s the “Paris at Night” arpeggio voice, “Morricone” strings, the bassline is improvised and so on /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt= Pop your LP and hear the difference!

I used to produce mainly “replica” covers of JMJ, but it’s too frustrating - you can hardly ever achieve the exact sound of the original (maybe with a few exceptions, like “L’emigrant"). It is very educating, however. I learned a s**tload about mixing, mastering, arranging and so on.

This cover, which is called “Paris at Night” is my first JMJ cover where I introduced my own stuff, however I try to keep a reasonable resemblance to the original. You can think of it as a “concert version” - JMJ often added/changed things in concert versions of his pieces.

But why limit yourself to making covers?

First of all - because there is market for it! The Airwolf Themes project I’m involved in is a perfect example: an official soundtrack has NEVER EVER been released. This is where I step in. This project paid for my XS, by the way /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

I appreciate your belief in me, but I don’t think I’m suited to be a JMJ-style composer. It’s not the kind of music I have the brains for. I do have several pieces of my own which I will post here whenever I have the chance to rework them using XS and make them sound like real recordings /forums/images/icons/wink.gif alt=

Thanks again.