King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Fan created remixes and rare variations
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King Elessar
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King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by King Elessar »

Hello folks, King Elessar here again. Buckle up because this is going to be a very long post :D I am sharing with you a project that I have been working on over the last few months that features updated mixes for the four tracks that I have shared on this forum so far: "Free As A Bird", "Real Love", "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me". Here are those posts: viewtopic.php?p=133384#p133384, viewtopic.php?t=10408

And here is a basic summary of what I have on offer here:

For "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love", I have made new mixes using the 2015 versions.

"Now and Then" features additional George Harrison guitar parts taken from the "Now and Then - The Last Beatles Song" promo video. I have also improved the demo vocals that were featured in the "missing bridge" edit by changing them to the right key.

"Grow Old With Me" has the most changes and is the main highlight of this post. I have reworked this track entirely to feature acoustic and electric guitar parts from George Harrison, George Martin's 1998 orchestra, better vocals, plus much more!

I have also included updated artwork and high quality music videos for each track, including a custom video for "Grow Old With Me" that I put together myself. More details can be found further down this post.


Image


And now, a complete breakdown of what I have done for each track, in order of recommended listening:

Free As A Bird

Free As A Bird features the least amount of changes compared to my previous mix. The highlight here is the fact that I have used the 2015 remixes as a base. I used the same demo vocals used in the old edit with minor edits to the volume made accordingly. I have edited the stems to somewhat undo some of the compression, the drums are a bit lower in volume for example. This mix also has clapping at the very end, a feature of the music video.

Real Love

The edits made to Real Love are more substantial than Free As A Bird. I have similarly combined the vocals that I used in my previous mix with the 2015 instrumental. I have also tried to undo some of the compression by changing the volume of some instruments.

The most significant changes I made relate to the guitar parts. I'm sure I am not alone in disliking the guitar parts that were added to the 2015 remix, I much prefer the 1996 version in this regard. I removed the electric guitars at 0:58 as well as the additions made at 1:53. To replace the guitars at 0:58, I added back in the acoustic guitar that was featured prominently in the 1996 version.

The acoustic guitar stem that I used was provided by the YouTube channel "Isolated Stems" A big thank you goes out to this channel once again!

Other than that, I gave the track a general clean up. I removed a few clicking sounds that appear throughout and I also removed the rhythm box from the demo heard during the first 40 seconds.

Now and Then

Now and Then features a few changes. I have altered the ending and edited the key of some vocals.

Having come across technology than can better isolate guitar parts, I took it upon myself to isolate a scene of George playing his electric guitar from what seems to be an alternate take of the song's ending. In my first mix I felt that George's guitar did not stand out during this part which is entirely down to the take that was used. It was then that I had the idea to insert audio from the "Last Beatles Song" promo video of George playing a different ending to the song.

I realise that this addition is entirely speculative, but I tried my best to make it fit in. In the spirit of my original idea to increase George's role in this song I think it sounds quite well and provides a fitting climax. Here is a direct comparison between the old and new guitar parts if anyone wishes to hear the changes that I made more clearly:

Old: hxxps://mega.nz/file/CEYwlRAB#Xc5bZDiXU ... MWHHJG4agY

New: hxxps://mega.nz/file/mBxzxQ6a#fZ0XZ7MOt ... FUdkyFpvuc

In regards to the editing of vocals, I changed the key of the "I don't want to lose you" section of the missing bridge edit that I made. The demo that I ripped these lines from is clearly different to the one used for the official release as the vocals differ in quality. This is not something I can really fix so I simply tried to alter the key from the demo to better match the instrumental and left it at that. I also added the strings back in as I thought they added more to the atmosphere.

I haven't included the music video with additional scenes for the bridge from my previous post. My reasoning is that I reused some of these scenes for the "Grow Old With Me" video and I didn't feel like remaking it with new changes. If I change my mind in the future I'll make an update.

Grow Old With Me

Like I said, this track is the highlight of this post and the main reason why I undertook this project in the first place. So basically, I made my own edit of this track some time ago and uploaded it here. It was a combination of the instrumental from the 2019 Ringo Starr cover with John Lennon's vocals. The original idea of this project was to try and create a Beatles version of the song with all four members on it. I was somewhat successful in doing this as I was able to add a custom George Harrison guitar solo to the mix.

I wanted to make a mix that removed any instruments not played by a Beatle and then combine the result with an isolation of George Martin's orchestra from the 1998 version of the track. I felt it would be wrong to not include contributions from George Martin seeing as he is considered by some to be the "fifth" Beatle. I was not able to achieve the goal of isolating his orchestra or the instruments from the 2019 Ringo version so I settled for a simple mix with a custom guitar solo and left it at that.

The edit was not well received, and I admit I was disappointed with it myself as technological limitations prevented me from achieving my true vision. The pitch of John's vocals did not match the instrumental either and the guitar solo was lacklustre. George Harrison's role was also minor when it should have been greater for a so called "Beatles" song.

However, everything changed in October of last year when I came across the following post on this forum: viewtopic.php?t=10447&sid=460582ec2635d ... 1af460cdd2

Users gingerbeer and CharlesHawtrey were able to make a mix of "Grow Old WIth Me" that featured clean John Lennon vocals and acoustic guitar parts by George that they had cleverly taken from his "Let It Be Me" demo. The piano from John's demo was clean as well and the overall result was incredible, but one thing that gingerbeer noted was that they could not cleanly isolate the George Martin orchestra either.

This was the catalyst for what I am sharing with you all today. Technology has improved and I was successfully able to find a way to cleanly isolate the 1998 orchestra. I won't say how but just know that this work was done using professional equipment. Anyways, I now had my orchestra and also a greater role for George Harrison courtesy of gingerbeer/CharlesHawtrey whose work I am extremely grateful for. I could not have done any of this without them.

I decided to make a custom guitar solo from George using the slide guitar featured in "Let It Be Me". I figured that it would make sense seeing as the acoustic guitar parts from this demo already fit so well. I was inspired to do this from an interaction I had with gingerbeer who mentioned using the slide guitar for their own project so credit goes to him for the idea. I imagine this solo will be the most controversial aspect of this mix and I admit I am guilty of "frankensteining" various parts together but I tried to make something to suit the melody. The solo aligns in part with John's piano and I exclusively used the final half of George's demo. Personally, I think it sounds quite soothing and fits the mood of the song but I understand if it is not to everybody's taste.

Overall, my mix features John Lennon on main vocals and piano, Paul McCartney on bass and back vocals, Ringo Starr on drums and back vocals, George Harrison on acoustic and slide guitars and an orchestral arrangement by George Martin. I have also used backing vocals from take 6 of "Here, There and Everywhere" and I edited them to have a similar melody to those featured in gingerbeer and CharlesHawtrey's version. This means that John and George are on back vocals as well. Thank you user khundalini for sharing this take.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this track, I may be wrong but feel free to correct me in saying that this is the first mix of its kind to feature clean instruments and vocals from all four Beatles with the full George Martin orchestra.

Sources

John Lennon - Grow Old WIth Me (John Lennon Anthology Boxset) (1998)
-Strings
-Flute
-Tuba

John Lennon - Grow Old WIth Me (Gimme Some Truth) (2020)
-John's "Okay, let's try it!" intro

Gingerbeer and CharlesHawtrey's Full-Band Edit of "Grow Old With Me" (2024)
-Piano
-John's Vocals
-Acoustic Guitar ("Let It Be Me" Demo)

Ringo Starr - Grow Old With Me (2019)
-Back Vocals (Ringo and Paul)
-Drums
-Bass

George Harrison - Let It Be Me (Demo) (1983)
-Slide Guitar

The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere (Take 6) (1966)
-Back Vocals (John and George)

Music Videos

The music videos that I have included for "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" and "Now And Then" are the highest quality I could get my hands on. "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" are 1080p Blu-ray rips while "Now And Then" is a 4K rip from YouTube. Apologies if the file size is too much but any less would risk losing quality.

As mentioned in the beginning, I have made a custom music video for "Grow Old WIth Me". It was heavily inspired by the music videos for "Real Love" and "(Just Like) Starting Over". I have included footage of each Beatle from various stages of their lives both with each other and with their spouses to fit the theme of the song. The video features a combination of both professional and home footage so the quality of sources varies dramatically but I think it adds to the charm. The footage has been upscaled to 4K using AI software and I think it looks decent enough. The 4K file is quite large so I have included a smaller 1080p version for those who want to save on storage.

This video could not have been made without the help I received from user B-ED who went above and beyond to share with me information and clips that I requested for this project. In particular, I was looking for footage of the Beatles with their wives and he was kind enough to direct me to his website, beatlesonfilm.com, which had plenty on record. He sent me a number of clips on request so a huge thank you goes out to him.

Download Link:

hxxps://mega.nz/folder/iYgh1LyB#BPOJLm3FPbWeAvgXeFce0g

Replace the "xx" with "tt" in the search bar for the link to work.

I hope you all enjoy the tracks, this was quite a lengthy project and probably took a few years off my life but it was worth it :)

-King Elessar
Last edited by King Elessar on Wed Feb 05, 2025 8:59 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by NowhereFan »

Thanks so much for these and for all the hard work you put into them. I especially like Free as a Bird and Now and Then.
But now these days are gone; I'm not so self-assured. Now I find, I've changed my mind, and opened up the doors.
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by Nateboy »

You did an incredible job with all of this. Brilliant work!!!!
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by BTL1210 »

Thank you for the shares .....
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by King Elessar »

NowhereFan wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 12:51 am Thanks so much for these and for all the hard work you put into them. I especially like Free as a Bird and Now and Then.
Nateboy wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 1:37 am You did an incredible job with all of this. Brilliant work!!!!
BTL1210 wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 4:59 am Thank you for the shares .....
Great! Glad you like them!
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by maccafan1 »

Wow some job you have done here, Apple need you
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by Alessandro Rocchi »

Great job, King Elessar, thank you very much! :mrgreen:
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by HoneyPie059 »

Thank you for this magnificent work. The stereo image is wider and the songs gain clarity each time. :D
GOWM has been magnified with only the subtle introduction of the original members and G Martin. Sure, it's fabricated but what a great idea! You dared! I appreciate this complicated work done by a passionate person.
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by King Elessar »

HoneyPie059 wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2025 8:49 am Thank you for this magnificent work. The stereo image is wider and the songs gain clarity each time. :D
GOWM has been magnified with only the subtle introduction of the original members and G Martin. Sure, it's fabricated but what a great idea! You dared! I appreciate this complicated work done by a passionate person.
Thanks! I tried to keep GOWM as simple as possible to fit the mood of the song. Glad to hear your thoughts on it!
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Re: King Elessar's Updated "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" "Now And Then" and "Grow Old With Me" Mixes

Post by Onkster II »

Hey King-
GOWM is soooo close. But the bass and backing vocals are in a different key. If you can correct those, it'll be nigh on perfect! This is just what I've been hoping someone could make.

Listening to the others next.

And a big THANK YOU for all this great effort!
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