General Music Chat

Instead of sending wav files you can send MP3's at 256 Bytes or even larger and maintain fidelity to a greater degree. CD's are sampled @ 128 bits in the end, so not much would be lost in translation by sending higher bit-rate MP3's. There are also other conversions that are smaller than wav files but still deliver high quality tracks. If you are looking for only a few tracks, it would be hard to pull which were once MP3's and which were from wav files in a finished mix.

Yep, to get this done would require some planning up front. And as good quality as a home DAW can be, for a pro finished product I would still suggest booking studio time with a skilled engineer for your own tracks vs buying gear. Learning to really use this stuff requires hours and hours of practice, trial and error. It really is a bit like learning guitar. A kid can go out and buy a SRV Strat and Fender Super Reverb amp today but he wont sound like SRV for a very long time... if ever. The same is true with recording. An engineer with a keen set of ears is like found gold to a musician.

You have to decide what you want to do, create a first rate recording now or go through the process of learning to use the tools effectively.

lol

Don't you know? A kid with a strat, a super reverb and no talent may actually sound like SRV someday. LOL That is if he ever learns to play that strat.

Klug, get a crappy laptop.

I use a IBM T42. (200$ circa on eBay)

You need a copy of Cakewalk Sonar 6 or other DAW. (If you have an issue finding one, pm me)

Then you either need a breakout box, like a M-Audio Fast Track or some kind of external sound card.

Then you can record your own material(s).

PS: 1 song a day is simple. Try writing 2 in a day (no crap allowed).
(The first one is easy, the second one gnaws at your bones as you try to finish it)

Yep, it really just depends on what you want your end product to sound like.

A couple home studio DAW examples:
http://www.bandmix.com/thejohnny7band/
http://www.bandmix.com/chief-engineer-scott/
http://www.bandmix.com/guitarmikeb/


Professionally engineered tracks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w2B0I3jnhc
http://www.bandmix.com/yod/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrojrDCI ... re=related

Entirely your call.

Lot of excellent info Thanks!... I will prolly wind up talking to george... He might even be willing throw down a bass track or drums... Lemme get back on this...

In the meantime...

JC, ETU...
ETU can you develop a meta note? I'm think Key of E and on the voice of the keyboard, lowest audible register such that it 'rumbles' in its timber... I'm talking so thick that you could wedge a truck between the freqs This will be the underlying tone we spoke of

JC, remember 'Woman With Purse... Can you come up with a pattern of musical gestures that would include everything from Kitchen sink pipes to the wisps of make up , android phones and a Mary-kay catalog ...Can even throw in a rubber chicken LOL These things will decidedly fall out of her purse as she attempts to get in and out of a tiny car, which is parked along the highway of the Meta note...

Vocals: Klugmo . I think a good eerie , middle of the desert voice choral ala Deep rich tone would serve as excellent.. ethereal environment. A few yodels and some lyric as well...

Me: I got me a wooden guitar ... a kazoo, and I could sing... or not...
Anybody else wanna jump in on it?

This has potential only if we follow our own experienced advise.
We all have strong opinions and leaving OUR egos at the door will
go a long way. There needs to be a decision maker with final say-so.
This isn't a band, its collaboration of first song. If it works more will
follow probably.

To pick a first song a decision needs to be made honestly by all.
If you want me to sing, I can come up with 5 suggestions. We should
not dwell on any one decision so it wont be 2013 before its finished.

I believe this has been a long time coming actually. Many times
this has been suggested before. As usual in life it will take dedication
and time so have a talk with yourself before jumping in. There are
many musicians here that have particular skills. This is what I hope will
inspire additional songs.
If the project is completed I for one will be proud. That is all I need to know.

[/b]

Hey guys, I've done several collaborations online. Go get yourself a free Kompoz.com user account.

http://www.kompoz.com

You can upload all of your takes to a single project and have someone capable of mixing all the tracks be responsible for mixing the final project.. When done, you can publish it as public and people will give input.

each member should have some form of DAW so they can record themselves. REAPER for windows is cheap as cheap gets and as good as good gets - I'd compare it to Cubase. You can even use it past the trial date - just have to dismiss bugme windows, but fully functional to my knowledge.

http://www.reaper.fm/


the basic steps are this:
1. All interested parties who want to be in the collaboration - create a free account.

2. One of you can purchase a private project for like 5 bucks.
3. Invite the others (see 1 above).
4. Someone with a song idea, create a click track and upload it.
5. Each individual can download that master click track into their own projects and begin recording their ideas. Then you can upload your track, which other can download to play with, etc.

See how some of the public projects have progressed to get a feel, and read up on getting started. I personally thing the site is really good for online collaborations. Lots of great music come out of the collaborations on that site. I mean really good.

Look me up if you want some help, or want to do a collaboration of some sort, I can help with creating drum tracks if no one has access to a drum set.

http://www.kompoz.com/m/SirJamsalot

if you look at the projects tab on my profile, I have all the original files listed as public, including the lyrics to get an idea of how projects are organized. In fact, if you wanna take over that song and make it good, let me know and I'll invite you to the project and you can do whatever you like to improve or decimate it It was just a project I did for fun anyways and might be a good intro to composing.

Cheer up
it could be fun and a great outlet to some of the frustration I hear going on in this thread.

There needs to be a decision maker with final say-so.
This isn't a band, its collaboration of first song. If it works more will
follow probably.

Klugmo and others, some suggestions:

Song Construction: If everybody contributes a raw track, and applies reasonable effort to it, (polishing aside), there really isnt much to decide, other than the standard consensus by all contributors (Either the track works or it don't work and appropriate feedback or discarding of that track follows)

Mixing- Aesthetic:. Up to each artist to prescribe initial effects and enhancements on therir respective tracks. The engineer will then decide to use or discard to support and uphold subsequent artistic incompatibilities and requirements in keeping with the song theme.

Mixing -Technical: Hands down, this decision should rest exclusively with the mixing engineer. This will be a challenge for those with egos...If we are talking about a qualified engineer, he's gonna know levels better than any of us ...he needs to be left alone to do the correct stuff.. Even if that means sacrificing a musical enhancement or re-arrangement of a track. Its one of those "get over it" moments" and its paramount to the role of the engineer that he/she have that freedom of discretion

Mastering; Nothing to decide here, except to pray that the mastering is top notch.

To pick a first song a decision needs to be made honestly by all.
If you want me to sing, I can come up with 5 suggestions. We should
not dwell on any one decision so it wont be 2013 before its finished.

Suggestions: (First song is the 'Gettin familiar' song)

Should prolly pick something simple (Original) and expect to lose whatever poetic granduer one had intended it... Think of it like a piece of wood...about the get carved into what ever it forms up as... This is truly the freest approach for this kind of effort...and magic will not be lost on the good musicians.

After some reflection I think Sirjams is wise. Get all the elements together by whatever means necessary (home DAW or project studio tracks ) and see what you got with a reasonably simple collaborative demo. This could all be done mp3 256k to keep file size reasonable. Once the song is boiled down some and it looks like it's got legs, then it's time to spend a bit of cash for pro recording/mix/mastering by somebody with serious industry credits.

It could be a fun project. Got any potential hit songs in mind you tunesmiths?

OK, I'm throwing one out there. I don't believe the first tune should be
an original at all. A simple cover will be best because it is actually an
experiment for us. Naturally I'm gonna suggest a big vocal song so here goes.

"Need Your Love So Bad" Gary Moore version.
http://youtu.be/YXljcwt7JMk

This is also a big guitar song so good luck with that.
Here is some help with that (HA HA)
http://youtu.be/nhdfNlqRlgs

Let me know.[/b]

Cool!
Hey lets get some rhythm tracks down and I'll take a whack at the guitar. Gary Moore is right up my alley. There are probably a dozen players on this forum who could do Gary proud on that guitar part though. If Gramms put a little more attitude on it she would be in there.


We are gonna need our Canadian B3 player for this track I think.

Once rythm tracks are done, send to me and I will add a scratch vocal
so you will know where the holes are. Once you fill them send back
and I will add final vocal.
Sound like a plan?[/b]

Once rythm tracks are done, send to me and I will add a scratch vocal
so you will know where the holes are. Once you fill them send back
and I will add final vocal.
Sound like a plan?[/b]

The website Sirjamsalot uses sounds like a good place to experiment with this. All players have access to all tracks and can upload/download as needed. The next step is to lay down a click with some bass and drums. Any BM players want in or should I hit some local players?

I'll give it a try. Let me know project name.[/b]

You may want to start a new thread to let people know whats up.[/b]