TFP Jam Band - Concept
 

So I've had this idea rattling around in my head for a few weeks, but haven't really done anything with it. I want to get it out.

The premise is quite simple; get as many TFP musicians together as possible for a virtual jam. Since it isn't feasible for us to actually congregate somewhere, the next best thing would be to harness the power of the internet.

I'm envisioning a technically simple vehicle here. A myspace account is created, allowing us to upload a track. That track will consist of a simple beginning. We will then play hot potato, with each member contributing something to the track. Classical training or years of practice are not necessary for this; if you want to add some killer guitar riffz, go for it. If you're more comfortable strumming out a rhthm part, do that. If you want to add some bongo sounds, be my guest. Sing, play the spoons, tap your desk. Whatever you can record.

And therein lies the one and only caveat. Each member participating will have to record his or her own part. This isn't a huge hurdle, though; a basic setup can be achieved with a microphone and some free recording software. We don't all have a studio in the basement, after all.

The other concern is that someone will have to play 'producer' and actually put everything together. Mixing and balancing recorded tracks, and perhaps sending musicians back to do another take. For the sake of simplicity and not making this poor bloke's head explode, it's recommended that we keep it to only one member actively submitting at a time, but if we put the component tracks on myspace anyone can jam or write or whatever in anticipation of their turn.

So I've been playing with this idea as a new project. I've already assumed that I will likely be the producer on the first track if this actually happens, but I was hindered in not knowing what direction to go in musically. I thought a spontaneous jam, while fun, may end up excluding a large portion of our userbase, and I want this to be inclusive. I want anyone who has the necessary basic technical setup to be able to add their voice. So I need something that many people will feel comfortable with.

And then I stumbled over inspiration. Completely by accident I found myself listening to a song that is simple, easy to learn, well known and doesn't have any overly fancy chord permutations. It's the perfect piece, and can be easily made to be as simple or complex as the performers want it.

The inspiration is here. The track is Ben E. King's hit song, Stand By Me.

Notably, that is flexible, and if anyone has a suggestion of another song meeting the criteria, I'm certainly open to such things.

So, what I'm looking for now is commitment. I want to gauge what the reaction to such a project would be, and at least get a rough idea of how many participants there are. If it ends up being just me and Fly and grumpyolddude, I don't know if it'll be worth it.

Well, okay. Yeah it will be. Still and all, I think the point is clear.

If anyone out there is interested in participating, please signal such now. Additional indication if you're willing/able to mix tracks is also appreciated, as that might come in handy.

Go!

Fantastic! I've had the same idea for a TFP band for some time. (I think someone has suggested this a while back too).

Oh...I'm in!
(Can contribute with drums/percussion and the screaming vocals from my Twins-Of-Destruction boys)

Sweet, Martian. I think we discussed this in chat some time ago - glad you've made it a reality (or are trying to).

As a (very) novice drummer, I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute. I'll download the vid and submit something though - you can keep it or throw it out, I won't be too perturbed. :)

So yeah, count me in too.

I'm in--pick from piano, guitar (acoustic or electric) or bass guitar.

We need to talk roachboy into gracing us with some of his experimental sonic spookiness for this track, I think. :thumbsup:

I managed to double-post somehow...weird.

That said, ROCK ON!

I've been doing some online collaborations for several years over at Mixerman's site: The CAPE Zone - The Womb ... They've got it down to a pretty good method now. I didn't do CAPE 7 because my studio is in complete disarray at the moment and probably will be until Spring.

I suggested doing a collaboration here several years ago, but never really got anywhere with it.

I would suggest setting up an FTP site for tracks rather than MySpace. MySpace has been dogged lately ... I can hardly log in sometimes. I wouldn't mind donating space for FTP; I've got a couple of domains just sitting empty.

One thing about the CAPE projects is that they only do originals. It starts with the person in the "songwriter" position submitting one or several lyrical ideas for a song and maybe simple chord structure or melody. A guide track is created by the songwriter, the producer or someone in an arranger role. This usually consists of singing and maybe rhythm guitar or piano; preferably to a click track.

Then the song is tracked bit by bit from rhythm tracks up to vocals along side the guide track. Eventually the guide track is removed and minor changes can be made to the core of the song.

It's not unusual to scrap a guide track in favor of something new at some point.

If you decide to go the original route I'll throw in my keyboard and arranger skills; I'm not so sure about doing a cover.

Honestly, I would prefer to do an original composition myself. However, I'm trying to keep this simple to start with and have decided that a cover song works better, simply because it gives everyone a common starting point. In order to generate sufficient participation, I've also decided that the song needs to be simple enough that it's not going to exclude some of our members who have maybe not been at this music thing as long or aren't quite as obsessive.

If I can get this to work out, original compositions will be included in the future.

Of course, if you can provide ftp space that would be great. Myspace is hardly the ideal, and was chosen solely due to availability.

I can't see roachboy getting involved in our initial endeavour. I think it would bore him. That said, he may now show up to prove me wrong.

We'll give this a couple more days to see what happens, then we'll get started. We have enough now to do something, but I was hoping for a slightly better turnout.

I've still got a long way to go towards becoming a decent guitarist but I'd be happy to contribute if it helps get this thing off the ground.

I'm another novice who likes this idea. Although it may take me a little while before I can contribute, I certainly like this idea. I think it would be a good experience and I would learn a lot from it. I would like to see what gets produced out of this.

Can we call it Tilted Band Project?

what ho! comrades.

i think this is a great idea.
i'd be entirely into doing something collaborative.
i'll probably lay out if/when a cover happens (this is not strict, but for the most part, as my time is a bit limited these days), but i'd be willing to help in a meta-capacity.

but i'm interested in doing something more compositional.
and a platform that could be used to lots of projects involving lots of combinations of folk and approaches would be great to make.

we should do this.

you know i'm in Martian..........



start the juggernaut.......

Okay, then. So far for instrumentation we have:

My sweet self: Guitar, bass, vocals
freeload: Drums
healer: Drums
ratbastid: Guitar, bass, piano, vocals
vanblah: Keyboard
Manic_Skafe: Guitar
Baraka_Guru: Guitar
roachboy: Piano/keyboard (maybe), creepy prepared piano metamusic stuff
Fly: Guitar, bass, drums, vocals
grumpyolddude: Bass, guitar, vocals and miscellaneous other noises
little_tippler: Vocals

With vanblah, Fly, roachboy and me all capable of doing arranging or mixing/producing. Does that look about right to everyone?

Note to those musicians who are doubting their own ability: we will find something you can do. To the guitarists, if you can strum, we can stick you on a rhythm part if nothing else. I want this to be an inclusive exercise; if we can't give you a guitar part, you can play the spoons or something.

Given what we have available, I may decide to scrap Stand By Me in favour of something else. I'd still rather start with a cover, just because it does make life easier, but maybe we can go with something that allows us to fit things together a bit differently. Something early Beatles, maybe. A twelve bar blues could work nicely.

If this thing goes relatively smoothly and works out, we may end up making it a semi-permanent part of the forums. A sort of TFP house band, I guess. Tilted band project. Tilted Parsons project? I don't know, it's too early for me to get creative with the whole wordplay thing.

We've definitely got enough interest to pull something together. I'm going to say that I'll get something started on Monday. If there's anyone else out there who wants in on this, make sure you say so at some point this weekend, to be sure that we'll have something for you to do.

Ok, cool. If this is to be inclusive as such, then the song choice for covers need to take this into consideration, as hinted at with 12-bar blues and the Beatles.

May I make a recommendation? I think "And I Love Her" by the Beatles would be a good candidate. It has a manageable tempo, the guitar parts are easy, and it lends to allowing for expanding of the song and inserting other instrumentation thanks in part to its simplicity. We can take a lot of creative control over this song if we wanted to.



What do you think? A good test/experiment piece at least, no?

Ahem....

I have a long history of showing up late to the party.....

Bass, guitar, vocals, (limited) keyboards, kazoo, foot-stompin', knuckle-crackin' and various forms of nose-tones, at your service!

smokin'............good on you Martian.......anything i can do to help,i'm in bro.

I'm in too...the only instrument I play well enough is my voice. If you're interested, count me in :)

By the way, using Audacity it's easy to record yourself over a track. So in reality we could all record a full track (in whatever instrument we decide amongst ourselves) then record over each other, giving a coherent, continuous sound, and a full track.

Oh yeah, I can sing too.

I've used Audacity a bit. It's a good tool for non techies like me.

Yeah, agreed on the Audacity. Plus it's as cheap as free.

tippler, it would be good, of course, to have more vocals, especially if it means adding a female element. :) So definitely interested.

I would suggest NOT recording over the guide tracks and/or other people's parts; at least for what you're going to submit to the FTP site. Use Audacity to record a single solo track of your part and submit that to the FTP site in MP3 format. When we (or the producer) decide to keep the take submit in WAV format for the final mix. Someone (or several people) will need to be able to take all the individual parts and submit a mix.

I use Cakewalk Sonar for tracking and mixing and I wouldn't mind throwing my hat in the ring for mixing.

I realize that not everyone is going to have professional microphones and audio interfaces, but we should try to keep everything as clean as possible for the final mix. I've heard pretty good recordings using very inexpensive gear.

i can mix a million tracks if need be..........and yes,for the final mix.wave files are best.

and agreed with vanblah.......we can all send in mp3's at first.........

my Q is......how do we get each other the tracks?.........my buddies and i flip on messenger,cuz it'll take big wave files.........so that could be an option.or we send mp3's through the emails...works fine for what we do.

i'm sure we'll figure it all out.



let's play people.
-----Added 6/12/2008 at 01 : 14 : 09-----


yes.:thumbsup:

yes.:thumbsup:

yes.:thumbsup:



and..............not a fucking chance Martian :no:.....you've heard me........i myself would rather listen to cats fuck in the back alley.



:D

This will almost certainly motivate me to buy that blue snowball USB mic I've been eyeing...

Once we have a better idea of what we're going to actually work with I'll set up an FTP site at one of my domains.

Doug

EDIT: I have set up the FTP site. Once we figure out who is going to be involved I can PM the user and pass.

In theory, I would be into this concept. In reality, I don't think I have any way to make a recording that is worth a shit. If nothing else, I'll cheerlead. :P

Okay, lots to address.

tippler, you are most welcome. I was afraid that lead vocals would default to me, which isn't terrible, but isn't great either. My singing, while capable, is hardly going to win any awards.

And yeah, Fly, I've heard you sing. Your biggest problem is confidence, and you know it.

vanblah, the ftp site is most appreciated. That will work nicely for distribution.

In terms of the track, And I Love Her is one that I was considering. My only issue with it was the lead vocals, which I personally find very challenging. It's also a bit odd to arrange, in that it contains some rather irregular key changes, but even so it's a strong contender.

Question to the group: what type of song do you guys all want to do? Would you prefer something ballad-ish, or more uptempo? Does anyone else have any suggestions regarding a specific track?

For recording, the easiest way will be for one person to handle the mixing of everything. Audacity is a great programming for recording tracks, but as vanblah mentioned we will be using a guide track and will want to record over top of that, since it's essentially going to be a rough cut probably put together by myself.

Fly, you and I will probably work together on the mix. I think that's going to be the best way to handle it.

I'm going to work on putting a guide track together tomorrow or Monday, so that we can get started soon. If anyone has any recommendations on what song you want to do, now's the time to say something.

What if we did something like submit out top ten favourite artists (who we'd like to play) or something? Or top ten favourite songs? Get a good sample of what our interests are.... This could be ongoing of course.

Sticking with a ballad for the first project sounds good. There's enough space to allow contributions to be as simple, or complex, as desired.

And I Love Her would do nicely. (but I'm sure there are a lot of other tunes equally nice)

I think a song that's generally simple would be a smart first choice. It would allow us to focus on technical issues rather than musical ones, while allowing people with less performance/collaboration experience to get their feet wet in an accessible way.

Given that, "And I Love Her" might be on the edge. There's a LOT going on in that tune, chord-structure-wise. A guitarist who isn't handy with barre chords will find it unplayable. It has a half-step "trucker gear shift key change" going into the guitar solo. I'm just thinking, if there are people participating who are new guitarists, this isn't a great song to start with.

I'm game for it though, if it's the Chosen Tune. I just picked out George's little melody line solo, as well as the high arpeggios that happen over the 2nd and 4th verses.

this is gonna be fun...................



FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I ever manage to set up some home recording equipment, I'll be happy to contribute something y'all will probably want to mute out into the background. Guitar, banjo, harmonica, some vocal ability. I'll keep track of the thread and see when I get into a position to contribute something.

I think it might be a good idea, and yes this is partially me being selfish, as the thread progresses if we had resources on home recording. If this thing gets legs, it might open up the number of people able to contribute.

What resources are you looking for?

Home recording need not be expensive or complicated. MIDI capable keyboards are available for under $80.00 usd. Mine has a mic port and usb. Audacity is free. Presto! My laptop is a recording studio!

I just heard "And I Love Her" carefully and I could do the vocals, but it's not going to be the most brilliant performance for me. The key of the song makes it so that it's in my low range, and then when they say the main phrase "And I Love Her", I have to jump up an octave (or say it in a really low voice!). Or someone would have to step in there and sing that bit.

"Stand By Me" comes out better for me overall.

I have a few more suggestions:

Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Every Breath You Take – The Police
Don't Know Why - Norah Jones

If you'd prefer a Beatles track:

Eleanor Rigby
Let It Be
Michelle
Ticket to Ride
Can't Buy Me Love
Eight Days a Week
Hard Day's Night

are all more easily achievable for me.

I, personally, am really open. I don't even know how much I'll be able to contribute. I have no hardware for recording yet, and I don't even know if I can do any of the parts yet. (We'll see.) I'm open to any of the songs tippler listed. I have a strong Beatles bias, but I like all the songs she listed. Is "Wonderful Tonight" by Clapton doable too? I like that one, and if I'm not mistaken, it is reasonably accessible to beginners, at least rhythmically.

Nothing is stopping us from changing the key. What key is it in? What key are you most comfortable singing in?

Well, it could be out of sheer laziness - but I've been thinking of setting up something to allow me to record myself at home for a while. I haven't put a ton of effort into it, obviously - but I was thinking of resources that laid out what you need to put something together to allow yourself to home record - and perhaps a standard could be developed that would useful for people contributing to this project. My guess is that these resources are out there, and after last night I started looking around and found a few websites that I'll have to delve into. This certainly isn't something that hasn't been looked into by tons of people, so I know the resources are there. If, however, people in this community had already done all that legwork and knew where one should look for reliable information, it might save time. This could be done by each individual looking to get involved in this type of project, but I was thinking something like a sticky at the top of the thread with the resources members had found to be the best and most reliable, might save people (me :) ) time...regardless, I'm going to look into it as time permits and see what I come up with. Not necessarily for the work proposed in this thread, but just for personal reasons. We/y'all could (at some point) find it necessary to make a how-to...but if one has already been put together, then that makes things nice and easy.

I'll have to dig around some to be more informed on the topic before I can say much more of any use. If nothing else, this might give me some motivation to that research.

I've been considering this one:

Blue Microphones: Products: Snowball

The original, as far as I am able to work out, is in the key of C# Minor. For me to be comfortable, this would be no small transposition. I would want to go up to E Minor. I don't think it's worth that trouble!

nice...thanks for the ftp set-up comrade vb...please bounce me the requisite infotainment so i can get to it when the chance presents itself.

i was just looking at the lyrics to "and i love her" and wonder if it could work well slowed down and approached like a torch song. maybe transpose it up a step in terms of key and use the fact that ms tippler is in the low end of her range as an advantage.

this is good---i did my first performance in about a year last night to a sold-out house (!---i assume that the other band members come from large families and brought them all...) so am starting to ramp back up into doing sound stuff. i'm not sure how much i'll do on a cover unless we decide to really dismantle the original and do something else with it. but it might be fun to do multiple mixes of the collective projects. that way maybe some of the many recordings i have laying around of such fine sonic phenomena as my refrigerator (you have no idea...) can find homes away from my hard-drive.

further comrades.

No problem to transpose to any key.

When we hear from Martian (our producer) if we are indeed going forward with "And I Love Her" then he or we can spend some time coming up with an arrangement.

Can everyone read charts or tabs?

There are indeed a ton of resources out there. I would suggest checking Gearslutz.com - Powered by vBulletin

If you're willing to spend a little bit of money I'm partial to Presonus products. For guitar you'll only need a fairly small set up. I use the Firebox (PreSonus) for my laptop and a couple of Firepods (PreSonus) for my larger rig. I already said I use Sonar (SONAR 8 | Home) for tracking. The forums over at Cakewalk.com are a good resource too.

Microphones are going to be your biggest source of headache. I have several mics, but my goto mics for acoustic guitar is the CAD E200 and a R0de NT4 or 5 (mainly because they're the best mics I own). The last time I recorded electric (with my band) was through a Fender Twin with a Shure beta57 and R0de Nt5 on the front and an MXL "something" on the back. It sounds pretty good.

I also use the CAD for vocals.

It's really not difficult to set up computer for recording. Most processors and hard drives are way more than adequate for doing this nowadays. All you really need is a decent audio interface and decent microphone. That's it ...

The fun thing about a song like And I Love Her is that it seems simple when you listen to the finished product, but when you start to rip it apart (as we're doing now) you find out that it's actually quite intricate. This is part of the reason I thought it might serve us well, since it should give us a lot of spaces to fill in with our varied instrumentation.

I'm going to have to work up some kind of an arrangement anyway, transposing up a few semitones isn't that big a deal. The song as it exists now is in C# minor with a change to D minor at the solo. Taking it up to E minor and F minor is definitely doable.

So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to bring it down to two suggestions off of our list here. The first will be And I Love Her. The second is Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. Both songs are good candidates because they give us a lot of room to work inside and to adapt this thing and make it our own. Each has it's own challenges that we'll have to overcome. I'm personally partial to either.

So let's put it out there. Everyone who is involved in the project as of right now, please indicate your preference. Again, for clarity, the choices are:

And I Lover Her
or
Wonderful Tonight

Due to my desire to get this thing moving, I'm giving you an eight hour window. Midnight EST a decision will be made. Now is the time to make your opinion known.

Also, vanblah raises a concern that I should've addressed earlier. I'm fully aware that I'm going to have to do most of the actual arranging. To that end, I will likely be distributing some form of written music to some or even most of our participants. If anyone involved could please indicate whether you can read standard notation, tabulature, both or neither, that would make my life a little easier.

My vote is for "And I Love Her," mainly because I've heard it a million times, and I absolutely love the song. (Yes, I've known about the key change. No, I didn't know what to call it, or what the actual change was until now. But I understand it conceptually. :))

I can read tabulature, but I also understand things at the chord level. Standard notation is something I'm just getting into.

I'm not sure what to do about recording. I suppose I'll wait and see if I'm actually going to participate in this first round. Let's wait to see how the arrangement turns out. By what vanblah wrote, it looks like a setup of several hundred dollars for something "basic." I'm not prepared to spend that much at the moment. Is there a shortcut way while we're experimenting here? Like just going directly from mic to computer?

I vote for "And I Love Her" in Fbm
It has more rhythmic dynamics than the other
I can decipher standard or tab

no preferance.......lemme know what tune......

Thanks - seriously - I'll check into it. Back shortly-ish.

Wonderful Tonight is another song I'd probably need transposed. It's in G Major, I'd be comfortable in either Bb Major or C Major.

I do usually sing it though, but I do harmonies in the chorus usually, and my guitarist sings the lead vocal. I'll give either song a go, in the original key if need be. My voice is just better suited to melodies in slightly higher ranges.

That being said, I guess since I've played Wonderful Tonight a lot, I'd rather play And I Love Her because it's something new.

Absolutely! For what we're doing you can certainly get away with a microphone from Radio Shack that plugs directly into the mic input of your soundcard. And hey, you never know, Tom Waits has made a career out of using inexpensive microphones (and other weird gear) with EXCELLENT results. Or the USB mic that ratbastid mentioned earlier if you want to spend just a little more.


My vote is for "And I Love Her;" even though I said I probably wouldn't do a cover I'm feeling myself pulled into it anyway. I've played "Wonderful Tonight" at so many parties in the past that I don't think I'd want to do it again.

Next time we can see about an original.

"And I Love Her" will be fine. I like "Wonderful Tonight", but let's save it for next go round with a cover.

I read both tab and written music. I'm a little handier with tab for guitar/bass, though. I can't quite sight-read standard notation on guitar.

And I Love Her it is.

I'm going to try to leave this open-ended, insofar as such a thing is possible.

Procedure: I will work up a guide track within the next day or two. I will also be charting out certain essential parts, mainly the rhythm section. The rest of it we'll put together as originally proscribed. I don't know how well that will work, so as a back up I may end up charting out the whole thing, but I'm willing to try it the less constraining way first.

Watch this space.

Guide tracks or charts for the rhythm section makes sense, but the rest should be left to the imagination and creativity of the contributor as much as possible. At least, that was the spirit of the original suggestion.

I have a habit of tweaking bass lines, but I'll stay in the pocket.

get the hell outta my pocket grump!!!!!



:D

Hey drummers, what are your recording possibilities? Can we get full drum tracks?

i have a full kit miced.........so yes that is a go too.



hey van........i'm using pro tools........it shouldn't be a problem dropping all or any tracks in my studio should it?


or when i flip tracks to whomever,it should all line up right?


just thinking out loud.

OK. This is something that we should clear up pretty quickly.

Since we're going to be using different systems it's going to be VERY important that we all use the same method for creating the files. WARNING: boring, but important, pedantic drivel coming up:

We can't rely on everybody's BPM to line up ... it only gets you in the neighborhood. Every computer and application calculates BPM differently; besides computers have terrible rhythm (and that's not just because they are robotic). Hopefully Martian will tell us the tempo of the song (ie., 105BPM). But my computer will calculate 105BPM differently than everyone elses. There are devices which sync up different hardware clocks, but that won't work in this situation.

So how do we make sure the parts line up? There are a couple of things we can do.

So let's say that the song is 4 minutes long but your part doesn't come in until 1:30 and only lasts a few bars; so you're out by 2:05. You don't want to have to listen to the entire 1:30 for every time you try to do your take so you set your start point to a few seconds before that and then perform the part and then you hit stop and you're done. The resulting file is obviously shorter than the whole song and if you send that file it's going to be next to impossible for the mix guys to line up.

So, instead you go through the steps above but EXPORT the file for the length of the song. This means you end up with a file that has 1:30 of silence at the beginning and 1:55 of silence at the end (I think my math is right). This should be no problem to line up because it should be the same length as the entire song. The mix guy drops it into his DAW and boom! it should sound perfect, right? Not so fast there. We're going to be using MP3s for the initial sessions.

Some apps (SoundForge being most notorious) insert a second of silence before an MP3 render ... I don't know why. Different MP3 encoders do different things to the file so we can't really rely on that in the beginning.

So, in addition to the full-length file mandate, Martian gives us a four-click count-in at the beginning of the guide track and the mix guys can use that as an audio/visual cue to line up the various files that will be pouring in. You just copy/paste the four-click count-in to the beginning of your part so that the two line up.

When we make the switch to .WAV for the final mix, we won't have the same problems. But we should still submit the four-click count-in as well as the entire length of the song for each part. If we could use Broadcast Waves it would be even simpler, but the stable version of Audacity doesn't support it.

But, Doug, you say, if I have over two minutes of silence in my part that means I'm going to be taking up valuable server space for nothing. Isn't this just a waste of resources? I'm glad you asked. There is a free LOSSLESS audio codec called FLAC (which stands for: Free Lossless Audio Codec :) and can be found at FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec) that strips out the silence for file transfer and then can re-insert it at the destination (UNFLAC). OK, that's an oversimplification, but you get the point. If you decide to use it I would be very, very grateful. It's not a dealbreaker though; FLAC can be intimidating in much the same way early MP3 encoders were. We only need to worry about FLAC when we switch to WAVs though.

I'm sure I've missed something, and probably raised more questions than answered, but we'll get there. It's not too difficult.

1. Render/Export/Save the ENTIRE length of the song regardless of whether your part lasts that long.
2. Copy/Paste/Lineup the four-click count-in for each part.

BTW, for those of you who don't have FTP clients (or don't want to) I have set up a rudimentary Web based PHP/FTP page. I'll PM the link to everyone shortly. I'm not sure how well it will work, but it works for me so far. I haven't tried to transfer a full size WAV though.

sweet..........kay i've tried to upload on van's site...........works like a freakin' charm.


let's get this goin' Martian..........


and van...........BIG appreciation for the domain too buddy..........thank you kindly.

Probably. For this "concept" I'll cheat and use my e-drums with Addictive Drums as a soft-synth, so it should be possible to split the output to individual tracks.

The Beatles song has mostly percussion, so I can contribute with separate tracks for each of the instruments I have available (Record real instruments when dealing with percussion)

Fly: I downloaded your test track. Turned the volume up quite a bit during the count in - then nearly filled my boxers to the brim :) What is THAT sound? (blowing trough corrugated electrical pvc pipes?)

*no need to thread jack*

Well, now I can't take Fly's test drums down since everyone will want to hear the shriek. I thought I recognized it fairly early on. I have a 7-year-old daughter who can sound like that on command.

Besides it's good practice to take a raw drum track and play something with it.

sweet.............have at 'er man.:thumbsup:




and how do i hear them like freeload did?..............hhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

No comment:rolleyes: I have a batch of kids so I should recognized it immediately:o. I'll blame my crappy laptop speakers and The Element Of Surprise(TM).

Yep - keep the track, it's nice to play to. *runs of to sample the TwinsOfDestruction*

by all means van and free.play with it yourselves but,let's keep this thread as it was originally intended.

no intention of using that beat.....i just wanted to see if my sorry ass could pull off sending tracks to van.


let's carry on with the Beatles.


this is gonna be fun.....wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooo




actually van........could you pull the track off man........didn't mean to step on any toes eh.

I have removed it.

thank you kindly sir.




Martian....ohhhh Martian....................

hell, count me in. ill stop and get something to link my amp to my pc with asap.

i play guitar like a drunken amputee with cerebral palsy and i rip one mean butt-trumpet

maybe ill break out the old casio and rock the keyboard.

I know everyone is busy, especially with the holidays coming up. But are we making any progress on this thing?
I'm on the brink of a fairly time consuming band project. We want a new CD ready for spring release. I want to make a quality contribution here as well.
Just getting antsy, is all.

Marrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn............

Earth to Martian ... come in Martian ...

Apologies to everyone for the absence. As so often happens, Real Life got in the way. I have had a few Situations crop up over the past week that have severely limited my free time.

Progress is being made, even if I'm the only one who knows it right now. I have the guide track almost completed; it is quite minimalistic, as a guide track should be, and consists of a rhythm guitar and a bass part recorded to my metronome. It's on my 4 track right now, so I need to upload it to my computer, add a click track and put it all together.

I am making an Executive Decision regarding certain essential parts, pertaining chiefly to the rhythm section. Because these parts are key to the success of the project, they will be assigned, rather than simply left up for grabs. Fly will be handling drums, grumpyolddude will be on bass and ratbastid will take rhythm guitar. I will take the first lead part (the main riff, which is repeated throughout the song). Obviously, little_tippler will be on lead vocals.

If any of the above named individuals have a problem with their assigned part, let me know. ratbastid in particular, if you're not comfortable with the rhythm guitar, I can switch parts with you or find another volunteer for that.

The song is in the key of E minor, at a tempo of 105 bpm. This is slightly slower than the original, but not substantially so. As per the original, at the solo the song's key shifts up one semitone, to F. If anyone wants to tackle the solo, it's compositionally pretty simple. I can send a chord progression, tab or standard notation to any individual so states such a desire. It need not be done on guitar.

Unfortunately I will likely be unavailable this weekend, because it's Magpie's birthday tomorrow. I will attempt to get the guide track assembled and up tonight before I go to bed, but frankly I don't know if I have the energy. It may have to wait until Monday.

As is usually the case, my ambitions have been kneecapped by reality. Such is the life of a dreamer.

Happy birthday to Magpie! Take good care of her.

105bpm, Em, modulate the solo... check, check and check, chief!

hey...if there are other skin bashers out there.........let's hear from you.........


i can always sit out a turn..........speak up drummer peeps........





(i'm kinda waiting for the *original* TFP tune to happen.........):D



*heads off to write some TFP lyrics for the future*

I'm really glad we're really giving this a shot! I am pretty busy myself but I'll be making my best possible effort...I hope to not disappoint! :)

New status update. Last night I realized that I had no practical way to record my metronome. My mic wasn't picking it up properly and I couldn't seem to get it to work out. Frustrated, I went to bed. This morning, I ran across the simple expedient of running a patch cord from my keyboard directly into my 4 track and thereby being able to use my keyboard's built-in digital metronome. In my excitement at this new thought, I recorded over the rhythm guitar track, which just goes to show that I shouldn't work on this stuff early in the morning.

I will now be making myself a tea. Once that's done I will be sitting down to re-record the rhythm guitar part, and then uploading and mixing the guide track so that we can finally get started. Expect a new thread to appear today, hopefully early this afternoon.

grumpyolddude and ratbastid: I have your parts written out in both tab and standard notation. I did this purely for my own reference, but since I went to the trouble anyway, if you want them they're yours. Give me an email address and I will send you the pdf's. These are by no means to be strictly followed. Feel free to be creative.

Everyone else: sit tight. Progress is being made. We're hours away from getting started on the first ever Tilted Collaboration.

EDIT - A quick correction. Upon reading the replies here, I notice that I mentioned earlier that the song is at 105 bpm. This is a typographical error. The guide track has been recorded at 110 bpm. This is as opposed to approximately 120 bpm for the original. So again, slower but not substantially so.

Also, since Fly has indicated that he's not overly interested, are any of our other drummers going to jump in on that? This is an essential part, I need someone covering it.

*waits patiently*

If you want you can put the PDFs up in the appropriate instrument section of the FTP site.

great idea van.........

I'm sittin'...just wondering what my own recording troubles will be heh.

Martian dude........i'll have a go at it but,if there are others interested then let's get them rolling too.......

Part of my problem with getting this together is that I underestimated how much work it would be. To make a guide track, I've had to first transpose the entire piece, and then basically learn all of it. This morning and recording over the rhythm guitar was just icing on the cake.

I'm currently trying to sort out why I'm unable to connect to Vanblah's ftp. As soon as I figure that part out, we're good to go.

If you need help with the upload Martian let me know - you could always email it to me and I'll put it on there.

same here bro..........kick it over and i'll toss it up.

you using the right password and such?

No worries, it looks like it's sorted now. Just a minor configuration problem on my side.

Let's do this.

cool.....i have your guide track and tab.........gonna mess with the bass a bit to warm up,then i'll have a go at the drums........unless any other drummer would like to give it a go......


we're off Martian dude............



and Martian bro.........not that i'm un-interested but........really busy with the two projects as well,so gonna try and split some time up man.





ready.




GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No worries my man. If I had another drummer I could tap I'd tell you to go ahead and sit this one out. As it is I'm kinda counting on you for that, but for the mixing and everything else we're cool. Your own stuff comes first.

Next one's gonna be more fun anyway. That's when we'll start working on original material.

Got the sheet music pdf. I can't download the guide track from work.
If I don't get a bass track up by tomorrow night, you probably won't see (or hear) one until Monday. Damned holidays are time eaters... but fun, still.

no worries bro.........i'll step up....but i'm gonna let grump drop a bass line first,been trying to dial in the guide in the studio already,and i'm needing the bass line to help out.

(i hate click tracks).........it'll all work,i'll keep messing with it today.

No worries.

You guys can take your time. We couldn't go anywhere with this until I put the guide track together, so for that fast trumped pretty. I spent about two hours learning both parts. I used the first complete take on the bass, even though I had a couple of buzzes in there. The rhythm guitar was technically the fourth or fifth take, because I'm an idiot and deleted the first ones. I mixed the whole thing in about fifteen minutes, and the bulk of that was spent splicing the two rhythm guitar takes together after I completely butchered the key change first time 'round.

Point is, I expect what you guys to put up to be a lot prettier than the guide. That's why it's a guide and not the final take. :p For that matter, when I do the lead I plan on spending a lot more time getting everything just right.

So yeah, take your time. Monday will be fine. I'm not expecting to have a finished product for this until mid to late January. Do what you gotta do.

I apologize for not starting my posts with "no worries." I'll try to be better in the future.

kay..............i figure i have a drum sound dialed.........throw a sheet on the skins and i use my fingertips.........kinda sounds old school.......so we'll see.

Martian,

Any chance you could render another take with just a 4 or 8 count in the beginning and eliminate the click track for the rest of the song?

Just a quick thought to help Fly get away from the humilitron (what I call metronomes ... as opposed to Metro Gnomes). A humilitron can also be a vocal take that is soloed ... the last producer I worked with loved to do that. I'd come out of the vocal booth all nervous and queasy because you feel like you're under a microscope (which you are) and there he'd be sitting listening to just my vocal take without any supporting music; running me through the humilitron. Yikes.

No matter how tight you are as a musician the metronome/click track/humilitron will always come along and remind you that you ain't so tight.

I had originally posted the click track idea only to help get the beginning of the song lined up. Ultimately, the various takes will need to line up with the rhythm section so we should only need a count off in the beginning.

Doug

you know what i do when i record my own stuff..........i slap down a real basic drum beat......no cymbal crashes and shit.just boom/ta/boom/ta........monotonous yes.......but much easier to drum,guitar,bass too.........just a thought.


i can dial a beat in off the drum machine and send it to you Martian if you don't have any other means than a click......

i'll work the click but........i'd like a bass line too,to guide me........better feel that way


110right?


and again...just a thought.

"Humilitron"... I've known its sting, but not its name... until now.

hey i got a name.


Toilet Fucking Paper.............


TFP...................no?

Done. It's technically a six and a half count since there's a beat and a half lead-in (not heard, it's in the as-yet unrecorded lead guitar part), but who's counting?

I am not a drummer. I'm so used to working off the click, I hardly even notice it anymore. It's served it's purpose.

110 is indeed the tempo.

As for a name, Grumps up there has me thinking No Worries.