Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Creation >

Barbelith Wandering Song/Album

Page: 1(2)3 4 5

01:25 / 03.12.04

Mellotron?

Phex: Dorset Doom

20:15 / 04.12.04

I don't have it yet, but I could have it soon.

10:01 / 06.12.04

Are you still looking for new people? If so, can I offer more live sounds? At my disposal I have a harp, vocals + other assorted instruments (piano, violin, flute, autoharp). I can't play all of those particularly well, (those in brackets are there for different types of sound material really) but some interesting stuff could be recorded + processed.

17:45 / 07.12.04

The more the merrier!
So that means the participant list now (in this order) is:
lekvar
grant
TeN
Phex
at the scarwash
telyn

lekvar - what's the status on this? i'm gettin anxious man! if you're still having problems and think it might be a while still, pass your turn onto grant, and you can when you're ready.

06:32 / 08.12.04

I'd possibly be interested, though Audacity is a bit ropey under my OSX install. So I might just give you a wav file.

OK, I am interested. That said, time constraints can sometimes be a problem. I've been doing a similar project with a friend and when we're in "work" mode, it can take ages to get around to responding because a) you've got more to listen to and b) it gets harder as the thing goes on to work out what to do.

Trust me.

Also, you have to set ground rules as to what people are allowed to modify. Usually, the easiest thing to say is that any modification is fine, but you're never allowed to delete stuff - if you want rid of something, mute the track. Someone else might find a way to work it in.

And don't get too precious about your own parts, because I guarantee the next person will mangle them and probably rearrange the entire piece... the thing I'm currently playing tennis with started as sixteen bars sent to me to work with, and it's already had two majoy restructures and a lot of mangling in, oh, four vollies.

21:53 / 08.12.04

Paleface - I really like your muting idea... I think that's the best way to go about it, as it allows everyone to have complete creative control, and at the same time, no one has to risk having their part massacred (although, as you said, Paleface, no one should be too uptight about having their work modified... it's part of the fun afterall). I already suggested "includ[ing] on each cdr an mp3 mixdown of all the previous versions," but inspired by paleface's suggestion, I think we should also keep all tracks, unedited, as part of the audacity file, in case anyone wants to use them as source material (we are doing this via cdrs through the snail mail, so size isn't really an issue). When you want to edit someone else's track, you can, as Paleface, simply make a copy to edit, and mute the original... if someone objects to to your edit, they can choose to use the original version in their own mixdown*.

Also, reading over all of the posts, I think the rules are getting a little bit too complicated not to have a central list of rules... so I think tomorrow/friday/this weekend (I have a ton of work ahead of me) I'm going to write up a rough draft of rules/guidlines/tutorial/whatever and host it on freewebs or something. If anyone who has an actual site, instead of an el-cheapo one like me, and would be willing to host this, that would be great. (other things that would go on the site: updatable participants list [because editing post in barbelith is sloooow... no offense to the mods], mp3s of all the finished songs, and coverart)

*as recomended by lekvar: "I envision that once a tune reaches a certain number of tracks everybody who contributed will receive a copy so they can mix down a version for themselves. Two reasons fore this- one, I think comparing mixes at the end of this that could be as much fun as recording. That's where you'd be cutting and pasting. Two, I think that each contributor's original track(s) should make it to the end in a clean state. I know I would be upset if my tracks were diced too early. That being said, I think that all's fair in love and the final mix."

13:10 / 09.12.04

One thing with the muting rule: also, if someone else has turned something off in the previous mix, you are not just allowed to turn it back on. Justify it's place in the mix! Do something with it - after all, they cut it out for a reason.

The thing I'm currently collaborating on is best described as "Reason Tennis" - it's like Photoshop Tennis but with Reason.

Because we're not using own samples yet - just lots and lots of editing of factory samples, or new patches on the synths, not to mention tons of effects - the filesizes come in really small. We're talking under 100k for a fairly complex rack and a six minute piece of music. Hence why we're doing it via email.

Entirely see why the whole CDR thing is necessary though...

Anyhow, you need ground rules, but as TeN points out: not too rigorous. Just enough to ensure that no-one gets left out, and that everyone is forced to be that little bit creative!

13:14 / 09.12.04

One other thing: I think limiting yourself to audio software gets difficult.

You see, a lot of these things are about arrangement - we're not talking about processing a track here, muting it there - often, entire rejiggery is necessary. The linear format of, say, sixteen four-minute wav files sometimes gets in the way.

I personally think that as long as at the end of each person's turn, their final output is rendered to wav files, then all's fair. But what you do in the middle shouldn't be limited by the fact people wish to distribute wavs.

Again, this is another reason why Reason is a really nice thing to do this in - you can pack your own wavs into Refills, and yet it's still based around a sequencer and a rack, so the song is very malleable immediately.

18:05 / 09.12.04

I'm going to write up a rough draft of rules/guidlines/tutorial/whatever and host it on freewebs or something. If anyone who has an actual site, instead of an el-cheapo one like me, and would be willing to host this, that would be great.

Use the wiki! That's what it's there for!

18:27 / 09.12.04

I can do that?

and how exactly do I go about doing that?

23:23 / 09.12.04

oh, and lekvar - if you're still having problems, i'd volunteer to start this off. I'll more than likely do something experimental and improvisational (that could be easy to build upon, or hard, depending on how you look at it, and what kind of music you're comfortable with). I was just fooling around with two acoustic guitars (one of them somewhat in tune and in good shape, and the other one completely out of tune, with loose strings, and missing one string) and having a really good time seeing what kinds of strange sounds I could produce from them (I suceeded in turning my good guitar into a percussion instrument, and managed to produce some creepy, squeeking ambience by scratching up and down the loose strings on my broken guitar with a very shaky hand)... next time I'll be sure to record the results. needless to say, it's gotten me pumped.

so, if you feel you won't be able to get this finished any time soon, just PM me and I'll gladly get the ball rolling.

01:04 / 10.12.04

TeN, if I can't get something done by Sunday you're welcome to do your thing. I'll keep you posted.

07:46 / 12.12.04

It.
Has.
Begun.

Working title: Libertine
Tracks so far: Bass, acoustic banjo, electric banjo.
Quality: amature at best.

It's in your hands now, my Red Hot Lonely Loners.
Do your worst.

14:39 / 12.12.04

awesome!
you sent this to grant and everything?
oh man, I can't wait till it gets to me.

22:02 / 13.12.04

Ok, could someome summarize what I'm supposed to do with it now? I kind of lost track of the rival systems being discussed....

00:00 / 14.12.04

basically, just add tracks to it, and if you want to change pre-existing tracks, make copies of them to change and mute the originals... unless lekvar objects to this... you might want to ask as the issue is under debate.

00:15 / 14.12.04

No objections here. I put down three tracks so everybody could see where I was going with the arrangement, not so I could showboat.
I don't kow what OS you're using, but I ended up doing my recording in the Acid Music Studio 30-day demo and importing the results into Audacity.
There's a decent list of other demos, shareware, and freeware at hitsquad.com.

16:51 / 21.12.04

I still haven't received a CD yet....

18:03 / 21.12.04

pm or email lekvar

20:31 / 28.12.04

so what's the status of this?
grant or lekvar - give us an update, please

Phex: Dorset Doom

16:39 / 29.12.04

Hey hey hey - there's an article on online collaboration in this month's 'Computer Music' magazine. It suggests Instant Messaging, a program called XDrive seems pretty interesting for collaborating, and would definitely work quicker than snail-mailing. Give it a look.

19:08 / 30.12.04

lekvar's apparently having burner trouble, and is putting files on an ftp site for me to get at 'em.

02:47 / 31.12.04

sounds good

11:24 / 11.01.05

I now have a CD and am trying to figure out how audacity works on this mac I'm using.

18:43 / 11.01.05

What I did, and it sounds like others are planning on doing is:

Export a WAV, AIFF, or MP3 out of Audacity

Import the file into the program you're comfortable with

Get down with your bad self

Export your track(s) from the program you've chosen as WAV, AIFF, or MP3

Import the file(s) into Audacity and fiddle it into place

Use the "Save As..." option
(this will render the imported file into Audacity-native audio track information rather than referencing an external file. This seems make for smaller file sizes and allows for exportability to other computers)

Burn to CD and send to the next participant.

23:07 / 14.01.05

Hey lekvar -- did you record with a click track? If so, what's the BPM?

19:54 / 17.01.05

I've abanoned (for now) thoughts of using the accordion, and am instead trying to write lyrics.

Pray for me.

19:18 / 18.01.05

Awwwwwww... I've been waiting to find an accordian player for so long...
Ah well. Your lyrics (what I've read of them) are excellent. Very little praying needed, I suspect.

16:07 / 19.01.05

Pirates and ninjas found their way in. There may be an accordion in the final verse anyway. Avast!

02:12 / 24.01.05

OK, I may have cheated. I recorded a double tracked vocal and an accordion track.

Think of the vocal as a rough guideline -- I'm also sticking on a text file (.rtf) of the lyrics for someone who can really sing.

As well as regular aup files, I stuck in .wavs of the three tracks i made, in a folder inside my "libertine-grant" folder named "rawtrax." (The final mixdown is out in the main folder.) The .wavs, conveniently, start at the beginning of the song and end at the end -- no fiddling into place necessary. There are effects on the vocals in the song (two kinds of delay, native to Garageband, which I used to record them) but the wavs I included are clean versions of the same tracks. The accordion has a volume fade down and fade back up in it, which I left because that's the way I am.

Now all I need is TeN's address....

Phex: Dorset Doom

10:25 / 24.01.05

Pirates *AND* Ninjas!?! Well, I'll let this bipartisianism slide for the moment...
Could you post the lyrics up here so we can all check them out?

15:08 / 25.01.05

Hmm. I'll have to see if I can find them on my home computer. I can't remember them correctly, the CD is all packed up, addressed and ready to be mailed during lunch today, so I'm not gonna open it up to get the disk for that.

I remember midori and grenadine are in there, partially for the colors, and partially to rhyme with "libertine."

The first verse is astronauty, the second one is in a sushi bar, and the third is on The Wharf (where there happens to be a brigantine, ripe for boarding). I honestly tried to make it a glam song, but failed in what I really hope was an interesting way.

-------

Here's the wiki space for the rules of the project. Might be good to track it there.

To use the wiki, just go to that page, and if you want to add something, click the tab labeled "edit" up at the top of the page. To create a new page, just make a link like this [[New Page]], or to link to a website, just [[http://www.doitlikethis.com do it like this]]. Getting section headings and all that is pretty self-explanatory once you start editing.

Oh, and the first time you try to edit a page, it'll ask you to log in -- use your Barbelith name and password. It'll try to send you to the Main Page. You can either go there and navigate your way back to where you started, or else just hit the "back" button twice.

18:36 / 25.01.05

grant - thanks for posting that wiki. I made a rough version a while ago but forgot to post it. yours is much better though. I can't wait to get your cd!

16:41 / 01.02.05

Is it there yet? Is it there yet?

00:18 / 02.02.05

not yet... but then again, didn't check the mail today.
i'll inform everyone of its arrival, on its arrival.

Page: 1(2)3 4 5