Let's collaborate - write & record together, only separately!
 

Okay, so I enjoy writing and recording songs. Obviously, many of you do as well. Because we have the skill sets and creativity to do so, let's get an album going by creating, recording, and finishing songs together.

This is my hypothesis:

If we can share a song's production between participants, we can assemble an album of cooperative songs created by all of us.

It could begin as a basic drum track, with verse, chorus, verse etc and that could be uploaded somewhere, the link to which posted here on MB so that anyone can listen. The file could be critiqued or otherwise given constructive feedback or simply download, added to, and reposted in similar fashion for the next user to take a listen and perhaps find inspiration for their own addition to the file.

Interested?

EDIT:

1. Either upload an original .wav song or beat (SEE STEP 2 TO KNOW HOW TO NAME FILE) OR add to a posted linked file. If a new post, It must be something original, to which another user can add his/her own original stuff. You can upload to any online file host, such as Mediafire.com. Just be sure you can post the link to the file here on MB.

2. Post the link to the beat here on MB and title it as follows: If it is the first "string" of a song, that is, an original beat or song, name it and indicate what instrumentation is on the track, separated by hyphens. For example, if your profile name is Beethoven and you upload a song you call "Opus" and you sang it with your acoustic guitar, name it "Beethoven-Opus-vocals-accousticguitar."

3. If you are adding your own stuff to an existing file, be sure to retain the original song name and simply add your profile name and what you have done to the track. For example, if your profile name is LedHead, and you took "Opus" and added a drum track, save it as "Beethoven-Opus-vocals-acousticguitar-LeadHead-drums."

4. Tracks can be considered complete at any given time, but let's try to reach an agreement that it is complete. If your profile name is "Guru" and you've just added bass and and the track just seems perfect, upload it and put the link on MB and title it "Possible Final-___-Guru-bass." For this example, it would be called "Possible Final-Beethoven-Opus-vocals-LedHead-drums-Guru-bass." Let any debating come naturally and let's work together on final touches if any are thought necessary.

5. When there is a general agreement that the song is complete, remove "Possible" from the track name. In this example, the final would be "Final-Beethoven-Opus-vocals-LedHead-drums-Guru-bass."

Just remember, whoever wrote the song legally has copywrite ownership of the lyrics and any composition he/she had attached to it, and I presume that individuals adding to the work are adding their own "composition" and therefore also gain ownership in the song. In other words, don't pawn these off as your own. This is a collaberation for the fun of it. If anyone wants to shine more light on copyright issues, feel free to voice them.

If we get to the point where we have enough songs to assemble an album, we'll work out more details at that point.

nice idea, i'm not sure if it will work but why not give it a try.
also what about instead of only sending the file to one person and following a sort of line, what about just leaving it up so that anyone can potentially add their bit, this way you will end up with more than one track from the original beat/sample/whatever. just a suggestion. :-)

That's perfect, that way there are variations that could conceivably be mixed together or ???? The results could be limitless.

Not sure about the logistics however...how to plant the seed?

I would love to be part of this! I'm a vocalist that pretends to play guitar. Youtube username is lamp118 if you want to hear some stuff. I've been doing this with a few bands over the years... where I record vocals to their instrumental tracks. My brother is an amazing pianist also and would probably be interested.

Very good. Now to start I presume we should find some drummers to lay down a track, or even just acidized loops in some recognizable format, i.e. verse bridge chorus verse etc. ? Doesn't have to be done RIGHT NOW, but if anyone comes up with a good track or tracks they could email it out to a handful of us...

We would have to keep the shared files in a manageable format... .wav seams to be universal.

Lovely shared song concept
 

Hi, Cavanherk, Kool Dude HaMer, and Brykupono,
I love your shared song creation concept, and I'd also very much like to be involved, except as a new songwriter/musician/singer (except an old violin player...maybe that might be useful!) I am not sure how much I'd feel I have to contribute right now as I work on improving my skills. However, I very much support you all and the teamwork it takes to try to organize this.

I am thinking what options you might have for posting files. Could you create a MySpace page or Youtube page or AcidPlanet page with a password that those involved share? Perhaps people could contact Cavanherk to get the password, so that they could upload music? The downside is that if there were anyone who wanted to be destructive, that person might wipe out the whole page. MySpace has a limit of 10 songs that can be posted at a time, I think, which is another issue with this possibility.

Brykupono, I listened to "Saving all my Somedays" on youtube. You have a beautiful, honest voice. The song is heartfelt and emotional...very sweet and caring, with a lovely sentiment...and your guitar playing was also nice (definitely more than pretending)! :)

One issue that will be interesting to resolve is whether you can agree on the style of song, or whether that matters. For example, if one person likes trance and the other likes country, will you end up with a country trance song, and will that be part of the fun of it, or will you try to coordinate and agree in advance what sort of song you want to make?

--Erica

Well, I'm not sure how I will be able to contribute yet myself. Although I don't doubt my raw talent, I certainly know the limit of my very limited actual skills;). I still would like to contribute any way which is suitable, if it is just through suggestions, or as a musician.

As regards to a myspace song limit, why not use Soundclick I don't think there is a limit as to the no of uploadable tracks, there might be issues with the bitrate of any uploaded tracks though.

As to the structure of the entire thing I think it is important to have at least some sort of plan as regards how and when the tracks are submitted, just a sort of frame as to prevent the whole thing from falling apart or running on infinitely. I had a few ideas how something like this could be structured, but none of them were really that concrete in my head. It might be an idea to have a look to an/other similar project/s, I'm sure there are plenty.

Also anybody involved should have a relatively clear understanding of what it is this will produce in the end, I mean I'm not sure if the aim of this thing is to make some really awesome music, for the people who take part to learn from it, or if it's simply a way to have a fun time on the internet. There is probably no reason why it shouldn't be all of those if not more though.

VEGANGELICA,

I think you're right on the spot with a Myspace or similar...I am tending to lean toward one owner of the page, to whom the file is emailed and from whom the file is then forwarded to the next participant. Each time it comes back, we can upload the most recent version, and when it's done it can be named and uploaded in its final stage.

As far as the style, I think it should be entirely up to whoever has the file at the time...that's the beauty of this notion. Creating an album together...individually.

Kool_Dude_HaMeR,

I'll have to check out soundclick, and I appreciate the referral. I don't think the bitrate of the site matters quite as much as the quality of file being actually shared. The site could simply be a place to upload the songs for listeners' review.

The shared files would have to be something higher and detailed, most reasonably .wav, and then the final song files could be burnt to disc or simply set up on the host page for free download.

I don't see us downloading mp3 versions of each succession to record over...too much sound would be lost in my opinion. Do you agree?

And I am sure this has all been done before in one way or another, so if anyone has input then throw it out here for us to chew on.

I say let's have someone throw down a beat and let's go from there!

Created a group for this purpose on Facebook -- search for "Online Recording Project"

.

I've done this before. I've done collaboration covers with people from YouTube (e.g. I played guitar/ piano, someone sung, someone played bass, and someone played drums.) We all recorded our bit of the song and then they sent them all to me and I put them together. It turned out really cool. If anyones here is interested in doing something I'd be up for it.

What instrumentation are we looking for?

I'd be down if someone wants to hit me ups. I write a lot of music and can do piano/guitar and if necessary I can do drums very poorly. I can also sing and write lyrics.

Guitar and piano? [=

Let's do it up.

I'm willing to participate. I can play the drums, the only problem is I can't record that well with them, but if anybody needs a drum part, I'll give it a try.

I recorded a bass line, if anybody wants to use it: Download
I just made it up a few minutes ago and I might try adding in drums. I am new at playing the bass, so if you wish to re-record it using your insane bass skills, heres a quick tab of it.

G --8-6------------------|
D --------33-3-345-5-5--|
A -----------------------|
E 6----------------------|

It also might be a good idea to consider the fact that I've never wrote a tab before until this point, so the tab might not be very accurate.

Instrumentation....I do like the idea of guitar and piano, over a drum beat and bass; hell, I think any instrumentation would be intriguing as long as each layer fits.

Am I correct in my assumption that we need a drum track first? If nothing else I can easily throw together some acidized loops in a familiar song structure. I have always enjoyed a decent synth drum loop, properly laid down.

I could email the file off to one of you bassists?

i got 2 answers from facebook, and both seem reliable. (obviously i'm in.)

Start the drum synth and we'll go from there/

Okay, so I'll get to a drum synth and let you know...problem is I'm remodelling a bathroom right now so it's sucking the life, energy, and time from me, so if anyone else has the time to throw one down go ahead.

I will keep it fairly simple, and I will save it in .wav format, and I will keep it under 5 minutes.

Sound fair?

In the meantime let's keep the ideas flowing!

I can make them up in my mind, but I'm not good enough with the staff to actually notate a drum part.

hey i'm making repitive guitar riffs how long should the first one be?

I honestly don't know how to answer that...

Once the file is ready for guitar riffs we could just throw it your way to insert them?

Wait for drums a bass first. Don't be silly.

hey which facebook group is it, the one with Xylophone pic, or the other?

can you post your lyrics?

Who?

Sorry, i got Bryan mixed up with Chad. uhmm... Chad's since he started this thread.

I didn't think of any for this particular project, I was going to see what the sound and vibe of the song became before worrying about lyrics...I figure after drums, rhythm and bass the lyrics will flow.

I can post some if wanted.

can someone send me the song i want to add something?

Sure - you want to add guitar riffs, right?

maybe a few other things, nothing major, i'd need to listen to it first.

What are you calling this music project?

Hmmm...

Music Banter Mosaic?

who has the song right now?

Mosaic For Larks

We have to create a drum beat track first. I have some saved, but might try to put another together just for this project...

i created a myspace for it.
(i'll send you the profile info)

Sweeeet

i'll give you 30 minutes to do whatever then i need to get it set up for a few things

Go ahead and do whatever...I'm stuck at work and don't have access to MySpace...it's blocked.