Kara-Moon Forum

Do you know that it is more then a year since we did a general collab song  ::)

This time, to exclude any excuse  ;D I did my homework in preparation

1. The complete arrangement is ready
2. It's a standard chord progression on which probably every one played allready
3. I need only solo parts

The chord progression is a standard 12 bar blues progression in A :
A-D-A-A7
D-D-A-A
E-D-A-E

Here you go, play your game, we need 5 parts on top of it  8)

AND no excuses this time  ;D

k
 

I'm on board.
As long as I get to sing a duet with James... O0

 :o
OK longhair.
Can I play bass, too?

 ;)
James

Last I heard, you were pretty handy with that bass... I say "go for it"  :-

OK, buddy .... I'm waiting for you to come up with a song structure ..... Yes... You ... Mr Canada  ::)

 ;)
James

James,

I'll come up with a lyric line; we can go with Kara's basic song structure - you think?
Will you record a bass part to replace the synth bass and post it when you're ready?

A proposed title: "Growing Old With You"... :-* :D

A proposed verse: (attached)
"Another day has passed, my friend, Another sunset is going down,
And as my life goes on and on, And as the world keeps turning 'round
I feel you should know it is such a comfort, Just having you around."

(actually I was hoping to hear Kara and Azell sing a verse in French... :o)

Excelent Oren  8)

James, I can make version without the bass, but not this week , I'm in Belgium for the whole week, back home sunday evening...

Azell would probapbly sing a verse in French if I ask here nicely  ;D but believe you don't want to hear me sing  ::)

k

Beautiful start guys..I couldn't resist..

8)

Wyatt

Wyatt... you have a blue Strat? :D

Nice. Wanna be our guitar guy?

That was some cool guitar work  8)

k

..sometimes it has a blue aura.  :D


I'd love to, thanks.   :D


Thanks Kara..glad you like it..

I love what you and Oren did so far.

8)

Wyatt

 ???
Sorry I haven't gotten round to this yet....
our cable company had a major outage yesterday leaving thye whole town with no internet or tv or telephone for almost 24 hours.
I thought I'd gone deaf and blind  ::)

 ;)
James

 ????!!!!!!!!!!!    Oh, for a minute I thought you said deaf and bald...................... :D

Hello all Thought I'd throw my hat in the ring here. kara asked for solo parts but as there is kind of vocal thing going on thought I'd add some possible lyric's? I dont think I could match Oren's vibe but if he wanted to use them, here they are.

Another dusty highway - Pounding pavement dawn to dawn
Another blue plate special - a coal black coffee to wash it down
The only thing that keeps me move'n on - is knowing your around

Keep your picture in my wallet - just to keep me straight
I keep it to remind me - when the hours getting late
The only thing that gets me through - is growing old with you


Hope it's not to much Texas truck driver, but thats what I got?

Outstanding lyric action, developing the theme and incorporating the title. Schweet!

I'd like to hear at least one verse sung by you, Michael. Think it over.

James works with Reaper in windows, Wyatt works with Auditon in windows, Kara works with Audacity in Linux (I don't know what his Windows DAW is), and I work with Ardour in Linux. Each of us sets up a session, and we post our tracks here. For this purpose, MP3 is not suitable because there are timing discrepancies, so if you can work with Ogg Vorbis, MonkeysAudio, or FLAC, please do. This way, each of us has a complete set of tracks that we can mix to our own taste, and compare production styles.

Thanks for your contribution,

Oren.

 :D
Great to have another lyricist on board.
I'm up and ready to start this.
As soon as I have the 'bassless' version from Kara next week there'll be no holding me.
(http://bestsmileys.com/music1/7.gif)

 ;)
James

Excellent lyrics..

No such thing as too much Texas anything. ;)

Welcome aboard.


One good procedure can cure a dozen problems.   :D


All right..this sucker is rolling.  :o

8)

Wyatt

Kara, could we also have a BPM and an 8-beat click track intro, s'il vous plait?  (http://bestsmileys.com/music1/8.gif)

Ok here's a take of my verses. No compression or effects so you can do your thing with them.
Oh and it's a mono track.

Is there a prefered bit rate for posted files? Ogg is about the only format of the suggested ones that I've used before, so if anyone perfers something else I may need some direction.

Nice work on the vocal action, Michael!  :- I'll plug it into Ardour as soon as we get a BPM from Kara.

Ogg Vorbis level 6 (I think that works out to 192 Kbits/sec) does a nice job for exchanging tracks.

I have some thoughts on the project I'd like to throw out. You guy's can kick the tires and see how it feels.
I was listening to what we have so far and kind of felt like the verses I added don't really match Oren's so i came up with an additional verse that I think is a lot closer to the kind of vibe that was in the original vocal? (maybe not). But i thought the song structure could be like this 2 verses bridge 2 verses and possibly repeat the last two?

Another dusty highway - Pounding pavement dawn to dawn
Another blue plate special - a coal black coffee to wash it down
But the thing that keeps me move'n - is just knowing your around

Keep your picture in my wallet - just to keep me straight
I keep it to remind me - when the hours getting late
The only thing that gets me through  - the thought of growing old with you

Another day has passed, my friend, Another sunset is going down,
And as my life goes on and on, And as the world keeps turning 'round
I feel you should know it is such a comfort, Just having you around."

You know we've seen some hard times,and the good times wer'nt that great.
But you always stood beside me - when the extras had to wait
It took me all this time to realize - what a blind man could see
I've had an angel in my pocket - growing old with me.
 

My be a little less truck driver and a little more George Jones? Anybody got a pedal steel handy?
Does it seems like a complete song now?

Another option would be to take Oren's verse as the chours and repeat it twice and on the second pass change the last line to
"You know I find such comfort just growing old with you"

Let me know if I'm getting ahead of myself here or being to forward. I am excited about this as it's been a long time since I've worked with anyone or had people to bounce ideas off of. I've got pretty thick skin so dont hold back.
Thanks guy's 
 

Enthusiasm is never out of style around here, Michael... ;)

I like what you've done. Let's wait for further lyrical additions from any late-comers, then paste it all together and call it "patchwork" blues.
   Beautiful - a new genre :- (and who's going to argue... the style is original to us 8))
I can do pedal steel if it will add to the vibe....

(my Linux computer just had a hard-drive meltdown, so I need a couple of days to re-group)

Cool this is getting started 8)

Let's fix the song structure as proposed.
Verse 12 bars
Verse 12 bars
Chorus (bridge)
Verse 12 bars
Verse 12 bars
Repeat verse 12 bars

is this ok ?

What about the chorus, how long ? 8 or 12 bars, same chords or should we change the key ?  to what ? Suggestions?

As soon as we agree on this, I'll lay down the musical track. Since we have a lot of musicians here, I propose I put down only drums and piano which lets room for others, ok ?

And welcome aboard Michael 8)

k

Lovely!! Drums and piano would supply structure for the rest of us...

For the chorus/bridge, how about 8 bars, like this:
G-D-A-A
G-D-A-A
G-D-A-A
G-D-E-E
Weird, I know, but... :;

Kara,
welcome back from your trip.

Just post it up and we can work around it.

 ;)
James

I'm good with wherever you guys want to take this.

I have a couple guitar tracks I been sittin' on,
but I'd rather hear it all up with the vocals installed,
and respond to that.

You only get old once,

8)

Wyatt

Well, one thing for sure, it ain't funny to play keyboard without a bass line... I had to imagine the bass playing in my head at the same time of playing the keyboard  ::)

This will be the structure of the song :
Intro
Verse
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Verse
Chorus
Verse (closing)
End

BPM is 60 and there a litle count-in to syncronise your tracks.

It's all yours now  8)

k

Here is a shot of Ardour set up for 60bpm, Kara's drum/piano track loaded, and Michael's vocal track synced to fit. Now I can insert the real-time effects for each track, and edit the vocals to place them in their appropriate location.

Cool Oren, allways nice to see a Linux DAW in action  8)
You forgot to setup the markers of the sections  ;D

Well, I guess first thing we need now is a bass track, I think James will handle that  8)

k

There are markers?.......... Oh yeah, cool! Never thought of using them before... :D

I even use them Audacity :D

k

Hope to be on it later today.  ::)

 ;)
James

 ???
OK, I've set this up in Reaper to a 60bpm setting.
By the time it gets to about 1:30 it is getting away from the click so that by the end it is quite a way off.
Is this your 60 that is off, or mine?
I attach two screenshots. One of the full set-up and one of an expanded view of the end where you can see how the beats don't line up.

Other than that,  What is your chord structure for the 16 bar chorus sections?

 ;)
James

Hmm strange, I just had a look at the ogg file in audacity and I have a barlength of 4.006 sec, which means there is a deviation of 6 msecs per bar on the 60BPM, which means that by the end of the song we would have a deviation of 0,54 sec (90 bars x 0,006)
Doing the reverse caclulation my BPM would 60,36 BPM
So yes it looks like the internal clock of my Korg keyboard deviates a bit (around 5%).

The chords for the chorus, are the ones Oren proposed :
G-D-A-A
G-D-A-A
G-D-A-A
G-D-E-E

k

 :o
Thanks.
I'll reset my project to 60.36.   ;D

 ;)
James

 :D
Here we go.

Drop this in your project at 60.36 bpm (euro time  :D )
and see if it will work.
It's awkward without the vocal chorus to get the 'feel' of things.

 ;)
James

Thanks James  8)
Doesn't sound akward here, a good solid bass line with just that little touch of swing it needs.

I trust that Oren will handle the final mix, after all he's the audio master here  ;D

For those that need a working track, I made this quick mix, so that you have a working track to add your parts.

Who's next ,  ;D

k

Very impressive so far.

I needed to download Rony's quick mix to get a semse of it. Not sure if I can add anything. I don't know how modern synths can fit comfortably in a blues song.

I dropped this 'Kara' mix in, added Michael's verses, then put in a chorus and another verse, then added some guitar ....
all late night ramblings after a slight whisky  ::)

All just for fun, I must add  ;D

Who's next ?

 ;)
James

Way too tempting!!

I'll get something going on this asap..I'm on the run right now..should come in for a landing by morning.  :P :P

8)

Wyatt

Lovely bass action and "blues jam", James!
Likewise for the piano and drum action from Kara... :-

Because I like to slice and dice (edit) on occasion, I took the time to put Kara's track into PowerTracks Pro and measured a BPM of 59.95.
When I changed the BPM in Ardour to 59.95, the bars and beats lined up perfectly with the drums and piano... and with James' bass work. So now, if we want to get "surgical", I can cut and paste, or sample and loop, accurately.
Now, I'm happy... :D 8)

In the spirit of All just for fun, I made sure to have some fun with this last night.

No Beck's was wasted.   :D

8)

Wyatt

Smooth blues tone, Oklahoma!
Sounds like an old Gibson SG or Les Paul Junior... what did you actually use?
Give us a dedicated guitar track to work with, when the spirit moves.... :;

 :-[
I'm afraid I been playing with it again (All just for fun)

I been using FreeAmp3 for a while now, but recently discovered FreeAmp2.5 which is a phenominal beast, it must be said.

So I had a Southern Comfort, for a change, and gave in to these instincts.

All just for the fun of it.  ::)

 ;)
James

Thanks Oren..I put a lot of work into the tone..I used my Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster with a solid one piece maple neck; it's my only electric guitar. I used to have a Gibson Es-335, but it never inspired me like this puppy.


OK..if this one will serve, I'll serve it up in a few minutes.

It's great to have a resident magician..thanks Oren.  :D

8)

Wyatt

Very cool..always good to hear you havin fun..I'll have to check that FreeAmp out too. Lately I have been tweaking my magic boxes.


Hehe..I been sticking to Becks..got this shady spot to sit in my campchair and watch my garden grow and watch my dogs play.

Keep the old blues turnin' 'round, brother.

8)

Wyatt

Here is my $0.02 USD worth. As always I have overplayed everything.  If you want any of this just tell me where to send the individual parts.  As always feel free to use any, some or non of these quick and dirty guitar parts.

I have both a rhythm and lead guitar part available.  Pick and choose what you want.

Have fun - MarioD

 8)
Some great pickin' going on around here  :;

It always amazes me that, given the same piece to play over, so many different styles and interpretations can come out of it.
We need Oren, Neon, LagunaRising to join in .... and any others?

By the way, I got to give a mention of praise to that piano player.  Great work there, and the drummer .... well, I'm sure I've played bass with this guy many times before. Such a classic style. (http://bestsmileys.com/clapping/6.gif)

 ;)
James

This goes in the right direction  8)

Oren you keep this organized buddy  ;D

Back home on sunday evening ....

k

Attached is Wyatt's dedicated guitar track in Ogg Vorbis format so everybody can load a copy of it into their favourite workstation:
I'm hoping folks will each have their mix of this tune so we can compare production styles... O0

Righteous blue guitar, Mario... 8)

Would you be so kind as to post separate lead and rhythm guitar tracks here as Ogg Vorbis files so that the crew can download and install them in the mix?

Oren,

No drink tonight, so a clear head ..... :o

as you have been allocated mixmeister .....

What is the overall song format going to be?

So far we have 2 verses from MRT, 1verse and chorus from Oren.

This is what I put together in my 'JustForFun' sketches.

Is this how it will be, or are there other alternatives?

I think we need a firm structure, at this point, to move forward.

Once we have that structure, based on the piano/drums/bass theme, I will submit my own vocal and guitar lines.  If each of the other contributors submit their own versions of the same structure you can then 'chop and reform' to make the whole.

How does that grab you?

 ;)
James

James,
It sounds like the format laid out by Kara is about right, but perhaps with an extra two verses included to allow all the material to be included. Let me do a little editing and lengthen Kara's track by two verses, then post it here.
I'll  extend your bass track, too... don't worry, I'll be gentle... :D

lengthened layout, Kara and James

James' lengthened bass line... O0

I really like how things are moving along. I'll be looking forward to Oren's edit. Couple of thing's for discussion.
I've been playing the tracks here at 59.95bpm, and they seem to jell a little better?
I'm assuming that the edited tracks will resolve that question?

The verse"You know we've seen some hard times........." has been kind of picked up as the chorus. I've been pretty impressed with what people have done with it but it was conceived as an additional verse before the chord changes for the chorus were submitted. If someone submitted something that fit the progression a little better that might be cool?
 :)

Michael, to save further timing adjustments, I've just set up my Ardour session at 59.95bpm. Your vocals track nicely at this speed, as do the guitar and bass, because they were all recorded in time with Kara's original backing track. Any slice-and-dice I've tried also fits together accurately with the project set at 59.95, so how be we work with it at that speed? Any potential problems with this approach?

Good idea. I'll write a lyric that more closely fits the chorus/bridge, and we'll establish "You know we've seen some hard times..." as a verse, the way you intended. 8)

My apologies, for some reason I missed your last two replies. 59.95bpm is fine just wanted to make sure I was on the correct page with everyone. :)


 

Oren,
That 59.56 has fixed things  :D

So, just to check, we now have :
intro, v1, v2, ch1, v3, v4, v5, v6, ch2, v7 / outro.
Is this correct?

Do you intend coming up with the extra lyrics?
Have you got the extended version with just piano/drums so we can mix in the bass to taste?

 ;)
James

Thanx Oren.

Attached are the Ogg files, one here and the other on the next message. They will line up with the original length version.

As always feel free to use all, non or some of this.  If you want anything else feel free to ask.

The other Ogg file:

James,
Thanks for keeping us organized! ;) ...yer map is absolutely correct :-

Extra lyrics for the chorus/bridge are on their way - or at least an example to provide some clues as to how to proceed with that whacky chord structure.
The extended piano/drums track is attached... :-* :D
                    ....along with a screenshot of my slice-and-dice edit that rendered the extra two verses.

Here's how she looks, Bucko!

(if it's cool with you and Wyatt, I'd like to edit you both into the mix, trading off your best licks, sort of like Knopfler and Atkins... 8))

MarioD, thanks for posting the seperate tracks.

Is there a chance we could get seperate Drum and piano tracks?

Cool

8)

Wyatt

Of course it's ok  :;

It's a collaboration, right?

As I said feel free to use all, some or non of this.

PS- if you're going to put me with Wyatt I may want to practice up a whole lot.  HE'S GOOD  :- :-

Separate tracks - more mix control. I agree. When Kara returns on Sunday or Monday, let's see if we can talk him into it... :;

Michael,
Would you care to reveal which DAW you're using for this project? And maybe a few words about your computer and what accessory software you favor? Hmmm...?

Hello all: My pc
OS Name   Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version   5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Type   X86-based PC
Processor   x86 Family 15 Model 107 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~2599 Mhz
Total Physical Memory   2,048.00 MB
Sound card     M Audio Delta 44

Daw's (I'm a PC/Windows guy)
99% of everything I do is Energy XT 1.41
(I find it quick and easy and I tend to work with midi tracks)
I have Sonar 6 and will be using that for this collaboration as it has Superior mixing features.
(been with cakewalk since my first pc, came bundled with the soundblaster card)
Using Sound Forge 8 to do the og to wav conversions.

Favorite software
VB3 Hammond Organ emulation
OP-X Oberheim emulation
Kontakt / Garritan GPO and JBB, Steven Slate Drums
Yellowtools / Culture and Majestic
(pretty much a Vst/i junkie)

Favorite hardware
Like Wyatt I dig a maple neck Strat. ( I do not have one with a solid one piece neck )
Zoom GFX-8
Alesis QS7.1
Roland TD-3 (used set,picked up recently, my first set of drums in 30 years. Man drums have changed a lot!)
Last but not least My oldest and dearest friend, Just back from the shop getting the top repaired, a mid-late seventies Japanese Epiphone. As Pete Townshend said "Never sell your guitar or your pen".

Guess a guy will collect a lot of stuff given enough years!

I'd be intrested in something quicker to do the Ogg conversions?

I'm watching all of this with great interest, but will definitely be taking a back seat. There really is nothig I think I can add - I'm also desperately trying to get 'clockworks' completed before the end of the month ::)

folderol, I was hoping you would pop in. I'm hearing an organ to fill out the rhythm section?
That might be up your alley, if you've got the time?
 
Think countrified B3 or Wurlly version of your tune "Steady Eddie". :)

MRT,

I'm lucky that Reaper handles encoding both ways, in and out, to almost any file format.
I have used MediaMonkey
http://www.mediamonkey.com/ (http://www.mediamonkey.com/)
which is excellent so long as you set the preferences so as not to accept file associations, otherwise it can take over your music collections.

Otherwise I recently downloaded BoncEnc, which seems to be really quick and easy although I haven't used it much.
http://www.bonkenc.org/ (http://www.bonkenc.org/)

 ;)
James

 ??? ??? ???

I don't want to dampen the enthusiasm on this one, but I have a reservation !!
 :o
If it is just me, then forgive me and move on .... but,
I been messing around with this all day and, for some reason, cannot get that 16 bar section to work properly.
Then I stuck the project into Audacity and changed the tempo from 60 to 90 and that was it !!!

At 60 the 16 bar section seems stilted and is difficult to get any flow to it ... at 90 it just ROCKS.
It fits perfectly in with the flow of the rest of the project.   :-\

Any opinions .... or should I just go and slit my wrists now ?   ::)

 ;)
James

James,
Yup. At 90bpm the whole song takes on a different vibe :o, and that 16-bar section beginning with the G-chord flows better.

I'm mixing down some vocals that I recorded for the 16-bar G-chord section, clocked at 59.95bpm, and it's sounding cool.
However, if the tune is fundamentally flawed because of the slow tempo, speeding it up would be the remedy. This would result in a very different song, and require we all compose our tracks again.

Is that your suggestion, mi amigo?

Nice rig!
My XPpro computer has a Delta 66 card. Good combination.
Both my G&L "strats" have the maple neck (one with a rosewood fretboard), but the blank is sawn in half, lengthwise, then glued together around the tension rod - no "skunk stripe", but not really one piece, either.

 Audacity does all my file conversion in Linux, and I understand it does a good job in Windows, also.

The simple answer is do what is best for the song.

Personally I like it at 59.95, that is based on the original "short" version.  Are we talking two different songs here?  Should we not use the new version?  Should we revisit the new section?

Don't know, just asking.

ok guys k is back  ;D

I don' know if we have to speed up the song... since it definitly takes another direction at 90 BPM. IMHO 90 BPM takes it out of the blues area an more into the rock-blues area, like Cyber blues did....

Since I read your replys this morning when I got up, I was playing a bit with it (in my pyamas by the way  ::) ) and noticed something else.
I actualy used the proposed chord progression from Oren but used it in the wrong way  ::)
Oren suggested a 8 bar chorus and I interpreted it as a 16 bar progression !

Now if we use it as a 8 bar progression like this
G-D|A-A|
G-D|A-A|
G-D|A-A|
G-D|E-E|

it sounds completly different...
Try it out and let me know what you think.

Either way, we will have to rerecord our tracks.
So we better make a final decission

k
 

 ???
That is exactly what I was playing. If you were playing something other than that .... maybe that's how I couldn't get the thing to hang together?
 :o
James

I'm confused now...
I was pretty sure I played that chord progression as a 16 bar... every chord 1 bar long

 :-[
Yes .... sorry, my early morning bad ....  :-X


is the way it is.

apologies, maestro.
 ;)
James

Yes, that bridge/chorus chord progression was originally suggested as an 8-bar segment, but actually performed as a 16-bar segment in our song. I like to think of it as a happy accident.

My suggestion: Leave it "as is".
Kara, if you would be so kind, give us a separate drum track and piano track. I'm happy to lengthen them to include the extra two verses, after they are posted.
This way, all the vocal and instrumental material already submitted will still fit, and we can carry on performing/editing/mixing at 59.95bpm.

It ain't going to be your average blues tune - but to my mind "average" is over-rated... ;D

 8)


Fair enough .... just ignore my other comments, please.
Looking forward to getting this rolling again now that Kara is back.  ;D

 ;)
James

+1   :D 

8)

Wyatt

Yeah! I thought we might get derailed for a minute.

Oren, looking forward to your take on the chorus lyric. Been letting the track loop and frankly I'm pretty much without ideas on where I'd go with it. I don't think the chorus is your average blues progression.

Kara, any chance you could share the Intro and out progression your using on the piano part. I've been trying to duplicate it and cant seem to get it. I'm starting with D-G-A and ending with the A chord but cant seem to get the in between?

Thanks
MRT

James,

All of your comments are essential to the process - it is a collaboration, after all :)

Each of us throws out some ideas, lets the crew kick them around a bit, and then we take the direction that suits most of the participants.

Thanks for taking the time to suggest some alternatives... 8)

Oren.

Attached are two files:
       1. a bridge/chorus vocal I came up with, mixed with some backing track for context
       2. the bridge/chorus vocal unaccompanied, ready to load into your DAW. No effects.

The lyric:
You're my long-time confidant, there's nothing more I could want
There's no need to be forgiven, we're just learnin' about livin'
We try harder than anyone realizes, and then enjoy those pleasant surprises
I know sometimes I need consoling, still, the good times keep on rolling
Every morning we start over, then we're rolling in the clover
There's no time for retaliation, we're in this for the duration.

I know this is nothing new
But I can't seem to feel those tired old blues
Just knowing, that I'm growing, growing old with you - you know it's true.

OK , I'll rerecord the drums and piano separate this evening.
I'm planning to make some loops of the different parts in a way that they can be used/repeated in function of the song structure.

@oren : Good bridge, I'll need a dictionary to look up some of those words  ;D

@MRT : I'll write it out for you  8)

This is fun

k

 :D

I had some fun today with this.
I don't get much 'mic time' so I just made a one-take of the whole song. I also used the previous 8 line bridge lyrics as an extra verse by 'squeezing' the words in to fit  ::)

So this is a run-through of the whole.
Let me know if there is anything worth using and I can separate it out.

Interestingly, The whole thing rendered to OGG, and 160 MP3, at over the 8meg limit for uploading here.
I had to compress further to 128 mp3 so as to be able to post it  ???

 ;)
James

James,

Would you post the complete guitar track and the complete vocal track as separate files?
I'd like to include some of your guitar stuff with Wyatt's and Mario's, and edit some of your vocal action in there with Michael and me.

The reason the file you posted had to be scaled down to 128 Kbits/sec is that the song is so long - therefore a lot of digital information and a big file size at the higher bit-rates.
If you post the tracks as a FLAC file, they will be under 8 megabytes, I think ;) (because there is so much silence in a single vocal/instrument track). Failing that, an Ogg Vorbis file at 128 Kbits/sec will give us quite sufficient fidelity.
Shine on.... :;

ok first things first....

For MRT, the intro and outro writen out as score
First 2 bars : intro
Then 3 bars : outro

k

Next the piano track

To make things easy, I've played
2 bars intro
12 bars verse
16 bars chorus
12 bars verse
16 bars chorus
3 bar ending

Should be easy now to slice and dice in function of the song structure  8)

k

And the drumtrack
the drumtrack has the same structure as the piano track, buth each part has a different variation  8)

k

Oren,

here is the vocal and the guitar.

I've left the click at the start for lining up.
The vocal is 'as is',  the guitar has had the volume levels averaged out so you can chop it up to your best advantage.

As I said in my original post, this was a one-take vocal, so if you need anything doing over just let me know, my man  8)

I'm really enjoying this from the point of view of seeing how 'cross-platform' working can be achieved. The fact that we are all using different DAW's is a truly interesting aspect of the exercise, particularly as I personally have to do everything 'on the cheap'. A $60 DAW and a bunch of free plugs is my limit  ;D

 ;)
James

 ;D
and the other .....

 ;)
James

60$ is way to expensive  :o ;D
Ask Oren, Ardour is free and runs on Linux which is free with all Ladspa plugins who are .... free  :D

But you are right James, it is interesting  8)

k

 :o
$60 may be expensive in those terms ...... but at my stage of learning there is NO WAY I could afford the change over to a Linux system ......
after 6 years, or so, of self tutoring with Windoze I am still struggling to keep up  ::)

Please don't make me change now ..... when M$ finally does give out in a few years time I may find something a bit easier to change to  :-X

 ;)
James

Here is the drum track, edited to full length, with the count-in at the beginning. Editing proved to be a bit of a challenge, so I've posted the finished track to keep us all lined up... :D

...and the edited, full-length version piano track... with count-in... O0

Not to derail the conversation but isn't it amazing what you can do today for $60 bucks! I remember spending more that that on a used tape deck (6 inch reels) that could do sound on sound! Man I thought I had it going on. I would dream of being able to afford an 8 track deck and the endless possibilities.

Let alone being able to share tracks/ideas across the globe(Thank you Kara & Moon for that).
I guess it's a pretty good time to be a...........what ever we are? ;D

Kara, thanks for the pdf

Oren, excellent take on the lyric. Like your vocal recording a lot, couldn't help but think you sounded a lot like David Bromberg.

Michael,
Let's not saddle Dave with that questionable comparison... ;) He's got it going on!

Most of what passes for my "style" is a product of shear desperation - I just can't seem to do it any other way ::) :D

James,

Reaper has a reputation as being one of the most capable DAWs available at any price. And when I hear what you folks do with those free windows-platform plugins, I am constantly amazed.
I don't blame you for not wanting to tackle Linux - it can be a real brain twister.

I'm having some difficulty lining up your vocal and guitar tracks. The count-in clicks are not audible, and when I line up the beginning to fit, the ending is out of whack.
Was it recorded and played back at 59.95bpm? It is just some small glitch, because (other than for the normal MP3 timing issues) your "JamesMix2" fits very nicely.
What the...?..or are you just testing me... :D :-*

 ???
OK,
what I did was, in a hurry, copied the count-in from Kara's track and pasted it onto the front end of my two.
I didn't check, just posted, so something could have *%^&*ed it up.
I'll check later and resend.

 ;)
James

By the way, your bass track also synchronizes perfectly with the piano and drums. O0

Oren,

here they are again.

I've done it carefully this time and checked afterwards.
Both tracks have a 3 count click to line up with all other tracks in the project.
The clicks on the guitar track are 'a bit processed' but still clear enough.
Both tracks are exactly the same length.
Hope this helps.

 ;)
James

 8)
And the other

 ;)
James

 :o
and here is a screenshot of the story so far  ::)

 ;)
James

Lovely, James!
Loaded in to Ardour, sounding good :-
Now it's time to start mixing... :;

Hello all, I've whacked up the available tracks and added an organ part? Here is how I heard things.

Funny, but when I listen back to to the mp3 I thought the organ sounded more like Wrigley Field than Buddy Guy's.

I'll post the organ part if anyone is interested.

 

 ;D
Yes, please.

Post it up.

 ;)
James

:; I particularly like your vocal effects  8)

So, give us the organ track.... :)

Really like where this is going. Has a real night club atmosphere.

Damn! I can smell the smoke and stale beer ;D

Me too

k - Leaving tomorrow for Belgium....

Attached is the organ track no effects or volume changes. It should be ready to drop in and slice and dice.

The vocals were all treated the same, Xhip free compressor followed by vacuumsound ADT and Poor Plate. http://www.vacuumsound.de/plugins.html  (http://www.vacuumsound.de/plugins.html) I've been using ADT to kind of smooth things out.

I found it kind of intresting that I only put a little reverb on the vocals to try and put them all in the same space. The guitars all seemed, except for some volume adjustments, to be in the blues club already.
Everybody did a really nice job recording their parts.
I had planned on recording some backup vocals for the bridge/chorus, thought that might be cool on the second one but I seem to have lost my headphone output for monitoring.

Here is my "minimalist mix" with everything but the organ on board..
...mix with organ coming to you soon... O0

 :o
Hey Man .....  :o :o

What a stellar mix .....  :;

Listening to this I could almost see these guys sitting round on bar stools in the club  8) 8)

You done a really special job, so far, longhair.

 ;)
James

Try not to have too much fun, mon ami. Remember your age...  ;)

Hey..he's just a young feller..let him have some fun while he still can!  :D :D :D :D

8)

Wyatt

Thanks, James ;)
Here's one with the organ mixed, and a few adjustments to the other tracks.

Constructive criticism welcome  ;D

Oren,

Once again ..... fabulous  :;

My only criticism is that you missed off the final drum'n'bass 'thwack' right at the end.  :'(  I liked that bit  :-*

 ;)
James

Weird, I know!  I lost the thwack somewhere... ::)

Retrieval operations in progress. ;D

Nice to have a resident magician..lovely job.

8)

Wyatt

Thankyou, Oklahoma! ;)

Here she be, with thwack... and a few more adjustments  8)

Let me say that, along with the usual sparkling talent I'm used to working with in our collaborations, the contributions from Michael have  pushed our efforts to a new level of artistic sensibility and technical excellence. (Too bad about his hair... :o)

...and in mp3... :-

You can really smell the smoke in there  ;D

This song is hot  :-*
Nice to hear that our thwack is back, it makes the song  ::) ;D

k - in Belgium and remembering his age

This is probably the most impressive collaboration I have ever heard :; O0 :-

...actually, Kara, you don't look too bad for 40... ::)

 
... and now I'm hoping to hear some of the other mixes... how each participant mixed our material... and how each DAW handled the work...

....here is a screenshot of my finished mixdown in Ardour, with the Jack Audio Connection Kit.....

You certainly master Ardour Oren !


k - wishing that was true  :-\
 

I would love to make a mix of this, but as you know I'm away for 2 weeks due to professional reasons, I think I'll have to pass here ...  :(

K

Been following along, I'm with Oren, I'd like to hear how the rest of you hear this fitting together.
After listening to Oren's mix it made me go back and take another serious listen to my own.

I feel like I'm in Memphis when I listen to Oren's mix were I feel like mine is a little more Chicago.

I was kind of hoping for an Austin or Kansas City mix. 8) 

A BIG +1  :- :- :-

All I can add is

Yes..., or maybe Mussel Shoals  O0

 8)
Here is my mix.

There really is no way to top the original from Oren, so I just messed about with the instrumentation and the panning and generally tried to give it a bit more of a smokey club atmosphere. This was mostly done by some shrewd mangling of good old GlaceVerb.

 ;)
James

And here are a couple of shots of the mix.

One of my favourite features of Reaper is that you can split a track at any point and change the volume level by just pulling down the top edge of the track. It can even be done for a single note.
It makes the whole mixing thing so much easier than setting up automation envelopes (which is, in itself, a breeze in the DAW).

 ;)
James

It seems to me you also added some stylin' guitar action... thanks Longhair!

The more I see/hear of Reaper, the better I like it!  ( a lot like Ardour - just more hair... ::))

Submitting a mixdown of yourself and bunch of other musicians on a music enthusiasts website is a bit like pulling your pants down in front of the post office at noon on a Saturday. Harrowing... :o
This is a very challenging mix, James, and you have done a smashing job. Big, thick, detailed, and colourful.  :;

Another very interesting approach of the mix. You did give it the atmosphere you wanted.
Very cool

k

Yep. Definitely more smoke in this mix. I think they turned down the lights a bit too :)

 :o


 :-X Is this a national pastime in Canada? ........ makes me glad to be British  :-*

and, if this is a description of me :


you got the 'big' wrong .... I'm only 5'9" ...... the rest is OK  :-[

But, I enjoyed this project and am looking forward to some more mixes.  ;D

 ;)
James

 :D.................................................. :;

Hey James..

Finally I get to set down and give this some serious listens.

Beautiful mix.  You got skills, bro. First class.

8)

Wyatt

offthewall great job on the mix. I really like your assembly of the parts. It seems to give the whole thing more of a late night jam session feel.
I struggled with getting all the parts in and not having the parts walking all over each other. You've managed to get everything to jell and not lose the groove.

On a personnel level I would probably reduce the reverb on the vocal tracks. I think this stems from my early recording days when I would drench everything in reverb because my performance was so bad. 

 

[quote author=MRT link=topic=4969.msg28135#msg28135 date=1246446047
...On a personnel level I would probably reduce the reverb on the vocal tracks. I think this stems from my early recording days when I would drench everything in reverb because my performance was so bad... 
[/quote]

My thoughts exactly.
Then, I remember the live performances with beaucoup de players/singers in an informal situation - invariably the reverb on the P.A. was turned up way too high. (almost like reverb is some kind of drug for vocalists :D)
James' mix reminded me very much of that manic vibe, and it seemed to fit the occasion.
                    ______________________________________________________________________________

Michael, it seems I neglected to comment on your mix, so here goes...

You nailed the "small club" sound, very intimate - like the performers are grouped in a very tight little cluster on some tiny stage - the listener can almost hear the bleed-through of the instruments on the vocal mics.
You managed to blend some very different tonal values and dynamics into a cohesive whole... schmooth!O0

I submit for your approval my final mix of "Growing Old with You".  Honest.
After listening to the the other mixes I wanted to try and duplicate that kind of jam session feel. I don't think I succeeded at that very well. I made a lot of changes to my initial mix most of them are pretty subtle. Added stuff I was hearing in my head, not always a good idea to listen to the voices.

I'm not sure it's better, but it is a little different.

 Just like to add how much I've enjoyed being a part of this little effort.
Thanks all
MRT

You nailed it :;

This has all of the “late night after the gig jam” :;

Loved it  :- :-

I think this has the feel of a jam session :-

This is the third version of this song I have heard and I must say I like them all.  I glad I don’t have to pick a favorite because I think its a three way tie for first  :- :- :-

Great mix – loved it :;

True, another good version, same band playing in another club  :;
Interesting fx on some of those vox...

k

+1
That's a very good way to describe it!

MRT..

Interesting take on this..I like it.

Thanks for all your contributions to this.

8)

Wyatt

Michael,

For my taste, I prefer your first mix. More detail, more air. 8)
Not that I don't like your second effort, but the first one has a very individual flavor that gives it a distinct personality.
Comparing the three mixing styles has been a good learning experience - thanks to you and James for going the distance... O0

Oren.

I'd like to move this to the section "Collaboration Songs", now that we are basically through with it.

Comments?

I just wanted to let everyone involved know that I've been playing the various mixes for friends and family and I've been really surprised by the response. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised I knew there was a lot of talent here.

People really seem to like this song! Most seemed curious about doing something like this with people that you've never meet. When I've played the results I've been really surprised by the positive reactions. You all deserve a hearty slap on the back and an atta-boy.

Oren you are correct about my second mix, it was more about me satisfying my own demons. You know I would have had the pedal steel in there if I could have.

Great job everybody..y'all are amazing!

8)

Wyatt

Michael, Wyatt,

We are in good company here. Nice going.

ok no prob.

k

Yes much better place for it! (http://bestsmileys.com/cheering/1.gif)

I think I made a wrong manipulation  >:(
I was saying that this is also very good

Moments heureux ... pour nous tous! O0