ImpossiblePrincess and Pixnstrings and I have been discussing (off and on) collaborating on songs. I know that several of you females are participating in the songwriting forums, but I thought it might be fun to see what a group of women could put together and post on "Hear Here". My thoughts are very flexibly along these lines:
First of all we have to decide what genre and what "feel" we want the song(s) to have.
One of us (or several of us) could lay down the guitar rhythm part (and we could all choose which one best fits what the majority of us want. (This would have to be a "democratic" sort of thing" - majority rules).
Another (or several) could lay down the lead part(s), or fills.
We could ALL lay down vocal tracks and then among us decide which of us will do the lead part and which of us will do backup.
I can lay down drum tracks and any percussion we decide we want or need (or, if anyone else wants to give it a try.... go for it, and, again, we will all decide which should go on the final cut.
I record directly to my computer and use Cakewalk and Music Studio7 and Sonic Foundry Sound Forge and Fruity Loops and Mixman Studio Remixer (not all at once!, but I DO occasionally take one mix from one program and re-mix in another), all accept .wav files, so, in essence, all I'm using is a cheap Radio Shack mic (that came with a 1/4" plug that needed to be taken down to 1/8" (you need to go from mono to mono for vocals) and it just plugs into the back of my computer. For my electric guitar it also takes a 1/8" plug, but this one needs to be mono to stereo), and again, just plug it into the back of the computer. If you're using an acoustic guitar, just play directly into your mic. (I think I have about $30 invested, nothing major at all and I get a pretty good sound, especially once I've added effects and mixed it correctly. I save the files that are created as individual tracks, (vocals = one track, guitar = second track, second guitar = third track, etc....), then take them into (usually) Cakewalk and mix them.
We could either start with a song that one of us has written, OR we could try our hand at a cover song just for the practice and to see how we're doing before we tackle an original, especially since we're all at different levels of both songwriting and playing.
I guess the way it would work, if you all agree, is that, once we decide on a song, we need to get the rhythm parts done first, so whoever is interested in doing any part of that would send their .wav files to me, I will post them on my site so that all of us can have a listen. Then add the lead vocals, then the backups, then the lead guitar and fills. Once we've all decided on which .wav files we want to use, I can mix it down and post it just for us to hear before we decide to post it on "Hear Here".
I just think we need to show these men what we women can do! Let me know what all of you think about it, whether or not you think you might like to be a part of this collaboration or not. This could turn out to be a really cool thing (or it could turn out to be something NONE of us want ANYONE to hear, at which point, we'll delete it before anyone has a chance to hear it!)
Am looking forward to some positive responses!! :D
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Almost forgot........... got any female bass players out there? If not, we can probably wing it..............
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
EB, my unsolicited 2 cents? Go ahead and send MP3, you can always convert to wav, but you are getting about a 15:1 reduction in file size.
Two other ideas, you might want to create a yahoo briefcase and share the files there, or make a soundclick or myspace page.
You might want to have participants create accounts there that start with a common beginning, like OS-*your name*
Okay, I'll go away now.
That's an excellent idea! Thank you! And, I already have a Soundclick page! And a Yahoo! briefcase! If I get anyone else interested, I think your idea is the way to go! Thanks again!
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
It sounds like a fun experiment. I might be interested. I can write and I can do vocals - guitar isn't my strong suit though.
:) Portia
Helpful hint: Make sure the drum track has at least a four count "click-off" that gets pasted to the beginning of everybody's track(s). It makes lining everything up much simpler, especially when using mp3 files for transfer. Some mp3 encoders will insert a short silence at the beginning of the file.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
Thank you for the hint....... luckily a couple of my recorders have built in click tracks..... choose your timing, one click and there you are! They will also sync separate tracks fairly easily and pretty darned accurately (I've been playing around with them quite a bit lately! Seeing what I can and can't do with each program).
I'm hoping that if I can get enough women interested in this, like Portia doing vocals, (btw, thanks for your interest, Portia!) I can do guitar (mainly rhythm, but I can do a few leads and a few fills, too), mandolin (as long as it's simple mandolin), drum tracks, percussion and vocals and I can also "fake" a bass line if we can't find a female bass player. ImpossiblePrincess and +LostBeginning+ both write BEAUTIFUL lyrics. I'd also like to get purple, babydoclaz, Violet Davis, olive, Pet and whoever else I've inadverdently left out involved in one way or another. You don't have to be an "ace" guitar player, just be able to change to the proper chords at the proper time, or play something other than guitar..........shoot, play a freakin' washboard if you feel it! And, if any of you think that your voice is not exactly what you think it should be, I can fix it in the mix, I can re-pitch it or add an effect to blend it with any other background vocals. Basically, I'm thinking of this as, if nothing else, a GREAT exercise in collaboration. And a GREAT way for all of us female members to get to know each other, both personally and musically.
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
I'm definately not a lyricist! And my vocal abilities...well, lets just say I sound best when no one is listening! But I would be willing to try laying down some rhythm or lead. I'm working hard on my lead guitar skills right now so this would be a good exercise. I also dabble with the ukulele so could add a uke rhythm or even lead track.
At the very least, this certainly sounds like a good excuse to buy a nice microphone!
"My ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out, because he's in a cult, and he's not allowed to talk to me." --Dar Williams
What a cool idea! I am learning bass.... as in just starting out. So, not sure I'd be much help. I've been throwing together some lyrics, but I don't know that any of it is worth sharing. I'd probably be better at co-writing than I am solo. As for vocals.... likely not. My dogs are the only living things that I make suffer with my singing. ;)
Anyway, just wanted to offer some encouragement.
Well, cool! So far we've got a rhythm player (me), a vocalist (Portia), a lead player (olive), and even a potential bass player (R3d). I can also do background vocals (and even harmonize with myself so it will sound like more than one backup singer), drum tracks (digitally), percussion (both digital and/or live), throw in some REALLY EASY mandolin parts (I'm JUST getting the hang of it!) Does everyone have a way to record themselves? Since I just feel it in my bones that we're going to do at the very least one project together, I just created us a page on SoundClick.....of course there's nothing there yet, we have to create it first! But here are the URL's:
Express: http://www.soundclick.com/theladiesofguitarnoise
Standard: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/1/theladiesofguitarnoise.htm
Once you've decided definitely to participate, I'll give y'all administrator rights and password so that you can upload your parts of the songs and I can download them from there and mix them here then put the finished product back up there. This COULD work, y'all!
I guess one of the first things we need to decide is what song..........what genre and I suppose that one way to get to that is to find out what everyone's preferred genre is, find a happy medium and work from there.
I personally prefer the blues and classic rock, I also do some country and am trying my hand at bluegrass. Oh! And the old R&B stuff (not the new R&B, I'm talkin' Marvin Gaye, etc....), I also like some folk stuff, LOVE Joni Mitchell (but most of her stuff requires alternate tunings, so we won't think about her for a while!) Basically, if it's music, I can find something to appreciate in it!
What are your personal preferences as far as genres, artists, songs? And, do you think we should start out with something from one of David's lessons just to get the hang of what we're doing? Or, should we just jump in and do something original?
I'm totally serious about this. I think it could be a blast!
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Blues and classic rock sound great to me (they work well with my voice, also). I'm not so hot on country, but I'll try most anything once. :)
:) Portia
I'll listen to and play just about anything, although I don't really enjoy new country all that much. If I had to choose folk/acoustic rock, blues, and jazz are my favorites.
I might need a little assistance with the tech side of the recording stuff, but I think I have everything I need (minus a shiny new microphone) to lay down some tracks.
What do you say we start with a know song to get a little practice with the logistics of everything before we try to take on original material.
"My ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out, because he's in a cult, and he's not allowed to talk to me." --Dar Williams
As I understand it, you are not allowed to upload cover versions of copyrighted songs to SoundClick without a licence to do so. The following extract is taken from their website:
A NOTE FROM ADMIN
Can I upload a cover song or remix?
SoundClick does not permit copyrighted audio samples or artwork from movies, television programs, videos, games, radio or CDs to be uploaded without prior written permission from the copyright holder(s). If you are uploading a remix of another artist's recording, you must obtain prior written permission from both the owner of the original recording and the owner of the underlying musical composition. Tracks determined by SoundClick to be “pirated†recordings will be deleted immediately and the artist page subject to permanent deletion.
Please note, not only are you responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions, licenses and consents prior to posting any content to SoundClick, you may be held liable for any and all costs and expenses (including legal fees) incurred by SoundClick as a result of your unauthorized use of copyrighted materials.
DMusic, on the other hand, has licences with the two major songwriting associations, BMI and ASCAP, that allow for the uploading of cover songs.
Just caught site of this thread - sounds a great idea, I'll keep tabs on your progress and try and join in on a later one after this, as I mentioned on the Games and Trivia thread (Album Cover) I haven't got a lot of spare time at the moment - hope it works out well :)
Just read the whole thread again carefully offline - I also like any music to play, mostly playing at the moment blues and folk and soft rock eg Coldplay and David H's lessons.
One lesson suggestion of David's that I really like at the moment and sounds good is the Losing my Religion one, (btw it's got a mandolin part - I also play the mandolin, but practise has slipped a bit on that lately, and frustratingly not as good as when I was a child, but can do something simple)
If you decide on a few songs and list them, then we could be practising them in readiness, so anyone who couldn't join in immediately would feel more confident to take part at a later date.
