SSS Mixing Event! Deadline: Jan 15, 2003...

[LawrenceF]

Craig: I was a frequent visitor to the old SSS board on (ugh!) AOL years ago. I've always enjoyed your mag columns and your forum. Most of the people here are respectful and knowledgeable and I've tried more than a few techniques I've read here. Here's the thing. We can trade ideas and suggestions and debate certain things till the cows come home. How about something we can hear? I suggest (as have others here and elsewhere before) that someone (You?) post some audio tracks somewhere with instruments and vocals. Style is irrelevant, at least to me. We'll all download and mix and resubmit high quality mp3 for comparison over the net. Not a contest but a better way to get an idea of what our peers are doing. I'd sure like to see where I am compared to persons here with better skills than me. Others have tried this before I think. Is there a way to get this going? Post a project. Those who don't have high speed connects? I'll help burn CD's and snail mail for what .032 cents each? Make it a reasonable sized project so those with 16 track tabletop studios can participate also. A couple of tracks in the midi domain (bass, keys) could make for some interesting and varying production choices. Whaddya think? Am I nuts? (don't answer that... :rolleyes: ) Anybody in? Curve D? NYC Drew? Anybody? Everybody? Lawrence

[halljams]

[quote]Originally posted by LawrenceF: [b]Craig: I was a frequent visitor to the old SSS board on (ugh!) AOL years ago. I've always enjoyed your mag columns and your forum. Most of the people here are respectful and knowledgeable and I've tried more than a few techniques I've read here. Here's the thing. We can trade ideas and suggestions and debate certain things till the cows come home. How about something we can hear? I suggest (as have others here and elsewhere before) that someone (You?) post some audio tracks somewhere with instruments and vocals. Style is irrelevant, at least to me. We'll all download and mix and resubmit high quality mp3 for comparison over the net. Not a contest but a better way to get an idea of what our peers are doing. I'd sure like to see where I am compared to persons here with better skills than me. Others have tried this before I think. Is there a way to get this going? Post a project. Those who don't have high speed connects? I'll help burn CD's and snail mail for what .032 cents each? Make it a reasonable sized project so those with 16 track tabletop studios can participate also. A couple of tracks in the midi domain (bass, keys) could make for some interesting and varying production choices. Whaddya think? Am I nuts? (don't answer that... :rolleyes: ) Anybody in? Curve D? NYC Drew? Anybody? Everybody? Lawrence[/b][/quote]Hay Lawrence. I'm totally into this and it looks like maby a few others who are sounding a bit stumped could benifit from it too. I suggested it about a year ago and got minimal response, but hay, even if we get 4-5 people going on it, it will be fun. Lets say who ever is interested, post a "Hay" here, and we'll work it out. I have lots of starter ideas as i'm sure everyone does. It would be a much nicer way to relate to these forums and folks round here than just a bit a babble bout not much of nuthin. Count me IN! :wave:

[Anderton]

[[I suggest (as have others here and elsewhere before) that someone (You?) post some audio tracks somewhere with instruments and vocals. Style is irrelevant, at least to me. We'll all download and mix and resubmit high quality mp3 for comparison over the net. ]] This is indeed a great idea and I think that maybe we now have the infrastructure to do this. Let me check.

[Bunny Knutson]

I'm totally into it. Count me in, for sure! [img]http://www.420recordsgroup.com/images/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Valkyrie Sound]

That could be fun.... :) Valky

[fantasticsound]

Lawrence, I can only speak for myself, but I believe many others may be in the same boat as I am on this one. While it seems like a fantastic idea, I've seen many members state they don't have enough time to mix their own projects (the musicians and hobbyists) or they have too much work to mix (the pro's). I don't know of anyone here who has a lot of free time to do production on some non-essential recordings. In addition, I'm one of those on a 56k connection. Snail mail all the way. Then time becomes a factor because you, or someone else, have to download and burn CD's, get them out, the mail takes time, as well. Then, when the mix is complete, all us snail mail contributors have to return them to you. Mail time again. Then you have to upload them. When the guitar board had a member submission CD, I had one broken in the mail, and one lost. My submission never made it on the CD, and then the "sponsor" who agreed to burn the CD's disappeared off the boards for a long time. He had personal business that superceded the disc. It happens. Despite this, I'm not trying to convince you to shelve the idea. Just giving you a perspective why there has been so little interest in this type of project in the past. I'll be happy to pay for a snail mail copy. Just can't promise I'll have time to mix and submit on by the deadline.

[LawrenceF]

[quote] While it seems like a fantastic idea, I've seen many members state they don't have enough time to mix their own projects...[/quote]I hear ya. Time is worth more than money. No matter what, I always make time to "have fun" or do something different. Although we often have to do what we have to do not what we want to do. [quote]In addition, I'm one of those on a 56k connection. Snail mail all the way.[/quote]Yep. Uncle sam aint the best messaging service anymore. On the up side, after you mix you can upload even with dialup. Mp3's aren't that big in comparison. If we do get this thing going I hope you can participate. If not I understand. Lawrence

[halljams]

I think there are people who it will work wonderfully for and others that coudn't find the time if they wanted to. If you can do it, count yourselves in, that's all. We'll find a way. :thu:

[Rim]

This has actually been successfully done at Roger Nichols' forum twice! [url=http://www.musicgearnetwork.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=003513]A Proposal for a Mixing Contest[/url] [url=http://www.musicgearnetwork.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=003984]Round 2 of the Mixing Contest[/url] I was able to get in Round 2. I'd be interested in participating again.

[Gtoledo3]

I'm in - snail mail only ;(

[KenElevenShadows]

I'll be happy to contribute something. Either an MP3 or mailing someone a CD works for me. Lemme know!!! If it gets going and I don't respond right away, someone slap me over the head, send an email, something. I've got a LOT going on right now, so I haven't had time to look around here very often, and usually have to resort to doing it during my lunch hour at work (like now). Speaking of which, I gotta gooooo......!!!

[LawrenceF]

The first step in getting something like this going is to not let it roll off the screen...Freak 1. Halljams 2. DBunny 3. Valkyrie 4. Fantastic 5. Riffing 6. GT3 7. Ken And I make 8. We need 3 things: 1. A song. :cool: 2. Some ftp space. 3. A web page where you can play and read about the individual mixes. Gear used, production techniques etc. Song? Original or demo song from a program cd or...what? Dunno. FTP? Craig? Wave Page? ? ? I could design the page but not host. Lawrence

[Bunny Knutson]

If nobody else has a song, I could come up with something mixable within a few days. I'd prefer to try this with someone else's material, though. For one thing, if we use one of MY songs, it will have sequenced drums, rather than a live drum kit. I can provide the hosting space on one of my websites. I don't mind designing the page(s), as it would probably be something basic. I don't mind FTPing all the raw tracks up to one of my sites, but if somebody else provides the tracks, I'll probably need them to snail-mail me a CD, as I'm NOT going to give out my FTP information. All of this is fine with me, if nobody else can come up with a better method. What kind of song do we want to mix? Yer basic 16-track rock song? I can handle that.

[KHAN]

Sounds like fun. I too am bandwidth challenged, but would be happy to pay postage if someone is willing to send me the tracks. :thu:

[Dylan]

Count me in too! DSL equipped :thu: .

[Gtoledo3]

I could supply a song.

[Bunny Knutson]

I think the song should have drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. Or drums, bass, keyboards, and vocals. Something like that. A good selection of instruments and voice, but not too many elements. Keep it simple, and keep it to 16 tracks or less. Does anyone agree or disagree with this?

[KHAN]

I don't have a preference as to the arrangement, but would much rather mix a live drumkit. Sequnced drums give me a queasy feeling. :freak: ...and I need a lot of practice mixing drums. :eek:

[Gtoledo3]

I don't have a preference as to what the instrumentation of the song is. I think we should all put up roughs of the proposed songs to mix somewhere.

[LawrenceF]

DBunny: Thanks for the webspace offer. I understand your reluctance to give out your ftp address. How about this? Once we decide on a song you can just make a simple page with links to the audio files. Is that doable? They could be links to wherever the person who submits the song puts them, not even necessarily on your site. That way we could download them one or two at a time from a browser. Someone pick a song. Lawrence

[KHAN]

[quote]Originally posted by LawrenceF: [b]How about this? Once we decide on a song you can just make a simple page with links to the audio files. Is that doable? [/b][/quote]Not on a modem. :cry: It would take forever to download. :( Hopefully someone could [snail] mail copies to those of us who need them. If they were available for download, the ones with high speed could download and reduce the number of hard copies to be mailed. If that is too big of a problem, I will bow out gracefully. Not that I am inherently graceful :freak:

[urk10]

I'm in! I have a cable connection so downloading the files is fine for me.

[Henchman]

I'm in.

[big K]

Sounds like a great idea, ... I too tryed to get in on the other mixing contests, ..then got sent up to north canada to survey ( ahhhhh....another story, another day) but yea I am in , I have time over christmas to do this , if we get on it fast. I think craig is right, ... we know have the interest and people to go this thing right -we should look in to weather this oard can host it? maybe music gear network canhost it on there ftp I look forward to this learning experiance.

[Rim]

[quote]Originally posted by dBunny: [b]I think the song should have drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. Or drums, bass, keyboards, and vocals. Something like that. A good selection of instruments and voice, but not too many elements. Keep it simple, and keep it to 16 tracks or less. Does anyone agree or disagree with this?[/b][/quote]I definitely vote for live drums. LawrenceF, maybe you should change the thread's subject. As it is, folks may just be thinking you need advice on mixing.

[Bunny Knutson]

Yeah, Lawrence, you might want to change the topic name for this thread, like Riffing said. Maybe change it to SSS Mixing Event, or something like that. So, it seems that people would rather mix a song with live drums, like me. [b]GT3[/b], do you have any songs with live drums and vocals? I think it should be a song with vocals, not just instrumental. I can host audio files on my website, either MP3s or wave files. I can also burn CDs and send them out, as Lawrence said he could. I wouldn't mind being a hub for this project. I have a fast burner, and don't mind the extra work.

[KHAN]

Thanks :thu:

[Salyphus]

Sounds like a great idea, count me in :thu:

[Super 8]

[quote]Originally posted by riffing: [b][QUOTE]I definitely vote for live drums. [/b][/quote]Well, then you'll want Lee Flier to provide the tracks. Lord knows that woman has more knowledge about drumming and drum recording than stupid 'Ol Phil Collins!!! :idea: Hey, I'll provide the tracks!!! [i]Little do these suckers know I'm actually just using them to outsource my mixing for free so I can focus more on Internet porno sites!!! heh heh heh. Ha Ha Ha. Yah-HA HA HA HA HAAAA!!! [/i] Wait a second... Did I type all that or just think it??? [b] DOH![/b] :mad:

[halljams]

Hay, whats going on? I thought this was like a thing where we all added tracks to make the finished product and Create a piece together. Oh well, guess i misunderstood I would like very much to do that also if anyone is interested. If your argument against that is "What about copyright etc", forget it. It ain't gonna be a hit and if it was we wouldn't make a cent anyways, way things are these days. I am still very much "IN" on the mixing thing to though, sounds like fun. Cool to see so much interest. :)