Members jamesp Posted April 2, 2014 Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 So anyway, obviously I need a singer. Any tips for making that work? I'm starting with a tempo quantized scratch track. Posted it to Soundcloud where we'll be sharing a private page for notes and stuff. Singer gives me a two measure countdown, sends me the vox track and I mix here. I think that's the basic idea. Any other advice from the brain trust? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted April 2, 2014 Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 Are you talking about someone doing vocals over your music? That shouldn't be difficult to do, assuming you both have decent equipment and software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted April 2, 2014 Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 It shouldn't be too hard. Have them clap to the beat four times in tempo at the beginning of the track. As for their part, if they can't keep time then you've got your work cut out for you. It should be just like doing karaoke for them, though they also need to be skilled doing recordings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted April 2, 2014 Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 No advice here. I've done only one such collab. It was the singing part but you're looking for a real singer. The advice given to me by the person doing all the studio stuff was to keep the recording dry, loud and noise free. I did that. It turned out okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted April 2, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 Dry and loud is good advice. I'm curious about how the timing issues are going to work out, but I'll see (or hear) soon enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted April 2, 2014 Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 I've done a bunch of this sort of stuff. The easiest way to ensure that their track stays in sync is: 1) They record their part 2) They pan their part hard Left and the original hard Right 3) They mixdown to a stereo track and send it to you 4) You import the stereo track into your software and use their copy of the backing to sync 5) Split their stereo track into 2 mono tracks 6) Mute or delete their copy of the backing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted April 2, 2014 Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 There are other ways, but they require more expertise on their side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted April 2, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2014 Nice Koiwoi. That hadn't occurred to me. I may try that on the next one. For this one I've already sent out the scratch track. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted April 3, 2014 Members Share Posted April 3, 2014 No worries - it's a lot of fun when it works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted April 3, 2014 Members Share Posted April 3, 2014 Nice Koiwoi. That hadn't occurred to me. I may try that on the next one. For this one I've already sent out the scratch track. Thanks! It's not too late. You just need to tell them to send you a stereo track with the 2 parts panned L/ R. Most people can handle that if they're record-capable. It's in their best interest and removes any potential disagreements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted April 3, 2014 Members Share Posted April 3, 2014 On T but slightly deflected, one of the aspects of collabs has been the complete and utter surprise I usually experience with them. I've written a lot of lyrics and usually leave them free to the public. When someone writes a song from them it's typically nothing I would have imagined writing left on my own. That's the kick. So, I usually stick with originals if/when a collab happens along. Actually, it isn't a true collab as in a working relationship but it will be the closest I ever come to one being a soloist by temperament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted April 9, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 9, 2014 It's not too late. You just need to tell them to send you a stereo track with the 2 parts panned L/ R. Most people can handle that if they're record-capable. It's in their best interest and removes any potential disagreements. Thanks for that panning idea. I've also started putting a low soft kick to help with timing. Also, I finally buckled down and figured out warping in Ableton. It's totally cheating but if you're doing it right it's completely transparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted April 10, 2014 Members Share Posted April 10, 2014 The way I do it with my more experienced buddies is to have a count-in at the beginning that acts as the sync. When they send me their bit it's usually a stereo track (2 mics or stereo digital effects, whatever), but with the count-in at the start. That way I just stick in into the song as a stereo track, use the count-in to sync, then mute the count-in. One of the main tricks is knowing how to zoom in to a ridiculous micro level of zoom. You can line things up really easily that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted April 11, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 11, 2014 There's a timing nudge button I've been using, but it's hit or miss. There's also a way use latency compensation to nudge tracks together, but so far I've been doing the count-in too. I've started asking folks to leave off the last "four" because on some songs that can be really hard to clip out entirely. I'd love to hear some of your stuff sometime, koiwoi. I don't recall hearing any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted April 11, 2014 Members Share Posted April 11, 2014 I've done this a lot and never had sync or latency issues. I email, Skype or Dropbox;; .wav, mp3 or .aiff. The collaborator performs his or her part and sends it back both as a separate track and in a mix made on that side. Either myself or the collaborator do the final mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ccarnucci Posted April 12, 2014 Members Share Posted April 12, 2014 Hey James, check out Kompoz.com. It's where I do my colab work. It's all set up to help with the sharing. It gives you sync tones to ,..we'll keep in sync. Connects you to tons of musicians to colab with, and it's free! There are tutorials and forums to help with the learning curve too as you explore online colabs. I am actually part of a virtual online band there called N-Compass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.