[seriousfun]

I have thought of an idea for helping folks get their mixes sorted out. I hear lots ofgreat stuff on the board often let down by mixing issues ( my own work included ).  What if we had a project whereby one person supplied us all with the individual unprocessed wav tracks to a song and then those wanting to participate mixed the tracks into the best song they can. These finished tracks are then posted where we can each hear what others have accomplished and share ideas on how this was accomplished.  Of course i will need to run this by Terry first and people under 50 will not be welcome to take part.

I think it could be a very worthwhile exercise but at this stage i am canvasing for interest and ideas to develop this better if the idea gains traction.

Allan.

[habiTat]

EXCELLENT IDEA 

I'm up for this one Allan

[Michael]

people under 50 will not be welcome to take part.

Too bad, otherwise I would have liked to participate as well...   

So is it gonna be several people having a go at one member's song to compare the results, or will everyone try a mix of a different song?

[habiTat]

All mix the same song I think, then compare results and learn from our mistakes.

Maybe we need quite a short song so that the comparison part doesn't get too hard on the ear..

[seriousfun]

Same song. Every body gets the same raw materials and they can do what ever they want with it, they just cannot introduce any new sounds. Plugins would be fine but no new recordings and no additional midi

[Michael]

Okay, sounds good. So now all we need is
a) a volunteer willing to have his/her song torn to pieces skillfully turned into masterpieces by lots of different 'producers'
b) those aforementioned producers

[Ramshackles]

Sounds like a fun idea.
I agree that it should be strictly mixing, no 'producing'. So no new recording and no new midi. I would even say that maybe midi should be bounced to wav before providing the tracks

I would suggest a standard format to provide the tracks aswell:
- Wav files at either 44.1 or 48Khz and 24bit (where possible).
- All files should be exported from the same point (i.e. 0s, not the start of each track which may vary) so that they will line up in any DAW.

[seriousfun]

All good points. Deffinately wavs or rendered midi, i think peopleshould be free to slice tracks and rearrange as they see fit aslongas the song adheres to a predetermined length maybe around 2mins???

Cant think of anyting else atm but am very open to ideas and input.

[habiTat]

This could be really good, a great way to learn and very interesting.

What tracks would be needed?

Vocal
Harmony/harmonies
Rhythm guitar
Lead/solo instrument
Bass
Drums
Strings maybe?

All dry and in wav form, like Ram said, all starting at 0

Maybe we need to launch an appeal for a volunteer. I'd offer one of mine but I can only really supply vocal and guitar tracks..

[seriousfun]

You are very close with that list John. I think if the rhythym guitar is acoustic then it would be a great list. A mic'd up acoustic would offer a good challenge and as we all use acoustic to varying degrees it would be a worthwhile skill to hone. As for the strings i would be happy with them or to replace them with some form of keys depending on the song.

[habiTat]

That sounds good Allan, acoustic would definitely help me. Also, it would be good if it were all recorded to a click or rhythm track, so we can chop and change elements if we want.

[Neil C]

Great idea Allan. I'd like to have a go and learn through the process as I'm self taught practitioner... 
What we need is someone with a well recorded basic track ( I'm thinking Mr Alan Starkie? )
And people should list the major things they did to it to help us understand what was done.
 
Neil

[Dutchbeat]

it is a great idea, it is excellent....

i think the person who made the song / recording perhaps could get to award a price existing of forum glory to the best track in his or her opinion (but i think Terry will not approve that  , sorry terry, just joking, last time really, i know we should stop now)

i will not compete, because i know i would completely murder the track with too much reverb etc, but it will certainly be an excercise where we all can learn from others, as we can compare the different mixes and ask how certain specific things were done by the mixer

i especially want to try to understand and learn how people mix vocals....how people get them to fit just right in the mix, and yet keep the lyrics clear

[Neil C]

i will not compete,

I think this is a learning opportunity rather than a competition otherwise Allan would have put it there.... 

[diademgrove]

I'm interested in having a go. I'm not sure about limiting what raw tracks the song should consist of though. I think if somebody is brave enough to put up their song up anybody that wants to have a go should be able to.

The more rules there is the less volunteers we'd get. I hate to see somebody think that's a good idea, but I'll not put my tracks up because they don't think they fit in with the rules. If I ever do a short song I may put my raw tracks up 

diadem