Collaborative and Constructive Mix Idea

[WarpCanada]

Okay I have an idea for a kind of "mix collab" event here on SongCrafters.

The idea is you post your MIX plus your stems.   For those who are less up on DAW terminology, a stem is a raw wave file (.wav file format) that starts at 0:00 time of your song and is only one track, as a mono or stereo audio file, preferably with no EQ or effects baked in.   To make uploading better though maybe we should use 192k MP3 as the standard for our mixdown stems.

So for my song named DEM01 with 8 tracks I might upload:

demo01-vocal-track
demo01-guitar-a
demo01-guitar-b
demo01-keys-a
demo01-keys-b
demo01-drums-01
demo01-effects-and-samples

And my mix down:
demo01-sample-mix

And then we could post more mixes to the same thread and critique/compare.   If someone gets some interesting variations in audio quality we could talk about what was done.

We each have different ears, different tools and different tastes.  It might be interesting to also take OTHER people mix stems and work them down to a mix.

Who wants to try it?  (Edit MP3 idea retracted)


(EDIT: Perhaps google drive, or microsoft onedrive, or dropbox URLs can be posted to the threads or we can share the files via URL links in direct messages only)

Warren

[64Guitars]

I don't think we'd want individual tracks uploaded to our server. Only the finished stereo mix. But people could upload their tracks (WAV or FLAC) to a file hosting service such as Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox. Then they could post a message with a link to those tracks so others could download them.

MP3 files shouldn't be used for collaborations. They often won't line up properly with other tracks because mp3 encoding changes the track's start point. Also, when you encode the final mix in mp3 format the quality will suffer if the tracks have previously been mp3-encoded (double encoding). Lossy encoding should only be done once as the final step in preparing your finished mix for uploading. Until then everything should be done in a lossless format such as WAV, FLAC, or the proprietary Boss BR format.

[TPB]

Me and jean do this we use wetransfer.com it is free and easy to you upload and can put who ever wants to do it on the email. Mike has also done this with a different service I would be up for a try
Tim

[Jean Pierre]

Like Tim say we exchange file .wave by we transfer, simple, free

I would be up for a try, for your project

[hardlock]

I just mentioned this issue to Mike (Huntingford) regarding submitting a lead addition I made to his song "Unsaveable" (great title, eh?)

I'm conflicted about how to present collabs here in general. Used to be one could just add their take(s) to the original post but with data limits, that's not possible anymore.

I don't feel right about just adding my remake as a new original post without the author's permission first and even then feels somewhat competitive if others are doing the same with their revisions/additions, etc.

Another way could be to have all submissions first be considered by the original author and posted by them?  Down side to this is that the originator will get everyone else's work only in their jukebox and I like to hear my collabs sometimes more than my own material!

Maybe all versions should be posted on the collaborations board (with some kind of sub-folder format maybe?) but currently that board seems to be only for original songs needing parts, not ones with the added parts?

As to the WAV file stems leading to posting a final MP3 file, seems the best way to go to retain quality.  Besides, if a song ends up a keeper, the final mix in WAV format can still be exchanged with all involved through the transfer service.

In my current case with Mike, I DLed his MP3 from here and was just jamming along prior to thinking of mixing and sharing. I ended sending the lead stem to Mike in WAV format this way as he wants to play with it and maybe edit it with others parts being submitted.

[T.C. Elliott]

I like the idea of a Mix challenge. Someone links their stems/tracks and then the rest of us mix it. Would adding tracks to theirs be allowed/encouraged? We could get some really weird things out of a challenge like this. Or am I missing the idea completely?

[WarpCanada]

I like that.  We Transfer then?

I think Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive, or Dropbox URLs could be used so we do not use up songcrafter's disk, but if wetransfer has the same or similar ability to share files via just urls, that might make it easy.

Adding tracks should be ENCOURAGED but I think we should have several different "challenges" inside the challenge.

The SUBTLE Re-Mix Challenge:

One challenge would be to make your additional tracks and changes subtle, make the mix fill out or sound better. Add a subtle pad, and some compression and carve up space for parts in the mix with EQ, so that the end effect is dramatic and yet, when you A/B it, it's still clearly the same song.

The Un-SUBTLE Re-Mix Challenge:

Try to change it as much as possible but try at the same time to preserve the original, even while changing it.  The goal here isn't to make a totally new song (ship of theseus) but rather to build on top and enhance, even while being NOT subtle about it.

And a third one:

The two or more song mashup.

You guys like?

[Kody]

This is great idea, Warp - I'm glad you brought it up. It would be great just to get some good practice mixing and producing. Unfortunately, as it stands, with a houseful of young kids I barely have time to work on my own productions. I would never say never, but extra time has been very scarce for me. I'll look forward to listening from the bleachers and hope to get my hands dirty at some point!

[T.C. Elliott]

Also, several of us have hosting we can put the files for a couple of weeks/months if it comes to that.

I, personally, like the idea of a mix challenge. You mix the song. If you want to only use the tracks provided then great. If you want to add or subtract tracts then great. Whatever works for you works for me.  The only problem is deciding on the song/tracks to use and having a deadline. (I'd suggest at least two weeks and closer to four weeks.) There are several songs here on the site that have lots of elements (I think the more elements the better. You can use them all or not as you see fit. Add or not etc.,) and would be great starters. But we'd have to ask permission of course.

[WarpCanada]

I will go through my back catalog of things and find one that could be fun to have a remix for. 

Doing a remix and dropping my vocals, for example, and re-recording them, and then adding something to my song would be totally cool.

Any song which is uploaded as stems is fair play to do anything you like to. No further permission needed, submitting your stems means your stems are up for grabs.