perhaps this is not a subject for this board, but has some application using MTS. I clicked on your project, Saz, and went over to nose around at Collaberation central. Pretty cool. I had no idea this type of activity existed (probably because in the last 4 years I've spent much of my time running a 50s Mercedes Benz site and discussion group, with little time for anything else).
I have in mind this crazy idea to setup a smaller operation/site something similar but devoted purely to jazz (certainly not an original idea..since Collaboration central gets the nod for originality of an idea). But devoted to jazz mainly because I'm so old that my rock affiliations go back to the early 60s.
There are many times I wish I could have available someone to put some guitar chords, bass lines, drums (beyond the drum machine), trumpet, etc...on some tunes, originals or standards, and I can now see where this would be possible in a collaboration effort. My reguar job provides a living, so the music collaberations would be for pleasure.
Since I travel a lot over the US in my work,and music is a sideline carry-over from my early days as a high school band director; over the years, I haven't established the local musician contacts as some have....but I do have some friends around the country, that with perhaps MTS and a computer, could setup collaboated efforts.
Since you are apparantly way ahead in savvy about this sort of thing (collaberation)...can I pick your brain for some free information ? Or anyone else on this forum as well.
I understand CC uses FTP for uploading of tracks...which would be easy enough to setup.....but what happens next? Does the musician download as an mp3 into there MultiTrackStudio, playback the tracks and add music, then reload up the finished product in mp3 again?
I notice in one of your posts, you have a file converter software as well....
Is this pretty important in this collaboration effort?
......gathering information. Hope this makes sense and thanks for your time and any contribution of process.
Collaberation anomolies
oh, I meant to remark further that, it seems sometimes musicians can become unmotivated, especially if you're say a drummer and have no group to play with. What do you do? Even when you practice, there is no special purpose or focus. The collaboration efforts seem to create purpose for the sake of playing and creating something. It really really seems to have far reaching effects for the right people. As in the case of your recent radio jingle....there was a reason behind your efforts and you used the collaborative efforts of other musicians for that goal?
Don't mean to appear philosophical....just trying to piece it together.
Don't mean to appear philosophical....just trying to piece it together.
axman - oh where do I start to sufficiently answer all your questions? 
Glad you checked out CC - it's a great place! There are musicians of all genres and abilities from around the globe there. I've made some good friends in the past year and worked on collabs, both publicly and privately, with them. CC's not a place you get a handle on right away - there's so much going on. Lurk around there a bit more and I think you'll find that you will fit right in. There are other collab sites, but I've found CC to be my favorite - good friendly people and there are many my age - 54 - and older.
As far as the collab process goes - it varies from project to project, but goes something like this... Usually, someone(the "producer", as we call him/her) will post a "scratch" song idea and will ask for certain parts - those interested will post tracks or even a rough mix for the "producer" to hear - at this point, .wma or .mp3 files work well to see what fits and what doesn't. They are faster to upload - helpful for those on dialup.
When the "producer" is satisfied with what/whose parts he wants to use, he will usually ask for those parts in .ape format - we've found that best for compressing/uploading .wav files. The final mix is almost always done with the .wav format so that tracks can be used with any software with no timing/alignment problems. That's where the dBpowerAMP music converter comes in so handy - it converts between .wav, .mp3, .wma, .ape and other formats. It's fast, easy and free!
Should also note that Sully(DS_Sultan), the guy that owns/runs the site, will give you 100 megs of free space if you request it. The FTP software I use(ws_ftple) is an older version, but it's easy to set up and use - also, it's free too.
MultitrackStudio has worked flawlessly for me in all my collabs at CC and I think I've used parts from and supplied parts for, every software out there.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about CC or collaboration - just post them here - or better yet, join the fun at CC - afterall, it's free!
Anyone else reading this that is interested, you can check out CC - stands for Collaboration Central - at this link... http://www.artistcollaboration.com/index.php Hope to see you there!
Glad you checked out CC - it's a great place! There are musicians of all genres and abilities from around the globe there. I've made some good friends in the past year and worked on collabs, both publicly and privately, with them. CC's not a place you get a handle on right away - there's so much going on. Lurk around there a bit more and I think you'll find that you will fit right in. There are other collab sites, but I've found CC to be my favorite - good friendly people and there are many my age - 54 - and older.
As far as the collab process goes - it varies from project to project, but goes something like this... Usually, someone(the "producer", as we call him/her) will post a "scratch" song idea and will ask for certain parts - those interested will post tracks or even a rough mix for the "producer" to hear - at this point, .wma or .mp3 files work well to see what fits and what doesn't. They are faster to upload - helpful for those on dialup.
When the "producer" is satisfied with what/whose parts he wants to use, he will usually ask for those parts in .ape format - we've found that best for compressing/uploading .wav files. The final mix is almost always done with the .wav format so that tracks can be used with any software with no timing/alignment problems. That's where the dBpowerAMP music converter comes in so handy - it converts between .wav, .mp3, .wma, .ape and other formats. It's fast, easy and free!
Should also note that Sully(DS_Sultan), the guy that owns/runs the site, will give you 100 megs of free space if you request it. The FTP software I use(ws_ftple) is an older version, but it's easy to set up and use - also, it's free too.
MultitrackStudio has worked flawlessly for me in all my collabs at CC and I think I've used parts from and supplied parts for, every software out there.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about CC or collaboration - just post them here - or better yet, join the fun at CC - afterall, it's free!
Anyone else reading this that is interested, you can check out CC - stands for Collaboration Central - at this link... http://www.artistcollaboration.com/index.php Hope to see you there!
Thanks Saz for the valueable information. I am digesting it and experimenting with MTS tonight. Now that I have it recognizing the USB interface, I want to work with it more. Regards a previous thread, I realized that the device settings can be on winsound for me, as my "monitoring" of tracks is all down through the USB interface.
oh, I wanted to comment on the 100 megs free space on the server from CC........You probably already know this....
hosting services provide different plans, on price range, in my case I have a domain that is a basic plan for $8.95 month which provides 300 megs space + the bells and whistles. May not seem like much, but server space bytes translate differently in comparison to file sizes contained on your computer hard drive. Not sure of the exact ratio, as I've loaded mostly images in the past, but appears to be about a 30 to 1 ratio. SO..........if you upload a 4 meg file to a server, it really translates into occupying about 1 meg (approx). So I imagine you could upload many mp3 files. Does CC clear out the old stuff or do you have control in deleting the old files on the server?
Okay I guess we'd better get back to MTS, since they are so gracious in providing this space.
hosting services provide different plans, on price range, in my case I have a domain that is a basic plan for $8.95 month which provides 300 megs space + the bells and whistles. May not seem like much, but server space bytes translate differently in comparison to file sizes contained on your computer hard drive. Not sure of the exact ratio, as I've loaded mostly images in the past, but appears to be about a 30 to 1 ratio. SO..........if you upload a 4 meg file to a server, it really translates into occupying about 1 meg (approx). So I imagine you could upload many mp3 files. Does CC clear out the old stuff or do you have control in deleting the old files on the server?
Okay I guess we'd better get back to MTS, since they are so gracious in providing this space.
Saz writes:
will post a "scratch" song idea and will ask for certain parts - those interested will post tracks or even a rough mix for the "producer" to hear - at this point,
One more question on collaboration, thanking you in advance:
I know that some musicians play very well by ear, and some are confined to written music only. In collaborations, is there a "median" used for written scores (perhaps chord changes and melody)? perhaps a pdf file or? Or is it all done by ear?
will post a "scratch" song idea and will ask for certain parts - those interested will post tracks or even a rough mix for the "producer" to hear - at this point,
One more question on collaboration, thanking you in advance:
I know that some musicians play very well by ear, and some are confined to written music only. In collaborations, is there a "median" used for written scores (perhaps chord changes and melody)? perhaps a pdf file or? Or is it all done by ear?
We do our own housekeeping.axman wrote: Does CC clear out the old stuff or do you have control in deleting the old files on the server?
If you reach the 100 meg limit, you have to clear out some files before you can post new ones. Sully also offers some paid services at very reasonable prices.I don't think MTS will mind the plug for CC here - I listed MTS in the download section at CC and its demo DL'd count is over 120.
And mof - check out CC sometime.
It's done both ways - no set standard. I don't read music myself, but have worked with those that do and it all works out.axman wrote:I know that some musicians play very well by ear, and some are confined to written music only. In collaborations, is there a "median" used for written scores (perhaps chord changes and melody)? perhaps a pdf file or? Or is it all done by ear?