The Gang of Five
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Gang of Five Karaoke Project

action9000 · 103 · 10707

action9000

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Whenever I can get Littlefoot Fan's and Duckyfan's latest recordings, I will post up the final MP3.  It's all done, except we're missing these two singers from the mix :lol
Malte, Roger, your recordings are all working out just fine.  Thank you for your great effort and cooperation.  This is sounding awesome :wow

I'm just letting everyone know that this project isn't dead, by Any means.  I'll post up a final MP3 as soon as I get the remaining recordings.


Littlefoot Fan

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Sorry I'm taking so long :( I'll try to get it done as soon as possible


Petrie.

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Malte279

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I'm really looking forward to the final version :)


action9000

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This will be amazing. I can feel it.
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I'm really looking forward to the final version :)
So am I :yes

I will do my best to blend the singers together nicely, but as it has been pointed out to be before by RR, this is easier said than done when we can't hear each other in real-time when we're singing.  I've been playing around with some of the detail balancing work, and I think it will come out very nice once we get the rest of us into the song.

It will certainly be do-able though.

I have run across a minor concern though, with the ending of the song.  So far, Malte, RR, and myself have recordings of the final Chorus, and the ending slowdown.  The problem?  All three recordings are somewhat out-of-sync when it comes to the timing of the ending.

I was talking to RR, and we both agree that the slowdown section should simply be sung by a single person to eliminate the bulkiness of a large group trying to stay synched up with a changing pace, when we can't even hear each other.

I shall use my best judgement on which recording sounds most appropriate for the ending slowdown.  I am not trying to bejudgemental at all by doing this.  Everyone who has contributed so far has done very well, and I'm very pleased with your hard work! :DD
I am simply choosing the recording that fits in most cleanly with the rest of the music.  As it turned out, Malte's most recent submissions will most likely be used as the ending of the song.  This may change as I experiment more with the music.
We will all still sing as a group in the final chorus, up to the slowdown.  The fist solo (alone) line will be "As high as souls can fly...."

Don't worry about sending me any new recordings, Malte.  I can cut down the files you sent me to exactly what we need, and the quality is very good :)


Malte279

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Don't worry about sending me any new recordings, Malte. I can cut down the files you sent me to exactly what we need, and the quality is very good
And don't you worry about asking for new recordings whenever you feel they may help improving things Tim :)
I must say I really, really enjoy this project. Who knows, perhaps it won't be the last Karaoke or voice project we are doing here in the GOF?


action9000

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Who knows, perhaps it won't be the last Karaoke or voice project we are doing here in the GOF?
I hope it won't be ;) I'm very much enjoying this, and I'm happy to see so much support for the project!  Once this is finished, we may start another one shortly.  Since I'lll be building an MP3 of "No One Has To Be Alone" anyway, maybe we could do that song next. :lol


Malte279

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Now that would be interesting! The much the more as people would be ascribed the roles of actual characters for this song. Maybe we should do some recordings to find out who sounds best for which character? This too might be interesting for that LBT computer game project if it is meant to go beyond the planning.


action9000

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This too might be interesting for that LBT computer game project if it is meant to go beyond the planning.
That would work, too.  An instrumental version of No One Has To Be Alone could probably easily find its way into a game.  A vocal version would need a more specific scene to sound appropriate (such as a cutscene or similar), but an instrumental version may very well suit the game nicely :)


Malte279

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I was refering to the voices in particular (if we found adequate matches for the LBT characters), but no doubt music too would be needed for such a game. Did you read my suggestions on this?


Petrie.

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What else you might want to consider if you have a hard time deciding on a solo part, this is more work for you ultimately, but you can have the last few lines jump between singers.

ie. Malte sings "as high as souls can fly" then me "the clouds roll by" and you "for you and I"

*shrugs*  It's an idea anyway if you think someone did one part better than another.


I wouldn't mind doing another project.  I already know what part I would steal, but since its allergy season again, I'll probably have to wait and see if I can even keep a decent pitch.


action9000

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What else you might want to consider if you have a hard time deciding on a solo part, this is more work for you ultimately, but you can have the last few lines jump between singers.
This wouldn't be hard to do, nor would it take much time (a few minutes out of 30 or so hours of work, that this song has been so far, is nothing to me :p).  I could certainly try it and see what kind of results I get.  If we did this, the order of singers would probably end up being:

Me - "As High as souls can fly"
RR - "The clouds roll by"
Malte - "For you and I"
 
You and I, RR, are basically interchangeable, and both you and Malte make good candidates for the last note.  I wouldn't even try to hold that note; I can barely reach it for a short amount of time, let alone quietly and for a long period :p.  Well, I have tried, and I can't really do it :slap

Out of my recordings, Malte's will be the easiest to fade into the ending, and his last note lasts the Entire duration of the final measure of the song.

I'll play around with this idea.  If it sounds smooth and clean enough, I'll certainly include it in the final version of the song.  Good idea, RR  B)

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I was refering to the voices in particular (if we found adequate matches for the LBT characters)
If any of us could be a reasonable representation of an LBT character, this would be a lively element to add to a game.  I like it ;)


action9000

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I have a "lite" version of the project so far, while we wait for the other recordings.
*NOTE* I haven't balanced the volumes of the singers in detail yet, because the positions of the singers in the sound field will change with the addition of new singers.  I'll clean it up much better than this for the final release :yes I just wasn't willing to spend an hour or two to balance something, only to have to re-balance it (or completely remove it) when I get LF Fan's, Duckyfan's and Tobeysan's recordings :p

This version consists of Malte, myself, and Adam singing throughout as much of the song as they have sent me.  This means that Malte and I sing throughout the entire song, and Adam joins in at the end.  This also clearly demonstrates the issue I'm having, synchronizing up the ending's singing.  I think it will work out much better with one singer at a time in that ending.
It also shows the trouble I have staying in tune, especially on the higher notes! :lol

Remember, the final version will sound cleaner :p
http://www.angelfire.com/az3/nightcruiz3r/lbt.html
Enjoy it for what it is, in its 160 kb/s glory :lol

Right now, I'm looking into putting some noise-reduction on the very end of Malte's recording.  It sort of has a *hiss* into the ending.
[EDIT] Fixed!  It was pretty simple; just put in a low-pass filter to go from 0 to -20 dB over the time of the last measure, while decaying the volume of the vocal channel at the same time....ok I'll be quiet! :rolleyes:

I'm going to bed, now.  Cya'll later :wow  [EDIT]


Petrie.

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I see what you mean about the ending.  :P:

Outside of that ending, that wasn't bad at all.  Hooray for us!  :D


action9000

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Hmm, something has come up on Tobeysan's end (his computer room is being remodeled / moved).  I won't be able to get his recording until Next weekend (April 28th or 29th) at the earliest, when he gets a quiet space to himself to record.


action9000

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Update:

I Finally was able to get together with 'Tobeysan' to get his recordings.  We sang together, in the same room at the same time, but recorded our voices into seperate files (the beauty of a good sound card; support for 2 microphones :D  We actually needed two sound cards to do everything we needed to do for this.  Luckily, I had my old one, so we just plugged them both in, and now my computer has two sound cards working together :p (Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS and a Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum)).

I have added our recordings into the song, and I am currently in the process of doing some detail work on the volumes and balancing of each voice in relation to the music.  It's not 100% balanced (Malte sounds a bit "far away" on the very last line of the song, for example, and the duet with me and Tobeysan (second chorus) is slightly too loud), but it's quite a bit better than the previous version.  Yuo'd be surprised how hard it can be to balance the voices of 4 people when many of them have never even seen each other before. :lol I'm very pleased with how the final chorus turned out :)

All I'm missing now, are LF Fan's and Duckyfan's recordings, and we can finally get a final version released once I receive them.

http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html
You can download it from the link at the bottom of this page.  It's not bad at all, considering none of us are expert singers :lol

Oh, and I PROMISE I'll fix that "popping" (slight increase in the volumes of all the instruments playing at the end of the song) at the end of the last note, for the final version :p I'm not sure why it's doing that, but I can force my way around it if need-be.  As far as my controllers say, the sounds Should just fade out.  I don't know why they all pop back up.


Hmm, it appears that an audio glitch that was present in my project's program also carried over to the MP3...at 1:58, there is an ugly *hiss* sound.  This is something that Will be resolved for the final mp3. I know some ways around this.  I just didn't think it would transfer to the mp3 from the program.  I just did a quick render from the program to an MP3 file, to save time (it can take about 8 minutes for a full-quality rendering of such a complex project file.  I didn't feel like sitting around for 8 minutes :p).

When I release the final version, I'll use full quality and eliminate all errors found in this version.


action9000

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Hmm, I just got a report from LF Fan.  Apparently, his sister is no longer interested in participating in this project :cry2

As a result, we are reduced to 5 people, and we must re-work who gets to sing which lines (the lines assigned to Duckyfan are no longer covered).

Singer 1: Littlefoot Fan
Singer 2: Action9000
Singer 3: Tobeysan
Singer 4: Adam
Singer 5: Malte

I'll work with the music for a bit, and post up a final listing of who will be singing what parts once I decide what sounds best. The main limitation I have, is that Adam has only sent me recordings from his original section ("When we are out there in the dark....." to the end of the song.)  I have no way of adding him to the first verse.


action9000

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Before I do any work though, here is a plan that I have:

Singer 5: "Don't Lose Your Way with each Passing Day.  You've come so far, don't throw it away."

Singers 1 and 5: "Live believing dreams are for weaving.  Wonders are waiting to Start."

Singer 1: "Live your story.  Faith hope and glory.  Hold to the truth in your heart.

Singers 1 and 5: "If we hold on together.... (first chorus)"

Singer 2: Souls in the wind must learn how to bend.  Seek out a star, hold on to the end.

Singers 2 and 3: Valley, mountain, there is a fountain.  Washes our tears all away.

Singer 3: Words are swaying.  Someone is praying.  Please let us come home to stay.

Singers 2 and 3: Second Chorus

Singer 5: "When We are out there in the dark, we'll dream about the sun.  

Singer 4: "In the dark we'll feel the light.  Warm our hearts, everyone."

All 5: Final chorus.  Individual singers will sing brief parts of the slowdown.


RR, I would be happy to give you more lines (as singer 4) but I'm afraid the only recordings of you that I have, are from "In the dark we'll feel the light..." to the ending.  I don't have the first part of that section ("When we are out there in the dark...") from you, so I cannot make that whole section a solo for you.  Therefore, I'm splitting it between you and Malte.


Malte279

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Which singer is going to be which number?  :)


action9000

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I posted that just above here.

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Singer 1: Littlefoot Fan
Singer 2: Action9000
Singer 3: Tobeysan
Singer 4: Adam
Singer 5: Malte