The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => LBT Projects => Topic started by: action9000 on February 07, 2006, 10:47:18 PM
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I was talking to Littlefoot Fan on MSN, and we started talking about singing.
Thanks to this inspiration, I came up with a little project, for anyone who feels like singing (and has access to a microphone!):
Here's the basic idea:
I will create an MP3 of an LBT song (which the singers will agree on) similar to how I made the Bestest Friends MP3, but with the vocal instruments removed.
Each singer will take a role of one of the original singers in the song (First come, first serve!), and record themself singing their lines. For the procedure for that, keep reading:
Use a recording program (Goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com) is awesome, but use whatever you want), and set it to only record what your microphone is picking up. Open a media player program, and play the MP3 file. Ideally, wear headphones while recording, so the music doesn't get picked up by the mic.
When the MP3 file is over, hit the stop button on the recorder. Send me the recorded file (in any media format you want. Don't compress it too much, or you will sound like crap on the final mix :p). If you want to send via yousendit.com that will work. my e-mail is action9000@hotmail.com but if the file is more than a couple of MB, you can't e-mail me the file directly. It doesn't like big files.
To meet me on MSN, my MSN account is action9000@hotmail.com as well. I can accept your recording this way, as well.
When I collect all the singers' recordings, I will mix them together to create a final mix of the song, with all of us singing it!
Anyone want to get in on something like this? :wow
Any questions, just ask ;)
If you're interested, leave a post or send me an MSN/e-mail with the song you're voting for. When we get a song decided on, I'll start building the MP3 of it
P.S. If you have a hard time singing just your part without getting lost, you have a few choices:
1) Sing the entire song (all the parts). I can cut and use only the parts you're singing the role of.
2) Ask me for help. I have a few ideas on how to assist. :yes
*Please Do Not* sing off another version of the song. They are all too different. Some are pitched higher, some are different speeds. :lol
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God this is pretty scary but it sounds so fun!
Can me take role of Littlefoot? B)
[edit]also, I've thought it over and I vote for Adventuring! :P: [/edit]
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Awesome, we have one!
Now, Adventuring requires 4 singers, so if we don't get any other votes, we need two more people in on this (I'll sing if we don't get enough members, otherwise, I'll just do the technical work).
The voting is still open though!
Anyone else want in? :wow
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Alright, we have another potential singer; my friend "Tobeysan"
He is willing to cover Cera, and his song vote is "The Mad Song"
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Both Littlefoot Fan and myself voted against "The Mad Song" because we already have more members participating, than we need singers for the song.
Votes may now only consist of songs with at least 3 singers, please.
So far, we have
Adventuring: 2 votes
The Mad Song: Disqualified
Unless we get a few people in, who all want the same song, it looks like it's going to be "Adventuring"
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I would be with you. Let others have their favorite parts in a song and give me what remains. Personally I'm particularly fond of "No one has to be alone".
Maybe we could also do something about "If we hold on together"? In the sing along version the song was parted between two people. There is no law against parting it among more than two.
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I think Malte's got the right idea- that song can be split among many singers, and we should try to use it. I've no idea yet if I'll join in since winter isn't the best time for vocal cords...at least not mine. :lol: I'll try, but I won't say I have a 100% success rate.
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I think you're right - the best song for a group of this size, is definately "If We Hold On Together"
The song is decided. If anyone else wants in, feel free to post. All positions are filled, but if anyone wants to double up on a part, they may certainly do that!
no idea yet if I'll join in since winter isn't the best time for vocal cords...at least not mine. I'll try, but I won't say I have a 100% success rate.
We hope you can make it in, RR! I'm not sure how many of us can actually sing (I know I can't, but I'm more than willing to try! :lol ) so it doesn't matter all the much. Just don't strain yourself :DD
Ok, question:
We're doing the song "If We Hold On Together." We should probably agree on how we want the song to sound:
1) The same background music as Diana Ross' rendition. This would be the quickest and easiest MP3 to produce, since I have the sheet music for it already. We could get right to work on the voice recording.
2) The same background music as the Sing-Along rendition (or my interpretation of, since I would be building the MP3 by ear). This will take significantly longer than option 1, but probably less time than option 3:
3) An entirely original musical score for the song, composed for our Gang Of Five rendition. It would be a unique version of the song that nobody has heard before, but it will take me some time to compose it.
Perhaps, for the sake of this not taking a large amount of time, we should do it in the original Diana Ross music style, and go from there. What do you think?
P.S. Are you still in for this song, Littlefoot Fan?
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Sweet :D Now it's even MORE scary :lol: lol
God that song is like the long, high vocal kind of song. Hope I can manage :D
Count me in!
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Excellent.
As of february 8th, we have
Littlefoot Fan
Malte
Tobeysan
possibly Roger Rabbit
and myself
That's not a bad group, guys! I'm impressed :DD
Two days left to sign up!
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update:
RogerRabbit says yay. ;) And he already chose his part and is practicing it... :P:
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Uuhh wait we're supposed to just choose a part?
I dunno which part to take :huh: lol
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As for me I let others pick their favorite lines first. If an "If we hold on together..." remains, I would be very happy to sing it. Is the plan that will sing one connected part of the song, or are we going to sing short lines, but several of them scattered throughout the whole length of the song (the way it was done in the sing along version)?
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I at least wanna sing the main chorus :lol:
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action will verify this but the part I asked for was the section between 2:45 and 3:15...esentially the hardest part in the song to reproduce. :P:
Perhaps we can all sing the last chorus where the song ends. I don't know how well that will work since we're all making separate recordings and I don't know how well we'd harmonize. :lol:
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the part I asked for was the section between 2:45 and 3:15...esentially the hardest part in the song to reproduce.
That is correct: Roger Rabbit will take this part.
Perhaps we can all sing the last chorus where the song ends.
That would be fantastic. Tuning, like you mentioned, may be a slight issue, but I have enough software that I can fine-tune any voices that are slightly off without distorting the quality. I won't be able to make it perfect, so it will still sound completely natural, but if we have any serious tuning issues (due to the fact that we can't hear each other while we're singing), I can help fix them. This is assuming the singers are reasonably close. As long as we are all singing in the same key (which we will of course), it should work though :lol
Speaking keys, if people prefer singing in a certain key, let me know. I can make the song in any key we want! Right now, I'm just working on it in the default key of C major (trivia game, hint hint :p ).
Uuhh wait we're supposed to just choose a part?
We haven't actually gotten to this yet, Littlefoot Fan, don't worry! :yes We should decide on parts soon, though.
[EDIT] See the later post for the structure of the vocalists. [/EDIT]
How does this structure sound? If anyone is interested in the above roles, go ahead and claim it! :wow
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Singer 5 (Roger Rabbit) then sings the entire bridge, alone:
"When we are out there in the dark, we'll dream about the sun.
In the dark, we'll feel the light warm our hearts, everyone."
Aww, was just thinkin about doin that part :lol
Sounds good :D Guess I'll take singer 2
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Awesome, Littlefoot Fan is taking singer 2's role
So far:
Singer 1: Me
Singer 2: Littlefoot Fan
Singer 3: OPEN
Singer 4: OPEN
Singer 5: Roger Rabbit
Malte, I'll see which part my friend tobeysan wants, and we'll put you on the other one, since you stated previously that you don't care which part you take. Whatever happens, we will all get at least one chorus to sing.
If anyone else wants to sing any of these lines alongside these singers, feel free to join up!
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Only problem is, I can't practice until I get a chance to be home alone. There is NO way I'm gonna sing while anybody is home :o
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Alright, the singing roles are Finalized:
Singer 1: Action9000
Singer 2: Littlefoot Fan
Singer 3: Tobeysan (A friend of mine from outside the GoF. He made the Cera pic that Pokeplayer uses for his avatar)
Singer 4: Malte
Singer 5: RogerRabbit
Fora list on what each of these roles means, see my post above:
As soon as I get the MP3 file of the music completed, I shall send it out to these people. And if anyone Else wants to double up on any of these parts, just let me know!
I have decided how I will make the MP3. I'll keep the original basic style and structure, but I'm enhancing the original idea with other sounds and instruments. You'll see what I mean when i'm done :DD
Actually, I've shown some very preliminary work to Littlefoot Fan, Tobeysan, and RogerRabbit. If you're interested, Malte, I could send you my progress so far, but I still have a lot to do.
*NOTE* If you want to do any recording before I send out the MP3, I may or may not be able to use it in the final project. We need to make sure we all sing the song as the same tempo (speed), so I would recommend waiting untill you get the MP3 before you start recording yourself for the final project. The original music, and my MP3 version, are bound to be Slightly different speeds, and that is incredibly hard to me to compensate for if the voices are recorded at a different speed from the mp3.
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If you're interested, Malte, I could send you my progress so far, but I still have a lot to do.
Please do! I'm really looking forward to listen to it, even if it is incomplete :)
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Sure thing!
Here's a link:
http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html (http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html)
As of right now, 57 seconds are complete.
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MP3 progress so far: 1:15 (about 30%)
http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html (http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html)
I'll try to finish it by the end of this weekend :wow
By the way, how does everyone feel about this as being the speed of the song? It's really easy to change :DD
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Hmm, well about getting this finished by the end of the weekend...
I'm about 50% done. I'm working very slowly because I keep changing and tearing sections of the song apart and...haha I'm slow :p
I'll get this finished Asap, then we can start recording :lol
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No rush.
I'm still with a head cold/sinus infection, and its not going to be going away anytime soon unfortunately, so I won't be singing anything until next week at the earliest. Right now I only hear really decently out of one ear, very congested, and somewhat unable to notice any pain. :o Don't really understand all of it either, but it'll be a while before I'm "normal" again.
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I'm sorry to hear that, RR.
No problem then. I shall take my time.
1:50 complete as of this post.
[EDIT] Two days later, and no progress. I had a fair amount of homework to take care of for school, but now I have a nice 5-day weekend. I *Should* be able to finish the MP3 by monday with no trouble :p [/EDIT]
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Hi um I know u are working on a song right now so I wont be joining in this one but if u do another song I would love to sing in it :)
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If anyone else wants to sing any of these lines alongside these singers, feel free to join up!
Maybe we should consider this? Perhaps every line in the song could be made a duet? That way you too could join up DuckyFan and also people would have some more lines each? Do you think this is possible Action9000?
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Yeah maybe u could do that, well if thats what u guys decide to do let me know :) I will join in if u guys decide to do it that way :)
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Absolutely! Like Malte and I mentioned, we can always welcome more singers :D
Your job is simple: We just need you to decide which part(s) you wish to sing. Since no one else has joined since the project has started, you have a choice of any of the 5 singing roles.
Each of these roles is explain an in above post. just post back with your preference. If you don't have a preference, we can assign you one :p
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um it doesnt really matter u can just assign me one :)
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Maybe it would be the easiest if you sing the same lines as your brother? If you sing the lines together I suppose it would be most easy to make sure that the singing is synchrone.
It would be the lines: "Live believing dreams are for weaving. Wonders are waiting to start. Live Your Story; faith, hope, and glory. Hold to the truth in your heart."
and the following refrain.
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Ok, here is the Updated vocal assignments for each singer. For the same reason as Malte stated above, I will be singing with tobeysan. We know each other's voices well enough, it will be easier for us to be in tune.
Singer 1:
"Don't lose your way, each each passing day. You've come so far; don't throw it away.
Singers 1 and 2:
Live believing dreams are for weaving. Wonders are waiting to start.
Singer 2:
Live Your Story; faith, hope, and glory. Hold to the truth in your heart."
Singers 1 and 2: First chorus
"If We Hold On Together..."
Singer 3:
"Souls in the wind must learn how to bend. Seek out a star; hold on to the end.
Singers 3 and 4:
Valley, mountain, there is a fountain, washing our tears all away.
Singer 4:
Words are swaying, someone is praying. Please let us come home to stay.
Singers 3 and 4:
Second Chorus
Singer 5:
"When we are out there in the dark, we'll dream about the sun.
Singer 6:
In the dark, we'll feel the light warm our hearts, everyone."
All 6 singers
Final chorus.
Assigned singers:
Singer 1: Duckyfan
Singer 2: Littlefoot Fan
Singer 3: action9000
Singer 4: tobeysan
Singer 5: Malte
Singer 6: RogerRabbit
How does this look, everyone?
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I see no problems with this setup.
Malte, you and I are somehow going to have to set up microphones or send samples to see if we can harmonize since we'll be sending in separate recordings.
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Roger, I may have changed this since you last read it. Please check over what each part sings again, since it may be slightly different.
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Since there's only two parts that me and Malte do, why don't we each go solo? He takes the first, and I'll take the second?
See that's what I'm wondering....can we harmonize when we're not together? Right now, I'm not too sure it'll work that well so it might be better if we go solo there since it is the hardest part of the song....where harminization is hard to make work unless you collaborate with your duet partner side by side.....
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Done - :wow
Good luck with that section, guys. It is tricky.
Feel free to sing in unison. No need to get fancy with harmonizing :p
Besides, the music I'm writing in has fairly complex chord progressions at times, which would make detailed harmonizing even more difficult.
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The MP3 is 75% done, gang :lol
Should be ready by the end of saturday if all goes well
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Hmm, I've run into a fairly substantial computer problem on my end, and I have to format my hard drive :mad . I'm writing this on my grandparents' computer.
This will push back progress of the Mp3 a good day or so, since I lost a day and a half of being able to work on it.
Ideally, I'll try to have it done by the end of sunday
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I won't be able to record anything till the beginning of March at the earliest, so take your time.
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Ahh, well the work and pain was worth it now. I got a new processor:
Pentium 4 3.00 GHz, hyperthreading :D
It was a couple of days getting everything to work again. My music software was a REAL pain - it didn't like my volume controllers for about 8 hours; it was very odd. I just got it fixed. It's about 4:45 am here :p
Anyways, I can get back to work on the project now, and I'll take my time, RR :DD
By the way, this processor is amazing :lol
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Sounds like we've something new to talk about on chats now. :lol:
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90% complete!
My next post will contain a link to download the full MP3 :DD
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Sounds good. I'll have a week all to myself to make the recording, and my head cold is gone too. :)
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I'll have a week all to myself to make the recording, and my head cold is gone too.
Good news, Roger!
100%! :wow
The Mp3 is finally completed, as a "version 1." :D If anyone has any suggestions, constructive criticism, or would like anything changed, I'm curious as to what you think of this music so far. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, though it's not without its flaws. My apologies for the delay, folks :DD
Now, for the recording process:
Each singer has been assigned a set of lines from the song to sing. Play the mp3 file in the background and record your part into some sort of audio file. Any format is fine, but the higher the quality, the better. Make sure the audio file you record has as little noise as possible in the background. All we need in that file is your voice. No music.
Don't worry about recording yourself breathing before a note. I can edit that sound out later :p
When you complete the recording, send me a link, send it over MSN, or use www.yousendit.com to send me the audio file. I'll take care of the rest :yes
Have fun everyone!
http://www.freewebs.com/action9000/songshome.htm (http://www.freewebs.com/action9000/songshome.htm)
If this downloads very slow, there is another link in a later post. Keep reading :)
Follow the link on the page.
P.S. Yes, the last note does *pop* slightly. I'll fix this for the final release. I'm not quite sure why it's doing that, but there are ways around it. :p
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Got it and will work with it next week. ;)
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Wow excellent job on the whole thing :D
I'm nervous now :lol: gotta find a time when I'm alone in my house and I'll get right to the recording :DD
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As you asked over PM, roger, I've attached the sheet music of the Bridge section, that you'll be singing, on this post.
I've blocked all the unncessary instruments from this image, so the weird notes don't confuse you. Shown, are all the melodic and harmonic sounds in the section, minus the percussion.
I put the clefs in so you could see what range each staff was playing.
Yes, there are A Lot of instruments in this arrangement (23 to be exact). I hope it isn't too overwhelming to read this. If you want a more condensed version, I can easily make one. The very top staff, in blue, is your melody.
*NOTE* In all the harmonies, Noteworthy Composer (the program I loaded the music into to take this screenshot) imported the midi file using all Sharps (#) for accidentals. I'm not sure what your music theory background is, but A# is the same as Bb, G# is the same as Ab, etc. I wrote the top staff in quickly, for a reference for you - it wasn't there originally. The top staff was written using standard music rules. The rest of the music was imported improperly, so just ignore that :p I didn't write the music in this program, and importing it resulted in some distortions. At least the notes are all correct :lol
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People have commented that downloading the MP3 off my site is very slow. Use this link until it no longer works. :p It should be much faster.
http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1IJ2BPU...TT1VF2TEA5CZBXO (http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1IJ2BPUKBF2TT1VF2TEA5CZBXO)
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*Important statement*
When recording for this project, please only use this MP3 to record yourself. I completely overlooked an important fact: The Littlefoot and Ducky rendition of the song is pitched slightly higher than ours! If you record to it, You Will Be Out Of Tune in our project! I don't know why I forgot about this. :o
For recording, you Must sing along to our MP3. All other versions of the song are too different to get an acceptable quality from. Thanks :DD
If you have trouble knowing where your part is in the song, to know when to start singing, I can help you, just let me know. I have a number of ways to assist on this matter.
Don't record yourself singing without listening to the music at the same time. Timing needs to be matched between your singing and the music, and the only way to guarantee they match, is to sing while it's playing. Otherwise, it may be impossible for me to match the singing to the music.
If I sound grumpy or demanding, I'm really not :wave I just want to save you folks the effort of having to do extra work :DD.
:lol Now, let's have some fun with this! :lol
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I'll see if I can get something done on Monday. ;)
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Any word on a recording, Malte? I know the status of everyone else, and there is no rush at all, but I'm just wondering how you're progressing on this project.
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Sorry, this was one of the points delayed partly due to my own sluggishness. I did make some first recordings during which it turned out that the old program I was using didn't record more than a minute. You already gave me a link to a better program (while I was still typing this) so that won't be a problem anymore. I'll do the recording as soon as possible. Again, sorry about the delay.
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I did several recorings today. If we meet at MSN later on I will sent them to you right away.
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That's great Malte! I probably won't see you on MSN on March 8th or 9th since I'm at school until 5 pm and 6 pm (my time) respectively. We'll see other soon after that though, I'm sure ;)
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Hey Malte if you read this, take it from me...you sing in English better than some English speakers sing in English and somehow have record deals. :yes :yes
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Thanks a lot :) Sometimes I'm unsure whether I should try to sound English or American (keeping in respectively leaving out the "r" before the consonants). Is there any audible accent in the singing? Either way it wouldn't be a bad thing I reckon.
I've recorded the singing in the higher quality (the first I did were not the CD quality mode), but Action9000 and I haven't run into each other at MSN yet.
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We may not until Saturday, Malte. I'm at school until at least 3:30 or 4:00 all week, and I can't get on msn here. That's alright, though. In the meantime, I'll work on my recording.
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Hey action, I'm going to try some more recordings on Friday with my voice recorder...yeah that mp3 player that I can only turn on with a screwdriver. :lol: I'm thinking it might help with the 'breath' you can always hear with that mic I used. That would be less work for you. It can't record any higher than 160 though.
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160 should be plenty, so long as it's at least 32 kHz or higher (preferrably 44.1).
but yea, that would be awesome. Since there is music in the song as well, slight quality imperfections will be hidden. Even Malte's 11 kHz recording didn't sound all that bad with the music behind it. I'm sure 160 @ 44.1 kHz will do nicely.
I'm currently borrowing a mic from my friend Tobeysan. He actually has a Good mic, so this will help with our (mine and Tobeysan's) recordings. It has great quality and it cancels out the breath noise very well. I want his mic :wow
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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.
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Sorry I'm taking so long :( I'll try to get it done as soon as possible
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This will be amazing. I can feel it. :D
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I'm really looking forward to the final version :)
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This will be amazing. I can feel it.
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 :)
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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?
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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
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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.
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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 :)
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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?
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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.
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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)
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 ;)
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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 (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]
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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
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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.
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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 (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.
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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.
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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.
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Which singer is going to be which number? :)
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I posted that just above here.
Singer 1: Littlefoot Fan
Singer 2: Action9000
Singer 3: Tobeysan
Singer 4: Adam
Singer 5: Malte
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Sounds good :D
And sorry about my sister :/ Meh, I should've expected this, hehe
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I couldn't do more recordings until May 18th at the earliest if you really want to wait for me to do something else. Otherwise, just use what I've given you I guess. :^.^:
That latest rendition was cool. I didn't think I was THAT out of tune. :o :P: Damn illness...and now allergies....so that will make it hard too.
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See a change above, RR.
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.
Is this alright, or do you want to send me a recording of you in the first part of that section so you get some more solo lines? I can work with it just fine as-is (as a matter of fact, it's all complete as-is, except Littlefoot Fan).
I've attached a link here to another update of the mp3 (Revision 006). The update contains much of the final balancing, as well as everyone's final singing lines, except Littlefoot Fan, who is not yet in the project. Everyone else is basically complete. If you have any comments, let me know and I'll be happy to look into it :yes
anywho, here's a link:
http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html (http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/lbt.html)
Bottom of the page B)
We're all good to go, guys. Everyone's waiting on you, Littlefoot Fan! :p
We need recordings from you, LF Fan, of the lines:
(last part of the the first verse)
"Live believing dreams are for weaving. Wonders are waiting to start. Live your story, faith, hope and glory. Hold to the truth in your heart."
(the first chorus):
"If We Hold on Together
I know our dreams will never die.
Dreams see us through to forever
where clouds roll by
for you and I."
(The Final Chorus:)
"If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die.
Dreams see us through to forever."
(Optional: the end of the song)
"as high as souls can fly
the clouds roll by
for you and I.")
I decided to assign you to the last part of the first verse instead of the first part (Remember, I asked you on MSN if you wanted to sing the first words in the song). This is because the later part of the verse is sung slightly higher, overall, and therefore will be more easily in your voice range.
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^ If you really are going to wait for me to tackle the first section of the bridge, you must realize you'll be waiting another week, bare minimum. I just don't have the stuff here to do anything.
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Considering the fact that I don't have all the components to complete the song right now anyway, I can wait. If I do happen to receive LF Fan's recording before you get a chance, would you be happy with the way it is now, or would you want me to wait?
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Our project is now Officially a Gang of Five project! :wow Tobeysan has joined our ranks, and the five (this includes you too, LF Fan :lol ) vocalists for this song can now all be traced back to our forum :yes
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^ And you'll be waiting for a new recording from me sometime next week....I'm pretty positive I can get it done on Thursday, god willing...
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I'll get Littlefoot Fan to confirm this for us, but he tells me that his sister is, once again, interested in getting into our karaoke project :lol
This means, unless I find out otherwise, she's back in, and we're back to our old plan of vocal assignments:
Singer 1: "Don't lose your way with each passing day. You've come so far, don't lose your way.
"Singers 1 and 2: "Live believing dreams are for weaving. Wonders are waiting to start.
Singer 2: Live your story, faith, hope and glory. Wonders are waiting to start.
Singers 1 and 2: If We Hold On Together....(first chorus)
Singers 3 and 4: second verse, second chorus
Singer 5: When we are out there in the dark, we'll dream about the sun.
Singer 6: In the dark we'll feel the light. Warm our hearts, everyone.
All 6: If We Hold On Together (don't forget to record this part, LF Fan and Duckyfan!)
Singers 1 and 2: Littlefoot Fan and Duckyfan. I"ll leave it up to you guys to decide who gets which parts.
Singer 3: Tim
Singer 4: Tobeysan
Singer 5: Malte
Singer 6: Adam
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*drums fingers*
Well, he's going to have to make up his mind pretty quickly...I don't have a big window...Thursday is probably it, so hopefully he'll have an official answer by then.
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I asked him to post here when he finds out for sure. I informed him that we need a decisive answer Before thursday.
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Any word, Littlefoot Fan? We need an answer before tomorrow :P:
RR, in case he doesn't respond, you might as well make some more recordings. It can't hurt to have too much data, but it can be a probem if we don't have enough. I'll make the necessary changes to the song once I know for sure who will be in it.
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Yes I'm still on for tomorrow. :)
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^Excellent
Looks like Littlefoot Fan is going to be offline for the day. I never saw him on MSN nor the Gang of Five. Go ahead with some recording, RR. Thanks a ton B) Everything from the beginning of the bridge to the end of the song would be potentially useful. If LF Fan's sister drops out, we can stick you solo on the entire bridge and let Malte sing with LF Fan in the first verse.
It is important to know whether or not your sister will be taking part, LF Fan. If she's not going to be in, I'll need to make a number of changes to the layout of the song, which will take some work and some time. If she will be in, I won't have to change anything :D The way its set up right now, it's ready for 6 singers. I just need the final 2 recordings.
Let your sister know how much her voice will help our song. So far, it consists of 4 (5 including yours) male voices, all singing in the same vocal range (and even the same notes, as we aren't good enough to sing in harmonies without being in the same room :lol No worries though; that would be Really tough to coordinate). The presence of a female voice would do wonders for the sound. We'd love to see her take part. :yes
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Hey all!
First of all, here is the latest version of our project roster:
Malte
Adam
Tobeysan
Littlefoot Fan
Amethyst
Action9000
For some time, Adam has been talking about attempting to get the group to harmonize together. I agree that this would be an interesting idea, however difficult to coordinate.
Here is the plan I have to attempt to organize it:
I am currently writing the sheet music for all of us to sing to. I shall assign each singer here to one part on this sheet music. I shall pass around both the sheet music and a MIDI file to each singer, that may be used as a reference to sing along with. The sheet music will be a .nwc file which will require Noteworthy Player or Noteworthy Composer to open. Click here (http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/composer/download.htm) to download Noteworthy Player, and ask me if you're looking for Noteworthy Composer. As long as you sing to the sheet music I give you, this should work (in theory, anyway :lol )! :wow
The sheet music is still in the development stage, but I do have a sample for you that may be of some interest.
http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/index.html (http://www.angelfire.com/az3/action9000/index.html)
(hmm, this sounded better on a piano :lol )
Check out the link at the top of this page for the mp3 download. *Note*: The version we will be singing to won't be quite this complex. This is just a "prototype" to help me figure out what I'm doing.
You will see (well, hear) that the score is quite thick. By that, I mean, there are many voices singing many parts at one time. I need to adjust this for our final project. Notice how rough and bulky it sounds sung by the synthetic choir instrument. My concern now is How to adjust it. Well, here is my plan:
Instead of trying to cram everyone together like in the above sample, I am going to simply do what we have been doing all along: make most sections either solo, or a duet, instead of trying to layer 6 people at a time in a complex choral passage who can't even work in the same room together. I shall keep the arrangement simple, using no more than two voices on the melody at any one time (except the very end, as we have done already). If we have two singers on the melody (one singing the actual melody, one singing a harmonic line to accompany it), that still leaves 4 people with nothing to do. What we're going to do now, is give them something to do! B)
The remaining singers (or as many as useful/necessary) will pretend to be a choir, singing an "ahh" sound (similar to the choir sound used in the MP3 above), singing simple chords below the melodic and harmonic singers. In other words, everyone else will act like "instruments" instead of like lead singers until it is their turn to sing either a melodic part or a harmonic part. I shall try my best to give every person participating a melodic solo and a harmonic line, as well as a choir-like role. I've learned enough about the range that everyone here can sing in, to give them notes in their appropriate range.
I shall post a sample up shortly, demonstrating what I'm attempting to describe in words.
You know, I'm wondering if this would be better-suited to its own project, as I'm not sure how well our current background music suits the depth of a 3- or 4- voice choir.
P.S. Littlefoot Fan, you were saying before that the melody of the song is out of your range. What if we try to find parts of the melody that Are in your range, and give you harmonic parts on the rest? B)
Are you and your sister still going to do this with us? :P:
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To Littlefoot Fan:
You mentioned today, before I left for work, that you were going to try to get a recording done. Do you have one (or more) for me? :D
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*gasps* Could it be??? :o :o
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I've got it and it's all but complete, in our mix. :D
I just want to see if I can still get Amethyst in our project, or if she's a no-show, before I post the final song up.
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Oh, are you still expecting my sister to participate? I think you can just leave her out since she just ignores it anyway :rolleyes:
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Oh, are you still expecting my sister to participate? I think you can just leave her out since she just ignores it anyway
Ok, that's good to know. Thanks for the info! B)
Here's our current situation: the voices (minus Amethyst) are recorded and complete, however there is an issue with the last chorus. Simply put: It's too disorganized and muddy. It sounded pretty clean with 4 amatuer singers, but it appears that 5 amatuer singers is just too many at one time. :lol
I am playing with ways to work around this, but it's proving to be a challenge. The buildup going into the final chorus is such that the listener will expect something big to happen, and I don't want to disappoint them. It actually sounded pretty good with the 4 singers, but the introduction of a 5th voice is adding a unique challange to the balancing of the final chorus.
I propose putting two or three of the best-sounding recordings on the final chorus (I'm still working out which combination sounds best), alongside Amethyst (a female voice) when I get her recording. That will be 4 voices (maximum) in the final chorus, which shouldn't sound too muddy and cluttered.
As for the other singers, I don't mean to disappoint you; the final chorus is simply sounding too cluttered. This is due to a huge number of factors: Different microphones, slightly different timings, different pitches (we're all off-tune at some point, but every time a voice goes off-tune, it jumps out. With 5 voices simultaneously, voices are jumping out everywhere and it sounds mushy).
I'm also playing with the idea of splitting the final chorus into two groups of three singers each. If this works, no one will be left out. :yes
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I could live with that. :) I heard that sample, and yeah, five of us at once didn't work too well. :lol:
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Ok, good news! B)
After spending two days with tobeysan and amethyst, we finally have All of the data collected for the song! :yes I have separated the recordings into their useful parts, so I just need a day to figure out which recordings are the best, and to plug them into the song. I also need to fine-tune the balancing, so this will be a full day's work.
I should have this ready to upload for monday, as planned! B)
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Awesome! :D You probably weren't planning on five months for one project when you started this. :lol:
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I was expecting two months, Maybe 3, tops. :P: Oh well, it's basically done, and it was fun to set up. B)
This song is now complete! I will be closing this topic, as it is no longer needed. A link to the song can be found on This topic:
http://z7.invisionfree.com/thegangoffive/i...p?showtopic=943 (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=813)
Great work everyone! :D