Gang of Five Karaoke Project

action9000 · **on:** February 07, 2006, 10:47:18 PM

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 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

). 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?

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.

*Please Do Not* sing off another version of the song. They are all too different. Some are pitched higher, some are different speeds.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #1 on:** February 07, 2006, 10:52:13 PM

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!

: [/edit]

action9000 · **Reply #2 on:** February 07, 2006, 11:38:42 PM

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?

action9000 · **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2006, 12:44:20 AM

Alright, we have another potential singer; my friend "Tobeysan"

He is willing to cover Cera, and his song vote is "The Mad Song"

action9000 · **Reply #4 on:** February 08, 2006, 02:59:58 AM

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"

Malte279 · **Reply #5 on:** February 08, 2006, 04:16:51 AM

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.

Petrie. · **Reply #6 on:** February 08, 2006, 09:50:50 AM

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.

I'll try, but I won't say I have a 100% success rate.

action9000 · **Reply #7 on:** February 08, 2006, 01:28:30 PM

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!

Quote

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!

) so it doesn't matter all the much. Just don't strain yourself

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?

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #8 on:** February 08, 2006, 03:38:25 PM

Sweet

Now it's even MORE scary

lol

God that song is like the long, high vocal kind of song. Hope I can manage

Count me in!

action9000 · **Reply #9 on:** February 08, 2006, 03:39:53 PM

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

Two days left to sign up!

Petrie. · **Reply #10 on:** February 09, 2006, 09:41:08 AM

update:

RogerRabbit says yay.

And he already chose his part and is practicing it...

:

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #11 on:** February 09, 2006, 10:45:29 AM

Uuhh wait we're supposed to just choose a part?

I dunno which part to take :huh: lol

Malte279 · **Reply #12 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:15:04 AM

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)?

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #13 on:** February 09, 2006, 11:18:14 AM

I at least wanna sing the main chorus

Petrie. · **Reply #14 on:** February 09, 2006, 03:32:06 PM

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.

:

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.

action9000 · **Reply #15 on:** February 09, 2006, 04:39:17 PM

Quote

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.

Quote

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

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

).

Quote

Uuhh wait we're supposed to just choose a part?

We haven't actually gotten to this yet, Littlefoot Fan, don't worry!

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!

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #16 on:** February 09, 2006, 05:12:30 PM

Quote

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

Sounds good

Guess I'll take singer 2

action9000 · **Reply #17 on:** February 09, 2006, 05:53:57 PM

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!

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #18 on:** February 09, 2006, 07:32:17 PM

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

action9000 · **Reply #19 on:** February 09, 2006, 07:39:15 PM

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

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.