The Roth Army All Star Band Jams thread..

[Coyote]

Write me down for "guitar".

[SunisinuS]

Anything. But I did want to start a thread earlier and this may grow out of this: I like to write music....so I wanted us to write and record a "DLR Army" theme/national anthem song. Lyrics/music/recording. I have done this stuff before....we can even compare if we have more and vote on it....or just collaborate and live with the results.

My sig in the "show your work" thread can at least let you see what I can do.

Good Luck!

[chefcraig]

Bummer, guys...

OK, leave it to the old school geezer here. J, you have a telephone, right? Why couldn't I set up my amp around 4-5 feet from my own phone (catching some natural room noise/inherent reverb), then I could play along to a recording on my end while you record it on your end. Using tools on available, could you not sync it up properly?

[lesfunk]

Skype!

[chefcraig]

Skype!

How dare you. For one thing, I was raised Episcopalian until I stopped attending in the 6th grade.

[lesfunk]

Here ya go. The bass has been delivered

[jhale667]

OK, leave it to the old school geezer here. J, you have a telephone, right? Why couldn't I set up my amp around 4-5 feet from my own phone (catching some natural room noise/inherent reverb), then I could play along to a recording on my end while you record it on your end. Using tools on available, could you not sync it up properly?

True, but never mind my limited experience with time-stretching audio - I'm not sure I can USB audio from my phone to record into Pro Tools real-time, and any other way, besides me calling you once you've got the track and recording the call as you play along into my phone's memory card and importing it results in my recording a phone's speaker...? I don't have the Skype like all the cool kids yet...


So if I understand DJ's premise correctly, if we're all going to get a MP3 of the drum track , import it into our DAWs, and send back a WAV of whatever part(s) we come up with? This is going to be a little more involved than we think...lol. Because if that's the case, Kwame (Fudd plays drums too, dunno if he has recording capability) has to already have a rough track w/ an arrangement to play? Like riff, verse 2-4x, chorus 'x' times, bridge, rhythm section for 800 guitar solos...how many bars is that gonna be? It'll take some collaboration, but can be done...

I'm having to learn all this crap anyway, going to have a friend on the East Coast do some drum tracks on a couple of tunes and he's not running PT either...and I've yet to swap files with people yet. But hey, playing to an already recorded drum track will be so fun for me - after two years of meticulously imposing a groove to a click-track, FFS...? Thank you!!

[Hardrock69]

Count me in somehow. I can do bass or guitars. Would have to download and upload files at work or at my Mom's house, but as for recording, I have all the gear I need.

[Diamondjimi]

The thing is les, I'm not altogether certain if I could track my parts, let alone convert them from my 4 track to digital, which is about all of the equipment (4 track, bass and amp) I have left after the divorce.

I have no recording equipment at all. I'm a bass player. I don't write. I interpret

Bummer, guys...

Big time! Do either of you (Chef 7 Les) know anyone with a portable digital multi-track who would help you out for a couple of hours here and there?

my problem would be the fact that i use a zoom mrs802 stand alone daw. i could bounce your tracks onto my machine, then produce a track which would synch up...

Perfect!

also, we're going to end up with too many guitarists just like irl so maybe allocating a pair of guitarists for each song, or perhaps pick a key and a style and whoever comes up with the best peer voted riff or....geez i dunno. anyway, i'm definitely in.

True, but establishing a good song is key. With the solo section/s, basically each of us would make full passes at the section/s and chop/choose and splice together a cohesive take.(on some songs)
We're obviously taking this 1 song at a time.
So I think the first song should def. have plenty of room for us all to show our chops and different styles ala' Hear n Aid style. Who cares if it's 8 minutes long!

So if I understand DJ's premise correctly, if we're all going to get a MP3 of the drum track , import it into our DAWs, and send back a WAV of whatever part(s) we come up with?

I thought the mp3 format would be easier for us to work up and share our ideas via email ( in the pre production aspect). But once each of us is ready to track our bits (rhythm's/solo's etc.) , they should be in wav. format. (Not blended or mixed with the music), but simply the full single wave track of the guitar, bass etc.
wwwyousendit.com is a great site for sending large files (free).

This is going to be a little more involved than we think...lol. Because if that's the case, Kwame (Fudd plays drums too, dunno if he has recording capability) has to already have a rough track w/ an arrangement to play? Like riff, verse 2-4x, chorus 'x' times, bridge, rhythm section for 800 guitar solos...how many bars is that gonna be? It'll take some collaboration, but can be done...

True, it's gonna take some work,bro. But it'll def. be worth it.
Fudd is a drummer, can't forget Ozzy. Also Go Spurs Go is a bass player as well. I'd mentioned this to him a year or 2 ago and he was into it big time....

[Diamondjimi]

Cast of characters update:


Diamondjimi - gtr
Jhale - gtr
Sesh - gtr
Coyote - gtr
Hardrock69 - gtr - bass?- vocals???
Chefcraig ?- Bass
Kwame K - Drums

[Hardrock69]

my problem would be the fact that i use a zoom mrs802 stand alone daw. i could bounce your tracks onto my machine, then produce a track which would synch up...or bite the bullet and get a cracked pro tools... or i dunno. tell me what you think, guys. also, we're going to end up with too many guitarists just like irl so maybe allocating a pair of guitarists for each song, or perhaps pick a key and a style and whoever comes up with the best peer voted riff or....geez i dunno. anyway, i'm definitely in.

Check out Reaper. Free use for 30 days, then...well, free use after that but if you buy it is only 40 bucks US.....

Sorry....can't help but push it, as I am amazed a person could have this program.....easily the equivalent of ProTools for such a small outlay....

[Diamondjimi]

HR, you down with some singin too?

[Etienne]

I would contribute some sparkle-clean-Lukather-Landau-for-example-volume-swell-chords-guitars, if you want...

[standin]

I can add vocals.

[Dave's Bitch]

I am starting up getting recording stuff together.I can Sing .Or if you want a guy singing my friend who used to post here can sing(Axl S)

[ashstralia]

i've been awol beering. promise i won't turn into sesh. (drunk sesh, that is; love ya mate!)... we definitely have many many talented musicians here of all stripes. gosh darn, where to start?

HR, i know and love my machine intimately. i'll be uploading wavs directly from it. that said, i won't fear the reaper.

[VanHalener]

I want a slice of vocals, but I warn you that I like to rock out with my coch out! OWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Someone will have to have editing skills for the video release.

[Blaze]

I meant to sign on as Blaze this morning. Went back to change and it was past the 20 minutes. Drats

lol.... be sure and shave up nice for the adult release, VanHalener.

[Reverberator]

You could put me down for guitar ...but as I have no clue about the technical shite and all that , I'll go and play to my regular audiance of alziemers ridden olds who don't remember the last bum note.

[Kristy]

Oh, and if anything is to be made from this I'll be band manager...we'll split the profits 90/10. Deal?

[jhale667]

Uh, no.

[Diamondjimi]

Cast of characters update:


Diamondjimi - gtr
Jhale - gtr
Sesh - gtr
Coyote - gtr
Reverberator - gtr
Hardrock69 - gtr - bass?- vocals???
VanHalener - Vocals?
Chefcraig ?- Bass
Kwame K - Drums

.................................

[ThrillsNSpills]

Is the song going to be long, with many parts? I'm concerned with so many guitarists that it won't turn into a clusterfuck unless some people are doing minimalist rhythm type things. I think you can do this but is one guy going to do the writng, or what?

Will some be delegated to rhythm and some for solos? Having a dual lead, or three part would give people a chance to get involved, but don't people have to have the same point of reference and/or approach to have this come together as really cohesive and amazing?
I'm just thinking out loud guys, all just food for thought since I want it to have the best chance of being really memorable and amazing, since I imagine that's the intent....

If there's a solo section , you could expand it by going up a minor third and doing that a couple times. I' m guessing you're going to do a balls out, loud crazy track. There just seems to be a lot of elements that have to be addressed and dealt with, unless I'm reading this wrong. What do you think?

[rocknrolldork]

This whole thing is a cool idea. Looking forward to hearing the result.

Is the song going to be long, with many parts? I'm concerned with so many guitarists that it won't turn into a clusterfuck unless some people are doing minimalist rhythm type things. I think you can do this but is one guy going to do the writng, or what?

Will some be delegated to rhythm and some for solos? Having a dual lead, or three part would give people a chance to get involved, but don't people have to have the same point of reference and/or approach to have this come together as really cohesive and amazing?
I'm just thinking out loud guys, all just food for thought since I want it to have the best chance of being really memorable and amazing, since I imagine that's the intent....

If there's a solo section , you could expand it by going up a minor third and doing that a couple times. I' m guessing you're going to do a balls out, loud crazy track. There just seems to be a lot of elements that have to be addressed and dealt with, unless I'm reading this wrong. What do you think?

Maybe you guys should do more than one song so everyone who signed up can get involved. Throw a few demos out there then choose who will work on what.

[Hardrock69]

HR, you down with some singin too?

Sure. We will have to have some kind of peer-voted lyric thang as well. I am good with that, so I am up for writing as well.

Perhaps we can make some kind of group decision on the title of the song, and write lyrics off that.

Or, once the basic arrangement is set, so we know which sections are verses or choruses, then some of us can take a stab at writing lyrics first and then come up with a title from that.

And yes, as for the format, for the rest of us to have something to play to, a stereo mp3 drum track is just fine. I can import it into Reaper and then lay down whatever I need to and export my cuntribution as a .wav. 24-bit 44.1 is no prob.

Have to figure out a good tempo....asskicking fast? Medium headbang? Doomy Sludge? But then, if we are going to do more than one song, we can do one at one speed, then next one slower or faster or whatever.

Kristy, if you get us a gig as the opening act at a puppet show, I might give you about 37 cents for a commission.

[SunisinuS]

I will play Tuba.

Actually I will just sit on the sidelines. As no one is reading post's anymore in this thread.

Roth On All!

[kwame k]

Great points, Thrills.

I guess it'll depend what the majority wants, as far as song type [up tempo rocker or whatever] and a lot of that shit will get sorted out once ideas start floating around. Hell, that's the fun of collaborating.......that out of left field riff or happy accident. Since we're a pretty diverse group, stylistically speaking, I would love to see everyone's style get represented but The Beast will take on a life of it's own.

As far as having too many of one thing or another.......from the stuff I've heard, everyone's a player here so I'm sure everyone will play for the song.....plus, that's what mixing is for, turning off/down guitar tracks Having said that....we can always do a 15 min wankfest

I agree with the consensus as far as format. Sharing MP3's, in the demoing phase, is quick and easy...........using WAV's once tracks are nailed saves upload/download/mailing time. My set-up is simple......one track each for bass and snare, two tracks for ambiance, four tracks total and then bounced to stereo. Unless someone needs a smaller track or file.....on my end, it's easy to bounce to a single track if anyone needs just a single track.

24 bit /44.1 is the way to go.

Once a click track or guide track is established syncing everyone up is simple.......pick a click track, establish the format [intro, verse, chorus, solo and ending] once we have a rough rhythm track add real drums, tweak the rhythm till it's nailed and build off of that............that's they way we've always done it but nothing's written in stone.

[kwame k]

OK, leave it to the old school geezer here. J, you have a telephone, right? Why couldn't I set up my amp around 4-5 feet from my own phone (catching some natural room noise/inherent reverb), then I could play along to a recording on my end while you record it on your end. Using tools on available, could you not sync it up properly?

If you have a four track all you need is to get that into your computer. If your sound card has inputs or a mic input you can bounce your tracks into your computer. Use the output of your four track as a mixing board or DI. As fas as software goes....I can send you Sonar or you can get what HR has been using for free.

[Blaze]

Is the song going to be long, with many parts? I'm concerned with so many guitarists that it won't turn into a clusterfuck unless some people are doing minimalist rhythm type things. I think you can do this but is one guy going to do the writng, or what?

Will some be delegated to rhythm and some for solos? Having a dual lead, or three part would give people a chance to get involved, but don't people have to have the same point of reference and/or approach to have this come together as really cohesive and amazing?
I'm just thinking out loud guys, all just food for thought since I want it to have the best chance of being really memorable and amazing, since I imagine that's the intent....

If there's a solo section , you could expand it by going up a minor third and doing that a couple times. I' m guessing you're going to do a balls out, loud crazy track. There just seems to be a lot of elements that have to be addressed and dealt with, unless I'm reading this wrong. What do you think?

Do most read music so a score could be constructed. It need not be a score necessarily. It can be a word written clarification. It really does not have to be one song. However, so not to over tax K another percussionist or 2 would be useful.

We might be able to do a rock symphony. Maybe, an established story line like the Battle of Thermopylae or something recent, The Osama compound raid. Tossing ideas.

[SunisinuS]

I read music.

[Blaze]

I have vague memories of percussion score. I wouldn't be able to write. I have not relearned it.
I haven't been playing with it much as of late, however Pizzicato writes and organizes different sections well.

[Hardrock69]

Musical notation is the same as reading Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to me. Totally a 'by-ear' person.

[Blaze]

That should be no issue. I did a thesis on writing music for spacial concept.
Your sound however, might need to be translated for those that have lost hearing and depend on visual or vibratory.

[Hardrock69]

What I will do is put a pitch transposer on my guitar parts, so that the track will be rumbling along at 8 hertz or so.

Those who are deaf will surely hear it anyway. THROUGH THEIR SKIN!

[ashstralia]

i've had an idea. my tune 'teleblast' really only needs a couple of more bits (pre chorus, chorus and a bridge), and it would be a whole song. if i finish it this weekend, maybe we can pass it around and make different versions of it, using different players and singers on each version? there could be an all instrumental/ shred version, one with HR singing, one with jackass singing, one with les and craig and jay, one with extra cowbell.....crazy, i know. but at least it's a concrete start. what do you think boys and girls?

[ashstralia]

Oh, and if anything is to be made from this I'll be band manager...we'll split the profits 90/10. Deal?

how about a few pairs of beautifully handmade italian boots/pumps? ay? AY?

[jhale667]

Musical notation is the same as reading Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to me. Totally a 'by-ear' person.

I don't think we need a 'score' per se. My notational skills are rusty at best, I use MusEdit for the rare times I want to transcribe something. I think since most of us ARE players, a chart would do just fine...y'know, such as:


Riff 4x
Verse section 8x
Chorus 4x

etc, etc.....

[jhale667]

Oh, and don't forget, Eb tuning...because we're a CVH group, we're not doing a Van Hagar tribute!

[VanHalener]

I will play Tuba.

Actually I will just sit on the sidelines. As no one is reading post's anymore in this thread.

Roth On All!

You my friend are a genius! First rock band with a tuba. -Awwww Yeah-

[chefcraig]

I don't think we need a 'score' per se. My notational skills are rusty at best, I use MusEdit for the rare times I want to transcribe something. I think since most of us ARE players, a chart would do just fine...y'know, such as:


Riff 4x
Verse section 8x
Chorus 4x
etc, etc.....

Oh, and don't forget, Eb tuning...because we're a CVH group, we're not doing a Van Hagar tribute!

Considering the above, from a compositional standpoint, it might be a good idea to keep the song as simple as possible, like a track from VH II. Minimal chord changes, perhaps only a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, series of overlapping solos, chorus, fade with more solos. Notice I didn't even mention including a bridge, which really isn't all that ncessary in what would essentially be an uptempo boogie tune. The structure (as most boogie tunes are) would have a blues base, and would make the adding of individual parts almost intuitive, thus far easier.