Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Discuss Pink Floyd tribute acts including NPF projects too!
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Annoying Twit
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by Annoying Twit »

Provided that I'm not put into a crucial chain link in case life intervenes and I let people down, then I can probably help. I have access to proper recording studios gratis and can arrange for anyone who can visit Leicester to get access if you don't mind being supervised by me. I know how to push protools buttons and twiddle the sliders, and can do production, mixing, and mastering if you're not expecting 100% Bob Ezrin standard.

In the previous project, the artwork and covers were a good way for me to contribute, because each individual cover was a useful thing in itself, and if I suddenly couldn't contribute for a bit and not all the covers were done, well other people were doing covers as well. I was hoping that after my sample 5.1 mix, that I would do a full 5.1 mix for all of the album. Again, that might work well as a way that I could fit in if others think it suitable because the 5.1 mix would be an "additional" thing, and it doesn't kibosh the main stereo album if I can't get it all done or something.
Massed Gadgets wrote:The project we started post-Charybdis involved a bunch of song titles that came from Pink Floyd bootlegs. We were all going to record songs in a Pink Floyd style using those titles, similar to the way we did Double Core. A bunch of us picked a title or two and set about working on our songs, and then the project just seemed to ride off into the sunset...
How about if everyone has finished their songs, to send me there stereo (presumably) final bounces as uncompressed .wav files, and I'll sequence and master the album???

Just offering. Apologies if out of place.
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mosespa
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by mosespa »

I, for one, think we need to dispense with the whole "it must meet Red Book standards" (or whatever one would call it) sort of thinking. I mean...it's great that we have access to proper mastering and such, but for my money, one of the things that kind of..."crippled" the final product of Double Core was a heroic (though I feel misguided) notion that it must live up to some kind of "professional quality" standard.

This is a homegrown project that is going to be passed around through vines, trees, branches, saplings and all other sorts of vegetative metaphors for "copied by one person and passed on to the next to be copied and passed on to the next, ad infinitum."

This isn't the work of super-secret celebrities, although some professional musicians might be involved (and I say bring your full rack of special effects...maybe you guys can do the "later" material when the band would have had a bigger budget to work with.) "Double Core" was a "work with whatever you have to work with and let the assemblist figure it out from there) sort of thing.

We're not going to be selling them to make a profit. To me, this means that we don't have to sweat presenting something that someone might feel gypped for if they paid 20 USD for it or something.

Does everyone who originally had a song in this have the means to produce their own recordings of their songs? That's probably a good place to begin.
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Annoying Twit
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by Annoying Twit »

Hi. I wasn't suggesting that we went back to the "all or nothing" model of Double Core. The reason I suggested that I be given stereo mixes for further mastering, is that makes the mastering optional. If people produce their stereo mixes, then they are distributable in themselves. If I take them and master them, then if I (as I would hope :) ) improve the sound of the mixes and make the album more consistent, then my version can be offered as well. I don't see how doing things in this way would create any additional risk over and above just releasing the mixes.

After all, even PF itself seems to keep on offering us fans remastered versions of their music.

I agree that the lessons of previous projects should be learned. But, I think it's possible to risk throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Clearly any projects need to be fault tolerant, but I think that we can plan to have things such as mastering, surround mixes, etc. Provided that we do so in a way that if things don't happen, all we lose is the extra stage, and the fall back position (original mixes rather than any mastered version). That's why I specified being given stereo mixes to master, rather than the modern method of working with the full multitrack mix. As there would then be risks of systems failure if I tinkered with the mix but then my workplace was hit by a meteor or something.

When I mentioned access to studios, I wasn't thinking of someone stopping recording at home and doing it all in the studio. I should have explained better but what I was thinking in my head was that if there was someone living say somewhere in the Midlands who couldn't quite get a good lead vocal sound at home could pop up/down here and record just the lead vocal in a proper studio, and then take the file home with them on a USB stick to continue working at home. I wouldn't want, and would be careful to avoid, a situation where someone outside ended up having a ProTools session of their work created at my workplace but no ProTools at home so that ... "things can go wrong".
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by mosespa »

Hi, Annoying Twit (LOVE the name, by the way, lol.) You and I seem to be on the same page, although maybe we're going about describing that page in different ways.

The thing I'm trying to avoid is what ultimately ended up happening to Double Core. For me, the thing that "crippled" the project (at least in my own eyes,) was when someone else offered to "master" it and make it "more professional."

In the process, a crucial segue between songs got mucked up and the person who was only supposed to be "mastering" the project (who proclaimed themselves a great musician, but failed to understand that a song can begin in "free time" before going into a solid tempo,) suddenly decided to flex their creative muscles by adding stuff to songs to "make them sound better" but really just made things worse, in my view.

I think it's great that you're offering the things you are and don't wish to discourage you...I'm just wanting to make sure that this project doesn't end up "improved to death" as the final, released version of Double Core was.
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by cwta eugene »

I've been toying with the idea of a thread wherein we can submit songs and get help from others. Perhaps Keith could make something where we could download things in wav. or MP3 files. I, for one, have a lot of ideas but don't have the talents necessary to see the ideas into fruition. I don't have great equipment and my recording software isn't exactly studio quality. I can't sing well and am very mediocre at playing the guitar, so doing something like posting my demos for the whole forum to see would really take me out of my comfort level. But if a competent musician were to tackle it, possibly with the idea of adding it to a new NPF Tribute Project, I'd be thrilled. On the flip side, I don't think I'm half bad with lyrics and melodies.

Anyway, just a thought. 8)
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by Hudini »

Somehow I get an impression that this square is running in circles... :smt017
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by Duckboy »

Hudini wrote:Somehow I get an impression that this square is running in circles... :smt017
Back To Back To Back To Square one.
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by moom »

A case of going Around And Around, as exemplified by PF.
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by Terentek »

I came by this thread to see if there had been any progress made.
I submitted a track to the new project called "Dream Factory"
Seeing as the last post was a year ago....
Oh well,no worries! :)

Nigel
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by mosespa »

I'm afraid you're so far the only person who's submitted anything, Nigel.

Still got your submission on top of the dresser in my room, though.
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Re: Right...Back To Square One, Anyone?

Post by Terentek »

Ah,no worries mate.
Feel free to dump it!

Maybe the time wasn't right.