If you're interested in participating in this project, please read through this post for instructions on how to join. Thank you.

The idea for this project originated from Mushyrulez (http://forums.ichigos.com/member.php?u=72824).

What this project aims to do is to put together the combined efforts of members of these Ichigo's forums, and assemble a recorded instrumental collaboration in the same vein as other internet musical collaborations. For example the Canon Rock Collaboration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQV5pz-ylz0), or this Zanarkand Arrangement (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjO1RR6V_JQ), or this Rush Mission cover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J_kV-UV5-M), and so on. We'll cover musical areas that most Ichigo's members can identify with, such as music from the genres of: Anime, VG, Classical, Rock, Pop, etc.


So, if this sounds interesting to you, then please read on. Even though this looks like a lot to read, don't be scared off; It's all important information.

Here are the guidelines:

1) Playing your part -- That is, playing the correct notes, rhythm, and dynamics with a minimum of mistakes. Although some mistakes are okay (since perfection isn't possible):

a) Each instrumentalist and/or singer will need to practice. -- You'll need to learn your part, which involves playing it over and over until you get it as good as you personally can, and then...
b) Record -- If you think your part is ready, then you record it. Do Multiple Takes, if necessary (i.e. if you mess up too many notes).
c) Once you have a good take, zip together the video and audio files (which should be recorded simultaneously but in separate files, if possible), and then upload them to a file hosting website, like megaupload, or mediafire, etc. [For details on recording, PM me]
d) After you submit your part, it will be listened to, and feedback will be given on any parts that need tweaking. If there are severe errors, or a large number of them, those spots will be pointed out to you, and then you should practice those more, and then record & submit again.
e)This is an inclusive project, so even if the above info worries you, and you feel like you might not be good enough, don't hesitate to apply to join. The reason we have these steps is for the sake of quality control. If one person sounds too unpracticed and sloppy, it can bring everyone else down too and reflect badly on the group as a whole. But we want to help you to get your part sounding as good as you can, so we will be patient, and we'll work with you to help you achieve your personal best sound. We ask that, in return, you also be patient and not frustrated if you have to submit your part more than once.

If you have any additional questions about the above process, please PM me.

2) Microphone quality -- We realize that not everyone has a decent microphone, and it's not a requirement that you have a really good one in order to participate, but if you have the spare money to buy a good one, then PM me if you want some recommendations on which ones to look at.

3) No clipping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_%28audio%29) -- If you're getting clipping, you'll need to do either or both of these things: lower the gain (input volume) on your microphone (on the mic itself or through the computer's volume mixing control in the control panel) and/or physically move the mic further away from your instrument while recording. It's preferable to do the former option of lowering gain, so you can be closer to the mic and therefore reduce the amount of background noise picked up, which also leads me to part four...

4a) Recording Environment -- Try to record when background noise is at a minimum. If your dog is barking or your kid screaming, please calm then down. If your neighbor is blowing leaves/mowing the lawn, then wait until they're done. In any case, for the sake of decent quality, please try to keep those sorts of sounds out of your recordings. If you happen to be getting weird echos and boxy effects, brncao suggests using strategically-placed blankets and pillows to cut back on this (you can read his post right below this one).

4b) Recording -- A guide track and/or click track will be provided once a song is decided, so we can get everyone playing in tempo. If we end up choosing a classical tune or other piece with a variable tempo, we'll use a standard mp3 version for instrumentalists to listen to during recording. Everyone needs to listen to the exact same guide file, so that everyone will be in the same tempo. As for your recording, it should only have your instrument on it, so try to keep background noises low, and any listening you do whilst playing must be through headphones, not speakers. The reason for that is because, as much as possible we only want to hear you playing your instrument, and not extraneous sounds. Any submitted recordings with the original piece of music playing in the background will be rejected, so headphones are an absolute requirement. If you don't have headphones, borrow from a friend or buy some cheap ones. I can recommend you a pair of decent and very comfortable headphones which are only about $25 USD.

5) Tuning -- You'll be expected to be in tune. That means the first "A" above middle-C is 440 Hz (with middle-C itself being approx 261.6 Hz). A440 is an international standard (even though many orchestras don't adhere to it and use a variety of tunings). So make sure you know how to tune your instrument, or in the case of a piano or similar instrument, be willing to have a professional tune it if it's significantly out of tune (slightly out of tune is acceptable since piano setups aren't cheap). If you need help in tuning, PM me. Thanks go to Gekkeiju for bringing up the subject of tuning.

6) Sound processing -- Audio editing will be done by audio geek staff members (lolz), so don't worry about processing your sound before you upload it (I.E. noise removal, leveling, etc), unless you're very confident that you can do it well. And in the case that you are confident and experienced, then please consider applying for the position of audio mixer. If you have a sound-mixing program, but lack experience, I may be able to help you learn.

7) While it's preferable that everyone have a camera for recording video (since this is going to go on Youtube), it's also acceptable to use audio-only, as sound quality is far more important than video quality, or even having video. For people without a cam, the parts where they play will be substituted by a black screen with their forum name/alias on it, just so the viewers know who's making those lovely sounds. =D


Keep in mind that because of the limitation on number and types of instruments (we won't have a full orchestra to work with) certain parts may be modified to fit the piece. As long as the substitute instrument falls in the range of the instrument being substituted. Or at least the range that the particular instrument plays in the chosen song. In other words, it's likely, that we'll have to do something like: subbing in a trumpet for an alto sax part, or a piano for an acoustic guitar part, and so on, at least until we get people who can play those instruments.

In the case of multiple people wanting to play the same instrument, solutions will be determined on a song-by-song basis. It might be done in sections, where one pianist would take section A, a second pianist takes section B, first then takes transition C, then second takes the repeat of A, etc. The other alternative is for duplicate instruments to mirror each other and play the exact same part. In any case we'll try to make it as fair as possible, where everyone gets close to equal, or at least substantial, attention/playing time.


One last thing, if the song you really wanted to play is not chosen by the voters/participants, please don't refuse to participate and leave the group. Stick it out and play with us and play anyway, and at least one of your suggestions should eventually get played. I'll try to see to it too, that everyone gets a fair shot of having their suggestions considered. =) That said, be sure to suggest songs that fit at least a portion of our instruments, in order to minimize arranging. If you suggest musical pieces that contain only 2 or 3 instruments (when the group has 6 or more instruments), then it will naturally be less likely that your suggestion will be considered. We can arrange in order to add-in or alter instruments, but at least try to suggest stuff that uses our available instrumentation.


If you've read this entire post, and you feel like you want to contribute as either an instrumentalist or staff member (or both), then you are qualified to participate and should do the following: Send a private message to Mushyrulez by clicking here (http://forums.ichigos.com/private.php?do=newpm&u=72824) and in that private message, list what instrument or instruments you would be willing to play for the sake of this project, also what microphone you have (unless your instrument is electric and doesn't need one), list what camera you have (if you have one), and let me know whether you can learn your part by ear and whether you can read sheet music and/or tablature. You don't need to list all of the instruments you CAN play, just list your main one first as well as any other ones you desire to play for the collaboration. If there are enough open parts, you'll probably be permitted to play more than one instrument, but realize that you'll also have to learn and practice the parts for any additional instruments you want to play in the song that is decided, so you should take only as much as you can personally handle (Two instruments is doubling your work/practice, three triple, and so on). If you're interested in one or more staff positions, please read the job descriptions for the staff members below, and let me know which ones you can accomplish.


Once you're a member, please read the activity policy (http://forums.ichigos.com/group.php?do=discuss&gmid=3761#gmessage3761), when you get a chance.



Current Instrumentalists

The current instrumentalists are listed within the Social Group (http://forums.ichigos.com/group.php?do=discuss&gmid=3392#gmessage3392), so please click that link and read it.


Volunteer Staff Positions

In addition to players/singers, we're also interested in supplemental staff, such as transcribers, arrangers, sound mixers, or video editors. If you don't know how to do these but are willing to learn, I can tutor you some, on any of these, except video editing.

For anyone else who doesn't want to sign-on as a player/singer, or staff position listed below, but wants to help in some other way, PM me and let me know how you think you can promote or help the group.

For transcribers/arrangers: Basically, when you sign-on, we will let you know of a specific instrument or instruments that we'd like you to transcribe or arrange, from whichever tune/song the players happen to choose. After that, we'll connect you with a player, or players, and you will do back-and-forth communication with them, in order to make sure that part you've transcribed is playable by them. You only have to take on as many or as few people as you can handle, so don't feel concerned that we will give you a half-dozen parts to transcribe and/or arrange. In addition, some of the players can learn their own parts, so it's quite likely that you're workload won't be difficult. And again, you only have to take on what you can handle. We'll try to find other people to handle whatever the currently residing transcribers/arrangers are unable to handle.

If you transcribe, please have a very good ear for pitches and rhythms, and such. Basically, your ears act as a substitute for the players who are lacking in their own ear-training, so you ought to have pitch and interval recognition that's at least as good as, but preferably better than theirs. Use your ears to write out a part as either sheet music or (if necessary, and if you're able) tablature/TABs.

If you arrange, please know the ranges of the instruments you are arranging for, and also ask your designated players what their own personal ranges are (since some players cannot hit the full standard range of their instrument). You work with them to make their transcribed part within their abilities (if it's way too hard for them as written).

If you have composing experience, you may be asked to compose sections, or sometimes whole parts, which fit into the selected piece. This will sometimes be necessary because we'll sometimes choose tunes that either don't have enough parts, or will have certain parts that after arranging, don't give the player enough material to play.

I'll also be in touch with you to make sure your arrangement meshes with the overall arrangement of the song or tune, so we don't end up getting any unintended dissonance, or severely conflicting parts. In addition to talking with the players chosen to work with you, you'll also need to communicate with the other transcribers/arrangers/players, so that everyone is on the same page about who is playing what. In any case, you gotta be willing to talk with us, so that we, as a group, can foster an environment of mutual awareness, rather than one of mutual ignorance. =)

For audio mixers: You take the audio recordings that people send in, then you do the necessary editing, such as: noise removal, leveling, compression, filtering, etc and so on, to make it sound good. You'll also do panning, volume-balancing and other dynamic tweaking. You'll work in conjunction with the me, with other Audio Mixers, and also Video Editors. And you'll carry out your task by listening and comparing to the mp3 to combine/balance the instruments to achieve the desired sound. Having experience would be a huge plus, but if you're willing to try, I can spend some time teaching you how to do it in Audacity.

For video editors: You take the various video recordings uploaded by the players and arrange them so that the visuals match the audio of whomever is playing/singing at the time. See this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjO1RR6V_JQ&#t=20s) for an example. Having Sony Vegas Movie Studio or a similar video-editing software is necessary. I'll be directing fade-ins/fade-outs and on-screen player locations, which will also be discussed with the group. Unfortunately, if you want to do this but lack experience, I can't help you too much, for learning how to do it. So, basically, please only apply if you have prior experience, or are willing to learn on your own.

Room acoustics is a pain in the ass! A cheap way to deal with this is to build yourself a blanket and pillow fortress:heh: Grab some chairs, put a large blanket over your head as your ceiling and pillows as your walls, and put a lamp in it to light the place up lol. Does wonders for a vocal booth. The only disadvantage to this is if you live in a hot climate lol XD

Thanks for making the decision :P

To clarify things; I'd /like/ to run this but from Solaphar's post he seems to have more of... say, experience? Thus, I'll invite him to run it (unless you don't want to >_>). I have absolutely no idea how to do anything because this was just something I suggested at a whim, but I can learn if need be.

Something like the Canon Rock thing is exactly what I'm thinking about as well.
However, instead of switching instruments, may I propose that we actually jam everything in? Thus we can have multiple instruments that are the same play at the same time. We won't need to make it so that only 6 people play at a time, in fact, we might even be able to do everyone play at once, the entire song. Synchronizing that is going to hurt a bit but it's not impossible.

And yeah.

For participating, I can play the piano (non-electric). As for a song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9wHYiicY5I; reasons being the song itself is about music (Prismriver's theme), and well, it sounds good. :heh:

Room acoustics is a pain in the ass! A cheap way to deal with this is to build yourself a blanket and pillow fortress:heh: Grab some chairs, put a large blanket over your head as your ceiling and pillows as your walls, and put a lamp in it to light the place up lol. Does wonders for a vocal booth. The only disadvantage to this is if you live in a hot climate lol XD
That's a great tip. Anyone having problems in this area should definitely try using blankets as necessary to cut back on echoing sound. Putting it on chairs or other objects may work better than directly on your head, which may impede playing ability. =P


To clarify things; I'd /like/ to run this but from Solaphar's post he seems to have more of... say, experience? Thus, I'll invite him to run it (unless you don't want to >_>).
I haven't the time right now. Next year I'll have lots more time.

Ideally, we/you can find someone suited to the task if you don't feel up to it. Or... you can be the central manager and then you can find people to delegate specific tasks to. You'll need to find an audio mixer, video editor (if you're going that route), and probably another position or two that I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment.

I have absolutely no idea how to do anything because this was just something I suggested at a whim, but I can learn if need be.
Yeah, you should probably start learning. At least so you can know what a mixer or arranger, etc is talking about when they tell you something. Go Here (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=audio+mixing). And third link down (http://www.garritan.com/tutorial/AudioMixing.htm) seems a good place to start.


Something like the Canon Rock thing is exactly what I'm thinking about as well.
Yep. We'll aim to do an online collaboration, similar to that one. =)


However, instead of switching instruments, may I propose that we actually jam everything in? Thus we can have multiple instruments that are the same play at the same time. We won't need to make it so that only 6 people play at a time, in fact, we might even be able to do everyone play at once, the entire song. Synchronizing that is going to hurt a bit but it's not impossible.
Might be possible, although there are a couple potential problems that could happen:

One: If two or more instrumentalists are playing the same part and the same section, they'll need to be very very precise and synchronized, because otherwise, messed up notes will easily and very audibly clash and likely will sound worse than a lone player making the same mistake. This problem can likely be avoided with sufficient practice as well as quality control for accepting recordings.

If you've ever seem a symphony orchestra playing, you should know what I mean. All the violinists bows move in near perfect unison, and so it goes with the other instrumentalists who are playing the same part. Us run-of-the-mill Ichigos amateur instrumentalists might not be capable of playing at that level of synchronization.

The second potential issue is that the song chosen may have parts that require multiple of the same instrument. Like, two or three trumpet lines, and so on. If you're asking everyone to play the whole song through, you'd have to ask them to play all 2, 3, 4 parts that use that same instrument. It's probably easier to mix and match sections.

In either case, multiple people playing the same part will require mixing them down, making their individual part not as audible. They get "buried in the mix" in other words. I think most people will want to be able to listen to the finished collaboration and be able to pick out their part by ear, rather than struggle to hear it against the other 1 or 2 or more people playing that same part at the same time. I could be wrong though.

I suppose any people playing the same instrument will have to work it out with each other on a song-by-song basis. I'm sure two pianists, or two flautists, etc can come to an amicable agreement on how to do it.


For participating, I can play the piano (non-electric). As for a song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9wHYiicY5I; reasons being the song itself is about music (Prismriver's theme), and well, it sounds good. :heh:
Sounds good. You're added as a pianist.

This is exciting!

Well, I play the trombone. So I can handle the brass stuff. =]

and as for a suggestion, if we are going down a rock/orchestral path....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gaMKbv-xHU

Well why not go look at the one Reey did in general chat, and ask them :P

Also, yum. tuning.

This is exciting!

Well, I play the trombone. So I can handle the brass stuff. =]

and as for a suggestion, if we are going down a rock/orchestral path....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gaMKbv-xHU
Cool I added you. Btw, is it tenor trombone that you'll be playing?

We probably won't have a clear idea of which genre we'll aim to do until we see how many people will participate and also which instrumentation will be available for us to use.

That said, it can't hurt to make suggestions now in case we do get the necessary instruments to fit the song later. Since we want this project to be inclusive, for rock songs lacking brass and/or string parts, we can write parts for those instruments that will fit in with the song, or go the easier route of sticking to songs that already have those instruments.

After typing that, I just remembered what other positions we'll need. We'll need at least one or two arrangers, to help the players who need assistance in arranging their own parts.


Well why not go look at the one Reey did in general chat, and ask them :P

Also, yum. tuning.
Looked at it. Thanks for pointing it out.

Not sure what you're referring to by "yum. tuning." If people send in out-of-tune recordings, they'll just have to retune and try again. I guess I should add that above too. Thanks for pointing that out.

Btw, were you interested in participating?

Yeah, Tenor Trombone. I hate bass. xD

Might I make the suggestion of adapting Goodbye Lenin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awtWSj_qTkE) for this project? While it isn't anime or game based, I think that it would be a fantastic piece to work between a variety of instruments, and the general melody is easy enough to pick up. The hardest part will be syncing dynamics and expressions.


If not, there's the Hime's Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDJf5IZnEro) from Princess Mononoke. There's quite a bit of movement between melodies that could easily be adapted for unscored instruments, and it's well identified.

There's also Kimi Wo Nosete (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ri8vCYd9S8) from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

Might I make the suggestion of adapting Goodbye Lenin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awtWSj_qTkE) for this project? While it isn't anime or game based, I think that it would be a fantastic piece to work between a variety of instruments, and the general melody is easy enough to pick up. The hardest part will be syncing dynamics and expressions.


If not, there's the Hime's Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDJf5IZnEro) from Princess Mononoke. There's quite a bit of movement between melodies that could easily be adapted for unscored instruments, and it's well identified.

There's also Kimi Wo Nosete (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ri8vCYd9S8) from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
Thanks for stickying the thread. I'm not sure if this idea will take off though. I was kinda waiting for more around 6 or 7+ instrumentalists before thinking of asking for a sticky. So far, our grand total is 2. But then again, it's only been up about a day. So, hopefully this will get to that goal of 6 or more soon enough.


As for your music suggestions, they'll be discussed in the social group. That said, I expect first priority will be given to the suggestions of players and singers (if we end up using vocals too). This is purely for the pragmatic reason of encouraging participation. People will be more likely to participate (i.e. play an instrument or sing) if they think "their song" will get played (or eventually played).

I'm going to add arranger(s) to the list of staff we need. We'll also need a project manager if Mushyrulez is unable to fill that role.

I just want to double-check. Social groups are disabled, right? If they aren't, then I think one would be perfect for this. This thread could be used to attract attention, and then actual instrumentalists would be directed to join the social group after posting here (would cut back on clutter and keep things a bit more organized). But, I'm not even going to worry about that yet. First things first: Instrumentalists and staff members (sound, video, arrangement, etc).

Alright, so then I suppose I'll be 'managing' this (and it'll be TOTALLY fine).

Yeah, reey's arrangement was, well, for lack of a better word, fantastic; if we can get him to help, then that'd be great.

It could be an Ichigos-centric collaboration, however, seeing the... lack of responds to other... events, I'd say we extend it to other places. I've already posted requests to other forums, and several people (one, haha) has expressed an interest in it (and I'll have to clarify).

However, if we get people from other forums, then coordinating things will be even harder. We can get those people over to Ichigos, or we can create a new forum specifically about this. I wouldn't do the latter option until we know we're going to go with this, so I'll just relay whatever important info comes up to the other people.

Also, if you edit your top post with more info could you also copypasta the info in another post? That way, we can know which things we need to.. know about?

Another issue that may come up is time. If everything goes completely smoothly, we may have this finished by the end of Summer, but I highly doubt that; I'd aim for the end of this year at the latest. Is everyone fine with that or should we move it up a bit?

Finally, the music doesn't have to be anime or game-based. It could be anything.

EDIT: Argh I've been ninja'd D:

Social groups could work but I never check that. I'll go on recruiting more people for now; we'll pay more attention to other stuff once we've got half a dozen or so.

DOUBLE EDIT: Also, this is irrelevant right now but I've got 7 different sheets for Phantom Ensemble for Piano, Violin, and Trumpet. One of the reasons I'd vouch for that piece is because it's transcribable; we don't have to limit ourselves to what's on the page, and so it'll be more original as well. We're a community of transcribers, we can transcribe pieces if need be.

I just want to double-check. Social groups are disabled, right? If they aren't, then I think one would be perfect for this. This thread could be used to attract attention, and then actual instrumentalists would be directed to join the social group after posting here (would cut back on clutter and keep things a bit more organized). But, I'm not even going to worry about that yet. First things first: Instrumentalists and staff members (sound, video, arrangement, etc).


Social groups could work but I never check that. I'll go on recruiting more people for now; we'll pay more attention to other stuff once we've got half a dozen or so.

Yes. The social groups are disabled, but I can attempt to motion for reopening them if it would offer some assistance for this project. Activities like these should be rewarded.

Also, if you edit your top post with more info could you also copypasta the info in another post? That way, we can know which things we need to.. know about?
Yeah.


Another issue that may come up is time. If everything goes completely smoothly, we may have this finished by the end of Summer, but I highly doubt that; I'd aim for the end of this year at the latest. Is everyone fine with that or should we move it up a bit?
Since we don't know what problems we'll encounter, we'll just have to wait and see how long this takes. Your estimate is likely far too optimistic, as you indicated yourself.


Yes. The social groups are disabled, but I can attempt to motion for reopening them if it would offer some assistance for this project. Activities like these should be rewarded.
Thanks, I appreciate that, but you don't need to go out of your way until or unless this idea goes forward. Maybe you can at least make the powers-that-be "aware" of this, so that they can consider/think about it in advance once, or if, the time comes that we request it from them. With a Social Group, we would be able to coordinate and organize much easier. We will make the request once enough people are involved to make this happen.


Yeah, reey's arrangement was, well, for lack of a better word, fantastic; if we can get him to help, then that'd be great.
He'd be more than welcome to give input.


Alright, so then I suppose I'll be 'managing' this (and it'll be TOTALLY fine).
See the bottom of the first post in this thread. If you're sure you can handle it, then it's all yours. You have to do, perhaps the most work, since you need to know what everyone is doing, and be able to communicate that with others as necessary. You also have to encourage communication between members as well as group discussion. You gotta keep things moving forward smoothly, in other words.


It could be an Ichigos-centric collaboration, however, seeing the... lack of responds to other... events, I'd say we extend it to other places. I've already posted requests to other forums, and several people (one, haha) has expressed an interest in it (and I'll have to clarify).

However, if we get people from other forums, then coordinating things will be even harder. We can get those people over to Ichigos, or we can create a new forum specifically about this. I wouldn't do the latter option until we know we're going to go with this, so I'll just relay whatever important info comes up to the other people.
I'm not at all opposed to this, but anyone from outside Ichigos will need to become a member here so that they can be in the social group for discussions and such, and be reachable by PMs.



DOUBLE EDIT: Also, this is irrelevant right now but I've got 7 different sheets for Phantom Ensemble for Piano, Violin, and Trumpet. One of the reasons I'd vouch for that piece is because it's transcribable; we don't have to limit ourselves to what's on the page, and so it'll be more original as well. We're a community of transcribers, we can transcribe pieces if need be.
Exactly, and perhaps more importantly, we'll need to arrange specific parts to match the instruments we're able to field, since we may not end up getting a trumpeter or violinist, etc.

What do you mean, you dont know what i mean by 'tuning'?
I mean, tuning could very well be all over the shop; tuning is more than playing your instrument so the light stays green on the tuner... xD

What do you mean, you dont know what i mean by 'tuning'?
I mean, tuning could very well be all over the shop; tuning is more than playing your instrument so the light stays green on the tuner... xD
Ahh, now I see why I didn't understand you. I think you're talking about intonation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intonation_%28music%29), not tuning.

I sure hope people won't be playing whilst looking at a tuner, hahaha (that put an amusing picture in my head for a moment). Tuner should only be used to tune the instrument, afterall. =)

And yes, I already anticipated this. This is one of the things we're going to be lenient on. This will not be "studio quality" by any means, as there will be a mix of skill levels and experience. In fact, I'm aiming for this project to accommodate the players as much as possible (within reason). People will still be expected to practice their parts as hard as they can to get it as good as they personally can. But just because a violinist can't press their finger in the very exact spot and is off by a few cents doesn't mean it's an unsalvageable recording.


Just in case you were still talking about actual tuning, if a person has an obviously and significantly out-of-tune piano, for example, they'll be expected to hire someone to fix that for them if they can't do it themselves. This won't be studio quality but everyone is expected to have their instrument tuned to within about 10-15 cents of deviation at the most. Exceptions may or may not be made as necessary. This is still very much in the planning stages so I'm not worried about that yet. I have a feeling it will all work out (naive optimist).

Also, and I'm not aiming to start an argument with you, but are you thinking of participating or are you just here to make comments? (There's no snide tone nor sarcasm in that comment) We'd love to have you play with us if you think you'd be willing/able to, but if not, I'd prefer you help keep this thread tidy by limiting off-topic posts. I don't want to spend the next ten posts debating the merits of tuning and whatnot, heh. Thanks. =)

My comment was very on topic, as i was pointing out a problem.


Anyhow, are you aware the British tune to 440hz, the french to 442hz and the japanese to 444hz? And theyre the only three variations i know off the top of my head.


And yes i mean tuning, not intonation. I am doing a music degree after all.

Oh, Solaphar, are you participating?

For tuning (this seems like an obvious question), but I'm assuming everyone's using equal temperament?

My comment was very on topic, as i was pointing out a problem.


Anyhow, are you aware the British tune to 440hz, the french to 442hz and the japanese to 444hz? And theyre the only three variations i know off the top of my head.


And yes i mean tuning, not intonation. I am doing a music degree after all.
Please send further information about tuning in PM's. After your first post in the thread, I had edited the topic post to include the information that avoids this problem. I even thanked you for pointing it out and reminding me, so please stop being argumentative about it. I already told you that I don't want a tuning debate. We're using the A440 standard as established by ISO 16. My apologies if you already know what that is. Notice that I didn't link to it this time.

Furthermore, your comment was not on topic, because this thread is really only for potential participants to respond in. Any extraneous posts, including those pointing out "problems", would be better placed in a private message to me. Nitpicking tends to turn into big long discussions that are ultimately a waste of thread space. You do not seem like you're here to help, but rather to "poke holes (http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=4482560&postcount=2)" and start fights.

If you're not going to participate or give song suggestions, then I request that you please refrain from making further posts here. Again, please point out "problems" in a PM to me. Thanks.


Oh, Solaphar, are you participating?
Yeah I'll likely play in this, I'm just not sure what instrument I'll play yet. Most likely electric bass.

For tuning (this seems like an obvious question), but I'm assuming everyone's using equal temperament?
Well, yeah, I thought that went without saying... Otherwise those who don't won't use equal temperament won't match piano and fretted guitars, etc. =)

Hello!

My friend, Mushyrulez, was telling me about this site, and the project that's going on, and I would like to know if I can participate in this?

I would be playing violin, so you all know. I'm a violinist that's beginning to play again after an eight year break. I'm learning what I have first learned rather quickly, and would like to contribute as much as I can. So you know how my skills are (As of right now. I plan to get alot better ;-) ), here's a short video of me preforming Last Remote from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz5GqwOQEGk

Yeah, it's pretty bad, but i'm starting to get the hang of it again.

I'll give this a go. I don't really have that good a mic but I'll see what I can do.

I'll be willing to Play quite a range, so if we have too much of something I can just switch to something else.

Flute
Alto Flute
Clarinet
Acoustic Guitar
Electric Guitar
Electric Bass Guitar
Mandolin

Also if you want something different I can play a certain beat or add effects using my midi keyboard. And if you want something really strange, I have access to a Bouzouki and a Banjo.

I've also got full access to my states school's music library, so if you need to find some music for a song I'll see if I can get it.

Hopefully this catches on, look forward to putting this together. :)

Hello!

My friend, Mushyrulez, was telling me about this site, and the project that's going on, and I would like to know if I can participate in this?
Yes, of course. This project exists for the sake of the participants. Glad to have you!


I would be playing violin, so you all know. I'm a violinist that's beginning to play again after an eight year break. I'm learning what I have first learned rather quickly, and would like to contribute as much as I can. So you know how my skills are (As of right now. I plan to get alot better ;-) ), here's a short video of me preforming Last Remote from Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz5GqwOQEGk

Yeah, it's pretty bad, but i'm starting to get the hang of it again.
I thought it was fine. Don't sell yourself short. =) And you'll have plenty of time to practice your part for whichever song is chosen.

Just as a reminder. In any recordings you send for this specific project, we'll need just your violin to be playing (no background music). I'm sure you already knew that, but I thought I'd point it out as a reminder for everyone. Also, just as an FYI, you will want to lower the gain on your mic and be much closer to it once you record for this collaboration project. Probably one or two feet at most. So, you'll either have to sit next to the mic, or find a way to elevate it to be close to your violin once you record.


Were there, perhaps, one or two songs you were thinking might be good for this collaboration? You can always make more suggestions later too, once we have a more complete picture of the instrumentation.

I will add you to the list above.


I'll give this a go. I don't really have that good a mic but I'll see what I can do.
Don't worry about it. You don't need to spend money for a mic. It's more important that you're able to play with us. Plus, even a lower-tier mic can be used to a certain extent, if you work around it by figuring out it's quirks. (i.e. if it's prone to do certain things at different distances, or if it has some hum, etc)



I'll be willing to Play quite a range, so if we have too much of something I can just switch to something else.

Flute
Alto Flute
Clarinet
Acoustic Guitar
Electric Guitar
Electric Bass Guitar
Mandolin

Also if you want something different I can play a certain beat or add effects using my midi keyboard. And if you want something really strange, I have access to a Bouzouki and a Banjo.

I've also got full access to my states school's music library, so if you need to find some music for a song I'll see if I can get it.

Hopefully this catches on, look forward to putting this together. :)
Please play what you want. =D

If you have one or two favorites and/or an instrument you really excel at, then that might be the way to go. But don't let me or anyone else tell you what to play. Feel free to choose whichever instrument you prefer, whether according to your own needs or the group needs. We can always arrange for the part if you want to play an instrument that isn't in the song chosen by the vote.

I'll add all of your instruments above for now, but maybe you can help me narrow it down a bit later, eh? =)

Please play what you want. =D

If you have one or two favorites and/or an instrument you really excel at, then that might be the way to go. But don't let me or anyone else tell you what to play. Feel free to choose whichever instrument you prefer, whether according to your own needs or the group needs. We can always arrange for the part if you want to play an instrument that isn't in the song chosen by the vote.

I'll add all of your instruments above for now, but maybe you can help me narrow it down a bit later, eh? =)


Thanks for not taking that as spam lol. I like to think as myself as musician rather than a "flautist" or "guitarist". So I guess I'll stick with flute for now as it is my favourite and we have none. If we get more I'll see what else I can add to make it an interesting timbre.

I'll also add that I'll put in to be an arranger. I'll many just do transposing though, since I'm terrible at transcribing. But its a win win since I need to cover transposing in my school music course :)

Furthermore, your comment was not on topic, because this thread is really only for potential participants to respond in. Any extraneous posts, including those pointing out "problems", would be better placed in a private message to me.

Silly me! Posting a discussion about something in the thread which contains the idea. I'll put it somewhere else next time.


We're using the standard as established by ISO 16. Look it up if you don't know what that is.

You do not seem like you're here to help, but rather to "poke holes" and start fights.No, actually, it started as a jovial pointing out. But your patronizing, and quite frankly, cockish reply to my point irked me (and some other members agreed). Especially the linking to the Wikipedia page. -I am doing a music degree, i know what that is!- Even the fact you felt you had to link me somewhere to let me know what 'poking holes' is.

The fact is, I would have liked to help out with this- I play the oboe, and you dont get too many of those to the penny round here; I like Mushy and wouldve paid a favour. To be honest, im not sure I want to now.




then I request that you please refrain from making further posts here.Bite me.

Thanks for not taking that as spam lol. I like to think as myself as musician rather than a "flautist" or "guitarist". So I guess I'll stick with flute for now as it is my favourite and we have none. If we get more I'll see what else I can add to make it an interesting timbre.

I'll also add that I'll put in to be an arranger. I'll many just do transposing though, since I'm terrible at transcribing. But its a win win since I need to cover transposing in my school music course :)
Don't feel like you're bound to the flute. We're hoping to do this repeatedly, so you can play one, two, or three different instruments for each song (depending on how many parts you can handle learning per song).

Depending on the circumstances, you can even choose a different instrument during this first song, but if you do change from flute, it should probably happen prior to the "practicing stage", which happens after song vote selection and arranging.

If you can arrange by changing music intended to be read for one instrument into music readable by another, then that sounds good. I should really put "Transcriber" as an additional position anyway. People can take as many staff positions as they can handle, so if you do later decide that you can help transcribe for other people, or audio mix, or whatever, then you can take that task too. =)



Silly me! Posting a discussion about something in the thread which contains the idea. I'll put it somewhere else next time.
I appreciate it. PM Mushy or me.


No, actually, it started as a jovial pointing out. But your patronizing, and quite frankly, cockish reply to my point irked me (and some other members agreed). Especially the linking to the Wikipedia page. -I am doing a music degree, i know what that is!- Even the fact you felt you had to link me somewhere to let me know what 'poking holes' is.
I'm not a mind-reader, and I don't know you, so I'm not going to know you're pursuing a music degree until you tell me. It's easier to assume you don't know it until you prove otherwise. Saves me the hassle of making an extra post to explain something later in the case of a person not knowing what I was talking about.


The fact is, I would have liked to help out with this- I play the oboe, and you dont get too many of those to the penny round here; I like Mushy and wouldve paid a favour. To be honest, im not sure I want to now.
Well, the door will stay open if you change your mind. I'm sure you'd be a great contributor to the project. I feel there's no need to turn a personal grudge against me into a punishment against the group as a whole. =/

Here are a few nice pieces that I would like us to try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1x9HLtkDtc

^Changeability of Strange Dream - Track 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3fy4Pdw3I

^Rural Makai City Esoteria - Touhou 12: Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Stage 5 theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfYnfr2dfwE&feature=related

^Interdimensional Voyage of a Ghostly Passenger Ship Touhou 12: UFO Stage 4 theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NsOzrKnJOA

^Ghost Toys Castle - Mystical Ninja Starring Gomen music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUqJi9Tiyis&feature=related

^Flake Gang Theme - Mystical Ninja Starring Gomen music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ssmxWJftyo

^Love Coloured Master Spark - Marisa Kirisame's theme (From Touhou 08: Stage 4(B))

Those are just some cool songs I picked from my youtube library of videos. Hope you enjoy.

So then, I suppose I'll take over managerial responsibilities. I probably won't be as knowledgable as Sola though >_>

Here are a few nice pieces that I would like us to try.

Those are just some cool songs I picked from my youtube library of videos. Hope you enjoy.
Sounds good. They'll be included in the vote.


So then, I suppose I'll take over managerial responsibilities. I probably won't be as knowledgable as Sola though >_>
Most of what you need to know should be in this thread.

Your first task as manager should be finding at least two more instrumentalists (which will put the total up to 7, including myself, as I've agreed to play), as well as at least one audio mixer/sound engineer, as many transcribers/arrangers as possible, and a video editor, if necessary.

After/during your search, you should also contact 'M' to request the formation of a Social Group specifically for this project. If you can get one, you need to invite only the instrumentalists and staff members. Don't just invite anyone who asks to be in it, in other words, even it's your really close pal and they just want to help, blah blah, etc . Lets keep it semi-professional, because the people who truly want to help will sign on as a participant. Other people might just join the group in order to potentially cause trouble.

I'd say the Compositions forum might be a place to find people willing to help. Regular posters there tend to have good ears, so some of them can probably mix audio, especially those people who put up good-sounding mp3's of their compositions. Both the Compositions and Sheet Music Request forums should be a good place to find instrumentalists and transcribers, and maybe arrangers. Should probably look for regular posters before PM'ing them, because a lot of people in the Requests forum make one or two requests and then never return here.

Were you thinking of using live recordings only?

I don't have a microphone, but I have some great sounding soft-synths that I could always tinker with to approximate everyone else's recording environment.

I can do acoustic piano, electric piano, and organ. Oh, and I wouldn't mind helping out with the management when my schedule opens up.

I don't have a microphone, but I have some great sounding soft-synths that I could always tinker with to approximate everyone else's recording environment.


I, to, can help with electronic synth sounds if needed.

^ Except for electric piano, by soft-synths I meant mainly sample-based sounds (like Piano), or models that accurately reproduce authentic sounds (Hammond Organ).

I suppose we could add in other sounds at some point. But to start with, using sounds that we can visually relate to (in this case, keyboard) might make it feel more tangible, which I think is the direction that Mushy and Sola were thinking of taking this.

I know what you're talking about, Zero. Sequences and the like, correct?

If so, i'm pretty fond with using the Fruity Loops program, and can contribute anything from there. www.myspace.com/reytemp1 <-- there is some of my work on there. I work on making electronic rap and hip-hop music. Some of you might not like rap, but there is some stuff I can do. If needed, I can also provide you with some of my other works as well?

I think this is more focused on tangible music, e.g. music by live instruments. If it comes to that, we could add in more sounds; but great suggestions!


Anyways, we'll need to get more people involved, so... ask around? Hopefully we'll get enough people by the end of this week.

Zero: I think the idea was that everyone would play live, yeah. I mean, you can do multiple takes and such, but I think it defeats the purpose if we use perfectly quantized (i.e. non-human recordings). That said, I was thinking from the beginning of using a sequenced drum track, as I thought it would be unlikely we'd find a drummer. However, that was the singular exception I was considering allowing. (I guess there's always keyboard drums too...)

To be clear, there's no limitation on the type of instrument one can use. If you want to play a keyboard set to play a certain instrument sound, I think that's okay. It's preferable to use a more realistic-sounding instrument though. Like if you have a real rhodes piano, or a hammond organ, I think that would be better. Synthesized electric guitar, in my opinion, doesn't sound all that good on an electric keyboard. There are other instruments too that probably wouldn't sound good. The point is for a human to be playing, with or without a microphone. I was even thinking of just plugging by bass directly into my computer (not that my amp is bad or anything).

I think you already addressed this when you said:
"I suppose we could add in other sounds at some point. But to start with, using sounds that we can visually relate to (in this case, keyboard) might make it feel more tangible, which I think is the direction that Mushy and Sola were thinking of taking this. "

Which is what I'm hoping meant: sound that can come from instruments that use keys: piano, organ, harpsichord, synth-based sounds, etc.

Maybe we could even include things like accordion (some have keys) and mallet percussive instruments: Like vibraphone, glockenspiel, etc. As long as the keyboard is played to replicate the sound realistically, as they would come from these instrument. In other words, a vibraphone, would be: 1,2,3, or 4 sounds max, since a player of that instrument can hold up to (realistically) 2 mallets per hand (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-frZ9ScAyZE). And even then there's a limited range if the player can only hold the mallets so far apart in their hand.

That brings me also to the point of ranges. For example, the standard vibraphone has a three octave range from the F below middle C on upwards, so playing the vibes on a keyboard would require the player to pay attention to that range for the sake of realism. Just something to think about. Although we probably don't really need to do this in the end.

Either way, the aim is to make this group is to let instrumentalists play with other instrumentalists (rather than with a sequenced track).

If this have not been said, I would like to give you guys a suggestion for promote this. You can try and put a video in youtube promoting the project. Type in the video the info, also in the descriptions and give the proper tags and link to this thread. Maybe that will get you more performers to participate here.

If this have not been said, I would like to give you guys a suggestion for promote this. You can try and put a video in youtube promoting the project. Type in the video the info, also in the descriptions and give the proper tags and link to this thread. Maybe that will get you more performers to participate here.
That's a good suggestion, and if we end up with a shortage, it may indeed come to that. However, I'd like to make the counter-suggestion of us looking for the players and staff we need right here on this forum first, as I think there may still be people unaware of it, and we might simply need to send a PM to recruit them.

Also, Nyu, I don't want to put you on the spot at all, and you don't need to answer here and now, but your mp3's always seem to be well mixed. Perhaps you'd consider signing on as an audio mixer? Take some time to think about it, and if you do want to do it, you can PM Mushy and myself to let us know.

Which is what I'm hoping meant: sound that can come from instruments that use keys: piano, organ, harpsichord, etc.

...

Either way, the aim is to make this sound realistic, I think. Otherwise it defeats the purpose of the collaboration, which is to let instrumentalists play with other instrumentalist (and not with a sequenced track). That's what I meant. Real keyboard instrument sounds.

Sample-based soft synths are built from live audio recordings, so it's like having a Steinway grand piano hooked up to your midi keyboard. It's just more convenient as I don't have a professional microphone.


If this have not been said, I would like to give you guys a suggestion for promote this. You can try and put a video in youtube promoting the project. Type in the video the info, also in the descriptions and give the proper tags and link to this thread. Maybe that will get you more performers to participate here. We only need a small core in the beginning. As long as we're not doing a complete orchestra it shouldn't take that many people to get things started.

That's what I meant. Real keyboard instrument sounds.

Sample-based soft synths are built from live audio recordings, so it's like having a Steinway grand piano hooked up to your midi keyboard. It's just more convenient as I don't have a professional microphone.
Sounds good. Since it's really "you" playing, and not the computer, that makes it okay. We want to keep the "human element" in, with or without a microphone. I'll add you into the first post as "Electronic Keyboard" until we figure out which specific instrument sound you'll be playing through it. In which case, I'll put the instrument name in parentheses after it when the time comes.


We only need a small core in the beginning. As long as we're not doing a complete orchestra it shouldn't take that many people to get things started.
Exactly.


Oh, I just remembered, also (and I meant to post this earlier but kept forgetting) I think we should start with a shorter song for now. Perhaps a 90-second anime opening or ending would be appropriate. The shorter it is, the faster people can learn and play their parts, and the faster we can put it together, and therefore, the sooner we can find out whether this project will work in the long run.

Additionally, the sooner we get something completed and posted for the rest of Ichigo's to enjoy, the more likely we'll attract attention, and therefore, attract more staff and instrumentalists. This is merely my suggestion as a fellow instrumentalist, but I hope others will agree with this idea. So yeah... I think longer songs should come later.

Oh, I just remembered, also (and I meant to post this earlier but kept forgetting) I think we should start with a shorter song for now. Perhaps a 90-second anime opening or ending would be appropriate. The shorter it is, the faster people can learn and play their parts, and the faster we can put it together, and therefore, the sooner we can find out whether this project will work in the long run.

Additionally, the sooner we get something completed and posted for the rest of Ichigo's to enjoy, the more likely we'll attract attention, and therefore, attract more staff and instrumentalists. This is merely my suggestion as a fellow instrumentalist, but I hope others will agree with this idea. So yeah... I think longer songs should come later.

I agree, stick with a short and relatively simple song so we can work out the nuts and bolts of the project so we actually have some sort of direction and knowledge before we do something big.

It still has to be fun though, not strictly a test :lol:

I was just thinking that. Beginning with something short and easy will start a momentum and make it easier for us to learn how to do this.


I'll add you into the first post as "Electric Keyboard" until we figure out which specific instrument sound you'll be playing through it. In which case, I'll put the instrument name in parentheses after it when the time comes. You can put me down as Keyboard. As for which instruments,
I can do acoustic piano, electric piano, and organ.

I agree, stick with a short and relatively simple song so we can work out the nuts and bolts of the project so we actually have some sort of direction and knowledge before we do something big.

It still has to be fun though, not strictly a test :lol:
Well, yeah. Aren't there a lot of fun anime songs? =)

Even if we don't go that route, we could also do a short video game tune, or some other short song (non-anime non-vg). But, for example, many RPG battle theme's loop after roughly the first 90 seconds or so.


Zero: Okay. Done.

Hmm, we should get a few people posting in here right around now...

OHHH!!!! Looks like fun!!!

Can you count me in? I can play guitar I am not that great at fast soloing but I can do rhythm pretty damn good

There is a lot of info here and once I get a chance to read all of it I will but for now HI!

Ummm... I am pretty knowledgeable at musical notation, different tunings, electrical/audio theory, and most other stuff. I have been playing on and off for almost three years now. I listen and play most everything but Jazz. The progressions and chords used in Jazz gives me insane hand cramps but it is nothing practice can't defeat. I have quite a few pedals, Fuzz, distortion, Wah, combo pedal... Also I have three different amps with each having diff sounds.

Also I have some good recording gear for guitar and I use Sony Acid and Guitar Pro for composition.

To solve the case of getting everyone in perfect time I think we should all get a simple metronome and set it to a certain beat. Once we let it lead the part in for a couple beats then we can start playing. For editing it would be pretty simple.

I dunno, I might be rambling and not making any sense but yeah... Any questions?!??!!?!!? EXCITING STUFF!!!

Can you count me in? I can play guitar I am not that great at fast soloing but I can do rhythm pretty damn good.
This sounds good, but you don't need to be awesome. =)

In fact, one of the ideas behind this is to allow beginner, intermediate, and advanced players to all play together. This is an inclusive project, not one where people have to be flashy and show off. In fact, it's better not to if it messes up your rhythm while playing. In other words, it's good for people to play within the limits of their current abilities, so they don't sloppily play a difficult passage (I'm not saying you would do this).

And also, I assume your guitar is a standard 6-string electric? (there are other types, so it's good to specify)


There is a lot of info here and once I get a chance to read all of it I will but for now HI!
Yes, Hello! It's good to have you. Please do read the first post when you get an opportunity to do so.


Ummm... I am pretty knowledgeable at musical notation, different tunings, electrical/audio theory, and most other stuff. I have been playing on and off for almost three years now. I listen and play most everything but Jazz. The progressions and chords used in Jazz gives me insane hand cramps but it is nothing practice can't defeat.
Okay, that should all help you out when it comes time for you to record.


I have quite a few pedals, Fuzz, distortion, Wah, combo pedal... Also I have three different amps with each having diff sounds.
Sounds great. I'm sure that stuff will help if we vote on a song that would be benefited by their use.


Also I have some good recording gear for guitar and I use Sony Acid and Guitar Pro for composition.
Seems like you're a step ahead. Great to hear. Maybe you'd even consider thinking of becoming an audio-mixer for this project if you possess that skill.


To solve the case of getting everyone in perfect time I think we should all get a simple metronome and set it to a certain beat. Once we let it lead the part in for a couple beats then we can start playing. For editing it would be pretty simple.
Yeah, we'll use either an mp3 recording of the actual song, or we'll send a click track (these tend to be less distracting). We'll see what happens as far as that later.


Mushyrulez: It seems like we have enough instrumentalists to start thinking about songs. It'd be great if a drummer would come along too, but I won't hold my breath for that, since they're rare (especially drummers with enough mics to record). More instrumentalists will, of course, be welcome to join us, but I think for now, Mushy, you should try to get a Social Group for us, and find at least one sound engineer/audio mixer so we can move this forward.

Current Instrumentalists

Acoustic Piano - Mushyrulez
Tenor Trombone - Etaroko
Violin - imthestrongest
Flute - Taemond (can also do: Alto Flute, Clarinet, Acoustic Guitar, E. Guitar, E. Bass, Mandolin)
E. Bass - Solaphar
Keyboard (acoustic piano, electric piano, and organ) - Zero
E. Guitar -- Gonzerelli


MWahahaha! YAY!

**Evil Laugh**

Oh as far as guitar goes... I have two standard six-string electrics, a six-string acoustic, and a spanish acoustic.

I finally read everything. This dealy-o is getting pretty intense/specific.

What's a click track? I never heard this term.

Oh for songs are we doing anime/game specific songs only or can it be anything?

Sure... if we don't have someone else sign up for audio mixer I can do so. I usually only use it for my guitar backing tracks but it should be simple enough.

One thing I do have that is negative is that I will be gone from the 6th of August until the 13th or so for a vacation. I am planning to bring my guitar so I can practice and record but unploading might be a pain. Meh...

Oh as far as guitar goes... I have two standard six-string electrics, a six-string acoustic, and a spanish acoustic.
Okay.


What's a click track? I never heard this term.
Wow, I'm a little bit surprised that you've worked with things like Sony Acid and Guitar Pro but don't know what a click track (http://www.google.com/search?q=click+track) is. Well, hopefully that link I put will help you find out. =)


Oh for songs are we doing anime/game specific songs only or can it be anything?
While this website is an anime (and to a lesser extent vg) music-centric site, you can suggest anything, although with that said, you should try to fit the instrumentation as listed in the first post. We realize that most songs will not fit our exact instrumentation, and that's fine, but we should try to fit as many instruments as possible, in order to minimize arranging. I'd say, as a rough guideline, find a song that fits at least 4 of the 7 instrumentalists. 5 is better, 6 even better, and 7 is best.

Also, notice that Taemond and Zero can play different instruments, other than the one I've locked in for them. Although, if you can find a song with a flute, I think that would be preferable, since Taemond said he wanted to play that instrument. While I don't speak for Taemond, he seems very flexible, so if you find a good song it's better to discuss it with him directly. Actually, I think we should all just make suggestions, and discuss them amongst each other as necessary, and try to come to a consensus, if we can. If not, then we can vote among narrowed down favorite suggestions.

The other limitation, currently, is that we want to start with a relatively short song. I'm thinking around 2 minutes or less, although, that's just my suggestion and is by no means an immalleable rule.


Sure... if we don't have someone else sign up for audio mixer I can do so. I usually only use it for my guitar backing tracks but it should be simple enough.
Yeah, you have to know a bit about cleaning up sound, and also how to balance the instruments relative to each other. I'll add you to the position in the first post, and if you change your mind, I can always take you off.


One thing I do have that is negative is that I will be gone from the 6th of August until the 13th or so for a vacation. I am planning to bring my guitar so I can practice and record but unploading might be a pain. Meh...
Don't worry about it, I expect the practice & upload period will be many weeks. Especially since this will be the first one.




I just noticed that I got a PM a few hours ago. I'll be adding drxlight to our list of instrumentalists. He'll be playing keys, too.

Also, notice that Taemond and Zero can play different instruments, other than the one I've locked in for them. Although, if you can find a song with a flute, I think that would be preferable, since Taemond said he wanted to play that instrument. While I don't speak for Taemond, he seems very flexible, so if you find a good song it's better to discuss it with him directly. Actually, I think we should all just make suggestions, and discuss them amongst each other as necessary, and try to come to a consensus, if we can. If not, then we can vote among narrowed down favorite suggestions.



I personally don't mind what I do, I'm just happy to play anything :lol: So if anyone finds anything that will suit our group, but not necessarily my chosen instrument, it doesn't matter. I'll happily play something else.

Also note that if you find say a piano part but no flute part; you could always have the flute play the piano part since they're in the same concert pitch. I could also transpose a part as well.

Okay.

Wow, I'm a little bit surprised that you've worked with things like Sony Acid and Guitar Pro but don't know what a click track (http://www.google.com/search?q=click+track) is. Well, hopefully that link I put will help you find out. =)



OHHHH... I didn't know that's what they were called. I think GP calls them cue tracks. Meh... tomatoes Tomahtoes...

It would be AWESOME if Taemond could transpose. It takes me forever to figure it out and 1/2 the times I have it in the wrong key.


As for music suggestions most of the stuff in K-ON! is already transposed and pretty easy. Ummm...

Just browsing youtube I ran into:

Top 20 anime songs
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWWM-MdFLG8

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApRJpOD3N_4&NR=1

I personally don't mind what I do, I'm just happy to play anything :lol: So if anyone finds anything that will suit our group, but not necessarily my chosen instrument, it doesn't matter. I'll happily play something else.
I sort of figured you'd say something like that, and that's cool/flexible of you. People can see the other instruments you play, so they can pick accordingly if pieces specifically using flute are hard to find.


Also note that if you find say a piano part but no flute part; you could always have the flute play the piano part since they're in the same concert pitch. I could also transpose a part as well.
Well... except that the piano is polyphonic, and the flute sort of... isn't? XD

I mean, if we we're talking about turning a clarinet part or a violin part into something playable by a flute, then that would probably work, since they're monophonic (mostly, unless you double-stop on vio.), but probably wouldn't work as well for the piano. =)

Unless you'd play each individual line, but that's beside the point :P


Right now's the weekend, so I'm sorta busy; I'd say we wait till Monday for more people, and then we'll get the party started.


Any objections?

OHHHH... I didn't know that's what they were called. I think GP calls them cue tracks. Meh... tomatoes Tomahtoes...

It would be AWESOME if Taemond could transpose. It takes me forever to figure it out and 1/2 the times I have it in the wrong key.


As for music suggestions most of the stuff in K-ON! is already transposed and pretty easy. Ummm...

Just browsing youtube I ran into:

Top 20 anime songs
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWWM-MdFLG8

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApRJpOD3N_4&NR=1

While it may seem easy most of the rhythms are quite abstract (got the original sheets for a band arrangement of the OP and ED). So piecing it together might be a bit difficult because you'd have to be dead on with the timing or it'd be likely to go out. However one of insert songs like Fuwa Fuwa Time for example might be a possibility. It's just they're mainly vocal orientated.

I'm all up for starting as soon as possible Mushy, so no objection here.

Just a heads up.

I recently got a job at a convenient store about 30 miles from where I live (Well, not exactly a job yet. Gotta finish cash register training), so once we do actually start this project, I may be a little late submitting my part.

I recently got a job at a convenient store about 30 miles from where I liveWow, that's the closest work you could find, huh?


I may be a little late submitting my part.Not a problem, you'll just need to remember to practice in your free time. Also, considering that we haven't even chosen a song yet, you may be getting a little ahead of yourself.

So I have been thinking about which track...

So how about we do a mix of a couple different songs put together? Not necessarily the entire track of one song but maybe a 4-6 minute track with a mix of several songs.

Of course the songs would have to be in the same key or whatnot and we would have to adjust the tempo. If we do this then everyone can get a chance to shine and have a good time throughout.

I dunno maybe thirty or so seconds per song and we coule even backtrack on it also. Such as play the backing track for song song "A" during song "B" and such. Might take some coordination and imagintation but I think it would be AWESOME!! :sweat:

Oh yeah song I would LOVE to do!!!

FLCL: Ride on Shooting Star
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaK5ma-Iib4

K-ON: Don't Say Lazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaJ-FRRkn3o

Rozen Maiden: Bara No Jubai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0-V4pTH7ko

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi: Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDAPKKX54mw

Naruto: Sadness and Sorrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGoOtSPMQlc

Naruto: The Raising Fighting Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2EWjQ1D7R0

I dunno, just some suggestions.


One more thing. I picked up a Bass guitar so yeah... Never played one before but it should be that difficult. So you can add that to the aresenal.

So I have been thinking about which track...

So how about we do a mix of a couple different songs put together? Not necessarily the entire track of one song but maybe a 4-6 minute track with a mix of several songs.

Of course the songs would have to be in the same key or whatnot and we would have to adjust the tempo. If we do this then everyone can get a chance to shine and have a good time throughout.

I dunno maybe thirty or so seconds per song and we coule even backtrack on it also. Such as play the backing track for song song "A" during song "B" and such. Might take some coordination and imagintation but I think it would be AWESOME!! :sweat:
I'll repeat what I suggested before (and I've had two others agree with me), we should do a relatively short song first. I think a longer song or a medley (as you're suggesting) should come later. I think I sort of understand your motivation for wanting a medley, but I feel that I should also counter it by saying there's no reason that we can't pick a short song where everyone can have a "chance to shine". That's why arranging exists. To fit available instruments onto a given song, and not the other way around. This is not to say that a medley won't be done, it's just that we should start with something to gauge how will this will work before we become more ambitious.

Remember that we want to cater as much as we can (within reason) to people's individual skill levels, as this is an inclusive project. That also means that we may decide to simplify some parts if we choose a song with a difficult part for the particular instrumentalist.

In regards to the use of a backing-track: the idea from the start was to use live instrumentals, not a backing track (except for drums, which may need to be the lone exception). =)


Oh yeah song I would LOVE to do!!!

FLCL: Ride on Shooting Star
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaK5ma-Iib4

K-ON: Don't Say Lazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaJ-FRRkn3o

Rozen Maiden: Bara No Jubai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0-V4pTH7ko

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi: Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDAPKKX54mw

Naruto: Sadness and Sorrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGoOtSPMQlc

Naruto: The Raising Fighting Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2EWjQ1D7R0

I dunno, just some suggestions.


One more thing. I picked up a Bass guitar so yeah... Never played one before but it should be that difficult. So you can add that to the aresenal.
Cool, a third person who can do the bass (besides Taemond and myself). Should lighten my load some. =)

As for your suggestions, I've heard some of those before, and many of those are nice pieces, but we'll need to discuss them (same with the other suggestions people have made). Especially with regards to instrumentation constraints. Mushy is working on getting us a social group. Once that's taken care of, we (the instrumentalists) can start seriously discussing (and narrowing down), song ideas. And that's also why I'm not going to make any music suggestions for the moment (even though I have some in mind). It'll be easier for me to just post it once within the Social Group, rather than here and then there.

P.S. One last thing: You might consider editing your posts in the future, rather than double-posting (just a thought). :)

P.S. One last thing: You might consider editing your posts in the future, rather than double-posting (just a thought). :)

Sorry... :sweat:

Oh yeah. I didn't really mean a backing track as far as a synthesized or commercial track but umm...

I was thinking more along the lines of playing the background rythm section of a song to the lead section of another.

Meh, whatever is best for the group. I'm just here for the fun ride. :teeth:

Just an update that we might be able to get a drum player. Got a friend who plays drums and if the school lets us borrow its good microphones (since drums are damn hard to mic) he should be able to play whatever we decide on. Don't get your hopes up though because is not a confirmation, just saying that we may be able to get a drummer.

I can help out with transcribing and arranging. I can also play the trumpet if need be.

I was thinking more along the lines of playing the background rythm section of a song to the lead section of another.
Sorry, but no, I really don't think we should do that. Not yet at least. I think we should play the songs as covers, for now, and if the group votes for this idea of "background rythm section" then we can do that later. But we really gotta keep this simple to begin with. Over-complicating things at the start is not conducive to the long-term health of the project, in my opinion.


Meh, whatever is best for the group. I'm just here for the fun ride. :teeth:
That's a good attitude. We'll figure this out as a group as time goes on, and try to come to a consensus whenever we can. =)


Just an update that we might be able to get a drum player. Got a friend who plays drums and if the school lets us borrow its good microphones (since drums are damn hard to mic) he should be able to play whatever we decide on. Don't get your hopes up though because is not a confirmation, just saying that we may be able to get a drummer.
Would be awesome to have live percussion drums, but per your suggestion, I won't get my hopes up. Thanks for letting us know that the possibility exists though. :D


I can help out with transcribing and arranging. I can also play the trumpet if need be.
Excellent. You've been added to the first post.



It seems we certainly have enough people in place now. Hopefully, within the next couple of days at most, we'll hear from our project leader and see how we're going to coordinate this thing.

I'm really hoping he can get that social group for us and we can start rolling out song suggestions in earnest there. Would like us to be able to narrow down and then vote on songs by the beginning of next week, if possible. After we pick a song, we'll all help each other figure out which parts will be played by whom on what instruments and so forth, so there will be a lot of arranging and figuring out who can learn their parts by ear, etc and I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I am starting to look forward to this though. =)

I edited the first post. And in case no one reads it, This thread is recruitment-only from now on. No more song suggestions here.

Once Mushyrulez is able to secure a social group for us, then we'll put discussions and song suggestions there, and leave this thread alone.

Ok, school gave me permission to use their microphones so you can add "Harp" to my list of instruments I'm playing (harps are hard to mic so that's why I need 4 of the school ones :heh:).

I already have informed the project manager at this point, but the social groups are in-process of being reinstated for members. There's still a bit of configuration tweaking on the administration side needed before we can make it go live for you guys.

Well, I should be off to the states on Thursday. Ill be in Texas for about a week and a half.

Don't know when everything will be up and running but if it is before I get back don't mind me if I go missing for a few days.

Ok, school gave me permission to use their microphones so you can add "Harp" to my list of instruments I'm playing (harps are hard to mic so that's why I need 4 of the school ones :heh:).
Done.

I already have informed the project manager at this point, but the social groups are in-process of being reinstated for members. There's still a bit of configuration tweaking on the administration side needed before we can make it go live for you guys.
Thank you, and please forward my thanks to the responsible admin(s) as well. I wish them to know their work is appreciated.

I think we're all very much looking forward to discussing music suggestions once Mushy invites the instrumentalists and helper staff into the social group.


Well, I should be off to the states on Thursday. Ill be in Texas for about a week and a half.

Don't know when everything will be up and running but if it is before I get back don't mind me if I go missing for a few days.
Thanks for letting us know. You can just PM Mushy in the future. =)

Edit: Now that we have a social group, there is a specific thread for sharing real-life status updates.

Alright everyone, I promise this will be the last off-topic post in this thread!

The social group has been created; and by my belief (keep in mind I suck at reading things /correctly/) you can all enter it just by... entering it. I think.


http://forums.ichigos.com/group.php?groupid=25

I'm probably wrong about that, but unfortunately, I can't see an invite button so I'll assume it's that!

Or I suck at looking (which I also do).

Edit: It appears that the invitation issues have been resolved.

Edit: The information in this post has been integrated into the first post of the thread.

Bumping this for recruiting purposes.


Onto the main point: This is a general call-out for anyone interested. We would love motivated people who can play an instrument or sing, or who would be willing to sign-on as a helpful staff member.

If you're a player or singer, all you really need is an instrument, with at least a basic ability of playing it, and to be able to learn your part, whether by ear, sheet music, or tabs. You'll also need a way of recording your playing, whether by microphone or direct input (if your instrument is electric). Please read through the first post of this thread (or just PM me if you want a quick rundown of the most important parts).


In addition to players/singers, we're also interested in supplemental staff, who would be willing to volunteer their time to help transcribe or arrange. Basically, when you sign-on, we will let you know of a specific instrument or instruments that we'd like you to transcribe or arrange, from whichever tune/song the players happen to choose. After that, we'll connect you with a player, or players, and you will do back-and-forth communication with them, in order to make sure that part you've transcribed is playable by them. You only have to take on as many or as few people as you can handle, so don't feel concerned that we will give you a half-dozen parts to transcribe and/or arrange. In addition, some of the players can learn their own parts, so it's quite likely that you're workload won't be difficult. And again, you only have to take on what you can handle. We'll try to find other people to handle whatever the currently residing transcribers/arrangers are unable to handle.

If you transcribe, please have a very good ear for pitches and rhythms, and such. Basically, your ears act as a substitute for the players who are lacking in their own ear-training, so you ought to have pitch and interval recognition that's at least as good as, but preferably better than theirs. Use your ears to write out a part as either sheet music or (if necessary, and if you're able) tablature/TABs.

If you arrange, please know the ranges of the instruments you are arranging for, and also ask your designated players what their own personal ranges are (since some players cannot hit the full standard range of their instrument). You work with them to make their transcribed part within their abilities (if it's way too hard for them as written).

I'll also be in touch with you to make sure your arrangement meshes with the overall arrangement of the song or tune, so we don't end up getting any unintended dissonance, or parts severely stepping on each other. In addition to talking with the players chosen to work with you, you'll also need to communicate, to a lesser extent, with the other transcribers/arrangers/players, so that everyone is on the same page about who is playing what. For more details, just PM me and also read the bottom of the first post of this thread. In any case, you gotta be willing to talk with us, so that we, as a group, can foster an environment of mutual awareness, rather than one of mutual ignorance. =)


These requirements aren't so difficult, right?

Umm
Im a violinist
can i join?

Umm
Im a violinist
can i join?
Yes. Please read the first post of this thread (http://forums.ichigos.com/showthread.php?16515-Ichigo-s-Instrumentalist-Collaboration-Project(s)-Recruitment&p=453862&viewfull=1#post453862). I know it's long but it's pretty much all important, so just read it when you have enough time. It will also tell you how to join.

Bumping this for recruiting purposes.
What happened during the summer? Did you guys ever end up recording anything, or what? If there are any recordings, you should post them in here to boost interest, I think.
Cool project, though. I'd love to see an Ichigos collaboration. =D

What happened during the summer? Did you guys ever end up recording anything, or what? If there are any recordings, you should post them in here to boost interest, I think.
Cool project, though. I'd love to see an Ichigos collaboration. =D
Well, no one submitted recordings (which were due in November), and the all-important electric guitarist vanished (as well as a violinist). To the group's credit, some members did record some stuff, but just didn't submit it, since it either wasn't done or needed fixing in places. After that, we took a month-and-a-half long break from late November to mid-January, since everyone was busy (final exams and holidays).

Recently the group, in consideration to the current circumstances, voted to put the first tune on hold and we are going to start figuring out what tune to attempt now. We have 7 players currently, and a number of new song suggestions. After we get some more, we'll collectively decide when to stop further suggestions and start voting on the suggestions. My current estimate, based on current conditions, is that we'll have a vote starting two weeks from now. Normally, I'd try to make it a week from now, since I used to want things to go faster, but that back-fired before, because I moved too fast for he group, so now I'm just taking things really slow and easy.

Honestly, I'll just be happy if we get something done in the next 6 months. I'm not concerned about speed anymore.

Ah, that's too bad. It's tough to manage a group, especially over the internet. Hope it produces something, though. It'd be pretty cool to see. =D

Normally, I'd try to make it a week from now, since I used to want things to go faster, but that back-fired before, because I moved too fast for he group, so now I'm just taking things really slow and easy.

Honestly, I'll just be happy if we get something done in the next 6 months. I'm not concerned about speed anymore.

Think it has more to do with how you go about doing it.

Other than the voting (which takes a little background knowledge in statistics and psychology to pull off well), it's best to keep things simple.
After you choose the song, the transcribers transcribe, the players play, and the mixers mix.

As long as people know their roles, things should essentially take care of themselves without much managing.

Ah, that's too bad. It's tough to manage a group, especially over the internet. Hope it produces something, though. It'd be pretty cool to see. =D
Yeah, it's tough. Motivating is probably the hardest part. =)


Think it has more to do with how you go about doing it.
Right. That's part of it.


Other than the voting (which takes a little background knowledge in statistics and psychology to pull off well), it's best to keep things simple.
Yeah. Luckily I managed to find a nice site for voting. It doesn't prevent vote-pooling (in reality, nothing can), but it at least gives us a clear and fair method. And the group voted on how to conduct it. So every member is on the same page now.


After you choose the song, the transcribers transcribe, the players play, and the mixers mix.

As long as people know their roles, things should essentially take care of themselves without much managing.
Well, I failed to define the roles clearly enough to begin with. I think I've mostly fixed that now. But, as much as I try to get rid of ambiguity, it's nevertheless an ongoing process. Even now, I frequently have to clarify things.

Anyway, I kinda disagree about taking a hands-off approach to managing. It's nice when people are moving forward and doing stuff, but managing ensures that everyone in the group is working towards the same goal, rather than separate, conflicting goals. In any multi-person undertaking, a certain amount of nudging, at times, is required to keep everyone on the same track. If everyone in the group could read every other group member's mind (which would be really convenient, haha), we most likely wouldn't need any managing.

To borrow from my post a couple days ago, It's all about "fostering an environment of mutual awareness, rather than one of mutual ignorance. =)"

Need a French hornist? I've been playing for about three years.

I also play piano, but I fail at anything too complicated.

This is just a suggestions but I would recommend a video of a person conducting the song that you choose get posted on youtube or something. I think this should make mixing alot easier because at least everyone will have the same tempo to work with. Also, Rit. and Accel. can be incorporated with alot more ease as well.

Need a percussionist for anything? Here's my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/myriad2010) (all of the videos are at least a year old though - I haven't bothered to post any more recent)

If you need a flutist to play any parts, then I'm willing to do that. 5th year currently at the flute. (I've quitted my school's band to have more time like this right now.)

I'll probably make a seperate YouTube channel specifically for me playing the flute.