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A drummers perspective on how to
participate in Music Collaboration on MyOnlineBand.com
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User Name :
Henkjan
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Country : NETHERLANDS |
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State : GELDERLAND |
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Member Since : 1/12/2008 6:55:05 PM |
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1. A general procedure for recording on
MyOnlineBand.com (also for singers/guitarists, etc.)
Multitracking
On
MyOnlineBand.com you and musicians from around the world can collaborate on
multi-track recordings. Every band mate creates a track and/or a mix including
his track. You collaborate with other musicians by downloading a mix or set of
tracks, importing the tracks into your multi-track recording software and as a
drummer, you to add the drums to it.
You
can make your own stereo drum-track and if possible also a stereo mix with drums
included.
Downloading audio-files
First
you have to download the file with existing mix from your band mates and/or
singer/songwriter/composer.
Most
people use MP3 files at 128 kbps. This is the most compatible format and has
relatively small file size at 2-5 MB for a typical song. MP3 320 kbps can be
used for better results but with a larger file size.
2 to
5 MB files can be sent easily by most e-mail applications. Going above that may
give problems; not everyone has a big email box and a fast internet.
To
get around the limitations of email, MyOnlineBand.com allows artists to create
Music Collaboration Workspaces. On a workspace you may upload files up to 30MB
per file. You may upload as many files as you need up to your disk space quota.
You may upload audio files in
Mp3, WMA 9, WMA 9 Lossless, WMA 9 Professional and Wav formats. You may also
upload documents that contain arrangements, lyrics, sheet music, chord charts or
any other information in ANCII Text, Microsoft Word, or Adobe PDF formats. In
addition, Videos may be uploaded in WMV format. The videos are an effective way
to communicate how to play a difficult part to a virtual band mate
Going
for the best results you and your band mates may go to standard wav: 16 bit 44
kHz
File
sizes will increase exponentially, about 10 MB for 1 minute. Typical file size
of a CD-quality song at 16 bit 44 kHz is about 30 to 60 MB for 3 to 6 minutes
music.
CD
quality therefore results in about 10 times bigger files than using MP3 128
kbps.
You
may also go to 24 bit 44 kHz wav. This is a format that can be handled by lots
of audio-software and also by Windows Media player.
Going
to 24 bit 96 kHz or 24 bit 192 kHz (this are DVD – or Super Audio CD qualities)
you will, Feb. 2008, perhaps get problems with players, software, interfaces,
etc, in handling these formats.
When
collaborating online, be sure to choose a file format that can be handled by all
your band mates. You can use the comments section of the Work Space or send
personal messages to your band mates to communicate the file formats that work
best.
A way
of file sharing can be: use only MP3 128 kbps for the mixes and tracks on
Myonline band.
Record at 16 bit 44 kHz or higher quality and save those files on your own
computer.
Once
you have created a perfect song with your band mates you can put all the related
recorded wav’s on Myonline band and 1 person can make a CD or DVD quality final
mix using the best tracks in 16 bit 44 kHz or higher.
Put
the files in sound play back device
Second put that file on your MP3 player/IPOD or equivalent player, put it on a
CD or DVD, put the file on your DCC or dat recorder, put the file on tape, put the
file in a multi-track software or put the file in a standalone multitrack
apparatus.
If
your software or hardware doesn’t work with MP3 you will have to convert the
audio in a suitable format.
Normally every apparatus can handle 16 bit 44 kHz known as CD-quality or
standard wav files. I use Easy CD DA extractor for this kind of conversions and
… I like the easy use of this software. MP3 to wav. WMA to wav. Wav to MP3 128
kbps. Wav to MP3 320 kbps etc., etc.
Play
back the sound files and record
First
you will have to playback the files several times to get used to the sounds and
ideas. Then you will create your own drum or percussion part. When you are
familiar with the downloaded mix you will have to play back the mix and
instantaneously record the drums.
You
may put the line out of your playback apparatus to a mixer and connect also your
mics.
Do a
trial to get a perfect mix and than in one procedure you will record drums and
downloaded mix to a new mix including drums. Advantage: no further processing is
required. Disadvantage: you will get a mix including drums and not a drum track
separately so … your band mates cannot change anything in your result. I think
this is an easy way to start but not the way to do it on Myonline band.com and
.. you must have a mixer.
Better is to connect the microphones to a recording device, if possible a
digital recording device of sufficient quality with no wow and flutter and no
noise.
Put
on a headphone while recording otherwise you will pick up also the sound of the
file you played along with. For drums I use in ear monitoring or the cheap
earplug headphones and put on a Sound barrier to get rid of the noise of the
drums, above 100 dB, and hear music comfortable.
Before starting recording first do a sound check. Play at loudest on every drum
and cymbal and adjust signals so that you will be at max -3 dB. So 3 dB less
than RED! Zero or RED will result in useless results. Your zero dB may be + 2dB
at the software or hardware of your band mate so … keep 3dB as a safety margin.
Mounting the tracks
When
you have record your drum track you will have to check if it fits against the
original sound file. I have seen that there may be differences of about 4
seconds on a typical song of 4 minutes. These differences can be explained by
different playback speeds and different recording speeds.
I had
to use a time stretching factor of 0,97981 for the recorded files to adjust
1.2114 sec per minute seconds
in file size. This means a correction of 120 bpm to about 122.47
bpm.
These
additional seconds in the recordings were introduced by placing the original
file without drums on a MP3 player, playing back at this MP3 player and
recording using a digital recorder and than go to the multitrack software. The
delay is caused by the MP3 player, not play back in the right tempo. In the
multitrack software I had to adjust the recorded drum track using time
stretching.
If
you record and play back within the same apparatus .. that will be a multitrack
apparatus then … you will possibly get rid of this problem. Perhaps you will
have than a shift of time, called latency of perhaps 0.1 sec or less or
something but … that can be handled by shifting the recorded file 0.2 sec back in the
multitrack software. In 120 bpm tempo a 16 th note is 0.125 second. Every one
can hear such a shift. 1/32 th is 0.0625 sec and is a note of an open roll. Most
musicians can hear that but not everyone…… If you and your mate or your
recordings are inaccurate 1/32 th note the result of both of you is a 16 th
note inaccuracy and … that can be heard by a lot of people. 1/64 th can be heard
as a small flam and is 0.03125 second If you are a trained musician you can hear
that, for instance if hihat and snare or bass are not exact matched. so ..
recordings and playing have to be really accurate to sound solid.
If
you have placed the original track without drums and the recorded drum tracks in
the multitrack software you will have to add effects to the drums: for instance
a little reverb, place the sounds in stereo or surround by panning, do a little
with equalizing to adjust high and low frequencies. Then you will have to adjust
drums and original mix. Make the mix according the type of music you play. With
singer songwriter or acoustical music you may place the drums in the back of the
mix … so very softly. You should be able to hear the singer or soloist very
easy. In hard rock you may put the drums in front of the mix almost at same
level of singer and solo. Compare the mix with your favourite songs in the same
kind of music.
Drum
editing in audio software
You
may have to adjust recorded file sizes by using time stretching. You perhaps
will have to shift the drum tracks to get them right under the original
soundtrack without drums. If the track is OK at the beginning and not OK at the
end try time stretching. Set it OK at the beginning and adjust by time
stretching that it is also OK at the end. Listen if the mid section is also OK
if not … you have a problem: you may be a bad drummer that cannot keep time or
there is an uneven play back of time called wow and flutter.
Probable you will have to cut something at the beginning of the recorded
drumtrack to be able to shift the drum track to the beginning of the mix without
drums.
Tricks:
Make
a few extra tracks and copy your drum track to those extra tracks. Now you can
cut, copy, paste and do editing tricks without loosing the original material. So
… 1 track should be leaved as it is; you can mute that track afterwards.
If
you have a bad fill, a late start, you are not in tempo at the beginning of the
song, you missed your cymbal hit, the cymbal sound was to short or to long, your
groove is perfect but …. not played at constant volume or constant tempo or not
constant balance between snare, bass, hihat etc. ….. You now can use your
computer as a friend. Cut bad parts, copy good parts, etc. etc. be creative.
When
you have creative band mates they probably will change the song several times.
That means that you will have to play your drum track over and over again. If
you are lazy or if you have not enough time, energy or concentration or space on
your hard disk for all these tracks you may use this procedure.
Put
the metronome in the right tempo and play along: intro, end, groove a1, groove
a2, groove b1, groove b2, fill a1, fill a2, fill b1, fill b2, bridge, refrain,
sound effects, ideas, possible approaches for the song, etc. Use sticks, use hot
rods, etc.. Put this track on myonline band and … a sound engineer together with
the composer can make a perfect song of it using all your ideas to create new
songs and variations. Perhaps at the end you will have to do the final drum
track one time to get it smoothly.
I
find it very helpful to have a metronome click to play along with. Sometimes I
add a metronome click for the play along file. Your band mate may have used that
metronome click but may perhaps be not perfectly in time. As a drummer you
should be perfectly in time or … make deviations in a musical way such as
playing laid back or pushing the band mates.
2.
Hardware used
Recording device
I use
ZOOM H4 portable digital recorder. It is 24 bit 96 kHZ and can handle other
formats easily. It comes with Cubase Le multitrack software. It can be used as
an 16 bit 44 kHz USB 2.0 audio interface, it has built in stereo microphones
that gives clear sound for drums, vocals and instruments, it has two inputs with
48 V phantom power that can be used with professional Condensator microphones,
dynamic microphones or you can connect it to the output of as professional
mixer. It is very easy in use for stereo recording at all formats from MP3 all
formats up to 24 bit 96 kHz. It has a 16 bit 44 kHz 4 track mode also. You can
adjust recorded volumes manually so … even at very loud sound levels you will be
able to record. It has almost no noise. It has a lot of extra’s and good AD DA
converters. It works good with Rode NT2A condensator microphones.
Microphone
I did
some pretty recordings with a standard sound card and a mono Creative SD-50
computer microphone. The Creative Microphone, SD-50 is an omni-directional
electret condenser microphone designed for use with all Sound Blaster series
cards. To connect the Creative Microphone to a Sound Blaster card, simply insert
the miniature plug to the microphone-in jack. Type: External, Electret
condenser, Omni-directional, Wired, Sensitivity: 68 dB, Impedance: 1 kOhm,
Response Bandwidth: 50 - 13000 Hz. This microphone is only
17 GBP pound, 23
euro, 33 USD, 37 AUD. Easy to start with and see if you like online music. It
picks up djembe and acoustic guitar and vocals and drums gives you enough signal
to go for it. I have seen people fail with very expensive microphones because
the signal was not enough or they couldn’t connect their microphone to the pc.
There are also
good USB 2.0 and pod casting microphones nowadays , they come with software and
are cheaper than the combination of a microphone and a audio interface but … you
only have 1 microphone available than.
I use 2 Rode NT2A
microphones. One behind me and above me to pick up snare and cymbals and high
frequencies and my left side; one in front of the kit low to pick up bottom side
of toms, bass drum, low sounds and my right side.
I have a small
room with dry acoustics and use omni directional to get everything. These mics
can handle up to 150 db, typical you will need above 120 dB for drums, they have
a flat frequency; can be used for vocals and other instruments also. They have
low noise. You can adjust characteristics, low cut, dB cut. There is an internal
shock mount that is a nice feature using drums. They can be put in shock mounts
also, that is good on stage. They can handle low frequencies of 20 Hz so nice
bass drum and nice djembe bass sounds; they go up to very high frequencies, 20
kHz so nice twinkling cymbals. They can handle the energy and speed of drums
good also. I use 10 meter cables of good quality.
This is my
solution of the microphone problem because.... with a very large kit and a lot
of toms (5) and lots of cymbals (7), 2 hihats and 2 snares you must be a
multimillionair to buy mics and mixers and have a lot of personnel to get the
job done. So I do it with 2 professional mics and a mobile recorder with phantom
power.
If you use drum
microphones you will have a lot of them and you will have to use a mixer also
then.
PC
I use Windows XP,
SP2, 1 GB RAM, Pentium 4 3.4 GHz, Creative SoundBlaster X-fi 24 bit 96 kHz
Soundcard.
For new I probably
would go to Vista, 3 GB RAM and fast Pentium dual or better quad processors. I
don’t’know if all common problems with Vista are solved already and if Vista is
ready for sound recording at beginners and advanced level.
Audio
interface
Not
used yet for drumming but I have available a Creative EMU 0404 USB 2.0 external
soundcard ASIO audio interface 24 bit 192 kHz with 48 V phantom power. This
gives very good results but sometimes it is a tricky mystery box so … I put in a
SoundBlaster X-fi also to get rid of the mysteries. SoundBlaster x-Fi is easy to
use. EMU 0404 comes with lot of software and lots of VST plug-in.
I also have a
ZOOM H4 recorder that can be used as a 16 bit 44 kHz audio interface with 48 V
phantom power. It can also record mobile at 24 bit 96 kHz. Does a really good
job with its mics, tested it this morning in a church with a choir and combo. If
you use good condenser mics. It really is fully professional.
Mixer
Now I
have a 9 channel good quality mixer also. I use it for drumrecordings. Tape out
is connected to the mobile digital recorder.
Software
You can use the
free Anvil multitrack soundsoftware to do the recording and mixing. I think 1 GB
RAM and XP SP2 and at least Pentium 4 2 GHZ is advisable nowadays. Most
people use Cubase LE I think and that software is perhaps the best of all in the
cheap prices and is easy to get and does not give much load to your pc but
personally I think it is not easy to use.
I like the
interface of Magix software.
Magix Samplitude
studio 2008 24 bit 44 kHz multitrack software easy to use,
I also use Magix
Music Cleaning lab 2008 easy to use as a wave editor.
I also often use
software to convert audio formats for instance from wav to MP3 and vice versa. I
use Easy CD DA Extractor and think that is really easy to use software.
Playback hardware
I use a MP3
player. I am not really confident about the used one a Victory 501 B2 .. I need
time stretching about 1 sec per to get recordings aligned again with the
original file. I think that is a very lot for such a digital device. Should be
about microseconds I think. Is an Ipod of Apple better or a Zen of Creative or a
Zolid of Aldi better …I don´t know. I think they
should be better.
I put the earplugs
in my ear. Put some OhropaxClassic on it and then a Soundbarrier. Then I hear
music very well and in balance with the acoustic drumset.
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