Doing 'favours'

Post Reply New Topic

Yes, I can see that too, but I think he was just angry at general circumstances and took it out on me.

As my mum would say; 'six of one and half a dozen of the other'.

I went away for a week until everything and everybody 'cooled down' and I am 'visiting' my brother right now.....

Thing is (and here's the funny thing) he is transposing karaoke files into different keys, but he's losing a lot of quality and the bass keeps jumping and he's getting frustrated...(he is using Pro Tools 10).

I can hear the differences immediately and can adjust the EQ, gain, bass and treble to the exact studio quality of the original recording in any key he puts a song in.

What takes him hours to do, takes me all of five minutes...

He is asking how I am capable of doing this...he cannot understand that I can digitize audio files inside my head (hence why I listen mostly to Metal and I like Progressive Metal).

So suddenly, I am 'useful' again and I have been invited back (for a while).

I think we both have to learn that we gotta 'take the good with the bad' here.

There are things I am terribly deficient in and other things I have NT's scratching their heads in total amazement going 'how the hell did you just do that? It totally defies logic.

Yeah, I have 'unexplained things' on both ends of it.

Cool!

Careful...somebody like me could fall in love with you!

I've been talking to a guy about mastering rates, which he gave as $45/hour (US). If we were to work out something per track, what would you consider fair? Right now I'm working on a total budget of $850, and I'm trying to see if I can do better so I can outsource mixing/mastering.

I can't make any promises, of course, and I need to do more research as this is my first album release and I have NO idea what I'm doing. But I thought I'd throw that out there. If you're anything like me, you would enjoy any extra income you can bring in.

Thanks for your advice and support.

I have an 'ear for differences' but no actual musical ability or qualifications beyond this.

We have done a few tracks now and some can be transposed i.e Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry and some I simply cannot like Wonderwall by Oasis...no matter what key I listened to that in, I can't adjust it enough...but my 'bro goes 'that's good enough and better than I can do'.

It's using the same part of my brain that lets me record and remember the number plates of every car that passes us up to a period of 20 minutes, no matter how busy the road, yet I can never remember where I leave my own keys. lol

Understood.

What I'm seeing is potentially a transferable skill. For a tune like "Wonderwall," you dealing with two separate concepts: 1) Pitch, and 2) Formant. You can transpose pitch by speeding up the sample rate. You can compensate for the difference in tempo (or playback speed) using granular synthesis, which is built into the transpose algorithm so you'll never directly have to deal with it. Well, that's ONE method, anyway, and it's very effective. Trouble is, that doesn't correct your formant, i.e. you can keep the same tempo but not without the "chipmunk effect." Formant correction brings the overtones back into something a little more realistic-sounding so it sounds like the original recording. A track like "Wonderwall" is problematic because while this works great for tonal sounds, like guitars/vocals, drums are a whole other issue since you're going to transpose drums with everything else. And there's not a thing you can do about it unless you already have the original stems--in which case you'd manipulate guitars and backing vocals (if applicable) but leave the drums alone. As long as you aren't transposing more than a M3 up or down, most people aren't really going to notice the difference.

And because of the craziness going on with formant correction, you're going to have EQ issues, as you've already noticed. If you have the ability to take a karaoke track and make those corrections to the EQ, you could potentially take a track that does NOT have those kinds of complications and make them sound characteristically LIKE other tracks already commercially available. I see you're into prog metal. Suppose I gave you the stems to my arrangement of "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" and told you to make it sound like TSO's "Ukrainian Bell Carol" (which is EPIC if you've never heard it). You should be able to do something like that with skills you already have.

It could be a while before I'm able to do it, but MAYBE what I could do is compose a quick, sloppy 60 sec. track and audition you to see if you could work miracles on it. Bear in mind that the pressure is on ME to be brilliant, not you. Your goal would be to TRY to work miracles in ridiculously short amounts of time, not to win a grammy. Just getting in the neighborhood is good enough for me! =D

Like I said, it's an IDEA I'm toying with, but it would be cool if someone out there is up for the challenge if I'm able to dish it out.

I think another part of it is (the main part) is that I have heard those tunes (like popular tunes) that many times over...and over...and over, that I have been able to break each song down, millisecond by millisecond.

With a less popular song, i.e one I hadn't heard before or only heard a few times before, it was a bit more difficult. I needed to listen to the original track at least half a dozen times first before I could start to break the song down...and this is the only downside to that.

You have given us very good advice though and what you have said is something else I didn't consider either, but it's well worth considering and I'll take it on board.

I have only done about a dozen songs so far and it's something I was aware that I could do, but I have never actually done it before today and I am still a bit 'iffy' about doing it for anybody else at this stage just in case they don't like it...or whatever...I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to try, but no promises...I am homeless and without PC access most of the time. Please remember this.

P.S - When I think 'prog metal', I think Liquid Tension Experiment and Dream Theater with Jon Petrucci and The Fall of Troy and all that stuff...but I would go absolutely mental trying to transpose a song like Paradigm Shift, so don't ask. lol

Absolutely. And remember what I said WAY back when?If I get nitpicky about something I know little to nothing about, then I'M the one with a problem. Get me within a few tweaks of something and we'll call it good. You might have a hidden talent for mastering, and if that's something your brother is good at, you might pick it up fairly quickly. There are a number of books and (paid) online courses out there, but I don't have the money to study and practice it, so I'm just sticking with composing and synth programming for now. It's the final polish on a recording I need help with, and IF we reached a point we could "help each other out," you might find yourself in an impressive work-from-home situation.

Like I said, I've basically got no money for that kind of thing, so if it were you or anyone else that I passed that task onto, it would be a pittance next to what you really deserve. But my attitude is always if *I* win, so does anyone who does work for me, and if I hire someone, it's in their best interests as well to make sure I keep winning. If I keep winning, YOU keep winning.

I need another good, SOLID month of getting down and dirty with my own music, but if you can hang in there a little longer, we might have a more serious talk later on. Just a thought.

Regardless of whether you're up for it or not?hang in there. You're going to be fine!

If you ever need to, feel free to PM me any time.

Too true and it's something I need to also consider when thinking about my future options, so I shall keep you informed...I am also realising I have hidden talents as a lumberjack. lolz

(I can chop and carry wood and collect kindling faster than anybody out there).

The main upshot of this, is to realise when it is best just to let things go and when it's best to harbour grudges.

It reminds me of a story...

Two Buddhist monks were walking merrily on their way by a river...there was an old abbot and a young neophyte walking along the banks on a sunny day....

Then, they came upon a young 'damsel in distress' who was stuck half way across the river while trying to wade across it...

Suddenly, the old monk dove into the river and swam up to the lady with a 'here we go, just hop on my back and I shall carry you the rest of the way across the river on my back'. The lady thanked him, then took the 'piggy back'.

After the old monk did that and returned to the younger neophyte, they continued on their way, just walking along....but for many, many hours, the young monk remained silent...just shooting 'dagger stares' at his teacher...

Finally, after about 5 hours, the old monk stopped with a 'okay, enough is enough...what the heck is your problem'?

Young monk: "how dare you!...that woman back there....such a vile and disgusting creature we are not permitted to even look at, let alone touch! and you carried...her....across.....the....river....you have just disobeyed an important rule so how can I let you teach me anymore...etc...etc"

Old Monk: "I saw a human being in distress, neither woman nor man...there was nothing 'sexual' in any way and that thought never entered my head and besides that...

Yes, I carried that woman across the river, but I dropped her off on the other side and left her and the whole incident back there. YOU are the one who is still carrying that woman, 5 hours later in your MIND and quite frankly, I'd rather have her on my back'.

Thanks for your advice and it's something I shall work on and let you know.