john

Another possibility occurs, and that is digital crosstalk if you have cabling overlapping. So for example, if you have an analog cable connecting one device to the other, and you have a digital or midi cable in close proximity, it is possible that you will pick up crosstalk. The exact kind of crosstalk noise varies. MIDI give a distinctly different crosstalk from say digital audio, or mains power cables or even another analog line. If it sounds like bursts of crackles it tends to be MIDI, digital audio tends to be more regular clicks, mains tends to be 50Hz -60Hz hum and analog depends greatly on what is being transmited across the analog line at the time. Solution, separate your leads sufficiently to minimise crosstalk.

When songs aren’t my taste or I have a bunch to look at (like you described) I just learn the bit that interested me... it’s much faster.... it works greatly for production. Why recreate a full song? Just do the interesting bit. So I might do a full production with 4 bars from a verse, 4 bars pre chorus and the chorus itself. That way I get the sonic feel for most of the song, I get the key transitions, I get the synthesis, the effects, the builds/rise etc etc. Or sometime it really is just 4 bars in total.... just what is needed to learn the key bit. It is faster, more focused and is itself a brilliant approach for keeping up with pop trends (which is really important for eventually predicting those trends in advance and building your predictions into pop production. Less necessary in other genres).

Nah. I almost never record covers, and only occasionally perform them at gigs. I learn them just for the learning and because of my love for the song. As a songwriter I just don’t see the point. The only reason I can see for recording a cover is if I bring something pretty unique to the song. Which is fine. I am creative enough to bring something unique to the performance of something if I put my mind to it... but I have to want to work that out, approaching the song with the intention of recording and performing it. Generally, If I am just approaching from a learning perspective, I am deliberately trying to reproduce, capturing what interested me in the first place, not trying to find a new perspective. That might be okay for jamming a track with a mate, or strumming a track at a party, but to record a track or play it on a stage, I have to be very sure my version is unique enough, and my performance is good enough to justify it. It’s a lot of time to invest in a song, and to be honest, I would far rather invest that time in an original. That aside, a track like Ramble On needs to be very different to avoid the obvious vocal comparison, and I know only too well that Mr Plant would wipe the floor with me vocally. The trouble is, I think the Zep version is awesome. It doesn’t need a new version by anyone else, let alone me. That is often the case with covers. To justify doing a version of any song, you have to find a song that is awesome enough as a song, but the arrangement or performance is lacking something. Couple that with still being motivated enough about the cover song versus devoting that time to an original... and that is why I don’t record covers! Going beyond that, you have to think what you will do with that cover. If you post covers to Facebook you can get your page shut down, especially right now. If you post to YouTube, they can close your channel. You might have got away with it a few years ago, but nowadays it is just trouble waiting to bite you in the ass. So if you are going to do it, it has to be a full on, approved cover version (which it should be anyway), and that goes back to investing time, money and reputation in a cover versus an original. I know where I prefer investing my efforts. Lastly, I would far prefer being the best version of myself than a second rate copy of anyone else. So I don’t do covers. I learn a song to improve my skills in writing, arrangement, production or performance, or a little bit of fun away from the spotlight, but that is it. For those who love playing covers, good for them. We all have our joy. It just isn’t mine

Hey As Patchez has highlighted, it takes a lot of effort to reasonably answer a question where the original post has lacked key information. kudos to Patchez for investing From your description it couldbe distortion, introduced at one or more points in your signal chain. Each element in your hardware chain has an input volume and an output volume. There is usually an input gain control and an output volume. Additionally, you have input gain and output volume for every software component. If at any point in your signal chain you blow the level, you will introduce digital distortion. At certain points you can also introduce analog distortion, depending on your set up. Without essential info you might as well ask, "how long is a piece of string?". We can guess, but being correct is more luck than anything else. No sense in me repeating the details he asks for, though once you post it up I will happily contribute my two cents if it is needed Cheers John

Shiny shore of vibrant brilliance and talent unbounded?

Honestly, I don’t have time or inclination to monitor all that free speech. There are plenty places to air such views. Politics and religion( and guns in America), are such incendiary topics that they regularly burn down the house they happen in. On the Internet, people feel empowered by what feels like a largely consequence free environment, they feel invulnerable, and so they vent and bully. Even when they set out to discuss, someone else’s venting and bullying seems more than capable of turning the sweetest and most docile into the worst version of themselves. To have safe areas, pleasant places, comfortable places is vital to our sanity. Free speech is about a right to say what you want. It is not a right for it to be consequence free. I would also argue that it isn’t a right everybody has everywhere they go, at all times. Places of quiet reflection stop being places of quiet reflection if we just allow people to come in and shout whatever they want when they want. Kid soft play areas stop being somewhere parents bring their children if bikers are allowed to use it as a pole dancing titty bar. Creatives stop being creative and sharing their works where the environment becomes openly hostile, so we have a choice

Nice one Peggy Another good playlist

I think there are two fundamental concepts worth understanding here that should help address the OP's issue: Headroom The amount of signal amplitude range between the nominal signal level and the signal level at which clipping will occur. Headroom is normally expressed in dB. Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) The measure of the level of a desired signal compared with the level of background noise. SNR is the ratio of the signal power to the noise power, usually expressed as dB. In essence: Headroom is the room between the signal and the ceiling. SNR is the room between the signal and the floor. Ideally you want your signal to be much closer to the ceiling than the floor. It shouldn't be too close to the ceiling (0dB in digital)because then you run the risk that any signal treatment that results in raising the signal level, even when it just applies to certain frequencies, runs the risk of 'clipping'. Clipping Distortion due to overloading of an audio signal. In the Analogue domain this is normally caused by the peak signal voltage being limited by the audio circuits’ power supply voltage. In the Digital domain, clipping occurs at 0dB. Your signal has various peaks and troughs. Any of those peaks can be the loudest point. That includes outwith the range of human hearing. Any of the troughs could be the quietest point in the signal. The trouble is, the point that is the loudest can be a split second, and it can be much louder than the rest of the signal. If you were to scan your audio you could detect a peak at -1dB, but the nominal signal could be sitting around -18dB, leaving your music pretty quiet. Someone else's song could have a peak at -3dB but the rest of the song could nominally be -6dB. Their song will sound much louder (although dynamically, much flatter) Dynamics Dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. During recording, you should aim to accurately capture the performance, with a good signal level, but without any clipping (reaching 0dB). Ok, so say you record some audio, and there are some large peaks while the nominal audio is pretty quiet. Turn up too loud and you increase the overall noise floor in the song. Additionally, some of those peaks might be outwith the range of hearing, so first of all you should apply a high pass EQ filter at say 40Hz on drums and bass, and at say 100Hz on a vocal track. You should apply a low pass filter at at least 20 kHz. Often it can be much lower, but be wary of removing character shaping harmonics. So now you might want to reduce the difference between your highest peaks and the nominal level. To do this we use a compressor. You can find out about the basic controls on a compressor here: https://www.songstuff.com/recording/article/compression/ There are a load of compression tutorials on YouTube and various audio sites. In essence you look to reduce the signals above a dB threshold by the ratio (defined by the ratio control) and at the same time increase the overall signal level. This has the effect of increasing the overall loudness while not causing clipping. Other things to look at woud be Gain Staging for track mixdown. Understanding what dB is is useful when it comes to having a common language to talk to other recording engineers and producers. Using your ears is of paramount importance, but knowledge in recording and production is essential when it comes to creating a quality recording of a predictable standard, and when it comes to being creative by intention instead of by happy accident. I hope this helps!

A great playlist Peggy! Nice one.

Hi and welcome to Songstuff Ollie. It’s good to have you with us. Go to the appropriate critique board (it sounds like the draft song critique board [for loose 1+1 drafts] or song critique board[for fuller arrangements and bigger productions]) and post up the song link, plus the lyrics, plus a description of where you want critique to focus and what you want critique to avoid. Also, please make sure that you critique the work of other members. This is really important for you, for them, and for the health of the community. Try to make sure you give as much thought to these critiques as you would want someone to give your works. The more works you critique the better. Remember also to ask questions. Critique is a discussion, not simply a set of opinions. Dive in, have fun, but also work hard. The more effort you and others put in, the better. There’s a saying I go to a lot... An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can’t get it wrong. The same is true for songwriting, and for critique, and recording and production. The more you do it, the better. The more seriously you approach it, the better. Improvement takes work. Hard work. There is no substitute. There is no short cut. That said, following the right advice can save a lot of wasted effort. Enjoy... John

Hi Kedse, welcome to Songstuff!

Hey Andy Welcome to Songstuff! Great to have you with us. Welcome back to music making Cheers John

Hey Gang Such sad news today that another music icon has passed away. 65 year old Eddie had been undergoing treatment for throat cancer but sadly lost his battle. John

Hey Joel No problem, my friend. Regarding your topic, don’t despair. I’ll PM you. Cheers John

hi Joel Not pissed off at all. Different opinions and perspectives are perfectly ok The poll is posted to the “Recording and Production” board. Had it been posted to the songwriting board and been about capturing ideas using notation etc. I might well have agreed with you. If I were posting to a lyrics writing board I wouldn’t feel the need to include musicians in my phrasing for a poll about rhyme schemes. Even so, yes, analogue producers and recording engineers might well feel excluded from this, but it’s not like it is critical of analogue equipment users. Of course, next week we could run a poll of analogue studio enthusiasts. True, we could ask how people notate their music as a survey, but so could you or any other member. Were it me, I would not be asking that question on the Recording and Production board. More likely, the Songwriting board. Members can start polls about things they are interested in, at any point, or suggest to a staff member that it would be good to have a site-run poll on a topic. The exclusion is more to do with number of questions and number of choices than anything else, and we need boundaries to topics, otherwise every single topic on our boards would need to be inclusive, which would be strange, repetitive and of questionable necessity. Still we are all excluded from something. Every single topic, talks about at least one topic, sometimes several... yet it excludes far more topics... My point is, following your perspective, every single topic would need to be prefaced in a way that accommodates the people the topic is not targeting, making them feel included, despite the fact that they are excluded by their own interests... even when in specialist board areas for that targeted topic. Surely it is better to accept that few topics are for all people and that to encounter topics that are not for us is not a rejection? After all, when I write a topic, I do not expect replies from all members explaining that my topic was not for them but that is in no way a rejection of me, in order that I feel included by them? I am not trying to be silly here, or to trivialise your argument or piss you off. It just seems the corresponding and fair expectation of a topic writer to such an environment. This does wander off into a topic area, so If we are to debate this (I am happy to do so) I think we should start a new topic. In retrospect, I might clean up these posts into a new topic. Cheers John PS I am happy to start new polls about notating songs, capturing lead sheets, working with session people... and analogue studios... all interesting topics, just not this one

happy to bud

Lol it happens, especially when the idiot OP forgot to link the image to the feature! I’ll fix it now

Hey Gang Songstuff Site Crew member Mahesh has just had an exclusive feature in Rolling Stone India covering the video for his upcoming single, “Fading Colours”, released on Red Circle 7 Records. https://rollingstoneindia.com/exclusive-premiere-mahesh-raghunandan-fading-colours-song/ Please play the video, and if you like the song, please like and comment on YouTube, share on your social media, and of course sign up for Mahesh’s mailing list!

Agreed, and musicians were right there, actively involved Oh and it wasn't directed at you, more just I thought it was a good analogy and explained it pretty well. A few recent members made comments that showed they didn't know how this situation came around. Having lived through this massive change for music I had kinda overlooked that to some this was all new

Hi Gang It’s been mentioned a few times by a number of members. To all... critique is a DISCUSSION. So please discuss. When you post content (lyrics, song, video, marketing content, poem, performance etc.): Please post lyrics with songs. Mark song sections (verse, pre-chorus, chorus, post-chorus, bridge etc if you can) Please explain what you are looking for/not looking for from critiques Please reply to everyone who takes the time to reply to you. Thank them! Be nice. If you don’t like a comment, don’t throw a tantrum. Thank them. Explore it, find out why they think what they think. If they seem to just be antagonistic, thank them and move on. If they are personal, don’t react, report them and a mod will deal with it. If you reject suggestions, please do it diplomatically. When you post a critique of content (lyrics, song, video, marketing content, poem, performance etc.): Be helpful. It’s about the content being critiqued. Observe - Don’t just highlight what isn’t working well. Also highlight what is working. Try and also talk through structure, rhyme scheme, the message you think it delivers etc (not an argument with that message!) Analyse - Break down why it doesn’t work or why it does work, where it works and where and why it breaks. Suggest - Make suggestions for improvements in order to address issues you highlighted Be nice. Please be sympathetic to the writer. Be diplomatic in explanations. Don’t be personal. That breaks the site rules. If a writer rejects your suggestions, don’t be angry. It is their song, and their loss. Many thanks for your cooperation! Cheers John

Hi Gang We,ve had a few requests from members for staff to help try and keep posts as on-topic as possible. We will do what we can to help. We want to do so in a way that is sensitive to the reply poster too. Going off-topic is something we can all be guilty of. By staying on topic it keeps the original poster happy as their subject is being discussed, not yours. This is especially true on member introductions, critique posts, songwriting and marketing discussions etc. Please note, discussion on your subject is welcome, but greatly appreciated if you can, take off-topic stuff into your own topic, or if you prefer, topics. New topics really help the boards come alive, but importantly they help members find your post at a later point. Search engines like on-topic content. Web pages that wander plummet in search listings. This affects the amount of new visitors each page attracts, and overall how on-topic search engines view the entire site. It also has an effect on how suitable new visitors are as possible new members. So, firstly comes this request to all members: A. We do not want to discourage discussion. We are just asking that we all respect the Original Poster’s intent for the topic and that we each ask ourselves if content we are posting would be more beneficial within a dedicated topic. B. Please try and stay as on-topic as possible. You can of course mention related topics, but if you start drilling down into a topic, please start a new topic on that subject on a new board. C. I would ask members to help guide topics back to the original topic using BTT or D. A mod may approach you: Asking you to edit your post in order to move some of your reply into a dedicated topic Offering to edit your post in order to move some of your reply into a dedicated topic in your name To inform you that your entire post is off-topic and that it has been moved in to a dedicated topic If 1 or 2 happens and the member refuses, the moderator may hide or remove your post entirely. We do not want to do this. It is a last resort. E. For repeat off-topic posters a moderator may want to speak with you to explain the importance of on-topic posters. As staff we will look to create a video on this topic that members can watch and refer fellow members to. Thank you all for your cooperation, and please take this in the spirit it is intended... constructive and in the best interests for us all, off-topic posters included! Cheers John P.S. This is not a debate topic, or an opportunity to air old grievances. All such posts will be removed.

It’s an interesting and important debate. Instead of songs, imagine it was cars as songs and car parts as samples, music libraries, effects etc. The guys that steal cars and car parts, the free-givers, makes the cars and car parts freely available. Some of the free-givers make money from advertisements the visitors to their site pass by, others simply enhance their reputation and get favours. So pretty quickly a large debt is made in the profit of car makers, large and small, and the profits of car part makers. Pretty soon small car makers and small car part makers are desperately trying to get people come in through the door. Many try discounts of one kind or another. Some small makers close up shop. Larger ones start laying people off. All are getting more desperate. The free-givers continue building their reputation, getting side income. Why should they care? They all work outside the car industry. They work in construction, bakeries, teachers, doctors, lawyers etc. No one is even talking about giving their products away for free. Meanwhile some small hobby car makers are enjoying getting free parts and tools. They give away their cars for free, built for the love of car building, start growing a following of people who want free cars. Of course they don’t work in the car trade either. They too work in construction, bakers, teachers, doctors etc. This is just a hobby to them. They shout out justifying their actions “Art should be given away for free!” Desperate to make a living more manufacturers start giving away freebies and discounts. This is true of car makers and component and tool makers. Now everyone in the chain is reliant on reduced prices after all the market has shrunk to almost nothing. Virtually nobody can survive on the available money. End users now expect free cars. There are more lay offs. Less and less artists making money. The construction workers get paid as normal. The bakers get paid as normal. The Teachers get paid as normal. The Doctors get paid as normal. The small time car makers now make cheap cars, they can’t afford better. When you enter or leave their garage there’s a cap with a donations sign. That’s as good as it gets. Its been going so long, many small car makers almost believe they have no right to expect anything in return. They have become hobbyists. Not that there is anything wrong with being a hobbyist... unless you were a professional, you relied on that to feed you, to keep a roof over your head, and someone took that away from you. And it didn’t start with hobbyists giving away their own cars. It started with a select few who felt entitled to give away the cars made by others, without permission. No? Maybe it hasn’t happened to you. Imagine your primary income skill. You’ve spent years building your skills. Imagine there are few to no employers. You decide to start your own business. Then one night, someone breaks in, steals all your products, then gives them away for free. Not only that, but they do that to all other people with your skills, flooding the market with products like yours. Overnight your business is gone. Sure you have skills but no one is buying. The guy that stole from you? He still has his job. He eats. He stays warm. The guy that ended up with your products? He still has his job. He eats. He stats warm. Do you really care about the odd big company? Ok they might lay off people like you, some might even close. And here we are debating if the guy who stole the songs and gave them away for what seemed a lot like personal benefit, was in fact a music fan.

Hey gang I caught this article fluttering by: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54245479?fbclid=IwAR1qOwnkfic7Au3tK491bG5rpQ0feFweXqSXY90APoBKXaia9kAWAsyEisE What do you think? Cheers John

Hi Jeff Good to meet you. Welcome to Songstuff

I thought he was struggling thinking "is that it?" lol