Collaborative music project ?

I'd happily write lyrics, but I am no vocalist. 

What software should we use? 

Bandlab or Mixcraft? 

They seem to be pretty similar, Bandlab you can have multiple people working on the same song at once, all contributors, it's pretty cool. That way you don't have to send audio files to people via email or PM here and such. 

Ideally, there shouldn't be any alignment problems between DAWs if things are done right.

Exporting tracks in mp3 can be a problem since mp3s do not have accurate start/end times. flac or wav is best.

Many DAWs do automatic time-stretching to project tempo, which can have weird results with files that aren't loops (and often hard to detect just by listening). As long as this behaviour is turned off when tracks are imported, there shouldn't be any problems.

Much as I respect Audacity as a very capable program, and excellent considering it's free, I couldn't personally see myself doing any in-depth production with it. I do use it for certain things, but most people have their own preferences for DAW and tend to get used to what they're working with. Hence cross-platform import/export is a must really.

I'm a newb, but it didn't take long to realize that this forum is chock full of musicians and other creatives... goes with the territory for sure!

Anyway... so found this part of the forum, and then this thread.

Just wondering if anything came of this?

Speaking of Reaper, NINJAM is an interesting way to jam, if anyone's familiar with it? It takes a bit of getting used to and it's not the same as being in a room, but definitely a way that creative ideas can be hatched.

Hi,

Not necessary. You've proved a lot with your amount of work. And singing, or word'ing (as I call it) is not something that you have given enough of a chance or tried. 

Just recently, I redid that Ygdrasil Poetry Magazine's monthly that I put together in May 1999 and I had to redo my own 2 poems. I have not liked my voice in these things, although when I read things out it feels alright. So I played the piece of music (with permission from the writer and author!!!) and redid the poems I originally had, and decided to concentrate on the words, and apply them better to the flow of the music ... and it came out way better than I thought, and the voice, "lived" well with the words, and it probably helped that this time, I "ditched" the poem idea, and just went into it with "total emotion" ... which fit things way better than before.

(.... https://www.academia.edu/73832614/Ygdrasil_JULY_2022_Audio_ISSUE_Edited_by_Pedro_Sena ... )

Sometimes, the "idea" of singing is the problem, because one thinks it needs this or that ... and if you throw that away, go to the bathroom and say the words to the mirror while shaving, you won't become Harry Secombe, and don't have to, but you will in due course find a way for the words to flow that sounds alright ... and is much better, and not weird, as you thinking of singing something!

Try it ... some improvisation actually works, on voice, even though musicians are so married to their scales they can't even move without getting slapped in the face for looking at another ... scale. (PDQ Bach joke!)

Hi,

Why do you have to sing? 

Just do words, a sort of Robert Wyatt, and fly on the words alone as poetry.

to be honest, I'm sick and tired of singers. You would think that most of them would learn something BEYOND the notes, and the only real answer is ... no chance!

Make us cry and smile ... not because of the notes, but the quality of the words and how they are spoken or stated. It may have an amount of musicality to it, but sometimes, it is not necessary! Once we get off the idea of the "singer" and move on, I think any voice is just as good as the next.