My new song with help of Airgigs and BandLab

Slugworth

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I decided to put money towards a drummer via Airgigs rather than studio time or mastering. My drumming is pretty bad and the person that I paid to create his own acoustic drums tracks has saved me time, frustration and has greatly improved my bass, guitar, vocals timing by setting a steady BPM and adding cues before chorus changes. Through his use I've also realized that my background of only playing at home, not being in bands and no prior recording studio work how bad my timing really is. I've used his services on four songs now and sending him another one soon. His fee is very reasonably and every song includes up to two modifications, if need be.

Through a bit of research I found the free to use site BandLabs. While it probably doesn't reach the volume and processing levels of professional studio mastering it does add both to my Tascam to Audacity mixes. Moderator MJK graciously helped with a mastering of a song a couple months ago. It further pointed out my weaknesses of drums, vocals, timing and that no amount of recording equipment is going to fix them. I have sent out some of my songs to family members asking them if they would like to try singing on them. My daughter is working on a couple now and I asked her to add her own lyrics as well. I may even go the Airgigs or similar site route to find a singer.

I provided a link below to my song on the BandLab site rather than Google Drive link. To me it's a slow funk groove that could be possibly considered rock as well? Please listen with headphones https://www.bandlab.com/revisions/d...000d3a41ec2a?sharedKey=6q-736kf60aAzVZz7Hu1Sw

Lyrics below to song title Still, No Change

I have my concerns. For the future.
This world it yearns. For something better.
The time is now. No more waiting longer.
Yet, still no change. Except the weather.

Temperature's higher. Seas are rising. But still no change.
Wildfires. Corals dying. But still no change.
Fingers pointing. Leaders pandering. But still no change.
Clock is ticking, it is sickening, But still no change.

Shortsighted greed, it is rampant.
Still money is king, while our earth is dying.
What is left. For future generations.
We've made a mess. Greed is blinding.

Plastics compiling, Seas are rising. But still no change.
Corporations polluting, politicians bribing's. But still no change.
They want us divided, to take the onus. But still no change.
Clock is ticking, it is sickening. But still no change.

Do we still have time. That's the question.
Can people make. The hard changes needed.
It starts at the top. But they won't do it.
They'd rather burn it all. For the sake of profits.

Temperature's higher. Seas are rising. But still no change.
Wildfires. Animals dying. But still no change.
Fingers pointing. Lobbyists greasing. But still no change.
Clock is ticking, it is sickening, But still no change. Except the weather.
 
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This another song entitled Want It. I sent MJK an earlier version that included my drumming that I mentioned previously. The new version linked below includes the same Airgigs drummer and mastered on BandLab. I mono double tracked the vocals keeping the left track at volume level to instruments and panned 15%. The right track is panned to 85%, at a much lower volume and includes delay+reverb. Together both seem to create a minimal delay effect. I tried several combinations of panning and volumes. With each track panned far right and left at equal volumes my already shaky vocals sounded worse. Single tracked vocals sounded pretty lifeless. I need a singer!..lol.

BandLab link https://www.bandlab.com/revisions/5...000d3a41ec2a?sharedKey=yyDzzYNuXE6LoOsi0tT2sQ

Lyrics below to song titled Want It

Hey what do you say. What do you know.
I hope you're doing well.
Me, I'm okay. I'm alright.
Sometimes it's hard to tell.
These ups and downs through life.
We all experience them
Got to go. Ain't got time.
It's good to see you again.

It's been a while. Thanks for
Keeping me in mind.
Me. I'm okay. I'm alright.
Looking forward to our time.
You say all is fine. All is well.
I really hope that's true.
It appears these ups and downs through life.
Didn't get the better of you.

Long time has passed. Are you alright.
You're looking very well.
I feel. The tides of life.
Are just a passing swell.
It's okay. It's alright.
So glad that we've stayed friends.
Got to go. Ain't got time
I hope to see you again
 
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The downside of Bandlab is that require someone to have an account to listen to some thing. I recommend getting a free SoundCloud account just to post stuff so other people can hear it.

I'm going to take a listen when I get back home in the studio. glad to hear things are working out!
 
Thanks for the reply MJ. I was unaware it requires others to have a BandLab account to listen to postings there. I have a SoundCloud account and I will post these songs to it below.

Soundcloud playlist of these songs https://on.soundcloud.com/G7UDC
 
Great, thanks!
 
Wow, OK. It asked me to log in. I was using my mobile device at the time.
 
Hired an Airgigs singer
Dang. Great singer. Makes my vox sound like an asthmatic cat barfing a hairball in an echo chamber. Might be sumthin’ to this AirGigs thing!!!:cool:
 
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Singer = $60 per song
Drummer = $20 song
For the ones I chose. Prices vary.
I tip them too because they absolutely deserve it.

I'm sending her more songs in the coming weeks/months. Ivan (drummer) is solid and he is great about modifications I request at times. It's a lot of fun so far and I feel that investing in these musicians was a much better choice than contemplating time in a local recording studio that I was not at a level to do.

BandLab site has also been of great value.
 
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I feel that investing in these musicians was a much better choice than contemplating time in a local recording studio that I was not at a level to do.

Yes. When you have as good a recording/performance that you can get, that is when a professional studio can benefit you. That is, unless you use the studio to book the musicians and have a producer oversee the session. But working remotely like this is how most people are doing it now.
 
For the ones I chose. Prices vary.
Egads...you chose well.
Like @-mjk- sez - this 'remote' thing seems to be pretty much how it's done nowadays...and especially for people like me: where I live, I'd have better luck finding a ranch horse that can sing than a good female vocalist who'll record with me.
I'm very interested in an AirGigs-type resource - until I went to browse...while I'm sure there's some talented people who'll do a drum or vocal track for a modest cost...most of the singers I found STARTED at about US$150-175/song, and most were $3-500.
While it's surely worth the money to get tracks from talented/capable people (nobody's gonna pay ME a greasy nickel to sing!)...until I get that Taylor Swift-scale record deal, it's pretty much out of my budget.
'Scuse me...I gotta get back to vocal warmup...
 
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Here's her Airgigs page. https://www.airgigs.com/online-voca...list-Very-Wide-Vocal-Range-LEAD-ANDOR-BACKING
Her demo (audio tab) of Alicia Keys song is very impressive. Not sure if you picked up from her voice that she is not from an English as primary language country. It's less discernable in the mix compared to her isolated tracks that she sent. For most parts it 's hard to tell and though I notice it I don't care because she's very talented and has the soulful, powerful voice I heard in my head to replace my turdy vocals.

One of her Youtube's

I swear I hired her for her voice and not her legs. Well, they are a bonus.
 
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This is the drummer Ivan's page. https://www.airgigs.com/online-drum-sessions/57136/Record-HQ-professional-drum-tracks-for-your-song He looks like he's 17, but he's in late 20's or early 30's and has been playing for 15 years.
Youtube https://youtube.com/shorts/3Hktqpiyf10?feature=shared

This is one we did last month. More of an out of time (my fault) number that he played to my original tracks. My timing isn't usually good using a metronome so once he sorts out the pattern and time he sends songs back to me and then I record to his drumming. His tracks are much easier to keep in time with compared to the old click-click sound. Plus he throws in cues or accents before changes that help too.
https://www.bandlab.com/revisions/3...000d3a41e200?sharedKey=NFY7SveAVEG6-F1w1SC1Kw

Shredd, when I searched I used the filter icon on the right side of the search page. Gives an option to filter price ranges. I used the $20-$100 range. I found Ivan pretty quickly. Laura took a bit to find and the several I listened to before her were not impressive.
 
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I swear I hired her for her voice and not her legs. Well, they are a bonus.
Dang. She sounds GREAT.

Am I the only one noticing that a majority of the listings for female vox services feature profile photos of the singer all made up like it's a "movie" audition?!? "Not That There's Anything Wrong With That"...
But - like you - I actually listen to their posted recordings, to see not only how well they sing, but for things like style, tone, range, recording/production quality...yada...
But if I was DATING here, your girl would be up on the list. Niiiiice legs fer sher!!!

Thanks a TON for the links, @Slugworth ! You surely did your homework.
My first exploration yielded many good talents, but very costly...I'll have to learn to use the filters.
I also looked into Fiverr, at @-mjk- 's suggestion...while it's a generic site for all KINDS of services, there's thousands - TENS of thousands - of the same kind of people, offering musical services.
Including a bunch of female vox'ists with the requisite Glamour Shot profile photo...(rolling eyes). Like she needs to be pretty to sing great? Not that I don't love gorgeous women who can sing great...but have you SEEN what Janis J looked like?!?
Unsurprisingly, there's a LOOOT of people on there who offer pretty garden-variety quality of services; but some really good ones too - which means doing your homework!
I've already enlisted one - a highly-rated/-reviewed fella - to write some lyrics to the first song I ever wrote, and recorded without vox because my lyrics suk'd like an airplane toilet. We'll see what I get.
 
If I wanted bland, unexciting vocals like a lot of others I listened to on others Airgigs, then I was just settle for my own ass-voice. I'm not being fair because I probably only listened to about 10% of the singers in my price range. However, it was enough samples to stop on Laura. I'm still waiting for my daughter's vocal tracks to come in on the song below. I helped her invest in a Focusrite Scarlett interface and TZ Stellar X2 condenser mic. She's writing lyrics for it too. Here's the instrumental "Shrimp" https://www.bandlab.com/revisions/4...000d3a41ec2a?sharedKey=mCfT56_GYkCEKyg-NCplqg
 
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Hehee...sorry - that's about how I feel about my own vox. Much as I love to sing, I make Harvey Fierstein sound like Freddy Mercury.
I'm SURE there's probably lots of great singers there - no matter the price range - but you picked a good one. No need to check every last one to spot what you want for your song.

That's great you got your dotter into it! "Shrimp" is a good jam...love to hear what she puts into it!
 
Here's a new one. She sent me her tracks last night. I didn't intend to have my vocals on this song, but it seems to be better with us combined. This song started out as a rock song. However I could hear it leaning towards country(ish) sound too. I asked Ivan to send a train-beat drum tracks and to my ears it is a natural fit.
https://www.bandlab.com/revisions/e...000d3a428fff?sharedKey=66hZLmSKvEWTgAssBWzecQ
 
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