Preparing 30 and 60 second clips

[cameron]

Thanks for the info Casey.

Is what you are calling "stems" individual tracks... or subgroups? I usually get an alt. mix from the studio, which is just the full demo with the vocals removed, and I can also get a Karaoke version if I want (BGV but no lead vox) or individual tracks (.wav files) if I want them, which I can load into my DAW.

So I guess a typical stem might be all the individual drums, premixed into one or two (stereo?) track(s), and maybe another with bass, and another with guitars?

I'll probably not get that deep into it, as I made the decision a couple of years ago that I'd rather be a songwriter than an engineer. I do a little of both out of necessity, but with a full-time job I don't really have enough time to both write new songs and prepare alt. mixes for all of those already in the can. I was hoping I could just load the alt stereo mix (no vox) into Audacity and chop them up into 30 and 60 second bits.

Cam

[Casey H]

Thanks for the info Casey.

Is what you are calling "stems" individual tracks... or subgroups? I usually get an alt. mix from the studio, which is just the full demo with the vocals removed, and I can also get a Karaoke version if I want (BGV but no lead vox) or individual tracks (.wav files) if I want them, which I can load into my DAW.

So I guess a typical stem might be all the individual drums, premixed into one or two (stereo?) track(s), and maybe another with bass, and another with guitars?

I'll probably not get that deep into it, as I made the decision a couple of years ago that I'd rather be a songwriter than an engineer. I do a little of both out of necessity, but with a full-time job I don't really have enough time to both write new songs and prepare alt. mixes for all of those already in the can. I was hoping I could just load the alt stereo mix (no vox) into Audacity and chop them up into 30 and 60 second bits.

Cam

Typical alt mixes, useful for your own editing might be tracks with:

All drums
Bass
Acoustic Rhythm Guitars
Electric Rhythm Guitars
Any Lead Guitars Tracks
Keys
Strings
Any Other Solo Instruments

With that, you can make pretty much anything. It’s nice to be able to make alts such as versions with no drums, no lead guitar, etc. Some libraries ask for these. What’s also nice is sometimes as pure instrumental for film/TV, I like to tweak the levels. I might turn down the lead guitar some, for example, since for film/TV if it jumps out too much, it could be a problem.

Occasionally, to make good edits, I’ve gotten the individual drum component tracks. Sometimes I just needed a few high hats hits to help me make that 30 or 60 second version. Usually, the one composite of all drum tracks is enough though.

I spent a lot of time today making 30 and 60 second versions of an instrumental backing track. I couldn’t have done it without the sub-components. Without them, you often have to rely completely on fade-ins at the start. (Assuming you are working backwards from the ring-out end, which is what I suggest most of the time).

It’s a different world than songwriting. If you hate doing this stuff, you don’t have to. Only you know where to best put your own energy.

Best,
Casey

[cameron]

Thanks Casey... that's great info! I have a Nashville publisher who would lihe a more acoustic demo of one of my songs and I see now how it would be easy to do that with stems.

Cam

[Casey H]

Thanks Casey... that's great info! I have a Nashville publisher who would lihe a more acoustic demo of one of my songs and I see now how it would be easy to do that with stems.

Cam

Hey Cam
You MIGHT be able to do that IF the acoustic rhythm was played throughout the track. It often is. However, on demos with both electric and acoustic, it isn't ALWAYS the case-- they could have brought in the acoustic in spots for build. However, if "more acoustic" isn't literal, you can mix various levels of the electric and acoustic rhythm tracks and get something that might be very usable.

I would ask the studio (if it's NDS, I'm sure they'll be very helpful) to run you a set of alt mixes as described above. Ask them to use the same levels, settings, and mastering (if applied) they used for the full version.

I have SOOO much material to choose from now with all these alt mixes-- I've put a number of alternate intrumental versions in libaries. I just made the first cut (not a done deal at all!) on a library's radio promotion opp with two tracks because of the edits I made. Also, I've had a number of forwards from my alt mxies.

If you get your material from the studio(s), I'd be happy to offer my services to make edits for you at a price that would be hard to beat. You can do it yourself with any DAW. You don't need an expensive one-- I happen to still use Cubase LE which came with my Tascam USB front end years ago.

Best,
Casey

[allends]

When I first started making these edits it was a difficult skill to get the hang of, but now I see it as an artistic songwriting activity that I dearly love. Deciding what part of a song works well for 30 seconds and 60 seconds is a joyful adventure.

Technically, I always use all of my original tracks with the reverb plugin's tails doing their magic, because that's usually the best way to make seamless transitions between pasted material. Audacity is awesome for finalizing the exported project if you still need to tweak the time and to draw down some un-necessary volume peaks. I prefer to use it rather than my DAW because it gives me a fresh perspective on the final result.

Progress Forever,
Allen

[Casey H]

A library asked me for some short snips of approx. 20 seconds for possible use in a radio promotion campaign... Here, the time didn't have to be exact but the method was the same-- work back from the ring out ending to a logical starting point. One of these has a few drum beats at the start to make it come in more naturally. That's were having the alt mixes comes in especially handy- putting some drums in to fill out a section.

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/3383303

Casey

[Casey H]

I'm working on 30 and 60 second edits today to submit to a library...

Here are some with no real titles:

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/3388622

Casey