"Ride Like The Wind' - I could use your suggestions ....

[sjs94704]

Hey, All!

I decided to go beyond just singing the songs I download 'as is' and actually do a little mixing, so here you go! This is the song 'Ride Like The Wind' by Christopher Cross.

I used some loops from the website Looperman. What I did was just pick loops pretty much at random and to see what I could do with it later and this is just a start.

There are loops added to the mix but the main song is still 'as is' and I would like to know if anyone can make some suggestions of what part of the main song I might consider chopping up and looping to extend it just for fun and to practice and experiment.

Finally, when taking an original song like this, just like there is a definite structure to a song:

1. Intro
2. Verse
3. Pre-Chorus
4. Chorus
5. Bridge
6. etc...

while I realize I can do whatever I want, is there any kind of theory behind typical places in a song that artist usually extend?

I am not trying in any way to be absolute here, this is just a question ......

https://audiomack.com/song/bayside_s...-like-the-wind


This song may not make sense to some as far as the loops being off tempo or any other 'whatever' and is just an experiment in putting loops together with a song. The one thing I did was put the wind sound effect in there .....
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[xpander]

You can extend whatever part you see fit. I don't ever think if I can shorten or extend this or that part, because I can. Instead, I may think why doesn't this part feel/sound right and should it be changed somehow. I might as well drop or replace it, rather than just extending the existing one. I guess what I'm getting at is that there must be some purpose for what I do, instead of having a preconceived idea of doing something specific and then hunting down where I can do it.

Mind you, when doing songwriting, I might get an exact idea of doing something special for an unfinished song and then I will go and try it. But when the song has said to me it's finished, I try to listen and believe it.

I know you don't make your own songs right now. So in that regard the songs you have are finished already. But if you are going to change them, you can do anything. So you could eg. ask yourself, I like this one part so much, could it be longer? Works the other way around too, I don't like this part so I'll shorten or drop it.

A really common and good place for song extensions is in live performances. That's because live you can see and feel the crowd reactions and adjust accordingly, if you can. A long intro to introduce the song, or something different which will totally surprise the crowd when the actual song starts. Extended choruses where you can keep the crowd going and having fun singing along, clapping hands etc. Extended solos where you can really flash your skills while others get bored out of their minds. Extended middle or build section which teases people just a bit more before a release. A fake ending that just starts again and again.

[RDBOIS]

I agree with xpander; essentially you can do what you want. It's all good.

Myself, on a personal side, I record a cover song for every 4-5 song I compose. I record cover song for educational purposes. It helps me to view the world through the eyes of another group of artists. I can learn about song arrangement, mixing dynamics and what instruments were chosen, where, why, etc.

It could be useful to try to recreate as close as possible the original song. But it could also be fun to mess around. Whatever suits your purpose.

I also feel like saying: sing man. Sing! This is what we really want to hear. The background music is second to the vocal. If you sing a good tune we probably won't even notice anything else. We'll be thinking: "Shheeeit can that guy sing!"

lol

[sjs94704]

Part of my ultimate goal here is to have some fun making YouTube videos. So, I came across a video on YT that talks about how to change the settings for the Master VU.

I had the display offset set to 13.0. I put it back to 0.0.

I could not find them, but, what are the default settings for the Master VU Meter? Should I have it on Peak+RMS, Peak Only or RMS only?

I just want to be sure the Master VU meter is the way it should be. I know now that the way I had it was getting in my way from accomplishing my goals.

[xpander]

Default settings for the master vu are
Show: Peak+RMS
Top Label: Peak
Multichannel peak metering selected

RMS metering settings
Window size: 300 ms
Display offset: 14 dB
Display Gain: 0 dB
Red threshold: 4 dB

There is not one absolute way these settings should be, that's why they are adjustable. If you don't know how to set them up for your needs, default is as good guess as any. Once you know what you want them to show and how, I'd imagine that would determine what they should be for you.

[sjs94704]

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