It’s not actually gonna die, though sometimes it might feel like it’s heading that direction. I understand how it’s concerning, but then the fact that many people don’t want to see it happen is reason enough to keep it from doing so!
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I must admit to feeling quite depressed about that thread and how it developed.
But in a way, (not a good way), it felt kinda symbolic. Like many of you, I’ve been caught up in life-the universe and the need to earn a living. Apart from a bunch of new projects, I have a new puppy and my life is a bit ‘overthrown’. But still here… and currently playing around with some odd musical things and searching for new sounds and directions.
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Not sure why there is so much discussion about politics and other non-related topic since this forum is clearly about music production. Personally I have no interest at all in politics so I will just skip anything like this on the forum and it doesn’t bother me much, I just ignore it and read what seems interesting. However, if the proportion of off-topic content would start to be significant, that would probably contribute to driving me away from the site (and I think it actually did, to some extent, at one point).
What has been said about creating some interest by leading/animating/motivating is true, but another essential point is that you need a minimum volume of users to keep the ball rolling. The best leading skills are worth nothing if there are only a few members, always the same, contributing. In my opinion, saving IRD can only be achieved if someone somewhere manages to get more people to join the community.
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When we are busy with life we seem to have no choice but be selective, and even an old retired guy like myself has that to deal with, even though my priorities and activities are not the same as others.
For instance, last year I consumed a lot of news, due to the global pandemic, and due to US politics. Not stopping there, I found a lot of my songs to be inspired by those current events. Musicians and songwriters historically are entangled in the issues of the day. How can one imagine a music scene which put its head in a hole like an ostrich? And it is your personal choice if you want to take stands or express opinions or not. It was a crazy year, 2020, and now it is 2021, and where are we now? Musically, non-musically, we survived, and it is not too soon to celebrate.
There’s nobody here whose politics will offend me so much I’d stop coming here. I will also discuss and debate anyone politics and/or music, if I get around to it, as I am a procrastinator. And furthermore there are lots of people I like that can’t see things my way.
So I am quite relieved that there were a lot of members just like me that had mysteriously slipped away for a while but who are still alive and well and not out for the count quite yet.
Would more activities/mini contests to give people things to do once here, as @bozmillar suggests, attract more people? I would think so. It might be cool to start with just one contest, to come up with an ongoing mini contest.
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Far from it. 
Hmmm. Maybe. As I said before, that 12 month mixing contest was the best thing I ever did (That was MASSIVE as Andrew, Boz and others who did will testify - not thinking that scale of course). But I also had more time overall. Personally, mixing contests are preferable for me as I already have enough half finished irons in the fire song and project wise.
I know full well that i can sit here now and say I’m keen (and I would be) but am super aware that depending on the week, timelines etc, it may just slip passed.
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Well, we could talk about this forever, or we could actually do something about it…
…Ok, so here’s a suggestion: In the absence of any official sponsorship or involvement from the forum ownership, why don’t we just organise an informal “community mix-off”?
We could start a thread entitled “IRD Mixoff Submission Thread” and invite forum members to submit their own productions that they might be willing to let the community mix. Perhaps we could all vote on which production we would like to mix as a community, then that member could provide the multi-tracks for download in a separate thread.
Maybe allow it to go for a month or two, during which time members could submit their mixes, and the community could give feedback.
At the end of the period, perhaps there could be 2 winners - One which the community vote chooses, and one chosen by the member who provided the multitrack.
It would be a total free-for-all, totally informal, with no rules and no prizes apart from bragging rights.
Who knows…perhaps the winner’s mix might even get released by the artist?
…just throwin’ it out there…
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I would hate to see IRD disappear. While I have not visited as often as I once did, my lack of engagement has been uniform across all aspects of life for the past months. The pandemic has been a strain and although I’ve been lucky enough to work from home, I’ve been rather withdrawn from many things. I also suffer from ‘too many hobbies’ and a lack of inspiration for nearly everything. I’ve barely been playing guitar, not practicing my digital art skills and rarely taking photos. It’s been a rough year.
I’ve also found that I’ve been less likely to post my comments only because I feel I have nothing ‘constructive’ to say other that to express my likes, dislikes and appreciations when listening to the talented folks who are actually submitting their work. I can give an opinion, but still lack the skills to offer anything that might be actually useful. Still … I enjoy the music and the people here. I hope the site can be re-energized and that we can “let the music do the talking.”
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Well, it appears that hinting at the demise of the site has raised some interest, and brought a few of us out of hibernation. I like Andrew’s idea a lot, and I would add to it by having the winning mix released by IRD at no cost to the artist, as an endorsement by IRD that the performance and mix exemplified IRD’s standards. The artist would do nothing different on any release other than accepting IRD’s endorsement and mentioning it in the notes on the release. If we could make this happen a few times a year, we would have a Best of IRD release each year, which would be free exposure for the site and the involved artists. Everybody wins.
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That sounds like a great idea. I am organizing mixing contests every 3 months for a French forum that has a similar vibe and size to IRD, and it’s working quite well.
Based on my experience there I would suggest a few things which, in my opinion, can make this more interesting:
- If we can manage that technically, make the mixes anonymous so that the votes are purely based on the mix itself.
- The quality of the original material is key to making this enjoyable for everyone: productions that involve acoustic recordings and good arrangements are more appealing than productions that are fully VST/MIDI-based, for instance.
- Normalize the mixes for an easier & objective judgment.
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This is an interesting point and something I think we need to consider.
The 12 song 12 month mixing contest done in the Recording review days (around 2012) was, as I have said many times, the best thing I ever did. However, the quality of songs (both recording quality and structure) varied greatly.
I loved this! I learned more because of the different things I was faced with trying to mix. Noisy signals, muddy sounding basses, slightly out of tune solos along side sessions with pristine vocals and snares you could die for.
There were very few midi based tracks, but I would not be adverse to them either. If, however, the vast majority would not partcipate in a MIDI heavy track, then perhaps that’s not the way to go. I always liked the original having a rendered track of the original MIDI sound AND the MIDI file too so that I had options.
I like this idea a lot.
This was how I felt 10 years ago. Don’t fall for that trap. Get in there and critique, acknowledge and suggest what you can. Do it for your growth. At worst we can disagree and ignore your advice 
. You will still grow and you will be making stronger connections here as well.
I know we can’t replicate what Brandon did all those years ago (I swear I will stop talking about it soon!) but the idea that you gave constructive feedback was huge. It was great for the OP but even better for the people listening. My learned as much if not more by reviewing other’s mixes than mixing myself.
I’m up for it, with a good month or more to mix, I could see myself having a crack. I’d also be more than happy to volunteer some songs, but I do like the voting system @ColdRoomStudio suggested.
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Great ideas being developed here!
I have another one. As I mentioned before I’ve always valued advice on more aspects than just mixing: composition, lyrics, orchestration etc.
In the past few months we’ve heard a couple of great solo (guitar plus vocals) recordings. It’s not about a fantastic recording. Even a recording with your phone would do. I think we could have a songwriting competition where things like composition and lyrics are discussed, perhaps improved on (if the songwriter agrees!), and the end result finally judged. Suggestions could be made for arrangements. For the winning song good IRD instrumentalists (or vocalists!) can chip in to get to a higher level of instrumentation than we would normaly reach (if you play all instruments yourself like me). The end result could also be released as an IRD production.
Any one interested?
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Sounds good @Aef.
Having a range of options for little comps like this would be good. Especially if the skill set or time required varied as well.
For example, you could have a song written and the lyrics provided but it might be a fun challenge to see how people create a vocal melody and deliver it. Just a thought.
On the mixing side of things, you could even do mini mix comps. Here’s a song, your job is to mix the drums without using sample replacements? Just throwing ideas out there… But something like that could be knocked out in an afternoon and then the proceeding discussion around process and results could open up some real opportunities for people’s development.
Whatever the case, it’s positive that ideas are being thrown around and that a little excitement is being generated again!
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I really like this idea. A song’s vocal melody and vocal phrasing is usually the most important aspect of a song, IMO. It either makes or breaks the song. I guess it depends on the song, though. But isn’t the reason that copyrite is more often applied to a vocal melody and lyrics than to the musical composition is that because the vocal melody and phrasing and lyrics are the more valuable and tangible element of a non-instrumental.
This could be really fun for those that are fine with writing and recording music but not so good at writing vocal melodies and singing. It’s a way to engage people to co-write with one another, too.
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Or this could be really fun for people who have no musical talent, but love to record people who do possess such talents.
I still log in now and then to see if I can detect a pulse at IRD and was glad to see the community throwing out ideas to keep it going.
It seems like the political bickering peaks at the same time the recording contests wane and that is no coincidence. Mixing a forum member’s song stems keeps me too busy to wonder about the origins of viral strains and that’s a good thing.
I come here to learn and stand in awe of the talent of our members. Yes, I steal/download songs that members post to the bash forum and put them on my music server. When we have guests over to our house, we often sit on our veranda and I get comments from people when one of the IRD songs is played and they wonder about the artist.
What made Recording Review and IRD special was the welcoming vibe when you posted for the first time. I was at one time a member of several recording forums and left all but IRD, because the vultures were always circling looking to put someone down to lift themselves up, something I never encountered here.
IRD is a gem in a coal mine and it would be a shame to see it fade away.
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That’s fantastic! Thank you for sharing some of the songs! Good to hear that you get the odd enquiry!
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My take for what it’s worth…totally fine with no politics. One thing I cannot stand is people from other countries bashing on whoever our leaders are here, whether they be in office or out of office. I’ve never bashed your leaders, returning the favor would be appreciated. Ban politics completely. It’s not needed here and only ends in disaster.
That said, some of the other threads that may have come up, actually allowed people to bond a bit and sort themselves out in private or in an actual thread. People are passionate. We’re musicians and writers…we feel strongly about things and that’s ok too.
The real story though, in my opinion, is this. We are just out of a pandemic. There are people that have been out of work who have made other arrangements in order to survive. Some lost their jobs, some started new careers, and some people that have done nothing are busy once again. I don’t think it’s the end of the forum. I think it’s a sign of people trying to live life again. Quite a few were stuck in their homes, so all some people had was time. That’s no longer the case. I say go with the flow and see what happens.
Incidentally, and not that this matters, but I have to share this because it’s always bothered me. I was approached by Brian and also approached Brian to try and do a few cool things for this forum. When he contacted me, I met him with open arms and was told I’d be invited to one of the forum meetings. That never happened. I contacted him about it at a later time, and still nothing happened. I had a few cool ideas that I think would have really been helpful as well as entertaining. I know a few don’t particularly care for me here, so I’ve pretty much kept my distance. I’ve had my share of issues here and even when I tried to be helpful sharing my own personal opinion and experience, I was met with quite a bit of crap.
Someone always felt the need to rule the roost here and honest to God I never wanted it to be me. All I ever wanted to do was help people and have done my best at all times with novel posts to make sure no stone goes unturned. I’ve never claimed to be great at anything, I just always wanted to share my experience having done this for a super long time. But that gets old and you come to the conclusion that some forums are not for you. This became one of them for me.
Whatever the case, there definitely needs to be some stuff put into place here. However, I’m sticking to my original belief that people are living life again and don’t want to spend any more time indoors on the net for a while. I believe they will be back in time. Or, maybe they got really good at this stuff and make a living at it…or maybe they outgrew the place.
The help business: Let me tell you, as a man who (those of you who may really know me) has been in the help business for the price of an internet connection for many years, it’s not an easy job. There’s a lot of BS that comes with it and you constantly have to have thick skin, debunk the people that try to scare the heck out of beginners with their infinite technical jargon and endless links that belong to someone else while they seem to never teach/lead by personal example. A bit of that has changed here and there are some quality people now, but you guys that have been here a while know what I mean.
It’s a labor of love that you can’t get enough of until some guy comes on that just ruins it for everyone. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to me. It gets too much especially if you’re super passionate, and you’re a person that believes as I do…we’re people on the other end. You talk to someone here like you would in person. Some of the stuff said you know a few wouldn’t say. They’d be walking around with no front teeth. LOL! So I just totally walked from forums for the most part because I just can’t take people that use this for entertainment more so than for learning or helping others in a language they can actually understand. This forum and one other are the only ones I visit from time to time. There needs to be moderation at times. When the same guy is in a conflict with someone different each week and he seems to take turns on different people, that guy needs a talking to and then a ban for life if it continues. I’ve watched that go on and on here quite a few times. It makes good people just not want to be here. Whatever the case, I say stick it out and see what happens as time goes on. I’d not give up just yet.
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Hi guy Really missed you around here. Kinda selfish for me. You did go to the N’th to help folks especially me. I am a fighter literally. I can’t tell you how many times my wife has dragged me away from punching out some asshole who was making trouble. She says stuff like “we’ll lose our home if you punch him” ha ha Two days ago we we celebrating our 52 nd wedding anniversary and stopped in to have a drink at a bar we used to frequent in the 70’s We were having a good time and I mentioned to the bartender it was are 52 nd. Some creep down the bar (who was sloshed) said " well aren’t you special", laughed turned his head forward for another drink. My wife grabbed my arm and said “we’re out of here” She knew what was going to happen. At least half of our drink was good.
Anyhow your last paragraph was spot on. Hope you return and share some of your latest tracks
Sincerely
Paul
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Nice to see you here, and thanks for your perspective. It’s still a fun place to check into from time to time, and for me at least it’s always been welcoming, although I have seen things go sideways a few times.
I think that it has also become harder to keep the energy up for the mixing side of things for a variety of reasons. One big one for me has been the proliferation of mixing tutorials on YouTube, which weren’t apparent to me at least during the RR days. I think the general skill level for beginners to intermediate mixers has risen a lot, so there’s not a lot of new action coming in from that area.
Most importantly, the site needs to focus on keeping new members engaged and active to make the site feel more open to anyone who wants to be involved. To encourage that, you’re absolutely right that people who just cause problems should be bounced quickly and finally.
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@feaker Thank you for your kindness, Paul. It means a lot. Yes sir, hot head here too, so I can relate. Even worse for me as I’ve been a martial arts instructor and involved with the arts since I was 8 years old. Sometimes I’m only human and have a hard time walking away from people that definitely deserve to be put in their place, in spite of my discipline.
But, as your wife said, your best bet is to walk and live another day. People today are out of their minds and sometimes have weapons. 52 years is a blessing my friend. Imagine either living the future of those years alone or behind bars because something went wrong, God forbid. You never know.
My fiance (who is an MMA fighter) and I have a code word when we know “it’s time” and we have no other choice but to defend ourselves. I pray and hope that day never comes as chances are we’d really do some damage. But we could also be forced to live (or die) with something we may regret for life know what I mean? It’s never worth it unless your life is in danger and there is no other choice. That’s how I evaluate things these days. If it’s a dude with beer muscles and a big mouth, he’ll get his eventually. Let someone else put him in line.
We got songs to write and our women to love. And if you have kids, even more of a reason to walk. The ones we leave behind due to us flipping our lid will forever grieve if something bad happens to us.
Quick story that may help you and make you think of me when you’re in one of those situations. A friend of mine who was a teacher in high school tried to break up a fight between two guys. He was merely pushed out of the way with a basic shove. He lost his balance, fell and hit his head on a curb in the street. He died from it. Life is too precious brother and in an instant, can change forever. Stay safe, keep writing and stay here on the forum. It will keep us both out of trouble. Always good to hear from you.
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