Making Your Old Music Available

Subject: Making Your Old Music Available
From: GUEST,Wally Macnow
Date: 10 May 10 - 12:22 PM

I'm on a mission of sorts. Many of us who have been around making music for a while have made vanity label records. Some are on vinyl and some on tape. Probably over 90% is out of print and unavailable to the public. In fact the tape is probably deteriorating pretty quickly now.

How would people feel about making those songs/tunes available for free digital download? You won't get royalties but you're not getting them now. Maybe it would be for more than posterity. Maybe somebody will be inspired to learn a song or tune and sing it for someone else.

I just converted a 1984 cassette to digital files and uploaded the songs so people could download them for free (See the Yonder Come Day thread). I'd like to hear what people think about the idea. If its not overwhelming, I'd be happy to help some folks with the conversion.

Wally Macnow

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 May 10 - 12:40 PM

This is a great idea.

Let me say it like this.... at the time we field-recorded a few hymns, we did not think much of ourselves, or of our "performnaces." I still don't, and I think I am right.

But... people tell me how much the SONGS, themselves, mean to them, when they hear them.

So....

If any of you actually-good-music-makers can see your way clear to just go ahead and share your stuff, I for one can tell you that it will mean more than you can possibly know, to someone, to hear them.

So do it!

Please?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: GUEST,Andy Wallace
Date: 10 May 10 - 09:34 PM

Hey, Wally,
I'm sort of engaged in something similar at the moment. I've got a couple of hundred reel to reels and cassettes, and a couple of thousand lps that I'm slowly trying to digitize - lots of early FSGW, Ringshouters, stuff from us in Japan, assorted cuts from various albums I'm on, as well as all of Jonathan Eberhart's "collection." It's slow going for those of us who are digitally challanged. The programs that i have - Spin It Again and Audacity - don't make it terribly clear as to how you go about putting the cuts onto CDs. I've got digital files, but that's not particularly helpful to me.

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 10 May 10 - 09:50 PM

I've been putting old performances on youtube as well. Interesting what gets responses.

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: GUEST,Wally Macnow
Date: 10 May 10 - 11:16 PM

I can't handle reel to reel anymore but i may be able to help you with cassettes and vinyl, if you want to send me some. It's good to talk to you again Andy.

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: Tangledwood
Date: 11 May 10 - 05:23 AM

Andy, if you want to get technical about your digital files I'll quickly get out of my depth. However, using Audacity - if you use the "export as wav" or "export as mp3" menu options (under the "file" tab) you will have formats which most people will be able to play on their computers. Upload them as is to your file hosting site.

To burn to CD for your own use your CD burner software will do whatever is necessary to the files to make them CD compatible. For example, using windows media player simply drag the wav or mp3 track to the burn list. Other Catters would be able to do the same after downloading the files.

It's a total guess, but I'm thinking that you may have used Audacity's "save project as" option which saves the files in aup format, only usable by Audacity itself.

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 May 10 - 04:24 PM

Since losing the ability to pick and make music, a lot of my older recorded work has been made available here at Mudcat and on Ewe Toob.

At

Subject: RE: Making Your Old Music Available
From: MMario
Date: 11 May 10 - 04:35 PM

Andy - if you have the stuff in audacity it isn't difficult to get it to CD; tedious sometimes, but not difficult.

PM me if you want.