ROTATION.ROCKS is a project, where a group of 24 creative music platforms and their connected artists work together. Each platform can be a single musician or a team of artists. Goal is to write 24 songs in 12 steps - i.e. during each of these steps, every song who started with one of the artists will pass through a growing process while being tweaked, complemented and improved by each next artist. Think of a clock, where each hour position is represented or «occupied» by one of the artists. After a defined period of time, each work will be passed to the next position/artist. After one full round, the song needs to be finished.
HOW DOES IT WORK? Every one of the artists who will sign up with us will receive a detailed plan where he or she can see all the details about the exact timing, technical requirements [song info, file formats, communication etc.]. Before we go into too deep details here, you can check the basic production process with the below's images. It sounds a bit complicate, but once you've understood the idea, it's quite simple, huh!?
WHY ALL THIS? Well, creative work is fun. And if we can play music the way we like, it's even more fun! No record company who wants to see some cash-back, no unhappy solo artist who doesn't like your 7/8-bar drum groove during the guitar solo… The path is the aim. Although, there will be an audible result, released as a deluxe double CD book and a credit card shaped USB stick, the making is way more fun! Every involved artist goes through several steps in music production: Writing, arranging, judging, refining, polishing, etc. - And not to forget - an ever growing network of crazy musos will inspire in each direction. Hard to beat that!
HOW DOES IT WORK? Every one of the artists who will sign up with us will receive a detailed plan where he or she can see all the details about the exact timing, technical requirements [song info, file formats, communication etc.]. Before we go into too deep details here, you can check the basic production process with the below's images. It sounds a bit complicate, but once you've understood the idea, it's quite simple, huh!?
WHY ALL THIS? Well, creative work is fun. And if we can play music the way we like, it's even more fun! No record company who wants to see some cash-back, no unhappy solo artist who doesn't like your 7/8-bar drum groove during the guitar solo… The path is the aim. Although, there will be an audible result, released as a deluxe double CD book and a credit card shaped USB stick, the making is way more fun! Every involved artist goes through several steps in music production: Writing, arranging, judging, refining, polishing, etc. - And not to forget - an ever growing network of crazy musos will inspire in each direction. Hard to beat that!
THE WORK PROCESS
Ready to dig in a bit deeper? Well, the rotating graphics should explain the basics pretty much. Here's some more info - in plain words. Let's follow one of the 24 songs on its journey through one of the two rotating discs:
Step 1: On top of the either one of the rotating discs above, you see a keyboard icon - each icon represents a platform or an artist with his or her preferred instrument for that step. We just picked one to give you an example. Okay, let's get started! Our song will get a title, a tempo grid and now, our keyboard player at 12 o'clock plays a decent track - let's say a Wurlitzer sound. Now the audio track (stereo or mono) needs to be properly edited, then bounced - all within his or her favorite Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Finally, the finished audio track(s) need(s) to be put into a dedicated PRESONUS STUDIO ONE SESSION - this is our working format so everybody involved speaks the same language. Now, the same person adds some song markers to let the next artist in the chain know how the song parts were meant to be. Tempo info needs to be in the session as well. When the work is done, a zipped file of the song folder (I. e. a STUDIO ONE SESSION) needs to be sent to the next musician on the list within the given time. That was easy, right?
Steps 2 …11: Each following step is similar to step 1, with some exceptions: There's no more need to create a song title, except you want to sing a melody and have a better song title that fits your lyrics. You're free to change the song title, but be respectful. Also, the tempo is given, so you don't need to worry about that. Now, on these steps, our song will receive more and more instruments, as you can see on our rotating images, where each song goes one round clockwise to grow toward its completion… It's as simple as that!
Step 12: This is the final finishing step, that's why we've put a mixing icon here at 11 o'clock. At this last step, the responsible artist or team is allowed to add whatever it needs - instruments or vocals - to make this song complete! Now, all the fantastic WAVES PLUG-INS can be used for mixing! The finished song will be sent back to the Rotation.Rocks administration team for the final check and mastering. Sounds fantastic!
Side note: If you suffer some lack of great recording gear - WARM AUDIO will be glad to help you picking the right microphone, preamp and outboard processor to capture every nuance of your instrument. On top of that, WAVES and PRESONUS offer us their software arsenal for free use during the production phase… We will give you all the required support once you've signed up with us. Very promising!
Step 1: On top of the either one of the rotating discs above, you see a keyboard icon - each icon represents a platform or an artist with his or her preferred instrument for that step. We just picked one to give you an example. Okay, let's get started! Our song will get a title, a tempo grid and now, our keyboard player at 12 o'clock plays a decent track - let's say a Wurlitzer sound. Now the audio track (stereo or mono) needs to be properly edited, then bounced - all within his or her favorite Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Finally, the finished audio track(s) need(s) to be put into a dedicated PRESONUS STUDIO ONE SESSION - this is our working format so everybody involved speaks the same language. Now, the same person adds some song markers to let the next artist in the chain know how the song parts were meant to be. Tempo info needs to be in the session as well. When the work is done, a zipped file of the song folder (I. e. a STUDIO ONE SESSION) needs to be sent to the next musician on the list within the given time. That was easy, right?
Steps 2 …11: Each following step is similar to step 1, with some exceptions: There's no more need to create a song title, except you want to sing a melody and have a better song title that fits your lyrics. You're free to change the song title, but be respectful. Also, the tempo is given, so you don't need to worry about that. Now, on these steps, our song will receive more and more instruments, as you can see on our rotating images, where each song goes one round clockwise to grow toward its completion… It's as simple as that!
Step 12: This is the final finishing step, that's why we've put a mixing icon here at 11 o'clock. At this last step, the responsible artist or team is allowed to add whatever it needs - instruments or vocals - to make this song complete! Now, all the fantastic WAVES PLUG-INS can be used for mixing! The finished song will be sent back to the Rotation.Rocks administration team for the final check and mastering. Sounds fantastic!
Side note: If you suffer some lack of great recording gear - WARM AUDIO will be glad to help you picking the right microphone, preamp and outboard processor to capture every nuance of your instrument. On top of that, WAVES and PRESONUS offer us their software arsenal for free use during the production phase… We will give you all the required support once you've signed up with us. Very promising!
NEED A SAMPLE?
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Here's a simple, unfinished demo sample of a song that went through several steps already: It starts with drums. Then, there's an electric bass coming in, followed by a rhodes and an electric guitar. In the B section of the tune, we added a real orchestra, while various pads come and go in diverse spots of that section. During the outro, a decent grand piano completes the jam section. Done! And there's still room for lead and backing vocals along some more solo instruments. Getting hungry to jump in?
ROTATION.ROCKS AROUND THE CLOCK
BASIC RULES CHECKLIST
QUALITY: You're a quality musician. Your performance skills are top notch and not limited to one musical genre. The more instruments you play, the better. And if you can sing, that's perfect! This platform is not for beginners - at least not for this first round. We might open the game for rookies to a certain extent at a later time, but for now, we want to work with outstanding, very talented people. We want to raise the bar to the next level.
RELIABILITY: You are used to work on your own, but you're also a team player. In each production phase, you will need to work independently, make your own time schedule and make sure the next participant will get your finished work on time! Proper editing is very important. No bad notes, please! Reliability is key!
RULES: You stick to the rules, that only 1 instrument pass can be played per round - e.g. if you want to play drums, you're allowed to play 1 take with multiple microphones. You can punch in and correct - but only one pass or take should be used. If you want to add some keyboards, you're good to play a piano, organ or synth part, but you can't do more than one sound unless you play it at the same time. Same with horns, percussion or any other instrument! If you record backing vocals, a choir, or an entire string section with multiple mics, that's fine. These slict restrictions prevent our project from being overproduced.
—> Exception One: For «functional parts» such as acoustic strumming guitars, electric rhythm guitars and the like, you may play two takes to do some hard left - right panning with your instruments. But you need to play the same (more or less…). Also, if you're doing some backing vocals on your own (just you), you're allowed to do several tracks, even some harmonies.
—> Exception Two: During the last of the 12 steps, which is the final mixing round, you're allowed to do whatever it needs to finish the work - it's up to your gusto! But keep in mind: Sometimes, less is more. If a song doesn't have a bass yet, or if the song is crying out for those killer backing vocals, then it's your turn to do whatever needs to be done.
STUDIO: You run your own DAW or have access to a studio with a decent recording software and fast internet connection. Mac is great and even PC is fine ;-) It doesn't matter which DAW you're working with. You can record at home, on the road, indoor, outdoor, in a big recording studio - this is up to you. Remember: If it sounds right, it is right!
FILE EXCHANGE: To send and receive song sessions, we exclusively work with PRESONUS' STUDIO ONE (available for Mac and PC). This ensures total compatibility between collaborators. The software is offered for free for each signed ROTATION.ROCKS artist. Now how's that?
MONEY: You will need to be able to afford to pay the very fair contribution fee of USD/EUR/CHF 200.—, or you have someone who is willing to pay it for you. All this money will be used as a commission for the admin work around this platform, the production of the USB sticks, the mastering process and the maintenance of this website. It's a lot of work! If you're a team or a band of 5-6 players, this fee shouldn't be an issue for you at all. In addition, we do everything on our side and talk to some external supporters and sponsors - otherwise this project would not take off successfully. Our final product is pure luxury - yay!
RIGHTS: You agree that all the involved artists will have equal author rights due to their contribution to each song. The song rights stay with each song participant. ROTATION.ROCKS doesn't have any author rights, but you give us the freedom and right to produce and sell USB sticks. As a member, you can order as many sticks as you want for a very low production price and sell these sticks or give them away - your choice!
TIME: Make sure you have some time for this project! Each 14 days, your work should be handed over to the next person. Each one of the 12 steps needs some time. As an estimate, you should reserve at least 2-4 hours for each step. For the last step - the mixing step - you should consider some more hours - and the 14 days limit will be raised to 30 days for that last finishing step. Again - it's up to you, if you want to spend mere hours - or several days on each project step - depending on your availability. BUT PLEASE: NEVER MESS WITH THE DEADLINE!
RELIABILITY: You are used to work on your own, but you're also a team player. In each production phase, you will need to work independently, make your own time schedule and make sure the next participant will get your finished work on time! Proper editing is very important. No bad notes, please! Reliability is key!
RULES: You stick to the rules, that only 1 instrument pass can be played per round - e.g. if you want to play drums, you're allowed to play 1 take with multiple microphones. You can punch in and correct - but only one pass or take should be used. If you want to add some keyboards, you're good to play a piano, organ or synth part, but you can't do more than one sound unless you play it at the same time. Same with horns, percussion or any other instrument! If you record backing vocals, a choir, or an entire string section with multiple mics, that's fine. These slict restrictions prevent our project from being overproduced.
—> Exception One: For «functional parts» such as acoustic strumming guitars, electric rhythm guitars and the like, you may play two takes to do some hard left - right panning with your instruments. But you need to play the same (more or less…). Also, if you're doing some backing vocals on your own (just you), you're allowed to do several tracks, even some harmonies.
—> Exception Two: During the last of the 12 steps, which is the final mixing round, you're allowed to do whatever it needs to finish the work - it's up to your gusto! But keep in mind: Sometimes, less is more. If a song doesn't have a bass yet, or if the song is crying out for those killer backing vocals, then it's your turn to do whatever needs to be done.
STUDIO: You run your own DAW or have access to a studio with a decent recording software and fast internet connection. Mac is great and even PC is fine ;-) It doesn't matter which DAW you're working with. You can record at home, on the road, indoor, outdoor, in a big recording studio - this is up to you. Remember: If it sounds right, it is right!
FILE EXCHANGE: To send and receive song sessions, we exclusively work with PRESONUS' STUDIO ONE (available for Mac and PC). This ensures total compatibility between collaborators. The software is offered for free for each signed ROTATION.ROCKS artist. Now how's that?
MONEY: You will need to be able to afford to pay the very fair contribution fee of USD/EUR/CHF 200.—, or you have someone who is willing to pay it for you. All this money will be used as a commission for the admin work around this platform, the production of the USB sticks, the mastering process and the maintenance of this website. It's a lot of work! If you're a team or a band of 5-6 players, this fee shouldn't be an issue for you at all. In addition, we do everything on our side and talk to some external supporters and sponsors - otherwise this project would not take off successfully. Our final product is pure luxury - yay!
RIGHTS: You agree that all the involved artists will have equal author rights due to their contribution to each song. The song rights stay with each song participant. ROTATION.ROCKS doesn't have any author rights, but you give us the freedom and right to produce and sell USB sticks. As a member, you can order as many sticks as you want for a very low production price and sell these sticks or give them away - your choice!
TIME: Make sure you have some time for this project! Each 14 days, your work should be handed over to the next person. Each one of the 12 steps needs some time. As an estimate, you should reserve at least 2-4 hours for each step. For the last step - the mixing step - you should consider some more hours - and the 14 days limit will be raised to 30 days for that last finishing step. Again - it's up to you, if you want to spend mere hours - or several days on each project step - depending on your availability. BUT PLEASE: NEVER MESS WITH THE DEADLINE!
YOUR BENEFITS
WORKING TOGETHER: It's great to work alone - you will be able to do that on this project. But it's even more fun to work together. You can plan your own working schedule, but you need to make sure that your next partner will get your done work on time. This project will sharpen your playing skills and shape your personality in a very positive way.
LEARN AND EARN: You will learn how to manage your production process and schedule along with your partners, invest some time and money - and finally - get some cash reimbursed when selling your final product within your environment. It's a safe way to sow and reap without breaking your bank account.
NETWORK ACCESS: As an active ROTATION.ROCKS member, you will have access to all the other members involved into this project. This will become a fruitful process for your own, personal projects. You will see a boost for your own music business. Networking and proper communication are some of the key points for a healthy collaboration - you will see…
DAW SOFTWARE: PRESONUS offers STUDIO ONE for every ROTATION.ROCKS participant. This software is used exclusively to send and receive song data from each other. You can work with your own DAW (Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, etc.), but you're welcome to stay on the Studio One platform for the entire work. It's for free!
PLUG-INS: We're happy and proud to have WAVES, the world's leading plug-in manufacturer on board. WAVES will provide you with all the plug-ins you need during the production time for free! Once you've signed up with us, we will help you to get what you need.
HARDWARE: If you need some decent microphones, preamps or other outboard gear that won't break your bank account, WARM AUDIO supports our campaign with a special discount for their full lineup. Just drop us a note and we'll help you out on this!
FINAL PRODUCT: You will receive 20 luxurious, nicely packed double CD books and 20 credit card shaped USB sticks in a jewel case - for free! If you want to have more, we're glad to help you out and offer you any numbers for the lowest possible price. These products are great business cards, Christmas or personal birthday gifts - or you can sell these items to your friends, fellows and your Grandmother. The CD book and the card will be filled with all the 24 compositions - you will be participating on 12 songs. Credit details, photos and artist contacts will also be added to the products. And there's plenty of empty space left on the stick to add your own content if you like. Ha!
WEBSITE: Once the first round of songs has been released, we will put some essential info about your business online. This is a free service, included for our active members. Another way to give your career a little boost…
EMAIL ADDRESS: Each active ROTATION.ROCKS artist will receive a free email address for incoming emails. You don't have to do anything. Once we have your information - you will need to give us a valid email address - we will generate a ROTATION.ROCKS email address for you and link it to your private email. This looks very professional on our website - and your personal email is protected for the first contact.
LEARN AND EARN: You will learn how to manage your production process and schedule along with your partners, invest some time and money - and finally - get some cash reimbursed when selling your final product within your environment. It's a safe way to sow and reap without breaking your bank account.
NETWORK ACCESS: As an active ROTATION.ROCKS member, you will have access to all the other members involved into this project. This will become a fruitful process for your own, personal projects. You will see a boost for your own music business. Networking and proper communication are some of the key points for a healthy collaboration - you will see…
DAW SOFTWARE: PRESONUS offers STUDIO ONE for every ROTATION.ROCKS participant. This software is used exclusively to send and receive song data from each other. You can work with your own DAW (Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, etc.), but you're welcome to stay on the Studio One platform for the entire work. It's for free!
PLUG-INS: We're happy and proud to have WAVES, the world's leading plug-in manufacturer on board. WAVES will provide you with all the plug-ins you need during the production time for free! Once you've signed up with us, we will help you to get what you need.
HARDWARE: If you need some decent microphones, preamps or other outboard gear that won't break your bank account, WARM AUDIO supports our campaign with a special discount for their full lineup. Just drop us a note and we'll help you out on this!
FINAL PRODUCT: You will receive 20 luxurious, nicely packed double CD books and 20 credit card shaped USB sticks in a jewel case - for free! If you want to have more, we're glad to help you out and offer you any numbers for the lowest possible price. These products are great business cards, Christmas or personal birthday gifts - or you can sell these items to your friends, fellows and your Grandmother. The CD book and the card will be filled with all the 24 compositions - you will be participating on 12 songs. Credit details, photos and artist contacts will also be added to the products. And there's plenty of empty space left on the stick to add your own content if you like. Ha!
WEBSITE: Once the first round of songs has been released, we will put some essential info about your business online. This is a free service, included for our active members. Another way to give your career a little boost…
EMAIL ADDRESS: Each active ROTATION.ROCKS artist will receive a free email address for incoming emails. You don't have to do anything. Once we have your information - you will need to give us a valid email address - we will generate a ROTATION.ROCKS email address for you and link it to your private email. This looks very professional on our website - and your personal email is protected for the first contact.
TECH SPECS
FILE AND SONG FORMAT: 32bits floating point / 44.1kHz WAV format. No matter what computer and DAW you use, all you will send and receive is a proper PRESONUS STUDIO ONE SESSION, with tempo info and song markers coming along. It's that dead simple! If there's a tempo change during the song, you need to add a tempo marker within the Studio One session.
NOTE: You're welcome to add a READ ME! FILE to the song folder if you want to let your next participants to know something of great importance (song mood, personal preferences etc.). This is just your input - your successors in the chain can take it or leave it…
SENDING FILES: The more the songs are growing, the bigger the folders with their growing number of files will become. You can use free services such as TRANSFERXL or PLUSTRANSFER for larger files up to 5GB. WETRANSFER is fine for files up to 2GB.
NOTE: You're welcome to add a READ ME! FILE to the song folder if you want to let your next participants to know something of great importance (song mood, personal preferences etc.). This is just your input - your successors in the chain can take it or leave it…
SENDING FILES: The more the songs are growing, the bigger the folders with their growing number of files will become. You can use free services such as TRANSFERXL or PLUSTRANSFER for larger files up to 5GB. WETRANSFER is fine for files up to 2GB.