Mechanics of Collaboration

Free File Hosting

GarageBand source files are huge. The first released version of this song is 50MB after compression. This could make transferring files difficult, but here's how we can do it.

You can get an account with a free file hosting service and upload your file there. They will give you a public URL that anyone can use to download the file. For example, I uploaded Alpha20070627.m4a to my account at OmniDrive and they gave me the URL

http://web.omnidrive.com/APIServer/public/BrV82xxczp2mcofVu5pfVaRD/Alpha20070627.m4a

which I used as the hyperlink "Alpha20070627.m4a" in this blog's first post. When you click on it you'll get the file from OmniDrive, not from Blogger.

If you want to post a new mp3/m4a or GarageBand source file, upload the file to your free file hosting service and post the public URL here in the comments.

How does that sound? Cheap and easy? That's what I was going for.

Creative Commons

Do I need to bother? Sure, why not. You are welcome -- indeed, encouraged -- to take the mp3/m4a and GarageBand files that I post here and modify and redistribute them, provided you let anyone else do the same. See the Creative Commons box in the sidebar on the right for complete details.

Contributors will be credited on this website and at my reception.

Introduction

On August 25, 2007 I will marry a sweet girl who would like to hear a sweet song, The Marriage Song, played for her at our reception.  For that to happen, I need to get it out of my head and onto a iPod.  My first effort is Alpha20070627.m4a.  It sounds more or less like the song I have in mind, but for a recording to be of high enough quality to be played at our wedding in front of our family and friends I'm going to need your help.

Interested?  You can download the mixed-down m4a and/or the source GarageBand file and submit your comments on and suggestions for the song.  Even better, I encourage you to rework, replay, remix, reword, sing, comp, fill, percuss -- to do whatever you can do -- and share the results with me and anyone else who's listening.

I can't do it all alone, and I won't stop doing what I can until The Day.  The current version has live guitar and vocals and some software instruments in it.  I'll keep rehearsing and re-performing tracks, testing fills and harmonies, and posting revisions.

Man, it could really use some percussion to replace that shaker.