Just another thought - if we rasied a few extra dollars from each sale, we could raise a donation for the Sophie McCrreary fund. Already been done, yes, but our own humble contribution...
And personally, I like having CD's made by friends. I have Rockerbob's in my truck, and when I play it, for myself or someone else, it's nice to know that I know that guy!

David

A lot of great ideas.I agree with Rbob that the CDR way is the most economical. But I think we really have to pin down what the goal is for this "project". It (the goal) seems to have evolved through a benefit to a sampler/demo. Once that's identified, then we move another step forward- like what would be on the CD. If it's a sampler (of diff. gtrs and plyrs), then yes the recordings will all be different. Sampler CDs are somewhat like that because each tune is taken from an existing CD. This one will definitely have to be mastered to at least get the levels balanced across the songs. If a forumite can do this as charity work, that's great. The duplication (#of CDs) will be determined by the purpose of the whole project. CDRs are not very expensive. I'll even donate a couple of spindles if I have to. The duplicating would be free if someone has the time. The graphics or even a simple insert will be an expense. The mailing will have a cost factor.

I would love to donate one of the songs I play but they're all covers so that's out. I'll donate a different way. To make it cost effective (and not pay licenses), the songs need to be originals by forumites. If this were the case, we probably have to ask each forumite donor to sign a release for the song. Not that we don't trust each other but it's better to be straight up from the beginning.

One idea I had was if we get a good bunch of songs, the CD can be sold for some $ amount. The proceeds can go to any cause, including Sophie and Ed's website expenses. I'm sure non-forumites would be interested as well. Just a thought.

Still, we need to begin with what are we really doing this for?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: eiko,

If we just want this as a souvenier, and distribute only to forum members for free (I think we can charge for shipping) we might be able to use cover tunes as well. I'll see if I can find any info on "fair use" in this regard. I have included covers on some of my CDs, but I gave them away in very small quantities. I'm not too worried about Harry Fox...

quote:

I don't think it should be restricted to Collings guitars only

Allen, If you swear my H&D sounds like a Collings I'll do the same for you, they'll never now LOL!

quote:

But I think we really have to pin down what the goal is for this "project". It (the goal) seems to have evolved through a benefit to a sampler/demo. Once that's identified, then we move another step forward- like what would be on the CD. If it's a sampler (of diff. gtrs and plyrs),

Ed, Maybe this is something we can vote on? These two questions:

1. What is the purpose of such the project?

i.e., Is it all originals? Originals+covers? Sampler/demos of different guitars for people wanting to buy a Collings? Maybe we should make sure that all types of Collings guitars are represented or at least as many as possible?


2. What is the preferred delivery mechanism?

CD? mp3? Both?


My opinion:
I think we do it because WE CAN!!! and for the love of music. I don't need a specific purpose or goal. Maybe we also need to know how many people would be interested in submitting a song? Rockerbob and Rick-slo, you guys rock!!! You guys have to submit some songs!!

This sounds like great fun, and I'll be glad to help in any way I can. I echo David Ely that it would be great to have a CD with music from other forum members. Some thoughts and questions:

Some of the "profits" could go towards supporting the forum.

Since the forum exists first of all for Collings enthusiasts, my own strong preference would be keeping it to music made with Collings instruments. Shouldn't be too great a burden that folks are limited to playing their Collings, right?

If vocals are to be included, I would be glad to contribute one or more original tunes. But this raises some questions:
1. How do we decide what gets included?
2. We are talking about 23-27 songs at most (figuring 3 minutes or so per song), and there are lots of talented members of the forum, so maybe we would get more contributions than we can use?
3. What about a submission of a long (6-10 minutes)song?
4. Would someone really good be selected to have 2-3 (4-5?) songs included?
5. And what about well-meaning but not particularly outstanding submissions, I ask, knowing I might be considered by some to be in this group(!)?

Anyway, just trying to keep the discussion going...

B

quote:

Allen, If you swear my H&D sounds like a Collings I'll do the same for you, they'll never now LOL!

Hey, Will, I'll just tell them my H&D DS is a Collings DSMhSaaaSBbr549 model. They'll never know the difference.

quote:

Originally posted by Kenny B.:
I think we do it because WE CAN!!! and for the love of music. I don't need a specific purpose or goal.

I wasn't trying to push for "structure" but as you can see, without a purpose or goal, 20 different ones come up. I just meant we could move along easier/faster if we knew where we were going. That's all. I know it can be done.

I like the idea of being able to hear a bunch of different Collings, and I am in the music business so will offer a couple of thoughts. I don't want to discourage anyone:
1) Only original material. Too many complications otherwise. (plenty of potential complications even with all original material...)
2) Someone is going to have to be in charge of this, and that means saying "no" to some people who want to contribute tracks IF a cd is going to get made.
3) The CD is going to need to be paid for. Perhaps once the number of submissions can be determined each contributer will need to chip in a share to help pay for it. (And those costs can vary considerably depending on if there's any desire to distribute it).I don't know if it's possible or not, but perhaps someone could approach Collings about sponsorship of the CD (though they do have their own cd, I believe).
4) The work involved in doing this sort of thing is fairly substantial, so whomever is going to be in charge of this will need a fair amount of free time.

A mastered CD and CD "pressing"? I don't know if their is enough interest to make it fly. Seems to me the feedback on music that has been posted on the forum has been sparse at best, and people have not been very forthcoming in posting samples of their own music.
An alternative would be to have any member that is interested email or otherwise send an mp3 of material to whoever is in charge of compiling a a selection of songs. Once it is determined what songs will to used, maybe fifteen to twenty five, have those people send a wav version (this will have to be done in any case). The compiler can then post these songs on a webspace in wav format (probably Collings Forum's mp3 webspace when one is obtained again (I use www.hostexcellence.com at a cost of a few dollars a month). The songs can be left there for a period of time. Another batch of songs could be put up latter if desired. Each forum member can download whatever songs they want and burn their own CD or just leave the music on their hard drive (I assume most of us have the computer set up to do this and have broadband - if not we can help the ones who don't).
Advantages: less costly, people can arrange the song choices and song order as they wish, less concern about using cover songs, can change songs listed over time. By the way a ton of music that has fallen into the traditional category (e.g. Freight Train) would not be a copyright issue. You could even have mp3s posted along with the wavs for quicker downloads and to be more appropriate for I-Pods and similar portable players.
What ever you decide I will be happy to contribute a song or two (C10 Deluxe of course).
Regards, Rick

RMMGA does a CD every two years or so. The last one had 6 CDs. The cover/copyright issues were handled.

A CD project here would be cool.

I've also done a cd recently with a couple cover tunes. What I found was that if you're doing short run (less than 2,500) and they are intended for distribution in the united states only, then you can easily get licensed for about $40 per song. There is no per cd fee.

It's called Limited Quantity Licensing and here's a link:
http://www.harryfox.com/public/infoFAQLimitedQuantity.jsp

Oh, and I'd love to submit a song for consideration, and I'll definitely buy a CD!

I think 50 CDs is a very low estimate.

David