Stems! Would you want 'em??

**trurl** · 12-21-2013

And by that, I mean-

We are deep into mixing the new Glass Hammer album and I was thinking it could be cool to release stereo submixes of the drums, keys, vocals and such. That way people so inclined to do remixes and otherwise just crawl into the album and hear what's going on, like many do with the stems from Rockband, could. How many here would either give a crap, or have the interest in such a thing? Would you buy it, or just accept it if it were an extra? Thoughts?

**Wah3** · 12-23-2013

I think this is a fascinating idea although I doubt I'd bother with creating my own remix unless I thought the mix was bad in the full track provided.

Certainly makes it easier to transcribe rhe individual parts for those so inclined.

**Just Eric** · 12-23-2013

Obviously my first thought was of stems and seeds. Blech!

**tallliman** · 12-23-2013

It doesn't really interest me to be honest. I don't think I'd have the time to create a new mix. The only use I'd find is for learning guitar parts.

**Vic2012** · 12-23-2013

@ Just Eric

**trurl** · 12-23-2013

To a large extent, for me, it's less about the idea of remixing (though it gives you that capability, to a limited extent) and more about just hearing stuff you don't quite hear when it's all put together. When you listen to, say, just the keys and guitar, or the harmonies, devoid of the rest of the music you do hear some nice subtleties that will get lost in the overall mix. But I can't imagine it being of too much interest to anyone who doesn't wind up really liking the album

**Yanks2014** · 12-23-2013

I wouldn't mind it as an extra, but I couldn't see myself paying more for this.

**progmeister** · 12-23-2013

Just give us the new album as quickly as possible. Your last 3 albums were 3 home runs in a row. Glass Hammer is the most consistent band in progdom for me right now. How about releasing the album through bandcamp and offering a 24/96 download for a few extra bucks?

**trurl** · 12-23-2013

Thanks! We'll do a high res download, for sure.

**klothos** · 12-23-2013

Ive done remixes before and would happily do some for you...Hit me up with a PM. If you have a Dropbox account, PM me the link

**trurl** · 12-23-2013

I'm not talking about wanting remixes. I'm talking about giving people the tools to explore the submixed elements for themselves. There's a thread on instrumental versions of albums. This would be a step further.

**klothos** · 12-23-2013

Ah! I understand.......thanks for the clarification.

Well, I think any band that does anything beyond the scope of record/mix/release product and play live is always a step in a more interesting direction

Both Fans of the band and musicians would probably enjoy these - beyond that I dont see the practicality unless you want others to remix.

...and you do run the risk of somebody coming along, downloading the parts, and sampling/looping parts for their own uses (this can either be "bad" or "good", depending on your point of view of such matters)

**trurl** · 12-23-2013

Well, not only that but anyone who has all the stems basically has the album if they have a program to mix them together, so we can't give it away. And they would need to be downloads because providing them on disc as an extra isn't worth the cost. There might be a way to make them a download with a code for people who buy the album, and make them sort of medium-res MP3s so if they leak out it's no big deal.

**Guitarplyrjvb** · 12-24-2013

If I'm not mistaken, Todd Rundgren did something like this: he put all of the basic tracks out there and let the listener make their own mixes: choose a different guitar part, isolate the vocals, etc. I can't recall what record he did it with or if he only did it on his website. Kind of intriguing! I would think something like this would be interesting only for hard core folks. Too much work for the average bear! You Glass Hammer guys are certainly prolific!

**tallliman** · 12-24-2013

Would that've been the TR-i album? I haven't got it but have read about something like that.

**trurl** · 12-24-2013

The TR-i encouraged you to mix up the song fragments but I don't know if you could mix it. There may have been a PC version with an application built in where you could though if memory serves.