This is a song recorded by the open-source commons band Lorenzo's Music using only open-source tools and software.
We decided to create an experimental recording method using GitHub for music to record remotely. We do this with the recording software Ardour and the Ubuntu Studio OS. This is another song from that experiment.
Since Ardour is all controlled by a main code file and distributes the information and audio tracks to folders from that main file we realized that it could be version-controlled with GitHub.
The band could share our sessions and create branches for each new idea track or idea using the full Ardour sessions with audio and all!
Here is the final recording from this experiment on YouTube
You can also download the finished song Slippery friction from our website https://www.lorenzosmusic.com/2023/09/slippery-friction-by-lorenzos-music.html
We use GitHub for the working Ardour files of our songs to collaborate, make changes, and record our parts outside of the studio. This also allows us to back up the sessions.
Tom Ray of Lorenzo's Music explains GitHub for music on the Ubuntu YouTube Channel Using Ubuntu Studio, Ardour, and GitHub for music collaboration
We use the free and open source Linux based operating system Ubuntu Studio. The Ubuntu studio OS has programs and plug-ins for this project preinstalled and ready to use.
The song is recorded with Ardour an open-source digital audio workstation.
Most of the effects used come from the open-source audio effects software projects Calf Studio Gear or Guitarix virtual guitar amplifier plugins and other effects included with the Ubuntu Studio operating system.
You will need to clone this repository to use it. Downloading it as a zip file will NOT work.
- Ardour DAW https://ardour.org Recording Software that is used for these sessions. So you will need to install this!
- Git LFS https://git-lfs.github.com. This needs to be installed to access the large .wav files of the recording on Github or else there won't be any music to hear in the recording :)
"What if I don't use Ubuntu Studio?"
It is possible to just run Ardour on whatever system you use. You will be able to listen and edit the session but it will sound different because effects and plugins built into Ubuntu Studio will be missing.
If you would like to try and install them - here are some of the main ones used.
Effects
These should be installed to recreate the actual version of the song we made, but the recording is still able to work without them, it will just sound different without these effects.
- Calf Plugins Effects. https://calf-studio-gear.org. These are the EQ and compression effects. These are only available for Linux operating systems but some of them come pre-installed in Ardour. If you can't install them the songs will still play the original files without these effects.
- Guitarix The guitar pedal effects used on the tracks. Sadly these are only available for Linux. You can still play the files without them if you are on another operating system you will just hear the unaltered sounds. - https://guitarix.org
The only thing you need to install is Git LFS https://git-lfs.github.com to download the large .wav files from the GitHub repository.
If you create anything from this song, remix it, or build anything from it let us know! We would love to hear it!
You can message us on Twitter @lorenzosmusic or email us from the contact section on our website here at lorenzosmusic.com
Slippery friction by Lorenzo's Music is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
