This weekend I’ll be sticking up some stem files and a very rough-cut demo of “I’m Staying Home This Christmas” on a file-sharing service.

If you missed the earlier toot 👆🏻 this is a Christmas song that I am seeking collaborators on, to release as a free single in Novemberish under the “L Plate Players” label.

Interested parties should follow the @lplateplayers group now, and watch the #LPlatePlayers hashtag, so you don’t miss out. There are a couple of dozen of you, so DMs and group toots don’t scale, and getting you all onto Matrix or Discord or whatever isn’t achievable.

Everyone who replied to my call for participants should now have a DM with a link to a Dropbox page. If you didn't get it, please DM me.

Absolutely no pressure to produce something. There are enough of you that no one person is indispensable, not even me.

There's lots of info in there to read, as well as the stem files for the demo that I put together yesterday.

That should be enough for you to load it into your software and have a play around.

I still owe you some sheet music for the vocal parts, but not today.

@lplateplayers #LPlatePlayers

Update: Still working on the vocal harmonies, will push them up to Dropbox this weekend and ping when they are ready.

There will be some low-hanging fruit for less confident musicians to contribute; I'll put that info up on Dropbox too.

Received 1 x bass part and 1 x slide guitar part (thanks!), still keen on much much more in the way of fretted instruments.

Instrumental "verse 3" has room for 2 x 8 bar solos, let's see what you've got!

@lplateplayers #LPlatePlayers

Update 20240921: Thanks for the stems that have come in so far. You can hear a progressive mixdown here.

Still in need of
- lots of vocalists, in all parts and of all pitches
- Some keys, maybe EP, definitely tubular bells
- Some soloists for the instrumental interlude
- Heck, probably some more guitars, you can never have too many.

Stems on the Dropbox link have been updated.

@lplateplayers #LPlatePlayers

Update 2024-09-27: The instrumental is still in an uncertain quantum state. Need more parts to know which way it is will go. Team Classical Instruments is leading with a flugelhorn rendition right now.

Any other parts also gratefully accepted, as listed above. I’ll give it another week before panicking and contemplating filling all the remaining gaps myself.

@lplateplayers #LPlatePlayers

Update 2024-09-30: New progressive mixdown on the Dropbox site:
- Includes the great flugelhorn part from @pilum
- Includes my Green, Violet, Red vocal harmonies
Stems for the above in the Stems folder too.

Still keen to see:
- Some more instrumental stuff for the interlude
- Some vocal parts that I can swap my placeholders out for.

@lplateplayers
#LPlatePlayers

Update 2024-10-04 Deadline for part contribution for the L-Plate Players' "I'm Staying Home This Christmas" is Sunday 13 October 2024, Anywhere On Earth time zone. This will give me time to be Mr Squiggle and fill in the rest of the picture, then mix and release in time for the silly season.

Here's what I could use:
- Vocal harmony parts (green, violet, red, in any octave)
- Tubular bell/kalimba of the four-bar theme as found in the contributor pack (Edit: Got tubular bell, might still go for a kalimba.)
- More fretted strings, there is no such thing as too much guitar/ukulele/banjo!
- Something to go with the lovely flugelhorn instrumental, and if you don't give me anything it'll be me on harmonica, don't say I didn't warn you.

#LPlatePlayers @lplateplayers

Update 2024-10-05: Mixed in my dodgy harmonica and @sknob's amazing acoustic rhythm guitar, plus his tubular bells; the mixdown is on the Dropbox site. Check it out! Also uploaded some more stems for people to play with.

#LPlatePlayers @lplateplayers

Update 2024-10-11: We now have snazzy backing vocals from @pelagikat and a glorious violin solo from @nein09 rounding out today's mix. Contributors can hear it on the Dropbox share.

Would still be keen on:
- More vocal parts, any accepted but particularly from our gals, guys and gentletheys with lower registers. The Red part is borderline too low for me and it needs boosting.
- Anything rhythmic strummed or plucked to mix into the cauldron.
- Something that coordinates in the instrumental with the flugelhorn and violin, which are now locked in.

Last parts in by the end of this weekend in any time zone on earth please!
#LPlatePlayers @lplateplayers

Update 2024-10-12: Progressive mixdown on Dropbox site now contains vocals and oboe from @raaahbin, and sampled bells and pads from @philsawa; thanks! Also replaced my harmonica in the instrumental with something less intrusive (sorry sknob, I know you loved it, you were the only one)!

I reckon we're close to done. A couple more folks have offered vocal parts, and I'll gladly mix those in as I receive them. I have an idea to tie in the elements of the instrumental, and unless there's a piccolo trumpeter in our midst, I'll have to resort to synthesis.

#LPlatePlayers
@lplateplayers

Update 2024-10-15: Progressive mixdown now with vocal parts from @herzleid. What a fantastic vocal ensemble we have now, on top of all the fantastic instrumental performances!

Can be heard by contributors on the Dropbox link.

Drawing the line now on submissions, except for a couple of vocals that we've prearranged extensions on. My job now is to fill in anything that is still missing, TBH not much, because wow, so many quality stems from you all. Great job!

#LPlatePlayers @lplateplayers