Songtree Frequently Asked Questions Back to Songtree
- License terms for your songs
The songs that you upload to songtree are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
We are working on adding alternative licensing terms so that users can have more control over their music's rights. - Recording with the Songtree app
Every song that gets uploaded to Songtree can be overdubbed or modified. This process is non-destructive, as the original song does not actually change. What happens instead is that a new version of the song is created and added to the song’s tree.
To overdub a song, simply click on the record button on the right of each song.
Songtree will automatically import the song to the Record view.
Here you can edit the original song, or apply effects to it. To add your contribution, simply hit record and you will be recording audio over the existing song.
Once recorded your part, you can upload it back to the songtree community by hitting the share button.
The song will be automatically added to the song-tree of the parent song.
Tip: make sure you set an appropriate level for both your part and the track you are overdubbing before you share it: this allows for a cleaner mix as new overdubs get added by others.
To record audio at a higher quality, or use third-party apps, Songtree also supports external audio interfaces and audiobus. - Can I record or overdub using my Windows or Mac PC?
To overdub a song you currently need the Songtree iOS or Android app. The app recorder lets you overdub a song in 'live take' mode. To overdub or upload via desktop or third party apps, you can export recordings from Songtree or import an audio file from your computer.
To import or export recordings from and to Songtree, see Importing and Exporting Tracks. - Using an external device with Songtree
The Songtree app lets you record audio via your device's built-in microphone.
You may also choose to use an external analog or USB interface to record audio at a higher quality.
To record audio through an external device,connect your interface to your device. Launch the Songtree app, then open the recorder view.
Songtree will automatically recognize your device and use it as an input for your audio. - Recording more than one track using the Songtree app
Instead of overdubbing an existing song, you may choose to start an entirely new one. The record view lets you lay down your musical ideas quickly and intuitively. If you upload a song, rather than overdubbing one, Songtree will automatically recognize it is not an overdub and start a new tree.
Tip: make sure to use the metronome, whenever possible, to facilitate other users to follow your tempo when they overdub your tracks.
If you wish to record more than one track, it is recommended to bounce the first track by sharing it, and then create an overdub of your own track. This allows to keep the parts separate for a future mix.
If you wish to only share the mix of both tracks on the community, you can simply hide the first one. To hide a track, use the visibility control marked with this icon. - How to use inter-app effects (iOS only)
(iOS only) - To use third-party effects via inter-app, simply select the track you want to apply your effects to, then open the "Add FX" menu.
Among the list of included Songtree effects, you will find the apps you have installed that are available for inter-app use. Simply select one to apply it to your recording. - Sharing and growing your songs with others
When you share a song, you can provide additional information about the song, such as its genre, instrument or key.
Tip: It is recommended to provide all the info you can about your song or overdub when you share it: by filling in the tempo, key and genre fields in the upload dialog you will have a higher chance that others will be able to play great parts over your song.
When you upload a new song or an overdub, you can then invite others to overdub your song.
Actually, Songtree lets you invite users to take part in a song also if you are not a contributor, so if you think a user or a friend would sound good over someone else’s song, you may still invite them. - Importing and Exporting recordings (iOS only)
The iOS Songtree app includes everything you need to make music. Although you don’t need any other software, many users who are used to make music with other apps have asked us for a tutorial on how to easily import tracks from their device/ laptop / desktop to Songtree (and vice versa) so we're happy to share the quickest ways you can do that with the current Songtree iOS app (Android tips to follow soon). - Exporting the base track, or how to overdub using your 3rd party DAW
- Audiocopy / Pasteboard
To use Audiocopy or the General Pasteboard long press on the track you want to export and select General Pasteboard or Audiocopy from the popup menu so that you will be able to paste and export the track to other third apps you have installed on your device (for example Audioshare or Dropbox) and then able to import in any software your like.
Note: once you’re finished recording and mixing with the 3rd party app, you’ll need to prepare a mixdown to import back to Songtree. You must then remember to mute the base track you’ve imported so that only the track you’ve recorded (along with any effects or any other stuff you’ve added) will be exported to Songtree.
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Airdrop (Mac only)
If you have a Mac at home, you can export existing Songtree base tracks via Airdrop.
It's easy to connect your iOS devices with the Mac and share files back and forth. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204144
Once you are in the recording screen of the Songtree app, you can long press on the desired track, then tap "open in" and select the Airdrop icon.
You will find the selected file in the download folder on your Mac, so it will be possible to import it on any software you are used to produce music with.
Note: once you’re finished recording and mixing with the 3rd party app, you’ll need to prepare a mixdown to import back to Songtree. You must then remember to mute the base track you’ve imported so that only the track you’ve recorded (along with any effects or any other stuff you’ve added) will be exported to Songtree.
In the same way you imported the track, you will be able to send back your contribution (in a m4a, mp3, wav or aiff format) to the Songtree app via Airdrop (dragging the exported file to the connected device on the Airdrop folder).
A list of applications that support the kind of file you’re dropping will appear on your device. Once you select the Songtree app, the file will be imported and you’ll then be able to upload your contributions to the Songtree community.
- Audiocopy / Pasteboard
- How to import tracks on Songtree
If you want to import tracks you have already recorded with other apps into Songtree, here are the quickest ways:
- Audiobus
Audiobus allows you to send audio from one app (an instrument app, mic or synth app for example) and receive it in another.
As you open the Audiobus app, select the Songtree app as Output and select the desired source app as input. Press play on the source app and rec on the Songtree app to start importing audio. - Audiocopy
You can use third party apps that support Audiocopy or the General Pastebord to copy and paste audio into the Songtree recorder
You can open the source app and select the desired audio file, look up for the "copy" button and then select General Pasteboard or Audiocopy.
You can now switch back to the Songtree app and - once back in the record screen - long press on the timeline (the area where waveforms appear) to paste your audio on the user track, then select the "paste" button and select General Pasteboard or Audiocopy again. - Open In
From any third party audio apps that support the Open In functionality, you can invoke the Open In command (which may appear after you click a Share button).
In the Open In box select the Songtree app, which will automatically open your audio files on the record screen. - Airdrop
If you have a Mac, you can quickly send your local file to your iOS device (and vice versa) where Songtree is installed.
From any Finder window on your Mac, simply drag any audio (m4a, mp3, wav or aiff) on the Airdrop folder, selecting the target iOS device.
A list of apps that support the kind of file you are sharing will appear on your device. Select Songtree and you're done.
More info on Airdrop here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204144
- Audiobus
- Content Guidelines
You may freely post and share content on the Songtree platform as long as it respects the following guidelines:
- The content does not violate any copyright laws
- The content does not present forms of abuse - whether visual or verbal - which may offend or harm others users.
- The content does not include pornography or material which may be offensive to sexual, religious or ethnic minorities
Pictures that are posted on Songtree:
- Must not present nudity
- Must not show explicit sexual imagery
- Must not show firearms or weapons of any kind
Songtree reserves the right to take down - also without notice - any content which violates these guidelines, and encourages users to report abuses.
If you wish to report an abuse, or you feel your content has been taken down without good reason, please email abuse@songtr.ee - How can I contact the Songtree team?
For reporting bugs or problems with the apps or website or if you simply have suggestions or comments please write us at support@songtr.ee - Should I ask permission to overdub a song?
No - but you can if you want to. The idea behind Songtree is to be an open collaborative platform, where any user can overdub any song by any other user. If an overdub turns out to be not so great, that's not a problem for the author(s) of the original songs. Having one of your songs overdubbed increases the prestige (badge score) of the original song owner so even if one doesn't like an overdub he/she should still be happy because it means that his/her song was chosen because it was good or interesting and deserved to be overdubbed (bad songs rarely get overdubbed). Also an overdub doesn't in any way alter the original song, which continues to remain open for listening and for other overdubs.
If you don't want your songs to be overdubbed at all you can set your song to be "locked" (using the lock icon on the song on your profile page), which prohibits any user from overdubbing the song. - One my songs received an overdub that I don't like, what should I do?
Nothing - a bad overdub is still an overdub, it's a token to the quality of the song that was overdubbed, and will work to improve your status in the Songtree community. You'll receive a badge when you will have received many overdubs, so even bad overdubs contribute to that goal. If you think that the user who overdubbed missed something in your song (key, spirit or something) you can politely tell him in the song comments, and maybe he'll give it another shot and come up with a better result, or maybe it was his/her intention to create something different.
Also we encourage novice musicians to use Songtree. This inevitably makes some bad songs appear on the platform. While that may sometimes be annoying we think that ultimately having inexperience musicians on Songtree is a good thing, as the community grows bigger new talents emerge and creativity thrives.
Some users have told us that they think that other users create overdubs of bad quality simply to increase their Songtree ranking. That's not accurate, as a bad song or overdub actually works to decrease your ranking, which, among other factors, is computer by your total number of likes divided by the number of songs. One bad song may detract from your average score and worsen your ranking.
BTW, if you are annoyed by seeing certain artists on your songs list, you can choose to permanently hide some (or all) of their songs by clicking the hide button. Or if you don't like a particular genre you can hide the whole genre. - Is it ok to take solo tracks and use them to remix the same or another song? How does that work?
We encourage remixing songs either via the Songtree desktop (Windows and Mac) app, which lets you download a multitrack version of any song and remix the separate tracks, each corresponding to a contribution made by each user, or by manually downloading the solo tracks from the website (press the S button and then click download), and mixing them using your audio software of choice.
When you upload the remix using the desktop app it automatically creates a special 'remix' node in the song tree.
If you upload the song manually you can choose which branch to upload to. To manually upload a remix select the song you want to attach to, from the website select the Overdub link, then in the web recorder mute the base track and upload your remix in the 2nd track.
When you do so please remember to credit the users (mentioning the user names so that they get a link to their profile) whose solos you used in the notes to the song.
If when remixing you edit out all or a significant part of an user's contribution, it's a good practice to mention why you did the edit. The user may have significantly contributed to the evolution of the song, but who does the remixing should have the creative freedom to edit out parts that he feels do not fit into his version of the song. Mentioning the "why" and possibly thanking the users who contributed but got left out could alleviate their frustration. - Why do i see a "Remix" badge on some songs?
The "Remix" badge is assigned to songs that have been modified, but not overdubbed.
When a song is remixed, only the levels, effects and eq of the tracks that make it up get modified, and no extra content is added. Remixing a song is currently only supported via the Songtree Desktop app.
Note: Remixing a song has no effect on your Songtree rank. - Dealing with abuse and malicious users
Content posted on Songtree, including photos, comments and messaging must respect our content guidelines.
Users on Songtree are allowed and encouraged to report malicious activity from the part of other users. This can concern the inappropriate use of the platform's mechanics and forms of 'cheating' via bots, hacking or other forms of tweaking of the app's workings, as well as offensive and threatening behaviour that involve racial, religious, sexual or social forms of discrimination.
Users that get reported for violation of the content guidelines listed here at least 3 times may be permanently banned from using the platform, and Songtree reserves the right to delete or disable their account without notice or approval. If we have a chance to intervene before, we may warn users about their account and activity being at risk, and may consider not taking punitive action if the user repairs to the offences by apologising, taking down content spontaneously or if other extenuating circumstances arise. In extreme cases of misappropriate use of the app, we reserve the right to delete a user's account at any time and without notice. Personal offences and threats, directed to specific users may be treated more severely than un-directed, impersonal abusive content. The team also reserves the right to assess the gravity of each case before implementing a course of action on a per-case basis, and we retain the right not to disclose to users our motivations for taking action.
You can report malicious or abusive content via the 'Report abuse' button on comments and songs. For other forms of abuse please write to us directly via our support channels.