A themed compilation album?

[Otto Halmén]

This was originally Mattias' idea.

I'm slightly deadlocked when it comes to the practical realization of proper round-robin writing. A simple compilation album might be an easier concept for a joint project.

The idea is that everyone interested writes a tune around a central concept.

Tavern music is one example of such a concept. To keep it simple, we could keep the concept of a tavern rather loosely defined, so things like 19th century saloons and 22nd century cyberrunner joints wouldn't be off the table, along with inns named after dragons of a particular color, of course.

Distribution terms would be something that needs a consensus. My suggestion would be CC license, to keep things simple. However, if someone has ideas for a better way of doing it, I'd love to hear about it.

Other than that, things would be fairly free for everyone taking part.

I'm all ears. What do you think?

[Michael Willis]

(03-21-2017, 06:26 PM)Otto Halmén Wrote: I'm slightly deadlocked

Slightly? The other thread has been dead for a while now.

(03-21-2017, 06:26 PM)Otto Halmén Wrote: I'm all ears. What do you think?

All ears? Sometimes you really slay me, Otto.

I like this a lot, then there's no bother about trying to import work into different DAWs, etc.

What if we at least standardized on samples, plugins, settings, and a general seating arrangement? Somebody using Reaper could build a template for other Reaper users, I would probably be on my own with my Ardour template, etc., but we could at least make it sound like the same orchestra. For example, I can use VPO2 + Hibiki reverb, even though I'm using a different OS and DAW than most (all?) other folks here. If somebody settles on a three or four instance hibiki setup that they like, I can duplicate that if they send me notes on the numbers for all of the sliders in each hibiki instance. Furthermore, if we agree on things like "first violins are in front row, panned halfway right with 40% stereo width" and so on, then the seating arrangement matches.

As for theme, what if we were to outline a journey or quest of sorts, with pieces of music representing different places? Maybe start out in the prairie grassland, seeing the majestic mountains in the distance; next, traveling through a bustling town; then it moves deep into the forest, teeming with nature and enchantment; then in the foothills, closer to the mountains with an appropriate leitmotif from the first movement, and so on. It would require tighter collaboration, sharing snippets of harmony and melody to tie things together, but I'd really like to see what we could do in terms of putting together an album with that kind of cohesion.

For what it's worth, here's my current pet project "Looking Toward Starlight", still super duper drafty rough draft, which I would like to finish up and contribute:

https://instaud.io/Pt7

[Otto Halmén]

Well, hmmm...

...yeah. I suppose tying songs together into something more of a story would make things more interesting.

Honestly, I think your idea could be it. Sharing the workload by dividing movements of a symphony/suite among the participants, that is. As to the soundset, VPO2+Hibiki is indeed the obvious choice.

Looking Toward Starlight does sound good, and it does establish musical themes that sound like they would be fun and interesting to build upon and recontextualize as the story progresses. It could certainly work as a starter for this kind of joint project.

Based on your suggestion:

• Adventure starter (possibly Looking Toward Starlight)
  
• Bustling town
  
• Deep forest
  
• Foothills
  
• Deadly dangerous dungeon?
  
• Terrifying horrendous battle?
  
• Bad guy escapes, encountering ruined villages, loss of a friend, betrayal, showdown, and a nice tavern party at the end?
  

This obviously needs to be worked to fit the amount of people willing to join this kind of project.

Finally, I'm not sure what the slay comment was really about, but I can most certainly admit that I do indeed have my faults.

[Michael Willis]

(03-21-2017, 08:22 PM)Otto Halmén Wrote: Finally, I'm not sure what the slay comment was really about, but I can most certainly admit that I do indeed have my faults.

Some English dialects use the term "killing me" to mean that something is extremely hilarious, like the speaker is going to die of laughter. I took "all ears" to be a pun, because of the subject matter of this forum.

I imagined "Looking Toward Starlight" to be something in the middle, maybe as a mostly calm piece right after something really strenuous - like the protagonists have just made a hasty ascent, and now they're camped at high altitude, the sun is down and the stars are coming out. Of course I'm willing to cooperate with whatever vision participants agree on.

[Samulis]

I'd be down. I'd like to do a VPO or VSCO 2 choice, as each library has different strengths that fit different textures and areas better... or otherwise just a "freeware or legacyware" rule. I once did a contest where people could only submit MIDI files; in the second part of it, people took those MIDI files and realized them using modern sample libraries and the like. Super fun!

I also did another one where people could only use 25 samples max out of 50 possible samples-
http://www.newgrounds.com/playlists/view...bece818e1b

Some of the most creative stuff I've ever heard...

[Otto Halmén]

The main idea with having a fixed soundset is continuity, so I suppose sneaking in a few supplementary instruments couldn't hurt, especially if we're dividing it movement-wise.

Once we know roughly how many are interested, we can start figuring out the different parts. Right now, I feel like the idea of a journey/adventure, as Michael suggested, is a good core idea, and one that is familiar enough for most people.

[Michael Willis]

As an aside, in regards to "supplementary instruments", I must say I'm mighty tempted to add this to my collection: http://vis.versilstudios.net/glasses.html

[Chris Spyratos]

Very exciting idea! Count me in! I need something to get me to write music again!

[Michael Willis]

An alternative idea, somewhat diametrically opposed to my original suggestion, is to have anybody who wants to participate just start writing music and sharing little blurbs. Then as ideas and themes emerge, we can figure out more of the overall structure of the album. Mattias, isn't that more how you started with Waters of Redemption? You didn't have this grand idea of a plot to begin with, you were just writing music and the plot emerged, right?

Either way, I still think that we should standardize on some core samples, positioning, and reverb settings. I agree that individuals can be at liberty to add other instruments, but I would like some cohesion to the core orchestral sound.

[Nayrb]

I actually have a little something I've been kicking around for years that might be good for a "Bustling City" (or village). I'm for keeping the template simple, though. With room to incorporate stuff if we need. But VPO / VSCO are probably good places to start, especially considering that VPO is partly comprised of elements of VSCO.