Restricted Setup Challenge (now released!)

[snailed]

A very sincere thank you to all that have submitted to this project so far. It's sounding quite good in the preliminary sequence I've been working with. There's still certainly room for a few more tracks, so get yours in ASAP - less than 4 days left!

I propose the title One Object for this compilation. I think it's nice, simple, and works well given the material. Any thoughts on this? Feel free to address them here, or via PM/e-mail. Also, I was planning on just making an unlinked page originally, but I like the results so much that I'd like to officially put it out as #003 in the Abrash Non-Object Series on my webspace (see my sig). The title goes nicely with this. Again, any thoughts, suggestions on this are welcome (specifically from those who have submitted or plan on submitting to the comp before the deadline).

Once again, thanks very much to all of you. It's nice to see tracks by both established board members, lurkers, board members that I didn't know made music, etc. Remember, the rules are not meant to design some perfect or pure piece of music- just do the best you can within your interpretation of them after reading through the thread.

[Hal McGee]

I am uploading my recording right now. It is called "30 Gallon Trash Can And Cassette Recorder".

[Charon]

Good to hear you're on board, Hal and Richard!

[RFKorp]

Not totally sure how I feel about public release though. This caught me off guard.

[snailed]

Totally understandable, Richard. Well, here's what we can do: I'll send out an email and put it to a vote to everyone who's submitted, and that's the way it'll go. If anyone doesn't feel comfortable with the outcome of the vote, they can feel free to pull their track. I just figured it'd be nice to have a permanent home for it since so much energy has gone into it from all the contributors. I'm cool with the decision either way, and I don't mind making an anonymous page for it.

edit: I should say, I wasn't planning on publicizing it beyond the board. Just more so there's an easy-to-find place for it.

[Hal McGee]

What is the problem with it being public?

[bryan]

What is the problem with it being public?

All the interview requests.

Really though, I can see the case for keeping it low key. Knowing it would be public ahead of time changes the approach.

I found my object, now I just need to record.

[snailed]

Well, I suppose if something is on the internet, it's going to be "public" regardless. The only issue here is whether I link it to the main page and give it a catalog number. I should note that the webspace gets *very* few hits.

Once the 5/10 deadline passes, I'll send out an e-mail, tally up the votes, and we can decide from there. If it's split down the middle, some sort of compromise can be reached. Considering the community nature of the project, I think that's the proper thing to do. All in your hands, gents.

FWIW, I wouldn't have offered in the first place if I didn't think the material I've received was true enough to the original intentions to associate it with the page, so that's why I held off on the suggestion until now (although, in retrospect, I should have said it was a possibility from the get-go). As you can see, I've only done 2 releases in the past year and a half, so I'm quite selective with what I feel warrants putting into the catalog. Anyway, sorry for any confusion. This will be further discussed once the final submissions come in, and we'll take it from there. It's not that it's all "good", per se, but it seems to be a genuine experiment, which seems to be the point of this.

(edits for clarity)

[Moon]

As far as I'm concerned, I've given my track to you so it's up to you to decide what you want to do with it.
Can't say I wouldn't feel a little proud if it was an 'official' release, though.

But please, don't sell it to a Pepsi ad, it would be inappropriate and confusing.
Unless there's enough money to share involved.

[Hal McGee]

Perhaps a simple solution would be to make one page for those who want their recordings public, and another page for all of the recordings.

I am still not sure what the big deal is. If I contribute to a compilation I assume that it is "public", and that anyone is going to hear it. I don't make "good" tracks for the public, and something else for a private group.

[RFKorp]

Hal - As I read this, it was to be a fun community game. An excercise to push a player out of his comfort zone with the knowedge he has a whole crowd of peers trying to execute the same maneuver with him. I believed we would be sharing and discussing our works in a completely informal manner.

I did generate a piece I consider "good" but good is far from great and I've got lots of great material I'm sitting on unreleased too because it didn't make the final cut. I'm picky about what I put out. I also don't generally submit to online compilations. The only exceptions I have made are the IHM comps because they are a community thing, not directly linked in any obvious way here or elsewhere.

If this thread had announced itself as a call for submissions to a web-compilation based on this theme, I probably would have never opened it again after reading the first post.

[Hal McGee]

Thanks, Richard. That explains it.

[horaflora]

"Playground Log Roll Toy 3am"
submitted.

[Hal McGee]

"Playground Log Roll Toy 3am"
submitted.

Great title. Looking forward to hearing it.

[snailed]

The problem is that we made this up as we went along, so I can't say that it was easy to anticipate where it was going to go, as the initial posts started with the idea of a "competition", and it quickly turned into a compilation. After seeing how well things were going, it seemed silly to keep things in our little bubble. However, after seeing the hostility from some for making something "official" (which, honestly, is a joke considering how tiny this "release" really is), I'll just post an anonymous page with ALL the contributors, accessible to only the small IHM crowd (which to me - and just being honest here - seems pretty insular and pointless). But that's just my opinion.

I'll then make a smaller mix from the people that approve of their track being included on the main page, and that I feel best fit the compilation. It will probably be only 5 or 6 tracks, and even if you approve of your track being included, it still might get nixed. This makes my job a bit harder, but nothing I"m not willing to take on. I might just scrap the whole thing and just release the anonymous page with everyone on it. Honestly, that's probably the way it will go.

Those of you that strictly do NOT want their track included for consideration on the main page, let me know ASAP (Richard... I'm assuming you're out). I'll then select the tracks I like best from the people that are willing and post them officially as a little mini compilation. Or not. Just make it clear to me whether you want this to be something more official, or whether you'd not. Try and get this info to me via PM or email (steveflato@gmail.com) ASAP.

In all likelihood, it will probably just be an anonymous page floating around the web, but I'd like to see how many people are for or against this idea.

[Moon]

"Playground Log Roll Toy 3am"
submitted.

Great title. Looking forward to hearing it.

Same, agree!

Should give out my name and object too then,
"sitting on the floor, listening to tubes",
a fun freezer.

Re: the compilation staying private:
This forum seems to have a billion lurkers, wouldn't the exposure in here be about the same as on a small label site?

[snailed]

"Playground Log Roll Toy 3am"
submitted.

Great title. Looking forward to hearing it.

Same, agree!

Should give out my name and object too then,
"sitting on the floor, listening to tubes",
a fun freezer.

Re: the compilation staying private:
This forum seems to have a billion lurkers, wouldn't the exposure in here be about the same as on a small label site?

True, and if anything, I would think it would attract even less visitors. My idea for having something concrete as a release was so that we have a genuine archive of some kind. I really don't want to think about this anymore, so small unlinked outsite of IHM anonymous page hosted on my webserver sounds fine to me, unless others want to chime in and give a reason why or why not it should go one way or the other.

(Some edits) I have to say that it's someone disheartening to see things being qualified as "good" or "bad" when the whole point of this thing, in my estimation, is not to create a great piece of music, but to challenge ourselves via an experiment. It's kind of disheartening to see qualifications of "great", "good", or "bad" when that doesn't seem to be the point at all. To me, the point of this whole thing is not to create a "good" or "great" piece of music, but to challenge oneself, to experiment, and to be brave enough to release those potential failures.

[Moon]

I did mean to say that as an argument in favour of letting it be a release you could do what you wanted with, for those of us that is ok with it.

I think it will be a friendly compilation that I'll probably spread along my friends and sonic arts network anyway, probably propose the same/similar concept among them, and if it gives your space some hits then that's an extra bonus.

edit: oops, I mean spread the tracks from artists that are ok with it, of course!

[snailed]

I did mean to say that as an argument in favour of letting it be a release you could do what you wanted with, for those of us that is ok with it.

I think it will be a friendly compilation that I'll probably spread along my friends and sonic arts network anyway, probably propose the same/similar concept among them, and if it gives your space some hits then that's an extra bonus.

edit: oops, I mean spread the tracks from artists that are ok with it, of course!

Moon, I misread your comment. Please see my edit above

I think Hal's idea is good. Those of you that don't want to have something "official", let me know, and I'll set up a separate page where only IHM-ers will see the link. This will include all submitted tracks.

Those of you that would like something more "official", where people may accidentally stumble upon it, having no association with IHM, I'll create a page that can be curated more as a proper compilation.

Just PM or e-mail me (steveflato AT gmail DOT com) if you are submitting / plan on submitting before the 10th of May and let me know what your preference is. I will set up two pages if the results are somewhat even. If I get an overwhelming response for an "official" page with a catalog number, etc, then those that do not wish to be included will have their tracks dropped if they desire. If I get an overwhelming response for an IHM-only compilation, I'll just make one anonymous page. I think that should settle that?

[corey_larkin]

.