Comments on: Metafilter Music makes its debut.

Metafilter Music makes its debut.

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 15:31:33 -0800

It's here! MetaFilter Music.

I've uploaded most of the files people have sent me (I'll be adding more all day today). Lots of great stuff already. Electronica, rock, folk, it's all there. It uses the Andromeda streaming/download server which lets you download songs, stream folders/songs, and lets you make playlists on the fly.

Oh, I also added a new MetaTalk category to discuss music.metafilter.com-related stuff here.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 15:50:02 -0800

WOW!

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 15:53:36 -0800

Perhaps the artists who have uploaded multiple tracks could have an "I recommend this one" flag of some kind? You know, in order to steer us towards what they consider their "best" or maybe "most representative" work? Maybe an ***Artist's Pick*** displayed next to the cut?

Just a thought.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 15:59:38 -0800

MCD, I've been streaming all the songs and I've been pretty impressed all around, but you're right, it'd help out if someone blogged a "best of" list, or if the server allowed for ratings by listeners.

By: dg

dg — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:12:57 -0800

[this is ~~good~~ fucking awesome]

By: armoured-ant

armoured-ant — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:19:53 -0800

~~[this is good fucking awesome]~~

This fucking vibrates.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:22:28 -0800

Maybe an ***Artist's Pick*** displayed next to the cut?

I believe the andromeda software prints out the ID3 tags as accompanying text, so if you add that to one of your song titles, it'll show up, but it's a super kludge.

By: _sirmissalot_

_sirmissalot_ — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:24:30 -0800

am i missing something? http://music.metafilter.com/ just displays the regular mefi homepage. windows, ie6.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:25:09 -0800

Cool! Maybe some form of the submission instructions should be written somewhere.

By: victors

victors — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:26:41 -0800

when exactly is it appropriate to lift my jaw off the ground and start naming names and downloads?
like this

By: armoured-ant

armoured-ant — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:33:47 -0800

Aye, 'Gsalad - Loose Id For Orchestra' rules! Also, ThePhil's 'Macintosh Girl' had me laughing. Good show!

By: Hildago

Hildago — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:43:54 -0800

Cortex -- Great stuff!

By: victors

victors — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:49:57 -0800

ya know, there is always MusicFilter for discussing this stuff...

By: four panels

four panels — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:52:26 -0800

I recommend jimbob.

By: four panels

four panels — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:55:03 -0800

jimbob, I recommend monolake.

By: folktrash

folktrash — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:57:54 -0800

i'd throw one for cortex as well.

By: dhoyt

dhoyt — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:03:29 -0800

Error Occurred While Processing Request
/index.php

Please try the following:
Check the CFML Reference Manual to verify that you are using the correct syntax.
Search the Knowledge Base to find a solution to your problem.

This is the error I got when I clicked folktrash's link.

Also, where am I supposed to be clicking from the musicfilter homepage? It just looks like the MeFi homepage...

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:10:01 -0800

Is this something you need speakers to listen to?

By: _sirmissalot_

_sirmissalot_ — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:14:21 -0800

ok, i just had to hard refresh the page. whatever!

really likin' the cortex (things fall apart).

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:23:24 -0800

There is some dns weirdness that still needs to work itself out, but you should be able to reach the server soon.

I'm not much of an electronic music fan normally, but there is some fantastic stuff here. I just uploaded starkeffect's stuff, which is quite danceable.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:30:24 -0800

stark effect cracks me up.

By: folktrash

folktrash — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:32:16 -0800

is there a way to sort?

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:36:01 -0800

The sorts are just alphabetical I think.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:41:47 -0800

Here's a question to you all who uploaded music: would you mind if the music.metafilter.com site was limited to mefi members, or would you prefer it to be open to the public?

I'm going to let it run as is for the next few days to see what kind of bandwidth and server resources it uses. If it's too much I can either block all non-mefi members from it, or I can move everything to a free spot I have somewhere else and still allow access to all.

By: armoured-ant

armoured-ant — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:42:48 -0800

Ungh! Wasn't like this earlier!

Warning: OpenDir: Permission denied (errno 13) in /home/matt/public_html/music.metafilter.com/index.php on line 1265
Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /home/matt/public_html/music.metafilter.com/index.php on line 1266
Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /home/matt/public_html/music.metafilter.com/index.php on line 1269
Warning: OpenDir: Permission denied (errno 13) in /home/matt/public_html/music.metafilter.com/index.php on line 1275
Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /home/matt/public_html/music.metafilter.com/index.php on line 1276
Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /home/matt/public_html/music.metafilter.com/index.php on line 1278

etc.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:52:36 -0800

Ungh! Wasn't like this earlier!

Yeah, I'm adding some files to it, and I think permission to read them is being denied to the script while they are still being uploaded. It should clear up when the files get there.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:54:07 -0800

OMG this is so cool (someone reccomended me? I feel all warm and fuzzy). Although it looks like one of my tracks didn't upload properly - the last one is only a few seconds long for some reason. Probably my fault.

Alas, it's pseudo-streaming, not real streaming. I was hoping for a service that would stream over port 8000 so I can listen at uni without the proxy server noting my massive data transfer :)

By: folktrash

folktrash — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:55:41 -0800

i need to go to the bar now. but i can't wait to come back and sift through all this wonderfulness. this is fucking awesome indeed.

By: holloway

holloway — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:04:30 -0800

Like I said matt, if you're ever strapped for cash I'll pay a premium for your man babies.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:05:13 -0800

I'm not much of an electronic music fan normally, but there is some fantastic stuff here. I just uploaded starkeffect's stuff, which is quite danceable.

You are aware that starkeffect's 'We like Repartee' is a parody of the Venga Boys We like to party - or is that a cover. Im not sure what the legal issues are, if any.

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:07:29 -0800

Matt: I'm cool with it being open to the public eye.

And yes. So. I just started listening at the beginning -- this Austin Hall stuff is pretty faboo -- but I'd just like to reiterate and me-too on the this fucking rules sentiment.

And thanks for the saying of nice things, you people.

By: VulcanMike

VulcanMike — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:16:28 -0800

stark effect rocks my dictionary.

By: victors

victors — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:29:06 -0800

it's up to you matt -- if you need to clamp down the server then it's not really a matter of what we want. do what you gotta do...

By: victors

victors — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:33:18 -0800

"bunny rabbits, satan..."

omg, stark effect is the real deal.

By: Inkslinger

Inkslinger — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:43:55 -0800

The only thing more fun than watching new content appear before my eyes is downloading and listening to it. Great stuff. Favorites so far are cortex's "Dark Hollow" and the terrific "Battle Hymn of BoBo Balde" by sgt. serenity. And I jump wholeheartedly on the Stark Effect bandwagon.

If I may be so bold as to make a request to those handing out riches in return for nothing: could all tracks be labelled with at least 1) the artist, 2) the title, and 3) the user name of the MeFi member who submitted it? I just want to make sure I a) know who created the music, b) know the title, and since the music is sorted by username, c) know where to find more after I lose track of which subfolder a track came from in a downloading binge like tonight.

This rocks, Matt! Thanks to you (as always) for the site and to everyone putting up music.

By: ashbury

ashbury — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:48:02 -0800

I'm really enjoying what I've heard so far! Stark effect . . . whoa! mighty fine!

I have a question, though, which is aimed at the artists. How would you feel if your material was played on the radio? The reason why I ask is that I will be (hopefully) djaying at a local university station and I might want to play some of what I'm hearing. Your thoughts, please.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:52:16 -0800

I'd love to know more about some of these songs, sgt serenity's especially - I can't stop listening to it. Matt, is there a way, via Andromeda, to upload .txt files too, or just mp3s? I'd love a .txt file with some comments by the artist - something that can be added to their mp3 folders - an explanation or note about who wrote the songs, why did they choose the names that they did, what instrument/s they're playing, who else is involved, credits, thanking the little people, etc. Sort of like liner notes. Is that a possibility?

gsalad's Id for Loose Orchestra is wonderful. Again, I'd love to know more. And this is such a great thing.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:53:13 -0800

(reads the documentation at andromeda)

This just in: I can put descriptive text within each member's music folder that will show up in the headers, and I can even put some text to go with each and every track, if anyone feels like supplying that.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:53:26 -0800

Totally find with me ashbury; my music is free for use for whatever purpose as long as no-one else claims they made it. By the way, technically my tracks are by "Atriplex" - what I call my electronic stuff - but I renamed everything to "Jimbob" to avoid confusion.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:00:30 -0800

Could use some more cowbell.

By: ashbury

ashbury — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:00:51 -0800

And question number 2: if you don't mind your material going on the radio, what name should be used? Your MeFi moniker, your real name if you have one, your band name?

If you publish your music, or would publish your music under a different name than the one you've given, it might be wise to include that name. (thanks jimbob :)

With regards to iconomy's question, I have seen some very extensive comments in the id3v2 tag, but I don't know how they get there. This would be a great place to put any sort of extra information.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:06:22 -0800

reads the documentation at andromeda

Show off.

I did look, but I'm downloading 2 mp3s on a dialup and I gave up after 2 excrutiatingly long page loads at andromeda. Thanks! Now come on, everybody - send in your liner notes. And thanks to ashbury too.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:22:13 -0800

With al the skills here, radio MetaFilter would also be a good idea.

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:30:50 -0800

Matt: would you like the description/whatever text e-mailed to you, or is there some reasonable self-service way of saving you the trouble?

Re: Dark Hollow That's the only I posted that isn't an original work -- it's an old, old song, very public domain (and thus not skirting the 'covers' issue).

Radio play is fine by me. Perhaps those interested in all things radio-ish -- the college DJs, the potential net-casters, whoever -- should pow-wow and put together some sort of home page for these sort of questions. Or something.

I babble because I'm excited and pleased. This is just dang neat.

Dang neat.

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:35:09 -0800

My feeling is that this should be a MeFi member only deal. While it may not seem like the most rational of logic processess, I know that when I eventually submit my music, I want it to be listened to by the same people who have agreed to the canons that make MeFi what it is today, and not the general public. If I wanted the gen pub to hear it, then I would be over at mp3.com. That's what makes this thing so great....MeFi people posting their music for other MeFites. Not to say that the tunes could not or should not be played on the radio or elsewhere, but I gotta vote for the actual page being a members only deal.

[ / $0.02 ]

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:37:57 -0800

Regarding the radio DJs thing - probably the easiest way to do it would be for users to produce hour long "shows" that can be streamed, rather than relying on live production. Of course the issue of music that could be played on these shows would have to be dealt with - I'm assuming it would all have to be public domain / MeFi music.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:40:10 -0800

Wow, I'm really impressed by sgt serenity's and jimbob's music.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:53:12 -0800

cortex, just email me stuff you want to say about each song, or in general, and I'll toss the info up on the site.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 19:59:08 -0800

this is great! thanks matt, and all u talented folks!

and green eggs and ham is wonderful!

By: plemeljr

plemeljr — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 20:44:18 -0800

I think what would be cool is a link to the member's Profile Page so that we could quickly thank the artist[s] or an way to email the artist[s]. I know, some may call this laziness, but I call this efficient. Oh, I would recommend Folktrash. Can't stop listening to it!

By: starkeffect

starkeffect — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 20:53:32 -0800

Hey! Thanks for all the nice comments, and props to mathowie for setting this up.

Incidentally, a few track notes if anyone's interested:

"Green Eggs & Ham" and "We Like Repartee" were created as part of the Dictionaraoke project. If you go to my homepage, you'll find an interview I did on NPR's "On the Media" about it.

Also, "Bunnyrabbits, Satan..." and "Think of Me" are part of a project I'm working on now, mic in track, using "found" (or is it "stolen"?) personal recordings. The album should be done by the summer.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 21:19:48 -0800

To Matt or whomever has it, can you provide me with the actual DNS of http://music.metafilter.com/ cause the page just keeps on loading up at the metafilter.com hopepage? (have tried using all my browsers, deleting cookies, etc.)

By: tss

tss — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 21:24:23 -0800

This stuff is really cool. How long until we do other media? Photos, text, movies, etc.

Some friends of mine set up a website where we all share stuff we're working on--music rarely, but usually pictures and text. It's worked out pretty well. I can only imagine what one with 16,000 members would be like.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 21:25:35 -0800

Could use some more cowbell.

cowbell.NET!

By: taz

taz — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 21:27:08 -0800

This is fantastic. Yay, Matt!

I'd like to second Iconomy's request for text file "liner notes" - musicians, tell us your stories! Thanks for the info starkeffect, and I love the audio vérité idea.

By: ed

ed — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 21:53:02 -0800

Wow. Good stuff guys. And a hossah to Matt. Incredible.

Yes, liner notes. What programs/equipment did you guys use to record, etc. would be interesting too.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:02:57 -0800

jmd82, the music should be at 207.44.144.7. You'll probably need to hit it by modifying your local dns (hosts file).

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:12:17 -0800

Wow. I'm having such a blast sampling this stuff. starkeffect, I must have downloaded half your homepage by now.

I do not like them here or there I do not like them... anywhere

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:15:21 -0800

starkeffect, the sound sample in the "think of me" song is freaky cute. It makes me think of being 19 again and being in relationships where you do silly things like record mix tapes.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:19:00 -0800

Ah, I was hoping using the DNS would help, but doesn't at all (just get a neato graphic). How would I go about updating my local dns host files (WinXP, use Phoenix, though IE gets the same problem)?

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:25:43 -0800

jmd82: (1) Are you connecting through a proxy server? If so, maybe it's the proxy's problem. (2) Just be patient and wait another couple of hours for the DNS to propagate. The music ain't going nowhere.

By: starkeffect

starkeffect — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:31:51 -0800

Heh, you think that's cute, take a listen to this, or this, or this.

I put up a new mic in track on my page every weekend. I've got about sixteen hours' worth of these little goodies.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:35:26 -0800

jmd82, here are some good instructions

You'd just want to make an entry that said this:
207.44.144.7 music.metafilter.com

I just added a couple more good bunches of music: adrober's funny piano song and a sklero-mikrophon rock trio thing.

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 03:08:50 -0800

Is MP3 the desired format, or will MIDI be acceptable as well?

By: Tarrama

Tarrama — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 05:20:37 -0800

Outstanding! I hope you do open it up to the public Matt, as I'm on dialup and don't have a cd burner as yet, but I do have generous friends who would download the music for me.

Jimbob, not only is your music great but I couldn't believe it when I saw one of the tracks has the same name as my studio!

If and when I can get it downloaded I'll choreograph something for the girls and send you the video via the post office or something.

By: chrisroberts

chrisroberts — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 07:37:24 -0800

matt, would there be any way for users to post comments to these music posts. it would be nice to read what others think about the music before downloading it. not only that, it would also be a good place to respond to the artist and all that fun stuff.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 07:47:49 -0800

Ah, finally got it to work! Thanks for all the help!

By: dong_resin

dong_resin — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:16:39 -0800

A. Fucking fantastic, Matt.
B. What lazaruslong said about keeping it a MeFi member only deal, for the same reasons.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:27:04 -0800

I am rarely so delighted with MeFi as I am today. Nice work Matt. Also yes, agree with nearly everyone, MeFiers only. Does this thing have a "play all" feature?

By: iconomy

iconomy — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:45:19 -0800

It's at the bottom, jessamyn.

I love your song, adrober!

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:45:57 -0800

Does this thing have a "play all" feature?

Yeah, on the home page, click the green, round play button next to the top folder, before the list of artists. This will start streaming every single song in one big playlist.

Basically, I've been hitting that and setting my player to "random" for the past few hours. You never know what comes next. The tough part though, is figuring out which songs are by who, when you find one you really love.

By: thunder

thunder — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 09:09:31 -0800

I just wanted to add that if anyone here wants to produce their own CD "free", cafepress now does audio (AND data) CDs, in case you didn't know. Just send them a master CD and then set your own price, etc. EXCELLENT stuff everyone! I'm currently strolling through jazon's directory - right up my alley! :-)
[Shameless plug - If you DO sign up, feel free to use my store ID "artoffoxvox" (link) as a referrer - LOL - or not, *grin*.]

By: thunder

thunder — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 09:14:01 -0800

Addendum: Or even better, use "metafilter" as the referrer ID so Matt gets more money through HIS store! (Why didn't I think of that first - ignore my previous self-promotion - DOH!)

By: th3ph17

th3ph17 — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 09:36:44 -0800

meta music. victors has remixed cortex. finally, its ok to doublepost. nice job everyone.

matt, glad your love of music brought this about.

so, musical metafilter meetups?

By: gramcracker

gramcracker — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 10:06:02 -0800

Any chance to get vague categories? Electronica, rock, etc.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 10:27:52 -0800

click the green, round play button next ... this will start streaming every single song in one big playlist.

actually, it doesn't, but I get all the other streams to play fine. I'll mess about with Andromeda help and see if I can't find a solution.

By: rich

rich — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:43:15 -0800

gramcracker - I was going to say the same thing.. next to the artist's name, have some general 'genre' comments..

By: victors

victors — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:50:22 -0800

pick of the day: modge

matt: 2 features:

yea, I'm going to need a sort by latest-upload to keep up...

most music/mp3 hosts will whack the ID3 tags just enough to identify the artist and song (and even genre) in case the artist failed to do so when rendering the mp3.

I've looked at the free version of andromeda but they obfuscate the code so I can't point you to the place these would happen... I may end up just purchasing it anyway

By: rich

rich — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 13:03:00 -0800

Oh, but, dude.. anyone who samples Evil Dead Army of Darkness is totally kick-ass.

I just need help finding this stuff.

By: mblandi

mblandi — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 13:04:20 -0800

What's a good free zipping-up program for OSX? All I could find was an Alladdin Trial version.

By: victors

victors — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:22:33 -0800

anyone who samples Evil Dead Army of Darkness is totally kick-ass

and when you're ready to come down: "To Be Sung on the Water"

regarding zip: I'm not sure why matt wants this, mp3s are compressed already and zipping them doesn't do anything for size.

meanwhile I got this in private email just now:

your stuff doesn't suck ass at all

All I can say is bless this music.metafilter thing cause now my life has meaning.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:36:07 -0800

regarding zip: I'm not sure why matt wants this, mp3s are compressed already and zipping them doesn't do anything for size.

It's easy on me. You give me a zip of your 6-8 files and I pop onto the server, load up lynx, download, unzip and your directory is there. Otherwise I need to grab each song one at a time. It's multiple times faster to just grab the zip in one blow.

By: victors

victors — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:47:36 -0800

yup -- I can see that... as long as the zip's compression is set to 'none' in which case it's just a packaging medium. Otherwise the "uncompress" can take longer than a download on broadband.

By: modge

modge — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:52:13 -0800

your stuff doesn't suck ass at all

victors, that person speaks the truth. wow, there's a lot of really talented members here. thanks for this, matt!

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:13:07 -0800

jimbob:
i like subliminal criminal and petra.
good stuff.

By: folktrash

folktrash — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:14:04 -0800

listening to victor's remix of cortex's tune. this is so FUCKING awesome that it can't be said enough.

By: philcliff

philcliff — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:22:59 -0800

Regarding wether or not the music should be open to the general public I don't see why not. Of course if the server cant handle everybody then thats a different story. but barring that, if the whole point of these enterprise is to share music, why should it be limited to who it is shared with?

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:40:51 -0800

Yeah, I just want to say that the remix thing has made my week. I feel like a motherfucking superstar, over here. Thanks, victors.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:48:05 -0800

Oh! And, a related note:

I'd be fascinated by, and all for joining in, some sort of collaboration/remixification/exquisite-corpsification activities within the Metafilter Music neighborhood. I dunno what all that might involve, or what might be produced, but thinking about it in a general, vague sort of way makes my heart tingle with delight.

All else aside, I'd be happy to make individual tracks of anything I've posted available -- since I do all my own recording usually, most of it is sitting on my hard-drive. Could have saved victors a little bit of work isolating the vocals on Things Fall Apart, ferexample.

Man, I feel giddy.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 18:18:55 -0800

That remix is addictive as hell. Really - it's positively evil with addictive goodness. I heard the remix first, and then the original. This is really too much fun. I'm currently hooked on cortex, sgt serenity, folktrash, victors, and gsalad. I can't wait until I get broadband next week so I can download every last one.

In other news, I'm also finally getting a microwave and this cool thing called a VCR.

By: victors

victors — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 18:30:24 -0800

I'd be fascinated by, and all for joining in, some sort of collaboration/remixification/exquisite-corpsification activities within the Metafilter Music neighborhood.

I've been doing this exact thing for going on five years. I've even been in several "virtual bands" that were spread across the world with people I (still) haven't met. We've gotten it down to where the collaborators don't even need to have the exact tools on either end, just a multi-track recorder/mixer. (Acid, Vegas, Live, Fruity, etc.)

The good news is that there are many, many ways to do this. The bad news is that there are many, many ways to do this.

Remember that none of this necessary, but a recommended jumping off point:

- As a matter of efficiency it helps to have a "designated mixer" -- someone who "owns" the project. Collaborators get sub-mixes from the owner who then collects individual tracks from the other(s).

- In many cases it is best to exchange uncompressed wavs. Everybody I know uses WinRAR which has a remarkable 55% lossless compression ratio and makes transferring wavs back and forth. This is a non-starter for people on Macs, but thats fine because...

- In just as many cases, exchanging 128b MP3s is just fine -- especially when want that scratchy dirty sound ;-)

- Record dry and clean. Don't put any fx on any track, that goes triple for vocals -- some tube dirt on the guitar is ok, but avoid reverb/delay if you can; some compression may be ok, but again, safest thing to do is nothing. Let the mixer/owner person handle ALL fx.

- All parties should have access to healthy ftp/http accounts where the receiver doesn't have to futz with logins/passwords. 10mg is not enough. 500mg is better.

....

I'll post more things, ovens on fire...

By: dg

dg — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 20:46:41 -0800

In other news, I'm also finally getting a microwave and this cool thing called a VCR.
Just don't get them confused, will you?

By: kev23f

kev23f — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 04:43:29 -0800

ah this is depressing, our firewall prevents me downloading any mp3 stuff, and the streaming doesn't seem to be allowed either. blues.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 12:35:05 -0800

What an unfuckingbelievably excellent idea, Matt. I'll definitely be sending a few things along (and listening too) when I get home tonight.

Thanks matt, and to everyone sharing.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:31:32 -0800

this is fantastic, cheers matt, almostcool is superb btw.

By: jacobsee

jacobsee — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:05:15 -0800

Stark Effect: I like repartee! Rockin'

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 13:28:18 -0800

I heart music.metafilter.com

Thanks Matt, and thanks to all the great music makers, I've been listening all day.