This thread is for all the Dopers who are creative in any way - writers, musicians, singers, actors, composers, amateurs or pros. To the best of my knowledge, this has never been tried on our message board; I’d like to thank the Mods for giving their permission.
I’m starting an SDMB collective composition called “Would You Like a Little More Pie?” - you can hear the first ‘slice’ here . So, if you’re at all interested, send me a PM and I’ll tell you where you are in the queue. Then, download the clip to your computer (after the previous person is done) and open it with whatever you use to record sound (Garage Band, Cubase, whatever). Add to it in whatever way you would like - add something before the existing clip, after the existing clip, split the clip and add something in the middle or overdub something over top of the existing clip. Send me a PM and I’ll send you the code so that you can upload the new version with your addition. Then the next person can add something, and so on and so on.
One Big Rule - No Copyright Infringement! I don’t have a copyright lawyer - it’s a condition of SoundClick, (I also promised the Mods we wouldn’t infringe copyright) and I don’t want to get sued or kicked off, so - only your own material, please. Your own composition, poetry, prose, improvisation, whatever you come up with.
Some practicalities -
- Save your version in the same MP3 format, in the smallest ‘weight’ your program will allow.
- If you please, save it as “Would You Like a Little More Pie?, Second Slice”, “Third Slice”, etc. That way, for anyone interested, we can keep track of who added what, and the next person in the queue knows when they can add their stuff.
- Just like in stage improv, you can say ‘Yes, but…’, ‘Yes, and…’ but you can’t say ‘No.’ In other words, please don’t erase or obliterate anyone else’s contribution. If you find your overdub is much louder than what someone else has done, maybe you should copy it so we hear that person’s earlier contribution, too.
- Please, no more than 30 seconds worth at a time, just so no one contributor hogs the stage. Ahem, yes, my first submission weighed in at 37 seconds, but I was trying to have more than one thing for people to be inspired by…
- Once we hit 10 MB, we’ll have to split the piece and start another part - my soundclick account has a 10 MB limit per song.
Other than that, take the piece in whatever direction you like. I was inspired by a few earlier threads where we talked about what kind of gear some of the dopers have, what music we’re currently working on and where we’ve posted clips of our music. It all made me wish that we could all jam in some fashion, and this was what I came up with. Of course, all this is happening in one of the busiest months of my life, and so I also need to ask you all to be patient, as I can only be at my computer a couple of times each day. However, I think we can all make something that uniquely represents The Dope in all its macro-chaotic splendour.
Hi, I’m rather blatantly giving this a bump to see if I get more response from the Tuesday evening EDT crowd. Maybe the title could have been better…
Best wishes, everyone!
Le Ministre
I would love, love , love to play along, but I’m not going to be home for a couple of weeks. I really like this idea and will be looking forward to hearing what comes.
BTW, you may be getting more responses than this thread would indicate. I tried to send this in a PM and was told you have them set to “Not receive”.
Also, if I could play, should I loop your guitar part and repeat it, adding drums (or whatever) to consecutive repetitions? Or only add to what is already there?
DfrntBreign Thank you for pointing that out - I’m a knob! I SHOULD have said “Send me an e-mail”. E-mail would be better, but I’ve also just turned on the “private message” thing. I’ve no real idea what it will do, having only turned it on this very moment. DOH! is all I can say.
As far as what to add, well, whatever you like. If you’d like to loop something I’ve done (or that someone else has done) and add to it, that’s cool. If you feel like adding something else before or after, or inserting something, that’s cool, too. I deliberately left what I did kind of fragmentary and disjunct, so if someone wants to bridge bits together, they can. Or maybe it’ll come out kind of like “Revolution 9” - but feel free to do anything that you think could go.
So is it supposed to somehow relate to pie? Is the music supposed to “flow” from the previous slice? I’m intrigued, but not sold yet.
Dear OpalCat: Well, the pie in the title had far more to do in my mind with the ‘pie’ that gets brought in many MPSIMS threads welcoming new members. I liked the idea of the recording being kind of like a musical pot-luck supper, only with the freedom of choice between bringing your best dish, something you think would go well with something someone else has said they’d bring, or something you think would be a real contrast to the rest of the menu. I was mostly trying to come up with a title that was an invitation to share with others.
I don’t want to impose my concepts on the piece any more than necessary, because I’m more interested in the different directions in which the group will go. Maybe if I describe it more as a thread than a piece of music, that would help. Just as an OP writes something and the list responds (first to the OP and then to each other until the thread has a momentum), I’m hoping the piece will take on a life of its own. I was thinking of a couple of Improv games we used play when I studied at Second City. There are games where a sentence is built by the whole class with each person in a circle contributing only one word at a time. Or in a writing class, we had to write stories one sentence at a time. In an art class, a friend played a game where a piece of card was folded in half and one artist draws on one half with lines slightly extended over the fold and hands it over to the next artist, only describing what is foreground (positive space) and what is background (negative space). Part of the point of these kind of games is to stimulate your own creativity by causing you to have to deal with a situation not of your own choosing, and another part of the point is to learn to make something as a group, adding your ideas without imposing them.
That’s part of why I’m encouraging writers and poets on the Message Board as well - if someone reads a few lines they’ve written, one of the musicians is bound to add some sort of soundtrack to it. I’m sorry if I seem a little vague, but I’m really trying to avoid saying ‘do this’, when there are so many people on the Board who will think of something I’ve never thought of if I can just stay out of their way. That something I wouldn’t have thought of is what I’d most like to hear…
I hope you’ll join us at some point; your ideas would be most welcome… (if that doesn’t sound too much like a steal from ‘Imagine’…)
My slice has been added, but I see that Le Ministre de l’au-delà has expounded on his concept. Since he set me up with a clear break, I got to do my own thing, but I think there may be a bit of wriggle room at the end of my slice to merge or mangle.
I had thought of some ambient soundscape with an existential ramble on the nature of pie (and it’s relationship to pi), but, hey, 12-bar. I was also pretty limited timewise.
Technical details and personal critique: recorded on my laptop using a Edirol FA-101 and Ableton Live 7. A cheap Behringer SM57-clone mic for the vocals/Hohner harmonica, and my Sigma Martin Acoustic cutaway for the two guitar tracks. The lead line was run through Guitar Rig (Fender Tweed simulation) to dirty it up at the last minute - I was fairly impressed with the effect. MP3 conversion in Audacity.
On reflection - Vocals needed an EQ tweak, and the harp has too much breath - I needed to close up my hands a bit. I really want a mic stand endpiece that has a vocal mic on the left, and a harmonica clamp on the right with a mic clamp a few inches behind it, and a foam filter. Handsfree and no neck stand. But, I was pretty happy with the piece overall.
Si
I’ve managed to get on the site but I’m not seeing how or where to upload. Help?
Don’t Fight the Hypothetical I just sent you an e-mail which I hope will help.
We’re now up to the third slice - Lama Pacos added some cool stuff yesterday. Stay tuned…