VGMA2: Preparation

[Rocco]

New thread.

[Kefkarjp]

Interesting! I want in I'll come back when I figure out a theme.

[Solaphar]

What about a limit to the number of entries? I'm pretty sure that was discussed as a guideline, but I don't remember us coming to a consensus on it. If there's no limit, one person can monopolize all the "good" ideas for their tracks.

And on that note, is it really okay to assign sub-themes based upon first-come, first-served? Anyone who hasn't logged in over the past few days (or even the past day during which the galactic theme was chosen) will be resigned to choosing from the "leftovers".

Maybe some type of lotto system?

By that I mean, we could all come up with a list of galactic phenomena, and then match participant numbers with a random number generator (where numbers are also assigned to sub-themes). In other words, have themes assigned to people by a machine, and if they don't like it, the theme goes back into the lotto and they can get assigned a different sub-theme? Just an idea.

I don't know... It just seems kind of unfair that those of us who happened to not be busy this past weekend get to dictate so much. But maybe it's just me holding that sentiment. (Which was kind of why I wanted to give a few more days to the guideline crafting)


Anyway, I'll wait for us, the participants, to get a handle on these things before I think about a sub-theme.

[Kris Troutman]

Lotto is bad because somebody may get stuck with a theme they really can't do.

Also, I think one entry per person, and one collab per person should be the limit. So if you want to make two things, you gotta find a partner to make the second one.

First come first serve is probably better, if you can't get your theme, then pick the next best one you know you can do.

Just submit in order what theme you would be doing in order, and if one is taken, the top one gets crossed out and you go to choice 2.

Its like this:

Make a song about animals:

Your PMed theme ideas:

Frogs
Bison
Buffalo
Bears

Frogs was taken so you make a song about Bison.

Also, no matter what is done, themes are going to run lower. Even with a lotto, somebody eventually is going to get stuck with something. However, there are plenty of themes to chose from, since Galaxy is quite broad. Lotto isn't as good because you have absolutely no choice, where if you chose from a list of ideas you send in, then you are still in control and know you can handle what you are stuck with.

OH, and we should put a list of people who are participating, so we know who's involved and how many there are, as well as bold the name if they have actually submitted their entry or not.

[Solaphar]

Lotto is bad because somebody may get stuck with a theme they really can't do.

Which is why I said they can toss it back into the pool if they don't want it.

where if you chose from a list of ideas you send in, then you are still in control and know you can handle what you are stuck with.

That's a good point. Hmm, I guess maybe lotto won't work. I'm just trying to be fair to future participants.

[Rocco]

There are a lot of space things to pick from, and it's really just intended to provide inspiration, anyway. I don't foresee it being a problem. If you don't get "quasar", it's not too far a stretch to pick "pulsar" instead. Besides, everything in space is pretty darn awesome, if you ask me.

[Kris Troutman]

Here's a list of cool things that I would have done, had I not gotten Black Hole:

Supernova
Solar Flare
Gas Giant

All of which can be just as fun, maybe even more fun.

[Solaphar]

There are a lot of space things to pick from, and it's really just intended to provide inspiration, anyway. I don't foresee it being a problem. If you don't get "quasar", it's not too far a stretch to pick "pulsar" instead. Besides, everything in space is pretty darn awesome, if you ask me.

Yeah, that's true. I'll give up on my lotto idea.

Also, I think one entry per person, and one collab per person should be the limit. So if you want to make two things, you gotta find a partner to make the second one.

Yeah, this is what I proposed in the guideline crafting thread. (Strange how this is becoming like a second guideline thread, heh)

[Rocco]

With a community-created thing like this, it was kind of inevitable that the official thread would have a lot of guidelines discussion. It might have been a tad premature to go public already, but we had enough laid out to at least start the composing process. It'll be like building the plane while we're flying it!

[Solaphar]

It'll be like building the plane while we're flying it!

Heh =)


We'll also have to think about a submission deadline sometime. I'd like to propose mid-to-late July. I have things I'll be busy with during the next couple of month, so I'll need lots of spare time for this. Also, people might decide to not enter until a few weeks from now, so with a deadline of like July 23rd, they'll have at least a month to create and polish their track. This gives time for collaborations too, as well as feedback on works-in-progress.


Btw, if someone else wants/wanted Interstellar Medium, I'm willing to collaborate on it (provided your ideas aren't too different from mine on how to approach it, so we can discuss it). Just PM me.


Of course, there are lots of things that travel through the interstellar medium, so those are still available as well.

[Blitz Lunar]

The prevailing notion on entry limitations is that one person may submit both one solo entry and one teamcomp, but that is still open to debate.

imo this is best avoided for a few reasons. firstly it would make the album look like it was short of submissions and needed people to submit second songs to fill the gaps, secondly it makes certain artists look more prominent than others, thirdly it doesn't look great from a tagging perspective (last.fm for instance), fourthly it'd be better if each artist put all their effort into one song and ensured that was the best it could be, and finally i think as it is with the theme it's already complex enough (not too complex, but that's why it's good.) i think it's another variable the project doesn't need.

And on that note, is it really okay to assign sub-themes based upon first-come, first-served? Anyone who hasn't logged in over the past few days (or even the past day during which the galactic theme was chosen) will be resigned to choosing from the "leftovers".

as Rocco touched on there's basically endless opportunities for song names so it isn't like people can run out of ideas there. the only things people will choose that could potentially cause squabbles are the overly obvious things like planet names. i thought the idea here was that you made up song names with more personality than that (so rather than Mars, you could have "Mission to Mars" or whatever.) i guess i'm confused?

[Kris Troutman]

So far, we've only been choosing the themes, not the actual titles to the songs.

[Solaphar]

The prevailing notion on entry limitations is that one person may submit both one solo entry and one teamcomp, but that is still open to debate.

imo this is best avoided for a few reasons. firstly it would make the album look like it was short of submissions and needed people to submit second songs to fill the gaps, secondly it makes certain artists look more prominent than others, thirdly it doesn't look great from a tagging perspective (last.fm for instance), fourthly it'd be better if each artist put all their effort into one song and ensured that was the best it could be, and finally i think as it is with the theme it's already complex enough (not too complex, but that's why it's good.) i think it's another variable the project doesn't need.

Aww, but I kinda liked the idea of collaborative tracks. =(

And on that note, is it really okay to assign sub-themes based upon first-come, first-served? Anyone who hasn't logged in over the past few days (or even the past day during which the galactic theme was chosen) will be resigned to choosing from the "leftovers".

as Rocco touched on there's basically endless opportunities for song names so it isn't like people can run out of ideas there. the only things people will choose that could potentially cause squabbles are the overly obvious things like planet names. i thought the idea here was that you made up song names with more personality than that (so rather than Mars, you could have "Mission to Mars" or whatever.) i guess i'm confused?

Yeah, in the end I relented on this one and gave up on my lotto idea.

Also, as Kris said, we're just choosing specific galactic objects, spaces, or phenomena right now, not actual track titles.

[Rocco]

I imagine the final tracknames will be more creative than simply "moon" or "comet". And I have no preference regarding teamcomps. It sounds fun, but maybe it would impart an amateurish vibe to the album. *shrug*

[mudlord]

Send the finished product to [an as-yet undetermined person] (probably whoever will be responsible for "releasing" the album).

Funny how you didn't even concern yourself about audio format.
CBR MP3 is dead. AAC/M4A is now quite well supported and even Ogg Vorbis is now gaining support.

OCremix style encodes are pathetic. There should be minimum encode levels. Like VBR0 LAME.

Masters should be lossless. Preferably FLAC/ALAC (for Mac users), but TAK is good too. That way, you can distribute in several audio formats beside MP3 in CBR.