An (Im)modest Proposition.

[catsittingstill]

I just found out there is a (mostly D&D) gaming convention planned in Iraq for the 9th of June, Ziggurat Con.

aylinn wants to include a copy of I Promised Eli in a packet she's sending them (they need gaming books and dice and stuff). I thought that was a very good idea. That made me think of something.

The Echo's Children CDs have a couple of D&D songs on them (and a few more songs that come from other roleplaying games). I checked with Callie, and it's okay with her, so, I was thinking I might burn a CD of gaming songs (Echo's Children, and some of my own, if I find any extras) to go into the Ziggurat Con package.

And then I thought, "maybe some of the people on my friends list might be interested." Do you have mp3(s) of gaming song(s) you wrote that you would like to send to Ziggurat Con? Are you okay with sending them out, knowing that if people like songs on the CD they'll probably be copied and passed around and I don't imagine you'll be getting royalties for them? (Quick warning--if this seems like a great idea to you and you're all enthused about getting started, please don't e-mail me any mp3s yet. I have a dialup modem and will need to make special arrangements to download anything big.)



Do you want to send them out on separate CDs--maybe one per artist--or would one compilation CD be better, or some combination of the two?

If people are in favor of a compilation CD, I'm willing to do the compiling, or to pass the responsibility on to another, either way. If I do the compiling, I will try to get the CD off to Ziggurat Con by May 9th, because it can take a while to ship things overseas and I want to be sure it gets there in time. That would mean I would need to get mp3s from people by May 4th or so, which would be about 2 1/2 weeks from today.

What do people think? If there's no interest, that's okay--I'll just send my stuff.

Comments

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

As I said in e-mail, this will be going out on the cheap side. *Grin*

Basically CD-Stomper labels on the CDs. Then the CDs go in to paper sleeve envelopes.

If it's a compilation, then it probably won't have a very fancy label.

I have no problem buying a spindle of CDs and doing this. I'd planned to do it for Cat's CD.

Fair warning - Honesty compels me to admit that any music provided to me to burn for Ziggurat will be going into my personal MP3 collection.

*sheepish grin*

[mdlbear]

I don't have a dog in this fight -- the few gaming songs I do are covers. But I think it's a great idea, and when you hear of somebody doing a computer song version let me know. (All of my own songs are published under a Creative Commons license (by-sa-nc with a filk extension), so I actively encourage this kind of usage.)

With that disclaimer, I think a compilation CD would be best -- there's no point in cluttering up peoples' packets with multiple CDs with only one or two songs on them.

Another thought: if all the songs are mp3's you could do a CD-ROM with songs, lyrics, and whatever other web-based material you can get from the songwriters. It would be a fantastic promotional vehicle for everyone involved. (And I wish I had time to hack my current software into something you could use to put it together, but I'm going to be a bit busy over the next 2 1/2 weeks. <grin type="wry"/>)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I've only ever written the one gaming song, and it's not a D&D song. Still, it's available on mp3 if you want it.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I have a gaming song, but it's to Erica Neely's tune, so I should check with her before recording it.

[gorgeousgary]

Sounds like a cool idea! I don't have any gaming songs of my own, but I can think of one or two folks I could check with to see if they mind my recording theirs.

[quadrivium.livejournal.com]

I've got "Magnus Retail" as several different scratch versions. And then I have the one on my CD.

[egoldberg.livejournal.com]

Although it's not strictly gaming music, you are welcome to burn a few tracks from "Divine Intervention" <http://www.filk.biz/divine.html>.

I understand through word-of-mouth that many of the songs have been used as background music for gaming (e.g. "Temper of Revenge", "Crimson and Crystal", "Survivor's Song", etc.)

In the likely event that you don't already have the CD, reply to me privately (eli at prometheus-music.com) and I would be happy to send you an MP3 download URL.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

*blink* um, thank you?

E-mail will be sent requesting location & other restrictions.

Unlike Cat, I do have High speed.

I can pull down already mixed info & burn to CD. I do NOT have any kind of fancy music software or studio or high speed reproduction stuff. MSD is very small press and pretty much a labor of love for my husband and I. Although it has managed to provide grocery money when we both ended up unemployed. *grin*

[occams_pyramid]

Hmm. There's the very silly Mike Whitaker / Rhodri James "Monty Who ?":
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the umpteenth level Lord".

And several of Mike's songs are based on game situations.
He's fleetfootmike.

[hms42]

I don't have any songs of my own, but I can raid my conversion collection if someone wants a song of theirs that was on an out of print tape included. (or if I recorded them over the past year or so at Lunacon and Philcon.)

Harold

[aunty_marion]

And Zander's "All Right, How *DO* You Make an Undead Go 'Woof'?" (and more...)

[occams_pyramid]

Ah yes. http://www.nyrond.co.uk/filks/dungeon/allright.txt
I have this nice handy database :-)

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Filk extension to the CC license? Linky?

[mdlbear]

http://thestarport.com/Steve_Savitzky/#licensing

Not fully worked through yet, but the general idea is that the lyrics and melody are separately re-usable on a pro-rated basis. So if you re-use my melody and it's not a parody, you only owe half the usual royalties.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

So do I take it you're volunteering to handle the compilation? I'm fine with that, just checking. If you have high-speed internet, it might be easier for people to send mp3s to you than to me.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks Eli! It seems like you and aylinn have made arrangements between you, which is great! I appreciate your contributions.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Do you know whether a CD with audio files and data files will work (as far as the audio files, anyway) in a regular mp3 player?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'd love it! Let me check with aylinn to see if it's okay if you send it to her, since she has high-speed internet.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Any word on what Erica thinks? We'd be glad to have it if Erica's okay with it.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Pass the idea along--the more the merrier. Some recordings from you would be a fine addition to the project!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Any gaming song you have that you'd like to contribute would doubtless be one of the gems of the collection!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Do you know if Mike has recordings he'd be willing to contribute? Or if he'd be willing to have other people contribute recordings of his stuff?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Do you think Zander would be interested in contributing? I'm sure his songs would be fine additions to the compilation.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Thanks Harold. If particular songs/writers occur to you, please let me know--otherwise stand by, and if we're lacking a recording of something, I'll call on you for aid.

[mdlbear]

Probably not a good idea to mix them. I know that if you ship files to a duplicating house they want either all mp3's or all wav's. And, of course, older CD players won't play mp3's at all.

I was actually thinking of a CD-ROM, which does let you mix file types. (It's possible to make double-session audio/data CD/CD-ROM disks, but it's tricky and they seem to cause problems in some players. Like the one in my car.)

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

okay - I've got the album eli promised - of which I can use 5 songs.

I've pinged filkertom and gotten permission to fill out with stuff from his free iTom feed. (I've pulled every tune off that he's put up.)

if people put stuff on a link for me to download, I can at least craft a play list & burn it to a cd, using windows media player or winamp. Mind you, that is the TOTAL extent of my compiling skills. *grin*

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

It is!

[hms42]

For gaming? Other than D.I. by Tom Smith, nothing off hand. Otherwise, I can help. I am going to check with 1-2 people if a song I have is shareable.

Other topics? Pot luck, but I will inquire...

Harold

[occams_pyramid]

I don't know I'm afraid - probably best to contact him via his LJ. Similarly for Zander - smallship1.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

She just came through with a 'use it with my blessing, as long as you attribute' permission, so, um. Now I have to figure out how to record with my laptop and my Shure. :->

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

_I Promised Eli_ is a standard audio CD, which I assume you'll be able to rip as necessary. I've got _Under the Gripping Beast_ (which I'm sending as an mp3 CD, but if you want a standard audio CD I can do that too) and two separate songs, "Beneath Her Changing Face" and "Wanderer's Prayer" that I think would fit. I'm planning to send those two as mp3s on a separate CD.

If this doesn't work for you, let me know within a day or so--I'd like to mail the (steadily thickening) packet off by Friday at the latest. I can burn standard audio CDs of each (or an mp3 CD of _I Promised Eli_) if you prefer. Or if you really need me to, I can go on campus and hijack my husband's connection to upload mp3s if that is what will work best for you.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Okay. Thanks for the info!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Aylinn seems to be handling the compiling--see higher up this thread. So if you and she could get together to make arrangements for the transfer, that would be great!

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

that works fine.

I was just saying that for other folks. *G*

[hms42]

I just got permission on a couple of songs from Kathy Sands.. Not gaming, but permission to pass the recordings in for this project. (Also working with Roberta Rogow on songs she has sung that I have recordings of.)

I can be reached by email at harold at panix dot com and let me know where to send the file(s) to.

So far, the songs I am going to be contributing are "Woad" (take from Kathy Sands upcoming album) and possibly a star wars based song (under copyright on the music, not submitting.) Lyrics - Anonymous (and dates back to at least 1919 or older) and tune is public domain.

Roberta has suggested a song that I don't have a recording of her singing. (At the Worldcon.) I have asked for different song since the only recordings I have are of Leslie Fish singing the song.

Harold

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) Go Almeda! Aylinn is collecting the mp3s to put together the compilation disc.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Okay--yesterday LJ was hiccuping or something, but I asked this morning for him to contact me.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Okay, I found an e-mail address for Zander and have e-mailed him about it.

[hms42]

I need a location to send mp3s to.... (or a download link)

Harold at panix d0t com

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

check your e-mail *VEG*

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

Okay.

I just received an e-mail from PFC Amberson. When in doubt, ask your customer what they want to "buy". *grin*

He's requested MP3 CDs. so everything is going over as that. which means we can pack more onto a given cd.

Send me links, folks! I'm downloading!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Do you have any gaming songs by Zander Nyrond in your conversion collection, or from Lunacon or Philcon? I realize he's from across the pond, so there may be no hope, but I thought I'd check.

[hms42]

If you give me a title, I can look for it. I do have the Dandelion Digital albums (all 7 of them) and can rip from those.

One heads up, I am going out of town as of May 3rd (for a college graduation), but I will have my laptop and FTP software available, so I can make mp3s available from what I have with me. I will have some LIMITED net access (at high speed), but I will be looking for mp3 requests for your project. Quality on my conversions is pot luck. Older conversions (mostly OCP) tend to have a bit of static and vary in volume. More recent (past 2 years) have less static and tend to be decent.

He was not at Philcon 2005 or 2006 (or was he someone whom I didn't know I was recording when I was recording you in 2005) nor Lunacon 2006 or 2007.

Harold