Description

(RMN Music Pack cover image by courtesy of Yaichino @ Deviantart.com!)

Selection of past RMN Music Event entries.




Calling all composers! - It's RMN music event time again, but this time things are going to be a little different.

So, if you've participated or voted in the RMN music events before you'll have noticed that they have taken the form of competitions with set themes and public voting to determine the winner; this time around however, the main purpose of the event is going to be a bit different. Instead of competing, we're going to collaborate (and for the greater good, to boot! but more on that later)





For this event we're asking that the participating composers create pieces of original RPG/video-game music, as many tracks as they want and whatever they want (but adhering to some basic standards of quality and stuff, see below for details on this).

At the end of the time-frame for this event the tracks will be collected together, given the once-over, standardized into mp3/ogg formats (where necessary), given proper file information tags, given some sweet cover art and compiled into a downloadable "album" or "soundtrack" of royalty free, creative commons licensed music and then hosted on RMN for the whole community/internet to use as they wish in their not-for-profit game-making endeavors (The CC license model we'll be using will be attribution, non-profit).

Essentially, we'll be creating a free rpg music pack for anyone and everyone to use in their games and helping diversify the publicly available resource pool for rm users a little bit.






* For every approved submission you will receive an entry into a raffle draw with a $50 main prize by courtesy of RMN and $30 secondary prize by courtesy of Happy!

* Submitting 1 approved track grants you a 50 ms achievement.

* Submitting 3 approved tracks grants you a 100 ms achievement.

* Submitting 5 approved tracks grants you a 150 ms achievement.

* An excuse to get some practice in or try something new.

* The gratification of giving something back to the community.

* The possibility of your work and name ending up in some cool project you didn't even intend it to be included in.

* The chance to make something cool along with a bunch of other composers.

* A panel of judges will decide on a composer that has contributed the most and grant this person a $70 award by courtesy of Happy! - quality and quantity of the submissions are both taken in consideration. (If you win this award, you cannot win the raffle prize.)

* To receive any prize money you must have an active paypal account.






* First and foremost you understand that any work you submit to this event is going to be disseminated under a creative com-mons license as publicly usable without your permission and in any way the end-user wishes as long as they attribute the work to you in their credits and that they also do the same themselves with any derivative work based on yours. End-users of this material (and any derivative material) will not, however, be able to legally make any money from anything containing these tracks without your express permission. This is important because if people decide to back out or change their minds about work they've submitted mid-way through this event it's going to get a bit messy, so please make sure you're positive that you're happy with essentially giving away whatever you submit for this event to the public at large.

* Some minimum degree of quality is going to be required from the submissions, they don't need to be AAA studio quality compositions, but they do need to be decent enough that people would want to use them in their projects. Tracks that don't make the cut will not be included in the final package.

* When you have submitted your track, it will be listed as "pending" until judges have listened to it. If the track meets the required quality standards, it will be listed as "accepted." In case your track still requires further improvements before it can be accepted, the track will be listed as "validating" and you will receive a PM where we will explain you what we would like you to improve in your track. If the track fails to meet the required quality standards and no fixes are applied to it before the event deadline, the track will be listed as "rejected." Don't be afraid to submit your track, however! We aren't expecting full professional quality from our participants! You are also free to post your track in public for open feedback.

* Please, name your track and tag it with your author name (whether it's a nick or your real name.)

* Submissions are preferred to be in .mp3, .wav, or .ogg format.

* Considering that we're going to be giving this away it's important that any/all work you submit be, to your knowledge, 100% original work of yours and contain no copyrighted material either compositionally or in terms of sampled sounds. No arrange-ments of existing songs or lifting motifs from anywhere else please. (I doubt anyone would do this but you know, just in case).

* There is no fixed theme or style required for participation in this event but if we get 50 battle themes we might be in a bit of trouble so if you can, try something a bit different than the standard fare you'd expect from a generic rpg or pick a type of track that is less commonly created. We'll probably put up a list of themes to help out with ideas for anyone stuck as to what sort of track to make (and we're still gonna need at least some battle themes!) If you aren't a composer, but have ideas for themes, you can suggest them in the comment section of this page.

* It is preferred that your track can be made into a loop, which means that you have to include repetition of previously occurred sections after all the development in the song has occurred. You don't have to worry about actually looping the song (coding it into the .ogg file) as this can be done by the judges once the album is being put together. Just make sure you include some of your first sections in the end of the song (excluding a possible intro.) If you have questions regarding this matter, feel free to PM Happy!

* You can submit as many tracks as you want as long as they meet the requirements for the event. So if you're feeling bored and generous then knock yourself out and make more than one. You will gain 1 raffle ticket for each accepted track.

* Any and all music you submit should be made specifically for this event. No dumping your existing works here. We're expecting you to see some effort and create something new.

* The finished product will be a .zip file, which will be hosted on RMN, freely available for download by anyone and everyone. There will be both, .mp3 version and looped .ogg version of the album along with cover art by Yaichino and some .txt files listing the songs, creators and CC license details.

* The event will run for 2 months to help ensuring high quality and quantity of entries.





* Once the album is out we will hold a public vote and people can choose a composer to receive a "Voters' Choice" award for the best contributions. If you wish to donate any prize money for this cause and support the participating composers, please do and you will have our sincerest appreciation!

You can donate any amount you wish the best composer to receive. After you have made your donation, be sure to PM kentona and tell him the sum you have donated so that he can tell the Music Event donations apart from the regular RMN donations.



* Please have fun and be creative! Use this as an excuse to make something new and interesting (yet usable) and give something to the community.

Details

  • 11/08/2012 12:00 AM
  • 02/16/2013 12:00 AM
  • Happy

Achievements

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for RMN Music Pack.

Participants Entries
MISTER BIG T
Hexatona
Happy
jasprelao
McTricky
narcodis
bobthebobish
Caz
Jude
Gamesfreak13563
Despite
yusolaifdfer
NewBlack
Tarranon
Spanish-Omelette
Muninn
MrChearlie
jackalotrun
Xcalnarok
Lana42
pazuzu555
LadyLeilani
Kunsel
JuurianChi
Subaru
nathangday
Urbon
albertibay
Snowy_Fox
slozzyfizz
possibly
hyde9318
sonosanctus
bzr
Shade_Hunter
Odin
ReclaimedGlory
Apoc
ZenVirZan
add9
kukenstragames

Posts

Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
So, I started a theme myself, too. I thought I had a pretty sweet melody idea going on and I wrote a couple of bars, but hey guess what? Lights went out! Blackout! What're the chances in that? Jesus.
I do believe I just made a battle-like theme in 2 hours. And I like the way its sounds.
BurningTyger
Hm i Wonder if i can pul somethi goff here/
1289
Erm. This will be interesting as I don't have a Midi keyboard to use- at least at the moment, though once my room is clean my dad may lend me his- and I'll have to be careful which sound fonts i use among other things,. Any suggestions for good virtual sequencers/keyboards??
Just an observation that I'm sure will need to be addressed at some point, but it may be best not to allow users access to downloading these tracks until it's been approved and uploaded into the album. As it is now, I could grab any piece floating there, however several have already been rejected for not fitting in with the requirements.

nathangday is an example of some really nice pieces, but rejected because they were already pre-existing. As a courtesy to him, I don't think it would be right for anybody to use those pieces without his permission, since they won't wind up in the pack.

Finally, how will credit need to be established when this is completed? Will a txt file be included for all the song titles and their respective authors? This would probably be the best option, that way we have contact info if we ever are seeking to hire or would wish to request permission for commercial use.
*posting so I can receive notices*
I'm totally psyched for this >:3
author=amerkevicius
Just an observation that I'm sure will need to be addressed at some point, but it may be best not to allow users access to downloading these tracks until it's been approved and uploaded into the album. As it is now, I could grab any piece floating there, however several have already been rejected for not fitting in with the requirements.

nathangday is an example of some really nice pieces, but rejected because they were already pre-existing. As a courtesy to him, I don't think it would be right for anybody to use those pieces without his permission, since they won't wind up in the pack.


I fully agree with this as well.

author=amerkevicius
Finally, how will credit need to be established when this is completed? Will a txt file be included for all the song titles and their respective authors? This would probably be the best option, that way we have contact info if we ever are seeking to hire or would wish to request permission for commercial use.


It's explained in one of the last points.

The finished product will be a .zip file, which will be hosted on RMN, freely available for download by anyone and everyone. There will be both, .mp3 version and looped .ogg version of the album along with cover art by Yaichino and some .txt files listing the songs, creators and CC license details.
Ah, reading comprehension got the better of me. Thanks, McTricky!
I don't see the harm in putting up files that are being rejected. I think people understand that by submitting work they are allowing others to use them. Even if they don't make it in the pack, they can still be of use to others (especially if it's rejected for being pre-existing, because it can still be a good song).

If you're worried about songs not included in the back thus not being properly licensed, keep in mind that anything can apply any creative commons license to any work they create themselves. Check out creativecommons.org or the provided text file for info. There's probably an mp3 or ogg tag you can embed with the CC license number.
Can I ask for feedback before I submit any song?
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Basically: if you post any tracks here that won't be accepted to the final pack, you will still be the original copyright holder in any case. You are the copyright holder from the moment you have created it.

But if you upload your file to the public you should realize that it will be impossible to take down all copies that will be created from it.

If you want to keep your work private and you don't want people to use your track unless it's accepted to the pack, then you should probably PM the track to me.
Might as well come out of the lurker shadows.

I think I'll rest now as I wanted my submissions to be perfect.
Good luck everyone and to those who are creating and submitting their entries to the contest I hope they are approved!

If anyone wants a higher quality of my .MP3s just ask. (they are 128kbs for filesize reasons)
I really feel like giving something back to the community for all the resources, so count me in on this one :D
I really like this idea, and I personally want to thank all those that are so talented making something for those that are not talented in this area.

I think doing a graphic pack at some point would be pretty great, too (And it would be something I could actually contribute to! :/). Though thats a different subject all together.
author=amerkevicius
nathangday is an example of some really nice pieces, but rejected because they were already pre-existing. As a courtesy to him, I don't think it would be right for anybody to use those pieces without his permission, since they won't wind up in the pack.

My dear friend Amerkevicus.
You- and everyone else- are more than welcome to use at least my pieces (I can't really speak for anyone other composer, unfortunately), as long as I am given credit. I write music so I can see it used in awesome games!

Also, more pieces coming soon. I probably won't get around to submitting them until close to the deadline, but they'll be here!
I am burned out at the moment. I may do few more later if people liked these.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
author=MISTER BIG T
I am burned out at the moment. I may do few more later if people liked these.

I'm sorry Mister Big T, but I have hard time believing you've composed your 5 entries from scratch in less than 9 hours. (The time from your post in RM Web's announcement topic where you said you'd begin once you arrive home)

Additionally, you haven't tagged your tracks which isn't really a major issue, but it seems suspicious to me considering you've posted untagged works here in the past too.

Some of these tracks also have the same female vocals as some previous tracks you've posted in RMN and considering the voice is altering a lot throughout the songs I don't think it's a sampled sound. Can you tell me who did your vocals?

For now it just seems too fishy for me unless you can explain yourself really well.
author=Happy
author=MISTER BIG T
I am burned out at the moment. I may do few more later if people liked these.
I'm sorry Mister Big T, but I have hard time believing you've composed your 5 entries from scratch in less than 9 hours.


Uh, sorry, I'll be slower next time?
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
author=MISTER BIG T
author=Happy
author=MISTER BIG T
I am burned out at the moment. I may do few more later if people liked these.
I'm sorry Mister Big T, but I have hard time believing you've composed your 5 entries from scratch in less than 9 hours.
Uh, sorry, I'll be slower next time?
I have elaborated further. I will not accept your tracks for now. But if you are as fast as you claim and these are your original works, could you rearrange one of these themes for me and I'll see about accepting your tracks again. I'm sorry for having to ask you to do this, but if these were done in 9 hours I think asking to rearrange one isn't too much, considering there's still 2 months left.
author=Happy
author=MISTER BIG T
author=Happy
author=MISTER BIG T
I am burned out at the moment. I may do few more later if people liked these.
I'm sorry Mister Big T, but I have hard time believing you've composed your 5 entries from scratch in less than 9 hours.
Uh, sorry, I'll be slower next time?
I have elaborated further. I will not accept your tracks for now. But if you are as fast as you claim, could you rearrange one of these themes for me and I'll see about accepting your tracks again. I'm sorry for having to ask you to do this, but if these were done in 9 hours I think asking to rearrange one isn't too much, considering there's still 2 months left.

Will adding in few new simple instruments into the song and removing few previous ones suffice or how extensive arrangment are we talking about here?

I don't know what you mean by tagging my works exactly?
i do believe he has written all his entries, but i think he's using some kind of program who composes by ready loop packs of many instruments as drum, voices and others.

Maybe it's not a good way to compose, because you have no interaction with the music, and you're limited to write what loops are designed to do...