Commodore Remix

(Innovation)
Are there any genres or styles that don't exist on RKO now? I can't think
of any. Anyone?

(Clip lengths)
Didn't I try and get a discussion about this going before? Shortly after Plasm, got rest his soul, came onto my old board insisting that he wouldn't buy any CD he hadn't already heard in full.

Apart from the obvious space implications of hosting longer clips
(in that my webspace doesn't grow with the amount of CDs), would it result in more people buying if they heard, for example, 1 minute of
each tune?

That's not an issue I have made up my mind over, so I'm open for persuasion!

Also: giving away the whole album in lo-fi: good idea or bad idea? I did this with Dreamscapes so that people would know 100% if they liked the album before spending their money, because it was a different album (and, I would say, quite innovative in the way it deals with C64 tunes, taking themes and parts from tunes in a new direction: this aspect seems to have completely passed people by: probably because an orchestra isn't involved and the music is low key). At least I presume this saved Jens some money.

Anyway, the question is: if you already have the album in,
for example, 28kbps stereo, are you likely to want it on CD if you liked it?
Or would you just adjust and save the money? Neil, would you have been
happen with R64 given away in 28kbps stereo (again, a genuine question,
not a rhetorical one).

Chris

Regarding the clips.... I personally wouldn't like to give the full CD away on low quality. Musicians will understand that it's low quality, but will the everyday listener be able to realise this? Full length clips i feel arn't an option.

An idea i have come up with, is to have three 30 second segments of a remix, merged into one. so you have three 30 second clips of different areas of the tune slowly merged into one. Pretty much like the TOL remix we did for the news page (which incidentally has improved vastly since then). ofcourse this depends on the length of the tune, if it's not a long tune, then three 20 second ones are better.

Chris--regarding clip lengths, just make them longer. The more of an idea you have about a track, the more likely you are to know whether or not to buy a CD. (Of course, it's a gamble, as some will come to the latter decision, but still...)

I was underwhelmed by the "Jarre 64" CD clips, *but* Knucklebusters was intriguing; I reckon this was as much to do with the length of the clip than the track itself (and would love to hear longer versions of at least four of the other tracks). 30 seconds really isn't enough, and while I don't give a monkeys about the length on RKO (I have broadband) when I'm shelling out cash, it's a different matter.

However, please don't start offering entire albums in lo-fi. If anything, I'm put off by such a thing. While I know the actual album itself is of a much higher audio quality, the experience is still tainted, and there're also fewer surprises of any sort when the CD does arrive. IMO, you can find out a lot more about a CD from high quality clips (if it's long enough) than full lo-fi tracks. Of course, the Dreamscapes album, by its very nature, probably is an exception.

Anyway, the question is: if you already have the album in,
for example, 28kbps stereo, are you likely to want it on CD if you liked it?

Yes, but it would probably put me off buying it. However, in my case, I'd rather go buy something than have it in 128kbps, too, as even that is, well, crap quality.

Neil--oddly, your solution is what I used to do for VMU downloads! However, I eventually came to the conclusion that I hate that approach with a passion. Merging the clips into one almost never works and they then no longer exist as separate entities; maybe this would be okay if the originals are done in this way (i.e. one long mix album) but otherwise, I still reckon separate clips is the way to go.

oh, well... just logged in to say that i downloaded the whole lot and hadn't the time to listen to all so far, just some fast listen overs and they had quality (at least to me) in the first place... hope to get more time for a closer look.

*just posting to show that the clips are found by some non-musician as well*

Just a random sampling from my email just now:

"I was listening to 'Dreamscapes' at work tonight. The lady I work with, Yvonne, (fortysomething, four kids), is now a SID convert. "

I think maybe the problem is the Dreamscapes is a bit of a cissy album, not for real men and beer drinkers!

Chris

haha, now thats a style not done before...C64 remixes for rubgy players.

Chris Abbott wrote:(Innovation)
Are there any genres or styles that don't exist on RKO now? I can't think of any. Anyone?

I take that as a challenge! And I bet my last potatoe(Swedish expression...) that you're wrong with this one, Chris!

It all sounds just a bit flat to me...but then I never liked Jarre

Clips are good. They actually made me descide to buy Instant Remedy's album. If I hadn't heard the clips, I most probably wouldn't have bought it.

> And I bet my last potatoe(Swedish expression...) that you're
> wrong with this one,

No, I was right in that I can't think of one. I didn't say it was impossible

Anyway, if anyone can, you can!

To be honest I don't need clips and I would never do them on my (not real) own CD. One may think I am lazy, but I don't see any need for it and I would not care if the sales are lower what I, frankly, don't believe.

People know in which style Marcel's CD comes. From the description in the shop and from his remixes on RKO. So i think it is paradox to know one don't like that style or one prefers original Jarre/Vangelis, loading the clips and then saying it's crap !

I don't think anyone will do less quality than his RKO remixes, no I think just far from it !

First of all I like SID's and if it's done in a style I like, I just buy it. I rely always on the producer, which sometimes is a disappointment, sure. But that's very rare.

And by the way I don't think a clip would change a decision of buying or not buying. And even further I don't think it would change someone's decision who's always short of money. You can send me 1000 clips of rock, i won't buy it. That's the way it is.

Markus Schneider wrote:And by the way I don't think a clip would change a decision of buying or not buying.

The opposite's true for me, particularly with indie stuff. I've bought several Realworld albums purely on the basis of clips from the Web site; I'd not have bothered otherwise, as I'd have not known what the sound was like at all. While the same isn't as true for the 64 remix stuff, I can imagine unsure people downloading track clips "just to make sure" and then buying...

Just to say, after this, and a quick discussion with the mafia, all clips on C64Audio.com will shortly be increased to 1 minute and encompass
more ear candy.

Chris

> And even further I don't think it would change someone's
> decision who's always short of money.
Except the money they spend on beer and women... which is presumably
from a different budget!

CraigG wrote: "just to make sure" and then buying...

If I would check up every decision, the day lasts not long enough for me. But as I said, it's lazy me.

Chris Abbott wrote:...which is presumably
from a different budget!

Of course it is