Blog: Getting Started With Chipmusic – Guide
I feel that enough time has passed for me to share this online. I released this guide (and an exclusive Sycamore Drive song) on a floppy disk for Ultrachip 2011. I gave them out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to anyone that expressed an interest in learning about chipmusic. If you’re just getting started, I hope that you find this guide useful.
Getting Started With Chipmusic (by Garry Lee)
1.1 – Introduction
As I write this, I am getting ready for Ultrachip, a now yearly 2-day excursion to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The people involved are a rag-tag gang of programmers, musicians, artists, and a few others that don’t quite fit any of those particular molds. An obvious bond exists in the wide void between personalities and musical preferences. It would lead you to believe that chipmusic is something special for that reason alone, and I wouldn’t be quick to correct you for thinking so.
1.2 – What is chipmusic?
This is a dreaded question that no-one particularly likes trying to answer, so this is my own interpretation of what chipmusic is. For me, chipmusic is the production of music using either software on video games hardware that contains a soundchip, or using samples of the sounds such a device would produce in a modern digital audio workstation.
1.3 – The benefits of producing chipmusic
There are, in my mind, many benefits to producing chipmusic over other styles. Firstly, from my own perspective, is the absence of any real, substantial cost in producing releases to with an acceptable sound quality. This is, of course, my own opinion, as many do decide to enter studios and produce professional recordings, and have benefitted from it. Secondly, there are opportunities available to get involved in the creation of music for other projects such as indie games with the resurgence of retro styles through websites like Gamejolt, Tigsource and many others. Thirdly, for the time being, using this technology can be a selling point and something to allow you to stand out from the crowd when trying to promote yourself locally, nationally and internationally. Fourthly, the sense of community that exists between artists is like nothing I’ve ever experienced when producing music of other genres, and the level of support offered by fellow artists is, in my own experiences, unheard of.
1.4 – Community
While the software and technology can be bought easily – like any other product – with a credit or debit card, trying to break into the community and become an accepted member can, for some, be a struggle. Tolerance is generally low of anyone that doesn’t find their feet quickly. Those armed with Google and a bit of common sense seem to be held in a higher regard. It could be described as an inclusive community, but, only really as one with high standards. It’s understandable to eventually turn off to helping new users when the same questions are continually asked, despite the best attempts of many to provide all of that information in clearly labelled frequently asked questions threads. If you’re looking to get involved, be prepared for the amount of reading, watching tutorial videos and trial-and-error experimentation with the software in order to get the best results.
1.5 – Principles?
Many people starting out, or in their early years of writing and producing chipmusic, have taken to forming small cliques as a way of masking their insecurities, and others try to make themselves known without care for upholding the artistic principles that one would, perhaps naively, presuppose existed in some form. For some members of the community, any kind of commercial approach to chipmusic would be considered offensive, and against their view of what the scene should represent. With that said, many artists have made the crossover into writing for popular games, viral videos and other creative projects sold for profit. This is an ongoing debate, and is an example of the diversity of opinions contained with the chipmusic scene.
1.6 – Learning
One of the benefits of writing chipmusic on software native to a games console is the ability – in some, but not all types of chipmusic software – to share save files, sounds and techniques between artists with relative ease. This has obviously been assisted greatly by the development of high-speed internet connections, USB flash cartridges and the growth in membership and use of dedicated online forums. Trading the aforementioned save files, sounds and techniques with fellow musicians will help you to get to grips with the elements of your chosen program not written about in the user manual. It really is very interesting how differently two musicians can use the same piece of software to produce similar results, so where possible, study what you can acquire. I have certainly benefitted greatly by exploring the work of other local musicians, and I have included some of my own save files in a link in section 1.11 of this document. The ability to trade save files also opens up the possibility of collaboration with other artists, and remixing, if you’re into that sort of thing.
1.7 – Promotion
Setting the goal of conquering the musical world armed with a games console is regarded by many as being largely as a fruitless exercise, but many have been successful in aligning themselves with widely recognised and successful creative projects. The extent of artistic promotion for many “young” artists in the beginning of their chipmusic career consists of two dominant approaches: uploading a song to a chipmusic website, and opening up a forum topic on such a website requesting constructive feedback that you don’t really want or need in order to get people to listen to your tracks. The latter can become especially irritating if the artist is prolific, regardless of the quality of those songs. It becomes quite apparent that a key theme in chipmusic, from the point of view of an artist, is validation. Due to the perceived exclusivity, it becomes desirable to be taken seriously in a community united by what still are under-represented tools in the production of music. Taking a structured approach sensitive to the amount of new music people are subjected to on a daily basis, you should be able to find an audience for your own music.
1.8 – Net-Labels
The amount of net-labels (and those trying to emulate them) have grown considerably in recent years. This is obviously quite a positive development, as it shows the amount of growth in individuals and groups wanting to promote great artists. However, many people make the mistake of setting up net-labels before coming up with a sound justification for the existence of such a net-label, and/or before providing the artists on their roster with any measurable perk for releasing their music. I personally do not recognise these net-labels as proper labels, as I think above all else, a label should be a sign of consistent musical quality.
1.9 – Releasing your music
There are many aspects to consider when releasing your first chipmusic EP or album. Firstly, there is the issue of quality control. When people have thousands of legally free songs at their fingertips and your artist name isn’t instantly recognizable, you need to take the necessary steps to convince those people that you are worth their time. Taking the time to employ an artist to make you a professional looking front and back cover, and getting feedback before it has been released can really help to start you off on the right path. If no-one takes notice, even after all of the work you put in, don’t be disheartened, and try hard to act courteously and professionally about it. Contacting labels associated with chipmusic can be beneficial, but where possible, make a point of listening to the type of chipmusic releases that they promote. No-one likes an un-targeted demo. There is a debate on whether the music should be released freely, and that is something I do support. I believe that music should be available digitally for free, or donation-based, and sold in its physical form, whether it’s on CD, vinyl or any other format, for a price to be determined by the artist.
1.10 – Performing live
Chipmusic live performances are something that must be prepared for, and requires extensive training. For me, there are three approaches. In the first approach, chipmusic live performances could be considered to be the work of professional actors. The whole act, for many, is one grand deception; never quite explaining to the audience the intricacies of the software, and largely pretending to twist knobs and remain interested in a synchronized manner for 30 minutes. The second approach involves having a backing track playing and either using a live instrument to play elements of the song, or using a live instrument to play elements additional to the song. The third and final approach is largely comprised of triggering and manipulating pre-composed loops.
1.11 – Console modifications
From both a technological and business-orientated point of view, chipmusic has grown somewhat in the last several years. Console modifications (both aesthetic and the auditory) are being continually developed and sold either for profit or distributed in the form of tutorials, sometimes both are available for the people that don’t have the necessary soldering skills or equipment necessary to do these modifications for themselves. When starting out, I personally believe that the majority (if not all) modifications are unnecessary. However, for live performances with original Game Boys, I do find the backlight modification to be particularly useful.
1.12 – Purchasing chipmusic-related products
While there are a range of online sellers of various chipmusic-related products, my personal endorsement would go to www.kitsch-bent.com, who makes a point of offering a great range of products across a wide range of consoles, always dispatches items promptly and ships items correctly. A general tip for purchasing online is, where possible, use PayPal. Protecting yourself in the event of any complications or problems is paramount when trading online, and sadly, even the chipmusic community isn’t immune to dishonest sellers. This can occur from time to time.
1.13 – Conclusions
This was a spontaneous exercise, and something I decided to do motivated by the fact that Ultrachip was finally here again. Chipmusic, and the many people involved in their individual ways, has been a positive influence on my own life, and I do believe it can be a force of good for many that want to, and enjoy spend their time learning about our technological past. Chipmusic connected me again to the first real piece of technology I owned as a child, a Nintendo Game Boy, and has breathed new life into that artifact that I regarded, for quite some time, as an object firmly associated with the past. It is through this text document on a floppy disk in 2011 that I have attempted to communicate my message of love for chipmusic to you, while taking into account the many drawbacks of the community in its current state.
1.14 – Links
Link to my LSDJ save files
I previously mentioned including a link to many of my own save files, and here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?bt10nd1un941hkf
To access them, enter the password: chipcoalition
Links to forums
http://www.8bc.org/
http://www.chipmusic.org/
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**Thanks for reading, and good luck.
Garry Lee
- www.sycamoredrive.co.uk**
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Blog: Go Faster Stripe will offer comedy back-catalog for digital download
Go Faster Stripe, the home of many of Britain’s best alternative comics, have joined the likes of Louis CK, Aziz Ansari and Jim Gaffigan by releasing their stand-up performances for digital download.
A handful have been released so far including Stewart Lee’s 90s Comedian and Richard Herring’s Someone Likes Yoghurt. Chris Evans of Go Faster Stripe confirmed on Twitter that as long as the comedians agree, almost all of their back catalogue will be added to the downloads section of their website.
The digital downloads are being offered at cut prices, as they will only contain the feature-length performance. If you’re looking for extras, you’ll have to buy the DVDs.
It seemed only natural that Go Faster Stripe would be one of the first in the UK to make the switch. With their innovative, minimalist approach to packaging, they’ve always strived to cut waste and offer the best possible deal for their comedians.
Together, with the rising UK postage prices, and the success of downloadable comedy specials in the US despite the prevalence of torrent-based theft of comedy DVDs, it just makes sense for the industry to go in this direction. Louis CK showed that it only took 12 days to make $1 million, with only fair pricing and a lack of regional restrictions in his corner.
Keep an eye on the Go Faster Stripe website for further updates.
Blog: HMV decorating stores with old vinyl records
When I was trying to kill some time on a recent trip to London, I wandered into an HMV, mostly for the amusement of seeing how highly they price their vinyl (£36 for the new Paul McCartney album, you say?). When I was inside the store, I found something quite disheartening.
Although they are one of the few remaining high street enterprises still carrying and championing vinyl, they have decided to decorate their walls by sticking perfectly good vinyl records on the walls of the store.
I found no less than 29 perfectly fine (but slightly older) records stuck to the walls of their store near the Oxford Circus underground station. Those records included albums by Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Johnny Cash and many others; records that could have found their way into the hands of appreciative listeners.
I’d imagine that someone was likely sent out to a charity shop to buy up these records just so they could stick them to their walls as a form of decoration. This really reinforces the idea that huge companies like HMV really have no interest in music whatsoever; for them, this is just a business. Why they would be so quick to show exactly how little interest and concern they have for a product they price so highly I’ll never understand.
Originally featured in print in Issue 17 of Lights Go Out Zine
Blog: EK Bands Forum – East Kilbride’s forgotten music community
In a recent interview with singer songwriter Rhiannon Garrity for STV East Kilbride, she spoke about establishing a community page on Facebook dedicated to bringing the music scene in East Kilbride together.
This news pleased me, as I was one of the three moderators of the predecessor to this idea, the EK Bands Forum, founded in August 2005 by David Scott of local band Zynk.
The forum still exists but has been largely dormant since the end of 2006. It was a small, tight knit community with only 106 members in total, but that generated 621 topics and 6,846 posts, predominately about music from the town.
For the time it was around, it was certainly active, and served as the perfect place to find out about new and established East Kilbride bands.
Each band – provided they had a member that lived in the town – was given their own personal sub-forum.
I have fond memories of playing shows with many of the bands including: School of Assassins, Nuground and Forgotten Tomorrow among others. As many as 30 local bands had signed up by 2006.
The forum was also a great place for a musician to find out first-hand about local promoters and venues looking for bands to play. This led to a handful of curated EK Bands gigs, showcasing some of the best talent in town at the time.
Sometimes the discussions would get a little heated, but I was always grateful that there were locals like me that really cared about the music.
On hearing the news that Rhiannon has decided to carry on the tradition of bringing East Kilbride’s musical community together through social networks, I wanted to come forward and offer my full support.
Through the EK Bands Forum, we shared the highs and lows of our musical journeys.
It was such a supportive environment, and one that until now, has been sadly missed. I personally cannot wait to see the East Kilbride music scene thriving once again.
Originally featured on STV’s website: click here.
Editorial: Gaffigan’s New Stand-Up Special: An Endorsement of the ‘Louis CK Model’ of Distribution
Somewhat inspired by the actions of Louis CK, Jim Gaffigan is planning to release his next stand-up special through his personal website for the price of $5. Similarly, proceeds from the sale will go to charity, in this case, The Bob Woodruff Foundation, a non-profit supporting injured service members and veterans.
Gaffigan said of the special: “I know I am taking a risk here. However, I am incredibly motivated by the courage of Louie [sic] to offer his fans direct access for a low price. Buyers of my special can be assured that their money will go directly to feeding and raising my four children instead of a giant corporation.”
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not particularly familiar with the bulk of Gaffigan’s work outside of his appearance as Murray’s best friend on Flight of the Conchords, but I have an interest in promoting this special, as I am an advocate for this new direct model of creative distribution that removes the middle man, drives prices down, cuts down on the waste produced in making and shipping an unnecessary, disposable physical product, and rejects the notion of regional restrictions.
I am hopeful that this trend will continue. It’s a fair deal that convinces us to part with our cash, and clearly, comedians stand to benefit from the move, both in terms of revenue and in maximising their artistic freedom. We know that the money made is going directly to the person that deserves it, and the pricing is low enough that users should feel guilty about resorting to torrents and other illegal means of acquiring the content for free. Speaking from experience in the aftermath of his own distribution experiment, Louis CK said, “if anybody stole it, it wasn’t many of you”.
Part of what made Louis CK’s sales pitch so compelling was how open and honest he was about the whole process. Gaffigan appears to have mirrored this approach as much as possible in his press release, and for good reason. It’s hard to argue with Louis’ success, pocketing (then redistributing) over $1 million dollars in roughly 12 days .
Encouragingly, it’s a model that could be scaled up or down and repurposed by those lacking the budget for such a professional production. There are comedians on our shores that already handle their own digital distribution - Simon Munnery, for example, operates his own digital store through PayPal, offering MP3 downloads of previous Edinburgh shows and other recordings. I’m hopeful that others who already run their own physical mailorder operations may be encouraged to go in this direction in years to come.
When Jim Gaffigan’s special is released in April, please consider buying it, if not in support of the man himself, then in support of this distribution model in the hope that others will follow suit. As far as I can see, we, as an audience, can only stand to reap the benefits from it.
Originally featured on The Huffington Post: click here.
Blog: Why 10 O’Clock Live shouldn’t last another season
10 O’Clock Live has returned to our screens once again, but this time without the billboards and press build-up, and instead with a slower format, allowing for longer discussions and generally fewer segments.
However, as an individual that wholly welcomes any addition to the card catalog cabinet marked ‘British satire’, I’m still not convinced that the show really works.
Firstly, the roundtable discussions. Why do they try to force roundtable discussions at several points in the show when none of the panelists have a particularly great command of the political issues?
Even when the team manage to stop stumbling over their words and get going into a comedic riff, Lauren Laverne is there to cut right through the punchlines. It’s still unclear what sort of role she is supposed to be playing on the show, as she isn’t a strong host, comedian or political commentator.
Many have criticised the seemingly non-stop lazy leftist agenda, emphasised by the troglodytic whooping studio audience, and for good reason. Though, in the series so far, there have been one or two surprises, most notably in the support for the continued existence of The Sun newspaper among panelists.
Jimmy Carr is of course quick-witted, but the sketches, other than possibly Bankers In Need, typically fall flat and fall hard.
David Mitchell is not best placed to be a political interviewer, his limited understanding on a wide range of the issues discussed is evident as he seems to be playing catch-up for the majority of each interview, and typically leaves without any of the answers; and this is despite being presented with the golden opportunity to really ask the difficult questions in what is a live, televised interview.
Charlie Brooker is possibly the only one of the four that has a definite role on the show and carries it out extremely well. However, Brooker’s regular sterling performances are not so much a justification for a 3rd series of 10 O’Clock Live as much as they are for a 3rd series of Newswipe.
It’s clear with the public support given to the newly independent Bugle podcast that Britain does have an appetite for satire, but sadly I’m just not sure that 10 O’Clock Live can be tweaked into life without some drastic personnel changes.
Blog: Video games sector asks government for tax breaks to help save the industry
As an avid video-gamer, I have been paying attention to the recent announcement that the video game sector in the UK is struggling. Apparently the industry have now appealed to the government to help them out by giving tax breaks, as there have been many bankruptcies. This is not good news for gamers, especially for those of us who have a vested interest in the industry. I have been writing music for independent video games since 2009 and apart from that, I love playing them. So, what exactly is going on?
Games developers in Britain have been lobbying George Osborne, asking him for the same sort of tax break similar to the one that has been given to those in the film industry. Many people love to watch a good film in the cinema, or spend the night in playing partypoker, and I’m sure that just as many people love to play video games. The chancellor’s Budget will come out next month, and the gaming industry is hoping that they can persuade him to help them. The UK has been falling in their ability to compete with games developers all around the world since 2006, after having been at the top of the tree before this decline.
The Trade Association for Gamesmakers, TIGA, have been appealing for these tax cuts over a period of five years. The Labour government had proposed £160 million in cuts, however when David Cameron took over, this was scrapped. Now TIGA are asking for cuts of £96 million and hopefully the government will listen. If they do, then the UK’s video gaming industry will have a kick-start towards getting back on track and gamers like me will be very grateful.
Editorial: Netflix: ‘Please Don’t Assume That British People are Interested in British Television’
As a long-time Lovefilm user and all-round appreciator of strictly legal methods of acquiring television content (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it), I opted to trial the latest rival streaming service Netflix when it launched last month in the UK.
I was pleased to see that the launch included celebrated British shows such as The Thick of It and… No wait, that’s about it, actually.
In recent years (read: since discovering the last 10 years of American comedy and drama), I’ll admit, I haven’t been remotely interested in the majority of British television.
As a seasoned comedy aficionado (read: owns some stand-up DVDs) and TV drama junkie, I’ve become accustomed to expecting something more than the typically two dimensional British programming of the last decade. With everything available from the hilarious local government mockumentary Parks And Recreation to the breathtaking crime drama The Wire, I can say without a doubt in my mind that the US are leagues ahead in terms of their comedy and drama television output.
In short, Netflix, please do not assume that British people are always interested in British television. Giving me a sorting button to access exclusively British content and not a similar sorting button for exclusively accessing American television shows is only really adding insult to injury.
Instead of pursuing television shows from abroad that haven’t made it to our screens, Netflix have partially wasted their UK launch providing us with £5.99 a month service to watch freely available 4OD and ITV Player programming, albeit without the ad breaks.
A paid subscription service should be designed to offer premium content unavailable anywhere else. In this respect, Netflix still has some way to go.
With the launch inclusion of previous seasons of critically-acclaimed American shows like 24, Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, Firefly , The Office (US), and the latest addition, the fantastic It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, I still have high hopes for the service as a replacement for my current methods of acquiring US television programming.
We’re willing to pay for our content Netflix, but please stop trying to sell us what we can already legally obtain for free.
Originally featured on The Huffington Post: click here.
Editorial: Mock the Week: ‘Sexist’ or Simply Lacking Female Appeal?
Flagship BBC comedy show Mock the Week has come under fire from Tory MP Nadine Dorries for featuring few female guests.
Comedy website Chortle backed up this claim with figures showing that only 45 panelists (9.7%) of the past nine seasons have been female. Although this may appear controversial at a first glance, it’s possible that the perceived sexism on show has been somewhat over-emphasised.
Firstly, Mock the Week isn’t a show especially geared towards new talent (at least, it hasn’t been for several years now); it’s a tried and tested format with a rotating cast that regularly pulls over three million viewers for the channel. The typical panelist on the show tends to be a professional-calibre stand-up, often with several successful DVD releases under their belt (respectively, Dara O’Briain – three, Ed Byrne – three, Russell Howard – three, Frankie Boyle – two, Andy Parsons – two).
This track record has not been matched by many female comedians in terms of DVD releases or DVD sales, except possibly Sarah Millican, who recently set the all-time sales record for a female British stand-up DVD.
This is a possible explanation for the perceived lack of female guests. It certainly makes sense to book reliable best-selling comedians in the chase for ratings. It just so happens that in Britain, the majority of comics fitting that description are male.
Commenting on the lack of female comics in panel shows generally, Mock the Week host, Dara O’Briain, previously said: “There’s a 90%/10% split the entire way down the industry, from the Edinburgh Festival to the open mic level”.
If the listings on IMDB are to be believed, the show has featured 33 male comedians (not including the host), and 12 female comedians. While the appearances of female guests have been less frequent, it would be difficult to say that in light of a 90/10% industry split that many female comics haven’t been given the opportunity to appear on the show.
O’Briain continued: “Every [panel] show I’ve done we’ve torn our hair out trying to find female comics and there is no industry more hungry for women to be involved”.
This difficulty in finding female comics generally is baffling. For instance, if you were to search through the roster of regular female MTW performer Gina Yashere’s management, PBJ, you would find listings for Cariad Lloyd, Celia Pacquola, Hannah Gadsby, Lucy Montgomery, Nina Conti, Sally Phillips and Sarah Kendall, all of whom have never appeared on the show.
If we were to extend that search to include comedy actresses, PBJ also represent Rhona Croker, Lorna Watson, Gemma Whelan and Gemma Arrowsmith.
While it is not possible to say whether all of the above would be interested in appearing on the show, there are at least two promising leads in the form of Celia Pacquola and Nina Conti, as both have a history of appearing on comedy panel shows.
As further proof of the general availability of female comics, the TV channel Dave, the one that endlessly repeats old editions of Mock The Week, has its own ‘top 10 female stand-ups’ listing in their online trivia section, six of whom have yet to appear on the show (Isy Suttie, Josie Long, Shazia Mirza, Nina Conti, Sarah Silverman and Joan Rivers). From what can be seen above, any claim that Britain is lacking female comics appears to be unfounded.
This suggests that there must be other reasons why many of the female comics that made it onto the panel haven’t been invited back, or (what hasn’t been widely considered or explored in much depth) have declined offers to return.
Victoria Wood - in a 2009 Guardian article by Jo Brand - for instance, was quoted describing panel shows as “male-dominated”, “testosterone-fuelled” and “bearpit-ish”.
In the same article, Brand stated that she doesn’t “do Mock the Week any more and neither do some male standups I know who have tried it once. We just didn’t like the prospect of having to bite someone’s foot off before they let us say something”. So, rather than being an issue of sexism, have we considered that female stand-ups may not be interested in appearing on this particular show at all?
While Mock the Week is a long-running ratings smash hit for the BBC, there seem to be other reasons at play as to why they have so much difficulty finding and booking female comics to appear on the show. The type of comic that succeeds on the show is described by Mark Watson as ”confident, fairly bullish comics with a lot of one-liners”, and at the risk of a crass generalisation, that doesn’t particularly sound like many of the female comics listed above.
Originally featured on The Huffington Post: click here.
Royalty-Free Music For Games
I’ve opened up a royalty-free song shop for commercial and non-commercial creative projects (games/videos/etc). You can listen to the first soundtrack and the first sound FX pack below. The sound FX pack is available for free download. Just click on the link at the bottom of this post.
Discography
