I totally agree with everything here... I just wish #6 was as easy as it sounds. After a while you get tired of begging and give up on a project or two. I have a lot of those :-)

I agree with Lloyd's blog, but Tracy makes a great point. I have a lot of unfinished projects, but mostly because they don't have enough contributions to make a complete song.

#6 is invalid. There is no requirement to "finish" a project. Only the owner knows when and why a project should be completed. There are no points to be earned for finishing and no points are subtracted for not. I bet even Elton John, genius? has some musical ideas he 's never finished. Other than that, the rest of #1-#9 are spot on.

I appreciate the comments. To qualify what I meant by point 6. It's the projects that just don't go anywhere with no obvious desire to continue that I find odd. I've worked on projects where all the parts are there, but no final production.

Hi, Lloyd. Sometimes, projects (sort of) run out of steam while the members of a given project work on other material which is coming together faster - and that's what causes many delays. That's understandable. It can also be a good thing too. There have been many [older] projects resurrected more than a year later which have turned out even better than originally anticipated. If all the parts are "there" and are of a sonic quality fit for a final mix / production, there's plenty of mix engineers who may be able to help.

If it was easy, anyone could do it.....

There's no doubt those apparently orphaned unfinished projects may seem odd.. but that's one of the things that make this place different from a production studio. If your aim is to make finished songs, then you can... if you just like playing music, that's good too. However, I agree that if all the parts are done and posted.. to have no final mix can be disappointing.

Let's not get wrapped around the finishing of projects. The main point is that musicians are touchy folks. I think it comes with the territory of 'putting yourself out there'. I agree and like critical feedback, but lots of folks seem unable to see it for what it is. In the professional world, it fosters growth. For folks doing this as hobby, maybe they view it as a downer.

I hear what you're saying, but since the price at Kompoz is exactly... free, you get what you pay for.

The best approach is to be a good project manager and an even better participator. Keep moving. There's plenty here at Kompoz to chew on.

RB

It's a valid blog. But I've said it before - We are a very diverse society here and as such we will always have bullys and slackers and paranoids and geniuses.
We have to be thankful and joyous whenever we find a kindred spirit, and awestruck when people bring a song to life.
All the rest of it is just people being people.

In my very personal view, the best way to make things work on Kompoz (and indeed in life in general) is communication. You can not be too obvious when you comment on a track, describe a project or post a blog. This medium is a very poor conveyor of winks, wry smiles, and inside jokes, and I am the first one to confess that I have failed many times in expressing what I really mean, assuming that what I find very funny is understood as a joke by all. This is not always the case.

So, for me, as long as you spare no effort to make sure whomever you are "talking to" understands what you mean, you cannot go wrong.

I think this blog is great and it addresses a number of points that may be obvious to many, but definitely not to all (myself included). I have worked on projects with most of the above respondees, and each of you require a different kind of communication in order to get good working conditions. I see this as a fantastic learning process and a way too see things outside my litte Swedish box. Embrace the differences!

On the subject of finishing projects, I agree with Tracy very much. Sometimes, no matter how you try, that last little piece never happens. Sometimes, none of the pieces happen, even though you know this is the most brilliant song ever written. So, I have learned to accept this fact and take some comfort in the fact that there still seems to be "unfinished demos" surfacing from bands like the Beatles etc. (we can discuss flogging a dead horse in some other forum).

Stuff doesn't always get finished. If it doesn't - and believe me, I have sent as many as 10 invites out for a single project - we just have to leave it be, move on, and with luck and a toothbrush, someone will discover it later.

My 2 cents

Rock On

B

I agree, B.


Irony doesn't work on the Internet.

Good stuff Bjorn.

Not putting words in Lloyd's mouth. I interpreted #6 as more like "respect the fact that people put work in your project and, If you are going to use their stuff, reciprocate the effort by either using it in a mix or let the person know where you are at with the project (communicate as Bjorn said.)

Hopefully everyone knows that every project will not reach a "finished" stage, but some people like to know if there effort is appreciated. Also, if someone posts what might be termed as a "rough idea" and the contributor is accepted into the project, there is a level of expectation to follow through. It can be frustrating to get an "idea" track, accept it as a project track, then never get the sep or polished re-play. It chases others away and leaves the project stagnant.

But, Rick makes a great point. It costs very little or in some cases, nothing, to play on this court. Expectations should be scaled proportionally.

I'd have to agree with most of this myself. However, I tend to disagree wth point #6 only because new projects are so intriguing and exciting that we tend to want to jump in on them right away.
While I do feel guilty when I don't do the final mix, I have found that coming back to the project after (even a long) time away makes me hear it very differently, and I think makes for a better end result.
For me Kompoz is an extremely healthy environment where we can strech out beyond what we feel our "limits" are. I feel that it's more about process and not so much about the final edit.
Just thinking out loud - great post by the way!
Oh yeah, one more thing, why can't I be louder then everyone else again???

No.9 is very very important to me ! Have fun is the reason why i do the things i do ........otherwise i would not do them !
Now where i think really about it ..........it is the only reason why i am here and why i do what i do !

Wow i had enlightenment ......by writing down a blog comment ......wow !

my boys are growing... ;-)

for me, good communictions and have fun are the 2 best rules to start good on komnpoz!

@Alberto....do you mean your testicles? haha

@ Ben: :-)) my writing is really bad ahahhaha I meant "communications" :-))

Ben has names for his "boys" - Lefty & Lucky

Good post, good discussion. As my friend Bjorn said, its about COMMUNICATION! I try to be good at that, but sometimes fail.

@Pat: you can't be louder because you never play a simple major or minor chord. If you stop that augmented, demented, fermented plus nine diminished stuff, we'll let you be the loudest of all! :)