Balloon Party 3: Academy of Power - Mindscapes

[S.P.P]

Everyone else is doing it so here's a shameless self-plug of my track :3


Big thanks to everyone who submitted; whether you made it or not. You're rad <3

[Dreamland200]

I went ahead and sent a little PM to one of you guys. I want something to do.

[Dave!]

one last question: How did "F!!K FACE" get on here? just... why? like, the worst song on there. exo would know... just delete me now I'm sure I'm hated enough but... jesh...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Injustrial]

http://lavenderharmony.tumblr.com/post/104134572847/balloon-party-3-academy-of-power-mindscapes

The Balloon Party review by Lavender Harmony and Silva Hound has kicked up quite the shitstorm in its wake. A lot of people are offended that their song was critiqued so harshly and some listeners disagree completely. And you know what, that's fine. People can be as butthurt as they want over this. It doesn't change the fact that we have two very experienced musicians, who have spent several hours of their free time, having standards.
Said standards may be very high, some would say idealistic. Some would call them hypocrites, not able to meet these standards themselves. Some would argue that it's not the technical sides that count as "music should just be enjoyed, regardless"

I personally think it's great to nitpick on a release of this size and importance. Balloon Party is supposed to be the annual high mark for fandom music and if the bar can be raised, it should be in every artist's best interest to follow up.

I agree with most of the critique uttered, though I feel it's overly negative at times. Then again, there's no rule saying we have to include something positive when critiquing and I appreciate the honesty. Get over yourselves, take the critique to heart, and always strive for improvement.

I know for a fact that the technical side of my submission is far from perfect and that there's plenty of room for bettering myself. The song is as good as I was able to make it, with the tools I had at my disposal and my current skill level. I'm proud of it, but it's far from perfect, and I accept that. Rather than wallowing in selfpity, we as artists and listeners should appreciate the time and effort spent.

/Injustrial monologue

[ExoBassTix]

I just wish the negativity to simmer down or be ignored... Else it'd only grow.
I'd rather not talk further about Lav's post any further because it'd only lead to negativity.

[Injustrial]

I personally don't believe ignoring the issue will make it go away on its own. I'd rather have an open discussion, as grownups, to address the issues and problems people have with the release (Which imo sound more like pointless whining than anything, but that was also true with the previous installments)

I really don't get the drama, but I might be biased due to my inclusion.
Anyone want an open discussion (NO bitching and senseless arguing) feel free to chat with me about it

Also, this seems relevant now: https://freewave.bandcamp.com/track/pony-confessions-we-are-the-end-remix

[CitricAcid]

I haven't listened to nor did I take part in the album, but I did read through most of the critiques. While it would likely be unreasonable to request a detailed review--containing several pros, cons, and suggestions for corrective action--for each track, I don't really see the point in having two-sentence reviews at all. A lot of what could be constructive criticism gets boiled down to a couple of words like "bad mixing" or "bland," which is frustrating for the authors of the tracks, because they aren't told exactly what is wrong. Statements regarding personal taste are pretty useless, and a couple of the tracks mentioned the authors' "signature style" or the like which reeks of biased opinion.

If you want to get good criticisms, pay the critics for their time, and require them to provide a certain number of pros, cons, and specific suggestions per track, all of which are subject to the approval of a moderator who is allowed to request a certain number of revisions of the critiques.

[Coloriot]

I haven't listened to nor did I take part in the album, but I did read through most of the critiques. While it would likely be unreasonable to request a detailed review--containing several pros, cons, and suggestions for corrective action--for each track, I don't really see the point in having two-sentence reviews at all. A lot of what could be constructive criticism gets boiled down to a couple of words like "bad mixing" or "bland," which is frustrating for the authors of the tracks, because they aren't told exactly what is wrong. Statements regarding personal taste are pretty useless, and a couple of the tracks mentioned the authors' "signature style" or the like which reeks of biased opinion.

If you want to get good criticisms, pay the critics for their time, and require them to provide a certain number of pros, cons, and specific suggestions per track, all of which are subject to the approval of a moderator who is allowed to request a certain number of revisions of the critiques.

I could see that working, but in the case of a 50 track album, I don't think anybody would be willing to take the time to do all of that.

As for critiques on mine, I'm actually surprised at how they didn't call it complete trash like they did to others. Although they might've included a couple of unhelpful suggestions, for the most part they actually showed me stuff I needed to work on. I can't say the same for everybody else, though, and I feel kinda bad for those whose souls got torn apart with these negative critiques. But Lavender and Silva, in this case, kinda seem like critics akin to people like maybe Digibro, who thrive on picking apart a piece of art, in this case music, in a negative manner. I could be wrong though.

[Stuntddude]

I, too, think nitpicking and being intensely critical about art is a great thing. Too bad that isn't what Lav or Silva did at all. They had a chance to provide useful constructive feedback on the album, but instead they more or less copy-pasted the same two-sentence review for 80% of the songs. Granted the album was pretty homogeneous so it's fair to have some repeat criticisms, but the whole post was so vastly unhelpful it's frankly not worth anyone's time.

[Dreamland200]

What are those moving waves under the song title and how did you do that?
Did you use a certain thing for your song?

[Dreamland200]

my god, I have no idea how this was double-posted. i blame the lag from the internet i have. sry about that.

[Technickel Pony]

I can't speak for other people on the album, but I did feel they had some points as far as how my track was. it was pretty simplistic and parts should have been fixed, but I digress. Plus, if we need a secondary, Non-Lav Or Silv opinion, Mycutiemarkisagun put it best: http://srsbronydrama.tumblr.com/post/10 ... mindscapes

[ExoBassTix]

Okay so instead of focusing on the negative side of LavSilva's post, we could focus on its positive side: how cool is it that they spent such effort into making that, and how cool is it that they inspired people like MCMIAG to come in with their own opinions.

[S.P.P]

What are those moving waves under the song title and how did you do that?
Did you use a certain thing for your song?

It's a graphic EQ which I made in Adobe After Effects. I basically added the art, added the song and made a new layer and generated a graphic EQ (can't remember the exact name of the thing); which I linked to the track.

[Injustrial]

Okay so instead of focusing on the negative side of LavSilva's post, we could focus on its positive side: how cool is it that they spent such effort into making that, and how cool is it that they inspired people like MCMIAG to come in with their own opinions.

My point exactly

[Injustrial]

Question: Will the BP revenue go towards Bronyquest 2015, or is it no longer affiliated with that project?

[Stuntddude]

Okay so instead of focusing on the negative side of LavSilva's post, we could focus on its positive side: how cool is it that they spent such effort into making that, and how cool is it that they inspired people like MCMIAG to come in with their own opinions.

If it took Lav and Silva an serious effort to make that post, I kinda feel sorry for them. That's the kind of thing I'd expect any musician to be able to write up alongside while they're doing a first listen through the album.

I agree it was nice reading MCMIAG's post, though, and hopefully more people will post proper feedback on the album.

[Technickel Pony]

Question: Will the BP revenue go towards Bronyquest 2015, or is it no longer affiliated with that project?

Hopefully it still is, otherwise where would all the generated revenue go?

[ExoBassTix]

Oh god I totally forgot to answer that question. My iPhone battery had died mid-writing D:

But yeah, Mindscapes' revenue, along with the revenue of upcoming mini-album and 2015's Balloon Party, will all go to BronyQuest 2015! If you're an artist that made it on Mindscapes, just know that there will eventually be a financial aid application form. We are not yet focusing on that though, so don't yet be waiting for it ;)

[Technickel Pony]

At what point will be the start of the 2015 Balloon Party? Are we gonna try to get it back on the June/July position?

[ExoBassTix]

Really, no comment as of yet. We don't know yet. I'll have you know however that I like the idea of keeping the albums at releasing in November/December, so we (and you) have more than plenty time to plan travelling, and can discuss what we are doing for the next BP album as it'd be running in convention season :)

Things to think of though.

[Coloriot]

So there's this channel that's been uploading songs from the album without permission. You may or may not want to report them.

They uploaded mine. http://youtu.be/XgbleyMkk9k
You may want to see if yours is up there.

[Injustrial]

So there's this channel that's been uploading songs from the album without permission. You may or may not want to report them.

They uploaded mine. http://youtu.be/XgbleyMkk9k
You may want to see if yours is up there.

The video's private. Do you have a link to the channel itself?

[DJ TATCM]

i thought the whole album was uploaded with creative commons do you actually need permission for doing that as long as you credit the original (which they did)

[Coloriot]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmdcOo ... Lqv5cJodBQ

And my biggest peev here is just that this guy uploaded without asking permission first. I appreciate that he gave credit, though. I dunno. I might not be getting this copyright stuff. Maybe I'm making too much of a big deal out of this.