Tuesday, December 17, 2013

alionmind News December 17. 2013

And again, the monthly news blog is  a bit late ;) . The reason is roughly the same as last month, and if we continue like this, we will eventually get back to the first of the month ;). As I said, there is  not exactly much new to report. This is of course once again caused by winter time when my creative output is rather moderate in general. In addition, I am currently working hard to bring the alionsonny album "Continuity" in shape. Hah! I have an idea: I fill the space that remains free due to the lack of new releases with a small, long due explanation of how the process of production, quality management and quality assurance works here. I have indeed already explained it all several times on Facebook etc., but there's still allways somone who missed it... and someone is usually unfortunately the majority. So I will outline briefly the process from a song idea idea to the final album version (release version). Here we go:

The Creative Process
  1. I have an idea for a song and create a small rough sketch.
  2. This sketch is stretched to a length of 4-5 minutes and extended to a rough arrangement.
  3. From this sketch I render snippets that appear promising and publish them on the official alionmind Work-In-Progress SoundCloud. This is to give a first early opportunity for listeners suggestions and comments. Here you can say "I like the idea (not)" and give suggestions for improvement for the first time.
  4. This work remains for a period of a few days to several months, more or less untouched, on the hard disk.
  5. Sometime I grab the thing and complete it to an audience compliant version. This is the so-called pre-release version.
  6. This version will be uploaded to the SoundCloud of the project and is now until the completion of the release version available for commenting and criticizing. The Sound Clouds of the projects are:
  7. Once the (traditionaly) 13 songs for a project are finished in form of pre-release versions, I take a close look at each song again and improve what I recognized as improvable since the uploading of the pre-release version. Also I now look at any comments and suggestions from listeners and refer them in the improvement process. The changes between pre-release and release version can be just a few cosmetic improvements such as fixing the mix. But it can also be, that the entire song is changed drastically, as in the case of "Green Hills" (alionsonny album "Continuity"), that there is nothing left of the pre-release version.
  8. Once all 13 tracks are in good shape, the album is finally released.

So you see : You, my listeners, are involved in the entire creative process of the creation of my music. I have already clearly understood one thing during my time as a software developer and IT consultant: A really good product can only be developed in cooperation with the customer. The more the customer is involved in the creative process, the more the product will also be his product. And this in turn increases customer loyalty to HIS product. And I 'm doing my music for you, so it should be your music. With the opportunity for each of you to place your own requests and suggestions at every moment of the creative process, I reach this goal.

So much for the explanation ;) . Finally, I want also to present the sparse creative fruits of the past month:

Willma Poppen - Maschinenmensch
We are joking already here, if Willma Poppen will beat alionsonny at the end regarding to to the album's release date. After all, with the publication of the pre-release version of "Maschinenmensch" the ninth title for the album "Willma im Wunderland" has been completed. And who was able to witness the development of the album "Heroes of the Popp-Culture" in 2012, knows that everything can go pretty fast with Willma sometimes. And four remaining songs are done quickly. Well, I do not promise anything. I recently like to say: It's finished when it's finished ;). With "Maschinenmensch" I have consistently continued what I have already announced shortly after the release of "Heroes of the Popp-Culture" as a future development direction of the Willma Poppen Project: The sound is going more experimental. if you listen to the pre-release versions of the already finished 9 tracks for "Willma im Wunderland" you will notice one thing: This album is colorful. Read more about the genesis of "Maschinenmensch" in the Willma Poppen Blog. And here is "Maschinenmensch":



alionsonny - Brainforest Chapter III
It iss done! The 13th track for the album "Continuity" is here and thus the album is complete in terms of the song material. But as I already said, now the album versions must be created. Since the second part of the "Brainforest" series was published in 2006, some listeners asked again and again if there would be a sequel. For an album with the title "Continuity" I found it only fitting to produce not only tracks detached from the past, but also the continuation of an old, quite popular, idea. Since the first part of the series I had a specific scenario in mind on which I built the "soundscape" of the respective song. It should always have a "mystical jungle feel". In my opinion I achieved that goal with the third part even more successful than with the predecessors. However, "Brainforest Chapter III" is also a lot more complex than the previous parts. Read more about the song on the alionsonny blog. And here's "Brainforest Chapter III":



AlionLive - Return 2 Madeira - Day 11 - Part 3
Finally, the last short part of day 11 was uploaded. This probably most "alcoholic" of all AlionLive video finishes the chaotic 11. day of my trip to Madeira in an absolutely fitting way. But what do I tell? See for yourself:



Continuity?
Ok, and that was it for this time with the news ... STOOOOOP! I just remembered that it might be of interest, for the alionsonny listeners who wait for the album, to know how the progress on "Continuity" is going. And some also do not know which songs will are destined for the album also. Read the absolute up-to-date status on the alionsonny blog.