Exquisite Corpse?

Anybody interested in playing exquisite corpse?

Not sure how it would work... I imagine a drop box folder full of files with people randomly contributing loops, melodies, etc, one at a time, and taking a shot at a arranging something? Going in no particular order, maybe?

posted by empath (16 comments total)

I'd love to give it a shot, yeah.

We did this in one form a couple years back, actually. It was like "participant 2 records an overdub against participant 1's track; 3 records an overdub against only 2's track; 4 against 3...", if I'm remembering right. I think the final mix was a rolling window that transitioned through adjacent groups of tracks over time.

Someone else probably remembers this better than I do.
posted by cortex at 1:31 PM on January 11, 2012

You could also write a "rock opera" type set, with everyone contributing a whole song that moves the plot forward. It might get interesting if people took stylistic liberty, i.e. it wouldn't have to sound like it came from the 70s.
posted by grog at 2:41 PM on January 11, 2012

I'm in. I love The World Famous' idea. I think that's brilliant. It's like growing your own food, eating it, composting it, planting seeds in it, growing food... etc.
posted by unSane at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2012

i.e. it wouldn't have to sound like it came from the 70s.

Bite your tongue.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:40 PM on January 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've been toying with the idea of a rock opera for ages. Mostly inspired by Aimee Mann's FORGOTTEN ARM, which is basically a rock opera. Actually mine would be more of a pop opera.
posted by unSane at 6:55 PM on January 11, 2012

I think this is a great idea!
posted by tunewell at 10:00 PM on January 11, 2012

Someone else probably remembers this better than I do.

I do! Here it is.

Cortex's description is pretty accurate except that the recording tree was splintered and the final version wasn't temporally based; I picked and chose stuff here and there.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 1:58 AM on January 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, and there are a couple other examples of collaborations made without people knowing other people's contributions; these were more "simutaneuous contribute" style:

It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Happy Birthday, Jessamyn!
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 2:04 AM on January 12, 2012

I'll throw my hat in the ring. Sounds fun.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 2:51 AM on January 12, 2012

I would love to take part, but I don't think I could bring much to the table--I'm still a total beginner here. So I'd love to play around with other people's tracks, and I would certainly contribute my own, but there's no way I could handle my share of a rock opera. 70s or no.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 2:23 PM on January 12, 2012

I'm in - really enjoyed doing it before. It was fascinating to see how it turned out.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:58 PM on January 12, 2012

I'd love to be part of this if it goes down.
posted by mintcake! at 12:11 PM on January 13, 2012

I'm in and I'd like to see two different things happen. One is TWF's idea. That would be a great ongoing project that I think I could learn quite a bit from.

I'd also like to do another round-robin-y kind of thing Karlos did and posted here and the other ones he linked to too.
posted by snsranch at 4:28 PM on January 13, 2012

I'm in too, please.
posted by Zenabi at 4:15 PM on January 14, 2012

Okay here we go. I left the drums by themselves for a few bars at the beginning in case you just want to use those instead of my terrible synths.

memail me your dropbox account email, if you want me to share a dropbox folder with you with samples, patches, etc..

Anybody can feel free to take that and run with it.
posted by empath at 7:33 PM on January 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

absolutely
posted by es_de_bah at 4:35 AM on January 19, 2012