Hello people!

I have a project I am looking to get started up soon, and I've wrote a (long, sorry) post detailing it. I hope you take a read and give your feedback. Thank you!

1. I have had this idea for a while now, as many times while I watch a film or listen to a record, I’m constantly thinking “what synth is that” “what gear are they using on this” and so on, and find myself googling it and roaming across various forums trying to find out answers. So I had the idea of creating a website that documents instruments used in many popular records and movies. Somewhere that people can go to, knowing that they can find out how many of the world’s best scores came from. A place for synth nerds, drum heads and guitar strummers to check out the many instruments used to create our favourite sounds.

2. So,

I am looking for people with knowledge of music and instruments used in song and film, dating back to the 60’s, across all genres* and up to present time. With the main focus being electronic music, House, Disco, Funk, Soul, Hip Hop. And really, any film or song with a damn good sound in it.

A website that’s dedicated to databasing instruments used in:

SONG* - GENRES:
House (1980s-present) Techno, Classic/Deep House, mainly keeping it underground.
Hip Hop, mainly: 80’s Grandmaster Flash era and 90’s East and West Coast era. And everything else.
Funk and Soul, James Brown, George Clinton(Parliament Funkadelic), Ohio Players, Zapp, and so on.

FILM - All genre’s of film, but mainly Thriller, SCI-FY, Action, Blacksploitation, gangster movies, and so on.

3. We will have a database of instruments and the songs and movies that they’re featured in. The manufacturer, and information about the instrument. Also for DJ's and producers, what gear they are using, software, plugins, and DJ'ing with, etc.

So, for example:

The Terminator

Composer: Brad Fiedel

Instruments used: Oberheim (and state what one), Prophet-5 ( i know this) SCI gear (specify, etc)

Then a little detailed info on each instrument; Year, Price range, rarity, also used in… (then a hyperlink to all the collected songs and films this specific instrument has been used in).

With an image of the instruments above.

What drum machine was used for that snare? What synth(s) are used in this track? What gear was used to create this soundtrack? Etc, we will cover this so that people can find out the answers!


4. The main instrument focus for this will be Synth, and Drum Machines but will also cover other instruments such as guitars, any pianos, keyboards, etc. So we can appoint people to a main area for them to database based on their knowledge.

Also, post news on new instruments, reviews, images and videos. As well as tutorials on how to use them, IF any of you have a nice collection and are willing to post unboxings/tut’s/reviews on your equipment. Giveaways and competitions, discount codes for sample packs, Beatport, instrument websites and etc. And who knows what else it could branch out too. I have many ideas as I’m sure many of you do too! We could point a Forum back to here, and have our on thread, for people to talk more about in. (visitors/staff/us).

5. This will help us build a relationship with companies, which leads to us being able to try out gear, early, and stuff like that. I run a successful website and social media pages for Grand Theft Auto and Rockstar Games fan page, which you can check out Twitter: @TheGTABase, (website is under serious construction). And all other social media accounts are there but none are used as much as the Twitter. I haven’t got a lot of time for it lately, with wanting to focus on music and this idea here.

But moving onto the point, TheGTABase has over 60,000 followers on Twitter, I have a good relationship and connection with the creators of the game, Rockstar, and have been invited out to New York on an all expenses paid trip to play GTA Online a week before release - which was an incredible moment in my life seeing as I have been playing GTA since the very first in 1997, all the way up until now, and i’ve sat and had dinner and played GTA with the team behind it.

That shows the power of social media and building a relationship with companies. but, that’s not the main focus, at all. It’s simply to create a website that lists instruments used by artists to compose scores for films and records, for all those people out there that want to know! You’re not all required to have in-depth knowledge of every instrument, but with a combination of people, we can all bring what we have to the table. Ian but an expert in this field by any means, but I have a passion for it and would like it to grow and meet new people with experience.

6. ROLES:

* Website experience*
* Writers**
* Social Media Managers***
* Managers****
* Collectors*****
* Graphic Designers******

*People with experience in making websites, be it from scratch, or using Wordpress, which is what I have experience (little, but some) as GTA Base. com was run on that.

**Who will create pages and write out information on instruments, used in Film and Song, can allocate different people to different sections based on what they know. You can just write out info on Word, or you preferred software, and pass it on to someone else to post on the website, or both if you like. Simply write out a list of genre’s, and the instruments used in it them.

***People to post out on Social media, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube if that happens. We can have multiple people running each platform. Reaching out to companies, sharing the pages across wherever necessary.

**** Those that will manage each or multiple aspects of the project, check how it’s running and so on.

***** Really, one of the most important roles, you will compile list’s with however many instruments you can and what they’re used in, (similar to writer) and pass them over to be put on the website).

****** People who will create the logo for our website, Social media pages, and so on. Including graphics for giveaways, comps, etc.


7. You can have as many roles as you can handle, i personally will dos likely be taking on all, as i have experience in all, expect for building the website, I just have knowledge in posting articles and pages, etc.

I hope this get’s some of your attention and it’s something that you would like to be a part of, for as long as you would like.

In terms of the Website NAME, LOGO and such, I have an idea in mind, and if you’re interested in hearing, PM me and you can give your feedback on it, (i quite like it), as i always have in my mind "what Instrument did they use?".

I will pay for the domain name, and hosting, but there will not be wages for the work as I just don’t have the money, but of course I’m sure many of us will come together and help each other out with things and stuff!

Once I’ve spoken to some of you, we’ll go ahead with finalising the name, and getting some drawings up for logo’s etc.

Really hope there are some people out there that are willing to jump on board and make this project come to life!

My Twitter is: @ShepherdTechno. I’m an electronic DJ and producer, have played in many many clubs all across London, and I love partying, making music, (hopefully going to SAE to study audio production and engineering some time next year!).

You can PM me for my email, Skype etc if you would like to discuss further!

Hope to hear from you guys soon!

Tyler

 

who will "pay" the effort?... this is huge

 

You could spend an enormous amount of time and energy on this instead of creating music!

 

The data collection and pre processing to get it into a consistent format alone will take you yonks... Let alone sprucing it up into a visually pleasing website. Nice idea but you would most likely need funding or about 1-2 years of your life to accquire those skills to get the data and display it if you do it solo.

 

@SyNtH. Maybe a little longer than 1-2 years. More like 5-10 imho.

There's an insurmountable task of verifying whether or not a particular instrument was used, or was merely available for use. For instance; Nemo Studios in London, the place where Vangelis scored his iconic work for the move 'The Blade Runner' lists the instruments present in Vangelis' studio in 1982 but gives no certainty that each and every one was used in the film. And that's 1982....

@freakymofo Going back as far as 1960 - a decade before the uptake of moudular synthesisers for the production of movie scores - much of the electronic music was produced by kit that was hand-built for the specific purpose. Admittedly, one can't dismiss 'Forbidden Planet and remain credible but perphaps a more realistic starting point would be 1970. I'm thinking maybe Wendy Carlos' outstanding achievement for 'A Clockwork Orange'. That's when wholly synthesized movie scores hit the big time. Go earlier than that and you're stuck with a Theremin and some singular unnamed boxes of valves and coils.


Synth pr0n - booyah!

 

Last edited: Jun 8, 2016

Sounds like a Wiki

Good luck with it.