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THE WHITE CUBE REMIX PROJECT

SackJo22
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permalink   Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 4:21 PM
Submission deadline: December 7, 2009.

Introduction:

The RAM Gallery, founded in 1989, is a free-admission non-profit art gallery in Oslo,Norway. The gallery displays modern art and handi-crafts. The gallery presents six to nine exhibitions a year, devoting itself to the excitement in the intersection of fine art, arts and crafts, textile art, architecture and design. As the gallery completes its twentieth year in operation, a celebration of this integrated space for art is the order of the day.

“The White Cube” is an exhibit to take place in the RAM Gallery. Exhibit curator Rolf Gerstlauer approached Sackjo22 and Gurdonark to ask whether members of our CCmixter sharing music culture might soundtrack this exhibition. Thus,”The White Cube Remix Project” was born.

“The White Cube” is a concept in architecture to describe the traditional gallery space. Through this exhibition, it is the goal of the curator to broaden this construct, and to explode “the white cube” by using light and sound. As “The White Cube” takes place in a winter season in Norway, the idea of art as white lights amid a dark night on a seemingly moonless sky motivates the background of the piece.

How the Mixters can join in:

Sackjo22 created an a capella track called “ The White Cube.” Gurdonark created an ambient track called “ Winter Lights,” and an ambient sample pack with short drone and tone material for the creation of ambient/chill pieces by the remixer.

Sackjo22’s sample is to be used in songs for the “foreground” of the piece, seeking remixes suitable to a dynamic museum space, with the melodies the mixters know how to make. Gurdonark’s section is the “background” of the effort, seeking beatless ambient and downtempo pieces to be used as soundtrack music in the spaces between the songs. The goal is to create a mega-mix of CCmixter music that will be continuously looped to wish a happy birthday to the intersection of art and design through weaving music into the mix.

Here are the rules:

A. All uploads must be Attribution only, so any samples you use should either be your own or attribution samples (i.e., CC-BY). Please do not use attribution non-commercial or sampling plus samples for this project, because although the gallery is a non-profit, we do not want to worry with possible licensing issues.

B. All uploads must use either the Sackjo22 sample or the Gurdonark sample, or both. We value diversity in the submissions, but wish to have each upload tie back to one of the “thematic” original pieces.

C. Please tag your upload: whitecube. This will let us easily find your upload for the purpose of curating the mega-mix.

D. Please write about how you made your song, and, if you wish, your thoughts on the theme the White Cube/White Lights.

E. The “foreground” songs made with the Sackjo22 material should be the song you’d want to hear if you visited a really cool art museum in Norway in the dead of a wonderful winter. Your remix can be in any style you are inspired to create and you should not feel like we are only looking for ambient remixes of Sackjo22’s source material. (Although ambient is fine too.)

F. The background songs based on Gurdonark’s samples should be like soundtrack music—beatless, ambient/chill, and a set of atmospheres in which to immerse oneself in new images and new ideas.

G. Important: Deadline for upload: December 7

Each mixter chosen for the megamixes will get attribution. We are also considering ways to create tangible documentation of the project as well, which can be provided to each participating mixter. We believe this will be an exciting matter.

Sackjo22 and Gurdonark will be assembling the mega-mix. We hasten to assure you that we put our trust in the community rather than in some artificial “submission” process. Hence, while we reserve the right to moderate the submissions, and omit submissions entirely off the mark (or, also, outside the rules), our intent is to welcome all comers, and show the Mixter community in its glory.

More information about this project, including a brief discussion about the concept of “The White Cube” as well as photos and links to the RAM Gallery can be found on the blog we created to track this project, The White Cube 2009.

We do hope you will participate in this very special event.

UPDATE: You can hear the remixes here.

Gurdonark and SackJo22
Snowflake
admin
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permalink   Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 6:20 PM
This sounds great! Should we all meet in Oslo to see (and hear!) the exhibit?! :)
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 9:51 PM
Wouldn’t that be lovely! I hope this means you intend to do a remix so that even if your body is not in Oslo in December, your music is!
 
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permalink   GhostKid Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:56 PM
This is a great idea. I have an excuse to make an ambient track, and a song with a chilled, wintery beat, plus it might get played in a museum? Thanks for the opportunity you guys
 
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permalink   Anchor Tue, Nov 17, 2009 @ 11:47 PM
Shouldn’t there be a link posted somewhere on ccmixter to the RAM Gallery in Oslo? Or is there…and I just overlooked it?
 
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permalink   spinmeister Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 12:19 AM
I think there’s a link on the blog for this project, but while I’m at it here’s the link to the RAM GALLERI in Oslo too.
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 9:22 AM
Thanks for helping out here Spin! It is most appreciated.
 
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permalink   gurdonark Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 9:57 PM
Oslo in winter sounds lovely. I’ve always wanted to see a Scandinavian December.

I realized the other day that my music travels far more than I do, but so far I think I am okay with that :).
 
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permalink   timberman Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 10:45 PM
Hmmmm….not too sure about December in Scandinavia…trust me, I’ve survived a few of them. It’s quite dark and not necessarily any snow nowadays (and we all know why), especially on the Oslo latitude. On the positive side and as a consequence, light do have an important both symbolic and literal value and meaning during December (apart from the obvious december holidays connection). For me, this certainly gives some ideas for the music. Light..yes!
 
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permalink   timberman Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 12:38 AM
Just decided to go there. For me, it’s just a 5 hours train ride away from home and I’ve never been to Oslo.

What an experience, yippee!
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 2:28 AM
That’s so cool. a 5 hour journey east would take me to, let’s see,
Gurdon, Arkansas. It’s a bit further to Oslo!
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:19 AM
Five hours east takes me to Las Vegas. I’d rather go to Oslo!

But I definitely think there’s an idea here for another project — “Five Hours East.”
 
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permalink   timberman Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:22 AM
Well, I have to go west to get to Oslo. Five hours east and I’ll end up in the cold Baltic sea.
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:24 AM
Five hours west (via airplane) takes me to Hawaii. That is a trip I would love to take! ;-)
 
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permalink   timberman Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:26 AM
I would prefer 5 hours south. Always wanted to visit an oasis in Sahara.
 
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permalink   timberman Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:29 AM
….or Morocco to buy some cheap rugs
 
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permalink   opus_opium Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 11:23 AM
That would be cool to live only 5hrs from hot or cold…wait..i do but would have to fly!..dang gave up my wings…
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 11:27 AM
I recall when I lived in southern California in the foothills of the national forest—1 hour from the snow, 90 minutes from the desert, 90 minutes from the ocean, 30 minutes from a deep woodland, 40 minutes from a scrub tundra wash, and 30 minutes from a massive concrete jungle.
 
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permalink   timberman Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 12:48 PM
Why on earth did you move?
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 1:06 PM
a long story, but I’m awfully glad I did! :)
 
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permalink   Snowflake Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 10:19 PM
i’m in san diego (used to live in LA) and have nearly the proximity that you describe. luckily, i’m about 2 hours from the concert jungle now!

we are listening to your ambient track and i am feeling inspired…a musical creation with a faux-fur collar, warm enough for Oslo….
 
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permalink   gurdonark Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:08 PM
I think one great thing about San Diego is that it helps keep “the white cube” and “winter lights” from being a particular construct. Anyone who has lived a “modern life” in Southern California understands about winters without
literal weather winter. Perhaps part of exploding the white cube is to explode from weather imagery,and to find the light in a dark, balmy Oceanside winter, sitting on the pier, staring at a full moon, imagining Oslo, and chill, chill emotions.
 
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permalink   ScOmBer Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 11:07 AM
30 hrs north west for me (by plane if direct) . I don’t think there is a place on this little blue marble that is further away from where I am now. Great concept, time to fire up the soft synths me thinks.
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 11:12 AM
Great! Softsynths travel to places people never reach!
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 7:31 AM
Five hours west of here puts me in Big Spring, Texas, which is a charming place:

http://www.mybigspring.com/
essesq
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permalink   Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 6:21 PM
Very cool (figuratively and I suppose a bit literally too). I’d love to do something, but I’m not sure what y’all are looking for. I’d say I’ll use this opportunity to indulge my ambient side so can you give me some further guidance as to length of piece, etc? Feel free to reply here so others can benefit fro the info or if you want drop me an e-mail.

Congratulations to both of you for being chosen to oversee this project and lend your contributions to it. That’s great!
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 9:49 PM
We would love you to do something! All we are looking for are remixes that use our source samples in some way. How you use the sample is completely and utterly up to you. Our goal is to have the installation reflect the diversity of styles, approaches and genres that characterize ccMixter, with the connecting thread being either my voice and/or Gurdonark’s samples.

As for length of the ambient pieces, while we prefer short pieces, seven minutes would be the maximum to be included in the loop.

I hope this answers your questions.
 
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permalink   gurdonark Sun, Nov 8, 2009 @ 9:55 PM
Definitely indulge your ambient side!
We’ll aim for short and mid form ambience rather than hour-long form :), but we definitely want you to put your stamp on it, as any mixter project might. I’m hoping you’ll do both a foreground piece and a background piece,
bringing your ambient instincts to either or both!
 
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permalink   Vidian Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 12:14 PM
lol. Beatless..
I’m going to try to hold off. :P

I’ve not really shot for an beatless ambient song before. Now seems like a good opportunity :D
Besides, I’ve been meaning to mix Sackjo for a while now!
 
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permalink   Snowflake Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 12:54 PM
vidian! you can do anything! Dark Realm of Winter has an ambient flavor? :)
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 1:05 PM
Do 2 songs!

One in the foreground, with a beat, using the sackjo22 sample, and one in the background that is “beatless”.

I’m sure you can do anything you want to do!

I am not usually very rigid about ambient being “beatless”, although some purists are, but here we wanted the “background” songs, which are really “songs in between the spoken word songs”, to be
more atmospheric, and less
dancefloor :).
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 4:46 PM
I concur! You can do anything! And I hope you will take Gurdonark up on his suggestion of doing both an ambient/beatless track as well as a track with beat — as it will be great to hear you in Oslo!
Speck
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permalink   Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 1:00 PM
When you speak of foreground and background do you mean in the same song, as in spoken word foreground on an ambient background? Or do you mean there will be foreground songs (with spoken word) and background songs (with ambient samples) interspersed? If the latter, could the foreground songs be something with a beat, as long as it has the spoken word and is art gallery appropriate? I get the impression most are reading it as the former. Should I be too?
 
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permalink   gurdonark Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 1:03 PM
Each song will be played by itself.
Not only may the foreground songs
have a beat, we expect a lot will.

Only the background songs need be “beatless” or “background”.

So I think the answer to your question is “the latter”.
 
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permalink   Speck Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 4:38 AM
Thank you, that’s what I thought. So far all the mixes I’ve heard have been beatless so I just wanted to be sure I was reading it right.
 
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permalink   gurdonark Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:04 PM
I think that as the remix settles in, we’ll find tons of beats, and lots of things in disparate genres.

The only reason for an “ambient background’ is to recognize that silence and its near cousin ambience are part of this particular winter chill.
spinmeister
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permalink   Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 10:25 PM
Fantastic project. Great blog. Just one little question: Is there a link on the blog site leading to this page? If yes, I apologize for having overlooked it. If not, it’s something you may want to consider adding in a prominent place or two on the blog. And/or links to the two source sample pages might also be a good idea. You may need only small additional amounts of additional Google juice to make the big G’s front page for the term “White Cube”. :-)
 
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permalink   spinmeister Mon, Nov 9, 2009 @ 10:31 PM
as of this writing “white cube”
on google.ca: 18th place
on google.com 23rd place
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:53 AM
Great suggestions. All done. Thanks!
 
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permalink   spinmeister Mon, Nov 16, 2009 @ 6:01 PM
One week later (as of today November 16):

search term “White Cube” shows a link to this page

on google.com in 9th position
on google.ca in 8th position

Front Page! cool!
SackJo22
admin
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permalink   Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:59 AM
In response to the many queries I have recieved TO CLARIFY:

We are looking for two types of remixes:

1. Based on Sackjo22’s “The White Cube” a capella. Your remix of this source can be in any style you are inspired to work in — ambient, chill, rock, hip hop, funk, pop, experimental, jazz, etc. The only criteria is that it utilize “The White Cube” a capella.

2. Based on Gurdonark’s “Winter Light” sample pack. Your remix of this source material should be an ambient piece.

You are free to create a remix using both sources, as well.

Thanks.
Lars J. Brouwer
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permalink   Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 8:19 AM
Count me in :)! Seems like a great project!
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 8:55 AM
Terrific! I can’t wait to hear what you create.
 
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permalink   gurdonark Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:05 PM
I’m glad you’re playing! Looking forward to hearing your piece.
shimoda
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permalink   Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 4:16 PM
This is so very perfectly up or down my alley. Gurdonark may know what I mean.
 
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permalink   gurdonark Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:02 PM
This remix is not one but 2 places to which you’re perfectly suited to go. i hope to see you imploding the white cube!
PorchCat
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permalink   Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 5:51 PM
I am very much a knob-twiddler and fiddler, so detailing how I made the song could be very difficult for me. What exactly are you looking for out of a how it was made description?

*meow*
 
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permalink   gurdonark Tue, Nov 10, 2009 @ 7:01 PM
No need to worry about this request. What we have in mind is that we may have visitors to our sites who might enjoy hearing a little process talk.
Yet the last thing I’d want to do is make this into some rigorous exercise in documenting how a mix is made!
dj slumberjack
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permalink   Wed, Nov 11, 2009 @ 12:06 AM
wonderful. this reminds me of a story i had called stained-glass rubick’s cube, except it’s white.

can i make more than one? i’d like to do one using samples only, and another using all original material except the required samples.
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Wed, Nov 11, 2009 @ 6:55 AM
Yes. It’s wonderful to see that this project has inspired you!
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Sat, Nov 14, 2009 @ 9:24 AM
 
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permalink   Lars J. Brouwer Mon, Nov 23, 2009 @ 1:27 PM
Hi SackJo; am I correct that we’ve still got time to do remixes? Mine’s not ready yet, probably this week, since the deadline is fixed on the 7th of December. Just saw you’ve added a playlist so I wondered…!
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Mon, Nov 23, 2009 @ 1:34 PM
Yes you are correct. The deadline for remixes is December 7. I have been collecting the remixes in a playlist as they come in to help me stay organized! After December 7, Gurdonark and I will work on the play order, but all remixes that fit the criteria for this project will be included on the playlist that ultimately will be played at RAM Galleri for the installation.
 
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permalink   Lars J. Brouwer Mon, Nov 23, 2009 @ 1:39 PM
Ah, thanks for the fast reply! Makes things clear for me. I’m getting things online end of the week. Hope everything regarding the organizing and such is working out!
 
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permalink   Lars J. Brouwer Tue, Nov 24, 2009 @ 6:30 AM
Annnnddd….Got it uploaded! ‘Concrete Casket’, is the name and should be online right now :)!
 
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permalink   SackJo22 Tue, Nov 24, 2009 @ 7:50 AM
Excellent! It’s a wonderful track Lars. I’m so glad that you are a part of The White Cube Remix project.