Selecting music for example-content

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

Sandis Neilands wrote:
> Hello Henrik!
>
> On 2/19/06, Henrik Nilsen Omma <henrik at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>   
>> Another problem with that list is that it contains almost exclusively
>> classical music, and we might want a bit more variety. I would think a
>> few short pieces, each under a meg, from 3-4 different genres would be
>> good.
>>     
>
> OK, if space on CD wasn't a problem, then 3 - 4 different genres would
> be perfectly fine. Unfortunately ubuntu ships with outdated windows
> software, so we can't have space for something more interesting or
> usable for actual users.
>
> Few thoughts then. If we pick from classics, we shouldn't go with
> religious (or American) hymns. Also we shouldn't choose symphonies or
> other heavy and long pieces.
>
>   
>> Good candidates from the Wikipedia list seem to be  Holst's Jupiter or
>> Uranus. Cutting out one of the more lively segments of either of these
>> would make for an engaging piece. Venus is too tranquil for our purpose
>> and I'm worried about including 'Mars' simply because the 'God of war'
>> is not very compatible with the spirit of Ubuntu.
>>     
>
> Thumbs up for Jupiter. Venus is very beautiful, but you are right,
> that it's perhaps too sleepy for purpose of the example content.
> However I can't stress enough how rude it is to cut (cripple) music.
> If Jupiter or any other candidate is too long, then it's better to
> drop it from candidate list, than cut it.
>
>   
>> Also try:
>> CantateDomino.ogg
>> CeMoysDeMay.ogg
>> Chromatic_Fuge_(Bach_BWV_930).ogg
>>     
>
> First two are very low quality. I skipped Bach simply because I think
> it doesn't go well with the playful spirit of ubuntu and free software
> in general.
>
>   
>> Please have a listen to some of that if you have some time and esp. if
>> you know stuff about music (which I don't)
>>     
>
> My favourites from wikipedia. As you see, it's mostly piano works.
>   
So, I'm afraid I wasn't bowled over by the piano work (perhaps if it was 
Grieg, but that's my personal bias ...).

I think the classical music should be a bit more universally engaging 
for this purpose. Holst is good because it has been used often as film 
music so a wider audience will like it.

On to a different genre all together: electronica

Try: http://www.subatomicglue.com/download/music/experimental/airborne.ogg

I like the sequence from about 2.00 to 2.30. I feel that some other 
parts can be a bit too heavily layered with synth strings. I worry that 
that can sound quite tinny on, say, laptop speakers. It's also more 
approachable at first listen if it's a bit simpler. The group presents 
it as a work in progress, so it may be possible to ask them to alter it 
slightly for our purposes.

We might also look at a place like: http://magnatune.com/
None of that music is under a free enough license ATM, but the 
organisers and artists seem to have roughly the right idea. If we find 
something we really like, we could approach them and ask them to open 
source it properly, for mutual exposure.

Thoughs?

- Henrik