5 ms·

Female Toronto rapper/producer releases FOSS mixtape on GitHub

25 points by lostgame 7y ago

lostgame 7y ago
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/nikkigracetoronto/sets/boundaries https://soundcloud.com/nikkigracetoronto/sets/boundaries
- edm0nd 7y ago
  I gave it a listen. It's way better than what I was expecting it to be.
  - lostgame 7y ago
    Awe, thanks! I mostly produce for other people and rarely make music for myself. I figured, what the hey, this could be fun.
fibers 7y ago
she aint no Awkwafina
- kjeetgill 7y ago
  I don't know you you mean that, but I think it is the case that Awkwafina doesn't produce, she's more a rapper/writer (and now comedian/actress too).
iamunr 7y ago
️
jxy 7y ago
What GPL means here? This paragraph in README also baffles me: > 'Can I Use [insert thing here]?' > As long as the material is not copyrighted - e.g. the samples themselves - I encourage you to take whatever you can use from this project, however you can, for your own works - including for-profit works - once again - as long as no copyrighted content is used.
- viklove 7y ago
  Seems like it's not just engineers who have trouble with documentation. That sentence isn't remotely comprehensible.
- lostgame 7y ago
  I'm personally having troubles with understanding what to do about the licensing around this thing. What I'm trying to say, is you can use whatever of my own content you'd like - but obviously samples like 'Lolita Ya Ya' by Nelson Riddle are copyrighted works, and, while the transformations I've applied to the samples and the lack of profit probably clear me, the actual audio files containing the copyrighted samples are only up there because the songs sound often very incomplete without them. Since I'm making no profit off of this whatsoever, and am, in fact, trying to give away a lot of my work to the community, I'm kinda just hoping I won't get a C&D for the samples. :P
- floatingatoll 7y ago
  Translating the hyphens to parentheses may help - hyphenation is often used to represent spoken English when it contains several fragments chained into a paragraph such as this. > As long as the material is not copyrighted (e.g. the samples themselves) I encourage you to take whatever you can use from this project, however you can, for your own works (including for-profit works). Once again - as long as no copyrighted content is used.
  - lostgame 7y ago
    If you don't mind, I'm actually going to modify the GitHub's description to match yours. I'm an artist and a coder, not a linguist. ;)
    - mreome 7y ago
      Unfortunately, even with the clarified wording this explanation doesn’t say what I think it’s intended to. All the material in the repo is under copyright. A work licensed under the GPL is still under copyright, and the granting and enforcement of the GPL (mainly the requirement that derivative works are released under the GPL) is only possible because of that copyright. To not be bound by copyright, the copyright must be waived, and it’s still not entirely clear if/how that is possible (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Granting_work_into_the_public_domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Granting_work_into_t...).
badosu 7y ago
I see OP used Logic Pro X, which for the educational purposes on the README makes sense (targeting a wider audience), but for me it feels like a misleading title. That said, I am happy to see not-hobbyist producers releasing content like this. For those interested in music production with FOSS tools, I highly recommend checking out Ardour and Unfa's videos with session files and all you need to get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgw7mNBEZlQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgw7mNBEZlQ
- lostgame 7y ago
  Oh! I did provide uncompressed audio and/or MIDI - I was considering putting together Audacity projects but to be honest I'd just rather give away what I genuinely did.
  - badosu 7y ago
    That is a great initiative, and I wish more producers release more content like this, my remark was due to expectations related to the "FOSS mixtape" title. That said you should use what is best for your workflow (not for the sake of it being FOSS). Although Ardour is perhaps almost there in terms of maturity, LV2 plugins (open source format) are not anywhere close. You can still use VSTs and AU in the windows/mac versions IIRC. There is kinda community around releasing music with available session files with FOSS tools, although not many as polished as yours (see [1]). 1: https://libremusicproduction.com/music https://libremusicproduction.com/music
    - lostgame 7y ago
      I absolutely depend on Logic, it's fantastic library of software instruments with EXS24, and I've used it for so long, it's second nature to me. :) I also love the side benefit of being able to express ideas on my iPad or iPhone using GarageBand, and the ability to open those ideas and refine them later in Logic is fantastic. There is no workflow, within my lifetime, that I can see replacing it, for myself, personally, anyways. ^_^
miranda_rights 7y ago
I'm not a fan of needing a name/gender in the title, because I think having a FOSS mixtape is interesting enough to the readers on HN. That said, I really like this mixtape - I'll be downloading it and adding it to my current rotation.
- lostgame 7y ago
  I actually removed the age from the title - honestly I'm kind of proud of the fact that I'm a female producer - there's not a lot of us, and I want to see it more. ^_^
- kjeetgill 7y ago
  I don't mind. I think with musicians more than most art this kind of context can be interesting and meaningful. I just wish they had include her name with that context: Nicole 'Nikki' Grace. They deserve the publicity. Edit: Reading further, I've discovered that she posted this herself and chose to omit her own name from the title.
  - lostgame 7y ago
    I'm a very active and visible member of the LGTBQ community here in Toronto, and I do have issues of personal public awareness I'm trying to get over and accept as part of a reality if this my career path. :)
_def 7y ago
I love the idea but leaving out original stuff like the vocals and instead depending on copyrighted material is kind of... not what I would describe as open source. But anyway, many thanks! A lot more people should do this
- lostgame 7y ago
  Well, I mean, they're my own vocals. I chose not to include them because I'm kinda super self conscious. :3 As for the samples, well, yeah, I mean, if I get a C&D I'll have to remove them, of course.
  - rambojazz 7y ago
    Do you mean that the mixtape is not 100% FOSS? As in, only parts of it are? This would kind of make the README a bit clearer.
shyn3 7y ago
Where is your Toronto Raptors anthem?
- lostgame 7y ago
  Ahaha, honestly, it's literally a WIP - my label mates and I just couldn't help ourselves :P
rambojazz 7y ago
I'm conflicted between "is this another abuse of the term open source?" and "oh cool it's gpl!"

25 points by lostgame 7y ago

Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/nikkigracetoronto/sets/boundaries https://soundcloud.com/nikkigracetoronto/sets/boundaries

edm0nd 7y ago
I gave it a listen. It's way better than what I was expecting it to be.
- lostgame 7y ago
  Awe, thanks! I mostly produce for other people and rarely make music for myself. I figured, what the hey, this could be fun.

fibers 7y ago

she aint no Awkwafina

kjeetgill 7y ago
I don't know you you mean that, but I think it is the case that Awkwafina doesn't produce, she's more a rapper/writer (and now comedian/actress too).

iamunr 7y ago

️

jxy 7y ago

What GPL means here? This paragraph in README also baffles me: > 'Can I Use [insert thing here]?' > As long as the material is not copyrighted - e.g. the samples themselves - I encourage you to take whatever you can use from this project, however you can, for your own works - including for-profit works - once again - as long as no copyrighted content is used.

viklove 7y ago
Seems like it's not just engineers who have trouble with documentation. That sentence isn't remotely comprehensible.
lostgame 7y ago
I'm personally having troubles with understanding what to do about the licensing around this thing. What I'm trying to say, is you can use whatever of my own content you'd like - but obviously samples like 'Lolita Ya Ya' by Nelson Riddle are copyrighted works, and, while the transformations I've applied to the samples and the lack of profit probably clear me, the actual audio files containing the copyrighted samples are only up there because the songs sound often very incomplete without them. Since I'm making no profit off of this whatsoever, and am, in fact, trying to give away a lot of my work to the community, I'm kinda just hoping I won't get a C&D for the samples. :P
floatingatoll 7y ago
Translating the hyphens to parentheses may help - hyphenation is often used to represent spoken English when it contains several fragments chained into a paragraph such as this. > As long as the material is not copyrighted (e.g. the samples themselves) I encourage you to take whatever you can use from this project, however you can, for your own works (including for-profit works). Once again - as long as no copyrighted content is used.
- lostgame 7y ago
  If you don't mind, I'm actually going to modify the GitHub's description to match yours. I'm an artist and a coder, not a linguist. ;)
  - mreome 7y ago
    Unfortunately, even with the clarified wording this explanation doesn’t say what I think it’s intended to. All the material in the repo is under copyright. A work licensed under the GPL is still under copyright, and the granting and enforcement of the GPL (mainly the requirement that derivative works are released under the GPL) is only possible because of that copyright. To not be bound by copyright, the copyright must be waived, and it’s still not entirely clear if/how that is possible (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Granting_work_into_the_public_domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Granting_work_into_t...).

badosu 7y ago

I see OP used Logic Pro X, which for the educational purposes on the README makes sense (targeting a wider audience), but for me it feels like a misleading title. That said, I am happy to see not-hobbyist producers releasing content like this. For those interested in music production with FOSS tools, I highly recommend checking out Ardour and Unfa's videos with session files and all you need to get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgw7mNBEZlQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgw7mNBEZlQ

lostgame 7y ago
Oh! I did provide uncompressed audio and/or MIDI - I was considering putting together Audacity projects but to be honest I'd just rather give away what I genuinely did.
- badosu 7y ago
  That is a great initiative, and I wish more producers release more content like this, my remark was due to expectations related to the "FOSS mixtape" title. That said you should use what is best for your workflow (not for the sake of it being FOSS). Although Ardour is perhaps almost there in terms of maturity, LV2 plugins (open source format) are not anywhere close. You can still use VSTs and AU in the windows/mac versions IIRC. There is kinda community around releasing music with available session files with FOSS tools, although not many as polished as yours (see [1]). 1: https://libremusicproduction.com/music https://libremusicproduction.com/music
  - lostgame 7y ago
    I absolutely depend on Logic, it's fantastic library of software instruments with EXS24, and I've used it for so long, it's second nature to me. :) I also love the side benefit of being able to express ideas on my iPad or iPhone using GarageBand, and the ability to open those ideas and refine them later in Logic is fantastic. There is no workflow, within my lifetime, that I can see replacing it, for myself, personally, anyways. ^_^

miranda_rights 7y ago

I'm not a fan of needing a name/gender in the title, because I think having a FOSS mixtape is interesting enough to the readers on HN. That said, I really like this mixtape - I'll be downloading it and adding it to my current rotation.

lostgame 7y ago
I actually removed the age from the title - honestly I'm kind of proud of the fact that I'm a female producer - there's not a lot of us, and I want to see it more. ^_^
kjeetgill 7y ago
I don't mind. I think with musicians more than most art this kind of context can be interesting and meaningful. I just wish they had include her name with that context: Nicole 'Nikki' Grace. They deserve the publicity. Edit: Reading further, I've discovered that she posted this herself and chose to omit her own name from the title.
- lostgame 7y ago
  I'm a very active and visible member of the LGTBQ community here in Toronto, and I do have issues of personal public awareness I'm trying to get over and accept as part of a reality if this my career path. :)

_def 7y ago

I love the idea but leaving out original stuff like the vocals and instead depending on copyrighted material is kind of... not what I would describe as open source. But anyway, many thanks! A lot more people should do this

lostgame 7y ago
Well, I mean, they're my own vocals. I chose not to include them because I'm kinda super self conscious. :3 As for the samples, well, yeah, I mean, if I get a C&D I'll have to remove them, of course.
- rambojazz 7y ago
  Do you mean that the mixtape is not 100% FOSS? As in, only parts of it are? This would kind of make the README a bit clearer.

shyn3 7y ago

Where is your Toronto Raptors anthem?

lostgame 7y ago
Ahaha, honestly, it's literally a WIP - my label mates and I just couldn't help ourselves :P

rambojazz 7y ago

I'm conflicted between "is this another abuse of the term open source?" and "oh cool it's gpl!"