Session #2 Notes!
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Hi John,
Great catching up today!
Just to recap on what we talked about:
Main goal should be to finish your album. I think the strongest play is to send it to Dismiss Yourself once its ready to see what kind of reception you'll get. We can definitely work on getting the album polished and release ready with some great album art so that it has as much impact as possible when you present/promote it.
I did a little bit of digging and found a wikipedia page for the label: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismiss_Yourself
Theres some pretty interesting info in there, but specifically in regards to a sub-label called Care which they launched in 2021 specifically for independent musicians. The label owner also mentions in the wiki page that "I don't care about genres, I like the personality and story behind artists" so that itself is pretty cool. Whether you release on either, and I think you definitely found the right place. I did check to see if they have a website with any info regarding submission guidelines, but I couldn't find any. It might be that you can just contact them directly.
I'm not sure what your schedule looks like but considering you have 5 "definite" tracks, I would suggest getting those mixed and finalized first before starting new ones. I took a look at the label and although a good portion of the releases have 10+ tracks per release, the one you pointed out https://dismissyourself.bandcamp.com/album/azazil-x , only has seven tracks which is perfect. I would say priority one is to get your existing tracks done first then start two or three more to round things off. Once you have your final decision on whats tracks will be in the album, we'll start prepping them for release. We can go into more detail about the promotional part in our next session. For now, just keep working on your tracks and GET SOME REST!
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Here is the artwork that I was telling you about. This is was a mockup cover I did for Ghost In the Shell for fun, done in ZBrush with post editing in Photoshop. Might be something that could be repurposed for a cool cover idea or maybe we could do something different along these lines. Whatever you feel works.
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That artwork is insanely well made and captures the vibe I'm wanting for my cover (literally) perfectly.
However, I think it slightly too complex to be an album cover. It is more akin to something I'd have as a banner/background for a page, or as (obviously) intended works insanely well as a standalone piece.
I like the artistic direction of Ghost in the Shell almost as much as I like that of Serial Experiments Lain - my desire for the cover to mirror these animes' vibes will always stand even if I suggest some alternate directions we could go from here.
My album explores the polarity of technology; it is unmistakably beneficial to the creative. However, it also exacerbates derealization, since we spend time in a technologically enhanced creative world then are expected to so abruptly transition to a real world which feels much less personal. Talking from my experience - my brain struggles to catch up after long creative stints. In wanting to remain in the creative realm, it assigns imaginative dreamlike qualities to the real world, thus contributing to an alienation from others who don't struggle with this. Hence, the album also attempts to capture the beauty of a world which (in periods of non-creation) the easily artistically starved mind modifies to create meaning. It captures the bittersweet grief of this beauty being confined to one's own senses (in remedy, I must share it through an album!)
It's almost like the entire album is created in observing the contours of my emotion rather than being a product of these emotions' interventions. I call it 'bittersweet' grief - technology allows it to be so sweet.
The theme of a focal character being bound in some way by something unnatural / by unusual position (in the case of what you sent me, the tubes/monitoring equipment) is a perfect metaphor for this.
Perhaps you could simplify that artwork in a square frame and add basic overlays for the title/other info in a way which complements the figure nicely. I would also prefer something which contrasts more (as on the moodboard, where most of the covers consisted of a black base, overlaid with a design in a single colour (or a single consistent composite of colours).
This piece also has me thinking of other ideas I had. E.g. a glowing/spirit-like figure trapped on the Moon (or any celestial body) by rock/boulders over the hands/feet. They would probably be sat in an upright position with a perfect view of the Earth over their shoulder. Maybe the whole piece could be gray, with only the Earth in colour, or maybe it could be rendered in multiple contrasting composites (one for Earth, one for the Moon (maybe even a third for our character) - I love purple/blue(/green)). This would serve the theme of being trapped somewhere which could only be reached by using advanced technology, and would serve the theme of alienation from everybody else.
By composites I mean to reference (for example) the way in which the character in the Azazil-X artwork on my moodboard is coloured in a pattern of red and pink, or the blend of blue, purple, pink, (and largely gray) which colours the characters in the Cynthoni artwork directly above it. It could also just be a flat colour masked by a pattern (as in the Lain artwork in the top right corner).
I this idea of using composites, as it allows the cover to be very detailed up-close, but still be easily digestible in a smaller format as it would be seen on streaming platforms. I also just think it looks cool
I know this is a lot of detail/information, feel free to ask me as much as you want and send as many revisions of the cover art through its stages as you feel fit. Take it easy, I'm not in any hurry and it'll probably be a few months until my album is finished anyway. I strongly appreciate your help and can't overstate how much it means to me as someone just starting out. If my ideas are ambitious/picky for something free I can always pay you for the cover art.
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Thank you for relaying me some more info on that label, I will get to refining my tracks now! (+ will try to create a spreadsheet so you have more info on the progress).
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That artwork is insanely well made and captures the vibe I'm wanting for my cover (literally) perfectly.
However, I think it slightly too complex to be an album cover. It is more akin to something I'd have as a banner/background for a page, or as (obviously) intended works insanely well as a standalone piece.
I like the artistic direction of Ghost in the Shell almost as much as I like that of Serial Experiments Lain - my desire for the cover to mirror these animes' vibes will always stand even if I suggest some alternate directions we could go from here.
My album explores the polarity of technology; it is unmistakably beneficial to the creative. However, it also exacerbates derealization, since we spend time in a technologically enhanced creative world then are expected to so abruptly transition to a real world which feels much less personal. Talking from my experience - my brain struggles to catch up after long creative stints. In wanting to remain in the creative realm, it assigns imaginative dreamlike qualities to the real world, thus contributing to an alienation from others who don't struggle with this. Hence, the album also attempts to capture the beauty of a world which (in periods of non-creation) the easily artistically starved mind modifies to create meaning. It captures the bittersweet grief of this beauty being confined to one's own senses (in remedy, I must share it through an album!)
It's almost like the entire album is created in observing the contours of my emotion rather than being a product of these emotions' interventions. I call it 'bittersweet' grief - technology allows it to be so sweet.
The theme of a focal character being bound in some way by something unnatural / by unusual position (in the case of what you sent me, the tubes/monitoring equipment) is a perfect metaphor for this.
Perhaps you could simplify that artwork in a square frame and add basic overlays for the title/other info in a way which complements the figure nicely. I would also prefer something which contrasts more (as on the moodboard, where most of the covers consisted of a black base, overlaid with a design in a single colour (or a single consistent composite of colours).
This piece also has me thinking of other ideas I had. E.g. a glowing/spirit-like figure trapped on the Moon (or any celestial body) by rock/boulders over the hands/feet. They would probably be sat in an upright position with a perfect view of the Earth over their shoulder. Maybe the whole piece could be gray, with only the Earth in colour, or maybe it could be rendered in multiple contrasting composites (one for Earth, one for the Moon (maybe even a third for our character) - I love purple/blue(/green)). This would serve the theme of being trapped somewhere which could only be reached by using advanced technology, and would serve the theme of alienation from everybody else.
By composites I mean to reference (for example) the way in which the character in the Azazil-X artwork on my moodboard is coloured in a pattern of red and pink, or the blend of blue, purple, pink, (and largely gray) which colours the characters in the Cynthoni artwork directly above it. It could also just be a flat colour masked by a pattern (as in the Lain artwork in the top right corner).
I this idea of using composites, as it allows the cover to be very detailed up-close, but still be easily digestible in a smaller format as it would be seen on streaming platforms. I also just think it looks cool
I know this is a lot of detail/information, feel free to ask me as much as you want and send as many revisions of the cover art through its stages as you feel fit. Take it easy, I'm not in any hurry and it'll probably be a few months until my album is finished anyway. I strongly appreciate your help and can't overstate how much it means to me as someone just starting out. If my ideas are ambitious/picky for something free I can always pay you for the cover art.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Thank you for relaying me some more info on that label, I will get to refining my tracks now! (+ will try to create a spreadsheet so you have more info on the progress).
@johncave Dont worry about the design, I'll work on it this week and we'll keep refining it until its polished. One thing I do need is what you would like the album cover to say (artist name, album name, etc). Once I have that, I can start fleshing out the layout for the cover. Let me know! - J
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@johncave Dont worry about the design, I'll work on it this week and we'll keep refining it until its polished. One thing I do need is what you would like the album cover to say (artist name, album name, etc). Once I have that, I can start fleshing out the layout for the cover. Let me know! - J
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@aymat Hadn't given it a thought until now but
My artist name will be 'Colog'
and the album name: Ignore it or Die
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@johncave
Just wanted to give you a heads up that I have a couple of versions fleshed out for the album cover. Will shoot those over to you tomorrow! - J
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