If attending HearSay has taught me one thing, it’s that community is crucial. There was the local community that stepped up by offering beds; the WhatsApp group where everyone helped each other; and the volunteers who did everything to make up for a festival that was, let’s say, not always perfectly organized. It was great.
Here on Tracks, we are a community of 500 – well, almost, 497 or so. What does it take to make this community thrive? I would like to invite you to think about that. How can Tracks be most useful to you and other members? Let me know if you have ideas. What do we want this platform to be? We might need you to help make that happen.
Please reply with your thoughts!
Upcoming deadlines and events
Lots of calendar entries on Tracks have recently been updated. Here’s what’s coming up:
Tip: If you want to be notified about future iterations of an event or deadline, change your status to Watching at the bottom of the respective event’s post:
Enjoy your summer (or winter!) and don’t forget to share your thoughts on the future of Tracks in a quick reply! No wrong answers, let’s brainstorm! And, of course, invite your audio peers, so that we actually hit the 500 members mark soon.
That is a great idea. It would be even better if it were possible to use Tracks as a way to have a virtual listening party for works that are still unfinished. I know as a solo producer I would love to share drafts with people who are knowledgeable and respectful, to get constructive feedback in real time.
Of course it would not be easy, especially with regard to timezones. For a shorter piece, it would be possible to use even a “free” Zoom account (limit 40 minutes).
Tracks would provide the organising platform to announce the event, decide on suitable times, and share the link at the right time.
Another thing I would just like to mention. I was at Hearsay too, and I had no idea that Thomas was also there. It would have been great to have had an informal get together of anyone from here who was also there. Perhaps this is something to consider for future in-person events.
Second vote for virtual listening parties – for works in progress, but also as online events that could bring audio makers together on Tracks for a rewarding reason (other than the useful side of it). Technically it might be tricky to achieve the fluidity of content+chat that you get with (say) a Discord stream or a YouTube premier but perhaps there’s a way to embed those here, or create a workaround – an embedded audio stream (e.g. someone broadcasting to it via OBS) as a pinned post at the top of a topic, with comments able to flow as replies below it.
Thank Ed. To be clear, I was not thinking of having the listening party with the Tracks platform, but rather doing it in real time, as it were, on Zoom with live comments directly from participants that way. Of course one could also share a recording of the session in case people cannot attend in real time and want to take part that way.
I’m in my break between seasons, and will try and think about this more when I am back in production.
Third vote! To add: I would welcome to the opportunity to talk about challenges/graces in WIPs, during the listening parties–kinda like a makers’ workshop. It get’s lonely/solipsistic out he(a)r(e) at times for sure, and other ears/hearts + conversation would be great!
for sure, and other ears/hearts + conversation would be great!