‘In B Flat’ & Other Musical Web Collaborations

By Paul Dakeyne

August 27, 2009 | Posted in Music Technology

One of those wonderful internet, [grab a cup o' coffee and enjoy] moments here. Author, Mari Strachan worded the book title, ‘The Earth Hums in B Flat’, and here’s one internet user who’s drawn together the collaborative efforts of numerous musician/performer You-Tubers and taken that concept just one step further.

Visitng ‘inbflat.net‘ takes you to a page consisting of 20 YouTube videos arranged in a mosaic style, and the pleasure principle is this: Just press play on any video, at any random start time, and each individual musical instrument performance will beautifully overlap with the others already playing. How was this achieved?.. The seemingly anonymous instigator struck on the idea of putting up a few YT video performances in one musical key (B flat), with no emphasis on tempo or groove, and utilising floating textures and gaps between phrases. Extending an invite on the net to singers, musicians and performers to contribute following the same instructions, and the result is this lovely piece of coffee table audio delight.

Although not influenced by his work on creation, this piece bears more than a passing similarity to the now legendary web project, visualised and executed with such unnerving dedication, by Israel’s ‘Kutiman’. This said visionary created the ThruYou project, an online music video project mixed from samples of YouTube videos. He is quoted: “I took some drummers from YouTube and I played on top of them – just for fun, you know. And then one day, just before I plugged my guitar to play on top of the drummer from YouTube, I thought to myself, you know – maybe I can find a bass and guitar and other players on YouTube to play with this drummer”

And so was born one of the most exciting musical web collaborations ever, with commentators describing it as a new, less regulated form of media, instantly blowing pre-conceived ideas of copyright management in the digital domain right out of the water! That aside, what a thing of beauty for music, musicians and all who appreciate art in its most creatively democratic form.

About Paul Dakeyne

Paul Dakeyne has written 592 post in this blog.

Paul Dakeyne is a DJ/Producer who has dedicated the past two decades of his life to dance music production and DJ'ing. For six years, he toured globally for the world famous Ministry of Sound and has played DJ sets for the likes of U2 and for the legendary, Kraftwerk, Although remixing around 250 records in his career, as an artist in his own right, Paul landed one of dance music's seminal crossover moments with his "18 Strings' monster hit by Tinman - scoring a UK top ten in 1994. He also co-wrote and produced the music for BBC's Watchdog and Crimewatch when they were both revamped in 2001 and '06 respectively. His other career highlights have included an A&R stint for Mercury Records, lecturing in 'DJ culture and music technology' and creating mash-up mixes for Radio 1's, Chris Moyles. Paul joined the DV group in 2003 leading to his role as blog and feature author here at the DV Mag.

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Tags: collaboration, In B flat, Kutiman

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