[HN Gopher] CitizenDJ - Make music using free audio and video fr...
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CitizenDJ - Make music using free audio and video from the Library
of Congress
Author : mindcrime
Score : 246 points
Date : 2024-09-07 19:47 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (citizen-dj.labs.loc.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (citizen-dj.labs.loc.gov)
| sfryxell wrote:
| This is fantastic. I've got two samplers that I've just started
| building a sample library for (Korg Drumlogue and Teenage
| Engineering's KO II) This is exactly the kind of tool that will
| help me find interesting sounds. Great job.
| mindcrime wrote:
| Even better, while there's plenty of music to be had, there's a
| lot of other stuff as well. In my case, what led me to even
| find this was just looking for public domain audio files I
| could use for testing and debugging various bits of audio
| processing software that I'm working with.
|
| I'll be interested in maybe using some files for testing speech
| recognition and what-not as part of that. So some of the
| interviews and spoken word recordings will be of primary
| interest to me.
|
| That said, I'm sure there's some interesting music mixed in
| here as well and I'm looking forward to exploring that. :-)
| diggan wrote:
| Love it that they didn't only chop everything, analyzed it and
| offered people to download single items, but put a sequencer
| there as well as offering bulk downloads (basically sample
| packs). That you can filter by note + pitch is awesome too! Will
| be fun to play around with.
|
| I'd love to have a volume slider though, because it does get a
| bit loud when dragging the mouse, so I don't have to turn down
| everything. Or even better, if every clip was also adjusted by
| perceived loudness (with a on/off toggle).
|
| Edit: The following "end-of-residency retrospective" article was
| excellent too: https://citizen-dj.labs.loc.gov/retro/
| learningmore wrote:
| This is very, very cool. I've always wanted to use federal
| recordings, and this makes it really easy. I wonder how developed
| the filters are.
| tantalor wrote:
| I might remove the "Jews" filter that's weird
| GenerocUsername wrote:
| I have not downloaded....
|
| What sounds are under the jew category?
| diggan wrote:
| Seems the filters are automatically taken from the Library of
| Congress items themselves, and in the case of "Jews", there is
| only a single item that matches that filter:
| https://www.loc.gov/item/00694076/ ("Cohen on his honeymoon")
|
| There is a bunch of other filters that doesn't make much sense
| is a musical context, like "facial expressions" or "dough" but
| again, those come from the Library of Congress, not from
| CitizenDJ, it seems at least.
| beefoo wrote:
| Creator here. Yes, I confirm that those terms are taken
| directly from the Library's subject headings:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Subject_He...
| . And yes, the Library's subject headings, and really the
| broader practice of describing cultural/historical materials,
| are sometimes problematic and constantly evolving.
| Y_Y wrote:
| https://citizen-dj.labs.loc.gov/loc-variety-stage/remix/?b=8...
|
| This is a very cool tool. Remind's me of Peez's beats from Very
| Bad Wizards.
| ano-ther wrote:
| Excellent!
|
| Is there an explanation of how the 4 samples are chosen in remix
| mode and is there a way to change them individually?
| beefoo wrote:
| Creator here. In general, the samples are automatically
| selected using a mix of onset detection and audio analysis,
| giving preference to clips that have a clear musical pitch. I
| give a brief explanation here: https://citizen-
| dj.labs.loc.gov/about/#how-do-you-selectcrea... . The sequencer
| randomly selects 4 of those samples that are sequential in the
| source audio. You can change them individually by clicking on
| the track settings button (the mixer icon).
| ano-ther wrote:
| Thanks
| maroonblazer wrote:
| This is fantastic.
|
| My only qualm is in "browse" mode, I wish the clips were slightly
| longer. Or that holding down the mouse/trackpad kept playing the
| clip. As of now, and unless I'm doing it wrong, the clips are so
| short you only get the vaguest sense of their content.
|
| That aside, really great work.
| diggan wrote:
| > My only qualm is in "browse" mode, I wish the clips were
| slightly longer. Or that holding down the mouse/trackpad kept
| playing the clip. As of now, and unless I'm doing it wrong, the
| clips are so short you only get the vaguest sense of their
| content.
|
| Their processing splits out individual sounds from longer
| clips, so the purpose is to browse those clips, not the full
| songs/recordings. Works quite well when you're hunting for
| things to use as samples in music production.
|
| But regardless of that, once you've selected a clip, you can
| click "Play in context" to playback the sound together with
| what's before and after. And for the full song/recording, you
| can press "View on loc.gov" to play the entire thing.
| croisillon wrote:
| my little brother made this over 20 years ago:
| http://poudoum.free.fr/Stupid.mp3
| ssalka wrote:
| Is building this a reasonable expenditure of tax dollars?
| medmunds wrote:
| > Proposed budgets should not exceed $90,000 for the first year
| and $90,000 for the optional second year. The Labs team seeks
| proposals for research and work that connects Library
| collections to new audiences by promoting insight and
| inspiration, discovery of Library items, and/or creative
| remixing and reuse. [1]
|
| Speaking as a taxpayer, that seems like a pretty minimal
| investment (certainly on the government scale) with a novel,
| beneficial goal.
|
| [1]: https://labs.loc.gov/about/opportunities/innovator-in-
| reside...
| numair wrote:
| It's less than one minute of nuclear arsenal maintenance. We
| can afford both.
|
| https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/2024/06/17/us-sp...
| beefoo wrote:
| Creator of Citizen DJ here. I made this project almost 5 years
| ago during my residency at the Library of Congress. I had such a
| great experience, I actually work at the Library now. I am happy
| to answer any questions about any aspects of the project!
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(page generated 2024-09-08 23:01 UTC)