unity-design team mailing list archive

[Sam Hulick <samh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Winael,

Here's my take on startup sounds:

Music can obviously have a profound effect on people. Advertising 
agencies know this, and use it quite effectively in some cases. Jingles 
are tied to brands in order to affect a particular mood in the listener, 
to create a positive association with that brand, and provide a 
memorable hook that the person remembers. Now, obviously music is just a 
subset of sound, so while some might describe the Mac bootup sound as a 
sound effect, it's actually musical in nature. I'm definitely not 
suggesting Ubuntu should have an unnecessarily long or involved login 
sound, or anything that is distracting (such as a brass fanfare). I see 
Nick is on this email, and I was just telling him I had some ideas, so 
I'll share those now.

I see the login process, sound wise, as being a one-two punch. When 
lightdm presents the login screen, I think it would be nice to have a 
very short (1-2 seconds) musical bit that is pleasing, but somewhat 
unresolved, coaxing the user to log in. Once they log in, the musical 
piece would pick up from where it left off, ending with resolve (2-5 
seconds). Style wise, there are different options I won't get into right 
now (orchestral, synth, a mix of both, etc). I will say that there are a 
couple approaches we could go with the startup sounds: 1) something 
melodic and memorable (hummable), at the risk of wearing out its welcome 
due to repetition (people disabling it), BUT more identifiable as "the 
Ubuntu sound"; 2) something more ambient/amorphous that focuses more on 
mood/feel, not melody, which may stand the test of time better but not 
be easily recalled and not seen as a strong brand sound.

I realize there are people who don't like startup sounds, and of course 
there should be options to disable both the lightdm sound and login 
sound, as we'd want to respect those personal choices.

As far as an Ubuntu Touch ringtone, that's a fantastic idea! Isn't Touch 
due out in October? Might be kind of a rush for me, but I'm definitely 
open to it! I need to pick up a Nexus 4 so I can install Ubuntu Touch on 
it.. soon. Hey, that's now a business expense, isn't it? ;)

I apologize in advance if I have trouble keeping up with the mailing 
list discussion, but I will be keeping in touch with Nick Tait and I 
imagine the ball will get rolling from there.

Cheers!

-Sam

On 09/11/2013 08:55 AM, Vincent JOBARD wrote:
> Hi Sam,
>
> First, Thx for your work and it's good to see that's you want to 
> contribute to Ubuntu
>
> I don't think a music is a good idea for a startup sound. The startup 
> sound have to be short. It's more... a sound. So the work to do is 
> more like sound design.
>
> But I join Sid idea about a ringtone for Ubuntu phone. It could be 
> great with this great design phone. an high end ringtone. Ubuntu 
> spirit is "I am because we are", it's harmony, humanity and unity. If 
> you're write a clean melody with emotion, I think we'll have our 
> future ringtone.
>
> Best Regards,
> Winael
>
> Vincent JOBARD
> http://aliaz.com/winael
>
>
> 2013/9/11 Sid Payton <sidpayton@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:sidpayton@xxxxxxxxx>>
>
>     Hello Sam,
>     first I think you are doing a great thing by helping our Ubuntu
>     community. This lifts the contributions received by Ubuntu to a
>     whole new level. When even professional musicians / composer  take
>     their time to contribute to this great project.
>
>     To your request:
>     I and many many more think a new start-up sound is required. There
>     was an official contest for it for the 12.04 LTS release but never
>     made it into official release.
>     ( http://design.canonical.com/2012/02/ubuntu-sound-theme-design/)
>     It was quite anyway and the sounds weren't that pretty in my opinion.
>     But maybe Callum Pringle (callum.pringle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:callum.pringle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>) or Nick Tait
>     (nick.tait@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:nick.tait@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>) can
>     give you more information about what happend and where to submit
>     you work.
>
>     Besides the start-up sound I believe that wie could also profit
>     Form some beautiful ringtones for the upcoming Ubuntu for phones
>     release (late October).  So if you like to contribute even more
>     there's a good start.
>
>     Since musical contributions to Ubuntu are quite unusual and might
>     take a while there's always another route:
>
>     Make the music, upload them somewhere, notify us on this
>     mailinglist and let the community post your links on Google+ and
>     Facebook. If interest is big enough (and I belive so, espesially
>     because you're famous) your request/contribution will get heard
>     quite fast.
>     But only if they fit the Ubuntu spirit ;-)
>
>     Sid
>
>     Am 10.09.2013 19:24 schrieb "Sam Hulick" <samh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:samh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>:
>
>         Hey Rick!
>
>         To be clear, I'm a composer, not a sound designer, so when I
>         say "startup sounds," I'm thinking something musical. I'll
>         leave the UI sounds and other alert sounds to someone more
>         capable. Unless of course, they all take a musical route. :)
>
>         I could just whip up some stuff and submit it (to whom, I
>         wouldn't know). I'm looking for a more official channel, as
>         in, someone who could take the work I've done, say "yes, this
>         will do" and then officially make it part of 14.04 LTS. What
>         is that process like?
>
>         -Sam
>
>         On 09/10/2013 12:18 PM, Rick Spencer wrote:
>
>             Hi Sam,
>
>             I'm sure there are all sorts of things that would benefit
>             from sound
>             design. From apps to the system sounds like start up sounds.
>
>             Ubuntu is open to all sorts of contributors. Hopping on a
>             mailing list
>             is a great start. Essentially, you are asking to join the
>             Ubuntu
>             Community. Which is great, because it's open to anyone.
>             Here's a link
>             for getting started with the Ubuntu Community:
>             http://community.ubuntu.com/
>
>             Check out especially the community structure and Code of
>             Conduct parts.
>
>             :)
>
>             Cheers, Rick
>
>
>             On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 12:45 PM, Sam Hulick
>             <samh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:samh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
>                 Hey all,
>
>                 My name is Sam Hulick, and I've been writing music for
>                 ten years
>                 professionally, and longer than that experimentally.
>                 ;) I'm most known for
>                 my work on the Mass Effect video game trilogy, but
>                 have several other game
>                 credits as well as some film work (most recently a PBS
>                 documentary).
>
>                 As it happens, I'm also a huge Ubuntu fan (writing
>                 right now from a ThinkPad
>                 S431 running 13.04!). I'd love to contribute a new
>                 startup sound (or sounds)
>                 to be included in 14.04 LTS. If anyone could put me in
>                 touch with the proper
>                 person, I'd appreciate it!
>
>                 Cheers!
>                 -S
>
>                 --
>
>                 Sam Hulick
>                 Composer
>                 http://www.samhulick.com/
>                 PGP Public Key
>
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