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The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, one of the birds whose song is part of our challenge (jassen/flickr)
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Science and Creativity
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It's Finally Spring: Here's How to Celebrate
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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has just finished digitizing its entire collection of 150,000 animal sounds — including its especially vast collection of bird songs.
We want you to use some of those bird songs to create your own composition on the theme of Spring. Use as many sounds as you like (but at least one), manipulate them however you want, and add any of your own musical elements.
We’ll play some of our favorites on the show and choose a winner.
The deadline to be considered for our contest is Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 11:59pm ET.
UPDATE 3/18: Our contest is now closed.
We will reveal the winner on the show the weekend of April 6.
But you can continue to download the tracks and complete the challenge, just for fun. Listen to all the remixes here.
UPDATE 4/5: We've chosen a winner.
Marlo Reynolds is the winner of our challenge. Listen his track and the runners-up here.
→ STEP 1: Download the bird songs
Download all 13 bird songs at once as a .zip file.
These sounds are provided courtesy of the Macaulay Library at Cornell Lab of Ornithology for the Remixing Spring challenge and may not be used for commercial purposes. All rights reserved, Cornell University.
→ STEP 2: Create your remix
- Create an original composition.
- You can use as many (or as few) of the bird songs as you’d like — you must incorporate at least one.
- Feel free to write your own tracks, and to manipulate the birds songs however you'd like.
- Submit as many remixes as you'd like.
→ STEP 3: Upload your remix here:
→ STEP 4: Listen to the other remixes
Questions? Post them below or e-mail us.
Thanks for participating — we're excited to hear your remix!
Acoustic Improv #2
Artist: Richard Thompson BandAlbum: Live in Studio 360
Music Playlist
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Greg BudneyProduced by:
Jenny Lawton
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Comments [22]
Hi, We're enjoying hearing all of the entries. It seems like those who entered last are showing up at the top of the playlist, and thus getting a lot more exposure. That was very smart of them :D ...
Is there anyway you could remix, the Remixing Spring, mix so that the tune at the top of the list gets rotated?
They are very good tunes, don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed them very much. But there's a lot of good music down in the middle as well.
Just a suggestion.
Pie
Hi again Jenny,
Here is a link to my Spring Remix Challenge entry on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=Billbartosik%2C%20Loon%20Canyon
I hope you are able to get to my entry -- I did submit it before the deadline!
Thanks --
Bill Bartosik
Thank you Jenny!
My contact email is the same as the one for my comments here --
Bill Bartosik
Hi Bill --
Sorry for the delay -- and that you've had trouble sending us your piece. I'll contact you via the e-mail address you entered when submitting your comment.
Hi folks,
I believe I submitted an entry to your Spring Remix Challenge this past Saturday, March 16. I believe I followed all of your instructions, and in fact my submission, "Loon Canyon," does appear on my Soundcloud stream:
https://soundcloud.com/stream
However, I don t see it on your list of Spring Remix entries. Did it get lost somewhere? Or did I somehow fail to upload it to you? Please advise; I d love be a part of the Challenge!
Yours,
Bill Bartosik
Hi Paul --
I'm sorry to hear you're having an issue with that .zip file -- I'm unable to duplicate the problem you're having, but we're continuing to look into it.
In the meantime, here's how you can download each track individually: on the player above, click on a track and in the upper right-hand corner, select Download. There are 13, but they'll each download very quickly.
You must use at least one of the bird songs provided in order to be considered for our challenge.
Hi Tevellus --
So glad you've enjoyed working on this! Thanks for sharing your work with us -- looking forward to hearing it.
Good luck to you both!
we had alot of fun working on this Spring remix- we used all 13 birdsongs....the song "swan" is featured on our forthcoming album "electric runes". enjoy. Happy Spring from Tevellus!
I am unable to extract the .zip file as well. An error notes it is invalid or corrupt. I attempted to use the Download feature but nothing launches. I went to the Cornell library too(searching for birds specifically) and none of the bird sounds are available to stream. Can we use ANY animal sounds, or just bird songs?
Hi Todd --
As long as you use original source material -- and give the proper attribution to Cornell -- you're free to release your work however you choose.
Looking forward to hearing it!
Should I be particularly pleased with the results of my potential remix, which would actually be an original work sampling the Cornell bird recordings, would I be able to release the work on my recording with appropriate attribution? I'm keen to contribute a working for this contest, but not if I would be prohibited from releasing my resulting work, again with appropriate credits for the Cornell recordings.
Peng -- ugh, sorry to hear you're having so much trouble.
As an alternative, you can download each track individually. On the player above, click on a track and in the upper right-hand corner, select Download. (There are 13, but they'll download very quickly).
Good luck.
(This is Peng Hardin, I had forgotten to log in before commenting before.)
My download in Chrome 25.0.1364.152 on SolydK Linux stops at 40.3 MB for some odd reason, which could explain why it shows as being empty. Of course it also prompts more questions. I fired up Firefox and it only let me get 53.1 MB worth of file for some odd reason. I'll try again some time but it looks like I' may have to forego participating in the challenge.
How will I know you have received my entry? I sent in a Common Loon song but no reply or confirm U got it.
Hi Peng --
Hmm, I just downloaded the .zip file using Firefox, Chrome, and IE and played the .wavs without a problem. Maybe the issue is that you haven't unzipped the folder? (The folder shows as OKB until you open/unzip it.)
Anyone else having this same issue?
Keep us posted...
I'm having trouble downloading the ZIP file. I've downloaded it twice but each time there doesn't seem to be anything in it.
Lynne, yes. Two ways:
- on the player above, you can click on the sound you'd like to hear and click "Download" in the upper right-hand corner
- go to our SoundCloud page: https://soundcloud.com/studio-360/sets/remixing-spring
Good luck!
Great idea with the bird songs-there are some of my Eastern favorites but I have yet to encounter a Ruffled Grouse.
Is there any way to download the songs individually? I'm on dial-up .. downloading the whole list will take all day. Thank you!
Dwayne,
Any length is fine! Look forward to hearing your entry.
Is there a length you would like them to be.
Should we keep it "pop" length ?
Which is 3:30 give or take
Jacob,
Sure thing - as long as you use at least one of the Cornell sounds. Good luck!
May we use birdsong recordings not in the 13-track playlist?
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