by 0x09bc69a986e1b37fb01ef36124f4c2e14fa0ab6b (BillyTeacoin)
Should the following Tier 3: up to $5,000 USD in MANA, 3 months vesting (1 month cliff) grant in the Content Creator category be approved?
Abstract
I would like to see more music and sound content in Decentraland to help create a more immersive environment for us all in Decentraland. Most of the community who are building in the space are 3D design artists and coders, not sound artists. Much like how there are free 3D assets for the DCL builder to drag and drop into a build, I believe that a mini library of stock music and sounds should also be open to all in Decentraland to use. I wish to create this for everyone in DCL to use in their builds.
Grant size
4,569 USD
Beneficiary address
0x09bc69A986e1b37fB01EF36124f4c2E14fA0ab6B
Email address
Description
I have noticed when loading into many parcels in Decentraland that it is quite often lacking sound.
I think without sound a lot of Decentraland is lacking that immersive experience that a complete audiovisual package can give you. If you think about watching a video, sound is 50% of the experience (in my opinion it can be even up to 69% of the experience)! The same I think can be said for games and in interactive virtual world experiences (like Decentraland).
I propose to create a series of sound clips that anyone building in Decentraland can use for absolutely free on their parcel (with a copyright notice/license agreement stating that these sound clips may only be used within Decentraland).
Many games within Decentraland could freely use these music compositions or ambience tracks to help with that sonic void in their build. For example, games such as: Wondermine, Exodus, Butterfly Prawn, Golfcraft and more if they don’t yet have any music.
Some of the plazas seem to be lacking sound including: Forest Plaza, Vegas Plaza and Medieval Plaza. These places feel rather dead to me when entering as there is nothing much to be heard.
The music as you enter Decentraland in Genesis Plaza is a great example of a parcel that effectively includes sound/music.
Some other plazas like Soho Plaza, Asian Plaza and Gamer Plaza include background soundscapes which help immerse the player in the build.
Specification
Scope of delivery:
6 to 9 field recordings for natural ambient tracks (captured on pro location audio recording equipment)
6 to 9 music compositions of various styles (composed on a Digital Audio Workstation)
6 to 9 electronic/synth ambient tracks (sound designed on a Digital Audio Workstation)
A small collection of sound effects/foley for basic object interactions (doors opening and chests opening etc)
The plan will be to host these audio clips on a basic website/hosting service which I will set up myself with help from other community members who have offered me assistance.
One idea might be to create an “npm package”, have the audio files selectable by the owner/operator who can then stream the audio files to their build with just using some code in the SDK.
I will likely host the audio clips as ogg vorbis as this is a great codec for high quality in a small file size format. However I will consult builders in the community to help me decide on optimization of the files for playback in Decentraland builds so things work smoothly.
These will all be freely available for anyone to use in Decentraland. If anyone wants something unique to their own build then they can hire me (or someone else) of their own accord to create something for them. But this Decentraland public mini library of audio clips will give anyone something to start off with and help give Decentraland some more sound to immerse ourselves in-world.
Breakdown of expected costs in Australian Dollars (AUD):
Sound libraries to create a vast array of professional sounding music scores:
Choral sounds $300
Symphony orchestra sounds $540
Large library bundle of soft synths and sounds $1800
Action/blockbuster film strings library $450
Salary of 69 hours x $43 hourly rate (work spread over 2 to 3 months) = $2,967
Salary given is based on Average Base Salary for a Music Composer in Australia and estimated roughly 2 weeks of work if worked on full time. Source: Music Composer Salary Australia - SalaryExpert
File hosting: approx $600 to host files/website for at least 3 years
Total expected cost: $6,657 AUD = $4,569 USD
Equipment already provided by myself, therefore not required by the grant:
Digital Audio Workstation (including computer and DAW software)
Microphones and professional location recording equipment
Musical keyboard, mixers, studio monitor speakers and headphones etc.
At the completion of the core part of the project I will continue to maintain the free audio clip library for DCL and at my own discretion voluntarily add to it in my own time if I am able.
I do not directly intend to create another grant proposal for this project specifically into the future and I wish to seek outside funding or community donations (or out of my own pocket if necessary) to keep the files hosted after the grant funds have run out for approx 3 years of hosting.
If there is any significant demand from the Decentraland community however, there may be a consideration to hire me and/or other sound artists in the community (via another grant) to significantly expand upon this free audio clip library, as the community sees fit.
Personnel
BillyTeacoin – past experience as a sound designer, composer and music scorer from Melbourne, Australia.
Qualifications: Diploma of Audiovisual technology, freelance audio professional experience
Examples of past work:
Melbourne Zoo sound installation, campaign about environmental damage of balloons
Chiptune/8-bit music score for a video game jam
Nature soundscape for an NFT “Awed Love Tree”
Apart from that, I am quite an active member in the Decentraland community and wish to improve the enjoyment of experiences within Decentraland for existing members and new. That’s why I’d like to bring my skills in sound to enhance the content in the space.
Roadmap and milestones
Month 1 – gather as many field recordings as possible to create a collection of natural ambience soundscapes (nature sounds, city sounds, café background sounds etc). Initially I will make these publicly available on a Google Drive account so I can show others in the community previews of the work for me to receive feedback.
With the funding, all required sound library packs needed to compose the music etc will be purchased.
A web hosting service for storing the audio clips will start to be set up and paid for.
Month 2 – composing the collection of music scores. Upload these to Google Drive for feedback from the community.
Trial testing of audio clips as npm packages and testing in DCL builds using SDK.
Month 3 – compose/sound design electronic ambience tracks (for sci-fi and general non-natural ambience). Record and prepare a small collection of sound effects and foley sounds.
Upload the remaining work to Google Drive and approach builders in the community to make them aware of these free sounds and music scores and ask them to test them and give feedback.
I will update and consult the community on progress as I go via Discord, most predominantly the Community Building Decentraland Discord server.
I will also post major announcements/updates to social media, mainly Twitter as this is where most of the Decentraland/Web3 community resides social media wise.
experience for users and creators.
