Personal message before the pitch, all about pessimism and fear of failure.

Pessimism is the curse of forward thinking and achievement.

Knowing what this could potentially be, here I am sitting surrounded by pessimism about this project. This hasn’t been done before, yet, I am thinking the following:

• It’s too much money
• People won’t sign up
• People will think we are selling out

Yet at the same time, thinking:

• It’s just so much time to put in getting this together, the money raised won’t cover the time spent
• This hasn’t ever been done before
• If I had an opportunity like this, I would have taken it no matter the price.

So even in my pessimism to get this sorted, the fear of failure has kept me awake at night, but my daughter reminded me of something this past weekend. When all is said and done, without pushing yourself beyond your perceived limits, how do you really achieve anything? She pushed herself in a challenging situation and not only did she achieve what she set out to do, she excelled and achieved so much more. Quite the inspiration.

When I said to her she should push herself a bit further to get past the first obstacle, she said ‘Dad, I can’t. I can’t do it, it's too difficult, what if I fail?’. I said to her, without failure, humankind wouldn't be where it is, be prepared to fail, learn from mistakes, make amendments and come back at it. She didn’t fail, she got past the first, second, third, fourth obstacles and beyond.

This is being put out because of her and her remarkable aptitude to push boundaries, as well as my obvious comments to her, that I really should take on board myself!!. She made me so proud, and I want her to be proud of me.

I am prepared to fail, yet hoping we absolutely soar with this.

Want to have your credits on a remix for 1998?

2023 sees the 25th Anniversary of 1998 and to celebrate this incredible milestone we are looking at doing something unique and pioneering. We want to work with 98 people to create, craft and develop a remix of 1998 that we'll submit to our record label to be released as part of the 25th Anniversary package.

We want to delve back into analog and digital synthesisers to form part of this sound, utlising technology and software to make this happen, including a digital audio workstation, effects and plugins. Our name Binary Finary comes from the idea at its core we were pushing around binary arithmetic in computer based audio workstations to create sounds, so even though we want to go back to some wonderful analog gear, it is the digital realm that kick started Binary Finary so we also want to stay strong to our roots. A combination of both, driven by technology would seem to be a great compromise between that wondrous sound and the Binary Finary way.

The completed remix will be submitted to our label (Armada) for consideration for release. Nothing is guaranteed here, if the remix doesn't cut the mustard, then it will be rejected. What we can commit to is maximum effort to get this across the line. You will however get a certificate of participation that you can keep forever and hang on your wall. You'll also get a copy of the audio for your own ears (please don't share this - it's a valuable asset, the more it's shared, the more the value of it drops). I'll also work on getting a physical copy of this audio, whether it's on USB with some other goodies, or on a piece of vinyl (hello Timeless). This requires a bit of commercial negotiation with the label and publishers for this to happen, but as usual I'll commit to giving it my all to get across the line.

We are strongly of the belief this hasn't been done before, so as a community and a family unit we are pioneering something in the music industry. Binary Finary has always been focussed on using technology to move forward in music and we see this as a real culmination of all the discussions we've had regarding community involvement, getting more people into the realm of music production. We are really quite excited for this.

The plan at this stage is:

• Create a private fb group for content to be placed into.
• Content via video and audio pushed into the group, some pre-recorded and some live.
• Participants will be able to comment, vote and have their say in how the remix goes.
• Live discussion happening with Zoom at various time zones around the world. you can be involved directly through zoom, but also if you can't make that specific time, it is recorded and uploaded to the FB group for comment, covering off everyone for their involvement.
• Discussion via comments and involvement in the fb group as well, so that no one's views are left unheard.
• Email access to discuss and push out updates
• Question and answers sessions, ask us anything!

What do you get?

• To be a part of something unique in Trance / Music history
• To be a pioneer in this type of application (i’m sure this hasn’t been done before)
• To be credited as a participant in the remix
• An insight into how a track is created / remixed
• Knowledge on the process, including production and writing techniques
• One/two people will be able to come into the studio at the time the track goes to be finally recorded, mixed and mastered (studio yet to be chosen, but will very likely be in Australia).
• A final video showcasing the process delivered to you, as well as put on youtube with full credits for your involvement, including individual names listed on the video
• Industry knowledge of being an artist, dealing with labels, publishers and general music industry business. We've had over 25 years of involvement in the music industry, including some other aspects of it you might not be aware of, so this is a great opportunity to ask questions about all sorts of things, and this will also be a part of this journey we will undertake together.
• Live chats via video as part of this process
• Live chats recorded and put up in the group so that people who couldn’t make it are still across what's going on
• Pre-recorded content (sometimes this will be the only way) delivered to the group
• Likely a few Classic Trance mix ups just for fun along the way live into the group
• Anything else we think of and figure out as a group, because this is new and unique, there are no rules about what and how we do this.

Where does the money go?

We anticipate over 70%-80% of the money coming in will cover the costs of making this all happen and work, if the target is matched, some of this will include:

• The hire / sourcing of analog and digital synthesisers
• Video and audio recording hardware and software
• Hardware for storage of video content, including backing up (there will be a lot of content)
• Video editor hired (they are going to be busy!)
• Final mixdown and mastering as a physical studio in Australia including an engineer who knows the studio to work the magic
• The time (oh the time - more on this further down in risks and potential issues) - We anticipate the time taken to make this happen, won’t be covered by the amount received. This is a project of love and whilst it is still commercial in its application (let's all be clear and honest about that), if we were to invoice for our time, I'd say this would be in minus figures by quite a long way.
• The management of this project - this is too big for 1 person, so we'll engage 3rd parties who we know and trust to help with the management of this project (so we have someone pushing and motivating us to get things complete, and to cover off new things, ideas and concepts as part of this project as well as liaising with people to facilitate this whole process). We aim to have it as seamless as possible, but because this hasn’t been done before, we are going to need help.
• Stuff we are bound to need and forgotten about!!!
• A few espresso martinis every now and then!

What's the timing?

As soon as possible we have a lot of work to do! and this remix needs to be available next year for release.

As you read this, planning is in place for this to be created, people are being canvassed for their involvement

As ever, without YOU, this doesn't happen, so you drive this. This is YOUR project!

Scenario (Adding the bassline)

We've created our kicks and percussion, and so the focus turns to the bassline. The list below is an idea of how this will work:

• 3 bassline sounds have been created with 3 different bassline rhythms,
• The content for these 3 sounds and 3 rhythms is posted into the group with video example as well as audio.
• Everyone comments and a discussion starts.
• A bassline sound was more popular on a vote and so that was used, along with the second rhythms pattern.
• The bassline was created and released to the group via FB for discussion.
• Final discussion over this occurs and the bassline is confirmed as final and added to the project file.
• The other parts are archived in an archive project.

Risks

• My pessimism is proved right! haha
• The risk is that there aren't enough people willing to part with their hard earned money to make this happen.
• The time required to make this. The 20th Anniversary Remix took 3-4 months to make (not constantly doing it, but it was considerable time and effort). It took a lot of time to get this right. As time has gone by it has become more and more difficult to remix 1998. There could be many reasons for this, but based on the concept for this remix, and all the content that's required to be made for the fb group as well as changes and adaptations to the actual music that's being created, based on group discussion, it is anticipated that the time for this to be created will be 4-5 times more. This doesn't mean it will take years, it just means there needs to be more of a focus on getting the content down as efficiently as possible and dedicating a lot more time to this project. Some of this can be alleviated with technology as well as paying people for services and that's where the pricing comes in.
• There will be a lot of planning going into this behind the scenes, although you won't necessarily see this, it is essentially going to be project managed so that we meet deadlines and this bad boy of a remix is ready to go to the label for consideration in all its trance glory!
• The label rejects the remix. Nothing is guaranteed, like anyone else, any remix we do or are involved in goes into the same consideration pool as everyone else's remix, however we will have been through something extremely special together and while we will put the max effort into making it worthy, if we fall short, we still win!

Perks

I’m aware there are 98 perks and 2 others make 100, but asking for 96 and not 98 just didn’t seem right, plus pessimism overload on the 2 studio spots! ha.

The 98 Credited perks will allow your involvement in this unique project.

The 2 Studio Session perks contain the perk for the credited as well as the day in the studio mixing this remix. Please note, the price of the perk doesn't involve transport. The studio will be within Australia and likely Sydney, so you'll need to be able provide the transport, or pay for the transport to the studio yourself.

Terms and Conditions as well as other things

• This final remix won't be the only remix of 1998 submitted to the label for release. It is up to the label to determine if this remix makes the cut or not for release, just like any other remix.
• There will be time limits on involvement for certain parts and sections, as we'll be on a tight deadline to get this finished.
• Analog and digital synthesisers will be primarily the focus of the sound for this track, however there maybe times where only a software synth will do the job, in this case the software synth will be committed as a pencilled in final part, with the option to go back and swap this out at a later date with an analog or digital synth part if there is time. In saying this, there are plans afoot for the trifector of classic trance synths to be available to be used.
• Crediting 98 people on the remix might not be possible for the release (if it’s accepted by the label), so we’ll group our Project Name together with the Binary Finary name and make reference to this (and your actual names) via social media, websites we own as well as potentially Wikipedia / discogs entries.
• Potential remix name could be… ‘1998 Binary Finary Family Remix’ or along these lines. We can discuss this as part of a project item to sort,
• Please note, at this stage this is just discussion and community involvement. There won't be any writing happening by anyone else other than us. We'll create parts based on discussion and your involvement. Binary Finary will own the assets created, so that the potential release is covered from being able to be signed as well as cleared for publishing. Without this in place, it won't be possible at all to release this track.
• The studio sessions are for the day only and don't include travel to the studio.
• There is no monetary value for you for this involvement. Due to licensing, contracts and other commercial terms signed up for (years ago), it isn’t possible to be able to appoint royalties, or anything else to your involvement. Regarding commercial royalties back from this remix, there is hardly any money back now for releasing tracks. Without going into details, it would cost more to write this paragraph than it would in royalties to each one of you! :). If there is some way to release something via digital means (NFT or similar) and you have some ownership, then we are all ears to the idea, but it must fall in line with existing contractual obligations.

By signing up to be involved, you agree to all the terms listed above. We reserve the right to make changes to the terms and conditions as we go (in case we forget anything that causes an issue in the release of this track), we will however always value you and your involvement.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Take care x