At the 2015 Web Summit: “ Muso-VR” A First of it's Kind, Musical Virtual Reality Experience

Our Kickstarter for Muso-VR Phase 1
"Conductrix:  A View from the Podium" Is live now!  
Click here to pledge.

Photo Credit:  Isabel Thomas, iDIG Music Festival
Click on image for a brief promo video

A big shout out to Tommy Tallarico, Video Games Live, the TANZ Group, BT,
Electronic Opus, and Michael Stine,  - who's amazing images and videos made this promo possible!

For Immediate Release:  Renowned Irish Symphony Conductor Eimear Noone to create:

"Muso-VR"

“Formerly, CONDUCTRIX”

A First of its Kind, Musical Virtual Reality Experience
and Social Media Platform for Musicians

(Think:  Virtual Reality Guitar Hero for Conductors, Musicians and Fans, 
combined with an online multi-player social media platform)

As presented at the 2015 Web Summit,  November 3-5, Dublin Ireland

(Our Kickstarter for Phase 1 is live now)

Photo by Isabel Thomas
Eimear Noone discussing the state of the orchestra in the digital age,
With Simon Taylor and Nora Rothrock

OVERVIEW: 

'Muso-VR' will allow musicians and non-musicians alike to virtually experience the electricity of conducting an orchestra, playing in the symphony orchestra, or being an omniscient observer on the concert stage.

The conductor's dressing room, Sydney Opera House

As explained by creator Eimear Noone:  “So many people have approached me at concerts dying to know what it feels like to drive the awesome musical machine that is the symphony orchestra.

Others want to know what all my gestures mean; how I use these to communicate to the players; what is the sonic cause and effect?  I often tell them that conducting is the ultimate real-life musical video game.

'MUSO VR' is my way of sharing an amazing human experience and answering all of these questions by letting fans step into the virtual concert hall, take the podium, and experience the orchestra as I live it.”

 MUSO-VR - NOT JUST A GAME, IT'S A TOOL

As part virtual reality game, part musical tool, Muso-VR will be designed to bring its players a new and heightened way to explore all the elements of the orchestra.  To accomplish this, the game will employ three modes:  Conductor Mode, Player Mode, and Observer Mode.

CONDUCTOR MODE: 

Imagine standing on the podium and looking into the eyes of over 100 virtual musicians and singers, each poised and ready to follow your every gesture.

You’ve studied the instructional videos which have taught you the basic beat patterns, how to start the orchestra, how to keep time…  You even know a bit about how to cue the different players and give indication of dynamics.

You perform your practiced upbeat and begin conducting.  The virtual musicians follow your gestures, performing your favorite orchestral composition.

Look to your right, to your cello section, and the cellos become more prominent in your audio mix.  Look to your left, the violins take over.  Everything in the audio is reflective of the virtual world and what you see.

Your gestures grow in ferocity and the sound, volume, and texture of the orchestra grows in intensity.  You accelerate the beat pattern and the orchestra follows; likewise, when you slow down.

Eimear Noone conducting BT's Electronic Opus at Miami Music Week

At the more difficult levels of play, if you don’t cue the brass for a key entrance, they just don’t play.  Cue them early or late, and they play in the wrong place.

Mess up too many times and the musicians throw down their instruments in disgust and walk off the stage.

Yes, it’s just like real life!

PLAYER MODE:  The Ultimate “Music Minus One”

As Eimear explains:  “For many a musician like myself, who grew up outside of big cities, playing along with ‘music minus one’ records was how I got to experience the orchestra and practice my instrument.”

As Eimear continues:  “ Muso-VR will be designed to take this 'music minus one' experience 10 steps deeper.  Instead of just playing along to a static recording, in Muso-VR, you actually experience the act of sitting at your spot in the orchestra and following a real conductor – you become a part of the performance.”

“Visually, you can see the conductor and players around you.  Turn your head and the sound and visual fields shift to reflect the motion.  The virtual musicians interact with you:  Play your part well and the musicians tap their bows in approval.  Miss your solo entrance and the players turn up their noses at you!  The game even listens/records what you play and points are granted based on your actual performance."

OBSERVER MODE:  A New Way to Experience the Orchestra (or any concert)!

Observer mode is one of the most exciting elements to the game, designed specifically to appeal to fans of all music – not just to gamers or fans of game music; for in developing Muso-VR, Twelve O’clock Arts is creating a brand new way to experience the orchestra – as an omniscient observer.

Using the display and audio engine developed for the game (patented), Twelve O’clock Arts will be able to give the non-gaming music fan an intoxicating aural and visual musical experience – where with the move of a joystick, the end user can virtually walk through the orchestra while the orchestra is playing.

SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTION

Our crowd created "Malach," as performed at the

Dublin International Game Music Festival

One of the most exciting aspects of Muso-VR is that it will also be a social media platform for musicians - where they can share and synchronize their individual performances with fellow performers world-wide.

This idea was born from our work at The Dublin International Game Music Festival.  For our 2015 Dublin International Game Music Festival, a crowd created orchestra joined 134 musicians on stage to perform Eimear Noone's "Malach, Angel Messenger" from "World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor."

Just as it will be in Muso-VR, musicians from all over the globe recorded  themselves performing their individual part in the orchestra.  They then they sent us their videos to assemble one master performance.  We received 128 in all.

Eimear Noone then synchronized the resulting video montage with the orchestra and singers on stage at the Dublin Convention Center in one glorious performance.  You can see the result here.

Built into Muso-VR will be an automated system for musicians to execute what took us months to create manually for "Malach."  It will be a system where musicians can share and synchronize their performances with fellow players; create virtual concerts, virtual orchestras.  The possibilities for collaboration are endless.

LIMITLESS EXPANDABILITY:

Once the engine is built, Muso-VR will offer “expansion packs” such as the Beethoven Symphonies, or music from a specific video game, or other “best sellers” from multiple genres, such as  classical, film music, video game and pop-orchestral world.  For the fan that already owns and loves this music in another format, this will offer a brand new way to experience it. 

Likewise, for the classical music student studying these compositions, the ability to observe the orchestra in this multi-dimensional way would be invaluable.

There will also be a “playback only application,” which doesn’t include the game-play, but is specifically designed for the dedicated music fan craving the multi-dimensional musical experience.

AN END TO BOOTLEGGING

In a world where it is getting more and more difficult to sell an audio CD due to competition from bootlegging, YouTube, Spottily and Apple Streaming, MUSO-VR will break the cycle by creating a proprietary format that can only be played through our application. 

Bottom line:  If a music fan wants the real virtual experience, they will have to buy (or rent) it from Muso-VR.

AUDIENCE:

Muso-VR co-creator Eimear Noone has conducted before hundreds of thousands of game music fans at sold out game music concerts around the world.  Game music fans, however, are just our first target market.

Muso-VR will also appeal to all types of musicians; from the weekend hobbyist to the pro player wanting to tone up their chops, to the student musician needing to practice for an exam. 

Muso-VR will be a new way to experience music that could theoretically be applied to any genre. 

Once the Muso-VR engine is built, one could use it to recreate any concert experience.  Muso-VR could be used to record and recreate a concert at a favorite renowned concert hall with a famous orchestra/band/etc.

With a bit of trickery, one could use the Muso-VR engine to walk on stage with famous artists.  The possibilities, and the potential audience, are boundless.

CROSS PROMOTION WITH OTHER TWELVE O’CLOCK ARTS PROJECTS and PARTNERS:

Our creators at Twelve O’clock Arts are currently producing and participating in a number of projects in parallel to MUSO-VR including:

·      A music competition show entitled, “The Big Score”

·      Video Games Live (The epic concert show created and produced by Tommy Tallarico)

·      The Dublin International Game Music Festival

How does MUSO-VR fit in?

First:  At every Video Games Live  concert, Twelve O’clock Arts will hold a Muso-VR competition in the lobby, much in the way they used to hold Guitar Hero contests.  Whom-ever gets the highest score in the competition gets to actually conduct the orchestra in a single piece. Likewise, there will be Muso-VR contests at the Dublin International Game Music Festival.

Next:  In the Twelve O’clock Arts TV show “The Big Score,” part of the completion includes conducting and tutoring in the craft of conducting.  What better way to show off Muso-VR then as part of this educational process?

Finally, the database of Muso-VR players is the perfect audience for the concerts and game music festivals.  As the number of players increases, so does the potential concert and TV audience.  And of course, those that get really good at Muso-VR would love the opportunity to compete – and possibly conduct or perform in a real orchestra.

For more information:  Contact Craig Stuart Garfinkle, zeldaconductor@gmail.com

About the Creators:

Eimear Noone, Photo by Carlos Guana

“The Irish Queen of Games Music” (Irish Times, 2/2/15), Eimear Noone has emerged as the world premier conductor of games music, both in the recording studio and on the concert stage. 

As the principle conductor for Blizzard Entertainment and regular conductor at Skywalker Ranch, her credits include multiple award winning scores to games such as World of Warcraft (for which she also composes), Diablo, Overwatch, Starcraft, and countless others.

On the stage, for two years, she toured the world conducting over 60 ensembles in, “The Legend of Zelda, Symphony of the Goddesses,” which featured such legendary orchestras such as the Sydney Symphony, The Pittsburg Symphony, The Dallas Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic (among others).  Likewise, her work with the orchestral touring show “Video Games Live,” has brought her to China, Brazil, Germany, Canada, and all across the United States.  The YouTube videos of her conducting game music have views in the millions.

Eimear is also the creator of the critically acclaimed “Dublin International Game Music Festival” which this past April brought game music fans from around the world to Ireland for a three day celebration of game music and those who create it.

Eimear conducted the orchestra for BT and his just released EDM classical crossover CD, Electronic Opus.   "Trans Attack" says of the CD:  

"Thanks to the dedication and creativity of the production team at TanZ, conductor Eímear Noone, Milk & Honey Management, Tommy Tallarico, and BT, “Electronic Opus” signifies a shift in the way dance music and EDM will be perceived from here on out". 

Finally, as a conducting instructor, in addition to her tenure at UCLA continuing studies, her conducting seminars for “The Society of Composers and Lyricists” draw 100’s of participants annually and her private students include Grammy and Emmy winners.

This unique combination of superb conducting skills, exemplary teaching credentials, vast game experience and well-honed stagecraft make her the ideal host, guide, and creator for CONDUCTRIX.

From her fans and colleagues:

“Eimear Noone is one of the most dynamic conductors I’ve ever known. She brings the music to life with her passion, her skill and her clarity. I have had the pleasure of seeing her teach and she is a true master! With Eimear, all of the mysteries of conducting are laid out one by one so that the student is able to apply it to their own approach. Technique, communication, preparation, problem solving are all broken down and explained. As with everything she does, Eimear brings her unique charm and positive spirit to the experience. She is a true Maestro!”

- Mark Watters

Six-time Emmy Award winning composer and conductor
The Olympics, The Oscars, Star Wars In Concert 

“Eimear is a stunningly vibrant performer, conductor and musical force.  This idea of empowering any end user to experience the thrill of helming an orchestra could not have a better champion. Anyone from student to master would have a pleathora of information to learn from one of the most fiery, seasoned and musical performers I’ve ever met. I can’t wait to try this!”

-BT 

Grammy® Nominated Composer/Technologist

"Eimear is a tremendously talented and respected professional in the business. Her enthusiasm, charisma and confidence keep her in such demand both in live and studio recording settings. She is also a shining standout as an effective communicator with the orchestra as well as a wonderful educator and lecturer within her craft."

-Michael Todd 

Sr. Director of Film/TV & Visual Media, ASCAP

“Eimear is one of the great conductors, teachers, performers and composers.  Her energy is as infectious as her always bright outlook on life.  She's bright light in the world in the world Music, be it studio, stage or classroom.   Anyone would be lucky to learn from her wealth of knowledge and experience, both theoretical and real world”

-Trevor Morris

2 time EMMY award winning composer

"…In one movement the audience rose to its feet in standing ovation reminiscent of Riverdance.  It was magic, the response of he audience…  people left exhilarated and in tears."

- The Irish Independent 

On her 2001 debut concert at Dublin's National Concert Hall

"MUSO-VR has great potential in a music education context in providing an interactive environment for students to explore and test their conducting skills in preparation for the live rehearsal.”

- Dr. Clíona Doris

Head of Orchestral Studies

DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama (Dublin, Ireland)

"Eimear runs sessions like an efficient general, but always engenders a calm and collegial atmosphere.  It's a team effort.  When she's running the show, I know we are in good hands."

- John Kurlander

Multi-Grammy® winning orchestral recording engineer

"I have worked with Eimear on many recording and scoring projects. She is a fantastic conductor, and the musicians love playing for her. That makes my job easier."

- Leslie Ann Jones,

Multi-Grammy® Winning Recording Engineer and Music Producer.  

"Eimear, is a profound musical genius, working with her opened up the musical capabilities within me that were frozen. She has an impeccable ear for composition and is by far one of the most versatile arrangers I know. " 

- De'Miyon Hall
Drummer/CEO of Hall Of Music Group LLC

Multi-award winning and Emmy nominated composer Craig Stuart Garfinkle also brings his unique combination of musical expertise, game experience, and production experience to Muso-VR.

Best known for his work composing for games such as World of Warcraft and Baldur’s Gate, he is also known for his epic trailer scores for films such as J.J. Abrams Star Trek, Sin City, The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, Harry Potter, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (to name a few).

Craig is an expert on music technology and production and he regularly lectures and publishes on the subject. 

As an educator, in 2011, Craig received the Outstanding Instructor of the Year award from UCLA’s Entertainment Studies Department for his lectures on film and games music.

Craig is also deeply tied to the game music fans having hosted and produced the Dublin International Game Music Festival,

Finally, he has also produced and directed TV shows, documentaries, and commercials for clients such as Warner Brothers Television, The Paramount Network, Comedy Central and more.

Like Eimear, his unique combination of musical, game and production expertise are the foundation for the creation of Muso-VR.

Paddy Duffy:   

The founder of The Right Word P.R. Company, in addition to his creative and musical acumen, legendary orator, scribe, and P.R. Guru, Paddy Duffy brings his decades of experience cultivating media relations of all forms to Muso VR, ensuring a national and international launch of size and scope that will gain an instant fan-base.

Our Kickstarter to create Muso-VR Phase 1 is live now!

Click here for more info and to pledge