Chapter One

Welcome. You are now part of the processual development of the social audio platform that is islesofyou.com.

The end is open :: The beginning is here.

What is islesofyou?

islesofyou is an interactive audio platform that wishes to foster co-creation, crowd- composing and -performing. We want to prepare the ground for new audio formats and build a welcoming space that encourages diverse, inclusive, and collaborative modes of creation.

We believe that the digital space can be used for so much more than self-contained work; for more than navel-gazing and state-of-mind shows. We wish to question the separation between stage and floor.

Our goal is to bring audio culture to a next level through community and interaction. We have no idea what the results will be — that part relies on you and the spirit of the crowd.

So, what can you do on islesofyou?

Whether you’re here to play around or to publish a performance, the islesofyou web app allows you to easily record your own sound and add it to one of the projects in the gallery. You have access to a growing world of contributions from other beings — as well as your own, of course — which you can arrange, edit, and combine as you please. And others can do the same with your samples. The result will be the coexistence of different versions of each project. Once you’ve subscribed, your versions will be saved within islesofyou and can be posted in external media channels.

Every project consists of an initial audio track - which can be music, sound, spoken word, silence, or a combination of them all - and a background image. That piece of time is then open to other users who can build upon it with a range of acoustic samples. These samples can either be recorded directly or uploaded.

At present, there are only a couple of proto-tracks made available by us — the small team around the artist and founder of IOY, Lump200. In the next stage, which we aim to launch in spring 2023, any user will be able to upload their own projects and initiate interaction with the crowd.

Sounds like chaos? Yes, our approach is highly experimental and it is very likely that we will go through periods of chaos — hopefully with you.

How to use islesofyou

Recording: You will have the best results if you use wired headphones for monitoring. If you don’t need any monitoring you can turn down the volume of the initial track. If you do neither, you will have trouble with feedback, doubled, and slightly shifted layers. Wireless headphones can be used but they generate creepy results — Bluetooth reduces the sound quality a lot if used in two directions (listening and recording) at the same time.

If you wish to place your sample exactly (in terms of milliseconds) where you performed it on the timeline you will have to experiment with the latency correction according to your end device. You can manually adjust this parameter in the preferences of islesofyou.

If you wish your recordings and/or arrangements to be saved you will need to subscribe to the platform first.

Please keep in mind: we are not big tech, so please be patient with us. Our team is very small and this is the very first stage of the app. There may be some technical issues. We will do all we can to solve them.

isleofyou’s non-negotiables

We hope that artists, activists, private beings, politicians, scientists, audio bloggers, producers, and authors will find fruitful interactions with each other and the crowd. In order for these interactions to bear fruit they must be based on respect. Please read our Terms of Use in order to understand what you must and must not do in order not to mess with (copy)rights and to guarantee respectful encounters and dignity. We do not tolerate hate speech or discrimination. If ever you feel uncomfortable with a sample you stumble upon or if you feel it contradicts what islesofyou is meant for please get in touch with us.

At the moment, islesofyou is an open playground. Any ongoing/commercial use of projects started here must be negotiated between users and curators.

If your performance contains a quote, please identify it as a citation and name the author.

Contact: info@islesofyou.com