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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:06 am 
 

Well, it seems that some of the biggest trouble people get on MA is related to splits and split albums. It's clear that some revision is going to have to be made to the system to make it less buggy and awkward overall. So, here's some issues for discussion:

1. Cover art. There's the obvious trouble of only veterans being able to add art to splits (this is an issue with lyrics, as well). However, I think that another useful ability would be based on allowing each listing of the split to have different artwork. Since split 7" releases frequently come with a band on each side providing its own artwork, I think it would make sense to allow each page to have its own 'side'. For instance:

Image
Image

These are the two sides for the Embalming Theatre/XXX Maniak split 'Wrong Choice/Gay For Christopher Reeve'. The idea is that the Embalming Theatre listing for the split would possess their artwork, and likewise for XXX Maniak. True, you can do this by putting the pictures together in a photo editing utility, but I think a functionality like this would speed up such a process considerably.

2. Non-sequential band listings on split. If you'll look at a listing like this:

http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=143107

You'll see that the number of bands falls within the appropriate number for the Archives, but the tracks are not collected under each band. However, all the bands are in the Archives; the problem is that their names aren't linked like on normal splits, and it has to be entered as a split album. Portraying it in a way such as this is the best I've seen so far:

http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=104428

But still seems rather clumsy overall. A possible solution: add a check box when entering a split for nonsequential track order. When checked, one would be able to add each band and song manually, to preserve the order as it actually is. Granted, this is still a little clumsy; does anyone else have an idea?

3. Split albums versus splits. I think that this could be rather easy to solve by combining the formats. For instance, if one leaves the band ID box blank, it would prompt the user to enter the name of the artist, where it would be displayed as a normal split, but merely bolded, not linked to anything. I think something like that could make the system much more consistent overall.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?
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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 6:25 pm
Posts: 5343
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:34 am 
 

I want to add something. I have recently added a band from Algeria with the name Bactotavaiy. They have a three way split withe Agor and Azar. These band s are not added to the MA so far, but their demos all come with a different layout. There is one overall layout, but it would be neat to add them directly to the bands in the split. It would mean that for instance that here
http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=104428
could be added at each band a separate design.
Till now it looks this way:
http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=143477
I am not quite satisfied with it and I did not want to work on the picture, because it would be necessary to add a lot of explanation in order to explain it.
I did not really know how to do it properly so I added the split as it is.

Bactotavaiy
http://darkarts.online.fr/bactotavaiy/distro.html
Agor
http://darkarts.online.fr/agor/index2.html
Azar
http://darkarts.online.fr/azar/discographie.htm

Noktorn wrote:
But still seems rather clumsy overall. A possible solution: add a check box when entering a split for nonsequential track order. When checked, one would be able to add each band and song manually, to preserve the order as it actually is.

That would be a good idea. The numbers of the tracks and the songtitle could then be added manually.
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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:18 pm 
 

Any opinions from mods?
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erickg13
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:46 pm
Posts: 994
Location: The Middle of the Pacific Ocean.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:48 pm 
 

so it would read instead of

(for Example use only)

Metallica
track 1:
track 2: (actually 3)
track 3: (actually 5)

Alice in Chains
track 4: (actually 2)
track 5: (actually 4)
track 6:

to

Metallica
track 1:
track 3:
track 5:

Alice in Chains
track 2:
track 4:
track 6:

or something like that? i get the basic jist of your idea, i like it....

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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:59 pm 
 

erickg13 wrote:
so it would read instead of

(for Example use only)

Metallica
track 1:
track 2: (actually 3)
track 3: (actually 5)

Alice in Chains
track 4: (actually 2)
track 5: (actually 4)
track 6:

to

Metallica
track 1:
track 3:
track 5:

Alice in Chains
track 2:
track 4:
track 6:

or something like that? i get the basic jist of your idea, i like it....


Yes, something like this would be cool. There are a lot of possible ways to render it, but that's one of the better ones I can think of.
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erickg13
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:46 pm
Posts: 994
Location: The Middle of the Pacific Ocean.
PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:09 pm 
 

also, i like the idea to have a split that is with a band not in the archives, to have it just in bold....

one thing while on the topic of splits, i know that Altar is NOT a split between sunn o))) and boris, and is a fully on collaboration...so is there someway to connect the album for both pages?

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Evenfiel
Heavy Metal Hunter

Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 9:50 am
Posts: 4619
Location: Brazil
PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:03 pm 
 

Those are old problems that will be fixed in v2. There is nothing we can do about them now.

Erickg's suggestion sounds good. Just make sure to add a note in the additional notes about it.

About the Boris / Sunn collaboration album, just add it to both pages.

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