Friday, June 17, 2016

Out of the Ashes

*Note: This is a re-upload from the old blog*

So, for something to rise out of the ashes, that usually implies that something was killed (or thought to have been). And that's what this post is about. From HortonHub to Composer Détraqué. I'll quickly explain the decision to change, and how Composer Détraqué (CDMusik) was born.


So, first things first, I finally killed off HortonHub. I said I was going to do this a while ago, or at the very least, mentioned it in one of my Musescore song descriptions. The reason why I didn't just end HortonHub then was because I didn't know how to transition it. Or what I should even call my brand afterwards. So, I stuck with HortonHub whilst trying to find a new brand name I could really get into. But why exactly did I want to kill off HortonHub Music?

Well, I first wanted to kill it off since I had gotten a new (full-time) job. And with me feeling that HortonHub was at the top of its game at the time (right after the release of "The Plague Doctor), I was afraid that this new job would kill the quality that I would put out. And I didn't want to ruin what I built with HortonHub on Musescore (IMGUR).This was the main reason, but there is a secondary reason as well. That reason was that I had started going by my real name. During the creation of HortonHub, I created the name after my designated online name, which was Benjamin Horton. That name was inspired by Dr. Seuss's Horton the elephant. Instead of "Horton Hears a Who", I created the name thinking "A Who hears Horton's Music". And after that name, HortonHub was born!

But in Spring 2015, I switched to the name of Benjamin Basford (family name). Now, because this name (Basford) had nothing to do with Horton(Hub), I didn't want any confusion as to why my brand was called HortonHub. With these reasons in mind, I set about creating Composer Détraqué.

Now that the history lesson is over, let's talk about CDMusik!
So, first things first, the name!

I wanted whatever initials I was going to use fit somewhere in the musical alphabet (A-G). I knew from the beginning that the first word was going to be along the lines of "Composer" or "Composing". The harder part was finding the accompanying word. The first one I settled on was "Composing Admiral". I really quite enjoyed the name, and went out and created some rough sketches of logos to go along with it.



This was the first sketch. I decided to go and try to use a real Admiralty symbol (using the US Navy for reference). I got the stars, and then added a few extra stripes to make the staff bar. I then places some stars in the spots that the initials would be in, which would be the "C" and "A". Topped with a custom text, which put the letters behind a staff. Here's that by itself:



Of course, that first top image would be a little complicated to work as a logo, but more along the lines of some kind of cover-art or background. So, I took the key elements, and reduced it to something smaller and simpler. This was the result:



After some thinking though, I decided to stray away from "Composer Admiral". The biggest reason being that I really was aiming for a simple, but effective logo to associate with the new brand. And I wanted something more music-like. I then decided to make sure that the initials would C and D (CD). It represented a musical item, while meeting the prerequisite for being in the musical alphabet. After going through different words that started with a "D", the one that really stood out to me as détraqué. It means "insane; deranged". After deciding that that seemed perfectly acceptable (Insane Composer), I moved onto the logo. I wanted a musical symbol somewhere in there, but for it to be as basic but memorable as possible, but whilst also having the initials in there somehow.
And with that criteria, I finally came across one that I decided was unbelievably perfect, and didn't pursue/edit any further. And here's that logo:



 On to the Cover-art design!

  ...I'm just kidding, that's another post for another day.
Any thoughts on the CD brand? Let me know in the comments!

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