Welcome To The New Open Mic Discord Server!

Some of you may already be aware, but a few weeks back I set live the new Open Mic Discord - it was after the last Sounds of Steem event and I may have treated it a little like an after party for the concert.

Since then we have had a steady stream of Open Mic entrants join and jump in for a chat, but things are still fairly quiet and new - due in part to me not having done this post telling the masses, what we have available for the music community on steemit!

So I figured now was as good a time as any to write a top level post to let all the entrants, musicians and music lovers of steemit know what we have here.

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What is Discord?

I figured a few people might not know about Discord in general, so the quick explanation is that Discord is App for conversation and interaction - basically people can create their own place and invite others to join and participate.

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What's the purpose of an Open Mic Discord?

Well when @ausbitbank and I went about setting up this new server, our goal was to create a place for our entrants to take things to the next level - we had noticed more and more collaborations and comment threads that were somewhat awkward to follow.

Keeping a conversation going in comments isn't always the best way to interact, especially if you're going over details that require longer chats or in depth explanations - so I figured why not create a place for our amazingly talented musicians to come hang out and maybe even thrive on the new found accessibility.

I wanted a hub of activity a place where the judges and entrants could interact as one, a place we could all feel welcome where no topic is off limits in the general chat - but also somewhere where people can come to ask advice on anything music related, or even discussing the details of a collaboration or cover of another entrants original music.

Now we have a place to conduct longer drawn out conversations with people in real time, instead of waiting for a comment reply that can take day's if the people notice it at all - basically a way for all musicians to interact and take things to a new level with other Open Mic'ers.

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What features exist on the Open Mic Discord?

Well we are constantly adding and changing things as we spend more time in there, at the moment we have a few different top level sections.

The first area is focused on communication and chatting, we have several themed rooms like original music, covers, collaborations and many more - theses rooms are designed to be a guide, a starting off point to inspire people with what they can do here.

Hell there is even a section for tutorials and advice, we have several entrants with experience in sound recording and engineering - even if you just want to ask what equipment to buy, really anything you can think of and if you want something added just ask if it works we can add it!

The next section is called New entries, this in my opinion is a great resource for all - we have set it up so that anything posted under the Open Mic tag will automatically appear in this room, it's a great way for people to keep up to date with entries in the Open Mic contest.

Then we have a section for people to ask the judges questions, or to make suggestions about the contest or the discord - it's a way for entrants to have easy direct access to the judges, it may take us some time to reply (we are all kept rather busy with the contest) but it's a new channel of communication open to everyone.

We than have a section which is dedicated to giving musicians and music lovers information and resources, there is one place to look to find the judges posts - important links and posts, resource links and even a place where musicians can self promote their other social media!

The next section is one of my favourites, its the jukebox and voice channels - we have a place for everyone to listen to music including that from entrants of Open Mic, the app only plays youtube clips so there are limitations but hey it's a massive start.

Then with the voice channels this is where I get really excited, there are just so many possibilities in this area - for instance after the Sounds of Steem, a group of us ended up in there just chatting and @joseacabrerav even ended up doing a killer impromptu performance!

This would be an ideal place for people wanting to rehearse, get some advice, test out something on a crowd of your peers - really the possibilities are endless, I think this area will be a massive game changer for those willing to jump in and use the resources available.

There are also some private areas for the judges to get some work done, the added bonus for me as a judge is that I can be in there doing my work - but when people drop in I'm there and able to interact and get to know more of you, it's a great way for me to socialise a little more with our musicians (because commenting isn't always an option when I'm run off my feet).

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Who should join Open Mic's discord?

Well anyone really, if you're a musician or a music lover - anyone is welcome and that includes musicians that aren't entering Open Mic, we are all about the love of music here let's not get bogged down in the details!

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Why should I join the Open Mic discord?

It is totally up to you, but this is truly an amazing opportunity in my books - you have unfettered access to musicians from all over the world and there really isn't too much in the way of limitations to what you do in here.

I will mention that there are some basic rules, that come down to behaving like a decent person - so if you got that down, there aren't too many limitations.

But this is a resource for you to use, have a question about what amp to buy - jump in and ask, who know's you may get some advice that saves you from an expensive purchase or one that wasn't fully suited to your needs.

Want to cover someones original music, why not jump in the Cover a Steemian room where it is dedicated to discussion about @pechichemena's thriving project - you can ask people if they mind you use one of their songs, or discuss the chords used the structure or meaning anything you need!

There are so many options, really the only limitation is your imagination - this is a place where I think all musicians can thrive and take their creations and creativity to whole new levels.

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So that is the rather simplistic run down of the Open Mic discord server, with just a few reasons why it could be beneficial for you to jump on and give it a go.

We currently have 58 musicians from all over the world on the server, mostly Open Mic entrants and veterans - the place is growing each day and will continue to do so.

This is your place though, it's up to you to make it into the amazing resource it can be - and all you have to do is join up and interact, in time people will flock and this will become an brilliant place to fulfil all your musical needs.

I hope you all enjoy the new resource and to see some more familiar Open Mic faces dropping by, so far it has been awesome for me as a judge just getting to chat with some of you I haven't had the chance to until now.

What feature are you most interested in exploring on the new Open Mic discord?

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