I love the original music and I think it adds a lot to your videos. However, I feel like you could easily reuse the same 15-20 songs in all videos going forward and that would not take much away from the finished product. Long time viewers may notice it a bit but I'd be willing to bet that 99% would rather take more frequent uploads than completely new music in every video. There are a lot of channels that I watch that use the same few songs in all of their videos, and in many cases I actually prefer that approach because I come to associate those songs with their work.
Been watching Adventure Archives and your vlog for a long time now (since around 2017) and I think the biggest thing holding you guys back is the RU-vid algorithm, as it favours people who post very often. Since you guys post on adventure archives only around once per month, it's not optimal for the channels growth. The quality is there in all aspects and you guys deserve success. I believe your music is great and definitely sets you apart, but with a library of over 600+ songs, using them 2-3 times again in the next videos would last you years and save hours per year on editing
My favorite scene in Adventure Archives, is the scene where you and Thomas are returning from the grueling yet awesome trip to Katahdin. Andrew is bring you guys a drink and he sees you guys coming. Then, BOOM! The Adventure Archives theme plays. It was just perfect! It totally captured your entire project/mission for me. Having adventures, looking out for each other, being in the outdoors, just everything and the theme song tied it all together. So, is it effective to use YOUR created music over again? Absolutely, it is! Good decision. We look forward to your future endeavors.
Robby, I was a professional musician before becoming a chef. When I launched Delta Safari I was inspired by the fact that y'all composed your own music. I wrote and recorded 3 original tunes and realized I couldn't do that every week. I use music composed by others and I take solice in the fact that I am highlighting someone else's hard work and creativity.
Just to echo what others have said here, and I may post a comment somewhere on the AA Patreon where appropriate, but. I adore the music in AA videos. The fact that you write the music for the show brings such a personal touch that I think is really, truly very valuable. That said, I don't think it would detract to have a library of the music you've written, and reuse it for different "types" of shot. A library of 4-6 tracks for the prologue or preamble, a similar amount for the trail hiking shots, for setting up camp. Perhaps even seasonal differences, a la Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. And maybe every episode has it's own special track or two, that go along with an extra special shot, kind of a sting on an especially grand view, or a captured moment of peace and reflection. Or action, should such a thing come up. I think this would give AA it's own sort of iconic soundtrack, that gets remixed and switched up just a bit, and as you spoke on, frees up time during production while maintaining both the creative outlet and the charm of the self produced music. Y'all are definitely, absolutely underappreciated in the segment of RU-vid you occupy, and I can only imagine it's because the upload schedule y'all are on is so different to what that algorithm likes. Your production quality, storytelling, and personalities are all worthy of 4-5x your subscriber count and more, so if streamlining the production process in this or a similar way could hurry production along even a few weeks, it would be worth a try in my (admittedly unsolicited) opinion. Love y'all, your video from the Timberline Trail got me into backpacking, and back into being an outdoors type in general after a hiatus. Keep up the good work!
Robby, I love your music because it is part of your branding. Every time I watch I know I can expect a quality soundtrack its really relaxing. I appreciate all you guys do. my very first video was Andrew doing really early plant identification and was hooked when I watched one of very few hiking videos that were on the channel. Its gotten me back into hiking as well. I have been really enjoying your blogs so much to see behind the scenes. You seem like a friend I could hangout with without a hitch! I grew up in Indiana and enjoy some of the humor over the years about it. Proud of you guys and how far you have come!
Agreeing with the other comments here, the original music is a major part of what sets Adventure Archives apart for me. Reusing your own pieces is totally understandable but I can't stomach hearing those 3 songs from whatever music service everyone else seems to be using any longer.
GIVE ME MORE ADVENTURE ARCHIVES. I’m here for the conversations, views, and education! Music adds to it but certainly isn’t THE highlight of the channel! Great choice Robby! 🤝
Time is the most valuable thing you have, my friend! So I completely understand where you are coming from... what if you did one original song per sode and the rest was repeat ur other stuff or royalty free? Mostly.... just keep pumping our rockin' videos! Adventures Archives changed my life! ... no joke!
Hi! New to both channels. I have definitely noticed the difference in the music. I think it is cool that you write your own. That being said, I agree with others, that you could generally use a "set" of songs you've written. I know when other channels have a set song or songs, when I hear them, I get happy because I know I'm about to see something from folks I love. That way, the music is still you, but you don't have to invest so much time, each time. You can still take the time to write something special when it feels right. Along the lines of saving some production time, I want to offer some constructive feedback (I hope). You all put lots of effort into writing and recording your voice-overs. Voice overs can be super helpful to further explain things, but sometimes I feel it becomes rhapsodizing at every turn (I mean, nature IS awesome.) I think however, it sometimes turns into so much oohing and ahhing and searching for more adjectives, that it loses impact. What you're showing (both the nature and your affection for each other) speaks for itself. Point is, I think you all are great, and we don't need to be told how exciting, exquisite, and enticing everything is. (You can keep the nostalgia coming, of course.) You all do you. I'm just hoping to be helpful. We're now incorporating your videos into our weekly family "Backpacking video nights". ❤
I'm 100% down for more videos but I also like your music so this puts me in a dilemma. What happened to the plan of reusing some previous songs and mixing in some new songs? Is that still going on? You can test throwing some royalty-free music to see if it works out. Maybe for an episode or two and see (and/or ask the audience) if we notice the change. Adventure Archives is your jam have fun with it. Another thing that I was thinking about is related to reusing previous songs - remixing them or fine-tuning them. Some of those old songs maybe need a fresh coat of paint or some new perspective to shine in a new episode. This way you don't need to come up with a whole new songs but mix up a previous one to sound better. Editing is sometimes easier than coming up with something new. If you take a listen to Daft Punk's first songs on Spotify, you can hear the elements present in their most popular songs.
“The amount it adds to the video is not equal to the amount of time we put into the music.” Wrong. 😁 I don’t think I’m alone on this but I think the music you create is the magical medium that binds all of the other content together. It’s a multiplier of the all of the other content making it one of the most valuable contributions to the overall project.
I really love your music! It adds so much to each scene. But, I also appreciate what you’re saying about increasing quantity of videos, so having said that, do what feels right for you. ❤
You can even use tunes from years ago, I think a lot of them were great. Lots of others I follow that do travel content etc continue to use the same tunes, probably too much but they’re still growing their channel. Just need to find something that fits well, so basically quality over quantity.
Next time let the paint completely dry and the whole thing will peal up, although it does look like it’s in a bad spot for not stepping in while drying. 🤪
No one will look down on you if you use stock music. It's pretty standard for daily vloggers. Also, I personally think 6-10 minute videos are the optimum length for YT. I was curious, do you listen to LoFi Girl? Seems like a type of music you would enjoy, sort of the next phase of ambient. We really liked the soundtrack for the Kumano Kodo videos around our house. Keep up the good work!
Would you switch the business model to instead of doing one 2 hour long video - you split it into 2-3 parts or frame in episodes? Also would allow for more cognitive content and people to revisit the page weekly. That could add to the upload regularity. You can maybe take a page out of Jetlag The Game channel where they do weekly uploads in seasons, but paid users get the episodes 1 week earlier
i did not know you were a muscian, I have been going over the old videos, again, and the music does vary how much of them did you do yourself (and possibly others helping you?) guys have any plans on another backpacking trip? may I recommend you start to learn to id plants, poor andy probably could use a break. whats up with your hair, lol
I love the music in your videos, however I am one of those music-barbarians thst would not notice if you repeated some music that was used previously at all 😅 So, please keep making music that you enjoy but it is also very okay to re-use previously written music in multiple videos 🤗
Why don’t you write like a unqiue ‘theme song’ for each episode and then use samples from that combined with old songs/remixes of old songs? Many people might not notice the royalty free music but doing your own definitely sets the channel apart.
Dude, I'm a long time viewer of AA and I've been thinking this for the longest time. Original music is cool but I'm sure 99% of your viewers won't notice or care if you repeat some music.
