Category: Other music

Whilst there’s a little bit of a lull in getting some ES Waves material finished up and out I thought I’d put up some of the parts I created and used within my entry for the Sasha remix comp (which I didn’t ‘win’) as I’ve got some free space on my soundcloud.  Putting up parts to some of my tracks has been something I’ve previously thought about, especially as the sound design aspect of my recent music is something I’ve really spent a lot of time over.  Sound design has become a rewarding process for me, and I’m slowly picking up the tools to allow me to shape my music to my ear.  As with most aspects of music production the path is long and open ended (as is the case with most things worth pursuing).

The parts I’ve uploaded are primarily those made using the parts provided at the outset of the comp.  As such there are variations here of some of those parts run through various effects etc.  I’d just got hold of Native Instrument’s ‘The Finger’ as part of the Komplete 7 upgrade pack so there’s several fun variations created using the various eq filters etc.  There are some really cool effects you can get out of that plugin which I’ve no doubt I’ll explore in the near future.  I also used this as an exercise in getting to know some of the compression emulations on the Focusrite Liquid Mix which I’d previously neglected.

I’ve no ownership of these parts and don’t know how interesting they’ll be for anyone out there (not particularly interesting I would imagine for the casual listener).  Maybe they’ll give a little insight into the work that went into making the final track which can be heard / downloaded here

I’m also recording and storing some ‘found sounds’ using the soundcloud app as I’ve now got a smart phone.  When these reach a critical mass I’ve create a public set for people to access.  Again making use of any unused space here.

In this months edition of Sound on Sound the ‘Sounding Off’ article on the last page of the magazine discusses the fact that, in reality, today’s musicians spend a great deal of money, time and effort on making music in full knowledge that they will never be paid for doing so. Effectively the vast majority of today’s musicians are effectively hobbyists no matter how polished or ‘professional’ their technical skills are or how satisfying the end product is. The article goes on to justify why people armed with this knowledge still devote a great deal of time and money to create music and then attempt to sell it in some way. The article’s author’s justification for this is that the thrill of making and listening to music still remains.

As a committed ‘hobbyist’ (see above) I agree with his conclusion to an extent. The love of music still remains for me. The passion I had when I was younger to seek out and purchase exciting new music in vast quantities has to an extent left me. I see this partly as an age thing but the main reason I feel is because I’ve spent so much time actually making music in the studio that to then spend what free time I have to listen to a lot more music would be extremely fatiguing. That’s not to say that I can’t take a break from the studio to enjoy other music. Putting together the first podcast was fun and I’ll be putting together another in the near future (and hopefully another after that time permitting (hence the reason why it’s the first in an occasional series of podcasts)).

My qualification to his argument is the perception that given by the traditional media, well all media I guess, is that the people that are releasing records and, on occasion either touring or playing dj dates, do so as their only source of income. That the myth of the carrot of a professional career is still pushed into the enthusiasts consciousness. I have no idea what take home income a middle ranking artist receives but I can believe it’s not great. I’d be really interested to find out just how people who are marketed as professional electronic musicians really make their living. Money is of course one thing and soul is another but still.

Do I believe that a viable system will be stumbled upon the monetise the sale of music? With present day consumer electronics this dream is unlikely but who knows what’s coming in the future. It’s clear that the success of music is linked to the platform by which it’s consumed.

I should also say that like the author of the article in sound on sound I am thousands of pounds down in respect of the amount of money I have spent on musical equipment, music, music lessons etc set against the amount of money I have actually made from music…