“And, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of Heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.” - Shakespeare
I was classically trained and have never made the leap from “kid who studied music” to anything resembling an adult musician. I didn’t even try. Unlike me, my brother was a professional musician. I always admired his ability to stay connected to music. And then, recently, he died.
I have been thinking of creating electronic music for a few years, but I never have. Now I have something that feels a little bit like a compulsion: could I make some music based on samples from my brother’s band’s music? It honors him, it’s an emotionally safe exercise where there’s no “right or wrong,” and just the process is itself healing. In short, it’s a nice idea. But how?
I began this journey at the SF Music Tech conference at the Hotel Kabuki.
Tools are everywhere, and when I asked people where to start, many pointed to Ableton Live, despite the learning curve. Others suggested the path of Rana June Sobhany (on twitter as @ranajune), who after splurging on a lot of different tools to start, ended up simply enough with two iPads. The blog “The Creative Project” has a great post on her favorite applications.
Many electronic musicians are former keyboardists, and there was some semantic discussion around the term “DJ,” but the concept of being a “controllerist” was brought up by Moldover and Rich Trapani (@richddt) of LoveTech. Moldover brought in a great product called the MiniMasher (here's the Octomasher), which was in the lounge area, allowing people to play with or without an analytical mindset of understanding the instrument.
In the forum Rana June sat on, the founder of khu.sh, Prerna Gupta, mentioned how she felt participating in electronic musician that she was somehow “cheating,” was met with comments about how musicianship is musicianship, whether trained formally or informally. Rana June said, “anyone can go to the grocery store and buy ingredients; but that doesn’t make a chef!” which encompassed both the idea of fun amateur participation and also validated the many ways in which talent can evolve to art.
I was also able to conduct a couple of interviews with electronic musicians, and this is what they had to say:
Alice Stands
I had the opportunity to talk with SynthPop songwriter Alice Stands. Alice is a classically trained pianist who also plays bass, and did her college degree in computer science and pulled it together taking a Master’s degree in Music and Media Technology from Trinity College.
Alice wrote songs as a teenager. She began experimenting with “digital” media because of her interest sequencing, but she began with an 8-track. So computer sequencing, rather than being daunting, just sped up the process.
Alice’s genre is synthpop or “acid pop,” which she finds interesting because it extends pop, which is ubiquitous. But in her advice she points out that not everything needs to be “squeaky clean,” and is interested in “found sounds” from the street, and other kinds of rawness, herself. She brought up the context of the sound – that people should think about the choices, and meaning of the samples they include. Other pointers?
- Don’t be afraid to use controllers and keep away from the mouse
- Collaborate! Electronic music doesn’t have to be this introverted thing. It’s important to remember what music really is. Play with people in a jam. Try team music – such as the gorillaz.
Carson Day, working on the Anon Day project.
Carson first heard trance at a record store in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco when he was a twelve year old. After begging his mom to let him go to raves, she finally relented, and he became immersed, still as a teen. That led to bigger events which needed more money. The events would fly big name DJ’s in from London, and they’d stay at his mom’s Bed and Breakfast. Carson would sit in on studio sessions and absorb.
Because of his early professional life coinciding with High School, Carson took the GED exam to leave school early, and studied music production at city college. He then went to Expression College, which he said was an “amazing experience” in learning how to get a studio under control.
While Carson’s musical tastes are inherently sophisticated, he is highly focused on keeping people entertained, or as he says he thinks it’s important to relate to people while sitting behind computers. He prefers to “keep it about performance and creation; something can still go wrong.”
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