Quote Originally Posted by Gandalf View Post
Good job on putting the lyrics together. You are very articulate and put words together in a very dexterous manner. That's a lot of words for 150 seconds, but because the track flows so smoothly you don't really realise that. I particularly like the seamless blending of words, unusual collocations, and the way you rhyme words that are not at all obvious.

Just a few questions because I'm curious about your process. How do you record your music? Do you have all the instruments yourself? What instruments are they? Do you record with other people? What equipment do you use for production? Also what is your typical routine for composing a track? Does the music always come first? Do you have a topic and then work around that?

I ask these questions because I think it is an interesting topic and we don't really have many threads on things like how to make music, and various creative things like that. There's a lot on the stuff we like, but not so much on the stuff we do ourselves and I just think maybe that could be something constructive and useful.


How do you record your music?

With a microphone/s and a PC unless I am on location or in a studio. In this case though the valve on my microphone had gone and so the vocals were actually recorded with binaural condensers which look like in the ear headphones and are used to maintain a genuine recreation of the stereo spectrum as experienced by human ears. My sound card had also given up the ghost and so this negated the need to use it's pre amps and actually recorded the vocals on to a Hi-MD (16 bit Pro Mini Disc) before transferring back into the PC.

Do you have all the instruments yourself?
What instruments are they?

No. Although until recently I did have quite a few, my dire financial situation has necessitated me gradually selling them off. I still have my Bass guitar and a couple of synthesizers, a theramin and various hand drums and percussion instruments.

Do you record with other people?

Generally not when working on my own material though I have often collaborated both as an electronic duo and in various bands. I have recorded many bands and solo artists as both sound engineer and producer but not for a while now. Virtually all the acts on Tough Pigeon Records are me under different guises.

What equipment do you use for production?

I have and continue to use whatever is at hand. Your equipment and the technology employed to record are only tools and it is my job as an operator to use them creatively and think outside of the box when innovating new solutions for unique problems. Signal path is important so a range of decent microphones is a good starting point and then a decent pre amplifier or interface/compressor to maintain that quality as it goes into your recording device whether that is a PC,Sound Recorder or tape machine. I use my PC most now a days but I have used tape machines and Hard disk recorders etc in the past. Record Decks and hundreds of old records and my own field recordings.


Also what is your typical routine for composing a track?

Does the music always come first? Do you have a topic and then work around that?

For me there really is no typical way of doing so. The journey may start with a sample or a flash of lyrical inspiration late at night, scribbled on a post it note. In the case of UNIVERSE the track above, If I remember correctly (it was actually recorded late last year) It started with me sampling some old Jazz Lps looking for drum hits and loops for another project and coming across a couple clear upright Bass notes, distinct and clear from any other instruments on the recording. I think two notes came from a track on one side of the LP and the one note from the other. These were cleaned up in Sony Sound Forge and pitch shifted until so that I could create the riff the track Hangs on, The drums are old library loops that I collected a long time ago and are a combination of a friend playing and an old soul record. The strings are arranged from a virtual sample/synthesiser inside a software program called Reason and the track itself was put together mainly in Sony's ACID wav editor. I rarely have a topic and often come up with Lyrics in a stream of conciousness like trance by simply jamming aginst loops much like an MC would with his DJ or in a battle with others. This is for a trip hop style track like this but if I am working in a band then I will often Jam or write traditionally often with the guitarist.