kcinsu

Zoe: I don't like the music. It has no staying power for me. When I heard both of his latest albums for the first time, I said "holy shit" because they are extremely well produced, and he is tapping into a sound that I enjoy. That said, it just feels unispired. I don't feel like it takes me anywhere special. It is saccharin sweet at times, and I'm not big on that either. Second listens where lackluster, and there weren't many more after that, because I was never truly engaged compositionally. So artistically, his music doesn't do much for me. So then I focus on the production, (because it is very well produced) and then I can't help but think about all of the people he hires, so I find it hard to get all that excited about him as a producer either, because it truly is a team of people doing all of that stuff... If it was him alone, in his bedroom doing 6000+ vocal edits by hand, I'd say, my hats off to you sir. But I know he has interns doing this stuff, creating custom software etc for him. And I don't doubt that he has an overall artistic vision that propels this, but like I said before, I just don't like his music much. It also bugs me, that he markets himself as this amazing producer, but doesn't talk much about his team (from what I've read at least), and that rubs me the wrong way. There is a general implication that a solo electronic music producer, does all of their own music. At least in the realm of music that I grew up listening to. Think of all the electronic music artists that work alone. And then when you have someone that markets themselves as an individual (it is his initials after all) you kind of have an idea that this is a solo artist doing this. Now, yes, it's nice to look at art without factoring in anything else besides just the art, but I'm not the one putting his face on every album cover, and doing interviews claiming to have invented stutter rhythms (he calls them logarithmic triplets) and generally living the LA hollywood lifestyle. I didn't go in search of photos of BT to criticize: he plasters his image on most of his releases! Kind of hard to avoid, no? So to criticize people for factoring in how he presents himself, is kind of odd. Music very often is part of a package that symbolizes a lifestyle. It's inherent in every genre. There are cultures based around music, and so to say we have to listen to his work objectively, without factoring in the image he markets himself with, etc, is a bit idealistic to say the least, if not totally missing the point. When I hear BT, I think of hollywood glamor. I think of dudes in white suits, with their hair purposefully spiked, going to parties on ibiza, making music that is very hollywood in itself... flashy and well produced, but lacking soul. None of those things speak to me musically, or culturally. I don't live that lifestyle. The only reason I'm ranting about this, is because I find it kind of odd that you come here asking for peoples thoughts on an artist you like, and then proceed to find ways to invalidate their opinions, when they offer up opinions that are contrary to yours. You can't just say "I see your point of view. Thanks" I really don't care if you or anyone else loves him, and thinks he is amazing. I do think people would be less impressed if they knew he was actually a corporation, and sometimes I point that out, because I often see to him refereed to as the epitome of the modern musician. That is false. How many modern electronic music makers have teams and high end studios? Not many. He is successful, he is obviously dedicated, and he does have good visions (I do believe he genuinely loves what he does etc) but in the end, I don't like the music, and I don't like the marketing, and I don't like the behind the scenes. But you know, you did ask...

Oh, and that Spheres of Fury track is sick! I never really listen to much dubstep... I've just heard so much bad stuff, that I kind of wrote it off. But after discovering Hecq, I have to say, I am a fan. I just haven't found anyone else that does it as skillfully as he does. Even the majority of other tracks in this thread don't do much for me.

I actually kind of remember you telling me about him when you were here... maybe even gave me some to listen to. Should have listened!

He did not graduate from Berklee. He attended for 1-2 semesters and dropped out. Berklee just likes to make it sound like famous people graduated from there, regardless of how long they attended. They call Chick Corea an alum despite the fact that they expelled him for smoking weed. He does have strong ties with Berklee now, though.

He said in a Reddit AMA that Binary Universe cost him $200,000 to make (and he claims to have not turned a profit but lost money on that one) maybe the high cost of producing that album was due to hiring people to do c-sound crap for him? pretty sure you're right about that. I think one of the people he hired for it was richard devine, but I don't remember where I heard that (here somewhere I think) so that might not be right. they collaborated on a soundtrack/sound design of a movie, I believe. If I remember correctly, the sound track and the sound design kind of acted together, so they teamed up (could be wrong). It's not my understanding that RD was working for BT. They became friends after this, and RD does remixes for BT from time to time.

Most of his cool music comes from uncredited interns/staff. He has a team of people that comes up with cool ideas and do all of his editing grunt work. He is a corporation.

So I have heard his name here and there and just checked him out. Came here to make a thread, and saw this one on front page. I downloaded Avengers, and I have to say: holy fuck. His sound design is ridiculous! Seeing your guys praise of his older stuff makes me definitely want to check it out.

I picked up a cheap original sps-1 about 6 months ago... fucking love this thing. someday I'll upgrade to a uw mkii +drive, but the difference from what I paid for mine is about $1100 so I can't really justify that much money any time soon. sounds so good though... so good!

they'll use this: but with dubstep wobbles.

So that girl I commissioned to make mine never followed through. Luckily no money was exchanged, so no biggie... but still no artwork... also money is tight now, so the tattoo will most likely be postponed until I get a new job. It will be my present to myself for getting a new job. Oh yeah, and I still have to have it designed...

you've proven youcannot actually be an admirable member of this forum and instead spew distractions (what does any of your acoustic rants have to do with post a picture of your studio). maybe next time you will take a brief moment to intterogate your own trolling behaviors on this board before rushing in to annoy the shit out of members of this forum and placing your sense of superiority on display for public showcasing. sink your heels in - keep telling yourself that people here care about information that is off topic, and is obviously being used as a sock in your underwear; don't cave in an attempt to be someone that anyone else on this board would take seriously, or even like.

ffs stay on topic... post pictures of your studio.

yeah, I mentioned that breifly in one of my posts. I especially like connecting control modules on my Nord, and scaling them to note values, and recording that MIDI output :)

oh, I'm quite aware... I've had this debate many times. It's just funny that I might have appeared to be on the other side of the argument! Just in this case, I didn't think it was helpful to say "go learn theory".

For the record, I have a degree in music composition. I'm not going to tell anyone NOT to study it, but practically, advice on how to change up your work flow, is going to be more helpful to more people, than saying, go learn theory. it takes a lot of time and dedication to get much out of music theory, and realistically not many people are going to go out and study it because I advised them to.

that made me want to see if I was right, as I never really confirmed that... and I was!

I'm surprised you remembered that! Glad I've given you some ideas :)

for sure... however those techniques are for composers, who have studied theory deeply, and can use it as a tool. most people here don't have that level of musical education, so I'm not going to recommend that they use those tools. saying noodling is wasteful is a bit close minded. id say writing out every inversion and retrograde is wasteful too, if you don't use all of them, no? actually, anything you don't use in your final piece is a waste, by that logic, right? often times you have to create the waste to get the goods. but really, this is an endless topic, and what it comes down to, is really just trying to offer different ways for people to come up with new ideas, using the skill set they currently have. im not going to tell anyone to go read a theory book. i will point out a few simple ways to approach their current methods though, to get results they might not have before.

also, regarding chords... ive found many times in my noodling, that I'll do something that sounds really awesome... and then I'll try to analyze it with music theory, and have been lost to what exactly I did, or why it works. I'm sure with enough effort and time, I could find some theoretical justification for what I did, but honestly, who cares? It sounds good, and I never would have come to that conclusion had I focused on harmonic progressions as a starting point. analyzing your music should be a last resort, when you are beyond stuck. imo,

I used to write all of my music exclusively via drawing in the piano roll. I've never been much of a performer... but I started realizing the stiffness that resulted from that approach. forgetting about being a "performer" I would just try to noodle things on the keyboard. the result, was much more musical phrases, that were more nuanced and varied than anything I could do simply thinking about chord sequences and placement on a time-line. like I said, I'm not much of a performer, so this process does rely heavily on going back through the mess of an improv that you just played, and picking out the gems. inspiration can be short and fleeting... thank god we have MIDI record. I also get inspiration from semi-random MIDI stuff... I'll build a little MIDI system on my nord, or I'll put arpeggiators on a track in live, and mix and match MIDI effects, and then record those MIDI events to another track. let it run for 10 mins... there are all sorts of interesting melodies that come out of randomness. the key is to find the gems, and that is the artistic part... much like finding an awesome sample/breakbeat... the art is hearing a moment, and re-contextualizing it. it may feel like cheating... but its not. this is what composers did before computers... they would find a million ways to mutate an idea... inversions, retrogrades, canons, etc. it's all just techniques for finding new inspiration... none of these composers sat down and in one take composed these dense compositions without thinking about how to create new variations and combinations. we now have computers that make that task much quicker... it just requires a musical mind to do it in a way that "works" dont forget... art is telling the truth with lies.

forget chords. turn on record, and just improvise melodies. do that for 10 mins. then listen to what you played. every time you hear something you like, put a marker in the sequence. go back, and cut out all the melodies you liked. start stringing them together in different combinations. repeat, with your newly constructed melodies looping in the background. write counter melodies to your established ones, in the same way. repeat until you feel like you have enough. i personally find writing with chords to be confining. I used to do it all of the time, but it is something I actively tried to avoid. if something is odd later, I can analyze my lines, and see what harmonic motion I'm implying, and adjust things from there. just use your ear... you'll get more aesthetically pleasing results, imo.

A launchpad and two akais? Do you get absolutely crazy in the studio, or do you just like to have a lot of pads around? I like, as much as possible, to have dedicated controllers for a function... I don't like having to switch around... I hate menu surfing. The APC is for launching the foundations of the track (melodies, bass, pads, etc). The launchpad is setup to launch drum patterns and sound variations, and the mpd is either for performing drums (in the studio) or triggering fx (when playing live)

Latest:

I have just added an elektron machine drum sps-1 mki to my setup. found it for a price I couldnt pass up, on craigslist! rearranging time...

I've had an idea for a tattoo for like 3 years now, but don't have the artistic skills to pull it of myself. I put out a request on Facebook, for anyone that can do tattoo work, and got a response from a girl I went to highschool with. She is pretty damn good, and I think she can pull off what I want. I just emailed her last night all of the details, and reference photos for the vibe I am looking for. It's going to be big... Half sleeve that goes over the chest and upper shoulder, and wraps around down my ribcage.