Ørbit

Propellerhead Reason 2.5

Midiman Oxygen8 2-octave keyboard

Whatever I am listening to at any given time.

Eclectisism is majorly underrated. Embrace all genres of music and realise that it is not what music you listen to so much as how you listen to it.

Received a birthday present from a good friend, Will C-S: ten audio cassettes containing various albums. From what I can remember, there was some Blur, Smashing Pumpkins, Queen and more.

The ones I most treasured though, were The Prodigy's first two albums: 'The Experience', and 'Music for the Jilted Generation'. I won't go into hysterical-review-mode, but needless to say I really got into The Prodigy from then on.

My uncle Bernie, is also an electronic musician. While we both use software, he adds hardware to the equation. I remember being most amazed by the electronic drum kit in his collection (rubber discs of various sizes with little sensors attached).

For a while I was borrowing CDs from Bernie almost weekly, I think. My horizons were expanded by my introduction to Australian electronic music. I was amazed once again when I listened to itch-e & scratch-e, particularly the '...and Friends' album, which also featured Sherriff Lindo and a couple of other artists.

Prodigy's 'Fat of the Land', Chemical Brothers' 'Dig Your Own Hole'. I bought the Prodigy album when it was released in August then received the Chemicals' album for my birthday that November. Two of my all-time favourites and the start of a quest to find any work these two groups have produced.

At a dull point in my musical life, I decided that because I disliked most of the music I was hearing, I'd make my own.

SonicFoundry's AcidMusic v.1.0 was installed, samples ripped off any tune I liked the sound of, and I'd discovered a new world.

I worked with AcidMusic because I got hold of a cut-down OEM version from someone but if it was more professional, I'd consider giving it another go. It was just so easy to match things by looking at the waves.

The idea soon came to me that pasting together a bunch of someone else's samples wasn't the best way to be creative. I endeavoured to make some songs which I crafted from scratch, using FruityLoops for drum and synth lines then Acid for sequencing. Each one became slightly more listenable but they were just too square (ie. addition/subtraction of a track every 2 bars, and the like [this is something I am still learning to overcome]).

Of all the work produced during my halcyon days of AcidMusic, my 'remix' of Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' has to be by far my favourite. Mean-sounding guitars, defined broken beat and those wonderful vocals. It was changed and changed over the years, to debatable success. It will be uploaded to the Tracks page soon.

To be continued soon...