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qnewsau · 7 months

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Ponymeadow: roaming with the ponies

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/ponymeadow-roaming-with-the-ponies/

Ponymeadow: roaming with the ponies

Dr Nikki Savvides decided to switch gears into electronic music production under the name Ponymeadow after over a decade as a researcher and academic in the field of Animal Studies.

Sydney queer woman Nikki Savvides, AKA Ponymeadow, is an Australian electronic music producer who is known for creating dark yet uplifting progressive house and trance tunes that feature powerful female vocals, and who curates the Spotify playlist Women & Non-Binary in Electronic Dance Music.

She’s just released her new single Over the Edge through the record label A Tribute To Life.

But for most of her life her passion has been animals, leading to a PhD focused on the ethical potential of volunteer tourism after a decade of studying the relationships between people and animals.

“I’ve always felt passionate about animals and wanting to understand them. Growing up I didn’t know there would be some sort of academic field around that,” Savvides tells QNews.

“But by the time I started writing about horses for my Masters topic, Animal Studies started to become this new emerging field. I was in the right place at the right time when more attention was being put on relationships between humans and animals and around ethics and animal welfare.”

That research has taken Savvides around the world, conducting fieldwork with birds, monkeys and turtles in Indonesia and at a hospital for stray cows, donkeys and dogs in Udaipur, India.

However it’s the animals of Thailand that have a special place in her heart.

“My first experience with animals in Thailand was with street dogs in Bangkok in 2008,” Savvides says.

“I started to volunteer for an organisation that was concerned about the welfare of the dogs. At that time there were several hundred thousand stray dogs living on the streets.”

“That’s normalised in Thailand because the dogs are just everywhere. They’re not just in the cities but in the villages as well and I find that an interesting relationship.

“If a stray dog runs down the street in Sydney it’s not going to be stray for very long but in Thailand there are these communities of stray dogs that are accepted.

“People have their own ways of interacting with them. A lot of people do feed them and there’s the practice of merit making in Buddhism where by feeding dogs you are also doing something good for yourself in this life and the next.”

“But in any place there are going to be people who behave nicely to animals and others who don’t.

“Whenever I’m in Bangkok I still keep my eye out for the dogs.”

That led into Savvides spending years working closely with elephant sanctuaries and other elephant welfare projects in Thailand.

Most of that work centred on the relationships between elephants and their mahouts (traditional Indigenous elephant keepers) in northeast Thailand which resulted in a book, After the Forests: Thailand’s Captive Elephants and Their People, that was released in 2022.

“While I’ve now happily left the academic world my love of animals will always stay with me,” Savvides says.

“I’m glad to have written the book and I still get lots of lovely messages and emails from people from around the world so I know it’s still having an impact.”

“But my career is now slowly shifting towards producing music full time.”

Savvides was a member of several bands in Sydney including The Glimmer before moving to New York where she became part of what she describes as “an amazing queer feminist punk band” called Lady Bits.

But after returning to Sydney she felt the pull towards electronic music – a genre she had enjoyed for years without dabbling in it.

She completed a course in Ableton Live at Liveschool Sydney in 2020 and then spent the Covid lockdowns honing her skills before releasing her first single Need Your Love in February of 2022, following that up with two more tracks called Bad Dreams and Flame.

As Covid restrictions have eased, Savvides says she’s really loved the opportunity to play to live audiences again and had a huge August in 2023 DJing at Beyond Classic: Hypnotic Rave at Noun Bar in Green Square Library as well as Dykadellic’s third dance party at Kinselas.

Savvides has been mentored in her new chosen career by international DJ and music producer Dennis Sheperd and she joined him and other producers for the Soundcation Thailand music production boot camp in January in Bangkok.

He was also responsible for releasing her newest single through A Tribute to Life and recently released his own remix of the track.

“A Tribute to Life is a subsidiary of Black Hole Recordings which is a massive trance and progressive house label, so it’s great to have Over the Edge released by them,” Savvides says.

Savvides is next performing as Ponymeadow at DAYkadellic during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at the Botany View Hotel in Newtown on February 24 and says it’s something she’s really looking forward to.

The event is billed as “an afternoon event celebrating LGBTQIA+ women, gender-diverse folks, and their allies.”

“Even though they’re called ‘Dykadellic’ these events are very much for queer people of different sexualities and gender identities,” Savvides explains.

“Victoria Rose, also known as Torz, who runs it, had this great idea of an event that would be open to queer people, allies, non-binary and trans people, lesbians, and younger queer people who might still be finding their identities.”

“Most of the Dykadellic parties have been evening events but this one’s a day party and there are going to be nine DJs across the whole of the venue. Everything Torz has done so far has been packed out. It should be awesome.”

You can hear Ponymeadow’s music on Spotify Bandcamp or Soundcloud

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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rainbowgazes-archive · 3 years

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I wanna start making music but I have no idea where to even start. I've never fully learned an instrument before or used like any kind of audio software really. Do you have any tips for getting started??

Here are some tips and hopefully I don't get too long winded with this lol

Playing an instrument is not necessary to make music, though I would highly recommend learning how to play one as it can usually be a great reference point if you're ever working with other instruments. For instance, I started out playing guitar, and was able to translate that skill to bass and to a lesser extent keyboard. Sweetwater is a good site that has listings for some pretty cheap starter instruments. Reverb is another that sells used stuff.

If you get an instrument, make sure you buy something cheap. Not because you shouldn't expect yourself to keep going with it, but because sinking a bunch of money into something is just going to put extra pressure on you to learn it, and the last thing you need when learning to make music is pressure.

If you can't afford an instrument you can still make music with a digital audio workstation, commonly referred to as DAW. Ableton is one of the biggest ones out there. it's very user friendly, has lots of documentation and plenty of tutorials on youtube. Reaper is rather barebones DAW and has a somewhat steep learning curve but it's got a really long trial and a really cheap license and it's highly modular. It also has tons of tutorials and documentation. Couple others I can think of are FL Studio, Cubase. You'll want to look around and see what looks appealing to use.

If you do end up learning an instrument, there are plenty of places online and on youtube that can give you scales and whatnot to practice.

You're probably gonna start out making stuff that sounds kinda wonky. It will sound really off and it'll take a while to pick up on why. You need to be comfortable with this because literally everyone goes through this.

Don't compare your progress of learning and making stuff with other people. Music is not a race nor a competition.

The last tip I have might be kind of a ramble, but I've been teaching myself to play and write music for the past 16 years and the most important thing anyone should know when they start learning music is that there is no wrong way to learn.

A lot of people start out learning chords/scales, and things about theory, but I always hated the idea of learning that way. The way I kept myself going was to really hone in on what kind of music I liked the most, and how can I imitate it. And I don't mean perfectly imitate either, I mean at least just match the notes I'm playing/writing to the notes of the music I like the most.

When I first picked up a guitar I was obsessed with Green Day, so what I started doing to learn guitar was match the notes on my guitar to whatever I heard in the song. For the first 3-4 months I only played on one string, just sliding one finger up and down. And most of the time I'd just be playing the bass line or something, but through that I eventually figured out what a bar chord is, what it sounds like, how to do it, and just kept moving up from there. Not only was I learning, I was also kept entertained by getting to listen to my favorite music.

Years later, I still do that (on more than one string and finger now) and I'm able to play and write for multiple instruments. And that's not me trying to flex, that's just saying that you can start literally anywhere doing anything. Don't worry about efficiency, don't worry about being perfect, don't worry about getting something out there for everyone to hear as soon as possible. It's cliche as fuck but really, you just gotta enjoy yourself with it. Hope this helps <3

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beatsfortheillperth · 4 years

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Words with Twin Nemesis

The United States is the homeland of a lot of the creatives we've had words with over the years, and Soph and Sylv, the masterminds behind Twin Nemesis are just two more US beat-smiths and creatives who just so happen to be cohesively moving sound-waves over in the USA.

The girls are tweaking valleys of bass that display a musical landscape that is infused with funk and wave wonder and this duo will intrigue like the piper, tame ones head to bop and, damn feet to tap with their select but distinguishing variety of tracks.

Twin Nems sound will either have you wishing you were out in an underground nightclub, bouncing by the speakers or, chilling at home on a rainy day with a hot cuppa. It can go both ways with these talents, something that's not easy to encourage, but these beat-smiths do so in the most pleasing matter.

Keeping their minds well and in tune away from producing through their studies in University and Med School. These two are not only fuelling their minds but the minds of their listeners worldwide.

Thank you Twin Nem and please don't let the studies led to a musical disappearance, Bass needs you both to continue your relationship and we need you to stay together, for our speakers' sake.

Much love and enjoy words with these unique talents.

Listen to Twin Nemesis, Saying Hello on Spotify -https://open.spotify.com/artist/0aSDNbyGRzbragp1DE9ZKk

Hey, Twin Nemesis thank you so much for taking the time to share words. I thought we would start will a few quick questions.

Favourite Food: Sophie - Mac and Cheese Sylvie - I love food, so that's gonna be hard! I'd say sushi, vanilla berry cake, gummy candy or Thai food :). Oh, and a juicy burger and onion rings. Favourite Beverage: Sophie - Mojito ;P Sylvie - Plain and simple, water! Stay hydrated, folks! Last track you listened to: Sophie - The Suburbs- Mr Little Jeans Sylvie - Jon Casey's 20/20 mix! That part at 1:30 is insane!! A childhood memory in regards to music: Sophie - The first song I remember is Karma Police..my mom was playing it in the car when I was like a few months old and it stuck with me. I heard it again maybe when I was 14? It was like a shot of lightening. I felt this nostalgia. It was insane. It's my favorite song. Sylvie - Without a doubt, driving with my dad in the car to Sergio Mendes and the Beatles. I grew up on Bossa Nova and Classic Rock :) First Album you ever purchased: Sophie - Ok Computer Sylvie - Sheesh, I can't recall to be honest! Most likely something from Sergio Mendes. Last Album you purchased: Sophie - Don't remember tbh Sylvie - I stream on Spotify, so I haven't quite been purchasing! Views on Cheese: Sophie - Give me all the cheese, just not the weird french ones Sylvie - Cheese is godly. The music you were listening to in Middle School: Sophie - Dubstep (UKF, etc) Sylvie - In Middle School, I was a huge fan of dubstep and drum and bass! UKF releases were the bulk of my then ITunes (rip) library! Still love both genres, especially the soulfulness of liquid drum n bass! What you like to do in your downtime: Sophie - Run around, play videogames, music Sylvie - I'm almost constantly studying, to be honest. However, if I do have a moment, I'll be reading medical journals or watching operations. I want more than anything to be an Emergency Room Physician, so I'm constantly reading articles about the ER when I find good ones.

I'll also often hop on a shift to volunteer for Crisis Text Line, a truly powerful platform where you can be there for people in difficult times <3. Spreading love and reaching out is incredibly important to me. I also spend a lot of hours as well training for fencing and at the gym for cross-training... Not much "free time" I suppose, but that's exactly how I like it! I'm a busy bee. :D Your ideal feast would consist of: Sophie - Pizza, mac n cheese, nugs. Basically all the foods that will send me to the grave. Sylvie - Probably too much food to realistically procure for one feast.

Thanks for that, so I'd like to start by asking, how did you both meet? Had you known each other long before you started making music together? Sylvie - We met in fencing in middle school and instantly became best friends. We just clicked! About a year into our friendship, I mentioned in fencing practice that I produced music, and Sophie wanted to join. We learned the ropes of Maschine together, and she picked up Logic faster than I did. Sophie proved to be a natural, and things just flowed from there!

Sophie - We went to the same middle/high school but met during fencing practice! We both fenced sabre for a couple of years and bonded through that. So probably like 2-3 years before we started making music.

How did your musical relationship start and at the beginning were you both making your own music separately? How long have you been making music together? You've been releasing music on Soundcloud for 5 or so years under Twin Nemesis. Had you been making music together even before releases such as "Nocturne"? Could you share a memory from your early days making music together that has inspired you to continue creating? Sylvie - Sheesh, I would say it's been 6 years. We waited a year before releasing. We're both perfectionists. Before Twin Nemesis, I was releasing creations on my personal account. Sophie vibed with them, and before long we were producing together. In high school we would have "production nights" where we would stay up all night and produce something on one computer, one Maschine. Right after? Dance party time. These have been some of my best memories to date. Sophie - Sylvie taught me everything about how to use Logic and Maschine when we first started! I remember during fencing practice she was talking about producing beats and I thought that was so unique and interesting since I didn't know anyone who did that. We started hanging outside of fencing at her house experimenting with the Maschine and I just fell in love.

What equipment do you guys use to create your sound? Also if it applies, what musical instruments do you both play? Does knowing how to play an instrument necessarily benefit someone trying to make beats more? Sylvie - I have background in drumming, so I gravitated towards the Maschine. I'm actually a classically trained violinist, and have been playing for 16 years! I also play the bass and drums. In terms of helping beat-making, I'm not quite sure. Plenty of really legendary beat-makers don't play other instruments-- I don't think it's needed to play anything. But I like to incorporate classical or jazz elements into my music when I can. Sophie - I do not actually play any instruments but I use Maschine as well as Logic and Ableton. I wish I understood the theory behind a lot of the music being put out today but playing by ear has worked out so far. Could you share a paragraph of what Twin Nemesis represents to you individually and also what Twin Nemesis represents to you both collectively? What inspired the name Twin Nemesis? Love it. Sylvie - Its really special to be able to make music with your best friend. To me, Twin Nemesis represents a creative outlet where we can express our feelings through a medium that has no words.

We're able to pinpoint that feeling, and hone in on the sonic experience that can deliver a sense of it into our listeners. I want to be able to uplift them, be there for them, show them that they're not alone, be their shoulder to cry on, and help them if I can with our music.

To me, it's my hope that we can help heal people with the joy of music, (cheesy as it sounds). There's no greater joy than helping others, and I hope we can do that not just in our day- to-day lives, but in our music as well.

Sophie came up with Twin Nemesis actually, and it's ironic, because I'm an actual twin. We are far from nemeses, my twin is a best friend as well, and I'm extremely lucky to have her. So there's no connection there, Sophie just thought it sounded cool. She's creative as heck!

Sophie - I think I came up with the name and honestly I think it came from the fact that Sylvie and I just looked very different (blonde vs brunette), yet we're both girls so I wanted to keep that dichotomy but also, yeah, it just sounds cool haha.

For me Twin Nemesis is a great way to relax. I just finished my BS at Cornell University and am starting medical school at UCSF so my life tends to be very busy and stressful. Making music really grounds me and I found during the most stressful times of my career I tend to create the best music. Going back to your track "Nocturne" I wanted to discuss it a little further as it is Twin Nems' earliest release that I felt contrasted it's follow up release on Soundcloud delightfully. That follow-up release was "Nostalgia". Were the contrasts in these two releases intentional or are the tracks unrelated? Can you share what making Nostalgia and Nocturne was like? And what you were trying to portray with each track? Sylvie - The two of those tracks were meant to be lofi hip-hop-esque. They were meant to evoke feelings of, well, nostalgia, from two different waveforms. For these two, we busted out our Maschines, and went for something as groovy as it was soulful.

The process was relatively simple, as we were still figuring out the ropes- chop up a sample, lay down a bass-line, and of course, drum out a groovy, swinging drum pattern. That was really it, admittedly, but we felt that there was a special soulfulness in these tracks, so we released them. Sophie - Skipping, tbh don’t remember much other than I was going thru a bad breakup and these songs helped haha I just wanted to add, back in 2015 Twin Nemesis released a track called Chapel of the Devil via Bandcamp and the sounds displayed in that beat could easily nurse a rap, you guys had skill even back then, much love. What was it like for you making Chapel of the Devil and how do you feel your style has adapted over the years since? Do you feel more confident with each release over time, or do you feel you were more confident with your earlier releases? Sylvie - Mmmm. Good question! Sophie was more involved with that one. She found the sample and chopped it nicely. I can't really take much credit for that. In terms of style, I've began to shift into more bass-music, experimental types of music and have started to produce a fair amount of lo-fi hip hop.

What does making a beat do for you? Does it help you in any personal sort of way like offer an escape? What is it that you think draws more and more people into wanting to create their own beats? Sylvie - Making a beat is an outlet where I don't have anything to lose. When I'm making music, I tap into my emotions, and if not mine, my boyfriend's, my close friends', the worlds', or even my dog's (I'm obsessed with her). More and more people are gravitating towards beatmaking because it's become more culturally relevant with the rise of Soundcloud- the ability to share your creativity with the world is unique, and the fact that everyone has access to that upload button makes music production rather appealing.

We live in a world of music-- it's all over us. To be able to create your own tunes has been an ever-present drive of humanity-- it's visceral. I gotta give one of my best friends, (an extremely talented classical pianist), Phoebe some credit for coming up with a quote that sums up why music itself is so powerful, especially in times like these--

"There’s nothing like the comfort of listening to a song that gets you. And that’s why music is so powerful, it can relate to any kind of person and make him or her feel safe and understood."

People are looking to make that song that gets them, to find that exact feeling that resonates with them and express it without words, in, what my boyfriend Jackson, (a phenomenal guitarist), describes as a medium that is visceral and can touch each and every person that listens differently.

He believes some of the beauty of music is the ambiguity of the meaning as well. I had to credit these two here for their deeply insightful thoughts.

Sophie - Refer to previous question, my life is very academically stressful so I use it as an escape away from the pressures of school. Twin Nemesis is also responsible for some bass-driven mixes that are just timeless. Listened to your minimix "That Wavy College minimix" which you both made two years ago and it is still relevant, thank you! Had you both always been into mixing or was it something you picked up along the Twin Nem journey? What gets you in the mood to want to create a mix and what inspires the tracklist you curate? Sylvie - YESSSSSS BASS MUSIC :) Mixing was something we picked up on the way. It really depends on who is making the mix. If it's Soph, it will be more melodic and rap-driven usually.

If it's me, it will be all about the drums. These are pretty consistent distinctions. The track-list is based on what has me bobbing my head and making the stank face at the moment. :)

Sophie - Sylvie makes most of the mixes and I loooove listening to them, especially when I'm studying. Her music taste really vibes with mine. I've tried making mixes but have yet to post anything....maybe soon... Twin Nemesis will also be doing a beatsfortheill mix which we are super humbled about, thank you both. What can our readers and listeners expect with this up and coming mix? Sylvie - You'll see ;) Bringing the timeline forward to a year ago, we have to discuss your track snüp, one of my personal favourites by Twin Nem that I feel perfects the sound you'd want any beat to create when you're trying the lay back, much love. How did you go about creating snüp, how long did it take you guys to make and what inspired it's creation? Sylvie - It was rather simple as well! Snoop Dogg acapella + sample chopped up + infectious drum groove + bass. Done. I would say it took us about 3 days actually.

The both of us love jazz, old school hip hop, and soul music, so we wanted to integrate the sound of old school hip hop with more "new school".

Adding the vinyl-ridden sample to a Snoop Dogg vocal was a contrast that we found worked very well, so we followed through with the idea and released it.

Sophie - I'll let Sylvie answer this one You also released a track called Echoes of the Past in the same year and it was a track that showed me that you guys could tackle any genre. It's chilled, slightly romantic and soothing on a lofi lovers ears, thank you for creating this track. What inspires your shifts in sound in general from genre to genre? And on the subject of this particular track, what was it like to put together? Were you trying to share anything subtly with this release? Sylvie - Shifts in genre are because of our extremely diverse tastes in music. We listen to music spanning almost all genres, (save country, and for me, indie).

This allows us to want to produce along the gamut of vibes! When we're especially enjoying lo-fi, like we were when we were making Echoes of the Past, we'll make lo-fi. If we're inspired by left-field bass/trap, we'll make something like Hello.Jpeg. It all depends, and there really is no specific reason for why make what we make, when we make it. It just happens that way! I wish I could say that I was trying to convey something... In regards to music-making, what draws you in about a certain sound or vocal that makes you want to sample it? Sylvie - For me it's all about the groove. You know, when a groove is just *so infectious* that you can't help but bob your head and get those chills down your spine and turn the volume up higher.

I'm a sucker for creamy keys as well, like a Rhodes sample, the Korg Triton, jazz chords, 7ths. I love old soul and jazz music :)

But also, I equally enjoy warping glitches and harsh sounds. For drum samples? Drums. Must. Slap. They have to cut through the mix and be powerful and beefy, with a liberal amount of syncopation added for that off-kilter groove. Sophie - I love oldies and sampling classical music, so if I'm listening to a random track and hear a catchy melody I download it right away and create something with it. I also am drawn to sadder more melancholy melodies. Not sure why but it's always been like that. The song that introduced me to your sound was "Hello.Jpeg" and I was blown away with this track. The intro reminded of something N.E.R.D could have produced and the bass will convert any avid bass listener, thank you again. What were you going for with this release? Did it take long to put together? Also, what do you enjoy most about this track? Sylvie - Awww sheesh, thanks! We were going for my favorite musical element, bounce. For me, that's what makes a track (in bass music).

It's gotta have that bounce. We'd been listening to Jon Casey, Tsuruda, Explore, Mr. Carmack, etc. for ages, and were hoping to achieve a similar bouncy, stompy feel.

This track by far took the longest to put together-- probably upwards of 2 weeks? There were a lot of elements there. As for the last question here, I think you can tell what I'm proudest of in this track.... (hint: the bounce). Sophie - We love experimenting with different genres and Hello.Jpeg was our jump. It was extremely fun and very natural to make...we're probably going to create more of that type. Do you have any Musical Recommendations you could share? Sylvie - Ahhh, yes. I'll go by genre.

In terms of bass and future beats, the "20/20" mix by Jon Casey is impeccable. Check out that 1:30 time stamp. "Spit That" by Chee has that groove and bass that keeps me wanting to come back for more. "Neptune" by Sam Gellaitry has an incredible groove in the second part that will have you bobbing your head, with that lush bass swirling around. You really can't go wrong with Mo Vibez either. "Hammer" by Tsuruda, "Deception" by Herzeloyde, and "React" by Chromonicci have that signature bounce that I love as well, I'm always scouting for bouncy songs.

In terms of more hip-hoppy stuff, I'm gonna have to recommend Tek.lun's "Seshat". It has that bossa nova feel I've always loved, blended with hard-hitting drums.

Drum and Bass! "Progression" by Flite. Anything by Dawn Wall. It's rolling and soulful. Speaking of soulful, soul!

Tom Misch nails it every time, and I cannot recommend Gareth Donkin's track, "Catharsis" enough. It's beautiful. See for yourself. Classic rock, bossa nova... okay, should I just make a Spotify playlist for y'all?

This could be too long.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27nkDj0eqPrzOl2CLGNikJ?si=btVmbVLST5SOFRqSgDs6Fw Sophie - I love Sasha Marie mixes. I've found so many songs and artists through her soundcloud page. Give it a listen. Any up and coming releases we should keep a lookout for? Sylvie - Again, you'll see ;)

Any Last Words? Sylvie - Yeah! An important part of my creative process and just, my life in general, are my amazing boyfriend and best friends, and my family, (yes, that includes my dog, of course).

Just wanna give them a shoutout here. They're always cheering me on, and I'm absolutely so blessed to have them in my life. I cannot thank them enough. Sophie - Thanks so much for all this, truly blessed to be interviewed! Support Twin Nemesis Here: Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/twinnemesismusicofficial

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/0aSDNbyGRzbragp1DE9ZKk

Bandcamp - https://twinnemesis.bandcamp.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/twinnemesismusic/?hl=en

#beatsfortheill #soundcloud #twinnemesis #interview

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transseandiaz · 2 years

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Any free simple PC programmes to make my MIDI keyboard play?

I've got a MIDI keyboard that I want to use to practise improv. That way, I can practice without my family hearing me unlike on my acoustic piano, and it's also going to have a more consistent sound. The only problem is, that I can only get myself to practise, if the practice is available (i.e. i don't have to do a lot to get to my instrument - if I get a sudden urge to practise, I should be able to start playing within seconds, and not need to prepare anything).

I do own Pro Tools which I frequently use to record and compose music, and I have some beautiful piano samplers on there, but I can't have that running in the background, because when I have Pro Tools on, it blocks all other sounds on my computer. It's also a pain to boot it up every time, choose a session, wait until it loads and so on.

I also have Ableton Lite, which came with the MIDI keyboard, which I can keep running in the background without any major issues. The issue, however, comes when I try to play. The latency is just over the verge of what I consider playable.

I've been trying to look on the internet for simple programmes that I would just have running, my MIDI keyboard would be controlling the input, and the programme would play whenever I play the keyboard. I've tried some that were recommended there, but they were all absolutely abysmal. One of them, for example, only registered when you pressed the key down, played a long, painfully slowly decaying tone, and the timing of when you let go of the key had absolutely no effect.

Does anyone here know of any programmes that would let me do that? Or alternatively, a subreddit better suited for this question?

submitted by /u/a-throwaway_joke [link] [comments] from /r/Instruments https://ift.tt/mQFCgP3

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capteyepatch · 2 years

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Any free simple PC programmes to make my MIDI keyboard play?

Does anyone here know of any programmes that would let me do that? Or alternatively, a subreddit better suited for this question?

submitted by /u/a-throwaway_joke [link] [comments] from /r/Instruments https://ift.tt/f6ywE8c

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jacsalady · 3 years

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planning and doing

So large scale planning, initially and a little micro planning occurred. . Ambience of spooky for beginning and then i decided to do a few high intensity gym workouts to inspire me. ( I look buff now :D ) I’m trying to build intensity from beginning to the end. I think to achieve the ambience I’ll need a minor key. My chord progression is usual I, IV, V, I or something to that effect. However after putting the into practice I have found something very yummy that goes with the ending. E flat ninth chord minus the b flat. just stumbled on it and I liked it. Just like a pussy cat....I hope I can keep it , at the moment it works.

so large scale planning done. I know what I want, and I have put some of it into ableton really haphazardly . But now I can refine what I have and add new sounds.

I’m really unsure about melodies. I think I will stick with chords and instruments. I can’t get the drums to work atm but no doubt I’ll figure it out

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mikegranich87 · 3 years

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Loupedeck Live is a compelling alternative to Elgato's Stream Deck

Life’s too short to drag a mouse more than three inches or remember elaborate keyboard combinations to get things done. This is 2021 and you can have a pretty, dedicated button for almost any task if you want. And if you partake in anything creative, or like to stream, there’s a very good chance that you do. Loupedeck makes control surfaces with many such buttons with a particular focus on creatives. Its latest model is the “Live” ($245) and it’s pitched almost squarely against Elgato’s popular Stream Deck ($150). Both have their own strengths, and I’ve been using them side by side for some time now. But which one have I been reaching for the most? And does the Loupedeck Live do enough to command almost a hundred more dollars?

First, we should go into what the Loupedeck Live actually is and why it might be useful. In short, it’s a PC or Mac control surface covered in configurable buttons and dials. The buttons have mini LCD displays on them so you can easily see what each does with either text, an icon or even a photo. Behind the scenes is a companion app, which is where you’ll customize what each button or dial does. Many popular applications are natively supported (Windows, MacOS, Photoshop, OBS and many more). But if the software you use supports keyboard shortcuts, you can control it with the Live.

So far, so Stream Deck? Well, kinda. The two are undeniably very similar, but there are some important differences. For one, the Stream Deck’s only input type is a button; Live has rotary dials too. This makes Loupedeck’s offering much more appealing for tasks like controlling volume, scrolling through a list or scrubbing a video and so on. But there are also some UI differences that give them both a very different workflow, too.

Hardware

James Trew / Engadget

Like Elgato, Loupedeck currently offers three different models. With the Stream Deck, the difference between versions is all about how many buttons there are (6, 15 and 32). The different Loupedecks are physically distinct and lend themselves to certain tasks. The Loupedeck CT, for example, has a girthy dial in the middle for those that work with video. The Loupedeck+ offers faders and transport controls and the Live is the smallest of the family with a focus on streaming and general creativity.

At a more superficial level, both the Stream Deck and the Live look pretty cool on your desk, which clearly is vitally important. Elgato decided to make its hardware with a fixed cable, whereas Loupedecks have a removable USB-C connection. I wouldn’t normally bother to mention this, but it’s worth noting as that means you can use your own (longer/shorter) lead to avoid cable spaghetti. You can also unplug it and use it to charge something else if needed. Minor, but helpful functionality if your workspace is littered with things that need topping off on the reg like mine is.

Clearly, one of the main advantages with the Live will be those rotary dials. If you work with audio or image editing at all, they are going to be much more useful than a plain ol’ button for many tasks. For example, I wanted to set up some controls for stereo panning in Ableton Live. On the Stream Deck I need to employ two buttons to get the setup I wanted: pan left one step / pan right one step and it takes a lot of presses to move from one extreme to the other. With the Live, I can simply assign it to one of the rotaries (clicking it will reset to center). From there, I can dial in the exact amount of panning I want in one deft movement.

That’s a very simple example, but if you imagine using the Live with something like Photoshop for adjusting Levels, you can see how having several rotaries might suddenly become incredibly useful.

Another practical difference between these two devices is the action on the buttons. On the Stream Deck, each one is like a clear Jolly Rancher with a bright display behind it. The buttons have a satisfying “click” to them and are easy to find without really looking. The Live, on the other hand, feels more like someone placed a divider over a touchscreen. That’s to say, the buttons don’t have any action/movement at all, instead delivering somewhat less satisfying vibrations to let you know you’ve pressed them.

Software

James Trew / Engadget

The real difference between these two, though, is the workflow. I had been using the Stream Deck for a couple of months before the Loupedeck Live. The Stream Deck is, at its core, a “launcher.” Assign a button to a task and it’ll do that task on demand. You can nest multiple tasks under folders to expand your options nearly endlessly, but the general interface remains fixed. So, if you wanted to control Ableton and Photoshop, for example, you might have a top-level button for each. That button would then link through to a subfolder of actions and/or more subfolders (one for editing, one for exporting actions and so on). These buttons remain fixed no matter what application you are using at a given moment.

With Loupedeck, it’s all about dynamic profiles. That’s to say, if I am working in Ableton, the Loupedeck will automatically switch to that profile and all the buttons and rotaries will change to whatever I have assigned them to for Ableton. If I then jump into Photoshop, all the controls will change to match that software, too. Or put another way, the Stream Deck is very “trigger” based (launch this, do this key command). The Loupedeck is more task-related, with pages, profiles and workspaces for whatever app is active. The net result is, once you have things customized to just how you want them, the Loupedeck Live is much more adaptive to your workflow as it “follows” you around and has more breadth of actions available at any one time. But at first, I was trying to make it simply launch things and found that harder than it was on a Stream Deck until I figured out how to work with it.

This “dynamic” mode can also be turned off if you prefer to keep the same controls available to you at any one time, but for that you can also assign set custom “workspaces” to any of the seven circular buttons along the bottom — so if you want your Photoshop profile to open with the app, but also have some basic system/trigger controls available, they can just be one button push away.

This approach definitely makes the Loupedeck feel more tightly integrated to whatever you’re doing “right now” rather than a nifty launcher, but it also takes a bit to get your head around how it wants to do things. At least in my experience. With the Stream Deck I was able to get under its skin in a day, I am still reading up on what the Live can do after some weeks, and need to keep reminding myself how to make certain changes. As a reverse example, launching an app is something Stream Deck was born to do. With a Loupedeck, you have to create a custom action and then assign that to a profile you can access at any time (i.e. a custom workspace) or add that action to various different profiles where you want it to be available.

Both do offer the option for macros/multi-actions and work in very similar ways in that regard. If, say, you want to create a shortcut to resize and then save an image, you can do so with either by creating a list of actions to be carried out in order. You can add a delay between each step and include text entry, keyboard shortcuts and running apps — all of which allows you to cook up some pretty clever “recipes.” Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to get things right, but once you do it can simplify otherwise fairly lengthy/mundane tasks.

James Trew / Engadget

Where the Stream Deck takes things a little further is with third-party plug-ins. These are usually more complex than tasks you create yourself (and require some programming to create). But thanks to Elgato’s active community, there are already quite a few on offer and the number is growing every day. Some of them are simple: I can have a dynamic weather widget displayed on one of the keys, others are more practical — I use one that switches my audio output between my headphones and my PC’s built-in speakers. Some of my colleagues speak highly of a Spotify controller and the Hue lights integration — both of which came from the Stream Deck community.

Loupedeck offers a way to export (and thus share) profiles, but as far as I can tell right now, there’s no way to do anything more complex than what you can do with custom controls — if that were to change in the future that could really enhance the functionality considerably.

Beyond the hardware controls and the user interface, it’s worth mentioning that both the Live and the Stream Deck have native support for specific apps. “Native” means that the companion software already has a list of drop and drag controls for select apps. Elgato’s controller, unsurprisingly, has a strong focus on things like OBS/Streamlabs, Twitch and, of course, the company’s own game capture software and lights along with some social tools and audio/soundboard features (for intro music or effects).

The Loupedeck Live also offers native controls for OBS/Streamlabs (but not Twitch) but tends to skew toward things like After Effects, Audition, Premier Pro and so on. The list of native apps supported is actually quite extensive and many more (like Davinci or iZotope RX) are available to download. If streaming is your main thing, Elgato’s solution is affordable and definitely more streamlined for that. The Loupedeck, however, is going to be more useful for a lot of other things — it’ll help with streaming, but also help you design the logo for your channel.

So which?

At this point, you can probably guess what the wrap-up is. Elgato’s Stream Deck offers less functionality overall but that can be greatly expanded as the number of plugins continues to grow. But likewise, it’ll always be somewhat limited by its singular input method (buttons). The Loupedeck Live is much more ambitious, but with that, trades off some of the simplicity. If you were looking for something that can take care of simple tasks and skews toward gaming or podcasting, save yourself the $100 and go with a Stream Deck, but if you want something that can pick up the slack for multiple desktop apps and tools, you probably want to pat your pockets a little more for the Loupedeck Live.

from Mike Granich https://www.engadget.com/loupedeck-live-versus-the-stream-deck-170020781.html?src=rss

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ylwgalaxy · 3 years

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diaries of an unknown rockstar - press play

Diaries of an Unknown Rockstar.

PRESS PLAY

Pt.1

It is funny the way we dream. One day is ecstasy, the other frustration, or just working your ass off to get there. I guess maybe those are the three moods of a dreamer. Now, at 24 years old, I look back to the younger me and understand the feeling of not fitting in the models of society in a certain way.

You grow up listening, "you need to study to get in a good college, and after that, you'll have at least half of the way guaranteed. A great job, you will probably get to buy a house, build a new family." I quite never understood this model.

To begin with, I have never appropriately studied, and I still don't get how the teachers let me pass all those years. Maybe I was funny, and my friends said I was dedicated when the rope was tight in my neck.

When I got to college, I thought that all of my school's frustrations would be gone because I was coursing something I felt I wanted since I was seven, and life would get way better. I won't lie, It was terrific. I evolved a lot as a human being, but comparison and the feeling of never doing something extraordinary or good enough haunted me all of those four years.

During college, I started working, and my first real job was as an intern in a small female fashion brand. The job was being The Owner's right arm and helping her with everything possible. It was a massive growth in adult life and a considerable experience understanding the fashion industry and what happens behind product development. But guess what? Two months later, I got fired because I said I did the work, but in fact, I didn't. I didn't because I have slept, and she caught my foolish and childish lie. Yes, sleeping and lying about it got me fired.

Going home knowing that the reason why I got fired was 100% my fault was painful and worse of all, I mistreated myself a lot because I had sleeping problems, which soon I found out that this was self-defense that my body and mind created for me to deal (in a way) with my emotions.

Anyway, I kept going. I was far away from the best student in class, but I was good, creative, and still wanted to be a big employee, work in a big company, grow in the company, and be the most significant model I could ever be. I manage to achieve some parts of this sequence.

In my last year of college (2018), I got into an internship program in one of the biggest Fashion Companies in the country. I was thrilled. I managed to be the chosen one among thousands of applicants. That was Christmas for my ego! And I will never forget the day of the final interview. I fell in love with the company and came home saying, "Oh, I want to work here so bad!"

So I did, and I have learned a lot. I managed to work in the most prominent teams of the company, know outstanding professionals and people that I will forever carry. I became an assistant. Then I just noticed that I hated what I did.

I was a robot. I did the same things every day (very dull things, if you don't know what a tech pack or licensing submissions are, consider yourself lucky), those things were things that I knew I would have to do for a long time if I wanted to keep on in the company and grow. But voices in my head were always screaming: "Is this worth it?" "Is this what you want?" and the answer was always " I don't know."

I didn't know much about myself, but I knew that I loved to draw, create, start new ideas and projects that mattered. Still, most of all, I loved coming home and playing my guitar and write about feelings, and I noticed that this part of me was fading away as I was getting lost in myself and my unknown purpose.

So one day, I woke up and started looking for music production courses. I sent a message to an old Singing Teacher of mine where he said he had a friend who had a studio and wanted to start giving music production classes, so he passed me the contact. So I talked with the guy, which name was Gustavo.

Gustavo answered me quickly and graciously and invited me to come to the studio, which I thought was a garage with few things. But as I got there and sat in the controlling room where he edited and produced music, I fell in love, not the same feeling from the time I got into the company. I felt something beyond it, something that I never felt before. I felt connected. I kept asking myself mentally: "WTF are you doing that you are not here?!"

As I talked to Gustavo and said, "Hey man, I want to know how to produce!!!!!" and he looked at me in an icy and severe way, asking: "ok, what do you know about music?". Have you ever had that moment when you think you know a lot, but you don't? That was the moment for me. I play the guitar since I was 11. I knew theories like the Pentatonic and Diatonic scale and major and minor chord progressions, which I thought was enough. How naive was I? A lot.

As I enrolled in a short Ableton live program, I could understand a little bit of electronic music production and that good music production required time, practice, and many studies. Which at that moment, I was not that committed to doing so.

2020 came out, and I was still working like a robot, but at least I had amazing people by my side and was sometimes making music. Also, I was planning to go to England by the beginning of September to course a Master in Illustration at Camberwell College of arts. I had applied and passed my IELTS tests. Everything was going ok, until the one and only: Corona Virus.

What I (and everybody) thought was going to be 15 days is still lasting. One year and a half, I passed through the most significant change in my life (not just me, I believe). When it all started, I was just comfortable with everything, my job, my life, where I was going when everything pass, but it came to a point where I couldn't stand looking at my computer.

Every move, word, e-mail was torture. I was working thousands of hours, and most of the time, I procrastinated because I didn't want to do it. The worst of all was that my work wasn't good, and I knew it. I knew that I was delivering wasn't my best because I wasn't willing to do my best anymore. I lost the energy or the meaning behind that job.

During this turbulent relationship between me and my job, I watched videos on youtube, and one specific video calls out to me. It was an effortless and small live performance of MGK in February 2016 at a CD Store. It is a video where you have just Colson (MGK) and three guys from his crew playing for some people, but the way he was committed to his music and expressing himself lighted up my mind, making me think: I want to do this.

So I made up the decision, I want to be an artist, I want to make music this is my dream, but at the same time all the bad voices in my head were like: " You won't make it, it is impossible to live with that, what will your parents say? They can't afford to pay for your failures anymore. They won't help you." So I planned until I was brave enough to do so.

August 21st, 2020 I've quit my job, sold my car - which was the only thing I had in my name - and put the plan in action. The plan was to save the money to move to England by March 2021 and pursue my music career. Guess what happened? No, it didn't go like planned, I am not in England or very close to going, and yes, I went out of money, but I have started my career on the right foot in a very odd way.

So summing up, I was not a good student, but I manage to pass one of the most significant Art Colleges in my country. I worked in one of the biggest companies, but I was following a pattern that I never understood in the end.

The fact is: I am still figuring out life, and what I see is that there is no formula and the only thing guaranteed is the air you breathe to live. In 2020 I dug up my biggest dream, and I am not giving up. The main goal: Create music/art and Be a Rockstar.

People say we should write our own stories, so I'll be here writing mine.

This is the Diaries of an Unknown Rockstar, so press play.

Thank you for being here.

Ella YLW

#diaries #musician #story #unknown #rockstar #new #tumblr #grunge #rockandroll #collage #art #ellaylw #yellow #ylwgalaxy #galaxy

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gigsoupmusic · 5 years

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Behind the Artist: An Interview with Chantmagick

Chantmagick, aka Marilyn McNeal, is an independent creative who combines her love of music, film, nature, dance, and Earth into a unique presentation of art for her followers. It's hard to pinpoint only one aspect of her music as the result of her success as it is all intertwined to represent the power of Chantmagick in a soft, subtle way. Read below to dive deeper into this lo-fi indie-folk artist and you'll see what we mean. What inspired the name Chantmagick? What does it mean? When I think of chanting, the first thing that comes to mind is a group of monks cloaked and singing in a circle in some dark abbey during the Middle Ages. Somehow this imagery appeals to me, actually. I'm drawn to the sense of collective physical and spiritual pursuit of something higher than this image calls to mind. The other side of it is that I like the sense that chanting is a simple, very physical intuitive and direct activity. Chanting means allowing your feelings and personal energy to pump through your body and out into the world in the form of energetic, fluid lines of melody. As for the word "magick," I added the "k" to evoke a Middle Earth fantasy era of witches, warlocks, dragons, hobbits, etc. I remember growing up with Dune, The Hobbit, Star Wars, and being enthralled with the fantasy world these movies provided. Moving beyond our ho-hum day-to-day practical world and into a magical space where we can be our best selves is something I wanted to evoke in the project name. Your platform seems to be more than just about making music.... describe to us in your own words what your art/music stands for. I'm really interested in exploring universal questions around "who are we" as a species. What is our potential? How do we access our potential and how can we cultivate it for personal, community, and planetary good. Music, movement, and video are the means of expression I have at hand to ask these questions. How does your music help people? Reading the comments on my YouTube channel when I post a video has really been heartening and instructive. I'll let my fans speak for themselves: "You sound like the earth. mysterious, vast, magical and wild. thanks for the music." "You are the breath of fresh air and positivity we all need" "Your music is very unique and gives me always a positive feeling" "Your contribution is tremendous, hopeful, serene and leads us to a centered state of joy" “This is therapy for the inner being.” "Thank you for sharing your songs, Your music is so peaceful and uplifting it truly is a Spirit thing." "I feel lighter within seconds. Thank you for what you do by being genuinely you." What ideas are implemented throughout your work? Through dance and music, I show myself in a state of becoming a more connected and sensitive human being. Through my song and dance, I want to elevate the present moment as an authentic source of information. I sing about and show intuitive, non-intellectual movement in nature, the fluidity of time and space, rejection of fear as a source of information, embracing growth, simplicity, and kindness.

What ideas do you hope to inspire in others? I think the main idea behind showing myself in the midst of my growth process is to encourage others to identify, explore, and embrace their own growth process. What is getting in the way of them fulfilling their potential? What would unfettered growth look and feel like? What would one be moving towards? I am hard-wired to see the glass half full and not half empty. I want everyone who experiences my work to come away with an optimistic perspective. Tell us more about the connection between Earth and nature into your creations. How is that translated through music and film? I began creating work from within the Chantmagick project in March 2017. Initially, I used high-quality photos and video clips from Pixabay and paired this with my own music. The music at that time was layers of vocal chanting (meaning no lyrics just melodic vocalization) over mellow, hypnotic an electronic keyboards. After 60 videos using Pixabay's visual material, I realized that I literally had to put more skin in the game, meaning that I had to move in front of the camera. It was scary, but I felt that by showing myself dancing in the woods of Northern California, I would give additional context to the work allowing me to move the connection to nature piece closer to the center of what I was making. Like everyone else, I'm working on being the best person I can be. Keeping ego in check, being aware and attuned to people around me, showing up for my family, showing up for my students, showing up in my relationship, just showing up in general. It's not easy. I've lived in my head for decades and I finally emerged about 5 years ago! I really want to be here, in this moment. When I am present, or as I move closer and closer to being present most of the time, I find myself stretching, dancing around and singing ditties, melodies, silly songs. Maybe, it's just nervous energy because being present is so unfamiliar and uncomfortable. I don't know. But, I figured out that taking my jitterbugging self out of the house and into nature was a good idea! Pulling up into the parking lot of a local park, filling water bottles, moving down the path smelling trees . . . all of it just calms me down and makes that coming to the center, being quiet and being present possible. So it all just worked out. I decided to just let loose outside and have my partner video me losing my mind out of doors. It never occurred to me to lip-sync to my own songs in shopping malls and in cars or in bars. The visual component is a continuation of the music and the music is a continuation of the visual side. Take us through your songwriting process...When writing a song, what typically inspires your lyrics and melodies? Oh, thank you! This is such a good question. Initially, I began by creating an atmospheric layer of sound in Ableton Live, my recording software and then chanting over this layer multiple times in order to create lush vocal harmony. I've been learning how to record in Ableton Live over the past 10 years, diving into tutorials on the Sampler, Simpler, and Operator as the means to design sounds for music. Typically, I'll get into it for a month or two and then burn out and focus on messing around with what I've picked up. I thought it would be interesting to contrast sounds that I'd made in Ableton that were obviously synthetic with earthy, raw primitive chanting. Chanting also appealed to me because it feels so primal. You can't really rehearse chanting. You feel it and you do it. I worked in one or two continuous flows. I would dig around, throw together sounds and then stop the second I found something that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! Same with chanting. I rooted around in my spirit, guts, psyche, and body and made a vocal sound that felt like it belonged with the electronic keyboard layer. Once I recorded this, I harmonized to the vocal layer. Sometimes I would create several layers of harmony. I recorded 60 chants like this from March 2017 - September 2017, so for about 6 months. One of my favorites from this time is "A Chant for Whales" (See below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_SMB7fRZ2U Then, I just moved on. I started singing with lyrics and recording songs with the acoustic guitar. I felt like I was done with the ambient chants and wanted to move on to something that had been brewing in me for a long time . . . bringing together indie-folk influences like Yo La Tengo and Modest Mouse with the raw unvarnished power of American roots singers like The Carter Family and many of the performers on Alan Lomax's Southern Journey series. I tune the guitar to whatever sounds good to me and then play brief repetitive phrases that I sing over. I've tried traditional Western songwriting and find that it doesn't cover the in-between tones, feelings, and thoughts I want to express! I don't have any solid guitar technique so I rely on custom string tunings and very primitive clusters of sound to express song ideas. I often play my own instruments that I make out of cardboard boxes, wire, sticks, and tin cans. All this time, I'd been using my neighbor's Rode NT-1A for my guitar and vocals and used a Presonus AudioBox interface I bought in 2005. Good gear is nice but my whole approach to music is making use of what you have. This goes for time, space, gear, and inspiration. My main thing is to keep my mind clear of distraction and anxiety so that when I have an idea, I can get to my setup and lay something down immediately. I try to nail everything in one or two takes. I'm going for authentic versus pro sounding. My feeling is that it's more important to get and stay in the groove of expressing myself authentically than laboring for hours over the perfect reverb for a kick drum. My wager is that over time, I will slowly improve. This has been true so far. My editing has improved over time but still has a long way to go! I upgraded to an Audient ID14 interface and an AKG C214 at the beginning of last year. I also have a monthly subscription to Slate Digital's mixing and mastering tools. It's been nice to hear the difference. Your YouTube platform is a huge focus of your art. How do you manage to be both the filmmaker and musician? Curiosity. And the fierce desire to put my work in front of more and more people. From 2010 to 2016, I uploaded all of my songs to SoundCloud. I stopped uploading there because there was no community vibe. When I created my Chantmagick YouTube channel in 2017, I knew I would have to create videos for the songs I posted. This was and is exciting. Being consumed with the desire to make and share work has really propelled me to be open to learning new things. I got a smartphone, learned how to shoot cinematic videos, learned video editing to music, and haven't looked back. Now I teach others how to do the same through a class I teach at UC Berkeley. The other thing is that tools and platforms for distribution keep changing, growing, morphing into the next thing. I look at everything and ask myself "Will this serve my mission of making great work and sharing it as widely as I can?" If the answer is yes, I learn it. If the answer is no, I keep moving. I just started re-editing my work into 15 - 20 second nuggets for TikTok. I am so excited to have a new platform to work with. I am working on an article for Medium as we speak about my experiences with TikTok so far and why I think it's a godsend for ambitious creatives. Which do you feel expresses your work better - film or music? Why? Oooh. That's a good one. Video and music have really fused into one entity now so it's hard to separate them. When I think about it, I share my YouTube link more than my Spotify link. A - because I think building a community on YouTube is much more doable, fun, and rewarding than dealing with Spotify and B - because I feel like Spotify doesn't respect musicians. That being said, I am finding myself putting my time into video platforms over just audio platforms because pairing my music with moving images is perfect. I'm so into it, I don't know how much the songs stand up without videos. So videos with music vs just videos and just music. Do you have a favorite song? Which one? Why? "Find Someone You Love" is from Fall 2018. I entered a magical zone and wrote and recorded seven songs in the space of a month. I had my friend Rupert Clerveaux mix and master them and put them up on Spotify and Bandcamp. Somehow I channel the perfect creamy dark acoustic guitar sound that I'd been dreaming of for ages. What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind with your work? I want to show people that they can express themselves honestly using whatever tools they have at hand. Then they can share their work as an offering to people everywhere who might benefit from it. I'm pretty bored by identity politics, but I have to say that I delight in sharing sounds and moving images of myself as a black woman dancing and connecting to nature to the folk soundtracks I create. It's so much fun and everyone always is blissed out when they see the work. It feels good. Read the full article

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buttonholedlife · 5 years

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Berlin's affection of techno has turned it right into a songs startup goliath|WIRED UK

Gene Glover

Just a few stops on Berlin's U-Bahn separate some of the world's greatest and very most important popular music technology firms: Native Instruments, Beatport, Ableton, Soundcloud as well as its own neighbor startups Skoove, LANDR and also Endel. How performed the German resources come to be the heart of a worldwide field?

"Before the specialist arrived the music," says Heiko Hoffmann, supervisor of artist connections at Beatport, an online file outlet for digital music. For a long period of time he was managing editor of German digital music journal Canal and an experienced clubber. Like several in senior roles in the market, he has a lengthy and also private background with the songs society of Berlin.

Hoffmann appears out from the business's Kreuzberg base, throughout the river Splurge, where the continueses to be of the wall that utilized to divide the metropolitan area position. "Until the wall structure happened down, this was in fact the minimum pleasing area of West Berlin," he says. "Then a ton of clubs started taking place in industrial properties and also storage facilities. It was practically the most inexpensive lease that you might enter West Berlin."

It is actually a ten-minute walk coming from Beatport to Indigenous Instruments, which launched in 1996, building-software located synthesisers just before introducing DJ devices including Traktor. Within this distance are lots of clubs that over the past thirty years have helped to develop the problems for what is actually passionately pertained to as "Silicon Allee".

TikTok has broken rap songs

Through Emma Madden

"After the wall structure arrived down there certainly was actually an unmatched feeling of innovative opportunity that, when incorporated along with the emerging technical advances of the opportunity, led to entirely new styles in popular music, innovation, design and also fine art," points out Daniel Haver, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Native Instruments. "It was this sense of creative option that led us to release Indigenous in Berlin."

West Germany's software business was presently cultivating through the late 1980s. Jan Bohl, CFO of Ableton-- an extensively made use of songs manufacturing deal-- aspects to Steinberg (which launched electronic audio workstation Cubase in 1989) in Hamburg, as well as Emagic, located in Rellingen (and marketed to Apple in 2002). Bohl, a Hamburg local, got here as a pupil in West Berlin in the pre-reunification 80s, when imaginative people were actually drawn to the city due to the carrot of army service exception. "The technology element of music tech was already worked with, however even more in West Germany. It moved towards Berlin when the wall surface boiled down," he says.Through the 1990s,

Berlin's performance established in loved one isolation. That all altered in April 2004, with the appearance of a particular spending plan airline."I keep in mind when EasyJet began their services to Berlin,"Bohl claims."That was when this became a way of life factor of going clubbing in Berlin for a weekend break. "The inflow of brand new website visitors had a big impact, points out Hoffmann. It carried program engineers, attracted to the urban area by the affordable rental fee, clubs, and also the option to team up with creatives. Endeavor resources was actually still rare, points out Eric Wahlforss, that launched audio circulation system Soundcloud along with companion Alexander Ljung in 2007."Berlin and Germany was actually known for this copycat culture of taking factors that functioned in the US as well as a number of years eventually attempting to carry them to the European markets,"he says. But the results of Soundcloud and also non-music startups including Zalando as well as Distribution Hero pressed Berlin to place third in Europe in relations to expenditures elevated in 2018, behind only Greater london and also Paris. Extra broadcast, more online: where Apple Popular music's moved in 2020 By Sophie Charara There's likewise a sense of partnership in between the companies in the metropolitan area. Native Instruments was an early real estate investor in Beatport, and

suggested the business open

an office in Berlin."Individuals that are DJing with Indigenous Equipment's Traktor or people that are actually using Ableton Live, they are actually all clients coming from Beatport, "Hoffmann states."Our company're certainly not taking just about anything off of one another. As well as a considerable amount of people start functioning for one company as well as find yourself operating at an additional. "Florian Penge utilized to manage the DJ department at Native just before co-founding Skoove, an interactive resource for knowing piano. He believes it's the economical health conditions that the metropolitan area still gives which have helped in its status as the house of songs tech." I do not believe that there is actually every other area on earth where you possess this mix,"Florian says.But increasing rental fees now jeopardize evaluating creatives."The startup organisation scene maintains developing, however the competitors for knowledgeable staff members is actually quite higher as well as the facilities isn't staying up to date with that development,"says Tracy Maraj, primary folks policeman with Native. Berlin's success as a technician center has ramifications for the center worths that attracted individuals to it in the initial area. The metropolitan area's flourishing music field is actually still to life, and also driving advancement. "As a maker of software musical instruments of any kind you need to have the response coming from the best asking for and very most future-looking musicians that in fact utilize these sounds," says Haver."Generating electronic music is actually one factor,

playing it out as well as really reviewing the genuine group as well as exactly how it is actually reverberating with individuals is a very significant reviews loophole. Berlin is still supplying an environment where you have the musicians that in fact produce the music, the producers that supply those sounds, and after that a viewers that has the ability to pay attention as well as experience this songs in the ideal context." Much more great stories coming from WIRED I dumped Google for DuckDuckGo. Listed here's why you must too How to use psychology to get individuals to address your e-mails

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fuchashok · 7 years

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ACOUSTIC SIGNALS

FS: Can you tell me some of your influences?

VO: Oh gosh. I’m always bad at answering this question. I don’t even know where to start because I listen to such a broad range of music. Ani DiFranco and Bjork were big influences on me when I was growing up. Sylvan Esso may be my biggest influence right now. I just saw them in concert. They’re a duo, producer and singer, and she’s an incredible songwriter. It’s somewhat dance music but really quality songwriting. Also the rhythms of Tune-Yards. A lot of trip-hop like Portishead. I just got to see Hamilton, so I’m listening to the soundtrack nonstop and I listen to all the artists on the Hamilton mixtape, I definitely have some hip hop influences.

I don’t have a top 3 in terms of influences right now. Kimbra is big influence on me so it was cool to see her speak at Loop. My friends are very influential on me, especially when they’re pushing hard and putting music out, producing. I’m part of 2 groups -Women Beatmakers & Female Frequency- both challenging yet inspiring.

Female Frequency creates albums that are made entirely by women. All the songwriters, the instrumentalists, engineers and singers. Even the studio owners are women. I’m going to work on remixing one of Female Frequency’s recent releases. I’m trying to get involved more with actual releases that women are involved with. I’ll be on the next Female Frequency album, producing a track by myself - maybe my first official solo production?

When it comes to production, I usually co-produce. I’ve produced things for placements or to pitch but I haven’t released anything official under my name that I produced by myself, yet.

FS: At what point did you feel you wanted to become a singer?

VO: Well, I’ve been singing since I was like 4 so I don’t think there was any kind of light bulb that went on where I was like “Oh I should be a singer.” As a toddler, I distinctly remember singing to the painter who was painting my mom’s bathroom. I was on stage by 5, doing plays, then later musicals in high school and college. I did stop music for a while because I worked on grassroots campaigns for environmental and social justice. I missed music, so once I started learning songwriting and guitar I felt like I had come back into my own. I wrote about justice in my songs too in different ways and try to have an impact that way.

FS: What kind of singer do you consider yourself? Folk?

VO: Definitely not anymore. My style as I call it is Electro-alt-pop. That pretty much covers the range of things that I do. I don’t write “shiny” Pop, like Katy Perry. But it’s a pop structure: there’s verses, choruses, usually a bridge. To me that’s Pop. When I go to these electronic shows like in Berlin, it’s different. I wouldn’t call myself “electronic” exactly, even though I use electronic elements and I work in Ableton. When I heard some of the women from Female Pressure perform, I was like ok, I don’t do that kind of electronic music. That’s often way more experimental, too.

After Berlin was when I defined myself as a Pop writer. Took me a while to call myself that - for one, people have this thing about pop. But it’s really such a broad genre and I’m proud to be able to write a concise, catchy song.

I wouldn’t call my music folk, though some of it may be political, and some of my influences are folk, but I rarely play acoustic guitar live, for example. I sometimes write on acoustic guitar but I always go back to my electric guitar and I now always go back to some kind of electronic production.

FS: So you made a transition at some point?

VO: Yes, just within the last couple of years… With my old band, I was doing alternative rock but then I started exploring more electronic production. Sometimes I miss all live instruments for sure, but I think this is the genre that’ll I’ll stick to for a while. “Electro Alt-Pop” covers the Alternative side of me with electronic influences and the Pop song structures with catchy melodies.

FS: What about another musician would make you want to collab?

VO: Thinking about the musicians that I collaborate with now, I have to feel super comfortable around them. So I tend to work with close friends. But the last album I released I didn’t really know the co-producers well, initially. Working with them over the course of a year, I of course got to know them. Now, if I’m starting on a production myself I’ll probably give it to somebody else to work on back and fourth, I’m usually going to pick somebody I’m already comfortable with.

The most important thing for me is that I don’t feel stupid bringing up an idea or doing something that doesn’t sound good. When you’re working on music, its ok if it’s bad at first, so I have to feel comfortable brainstorming or working on stuff that won’t be perfect at first. So I collab with this producer Audible Doctor, who’s more established than I am but I feel comfortable working with him. I know that he’ll appreciate my ideas and where I’m coming from, even if he’s got more production experience.

So, that’s one thing: feeling comfortable. Then there’s their talent and skill. I have to like their beats. And they need to be hard workers because I work really hard and anyone who I work with is most likely going to be working really hard along-side me, so…

FS: How do you come up with most of your song titles?

VO: Most of the songwriters I know come up with their song titles first. That’s a very natural way of writing Pop and Folk. I think it’s a really strong way to write. Still, I tend to do it the other way around. The idea is to keep a journal with you all the time, where you write song titles whenever you think of them - and draw from that list when you have a chance to write a song. Sia, who top lines a lot, does that. It’s a really good way to do it. But right now for the most part I come up with the song titles from the choruses.

“Wake You,” my EP title, and most of my album titles, come from a lyric in the song. My last album was called “Fires and Overturned Cars,” which is a lyric from my song “Incite Riot.”

FS: What instrument do you feel compliments your voice the best?

VO: I would love to have a keyboard player in my band, again. In terms of songwriting, genre and style along with the sounds that I want, they come more from the synth world than the guitar. But, I love guitar and I’m never going to stop playing it. I’ve taken a break from it, though, to work more on my production, but I still play guitar at all my shows. I also really like writing to drum beats. And to other vocals, writing more layers than record over that.

It’s hard to say that any one instrument makes my voice sound better. I think it’s more of the sound or rhythm that I’m writing to. I write to tracks for film and tv, and learned I pretty much can write to anything.

FS: Lets get into performing. How has performing helped your songwriting?

VO: That’s a great question. I tend to be more inspired to write when I’m performing more. I practice more before the performance to get ready and get in the head space of a songwriter and artist. It keeps me in that space so I’m more excited about writing.

I’m in a bit of a transition now because of my new EP, “Wake You.” Translating that to a live performance has been really different than anything else I’ve done in the past. Now, when I’m writing I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to perform those songs - probably too early in the process to be thinking about that- but I don’t like to use tracks live. So that’s holding me back from writing new material a little bit. It’s going to take time and experience producing more tracks.

The main thing about my music is that I want to keep the live instrumentation in there. I want to sure make my guitar is there. My songs often come from me sitting with my guitar and writing. But when I produce a beat and write over that, I take a really different angle to play it live. I don’t know how much I can translate my fully produced non-guitar based songs onto guitar. Sometimes it just doesn’t sound as good. My song “Call You My Own” was written on guitar and then we manipulated it so much you can’t really tell- but that one I still play the whole song on guitar live.

FS: How has New York influenced your music?

VO: Oh my god, it’s probably the number one influence on my music right now because of the people that I’ve met here. When I first moved here in November 2012, I went to shows every night to meet people. Compared to San Francisco where I lived before, it seemed that the music was edgier, harder-hitting which was what I was going for. Also I got involved in Women Beatmakers and Female Frequency. I met so many different producers and felt really empowered to be able to produce myself because I saw all these other women doing it. That’s a huge part of why I make the music that I do now.

And all my collaborators are here now. The reason I have a side gig now writing for T.V. and film is because of someone I met here who runs a music library. There’s just so much opportunity for musicians. It’s hard to live here, it’s really expensive but the quantity of the music here and the quality of musicians has pushed me to be a better musician. It’s a constant hustle here but that’s my personality anyways. It’s inspiring to see so many other people hustling so hard, too.

FS: What are some other places you want to perform at?

VO: I’m dying to perform in Tokyo, not for any good reason but wanting to go there, and play in a really different place than here. I have a friend there who says I should just come and play. But mostly, I want to have longer and bigger tours around the US. Of course, I would love to perform in Europe. I want to perform everywhere but I think the next steps are getting my show together - so I can put on the best show possible and represent my music in the best light, and so I can also play everything from a house concert to a large venue. That goes for gear, too - What’s the most minimal I can bring and what they can provide in order to put on a really good concert in someone’s house, for example.

I always want my show to be really great.

FS: How was it performing in Europe?

VO: Berlin was awesome. I was definitely still working out the kinks playing Ableton PUSH Live. But it was really cool. I pulled together a night with Female Pressure and Female Frequency. Female Pressure is an international group of female-identified producers. I met them through a friend that lived in Berlin for a while. I put on a showcase of about six producers. I performed with my bass player. I back her up for her songs and she backed me up for my songs. That was a really awesome night.

Then we played another show that was only for headphones. The entire audience only had headphones on. Have you ever heard of this? It’s like a silent disco. But everybody was sitting, watching and listening through headphones only, while we had headphones on too. It was really a great opportunity for sound designers and mix engineers that have a perfect mix. I don’t know its not as great for live instrumentation, but it was a cool experience and it was fun to take your headphones off and just watch. I definitely want to get back to Europe and play more of Berlin, too.

FS: You want to speak on Loop?

VO: Loop was amazing. Last year was the first year that I went. It was incredible to meet so many other producers. Its not really a scene that I’ve been in. So it was inspiring being with producers from all around the world. There was some really cool workshops, especially the one where we all got to work on each other’s beats. We would listen to someone’s beat and then work on it in Ableton. It was called “Production Carousel.” So we got to work on five different producer’s beats and five different people worked on my beats. Then at the end we could hear entirely different version of our own beat. Super cool. Also at Loop, I got to meet a bunch of people from Female Pressure. Obviously the shows and the big panels were really inspiring.

Of course it was really weird to be in Germany during the US presidential election, that kind of put a damper on the whole trip. But the Loop Summit was incredible I hope to go again this year.

FS: How has your work as an activist influenced and helped?

VO: Well, in terms of songwriting, especially at the beginning, it influenced my songs a lot. I wrote a lot of political folk songs. At this point I don’t write a lot of political stuff but there’s definitely a theme of empowerment that runs throughout all of my songs and I think that comes from doing social justice work. I was trained as a grassroots organizer. Every independent artist has to promote themselves now, and all my marketing skills come from being trained as an organizer and running political campaigns.

FS: What’s a personal song you wrote describing your life? It could be off the recent EP or the album before that?

VO: “Call You My Own,” the first track off the “Wake You” EP, I wrote when I was doing a couple shows in Cape Cod. I was single living in New York not feeling the dating scene there. I was alone in a room where I finally had some quiet then started thinking about somebody that I reconnected with from high school. Before I didn’t feel much, but after reconnecting, I thought maybe it’s my second chance accepting this person into my life. The line “Did I wait too long?” is wondering if he’ll give me that chance. The verses are rooted in me being on the road thinking about him. Then the second verse is about seeing him in high-school then seeing him recently. There’s this weird (musically) bridge at the end, running through some memories of him. So that’s the personal story behind that song.

FS: I noticed on one of your early albums you got to work with Mystic?

VO: I was a big fan of Mystic and living in San Francisco while she was in LA. I reached out to her about I song I had called “Black and White” which was about white privilege and racism. After she read the lyrics she wrote back “This is a really important song, I would love to be a part of it.” I was friends with Ice Cube’s engineer and ended meeting her at Ice Cube’s studio to record her rapping. It was a really cool experience to meet her and talk to her. It’s still one my favorite songs that I have because of her verse and just the vibe of the whole song, the back and fourth we have at the end. It’s all live instrumentation except for a couple of loops. The producer I was working with at the time was Jon Evans, an incredible bass player.

I don’t perform it much live anymore because it’s different from what I do now. I would love to collaborate with her again. She said at the time that most people ask her to sing and rap. But I always thought of her as a rapper.

FS: What are you listening to right now?

VO: Like I said, Sylvan Esso. Also Empress Of, who producers a lot of her own stuff. Alice Smith who’s R&B and Pop, some of Phantogram. Bishop Briggs is a great artist. Feist, who’s more on the folk side of things now but used to be in a punk band. FKA Twigs. Anna Wise. Frank Ocean. Laura Mvula. Francis and the Lights. Glass Animals…

Live Setup

VO: I’m on Electric guitar with live pedals, and controlling Ableton with the Push 2 and a Softstep. My bass player plays electric bass and she has a midi controller which I think is a MPK small keyboard. She runs Ableton into the synth bass. My drummer as an acoustic drum set then he has SPD FX, which is a drum pad that he has sounds stored in so he doesn’t need Ableton. And then I have 2 to 3 soul back-up singers.

FS: Do you have anything to say to your fans?

VO: Thanks for interviewing me. It helps to talk about my process because it makes me stop and think about it. To my fans: more music will be coming! And I always love to hear from new so I want to know what you think of the new songs. If you want me to come to your town, just let me know!

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