On Writing
So I thought I’d write a quick post on my music making method as it’s pretty unconventional. I don’t have professional music equipment, I don’t have legit recording software, and I don’t even have a computer.
That being said, it isn’t entirely impossible to make music with my current setup, which I’ll layout for you lovely guys and gals right now.
My music equipment:
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
FL Mobile (application serves as DAW)
iRig Pre (preamp for recording live guitar/piano)
SM58 Microphone
Aristides 010 Electric Guitar
Orange Crush 20RT Guitar Amp
Pedal Board (in order of signal chain) - [Boss PW-10 Wah / MXR 78’ Badass Distortion / Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer / MXR Distortion+ / Electro-Harmonix Pitchfork / MXR 6-Band EQ / MXR Phase 90 / MXR Analog Chorus / Earthquaker Devices Avalanche Run / Boss DD-3 Digital Delay]
Kawai Upright Acoustic Piano
Okay, so I do have a lot of shit, guitar shit at least. But it helps me get just the right sound (which I even think sounds like hot garbage through my terrible recording setup sometimes.) I’m constantly tweaking my sound to get the best tones (which includes throwing my heavy distortion before my compressor. Very unorthodox but I think it sounds absolutely killer and doesn’t kill the gain. Nerd shit here.)
As for my writing method, I generally have an idea of what I want a song to sound like in my mind before I write. But of course what I hear in my head almost never ends up being what actually hits the paper. I usually end up fucking around with weird sounds until I find something funky in FL Mobile. And of course the final version of the song that you’ll end up hearing is almost 99% never the original thought that was put on paper. In the case of “hyperlocomotion”, the original thought on paper boiled down to a breakdown that ended up being less than 20 seconds of music. Shit changes fast.
Then the guitar arrives. I find it much easier to comp over some weird funky shit with a guitar than I do hand-writing every single note on my phone. Guitar is so much more of a flow of consciousness kinda thing, from the soul to the fingers. It literally moves me. And personally I think the music has benefitted from adding guitar.
The three releases that precede 5-HT2A (as of this writing, unreleased) were branded as ‘thoughtronica’, or, music deisgned to make you think. The use of spoken word clips combined with prog edm was (in my mind) cutting edge shit. And perhaps it was. But I feel like it failed to cut through the bullshit and find its true place. It wasn’t a failure. The music was decent but overshadowed by the requirement of thought, which people (begrudingly, myself included) don’t want to do while listening to music. And while I don’t want to “write music for other people” and proverbially “sell out”, I do have to eat. But more importantly, I want to write music that I want to listen to. I found myself not wanting to listen to my own music, and in that regard it was a failure.
In the coming months, and depending on the success of 5-HT2A, I will outline the progression of each song as best I can remember. Some songs stayed relatively similiar in structure while some required a totaly overhaul / rewrite. Music, after all, is not unlike any other medium, and sometimes what comes out the first time is hot dogshit. That’s why artists release B-sides! The songs that were good, but not good enough the make the final cut. In time, perhaps I’ll release a 5-HT2A Deluxe edition with the B-side shitsongs included (after some serious reworking). Who doesn’t like bonus tracks, am I right?!
Anyway, stay tuned. As of this writing, all the songs for the upcoming album have been written and I’m working on final mixes and masters. Then a release date will be set, along with album art.
Stay safe, psychonauts
