So I have uploaded the first piece of music to form under the Tapper project. As I am still working hard writing and recording, nothing is completely finished yet so the music I have uploaded is only a backing track to be used in my first demo. It still gives you an idea of where I am taking this project though.
I hope it has uploaded succesfuly.
Please let me know what you think - as I said, everything is still in the development stage so feedback is invaluable.
When I began work on this project, excitement got the better of me and I began trying to rush ideas out. I have decided to take a small step back and take my time to develop some of my ideas. I have set myself a goal to have this project out and on stage by January next year. Up until that point, I will be writing, recording, producing, and uploading the results here for you all to hear.
Showing posts with label Tapper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tapper. Show all posts
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Interactive
The songwriting/production/recording of my latest material is coming along really well. I'm actually surprised how organic the sessions are, ideas are just flowing out of me at the moment. Amazing what a change of direction can do for your creative spirit.
My only concern at the moment is how much will I actually be interacting with the technology at my hands whilst performing? And is this even important?
I want this new project to be cutting edge, to be utilising technology to the best of it's ability and pushing boundaries of what one man can do in a performance. At the same time though, I want to keep a traditional song format with vocals and guitar. What's actually happening is I'm creating the music before the performance, and then playing and singing along to a backing track, with only minor interaction when I play something on the MIDI keyboard.
I'm sure I can be doing more to be using the technology creatively, but at the same time, I don't want to draw focus away from the songs, and I wonder whether it really matters that the laptop is really just functioning live to play the backing track? The production is still all mine. I'm still creating and performing music using digital technology?
On a different note, I now have a new myspace profile where I will be promoting the Tapper project.
My only concern at the moment is how much will I actually be interacting with the technology at my hands whilst performing? And is this even important?
I want this new project to be cutting edge, to be utilising technology to the best of it's ability and pushing boundaries of what one man can do in a performance. At the same time though, I want to keep a traditional song format with vocals and guitar. What's actually happening is I'm creating the music before the performance, and then playing and singing along to a backing track, with only minor interaction when I play something on the MIDI keyboard.
I'm sure I can be doing more to be using the technology creatively, but at the same time, I don't want to draw focus away from the songs, and I wonder whether it really matters that the laptop is really just functioning live to play the backing track? The production is still all mine. I'm still creating and performing music using digital technology?
On a different note, I now have a new myspace profile where I will be promoting the Tapper project.
Friday, 18 September 2009
In Summary - What Was Meant By My Last Post
The problem with such infrequent blogging is that ideas seem to tumble out of me, creating a mess of prose where my original point usually is entirely lost.
I am concerned that my last post may be read that I am attempting to champion some forms of music over others. I'm really not. Music is important to me. Sound is important to me and I need to be able to understand how various forms of music fit into their respective places, in order for me to fully immerse myself into a musical world. I can't simply listen to a song I like and hum along without wondering why it sounds the way it does? why am I listening to it through this particular medium? Why has it been recorded and produced in that way? With those instruments? That's partly where my enjoyment comes from.
So the point I was struggling to make in my last post wasn't that electronic music was now more superior or relevant to other rock/pop formats, but that in order to understand why people are making music in the way that they do, and how that style of music fits into the wider scheme of things, you need to assess the motivations behind the music. What has the artists set out to achieve?
As I said in my last post, I had lost sight of this as I started to question the relevance of electronic music when I heard how much emotion and skill was displayed through classic blues guitar music. Thankfully, the following morning I reminded myself of the above ideas and that electronic music executes a whole world of other goals.
I am concerned that my last post may be read that I am attempting to champion some forms of music over others. I'm really not. Music is important to me. Sound is important to me and I need to be able to understand how various forms of music fit into their respective places, in order for me to fully immerse myself into a musical world. I can't simply listen to a song I like and hum along without wondering why it sounds the way it does? why am I listening to it through this particular medium? Why has it been recorded and produced in that way? With those instruments? That's partly where my enjoyment comes from.
So the point I was struggling to make in my last post wasn't that electronic music was now more superior or relevant to other rock/pop formats, but that in order to understand why people are making music in the way that they do, and how that style of music fits into the wider scheme of things, you need to assess the motivations behind the music. What has the artists set out to achieve?
As I said in my last post, I had lost sight of this as I started to question the relevance of electronic music when I heard how much emotion and skill was displayed through classic blues guitar music. Thankfully, the following morning I reminded myself of the above ideas and that electronic music executes a whole world of other goals.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Tardy Blog 1
Up until last night, I don't think I've picked up my guitar all week. Most evenings after work I've been busy honing my mixing skills on Robbie's CD decks - I'm actually starting to get better, beginning to understand how to really listen and beat match, then balance the mix as you filter in and out various elements, moving from one track into the next.
But sat in Dan's flat last night, watching youtube footage of old blues guitarists, I realised that the guitar can allow a musician to express something the DJ and their decks never truly can - human emotion. A guitarist can hold back notes and bend them into one another, carrying the listen on an intimate musical journey, the sound is a direct link to the guitarist soul. Can an electronic musician ever display that intimacy? Sure they can create soundtracks that evoke particular emotions, their music can paint pictures for us as we dance the night away, but can they ever really have that instant connection, that control over the inflections of their sound which makes great music what it is?
Last night, I felt myself siding with the 'real musicians' party. Death to all this new fangled, boom boom boom electro nonsense!
But then this morning, it dawned on me - Electronic music offers something that traditional rock and blues rarely does, perhaps is unable to.
When I write a piece of traditional music using a guitar and my vocal, I am seeking to create a particular emotion, to tell a story using the way I play and the words I sing. When I'm writing a piece of electronic music, I'm operating in a completely different space. I'm aiming to take the listener into another world using texture, creating a new sonic landscape for the listener to be absorbed into. It's about pushing forward, presenting people with sounds they've never experienced before, creating structures and timings that pull in other directions to traditional music. Electronic music is refreshing, it's exciting, it cuts through everything proceeding it like lightening.
That's what it's all about - FUTURE MUSIC.
But sat in Dan's flat last night, watching youtube footage of old blues guitarists, I realised that the guitar can allow a musician to express something the DJ and their decks never truly can - human emotion. A guitarist can hold back notes and bend them into one another, carrying the listen on an intimate musical journey, the sound is a direct link to the guitarist soul. Can an electronic musician ever display that intimacy? Sure they can create soundtracks that evoke particular emotions, their music can paint pictures for us as we dance the night away, but can they ever really have that instant connection, that control over the inflections of their sound which makes great music what it is?
Last night, I felt myself siding with the 'real musicians' party. Death to all this new fangled, boom boom boom electro nonsense!
But then this morning, it dawned on me - Electronic music offers something that traditional rock and blues rarely does, perhaps is unable to.
When I write a piece of traditional music using a guitar and my vocal, I am seeking to create a particular emotion, to tell a story using the way I play and the words I sing. When I'm writing a piece of electronic music, I'm operating in a completely different space. I'm aiming to take the listener into another world using texture, creating a new sonic landscape for the listener to be absorbed into. It's about pushing forward, presenting people with sounds they've never experienced before, creating structures and timings that pull in other directions to traditional music. Electronic music is refreshing, it's exciting, it cuts through everything proceeding it like lightening.
That's what it's all about - FUTURE MUSIC.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Shifting Patterns
I've been greatly inspired by the ideas of layering sound upon sound, texture upon texture, and just allowing waveforms to naturally develop. Letting sounds phase in and out of time with one another.
I abandoned the track I started work on tonight and thought I'd revisit an idea I played about with a few months ago - creating a track that ignored conventions of rhythm and timing and just allowed melodies and sounds to be placed anywhere within the track - I remember liking the results.
Whilst composing away, I realised that I was inadvertently creating the type of music I had been thinking about all week. Certain melodic patterns were sliding over others, hints of rhythm were creeping out of the mix before a new blend of textures pushed it aside as they spiralled their way into other directions.
The music can never become stale or repetitive since their is no repetition - every phrase is slightly different from the last, new textures can be dropped in with atomic effects, yet as a whole, the track remains a cohesive piece of music where every sound, no matter how randomly placed, sounds absolutely perfect - like it couldn't possibly belong anywhere else in the mix.
I abandoned the track I started work on tonight and thought I'd revisit an idea I played about with a few months ago - creating a track that ignored conventions of rhythm and timing and just allowed melodies and sounds to be placed anywhere within the track - I remember liking the results.
Whilst composing away, I realised that I was inadvertently creating the type of music I had been thinking about all week. Certain melodic patterns were sliding over others, hints of rhythm were creeping out of the mix before a new blend of textures pushed it aside as they spiralled their way into other directions.
The music can never become stale or repetitive since their is no repetition - every phrase is slightly different from the last, new textures can be dropped in with atomic effects, yet as a whole, the track remains a cohesive piece of music where every sound, no matter how randomly placed, sounds absolutely perfect - like it couldn't possibly belong anywhere else in the mix.
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