Hello
I decided to start off a blog page on this site to answer some questions that have been asked and also to go into some detail about how I do what I do
Over the last 10-12 years I've developed what used to be a hobby into a burning passion. That is to compose, produce and finally publish the music I have written.
As a musician, particularly as a guitarist, I make no claims to being anything special. Technically I'm able to reproduce what I need to do the job so for me that's more than adequate.
As a composer I see it as my personal conviction to bring into reality what I see and hear in my head. I find the more I look, the more I can see. I therefore won't restrict myself to a specific style or genre. I try and write in as wide a scale as is possible.
I also for some reason find it easier to write in what I refer to as projects, in other words I write in bulk. Depending on the original concept, I will work exclusively in the style of that project until I have enough material to go into the production and recording stages. The amount of material that defines the project depends on when I feel enough is enough. Having said that I nearly always end up with excessive material which ends up in the where will it go bin.
The albums Different Textures and Haunted Themes are examples of compilations taken from the where does it go bin.
My recording and productions routines are fairly well organized now. I start with a project, the one in progress as I'm writing this is a series of ambient style works with the working titles of Moods or Ambient Magic. There are currently 10 instrumental pieces in the mix.
The original idea for the concept was easy listening music for music libraries, so to that end I have used a lot of classical guitar and guitar synthesizer tracks to get what I'm looking for. Which was anything from full orchestral sound scapes to subtle nuances.
I start by playing around with ideas either on the guitar or via the synth, then when I find something that grabs me I develop it, then record it. The recording will become the foundation over which I will layer other tracks.. Which once recorded will leave with a completed set of audio tracks.
The piece then progresses to the editing stage, here I clean up the audio recordings by removing extraneous noise, things like cable hum excess distortion lag on rock guitar tracks. Fret board buzzes and in the case of vocals breathing and sibilance.
What I'm after is a cleaned up series of tracks prior to the mix down process. Here I set up where I want each track to sit on the stereo field, also the volumes at which I want each track to play at. This is done spending time listening to the piece via headphones and adjusting volumes and pans until what I hear sounds right to me.
After that comes the mastering stage, now this is a skill which takes many years to both understand and implement, and is not one I possess. It is also an extremely expensive process to get done. So I use a mastering software program. Which gives me some astonishing results, especially when I listen to the results compared to my final mix downs.
I'll end this particular blog on that note, as I intend to cover other aspects in later blogs.
Many thanks for taking the time to both visit my site and for taking an interest in my writings.
All the best
Mark
I decided to start off a blog page on this site to answer some questions that have been asked and also to go into some detail about how I do what I do
Over the last 10-12 years I've developed what used to be a hobby into a burning passion. That is to compose, produce and finally publish the music I have written.
As a musician, particularly as a guitarist, I make no claims to being anything special. Technically I'm able to reproduce what I need to do the job so for me that's more than adequate.
As a composer I see it as my personal conviction to bring into reality what I see and hear in my head. I find the more I look, the more I can see. I therefore won't restrict myself to a specific style or genre. I try and write in as wide a scale as is possible.
I also for some reason find it easier to write in what I refer to as projects, in other words I write in bulk. Depending on the original concept, I will work exclusively in the style of that project until I have enough material to go into the production and recording stages. The amount of material that defines the project depends on when I feel enough is enough. Having said that I nearly always end up with excessive material which ends up in the where will it go bin.
The albums Different Textures and Haunted Themes are examples of compilations taken from the where does it go bin.
My recording and productions routines are fairly well organized now. I start with a project, the one in progress as I'm writing this is a series of ambient style works with the working titles of Moods or Ambient Magic. There are currently 10 instrumental pieces in the mix.
The original idea for the concept was easy listening music for music libraries, so to that end I have used a lot of classical guitar and guitar synthesizer tracks to get what I'm looking for. Which was anything from full orchestral sound scapes to subtle nuances.
I start by playing around with ideas either on the guitar or via the synth, then when I find something that grabs me I develop it, then record it. The recording will become the foundation over which I will layer other tracks.. Which once recorded will leave with a completed set of audio tracks.
The piece then progresses to the editing stage, here I clean up the audio recordings by removing extraneous noise, things like cable hum excess distortion lag on rock guitar tracks. Fret board buzzes and in the case of vocals breathing and sibilance.
What I'm after is a cleaned up series of tracks prior to the mix down process. Here I set up where I want each track to sit on the stereo field, also the volumes at which I want each track to play at. This is done spending time listening to the piece via headphones and adjusting volumes and pans until what I hear sounds right to me.
After that comes the mastering stage, now this is a skill which takes many years to both understand and implement, and is not one I possess. It is also an extremely expensive process to get done. So I use a mastering software program. Which gives me some astonishing results, especially when I listen to the results compared to my final mix downs.
I'll end this particular blog on that note, as I intend to cover other aspects in later blogs.
Many thanks for taking the time to both visit my site and for taking an interest in my writings.
All the best
Mark
