bronte

Bleh, I pretty much wasted the last 2 weeks trying to put a consultancy gig together. Though I like to think of myself as temporarily "semi-retired", I still wouldn't mind a job here and there to keep the juices flowing and get some extra income.

Anyway, I've been going back and forth on terms...basically the what, when, and compensation. These jokers finally respond offering half the payment I was looking for and in half the time, though still expected me to maintain my deliverables. What's worse is they wanted to pay me in cash "to avoid taxes". To hell with that. Extra cash is great and all, but I'm not desperate enough to sacrifice my self-respect. Nor am I willing to explain to the IRS what the hell I was thinking. lol

I could have called their bluff, but I chose to repectfully decline their offer and the project altogether. There will be others...eventually.

Until then...woohoo! I get to rot my brain with Room Raiders and Date my Mom on MTV.

I entered a remix contest that should keep me occupied, but I am regretting it because I'm not really "feeling" the source material. It's a Drum & Bass track that can be remixed in any direction I want, really, but it's not inspiring me much. I could completely reconstruct it, but I'm not sure I have it in me. When/if I finish it, I'll link to it in a journal update. NIN is also "hosting" a remix opportunity, so I may go with that.

I'm one of those people who has had no formal training in music, but love it enough to tough it out. Composing on a computer makes it easier for sure...you don't even need to know how to READ music, though it helps. I have an extensive setup stored away...synths, drum machines, turntables, etc, but now I'm limited to virtual synths and various mixing apps. There are many out there, but I'm using ACID for now. I chose it because it offers the level of options that are within my understanding in addition an active user base who supply endless amounts of loops and ideas.

I think if I added up the total amount of minutes of all my combined tracks, I could make an entire record, but I've yet to actually finish and master a track. Most tracks have a clear beginning, middle, and end...mine just kinda start in the middle...or they only begin and end. lol I'm sure it's my lack of music training, but I'm learning every day.

You don't need to be a musician to know what sounds good and what doesn't, but constucting is from scratch is extremely challenging...and frustrating when it doesn't sound like it does in my head. I can generally figure it out eventually, but there are some techniques that are simply beyond me at this point.

At the end of the day, from a commercial point of view, it's the listener who determines the "artistic value", not the artist. I do it mostly as a hobby, but we'll see where it goes. If I can master a single..awesome...make an entire album, even better...maybe even digitally distribute it or offer it up for free. If I can reach out and touch just one other soul through my music, I will feel "complete"...I will have done my job as an artist.

I'm not sure that I've found my personal style yet...though if I had to define it, it would be called "Industrial House" or "Industrial Trip Hop". I dunno if those genres actually exist or not, but who gives a fuck? What is it with genres anyway? A lot of inspiration comes from the likes of Bill Leeb (a.k.a. Frontline Assembly, Noise Unit, Synaesthesia, Delerium, Equinox) and also Ken Ishii (aka Grip, Holon, Easy Filters). Ken's album "Jelly Tones" is absolute genius.

Okay, I'm gonna find something else to do now...