Thomas Brett
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Playing Along
When I’m composing I’m almost always playing along with something that’s already sounding. Pop musicians often begin with a groove, but since I don’t make beat music (at the moment) I often begin with free improvisation at the keyboard. I’m searching for something—a chord, a bit of melody—that I haven’t exactly heard before. I’m searching… Continue reading
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Lessons From Dilla 3: The Bass Can Walk Or Wander
The bass can walk or wander from the drum rhythm. Continue reading
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Freestyle: Music Aphorisms 4
There’s musical repetition that creates a groove, and repetition that stands in for having new ideas. In some musics these two functions co-exist. Electronic music instructional videos would be more inspiring if they showed emotional composing/improvising/performing in addition to problem-solving. Electronic music compensates for the lack of physicality in its production through an excess of… Continue reading
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On Click Tracks And Going Off The Grid
If you record your music using digital audio workstation (DAW) software such Apple Logic, Garageband, Ableton Live, or Digital Performer, you’ll notice that every time you go to hit Record a metronome click synced to your file’s tempo automatically clicks into action. The default tempo is 120 bpm (the optimal electronic dance music tempo) and… Continue reading
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Lessons From Dilla 2: Contrast Dry With Atmospheric
Contrast the dry beat with an atmospheric keyboard sample. Continue reading
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Theory As Poetry: John Mowitt’s “Music in the era of electronic reproducibility” (1987)
music, as an organization of noise or sound, arises within the structure of listening music’s social significance derives from the role it plays in the stabilization of this structure, that is, how it articulates and consolidates structurally necessary practices of listening. – John Mowitt, “Music in the era of electronic reproducibility” in Music And Society,… Continue reading
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