Thomas Brett
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Database: Hans Zimmer On Not Using Presets
“I don’t really have any finished programs in my synthesizers, I just have the neutral program I go from and I set up each sound individually as it comes along, because it will never be right just calling up a preset. It’ll never be as perfect as if you tweaked it and actually spent a Continue reading
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Idea Meditation
Rembrandt, Philosopher in Meditation (1632) “Musical” is sound that compels us to listen intently. Chords are shades of feeling. Craft excellence compounds into aesthetic power and is its prerequisite. Devise a musical system first, then worry about its output. Do whatever you need to get the output you want, then analyze (or not) the musical Continue reading
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Resonant Thoughts: Callum Robinson’s “Ingrained” (2024)
“A Brief Note On: Finding Your Voice Pore over books and magazines, get online, read interviews with designers in different fields and discover, if you can, what moves them to do what they do. Scroll (God help you) through social media. Collect, curate, and digitally scrapbook. Train that algorithm to feed you something nutritious for Continue reading
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Same Walk, Different Music: Squarepusher’s Brief Music
Producer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Jenkins (aka Squarepusher) is (re)known(ed) for his intense drum and bass rhythm programming, electric bass playing, and forward thinking about music production. But it may be Jenkins’ mellower and very brief tracks that are his best work. Leading the way is the magisterial, one-minute-and seventeen-second “Tommib”, a piece that’s organ music Continue reading
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Database: Janerik Kongshaug On Compression And Dynamics
“When it’s mixed, it’s finished. If you’re doing a mix, why should you send it to someone else to change the mix? Of course, today what’s happening is everybody is compressing. A lot of music today sounds so compressed— you get tired. There are often no dynamics. Many people say the ECM recordings sound so Continue reading
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Resonant Thoughts: Kevin Kelly’s “Excellent Advice For Living” (2023)
“Separate the processes of creatingfrom improving. You can’t write and edit or sculpt and polish or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don’t select. While you sketch, don’t inspect. While you write the first draft, don’t reflect. At the start, the creator mind Continue reading
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