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brettworks

thinking through music


  • November 15, 2023

    Resonant Thoughts: John Adams On What To Value And Musical Style

    “Today everything is available at all times. All you have to do is have a subscription to Spotify…Nothing is special anymore. So one has to actually make some kind of pact with oneself to get back to that very very personal relationship with one work, or with just a group of very valuable pieces. Because Continue reading

    Resonant Thoughts
  • November 14, 2023

    M7

    Continue reading

    Uncategorized
  • November 13, 2023

    Get Each Layer Right

    While there are no hacks to quickly producing quality music, a strategy that rewards a degree of patience is to get each layer of the music right before moving on to the next. This post answers the questions, What is a musical layer in a track, and what does it mean to get it right? Continue reading

    Uncategorized
  • November 3, 2023

    Music’s Main Enchanter: Hearing The Human Touch

    One of the challenges with making music using software as a primary instrument is what feels like a six degrees of separation between what I intend to do, what I’m actually doing, and the sounds I’m able to make. As I’ve written about, there can be a disconnect between doings and soundings: my sense of Continue reading

    musical touch
  • November 2, 2023

    Brett’s Sound Picks: Arvo Pärt’s “Sequentia” (2014)

    Continue reading

    Brett’s Sound Picks, Uncategorized
  • November 1, 2023

    Database: Max Lauderbauer On The Overall Expression

    “If I record something, I still do it very freely. I’m not into going too much into detail. For me, the overall expression is more important than little details.” Max Lauderbauer database. Continue reading

    database
  • October 31, 2023

    Keywords: Automation

    Automation is a technique of controlling parameters within the DAW ecosystem over time, so that the waveforms morph, the reverbs open up, the EQs sweep, the pitches bend, the transitions blossom, and any other value you can identify shifts and evolves, as if it has a mind of its own. When you automate you multiply Continue reading

    keywords
  • October 30, 2023

    Mediation Remodel

    Continue reading

    remodels, Uncategorized
  • October 27, 2023

    Curating The Week: Superlinear Returns, Effects Of The Music Streaming Era, AI And Internet Searches, AI And Motivated Learning

    “There are two ways work can compound. It can compound directly, in the sense that doing well in one cycle causes you to do better in the next. That happens for example when you’re building infrastructure, or growing an audience or brand. Or work can compound by teaching you, since learning compounds. This second case Continue reading

    Curating The Week
  • October 25, 2023

    Database: Ludwig Göransson On Doubling Sounds

    “We have parts played by a string quartet and overdubbed with four different synth voices; you can double it and have them weave in and out of each other so you don’t really know if it is the real instrument or if it is something else. People are unable to put their finger on what Continue reading

    database
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Thomas Brett is a musician and writer who holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from New York University. He is the author of Principles of Electronic Music Production and The Creative Electronic Music Producer, a book described by Sound On Sound magazine as “a deep philosophical analysis of the various creative inspirations, ideas and processes involved in producing electronic music.” His essays have appeared in the journals Popular Music and Popular Music and Society, as well as edited collections by Routledge, Oxford, and Cambridge University presses. Thomas has played percussion on Broadway since 1997 and writes about music at brettworks.com.

Recent Posts

  • Database: Dave Stewart On Stereo Picture, Frequency Differences, And Demos
  • Brett’s Sound Picks: Musicentrydelete’s “Depth” (2025)
  • When Less Leads To More
  • Omni 98 bpm
  • Drumming Diaries: Grip

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