My Journey Through Music

How did I get to where I am now? What cosmic sculptor shaped my life to get me from a dork who knew nothing about music to one who is writing articles about composing and engineering? How does one get from a layman to a master? Okay, I can't answer that one, since the distance between my skills and 'master' is about equal to distance between me and Saturn. But I can at least tell you how I got to where I am, which is a pretty good place to be, let me tell you. What follows is a brief autobiographical account of my musical history. If you're like me, and I know I am, you'll be able to extrapolate some of this information to apply to your own life.

When I was a kid I didn't show much interest in music. Music on the radio tended to bore me. I can't even begin to describe how little popular music moved me at the time. Now I can look back and appreciate a lot of it, but it sure didn't affect me then. As I got older, and other kids were listening to snore-fests (at least to me) Nirvana and Green Day, I discovered an obscure branch of music that actually did hold my interest: videogame soundtracks. While the popular grunge movement generally stuck with a couple of chords per song, games like Chrono Trigger, The Dig and EarthBound were showing an absolute stunning variety in musical styles. My emotions were finally being manipulated.

I had a mini tape recorder, the kind used for dictation, and I would hold it up in front of my TV or computer and record the soundtracks of King's Quest or Castlevania. I would play Mega Man to get to a certain level, then pause it just to listen to the song. I was hooked, though I didn't understand the full implications of what was happening.

At the same time, I was learning to play trumpet in the school band. I was not particularly good at it, and the only real information I retained from that was reading music from a scale. I eventually quit the band in high school. But around the same time I started gaining an interest in making my own music. I had this image of myself in a room full of blinking machines, building an entire song from scratch. Rich, multilayered compositions would come straight from my brain, through the electronics and onto a CD. It all seemed very romantic and incredible, and I felt like it would be a worthy use of my time and energy. Of course, I had absolutely no idea where to start.

How does one even make music electronically? I knew there were musicians out there who made whole songs and entire albums by themselves, but how did they do it? It was a mystery to me. Did they have special machines? Computers? My family didn't have a computer more modern than a Commodore 64 until I was much older, and I didn't quite understand the role of the PC in music making at the time. My sister encouraged me to get turntables, because after all, her favorite DJ's like Bad Boy Bill and Tiesto spun records, and it all sounded electronc-y, right? I didn't know, but I was pretty sure that wasn't it and held off.

Even by the time we got a computer, 'the internet', that great modern tool for getting information, at the time was nothing more than a curious novelty for rich people, so our machine was offline. I didn't know anyone who made music, so it seemed like this dream of being a great music maker, admired by all, would not be fulfilled.

Then one day I was looking through one of those massive computer catalogs that occasionally came in the mail, (remember those?) ogling over the amazingly advanced laptops: Several-color monitor? Less than 15 pounds? CD-ROM?? Anyway I found something in the software section that caught my eye: Sonic Foundry ACID. It was billed as a "loop-based music production tool." The concept of stringing loops together to make music was a concept that I could grasp, and it was only a hundred bucks. My journey had started.

I ordered it (by mail; who does that anymore?) waited a painstakingly long time for it to arrive, then immediately installed it when it came. It was, in fact, pretty easy to use, and I was stringing together all sorts of loops that came with the program. It was fun, and I learned a lot about putting together music on a computer. I never quite felt truly proud of what I was making, however. These were, after all, just ready-made loops, composed by someone else, and then included with every single copy of ACID. I wanted to write my own music.

I didn't know a thing about composing, but I went to Best Buy and bought one of those home keyboards and plugged it into my computer through the microphone jack (I know, I know) and started playing little melodies along with the loops that I put together. I started to feel a little better about what I was doing.

Around the same time I was thinking about what I wanted to do for my college career. When the time came to talk to my career counselor, I told him 'sound engineer'. Composing music just didn't seem to have career potential at the time, but someone who recorded and made sound effects did. As long as I could be in that room full of machines and blinking lights. This unusual request kind of surprised him, but after a moment's thought he shuffled over to a filing cabinet and dug up an ancient brochure from a New England School of Broadcasting in Bangor, Maine, which had an Audio Engineering program, supposedly one of the finest on the east coast. I was a little wary because this pamphlet looked like it was from 1975, and in fact the school had changed its name from Broadcasting to Communications since then, but I learned more about it and eventually ended up going there.

Though in my classes I learned to record other people, like actors or a band, I utilized the knowledge I gained for myself. By the time I was finished, I had a complete understanding of how to make music using computers and recording equipment. Actually getting the money to acquire this equipment was a different story, but it was empowering to finally have this knowledge. I now understood that making music as a career was a possibility. There was just one problem.

I still did not understand music theory, so at this point I could only make bad music with technical excellence. (This is at least better than bad music with technical sloppiness.) During the next few years I moved and got a job at a major tech company somehow, gradually building a nice studio and making music occasionally. Because of my lack of knowledge I was never quite confident that I could make valuable music, however. Then one day, feeling unfulfilled, I quit my job and decided to work for myself.

Since then I've made it a personal quest to teach myself music theory. I picked up the banjo while in college and started formally teaching myself piano a couple years ago. I've been leveraging the internet to it's fullest potential to assist in my learning and have gotten at least good enough for people to want to pay me to make music for their games. This, of course, was the goal the whole time, though maybe I didn't always know it.

The journey so far has happened over the course of roughly ten years and I am far from finished. I still only perceive it as beginning, and I'm excited for what is to come. Come back in another ten years and I'll tell you where I've gone.

The Makeshift Musician's Studio

I apologize to my loyal readers for the lack of articles recently. Rest assured that I have a lot more content on the way for your enjoyment. Also, if there's anything you would like to see covered in this blog, please let me know.

A very astute reader may have already figured out my studio setup after reading all the articles so far. But for clarity, lets just go over everything in my own studio. What does a makeshift musician use? I was lucky enough to be blessed with a single car garage. In this garage I've cobbled together a fairly nice studio (if I do say so myself.) One of the problems with the garage is that it has a slightly sloped floor to keep water from getting in. This is a little annoying because it makes my chair swivel when it should stay still, but most of the time I don't notice. Here's a list of equipment:

2.5 Ghz Apple iMac with 2 megs of RAM - the iMac with OS X on it is so reliable that it's practically invisible. I almost never even think about the computer itself. This is what a computer should be. George Sanger, AKA The Fat Man talks in his book about turning the usually unreliable computer into a solid appliance by first making sure it is working and in stable condition, then sealing it up with duct tape and then writing "NO UPGRADES EVER" on it in sharpie. This is a great idea. Once your studio computer works well, try not to add much software or hardware to it. iMacs are great because they're already stable, self contained machines that work more like appliances than computers.

Steinberg Cubase SE - This is the software I use for recording and mixing. For the most part it is functionally identical to other software like Pro Tools and Cakewalk. The software's usefulness is really just a function of your own familiarity with it. Find a particular piece of software and stick with it. You'll get really good with it after a while.

M-Audio FireWire 1814 - This is how I hook up the keyboards, headphones, microphones and monitors (speakers) to the computer. When this thing works, it works perfectly. It is well built and solid. However, occasionally it will inexplicably lock up at random times, just like a computer crash. I have no idea what causes this, and it is always fixed simply by turning it off and on again, but it is incredibly annoying and is unacceptable for something so expensive. Next time I'll get something from a different manufacturer.

Behringer B2031P Studio Monitors - ('monitor' is a pretentious word for speaker) These are relatively inexpensive and have great sound. Highly recommended. You need to get an amp for them though.

Yamaha Motif ES-6 - This is a high-end workstation keyboard. It's interface is cryptic and difficult to learn. I've only barely learned it's basic functionality, but it has some powerful ability to manipulate sound. It has a fantastic bank of crisp, loud patches covering almost every genre imaginable. It's wind and guitar instruments, in particular, sound incredible. This is where the majority of my sounds come from.

Korg ES-1 Drum Machine - This thing is the oldest part of the Jupiterman studio. It's starting to show its age and has become much less relevant in recent years, but it it still reliable, tough-as-nails and embarrassingly easy to use. I say embarrassingly because the other devices that surround it are more advanced and more expensive and yet are still designed in a completely illogical way. If you've listened to music from jupiterman.net, you'll likely hear a lot of glitchy, multilayered percussion, as in Rebuilding a City, the second half of Apathetic Macrocosm (after the lyrics end), or Continuous Welded Rail. That is all from this one drum machine.

Novation XioSynth - A nice little synthesizer that replaced my old Korg Microkorg. It's a bit easier to use and has a more modern sound. I made a great recreation of a theremin with it. It's only problem is that it doesn't have MIDI input. Only an output, for some reason.

AKG Perception 200 Microphone - This is a crisp, full-sounding microphone with some nice features. Plus it is relatively inexpensive.

What else is in there?
- a microphone stand,
- a couple of stools for whoever is playing an instrument,
- a large plastic container full of scrap metal, balloons and some other random junk for sound effects,
- a bean bag chair left over from the previous tenant,
- a few hippie-looking wall hangings and carpets on the walls and floor for sound dampening,
- a pair of bongos,
- books on audio engineering and chord progressions,
- manuals galore,
- illustrations from Stephen King's Dark Tower series on the wall (a major inspiration for me),
- and some christmas lights that I haven't gotten around to hooking up

Tell me your studio setup and maybe it will be featured in a later article!

The Makeshift Musician's Favorite Albums

This week, allow me a little bit of self-indulgence with my list of my favorite albums. I can listen to these any time and love the experience over and over again. Everyone should be listening to these. Here they are, in no particular order:

Queen - A Night at the Opera - ...and not just because of Bohemian Rhapsody. Actually, my favorite song on the album is '39. This album is a pinnacle of songwriting, musicianship, experimentation, dramatic effect, modern recording, and just plain delivery. When you listen to this album, you can tell that Queen knew what they were doing and they can outclass anyone else in the world of rock.

Greg Graffin - Cold as the Clay - This humble collection of old-timey folk songs has depressing subject matter but nevertheless has an incredible warmth to it. The simple honesty of it all is inspiring. Plus it shows us that old-fashioned recording techniques still have a place in modern music.

Telefon Tel Aviv - Map of What is Effortless - Telefon Tel Aviv is a little known duo from Chicago who made the lovely album Fahrenheit Fair Enough back in 2001. In 2004, they released Map of What is Effortless, which was completely different in presentation. While the first album was light, glitchy and relaxing, the second album is dark, funky, dramatic and soulful. The album has that wonderful quality of being an epic musical journey from start to finish.

Eumir Deodato - Deodato 2 - Deodato was a pioneer in genre fusion. Deodato 2 is the epitome of his music writing skill and his and his band's improv abilities. It's sort of a mix of Latin, disco, jazz and funk. If I wanted to show you true musicianship, I would play this album for you.

Orbital - Middle of Nowhere - Orbital had an interesting history: some of their albums had a random, haphazard feel to them, while others would be amazing examples of clarity, substance and overarching intention. Middle of Nowhere fell into the latter category. Starting with the over-the-top double feature of Way Out and Spare Parts Express, the album descends into mysterious and moody atmosphere before slowly bringing itself back up to upbeat conclusions with Style. Another musical journey showing the great skill and experience of the Brothers Hartnoll.

Bad Religion - the Process of Belief - Most people would cite earlier Bad Religion albums, like Stranger Than Fiction, as their favorite, but the combination of dead-on songwriting, new drummer Brooks Wackerman, and much higher production values put this one on top for me. If nothing else, no one can fault Bad Religion for their bull-headed consistency and dedication to their craft. Particular favorites on this album are Kyoto Now! and Bored and Extremely Dangerous.

Alison Krauss & Union Station - New Favorite - Anyone who says white folks have no rhythm have obviously never listened to bluegrass. Bluegrass is the closest modern genre to our American musical heritage, the fusion of Irish and African folk music. Allison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Jerry Douglass and the rest of Union Station are the finest ambassadors to the mostly forgotten world of our past. And what incredible musicians they are! Listening to them jam together is a truly transcendent experience. New Favorite is the most accessible and fun album, with a lot of rhythm and a good showing from all the vocalists.

They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18 - Weird, nerdy experimental rock at its finest. This was when TMBG's style was still catchy and fun in addition to being eccentric. Highlights include The Statue Got Me High, Dinner Bell, and the incredible Fingertips, a sequential collection of no less than twenty individual songs, all different, each between five and thirty seconds long.

William Orbit - Strange Cargo - Undeniable atmosphere. Extensive sonic variety. Masterful skill with a studio. William Orbit's Strange Cargo albums represent all of these things. One minute you're listening to lovely latin style folk music, the next minute an unsettling soundscape of dissonant music and sound effects, then an 80's sounding rock song with backup instruments that sound like they came from the Amiga demo scene. All of the Strange Cargo albums are great, but the first one makes the best overall impression throughout the entire album. Pick this one up to hear something truly unique.