I was poking around the internet, reading my usual spaces of record label websites, magazine/ezines, current favorite artists, soundcloud, blogs, etc etc, when I happened to get the usual advertising email from Om Records to my personal inbox. I checked it out, as I usually do, since I’m a big Om Records fan. Groove Armada has been kicking ass lately, and I’m in love with everything Samantha James releases. Then I noticed a blurb about Mike Monday and a new project he just launched. 10 songs in 10 weeks for his new, free-to-download-from-his-website album! Sweet!

I’m a casual fan of his quirky music because of the interesting bits and pieces of production that weave together to make his music. His songs feel, to me, as if I were standing in the Seattle Art Museum looking at a mixed-media piece with vibrant colors, shapes, sizes, texture, and depth. Some of it clashes, some of it is beautiful discord, and some of it is aesthetically tantalizing. By way of link-jumping from Om Records, I went to Mike’s main website over at http://www.mikemonday.com/ to check out his project and re-familiarize myself with his catalog. I was pleasantly surprised to find more content there than I was expecting.

Ever since I started making music w/my computer, I had always been pretty adept at organizing my files. Whether it be sample libraries, projects, templates, snippets, hand-recorded media, one-off art projects; it’s all organized in a file system that makes sense to my brain. Though, it has been awhile since I have really taken a good look at how I do things to see if there are ways that I can improve my workflow. I’m not unfamiliar with the idea of the musicians sketchbook, especially when it comes to file organization on the computer. Yet, something just clicked when I read this statement taken from Mike’s post about “Using a sketcbhook…”

Often the best plan is to forget them for a while by saving them in your sketchbook folder and deleting them from your work in progress folder. This is because seeing all your unfinished DAW files every time you turn on the computer is a sure way to reinforce self-doubt and an even surer way to kill inspiration.

Then I get to thinking. Currently, the bulk of my heavy lifting comes from Reason. I know it well, I’m able to produce in it VERY quickly with excellent sounding results. The “problem” which is a byproduct of being able to work quickly is that I end up with a ton of “song starts” and “ideas”. I name everything with the date first (YYYYMMDD) followed by the project title (or song title if I’m that far along in the process). They all live in a project folder called “Sliptide” on my computer under my master “Audio” folder, in “Projects”.. more clearly: drive:\AudioProjectsSliptide20100714 – Getting Into Position , as an example.

This works fine for seeing the timeline of works in the file explorer, but good god– after four years of having this project folder in the flow of my various computers and back-up strategies.. I now realize that I think one of the speedbumps in my brain is the sheer size of unfinished or undesirable projects that sit in front of me every time I look for stuff to work on. I go “oh yea! that sounded awesome.. but I don’t know what to do with it yet..” or “Ah, yes.. that needs to be finished.. but I’ve got some other earworm in my head to get down into a track”… you see where this is going, yes?

So while I am very familiar with my catalog of song starts, snippets, and sketches, perhaps I should consider moving them to 1 more folder beyond my usual “in progress” thought flow. I know which songs I *want* to work on and *want* to finish soon.. the other stuff is mostly peripheral unless I need somewhere to start, or remember that I had something good going that I can come back to now that I’ve moved the current items off of my plate.

Food for thought. Thanks, Mike!

Check out Mike’s site and music

Posted via email from Sean Armstrong (Sliptide)

What frustrates me about the word, is that I am able to dabble in so many different styles and genres of music that I often find myself lost in the sea of house, trance, downtempo, hip-hop, indie, acoustic, ambient, chillout. Add the word “progressive” in front of any genre and you have a qualifier that adds another dimension of depth and connotation in the minds of electronic music fans everywhere.

Where do I fit in? What do I do best? Where should I be taking the Sliptide name? What should I aim to play to a live audience? Which music should I really focus on distribution and promotion? Should I target a niche and try to dominate it like so many articles, tips, and advice columns on the topic suggest?

Sometimes… I say.. ‘Eff it.

A few key points that I have taken to heart and thought at great length about from 2009:

Jeff, my accomplice in Silver Standard, let a nugget of truth slip from his mouth that certainly applies to my habits in the studio: I produce in the styles I have been listening to most at the time. If I’ve been listening to a lot of house music, I end up producing house-influenced music (like the past 3 months since November). If I’ve been listening to a ton of downtempo and trip-hop, then I produce a number of those styled tracks (akin to the project work I’m trying to wrap up).  If I’ve had a balanced diet of music, I tend to pull from everything and make some genre blending styles that retain some charm of the “Sliptide” sound (chilled, technological, and flowing).

I hate to admit it, but I am mostly a chameleon when it comes to music production.  The only things that really force me to step outside of the flavors in my mouth are things like remix contests or collaborations with other musicians.

The other key piece of information spoken to me was that, “Music is its own reward.”  It is something that took me by surprise because it happened to vocalize something I’ve felt for a very long time.  I often say, “I make music for the sake of making music.” Which means that I make the music so that it exists and is available for everyone on the planet to hear if they discover it, seek it out, stumble upon it, etc. I don’t make it for glory. I don’t make it for money. I don’t make it for fame. I make it because I enjoy making it and it is very much a part of my life. It is consistently rewarding to produce music that is pleasing to me, friends, family, and fans who have decided to continue listening to my productions in this lifetime. Such it is that, “music is its own reward”.

Where does that lead us today? Why am I writing this long blog post about all of this? Frankly, I think I’ve come to a very beautiful realization about my production methods and my life as an artist (and future entertainer as I begin to play live shows).

The genre, or label, applied to my music is nothing more than a category that gives some loose feelings and concepts to my music before ears have truly listened to it. It’s my job to let the world hear it and take my music for what it is. Whether they enjoy the genre I’m working in at the time or not, I have so much music inside of me that I appeal to so many different fans that will have to filter out the styles and sounds of mine they wish to incorporate into their listening diet.

Such it is that I will be releasing 1 album of a number of tracks that reach back into my catalog of productions from 2006 through 2009. The title is picked out, with 5 solid songs already completed and needing a round of mastering polish. The rest will be selections that round out the texture and emotion of the album. From house, to chillout, to downtempo, and veins of experimental (for me), I now feel obligated to show the world my cards. All of them.

It’s also worthy to note I am back on track and actively thinking, writing, and working on music for the yester-year mentioned album containing a large number of trip-hop and downtempo works. More lyrics have been started, some completed, and a lot of the songs are coming together nicely. A teaser is in the works with 2 of the heavy-hitting tracks that will make their way in teaser form to SoundCloud.

Finally, the house music that has invaded my mind of the last part of 2009 and this first month of 2010 is going to trickle out in one way or another. I’m definitely shopping some of these songs around for any labels that are interested in releasing them as 1-offs on Beatport, Juno, or even vinyl release (which would be really flippin’ cool!)

…and there you have it! That’s what’s up in my brain right now with music and what have you.  I hope to have some time carved out this weekend to get started on some of the demos and teaser tracks I want to post online.

2010 is going to kick major ass.