Hi All,
Mad summer thinking is here! Everybody goes on holiday…..and stops work or other….I’ve had a break doing house stuff-painting, repaired house etc.
Looking forward to Autumn-had one or two musical ideas and recorded them on handheld tape. Continuing with Electronic EP-have to alter some of the mixes when I get back to studio……working on third work today-few bars of drum sounds. Maybe the recent Perseid meteor showers will inspire some ideas, although the tracks for the EP are essentially Astro-Physics and Particle Physics related.
Looking forward to more results from the Large Hadron Colider to get yet more inspiration………..!
Cheers
PS
Hi There,
Re-evaluating 18m 38s Electronic work. Question: does artistic artistic license need to be preserved against what is the musical norm or must we experiment at the expense of being accepted musically or financial success? I go for the second as that leads to progress in art forms. There is something to be said for both camps though.
As a practising musician, I think there is something to be said for the restraints of learning form and structure which give a form which can be understood by the masses. If there is no form or structure which a human being can ‘put a coat onto’, there will be no understanding of the art work or anything which can be understood. It would be like sending out a radio message in prehistoric times where there was no radio set with which to decode the message. Similarly, music or art would be nothing if it was not there, even if someone said it was! This argument does impinge a little on the modern thinking where I recently saw an example. I do not decry the artist or his thinking in this example. In MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) where 70 white canvasses had a very very faint almost translucent wash of ‘colour’ such that it barely could be said to be a painting. No form, no structure-but the canvass. The work had a discussion about a field of daises which put into the mind that it was meant to be that, however there was nothing to suggest it except imagination! Was this art? Is the mere projection of words into the mind ‘the work of art’ or can art be said to images projetced into the mind through whatever means are? See (www.thisistomorrow.info/viewArticle.aspx?artId=358&Title=Felix%20Gonzales-Torres%20and%20William%20McKeown:%20A%20certain%20distance,%20endless%20light)
This was also previously done with music in the classic attempt by the composer John Cage (1912–1992) in his infamous piece 4′ 33″ where not a note was played! Discussions still ‘rage’ about that.
The fact that there is a physical suggestion whether the paint or audible notes or sounds is important in my thinking. An external input must be made that has form or structure of some kind otherwise there is nothing happening in front of you apart from your imagination! Is imagination art?-categorically no-otherwise we would all be called artists. Art must involve construction on the part of the artist to ‘direct’ the onlooker or hearer in some method to change perception. Art must encompass change in perception or direction otherwise nothing happens in the mind. I would argue the ‘Field of Daises’ canvasses in MIMA relies only on what is already in the mind of the observer, and is therefore not art in reality. John Cages piece 4′ 33″ only has audience noise and outside noise which are already perceived and been allocated to their respective memories in the brain with appropriate association-i.e. an eggcup is used for eating eggs-the ‘field of daises’ is only a field of daises till it is painted in purple for example, changing perception. In that way true art must alter the mind image whether visual or aural.
I move….
I have named a piece that I have written for my next EP Ophiuchus! It is 18m 38s long with undulating scenes and rythmns. Its been a labour of love and it is what it is! It is deliberately repetitive but has beautiful deep undercurrents of sounds with background inlaid notes!
Hi All,
I am glad to report that the continuing release of my albums continues with ‘Chthonic Netherworld’ on a wider scale. It is released in nearly 260 countries by BelieveDigital.
It contains Electronic Sytnth music created for Film & TV some of which has been released in America and elsewhere. Containing Sci-Fi backgrounds, Synth Leads and and Sc-Fi Pads it takes you to other worlds and through space to Alien Worlds. Your imagination can run riot-the music was partly created for Aliens operating on human beings!-aaaaarrrrrrrggggg-as part of a diploma in writing ‘Music for the Media’.
I take inspiration from many sources from Ian Boddy to Sc-Fi music and Films. The studio equipment used is the latest gear-Kore 2 and it’s many synthesizers to Propellor heads Reason. Hopefully people will get the benefit of the latest sounds taking them to the future!
Hear on www.itunes.com/paulstokes www.believedigital.com/artists/90126,paul-stokes-herbst.html or www.musiczeit.com/directory.php?artist=80&title=Paul+Stokes
Enjoy!
Cheers
Hi,
I am disappointed as well as the Scientists with the news that the LHC is to close for modifications for a year at the end of 2011. It is to address design issues. Joints between the machines magnets must be strengthened to cope with the 14Tev the higher operating state. As a musician and composer, this affects directly my ‘ inspiration source’ for the work that I am currently producing. This is the exploration and interpretation of particle collisions and fields through Music. So far, I have been able to examine with two tracks, the effects of Fields and collisions. I find want to interpret the collision and the resulting spin. In a lecture at the Darlington Astronomy club the other day, it was said that some Gamma Ray particles have the equivalent energy of a tennis ball travelling at 100mph! Imagine one sub-atomic particle having that much power/kick! How can I replicate that with Music? I have some idea’s. I work out the idea’s sometimes a bit graphically, or imagine what the equivalent in music would be say-a spinning particle would have a known frequency or pitch. Though the spinning particle might have a far higher frequency of spin than can be replicated by a note, you can down size the frequency and using a representative note-frequency, approximate all other spins to their relative frequencies. Fields might be represented by held chords and so on…..further using Synths and orchestral arrangements etc to create the piece. I hope this gives a little insight into the methods used at times for inspiration…..
Cheers….
Hi,
It came as a ‘clout round the back of the head’, it was as the dawn of time! Thunder clattered and it was born….? Gently but strongly like a flowing river, the idea began to take it’s course and we knew-Ian Boddy and myself, realised that a 3-4 yearly Curry was the answer! Soon it was realised that there was to be a 3rd member! Marcus (Soiled) Howarth ’fitted the bill’ being Electronic/Punk/Distortion ilk! Subjects include discussions on Earthly and Heavenly topic’s, my self and Ian being Armchair Astronomers. Jealous? lol……! Hey why don’t you create a similar such object……..?
Cheers
Hi There,
I’m mixing tracks for the Electronic EP I’m doing. It has the highest number of track counts so far for this EP. It is an exploration of the future including spacey sounds and particle Physics level stuff-brilliant.
I released another album on march 3rd-Chthonic Netherworld. This is fully Electronic with synths using the excellant Kore 2 system with Komplete 6 set of Native Intruments series of Plugins. It is Space orientated with again melodic stuctures and a sense of exploration of the further reaches of the Universe-I loved writing it as it a particular interest area of mine aside other things. You will be able to get it off www.itunes.com/paulstokes and www.believe.fr/albums/52696.cosimc-renditions.html or hear it at it at: www.downloadplatform.com/paul_stokes and released in 260 countries-enjoy.
Cheers
‘Concepcion’ started out as a piece that was written whilst trying out an idea within Nuendo the software sequencer package. The idea was Orchestral and Classical, scored with strings and a smattering of wind instruments. I played it to Russ Conway, my A&R Manager at the time, who likened it to Goretsky, a famous classical composer. He really liked the piece and suggested that I scored and modified it. After some work, it ended up in it’s present form. It seemed that many people liked the work and it was arranged by Russ Conway that the work would be performed at the Stockton Riverside Music Festival in July 2004.
I had to prepare the piece for public performance, so set about scoring the piece for production. It took about 3 Months before I had finished with something that which is required for professional musicians. The score was then passed on to Deborah Mollison who scored the hit film ‘East is East’. We passed the score for correction between each other several times, visiting London to see Deborah before an agreed working score was achieved. Without her input the dream would have never been realised.
The work has a melancholic sadness but beauty about it, which seems to deeply move people. After some time it was clear the score needed a title. After some thought, I realised that the name of my Fathers Burial place would be very appropriate, as A) I had not been able to visit the place, and B) it would be an appropriate memorial to him and his life.
My Father is buried in a little town-Concepcion in the Republic of Paraguay, South America where he was a Christian Missionary when he died under suspicious circumstances.
The works ‘tone of sadness’ yet beauty seem a very appropriate. After the title was arrived at it was time for the work to be performed at its Premier performance. It was arranged that it would be played at St Peters Church in Stockton on Tees that had very good acoustics. Also as an experiment, because of the lack of monies, and the work would be experimentally produced and performed to massively save on costs of a full Orchestra.
I took up this challenge and assured Russ Conway that all would be ok! We had one rehearsal to get it right-he not knowing my shear fright at the idea!
It was a challenge, but I set about producing the score so that it would play back through Nuendo and on a Midi Instrument if necessary. This was to be a Yamaha A4000 Professional sampler. In the score, I provided a Click Track so that the Orchestra would have a cue to come in to. The idea was that I would record the Instruments and score them into Nuendo. I would then play back the piece from the Orchestral Samples of my Garritan Personal Orchestra in Nuendo they would be recorded by the A4000. The idea was that on hitting the ‘play sample’ button on the A4000 Sampler the Orchestra would play ‘in time’ to the ‘Orchestra’ recorded in Nuendo playing through the ‘fold back speakers’, and the orchestra players would accompany the playback adding that ‘real effect’-it worked like a dream!
Members from the Northern Sinfonia were recruited and made up the real orchestra to accompany the sample orchestra with one or two friends of Russ Conway.
On the rehearsal night, a PA was thankfully hastily arranged by Studio 64 in Middlesbrough at the time now called TMA (Tees Music Alliance). Deborah Mollison was brought up from London. However neither I nor Russ Conway or Studio 64 had thought about recording the great event!
On the night, all the musicians turned up, and the bows were ready! The click started in the players fold back and off we went on a pre-premier practice-it sounded fantastic!-then suddenly, Russ Conway had the idea-what about the recording of the work! Ideas were quickly gone through, and an engineer was suddenly dispatched home to get hold of his Sony handheld Mono DAT recorder! 30 Mins Later and just in time, the performance and recording started. People were very complementary and I was over the moon with the sound that we had got. Deep resonances of the piece worked well with the acoustics of the Church which enriched the energy and Pathos in the piece. Paul Burns, the manager of TMA was more than complementary of the Pieces performance, and a celebration meal was held for the benefit of all the Players.
The only recording that survives is the mono Sony DAT recording. So I set about trying to EQ and Master the recording for possible release on the Ether! I used Wavelab 5 and Har-Bal including my beloved Reverb Wizooverb. It still needs work on the Mastering, but it has been used for various projects.
On reflection, it was just a shame that the work was not in Full Orchestral mode and that we did not have a Stereo recording, however all were well pleased with the whole process and the effort put in on the night.
You can hear the recording on www.itunes.com/paulstokes on the album: Natural Force
Hi,
I am a working composer and in the last few years have had the opportunity to watch the rise and fall of some Artists in the music industry. I am basically a positive person and so believe that I have a relatively realistic view of the music industry as a whole having also spent some time in it. I am beginning to believe however that the ‘old adage the musicians lot is largely a poor one in life.
It is reckoned that only 6% of Artists whether Music/Art/Performing are working in terms of making a ‘living’. I think this is largely true. There always seems to be a core minority of artists who seem to be in work. This is very difficult to accept when young and full of creativity and wanting to ‘take the World by storm’, however the reality is there are only a few who are going to ‘make it’.
Lets take look at whats out there. There are two camps in my thinking-those who are signed to ‘Record Deals’ and those who are not. You first need to ask how those who are signed to record deals got there? There are several things that separate them, and steps they have taken in most cases.
Firstly ‘Providence’-being in the right place at the right time! Unfortunately true. It’s just the way it is, and although you can do something to get there through hard work and being ready, it’s eventually out of your hands! What percentage the unforeseen makes up I’m not sure, but it’s there. I have seen a documentary on a famous composer of Hans Zimmer’s stature, and when asked how it all happened say “I’m not the most talented composer but better than some-it’s just that circumstances came together and I met ’so and so’ and it took off from there”. Sometimes you came cause ‘that meeting’ to be more likely by taking your work somewhere personally to a Composer or Artist or Producer or Record Label, but this has to be at your cost as well in time. You will have to travel-even abroad-to London or wherever the likely place they might be-but you will have to do it, otherwise you will lessen your odds of ‘making it’.
On the issue of ‘making it’-what does that mean? Well for me there are things far more important than money-in fact the art form is more important than money and what you produce. Are you willing to suffer financially for a period of time-even years? There are even some who have died for their Art! I believe there is more to life than money, and you will say well how do I live? I believe in a ‘Creator’ however you may look at Him, and if you move in line with your ‘Creative Self’ things will come together! Things outside of your control will move circumstances ‘into line’ and you will find yourself in places you never dreamt of! I once had a dream where my music was being played by an Orchestra-a real live one-further I felt that it was a direction I should move in. One day through training Seminars in Middlesbrough-the North East of England, there was an A&R man called Russ Conway. Through that meeting, he particularly rated a piece of mine that was called Concepcion (called after a small Town in South America) He felt it was similar in style to Goretsky (English Spelling) – a Polish Composer. I had a demo ready and had to also Score the piece, and Deborah Mollison was called in to Orchestrate the work. After all this was done, Russ arranged for members of the Northern Sinfonia to perform the work at the Stockton Riverside Music Festival one year-it was brilliant. It was a highlight and a beginning for me!
Interestingly, I also was in the place of having studied, practiced worked towards the goal I was trying to attain-and it could be said -in line with my ‘creative self’. You are less lightly ot achieve what you want in life without input and cost from yourself. The current move to create ‘Stars‘ and ‘instant success’ in several walks of life, is a an anathema to me-it is a foreign land! I don’t think that is how things should work. If your work/study/input brings success, that is the way things come about, otherwise there can be big falls ahead as we all know! The success is not actually the point, it is an aside-the result is-the painting-the piece of music-the performance-that is the point.
This brings me on neatly to those who are not signed to ‘Record Deals’. I constantly assert that the most important thing is to be ‘doing something’ with your art and that is the point-it has ‘value in itself’ as I believe Human Beings’ are of inestimable value to the Creator, therefore what they produce is inherently of value. Nothing can be worse than to be doing something without being valued for it. Modern thinking places no value on the Human Being as they believe there is no purpose to existence! What a dreadful and depressive condition to be in. I ask how do you produce anything when it is purposeless and pointless-and a lot of modern art and music reflects this Godless view and I cannot see how you can continue working under these conditions-you might as well leave your brushes in the water jar for ever! Similarly with music-smash up your guitar-isn’t the action of smashing your guitar up ‘saying’-there is no purpose-life is futile-God is dead-there is no need for existence? The opposite is true-Produce Produce Produce! Work Work Work!
In summary, for the ‘unsigned’, go for it, do all you can to be in the place with your skills-sharpen them constantly-don’t give up-push through depression and the uninspired moments-you will get-they’re part of the journey! The best way for me during these times is to sharpen my skills and get my head down and produce however slowly-there is a purpose-enjoy!
