ilzxc - EP37

Transcript

Speaker: Welcome to Chasing the Beats, a show dedicated to weeklybeats.com artists, their songs and stories from the 2024 season and beyond. I'm your host SQF and our guest today Ilzix.

Speaker: All right, welcome to Ilzix or I-L-Z-X-C for you spellers out there. Glad to have you on, man. Hey, thanks so much for having me. I'm like honored and excited. but Wow, we're we're at the point now where it's an honor to be on here. That's that's impressive.

Speaker: ah I don't listen to podcasts much at all. And I have been listening to this one. So yes, this is awesome. That's great to hear. That's great.

Speaker: Yeah. It's been fun putting it together. And actually this was one of those, like I skipped last week cause I had kind of a busy week and I was just like, I need like a little break. And then i was like, kind of not feeling it again this week when I like reached out to everyone, like,

Speaker: hey, does anyone know anyone? And then I was like, immediately uplifted and helped by the community. And then I started listening to your stuff. And then all of a sudden, I was like, all right, and I'm excited now. Like, ah so that got me over over the hump of like, man, should I just like take another break? You know?

Speaker: but Yeah, like I mean, in weekly beats terms, how many weeks has been? How many episodes? What what is this episode number? This is something this is episode 37. Yeah, 37. Yeah. so it's So we're past the halfway mark, right for the weekly piece, which means that the burnout is happening.

Speaker: Yes. Yeah. And, you know, i've I've done my best to channel my weekly beats experience to like try and avoid burnout. But, you know, like with everything you do, like there's that like I kind of need a little break.

Speaker: yeah But the week go I was, huge yeah, I was sort of like, I've been talking with people on this show about like, it's okay to break the streak and then come back. And I was like, well, I i guess I should set an example here.

Speaker: who Yes. Yeah. So by I did. Yeah. And we're back. So cool. This, was your first year weekly beats, right?

Speaker: Yes, that's right. And I wasn't even like I literally found out about it basically as it was starting because Trash 80 sent a message on the M8 Discord or M8 maybe newsletter advertising weekly beats. And I thought, oh, why not?

Speaker: Right. And so like I kind of signed up yeah at the yeah last minute. And then, yeah. And Then I did 52 tracks in one year. So that's the magic of it.

Speaker: Wow, that's amazing. And how long you had you had an M8 before then? Uh, not that long. I got it. So I got it the year before, but like, I only had it for like a few months, I think before the weekly beat started and the like, I had it long enough, I guess, to like experiment enough with it. And like, but yeah, I was, I was pretty fresh at the time and like, and so was the firmware.

Speaker: So yeah, it was a completely different device, I think. So. Yeah, that was back in the day for sure. And what was your experience making music prior to that?

Speaker: Right. So, okay, it started in like 1997 1998 and it was English, and it was that english pre-AP class, which had another weekly beater there named Noggin, who was my classmate. and And we had a few classes together and we talked about music kind of a fair amount.

Speaker: And then Noggin put this software called Buzz on the computer in the in our MediaTek class. And that was my introduction to trackers. So I kind of started like around, I think, it must've been 98 or something like that. It was still high school.

Speaker: yeah That was when, yeah, that's that's when sort of things clicked for me because like this realization that I could just use my computer and make music in this weird spreadsheet like software that was kind of, I just, I instantly grokked it and got it. And then Yeah.

Speaker: And i also convinced Noggin to do weekly beats in 2022. Oh, sweet. Sweet. So like, and Jim Mack, who was the, the kind of de facto superstar badass at the time of like, he's slightly older than us and was, was making like really compelling music with the tracker.

Speaker: So that's, that's sort of how it started. Cool. And you and Noggin have been making music since like 98 together. we So actually, no, we've kind of been like going our separate ways throughout you know school and grad school and jobs and other things. and then like But then like through but you know we would be in touch sometime.

Speaker: And then like Weekly Beats was an amazing way to actually... and And I mean, same thing with Jim Mack, with whom I haven't talked since like very early 2000s. But then like Polyann released Polyann Tracker. And all of a sudden, I think I yeah saw Jim Mack randomly pop up on one of the social media things related to Polyann Tracker. And then like it it just kind of it's it's all trackers as far as I'm concerned. Trackers just kind of bring us bring us back together. And then we managed to yeah to to to to do this. and there was ah I mean, in 2022, for sure, there was a huge amount of M8 work on on Weekly Beats.

Speaker: Yeah. So yeah, which was great. But there was also a remarkable amount of like incredible musicianship happening all over the place. And so like with somebody that somebody with a relatively eclectic music taste or I guess like who likes a lot of stuff. It was pretty amazing.

Speaker: Like there's incredible musicianship and a lot of people with performance shops that are like incredible and then you have like you know folks like orange drink who kind of do it everything and then like make videos at the same time so yeah yeah props to those videos too man that's that's a lot of a lot of extra work yes and uh Had you messed around with any other devices? Like, I know you have extensive experience with trackers and maybe the Polyend, but before you got the M8, were you messing around with any other devices?

Speaker: Yeah, i so I did a lot of music on a computer, but once I got a job where I stare at computer all day, I really did not want to make, stare at a computer at night.

Speaker: But the side effect of a job is some money. So I i first got into some electron devices. So I think like the. Nice. And then, yeah, like I, so I have a few synths and a few boxes here and there. And then like during the pandemic, I also got really, whatever you we call that the pandemic mood.

Speaker: My cure for that was buying a gi guitar pedal. every month for like a year. And so, so I got into guitar pedals and then, and what, what's ironic about this is that for years I've been saying that I'm not going to get into modular because that's like, you know, so much money. Yeah.

Speaker: Except that like, I did the same exact thing that folks do with modular, just with guitar pedals. It's like a slightly different, you know, they're not mounted, but like just bought a bunch of devices and then yeah. Yeah. So I guess that's, so like I am primarily a mate for writing stuff, but I've also been recently working just with the Digitone 2 and Digitac 2 setup that's right next to me. Nice. And...

Speaker: And then like, oh, and also been getting into NanoLoop. So I've been playing around with the analog pocket. Yeah. So doing some stuff with NanoLoop 2 and a little bit of NanoLoop mono, but I need i need to get better at that.

Speaker: So, yeah. Yeah. I've been messing around more more with my Digitone 2 and I am loving it. Like it's it's so much fun. Yeah.

Speaker: it's It's a different different way of making music from the M8, but definitely a lot more like hands-on performance kind of stuff. Completely, yeah. I mean, the my because like Weekly Beats taught me to be a pragmatist, right? So it's like you, like I was, there are folks like Wangus who are just like, M8 only, and like everything is done on the device and stuff. And I cannot work that way. i I'm too ADHD for that. yeah yeah so So for me, it's always like having, you know, stems from M8 that may be incomplete. And then after that, throw them in the DAW and sort of do the final set of edits there.

Speaker: And so, and for playing live, I put all those stems into Octatrack, which is also a really, like really fascinating performance machine. So, yeah. Yeah. I've, I've always been tempted to dig into the Octatrack now that I'm in the like electron world and I'm like, it's not as hard as people think or that they make it out to be.

Speaker: But I'm also like, as soon as I buy one, they're going to like drop a new Octatrack. Yeah. Although I'm sure people would argue that like this one's still very capable, you know.

Speaker: Yeah. But it's ah the videos I watch so far, they still kind of like mystify me of like, what exactly is going on here? You know? Yeah. It's, I genuinely think that there is some kind of like a,

Speaker: misrepresentation of the difficulty with most of this gear. Like, I don't think that the Amate is confusing. I don't think that Octatrack is confusing. I think that most things kind of click whenever you just spend a few hours just by yourself with something, you know, and then like, right so I, I certainly, I love my Amate probably more than anything else for a number of reasons, but the, I'm also very grateful for like sliders and, you know multiple outputs on the Octatrack, which enables some things.

Speaker: Yeah. I love it all. Like we're in the, like the heyday of somewhat affordable, like music gear. Cause like you look at the prices of some of the synthesizers that were coming out when we were in high school, like in today's money, they're like, you know, $30,000 and like just insane out of reach for the majority of people.

Speaker: Completely. Yeah, I think that I've heard somebody say that right now is the best time to make music like and then probably the worst time to make money from making music at the same time. That's the truth. That's the truth.

Speaker: So 2022 and I'm focusing right now because You didn't finish 2024, which is okay. There's no knock on that.

Speaker: But you were doing other stuff that I want to get into as well. But I'm kind of curious, coming off of my first Weekly Beats experience, I'm...

Speaker: curious about your experience doing challenge like that for probably the first time and just like things that came out of that experience for you oh well okay so I loved weekly beats.

Speaker: My main regret is not taking a couple of weeks off. there were like two but There were two weeks where I really should not have even done speed trash or anything else, like where rest would have been. now But I kind of, I don't know how to put this. like it It seems really daunting on paper, right? It's like every week, no like not skipping a week.

Speaker: make a track and then do stuff. And one of my challenges for myself was to also mix and master everything, which like yeah a few tracks, I just couldn't really like spend enough time on it. I still pseudo mixed things, meaning like I had a mix session, but the mixes are trash because ears were tired and things were just like literally done. yeah and they loved So yeah, on paper, weekly beat sounds kind of intense.

Speaker: But my experience was yeah the opposite because there was like a whole lot of instant gratification from like that is both like yeah creating something that you like and then like listening to that stuff and listening to a whole bunch of music by your like, well, at first strangers, then a bunch of friends.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. And then like the entire year kind of felt awesome, especially because like, you know, you do this for a while and it just becomes kind of a cool thing that you do with other members of the community. And then that's the, and that feels relatively cool.

Speaker: Having said that, I could not have foreseen just how much quarters, a matter. Like at the end of the first quarter, it was just like, yeah, let's go. This was great. And then by the time that the second quarter rolls around, like third weekend, you're like, Ooh, this is a lot. Like I'm, I'm, I'm beginning to feel something. And then by the end of the year, I'm just like, I am so burnt out. Like I, I, like, I also said a number of challenges for myself where like, I kind of felt like I couldn't just phone it in.

Speaker: Like, cause I was doing a bunch of remixes. I was like, you can't just like phone it in completely. And so Yeah, it was a little bit scary. And sometimes it really did not feel fun at all.

Speaker: But having said that, i like I don't know. I worked with music, like as I said, I started a long time ago. And I went to music school. And I think Weekly Beats is way better than music school. So like just yeah working through whatever adversarial like things that your head does is important.

Speaker: and like And oh, I will say this. like When I started Weekly Beats, I would say that probably 90% of my music making time was like dealing with insecurity and like with the security about your decisions and security about like other things because and then like by the time that you kind of do a whole bunch of things at once, it becomes really sort of ah free.

Speaker: So here's how I'll put it. Like if you, so the first post is really terrifying because if if the track that you're hosting is not good, right? 100% of your output of weekly beats sucks.

Speaker: And that is bad, right? And then like there are two tracks. And then like, but now if the set if the first track is awesome and the second track is bad, only half of your material is actually bad, right? And if then it becomes one third, et cetera. So like the moment that you have like, you know, three, four, five bangers, all of a sudden you're just like, I'm good.

Speaker: I'm actually good. Like I deserve to not necessarily make a banger for a while. And that creates a rather amazing like follow-up, which is like, wait a second, I can take a risk. Like I can actually do something that I'm very uncomfortable with or can do something that I'm perhaps terrified by or something that I've never done before. And then it becomes easy to do this because proportionally speaking, it's just another drop in the bucket of like continual over a course of the full year output.

Speaker: I think that's the trick. That's the reason why it's way better than school. It's not about like, you know, it's,

Speaker: it's the period, right? Once the period becomes small enough of just like a week, but it's still long enough to make something cool. That's when I think that the superpowers get unlocked because it's like, yeah, of the 52, you can absolutely take the craziest risk you've had like five times and it's not going to affect your overall feel about your body of work.

Speaker: That's awesome. um Yeah. yeah That is a really good way of putting it. And the The quarters also kind of mark some of that. like The first quarter is like, oh, what am I getting into? like are Do people actually like this? like What's going on?

Speaker: And then by the end, you're like, i'm we're just all making songs trying to get through the week. like like Here's what came out this week. Yep. And then, I mean, but but you also kind of get this insight where it's like you read the description and it's going to be, so like you listen to the song it's like the best thing you've heard ever from somebody that you love. and you're like, holy shit, yeah this is amazing. And then like you read the description, it's like, oh man, I've been really tired this week. I'm not really sure like what this is. And it's like, dude, okay, I now understand exactly how wrong about my own material and other things. And this is like, this is,

Speaker: Yeah. Orange Drink has, I think, an amazing... that The orientation video for 2024 was like an incredible... Like jokes around this particular notion and how... Yeah. If you just let that inform you, right? That you can't... Right.

Speaker: Yeah. That you're often wrong about what it is that you like and dislike about your own stuff. And that's... And that's kind of freeing in a lot of ways because it's like...

Speaker: i I guess I'm not a really good judge of my own music, so maybe I shouldn't weigh my decisions so heavily.

Speaker: Yes, 100%. Yeah, yeah I just agree with that. Although i never I never thought that I got kind of into the like...

Speaker: letting go and being really experimental because I was like more worried about me not liking the song or not having enough time to finish it. and Like i was always like fighting this anxiety of like this thing isn't like coming together. all OK, I'll just go have fun. And wow, it came it came together. And I'm like, you know, like the instant gratification ah moments.

Speaker: So That's kind of what I'm shooting for next year is like being a little bit more adventurous. Yeah, I I guess a few things were just really heavy that year in 2022, like the war with Ukraine happened. I'm of the Russian origin and that was really sort of haunting just like identity yeah and culture and other things. And I opposed the war in Ukraine.

Speaker: There was also like my grandma passed away at some point in the time and I, but i but but I still was just like, well, it's like, it feels weird making a banger during that time, but like, it's okay. Yeah. Supreme court passed, uh, uh, some legislation that I deeply disagreed with. And then like, so I've never really made the political protest piece outwardly. And I kind of, and i was like, no, for this one, I feel like I really have to. Yeah. And like, and all of those things were, I guess, pressure points where it was like, it kind of gave me no out, you know what i mean?

Speaker: So it just kind of felt like I'm not going to make a banger, uh, of like, of dance music whenever like something horrible is happening and I have to process it. So it's like, And you can't, so it just, you, you, you kind of go like, yeah, okay, I'm going to do something potentially weird, but I also kind of don't care. Like the, yeah I think the smartest thing that I did is I did not turn the comments off.

Speaker: Cause really wanted to just turn all the comments off and just kind of like let that material sort of exist outside of the overall thing. And then like keeping those comments on was the smartest decision because the community is fucking incredible. And the use of the curse word is mandatory here.

Speaker: It is fucking mandatory. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and um I am willing to bet that there will be heavy shit that we're all dealing with in 2026 as well. What gives you that idea? I don't know. how Nothing. Nothing. Don't look outside.

Speaker: no Yeah. And, you know, for me, it's, it's kind of a way to escape all of that. And maybe make a banger if grandma dies in her honor in a way, you know?

Speaker: Yeah. But ah the community, like you said about the the leaving the comments on because like there was even some rough moments in 2024. And it felt like ah the comments and us all sharing kind of the the same sentiment ah Yeah.

Speaker: So, you know, 2026 will get us through that as well. i ah I'm just going to try to be on an optimistic side and say, let's hope it all goes better than we expect.

Speaker: Yes. Yes. so Yeah. and ah trying to think of where to go right now, because I have so many questions for you.

Speaker: The that is like coming to mind right now, is how did you learn how to mix? Because your mixes are amazing.

Speaker: Jeez, thanks. i ah But but but by kind of by doing weekly beats is my actual answer. And what I mean by this is that mixed work before. But the thing is like when you... So, okay, the usual process is that like, you know, you know I would make a you know a song and then rarely I would put this into a DAW and would like draw some automation stuff and kind of figure things out.

Speaker: But the problem with that is that it when it happens rarely and you're kind of doing this like sort of piecemeal, you don't really develop like...

Speaker: Yeah, you you cannot develop those types of shortcuts. And like there is no, it's still magical and mystifying to you, right? And the whole point is just making it really mundane. So during my undergrad, I worked at the music studio at Texas A&M University.

Speaker: And there were a lot of people going, yeah like coming, just going through like different students recording stuff. And that's when I was like, I knew Pro Tools back then. I forget which version, ancient one, early 2000s.

Speaker: And then like, yeah I would mix like Christian rock and then I would mix like dirty South hip hop. Right. And it was just like, yeah and and during that time, you just kind of go like, yeah, okay. Like it needs, you know, this needs to be better. This needs to, you know, this, this needs to be improved. But you also start developing like, yeah, I don't need to worry about any of those things because this is fine.

Speaker: Right. And that's the secret. I think. So I kind of realized after mixing a bunch of like ah art music, I guess, in school, also like during the later years that once I started Weekly Beats again, I was like, I'm actually back to ground zero. Like I don't i don't i don't know what yeah what compressing my drums means anymore. I don't know how to like sort of how to deal with things. So I've spent, it was kind of more front loaded, like the first 13 weeks,

Speaker: I've just tried a bunch of things where like, how do I make the bass sort of sound better? And then like, i in yeah like how do I EQ it? And then bought a bunch of FabFilter plugins and just kind of went ham on those. Like I i just use FabFilter, EQ Volcano distortion, the Saturn distortion and their compressor and limiter, and that's it.

Speaker: That kind of goes on everything. And then I just try to, I mean, I try to do the best job that I can. I don't think my mixing is that great, actually. and I think it has a long way to go. But i if there's one thing I miss about 2024, not doing weekly beats is that, is not mixing and mastering a whole bunch of tracks.

Speaker: Yeah. And then also like volunteering a lot. So like a friend, that you know, whenever a friend would make a would would would would make something, just be like, hey, i'll I'll mix this album for you. And then like, I'll i'll master it I did that for Noggin.

Speaker: ah For Chipsomniac, which was his M8 album of sort of chiptune, a kind of adjacent work. And then and like, and I would do that, you know, like for free, just just to be able to like, take somebody else's stuff and just figure out how do you make it sound.

Speaker: the best I was really grateful to Emily at some point in time who I think it was for the Raja, the Resident Alien remix, saying that it's like, you just turn your friends up to 11. And I was like, I love this.

Speaker: I do turn my friends up to 11. Like, that's exactly what I want to be known for. It's like, I turn my friends up to 11. That's awesome. Yeah. Now I get a little up to Is it, i mean, what is it about the reps?

Speaker: Is it just the like trying different things or just getting a better ear about like, like you said, not touching the things that, that don't need to be touched. And then like, I need, I want to hear more bass. So I'm going to start there, you know?

Speaker: Yeah, it's the the it's actually, so I do think that not needing to touch the things that that don't need to be touched part is probably like 90% of what I would consider to be sort of a success. Or like knowing how to do the minimum viable thing like, this sound is fine, but it but it's not kind of lost here. Let's just make the highs a little bit more prominent during this section when it gets muddy, but like not in your house.

Speaker: And then also like you end up, I mean, i I came up with a whole bunch of shortcuts too, because like Ableton now can create endless number of tracks. So this means that I very rarely automate as well. It's like, if I need some, so like for the same base ah line, I would create three tracks.

Speaker: And then would put them, it's like, so for the intro, the bass needs to be a little bit lower than for like the middle section, this is going to be the banging bass. And then for the ending, it's going to be low again. So you just track it on two or three different tracks.

Speaker: And then you just configure the EQs and compression, like how you want it to be. And all of a sudden you no longer need to worry about stuff. And then like, yeah, it's just those types of things, you know? And it's like, I i don't really look and and at a lot of like folks on YouTube advertising workflows like because right yeah it's easier for me i feel to invent a workflow quote unquote even if that that's inventing the wheel i'll internalize it so much better than if somebody is just like do this in a particular way so i'm yeah yeah so because then you have the whole journey of getting to that part and probably why they got there to in the first place you know

Speaker: Exactly. And it's because, yeah, if somebody gives you the solution and you don't know what the problem was in the first place, yeah it's really difficult to then know, like, yeah, how how the hell am I supposed to apply this? Because I don't know when to do this.

Speaker: And that's the part where I kind of feel. And I think that art is critical for this because I think that making art means that it's relatively safe. Like nobody is going to die if I make something wrong.

Speaker: Like the the worst case scenario is that somebody is going to say, oh like I didn't like this and that's fine. Like art being harmless is like it's paramount feature to me because it means that it's the safe place where you can invent, learn and like apply knowledge in extremely sincere ways without ever risking like,

Speaker: Like, I don't want engineers building bridges doing that. Right. I've definitely wanted to read books. But like musicians doing this? Yeah. I've been thinking a lot about this lately that it's like, everyone talks about like, oh, you need to do more childlike play and, you know, do these activities that are harmless. And I'm like, what is...

Speaker: more harmless than making music like literally nothing bad will happen if you do us a weird sound or you know yeah somebody might be like uh yeah that's not my thing which is cool that's fine yes yeah it's not your thing yeah and in fact that's great that means that there's probably a lot of things that are not my thing that might become my thing later and that's that's amazing yeah exactly yeah yeah And I think it would be a mistake to not talk about sound design along with your mixing, because I think the sound design plays a lot into at least how I hear your mixes, because there's such a wide range of sounds happening in a lot of your songs from like noise, bass, like

Speaker: One of the songs we're going to listen to, like kind of like mechanical tape noises all the way to these like super sharp, like digital kind of sound. So it's like the entire spectrum and not just in frequency, but in like rhythm and like attack decay, like you've got the whole mix in the mix, if you know what i mean? Yeah, no, that's very kind of you to say this. I,

Speaker: I guess I, I just, I like making sounds and the, I, I don't know how to make sounds well. And what I mean by this is that, uh, if you ask me to make like a clarinet on the MA, um, I mean, I, I like, I know where to start, but I wouldn't make a good one.

Speaker: And then, so like meeting somebody like Ipoghost that where it's like every single sound is handcrafted for every song, all using one synth is like incredible. And it's like, I don't have that skill. I, yeah I also,

Speaker: have never tried to develop that necessarily. So for me, it's always just, you kind of pick things up and like, you know most things are boring, I think when it's starting. So it's like the way that you fight the boredom of like an empty page, right? It's like, is that, I mean, my solution is just like scribble something that's odd.

Speaker: And then the moment that there was something odd that becomes like a hook, so to speak. And then and the funny thing about this is that like you make this one thing that's kind of weird and it kind of explodes into the rest of the track because it's like, well, yeah, I can't really just take a, you know, somebody else's drum kit and then like have that be okay if there's a weird squeaky thing happening. So like, okay, so like now the drums need to get all like re-pitched weird and then like,

Speaker: Yeah. But having said that, I also feel that like a lot of it was, if it wasn't for weekly beats, just constantly pushing off, like you got to make this happen this week. It's like this terrifying moment of just like, I need, I like, I need to make something that I'm happy with. And I guess that's what I gravitate to is just weirdness. um Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. And, uh, You posted some videos recently in, I believe, the week Weekly Beats Discord of you doing some different sound design stuff. And you asked, should I do more of these? And the answer is yes.

Speaker: Because the the things that you are trying and experimenting with, like, I am not there in M8 sound design land.

Speaker: So just watching like the one clip I saw, I was like, whoa, that like, I had never even thought about going there and and doing those things. And you really do get some very unique sounds out of the m a I mean, the video is a cheat, right? So I do want to point out that this wasn't a spontaneous thing. Like I had to rehearse it because it's like, this is, this is me kind of going back from the sound that I made. And i was like, I, I just kind of had this idea, like, what if I turn everything off and then you just end up with a beep, uh, that's like two octaves apart or stuff like that. So beep, beep, beep, kind of going on. and

Speaker: And I sort of thought, oh, wouldn't it be cool if I can actually kind of like build the final sound from this particular thing? Yeah. Also just really excited that I can record it very easily on the cell phone as opposed to... Yes, yes. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker: That's so good. Yeah. Not that I've done anything with it, but I do want to make some videos at some point. but You should. I don't know that I have the knowledge to drop yet, but we'll see.

Speaker: And yes, I... assumed that you weren't just like immediately I'm going to go make the sound that like, you know, that goes hard. Yeah. Well, I just, yeah. i I just wanted to make sure that, yeah.

Speaker: Uh, whatever. I'm all, but I mean, I was not very familiar with your music and you've kind of opened my ears to what's possible with like weird sounds.

Speaker: And I mean that in the best way. no that's awesome. Yes, i though um' that's music to my ears for sure.

Speaker: Because like you do a lot of interesting things with like melodic elements that you almost can't like make out the note, but they're kind of like rhythmic elements yes that you're like, almost like peeking around the corner of like, what note is that?

Speaker: And then it's sort of like all comes together. Lots of just like unexpected, hard to determine if there is like true repetition going on that like really keeps you interested and like what's happening. Cause it's kind of like,

Speaker: wait, my brain is trying to latch onto something that is like where I can get into groove. And then like you add like one element in and then like, boom, the groove is there. And you're like, oh shit, it all makes sense now.

Speaker: Yeah. So, okay. The reason why I'm really partial to this and why I see a huge compliment in the last thing that you said is that like the... So there's like <unk>ity like this infinity of different musics in the world.

Speaker: And like it's like they some some songs could not be less... alike in any e like in instrumentation and delivery and aesthetics and everything else. So kind of was just like, you know, we use words like beauty and like we use happy and sad and everything else, but like music can be everything.

Speaker: And so like the word that I kind of settled on over the years was like, it just needs to be convincing. Like if it's screaming, convincing screaming, like it, like, the the coolest thing that you can make is when like somebody hears the track and they're like yeah duh couldn't happen any other way and absolutely could but like we all know that it that it could but like when you hear the best of the best and like the the the famous tracks it's like from the opening chord all the way to the very end you're just like yes 100 more of this please right and that's the part where like i think it's it doesn't matter if it's weird doesn't matter if it's

Speaker: not weird, doesn't matter if it's like dainty and small and beatless or like if it's massive and huge, like the ability to convince is still seems to be something for everybody.

Speaker: And that's the, yeah. So, and then, I mean, I think that that's also helpful when trying to something weird for the first time, where you're just like, well, shit, this doesn't have any melody or anything like that. Like this is now like that might put the FFS, my but mike protest track, which is just buildup of noise.

Speaker: But it was like, well, so if I make noise that I think can't go louder, what do I need to do? I need to make it go louder, right? Like it's like, that's that's that's the only thing that you have when it's like a slab of sound.

Speaker: So like the only thing is just the stepwise more and more and more and more. and figuring out how to do this. And I think that becomes convincing, even if people are like, well, that's not my thing. They're still going like, I get it though.

Speaker: Right. And that's the part that, that, yeah so like this was intentional and I wouldn't hear it any other way.

Speaker: Right. or Or, I mean, yes. in the oil like and Even if the intentional part applies to the making of the artifact as opposed to making music. Like if somebody's like, I'm going to be wind chimes and I will be the most aimless thing in the world. It's like, yeah, you kind of have to probably work really hard not to have like a C major chord in there by accident, right? Even if you're being yeah random because it needs to be sort of very unintentional sounding, but you need to be intentional about that unintentionality.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Trippily. How did you arrive at this style of music making? Weekly beats.

Speaker: Weekly beats. through So I went to school. I was really burnt out of music making, like badly, because it was it's just a lot. and And the further you get, the more hurdles there are where you have to do responsible graduate student behavior, but still produce creative work. And it sucks.

Speaker: Right. So for five years, I did nothing except for like various experiments. And my original vision for the project was actually inspired by this Czech avant-garde pop band or folk band called Dva. They made some video game soundtracks for Amorita design.

Speaker: So they made a soundtrack for Botanikula and for ah few other games. Anyway, I actually love their albums way more than their soundtrack work. And I kind of wanted this weird, folky, sing-songy,

Speaker: quasi-jazzy, but still somewhat electronic thing. That's sort of what I was kind of trying to develop. And then Weekly Beats started and I'm like, I have a week. So so i got I just got to pull out whatever it is that I have.

Speaker: And so it's like, there's been this weird thing where like at first it was just pulling out some of the ideas or some of like, there would be a drum loop that I would have that I recorded from like, not even trying to make music, but I recorded from playing around with the new pedal that I got.

Speaker: And then it's just like, okay, great. Let's build a song from that. And then like, just try to figure it out. So it all just like, i I don't think I'm, what's the word? Diligent, not diligent, that I am organized enough to actually be able to sort of guide this progression through weekly beats in any way, especially given everything else that was happening at the time.

Speaker: So it was just like, yep, let's try it and figure it out. And then if somebody likes something, it's like, oh, cool. And then like, by like fifth or sixth week, Orange Drink is like, Ilzex is going to make a squeaky toy track again. And I was like, oh, that sounds like a good idea.

Speaker: And then, yeah, so yeah, this this journey of like completely accidental and like ignorant self-discovery where you're just kind of do first and then ask questions later.

Speaker: Um, right. Like yeah pretty cut and dry, just experimentation. And i guess looking for inspiration in a lot of ways, right?

Speaker: Yeah. the Yes. The, I think that, I kind of felt at some point in time that I was repeating myself too much. And that was another impetus for the remix project where I was like, if if I start looking at other folks, you know, like the music that they make, and if I touch something that I consider to be way more precious than anything, any of the garbage that I make, right I have to kind of force myself to like either listen or analyze or like basically just learn the inside and out of something else that is being done. And that was...

Speaker: an awesome learning experience that I think also informed me a lot, but I don't think that I understood how much of it informed me until like years after. So. Oh, okay.

Speaker: Interesting. So the it's kind of like when people are like, you should go make, make, um, music in the style of this or this artist, but like picking from the community where we're already listening to music and being like, I really liked this track. I think I'm going, I'm going to like remix it and like put my spin on it.

Speaker: Yes, but I got to be completely honest with you. But the My Spin part was i was not even like on my radar. I really wanted to work with stuff that people made that I genuinely found inspiring and awesome.

Speaker: And like every selection of mine, and like I did very few remixes based compared to what I actually wanted. But the whole thing was just to find an excuse to like for a week or more to deep dive deep into like, how was this made? Got it.

Speaker: Because like I don't use FL Studio, but I had to kind of learn it well enough to be able to navigate Hypergust's personable computer. Or I didn't know anything about NanoLoop mobile at the time, but I downloaded Heshib's track and then was able to like look at the...

Speaker: yeah look at its organization so all of it was just like dice you're like dissecting these songs and then being like how did they make this yes and then like i i guess putting your spin on it is a different way but like making your creation in a similar way.

Speaker: Yes. And we'll get in. I want to talk a little bit more specifically about certain remixes. We're gonna listen to your Emily remix later. yeah But I wanted to shift real quick to 2024.

Speaker: And talk more about your like live set work. Right? Sure. Because that you mentioned to me when we were chatting before,

Speaker: or this week gearing up for the show, that you didn't release a lot of songs 2024 because you spent a ton of time doing live sets or are preparing for live sets.

Speaker: Yep. I, uh, yes, I, I think I played four shows in, uh, um, in 2024 and I kind of went from scratch. Right. So I went from like doing weekly beats then in 2023, I took a break from music because I was pretty burnt out and I was also just trying to improve like my health. I worked out a lot and stuff.

Speaker: And then on one of my friends who like enjoy my weekly beats told me to come out to Seattle um like ah community events where electronic music is played. And we have a few of those and we're really lucky here.

Speaker: So I came out to Modbang in January of 2024, which is every last Tuesday of the month at this place called Four Beasts Tavern. There is a showcase that is run by, used to be run by EasyBot, who now kind of took a back seat and there's a bunch of other people okay running it.

Speaker: So, so I showed up and then like that day or that night I got introduced to EasyBot and who who, who was like, yep, I'll put you on the program in May. And I was like, oh snap, like now I have to prepare. And like,

Speaker: So, yeah, I guess if there is a theme to this conversation is that I plan for nothing and just sort of stumble through life in a musical adventures. You put a flag in the sand and you're like, yeah, I'm going to get ready for this date.

Speaker: Yes. And then around like i'm like ah some other, just a little time after that, there was another friend of mine who like said, hey, I'm putting together the show at this other place in Seattle the week before Modbang. He asked me if I wanted to play and I thought, sure, why but why not? I'll say yes.

Speaker: Well, that was dumb because I, instead of preparing one show, having, okay, so i've I haven't played like fun electronic music live since like 2005 or something. It's been a while.

Speaker: And then like, so now I have all of this like weekly beats repertoire and I was like, sure, I can do like an artsy show ah for this friend and then like a beats oriented show for. i thought you were going to reuse the same show. No. So, so instead of doing 50 minutes, I did an hour. Yeah. And then like, except for the Jim Mac remix, which was like in both.

Speaker: And then because like it did the BBM fit and it kind of worked. So, and I like, Maybe that was dumb, but like I was also glad I said yes because like I did not know the kinds of problems that I would see, like corrupted Optitrack card, you know, and like losing some of the work.

Speaker: And then just like not really understanding like how do you – like, yeah, I think that – Yeah. So like I was just preparing all of the weekly beats material and then like most of my shows for like throughout the year, we're just doing weekly beats material until the November show where I have the two tracks that I've, that, that I, uh, that, that are on the 2024 weekly beats page.

Speaker: So, yeah And it was just trying to figure out like, you know, how do I do it? So you mentioned lack of repetition in my music, which is intentional.

Speaker: But it also makes it really hard to play because I don't really have good loops to loop because of the way that things are structured, or at least am at the time, like my brain was too sort of like, no, this works this way.

Speaker: And then- Hard to loop polyrhythms. Yes, sometimes. So like, yeah, so I just ended up kind of like putting together these WAV files of like all of the sort of sections of the song and then like,

Speaker: tracking them across a single Octatrack project so that I can press play and the whole thing sort of plays at once. And then I can mute and provide effects for different things. And I also had my pedal ah my guitar pedals where I can press Q and send.

Speaker: i Basically, any stem can be either playing inside of the Octatrack and processed with Octatrack effects or sent out through the pedal chain before being returned back into the Octatrack. which also meant that like I could make some things glitch or like apply a filter, but only to a few verses, which was like, and then, you know, and then a whole lot of it but went into like the theatrics of it because like the hardest part about a lot of electronic music is you just kind of press play. And then like so much of it plays by itself that it becomes really difficult to figure out how to do that.

Speaker: Yeah. That was a journey, lots of mistakes, but really valuable ones. So does, Does that make you want to continue doing live shows? Yeah, i've I've been I mean, I'm i'm signed up to play thing in November.

Speaker: i played it in January. Yeah, just played a ah ah but show called Wayfest um with Mikey 303, Null Sleep. So that's at least three weekly beats folks in under one roof. That was fun.

Speaker: Nice. Yeah. Like the, I'm definitely hoping to like get, so I've been getting faster in terms of both material preparation. And also like, it goes back to the comment that I made about mixing where you're just kind of go like, I don't need to mess with this. Or it's like, I no longer need to, like, I will, I very rarely run bass through my pedals with a handful of exceptions, which means that I can probably just like bake that in with the drums, which then will make it a lot easier to compress it as a whole thing. If like,

Speaker: if there were some sidechain effects or something. So it's like you can do less and yet have more because you've planned ahead a little bit and you kind of like know what what it's doing. So it's all it's all just a learning process and you kind of figure things out and eventually you kind go like, I've been doing it wrong for two years.

Speaker: i I would like to put together some sort of live set. What advice... would you have given yourself back in ah you know 2024 about know prepping a live set um limit the scope So just make a track list, realize that track list.

Speaker: It's going to be hard. There will be some problems that you don't foresee, but see that through. It's it's just like weekly beats. It's like weekly beats the live set where you just sort of figure out how to play whatever it is that you want.

Speaker: And don't sweat anything. Like my my my biggest mistake is like trying to make, trying to like, Give myself all of the stuff to do. And the whole point I would actually say is like, just do the minimal amount of stuff that convinces you.

Speaker: Right. And then after that, grow from that as much as possible. You'll break this advice because that's the human nature and that's the art ego and everything else. I have to fiddle with a million things while I'm up there.

Speaker: And but but the truth is, like, it's I still have to fiddle with a million things. I just only do that in a track or two. Right. And then like, yeah, and those are usually the centerpieces like the it's really fun performing my closer, which is Carousel, because I have to do a lot for that one. And it's like it grew and it changed and it's now kind of a different song, which is awesome.

Speaker: But the, but like, yeah i think that's remarkable considering that like the stems have remained the same since the very beginning, since I've done it in like, in what whatever it would be like March or April of of last year.

Speaker: But because the pedals changed, my interaction with the pedals changed and the the nature of the project changed. Like it's now, it yeah, it now goes into crazy noise at the end. And that's just because I got Chase Bliss onward and it it it can do that. Nice.

Speaker: Yeah. So like, it's pretty cool to know like the base material is the same, but literally your performance has completely evolved it. Yes.

Speaker: Like it's, and I do rehearse a lot because I, I'm awkward as enough as it is. And like, I feel like, you know, you have to give people a decent show. And then like, I watched, watched Orange Drink sort of perform. And I sort of thought like, I want to be able to do that. And I can't do that right now.

Speaker: And then yeah like, it's actually, I'm glad that there are videos because I can see like the difference between like the first and the third show that I played is pretty astronomical in terms of my stage presence and stuff. And all but only because a friend of mine sort of said, oh man, when you look up and and smile, like that's, that's, a but that looks good. And I was like, i'm just going look up and smile no matter what happens.

Speaker: If I screw up, I'm going to look up and smile, right? If I do something good, I'm going look up and smile. That's great. Yeah. Make it convincing. Exactly. that's that That's the thing. even Even if you don't believe in yourself, it's like, it's going to be all right. Like it's going to sound, it's going to like, looks at my phone somebody will come up we'll say something.

Speaker: So yeah. ah Well, I think we should start listening to some music. Let's do it. Let's start with 2022 week six embrace.

Speaker: Let's do that. All right.

Speaker: I really like that squeaky, almost mouse noise. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Accident. Complete accident.

Speaker: All right. that Yep. That's ah analog rhythm playing, like me hand playing the drums into the Chase Bliss blooper pedal. And then after that, hating what I made, and then just like, instead of erasing it or overdubbing it, I was like, what happens if you like turned the pitch way up. So you like turned the pitch way up and you're like, oh, okay, that's that's kind of nuts. And then it's like, what if I just started messing around with those things? So it's like a bunch of weird tape effects that Chase Bliss Blooper has, which was like all just manipulated live and then like re-recorded, overdubbed,

Speaker: ad nauseum. And then like if the final, whatever, the kick and snare sort of on the on the drums is just like me going, like it kind of sounds like this groove, right? And then like playing it with fingers, no sequencing.

Speaker: And then I pulled that out and then I did need to fix the timing in post in in Ableton ah with with some warping. But like all of that squeaky texture stuff is just the drum machine manipulated by a guitar pedal.

Speaker: That's it. Like I was surprised it did that. Wow. Didn't plan it. That is awesome. And then I would say, like, maybe your signature, but like the, the like dome dome, like you can't, it's hard to predict like when it's going to come.

Speaker: And then you've got this like squeaking noise in in your ear. Like it's, it's borderline creepy in a dark room, but it's also like just a fascinating use of sound and texture and like,

Speaker: Something that I'd never really heard before. That's. i I really appreciate, just that's just so kind. Like I thought when I made it that this was, that it all sounded very kind of academic-y and not good.

Speaker: And then the community response to this was like several people pointed out that it's like, there is cuteness to this. And I was like, I couldn't hear it when I was making it that way at all. And then like, now that they said it, I can't unhear it from that point. And this is not something that like,

Speaker: Yeah, and so I, and I did play it at the first ever show, and I kind of think that I i want to play that one more out because it's it's so weird, and yet it kind of goes hard, but it's also gentle.

Speaker: So like, yeah. Yeah, and ah convincing.

Speaker: It's like, yeah, when I first listened to it, I was like, like I mentioned at the at the top of the show, like, my ears were open to what's possible with like unconventional sounds and rhythms.

Speaker: So like really, really cool track. And, uh, yeah, uh, cool to hear like how you made some of those sounds. And I always like to say some of the best soup is made when something falls in that you didn't notice or realize, or like,

Speaker: It's kind of the same with music. like Yes. And the remarkable part about, I think I really wanted to mention, like I chose that track because it's the first speed trash that I've ever made. I was working on the track that I did, I think the following week, which was called anxious. And I couldn't complete it in time.

Speaker: I was like, I don't want to do this without like this one section that wanted to figure out. So on a Sunday I was like, all right, I have this beat. I have no idea what to do with it. And it it was just like, it all happened in like, not just one day, but like, yeah,

Speaker: Being on West Coast sucks for weekly beats, by the way, because it's like during that time, they're due at 4 p.m., right? so if you like wake up with So if you wake up at 9, by the time that I have my coffee and I'm fully functional by 10, I don't have that much time to do this. it's small window to hit.

Speaker: Yeah. ah So just kind of... threw that thing together for the first, like, and then like was, was borderline embarrassed when I, when I posted it, but I listened to it in my car later on that day. And I sort of thought this is, this is pretty all right. Cause given like the short amount of time, but then like the feedback is one of those things where I was like, Oh, I don't know anything about music making because this is clearly like, yeah, like there was this engagement that I didn't see with other stuff that I've made. And I was like, Oh, i have a lot to learn.

Speaker: So I just, Yeah. So, yeah. Like, uh, I'm just going back and reading some of the common Horatio romantic whack. I like squeak. i I love Horatio.

Speaker: Like just 100%. The, let me see that yes.

Speaker: I, yeah, I should have, I should have read some of the comments. This is a beautiful, beautiful collab of cute sounds. Love the vivid textures. There's a sound in here that reminds me of a track I made 30 years ago called Lick the Balloon.

Speaker: Yeah. ah yeah q I could not not be friends with Q Rush. So like i I was still sort discovering everybody during that time. And I'm pretty sure that I went back and listened to everything Q Rush made.

Speaker: Yeah. i was yeah yeah Cool stuff.

Speaker: All right, well, let's keep it rolling, and we're going to do a remix 2022 31, the Wangus Dunk Tank remix. love this one. go. Thanks.

Speaker: dunk tank remake ah love this yeah here we go

Speaker: okay

Speaker: um

Speaker: stop

Speaker: um

Speaker: a

Speaker: All right, that is a banger remix of Wangus track, Dunk Tank, and you have to go listen to the original as well.

Speaker: I am really curious to hear about your remix process. Like, ah I think you got the M8 files from Wangus.

Speaker: So like, that's kind of a different way of starting a remix of like really dissecting and looking at like how he built the original song. Yeah. Tell me more about that process and like, where do you start when you like get a file and you're like, all right, I'm going to remix this. Like, I have no idea where to start.

Speaker: Uh,

Speaker: I usually start by mixing, not remixing, just mixing. So when it whatever it is I would get, ah would figure out how to get a multitrack from it, which sometimes is impossible.

Speaker: right like But in this case, so I just like rendered all the stems, threw them into Ableton, and it just like went through and just listened first. Because that way, i when I would go back to the M8, I would figure out like, okay, I i don have no idea how this works or that works. And then like,

Speaker: Yeah. So it's it's like this sort of breadcrumb trail that starts with listening to individual elements and figuring out how it was all put together. And then after that, it was the I mean, with that one, i knew i wanted to make the lead, the chip lead into a base of some sort. And then like, I settled on brass because it seemed kind of brassy, I guess, to some extent. And then the ingenious part Dunk Tank is that there is a, I forget which note it is, but there's a note that is like a quarter sharp.

Speaker: So it's like just one note that is out of tune and that's what makes it kind roll. Yeah. And that's why it feels so off kilter and like, it just kind of goes way harder than it's supposed to. And so, yep.

Speaker: So I started with the with with the brass and then like little by little, just tried to figure out how to take individual elements and then like, oh yeah, I, I, I did not copy over the project. So meaning like I started a brand new one and I started with new things.

Speaker: And yes. So I had to like open up Wangus' stuff. I still probably have the pictures on my phone somewhere of like me taking pictures of all of the, all of the patterns because I only had one i made at the time.

Speaker: And then like, after that coming back into my other project and then like reprogramming particular things, uh, like yeah trying to make sure that don't make what what are you trying to keep the same and what are you trying to change up oh virtually every note in my project with the exception of the drums has been and the sorry with the exception of drums and the bass everything else is completely based on wangis's original uh patterns like and that was very intentional that was that was supposed to be so like

Speaker: There is that weird. It's like the same melodies, but different sounds a way. Yes. And like the reason why, I was really excited because there is this sort of like a background wonky synth that does these sort of fills. And that is the pattern that is played by the dot matrix printer, by that weird glitchy sound at the beginning. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: And so, ah and what I like, I mean, I was, I felt particularly proud of the fact that Wangus recognized this in the comments. And like, there is like this, this, it tells a story, the comments do of, uh,

Speaker: Angus listening to the song and then just being like, oh, snap, this is mine too. Like, so is this, that like getting excited. And I was very stoked because I don't think that most folks would be able to tell, but it's like, if you make a remix and you touch somebody's work and like you do something with it, their ability like to just be like, oh, I i understand what you did is the is the coolest feeling.

Speaker: that is really cool i'm just going back and reading his comments now um i actually screamed quietly to myself at one point on first listen just magic hearing something so closely familiar but totally foreign eyes i mean that's a really great way of putting it i i yeah i'm very grateful for that comment actually yeah Yeah, that's it that's a really cool way to do a remix where you're like keeping everything the same, but sort of like switching out your own sound design.

Speaker: i Very cool. And very great results. And like I mentioned when we were talking on Discord, like, like you You started with a banger.

Speaker: like you You picked some great source material because everyone needs to go listen to the the original Wangus, and it's just really cool to hear them side by side and and hear what you did to it.

Speaker: And i was also saying while we were listening to it that gets chopped out. This is another one where like the first 48 seconds, I think, it's sort of like...

Speaker: there's a rhythm i'm trying to pick up on it like i was talking about earlier and then the the bass comes in at like 48 seconds and then it's like oh shit it's grooving now that's so cool yeah i i i mean some of the credit has to go to wengis because like there are i would never come up with some of the patterns or some of that writing and that's another really cool thing yeah like I will say that with that material, it was in some ways way harder than other remixes because I kind of feel that we are ah somewhat similar, or at least there is some similarity between the sort of making...

Speaker: banging kind of dance adjacent music. And so I kind of didn't want to like, i yeah, I, I was sort of struggling because I was just like, well, this is already is kind of close. So I don't want it to be seen as lazy.

Speaker: So I kind of felt like I had to push myself to like some weirder sound design things and try to figure out how to make it. into just feel like a like a different track because, and I think they are different. I'm actually, i another friend pointed out how like they seem to not really overlap in terms of what, like ah why they work, but they're but but they both work independently. And I was like, yes, but so like that's a big deal. i I 100% agree with that because I was surprised to hear you say that you started from like all the same,

Speaker: notes essentially and like overlaid your own sounds because they do have ah like a different feel in different places

Speaker: yep thanks like ah i just i just want say thanks that's a big deal yeah yeah very cool everyone go check out the original as well And play them both on repeat.

Speaker: ah All right. We're going to move on to a song. week forty six edges and we go

Speaker: Bye.

Speaker: right, that was Edges. oh what were you going to say? We we can chop it. I was just wondering if I'm speaking too fast. Oh, no, I think you're fine. Yeah.

Speaker: All right, that was Edges. Another banger. Tell me about this one. Right, so Okay, a sketch of this one in the form of just the drums existed like in way before Weekly Beats.

Speaker: And it was the, so the way that I do a lot of my drum patterns is that I beatbox them poorly into my phone and then I don't quantize them.

Speaker: So I take it, I kind of spent a year doing this, which is, That's probably weird, but like I was interested in like how like how my body reasons about rhythm in a way that I can't articulate with my mind. So intellectually, I cannot tell you what the delays are between like all of the different. here Right. So I was like, all right, well, i'm just going to record myself like beatboxing poorly into the phone with no metronome.

Speaker: And then in Ableton, can write just- OG humanized setting. ah Yeah, exactly. the the Yes, the anti-AI kind of way of going.

Speaker: So, and like, you know, there is like its it's it all sounds really bad, right? Like it's not something that I would necessarily show folks, but this was the first time where like, ah I took one of those things and then like I layered every single one of my, you know, squishy drum sounds with like a real drum machine sound.

Speaker: And out came out and out came a pattern that I was like, I would have never, ever made it this way. And like, this is actually awesome because it swings. And like I couldn't finish it into do a song or anything like that. And then like i kind of meant to I kind of meant to do it during weekly beats. In fact, I was working on it and my SD card died, my mate. And so I lost that one that I was going to work through. But fun fact, sharing your mate bundles is really beneficial for your mental health because i lost that's the only thing I lost was just that weak stuff. Everything else was preserved oh wow because of weekly beats, like download and make stuff here.

Speaker: um Nice. Yeah. Anyway, so that thing sort of existed. And then like when I revisited, I completely did away with the beat. And i but the the final thing that you hear is my take on what that beat would sound like if I just programmed it in primarily.

Speaker: But it was still informed by all of these other experimentation that I was doing of stuff that kind of didn't sound as repetitive or as like mechanical as a lot of electronic music sounds. So got it. So you didn't end up using the like full ah humanized beat, but you sort of like recreated some rhythmic epiphanies that came out of that.

Speaker: Exactly. And like, i the the reason why so The reason why the track was just kind of going to not never be done is because it was really difficult to develop this. like Once you have something with all of this micro timing that is done, like you can't loop it very easily and like because because it all just kind of starts going a certain way. So going back to the drawing board and going like, okay, like we know what this could sound like.

Speaker: How can we just program this now? It's a lot easier because that means that the the making variations is a lot saner and like, Other things that are a lot more manageable than then just doing with this like raw drum, beatboxed voice.

Speaker: By the way, the drums in Wangus' remix are also beatboxed originally too. Oh, wow. All right. yeah Damn. um I might have to try this. And not let anyone listen to the beatbox version. that's i mean i'm like

Speaker: You're never going to be like, oh, going to sample this in. Yeah. No, I like, I mean, I, I maybe in discord, I can share some of the, some of the like less embarrassing files, but no, I, I, I would not want to. but That's a really, really cool process.

Speaker: Yeah. That's awesome. Well, cool. We're going to keep on going and we're getting into some of my picks now. And we're going to do another remix since there's remixes aplenty and they're really cool.

Speaker: This is 2022 week in grieve awesome let's go

Speaker: all right, that was the NF remix. ah More crazy sound design stuff going on there. We were just talking, and I need to download the MA bundle and like go dissect like how you made some of this stuff. It's really cool.

Speaker: ah Tell me more about how this one came together, another remix. Yeah, so NF in was like an early...

Speaker: Like early on whenever I was just posting stuff and Neff had some really kind words about my drum programming specifically. And I was very grateful is that, that like, and I've had questions and Neff knew about me beatboxing my drums before anybody else did like by, you know, by a long shot. Yeah.

Speaker: yeah to EnEF in Discord and we chatted. And I also just deeply admired EnEF's very sort of like careful M8 tracks, like that that where like not a single sound would be out of place and everything was just super tight.

Speaker: And i wanted to remix ENEF just out of gratitude and ah just out of you know my enjoyment of their music. Well, the coolest thing about ENEF is that their MA projects are nothing like nobody else works that way.

Speaker: They are organized into, so like there is no sequence for the song. Instead, there is a bunch of like islands where patterns do weird things. And then they like hop over to the next island, which I've never seen before. And know like, my it's it's remarkable. Like it's one of those things where like looking at the source material, I was like, holy cow. Like i that would it would never occur to me to structure things this way.

Speaker: And that's really wild. And um the reason why it's sampleless is because I spoke with Inef and I was asking, would it be okay to share the bundle after I was done? And Inef mentioned that um they're not sure about the what would be the permissions, whatever, the copyright for some of the samples being used.

Speaker: And a similar thing happened with Jim Mack's remix too, where Jim Mack said, I have no idea where that piano is from. And I was like, I'll just rerecord exactly the piano sample and then it'll be different. So like, that's so easy. So the idea with an F was like, i was like, well, I'm just going to get rid of all the samples and like try to recreate them as best as I can.

Speaker: And that one was kind of, mostly a sound design exercise because there were Wangus and Ipoghost were the main sort of primary people making every single sound from scratch.

Speaker: And i kind of thought I want to try the same thing. Yeah. And if I'm forgetting somebody else who's obvious, I'm terrified that I will forget one of my contemporaries.

Speaker: But yeah, it's like... Yep. So I just kind of tried to put it together based on like, you know, my ability at the time. And it was, yeah, I was afraid. And like the the only cheat there, quote unquote, is using the micro freak for the paraphonic like note overlaps so that this, otherwise I would run out of the, of tracks.

Speaker: Yeah. But yeah, it's, I could go set nice kit. So yeah, I was excited about it.

Speaker: Uh, that's, and that's really cool to be recognized for your beats and then have someone, and ask you with someone with more experience, like, dude, how are you making that?

Speaker: That's like, that's what everyone wants. Right. Yeah, that's I like what I had a conversation also with like Lama and I think a few other folks where it was like anytime you open somebody else's M8 project, like I don't know about you, but I always feel stupid. Like I look at the M8 project that somebody else made and I was like, oh this is ingenious. Like they're doing all this cool stuff.

Speaker: And then like l Lama said, it's like, yeah, that just happens anytime you look at something that somebody else has made. And I was like, oh okay. So you feel stupid but looking at other people's projects? like or Or somebody like Disposable Planet or of the other like folks that are just incredible amateurs in Weekly Bits? Yeah.

Speaker: ah that That's good to know because I'm sure looking at other people's stuff, I'd feel like an idiot. My my favorite M8 meme though is the M8 with a bunch of islands and it's got the island boys like superimposed on it. That's my favorite one.

Speaker: That's that's a good one. Cool. I do love the island boys in in and all its irony. Yeah. Okay. We're going to continue down the remix land.

Speaker: Let's do it. I don't know if I said that right. or Down the remix road. And we're going to listen to Emily's original song, In the Violence.

Speaker: And then we'll come back and chat about that one and then play the remix of it. So you can hear both... one after another and we'll come back and talk about like when you first heard the song like your approach to remix it so here we go

Speaker: Do you need

Speaker: right, so that was Emily's song and ah and an amazing track. I believe there's probably some JWH in there playing guitar, but this was back when he was just a weekly beats assistant. He wasn't actually doing weekly beats, but amazing track. The the vocals on this, like the the rhythm,

Speaker: a prime specimen to remix uh what is your thought process like when you hear the song and you're like i want to remix this like walk me through that whole thing i know we kind of did that already but i'm still curious from a different vantage point like what do you do No, for sure.

Speaker: There were three vocal tracks that I remixed and all three were also terrifying because voice is something that is and well, we relate to voice like just There is good reason why so many songs have voice in them.

Speaker: And so there is something very immediate and something that is, I don't think that there are any rules about whether or not you're allowed to process voice or and odd process voice. But I do feel that there is a certain artistic identity that like, if if with Wangus, I could just be like, I'll take this synth pattern and make it into a brass.

Speaker: ah sort of instrument and I would not have a second as as sort of a moment of doubt with Emily's work, somebody whom like whose music I deeply admire and yeah whose artistic output is just incredible.

Speaker: it's It's one of the things that is very... What's the correct term? I felt like it was, it will be more difficult to forgive myself if I were, if I were to screw this up in a particular way.

Speaker: So all of a sudden there was a failure condition of like, if the voice doesn't come through in a particular way, then that, that means that it's a problem. So i i I got the stems from Emily, if I recall correctly.

Speaker: And I was originally going to do it the way that I usually do it, which is like I do a mix of the like of the track and then try to figure out some things. But instead, I ended up just kind of falling off the deep end in terms of trying to figure out how do I treat the voice without messing it up and without screwing things up.

Speaker: And I believe that the the winning combination was Meris-Hydra, which is a harmonizing um like pitch shifter. So you have like multiple like you can specify the key and then you can specify some intervals for a particular voice. So instead of a single note, it would become a chord, which was interesting.

Speaker: And then there was also this dream-like quality to a lot of Emily's work in the first place. So I used, I think it was Microcosm. I know I wrote it in the the track but for some reason it doesn't show up for me Anyway, ultimately doesn't matter.

Speaker: So ran the voice through guitar pedals. And then at some point in time, there was a version that I'm pretty sure I shared with Emily. That was like an acapella remix of just voice processing with nothing else.

Speaker: o And then, but insecurity kicked in. And then like, and kind of at the last minute, I sort of figured out like, it I think it would be cool with like a weird beat.

Speaker: And then i and it's another one i think of either completely sample-less or almost sample-less with the exception of the voice where all of the sounds were just kind of made, uh, and were were made to be a little more distorted than, yeah, than, than I usually would just kind of.

Speaker: Yeah. So that was, that was the approach was like to start with the voice, really make sure that I knew what I was doing with the voice. And that was a learning experience. And actually all three of the vocal remixes have been that, like have have have had Roger the Resident Alien and the Sad Infamy Sings. Like I felt extremely afraid and insecure about touching somebody's voice and messing it up in ah in a particular way.

Speaker: So, yeah. Understandable. Yeah. Especially Emily's voice. Great singing voice. and Well, let's hear that version and then come back and talk about it.

Speaker: yeah here we go the remix

Speaker: All right. That was the remix. I think most notable is there's like a choir of Emily's. Like you took those tracks and like really layered them and harmonize them.

Speaker: in the best way possible. ah Yes, intentionally, because more Emily means better better times for everyone. Exactly. 100%. Yeah. tell and it's it's hard to tell I would need to listen to them back to back more, but is it like the same, like similar to the Wangus remix of like, I replaced all of the elements in the same sort of like phrases. This one sounds like rearranged a bit.

Speaker: No, it very, like a lot rearranged. And but part of it also was the, I think that there were a couple of remixes where i was just really nerding out about some things like Ipa Ghosts and Noggins, where they were more like recreations than than than remixes because there was something interesting about the track that was interesting to me.

Speaker: And so I kind of felt like, yeah, I needed to push myself into this this sort of different thing. And then... Yeah. And it's so I kind of at first it was going to be like I recall specifically just thinking like I'll need to figure out what to do about the the like those guitars because I really like them as well.

Speaker: And then I ended up just kind of veering off into a completely different direction just just by focusing on voice and then wanting to not harmonize the voice with other musical sounds. Like it's like Emily's perfect as is. And then like have the voice shine while other things are doing whatever sort of rhythmic things that, that, that are done. And I like, I liked that there was this gnarly juxtaposition between like Emily and, uh, and whatever looked like nasty rhythms.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. yeah so the the vocals and like the layering and the different harmonies you're making kind of became like the the centerpiece and then you were like all right i'm now that i've got these like vocal pieces i can sort of like layer on some some rhythms and make it interesting so more of a like further away from the original remix, that that this feels like much harder to me than like, all right, take Wangus's track and like replace a bunch of sounds like that. ill I'm like, yeah, I could do that and come out with something. Maybe I won't like it, but like I could do that. This is much more difficult to like take the sounds, reimagine them, but then you're still sort of like, like,

Speaker: Touching back to the original, not only for the vocals, but like the rhythmic elements, like your rhythms aren't the same, but the rhythms in the original, like really stand out as part of it. Yes.

Speaker: You said an interesting word, which is like harder. And like, i'm I'm kind of trying to figure out how I feel about the the challenge and the difficulty. Cause I think that, I mean, part of it was, Yes, like there's definitely a challenge in dealing with the voice, but I think that it's just all a different kind of insecurity, right? It's like you either feel insecure about this thing or the other thing.

Speaker: Yeah. Or at least for me, that's the way that it is. So um I, I, I, up The reason why it's a little bit easier is that once the due diligence was done for like vocal processing, after this, like after hearing the Emily choir, I was like, all right, I now understand what my role has been.

Speaker: And I also know that this is Emily's voice that is like perfect on this particular track and it's amazing. And so I am completely secure now and this but in this way that there is the like...

Speaker: like it's a thing, right? It's like, that this is a check mark. So i can I screw it up? Absolutely, I can. There's still like bad things that can happen. But comparatively speaking, like there is no no longer anxiety of the empty page. There's no longer anxiety of like that I'm going to screw up this critical component.

Speaker: and Instead, you can just like kind of go like, okay, now now let now let's execute on on on giving it a different mood than just voice by itself. Like, yeah you know, and then, yeah, and that that's that.

Speaker: So then at that point, it's sort of, do you feel like it's built more of like building a song from scratch with some, some bones and ideas from the original?

Speaker: Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. And I actually think that yes. And that bothered me in a way because I did the same thing for the Roger the resident alien remix, which is also vocal, ah vocal based.

Speaker: And i so because of this, I sort of thought like, no, I need to actually engage with the original material and for the final remix that I did with sad infamy sings another really remarkable, uh, musician.

Speaker: So with, with their work, I just wanted to be more in like a producer seat, but keep the song as close to the original as possible. So that, yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. So there's like kind of a range of like, using the song as a template and like re-imagining some parts of it and then all the way to this remix that is more of like uh i'm gonna take some uh very important pieces that i don't want to screw up and like reimagine a world where those those pieces can kind of live in yes that's the exactly

Speaker: That's, I mean, that's a ah a range of remix styles, approaches, I guess, that I guess you develop from doing a bunch of remixes.

Speaker: Yeah, it's weekly beats. Like everything, everything comes back to weekly beats. Like, it's like, because any, any particular approach, like also just gets old after a few weeks. Right. And it's like, if you're in the grind of doing this, you just kind of go like, okay, well, I haven't done this yet.

Speaker: And then you just kind of try. Yeah. That's really cool. And really cool to hear the results. And like, it's one thing to do a remix of, you know, ah famous song, but I think there's a something cooler about doing a remix of like the community, a friend song.

Speaker: It's so much more meaningful and, I guess there's like some sort of like just attachment to knowing that like your friend made these songs, or even even if it's just a you know an internet friend that you listen to their music every week, there's just like something a little extra that it's from them.

Speaker: Yes. there' is ah I also feel that there is ah certain... I'm going to use the word intimacy and what, but, but what I mean is the intimacy to the, like being able to get stems from somebody where it's yeah like, Hey, like there's a greater, like you can also download Lady Gaga stems, I would assume, but it's like, doesn't hit the same way because like, I know what, how I would feel if I were to give somebody my steps right in the, in a certain way and that.

Speaker: And so there is a, I think, ah Cause I, I, I have to tell you, I don't really remix. like popular music and i don't really have that much of an interest in that. I'm, you know, I, I'm interested in remixing people in my community. So like, it says I owe two remixes right now, like one for Jim Mac, uh, and one for somebody in, uh, in the mod band community, but like, I need to, and I need to get cranky on those, but, uh,

Speaker: Yeah, like I think that it's really cool to like have the friendship connection and then have a dialogue with somebody because you can also start saying like, this is really cool how you did this. like Or like get some ideas that you would never think of because like,

Speaker: but Just as an example, when I was looking at the Heship's Monitor Serve, the first remix that I've made, it's a NanoLoop mobile track. And like, I didn't know that it can have like a stereo and mono mode. And one of the effects is that there would be the same pad, but one would be set to mono and the other one would be set to stereo and then kind of playing together. And I was like, oh, that's brilliant. I can totally do that on the M8.

Speaker: It's just my brain wouldn't go that way if it wasn't for looking at something where, i yeah, like, And that's the part that like, I mean, the same thing with like looking at Emily's stems and like looking at the guitar ah sort of parts and then just like understanding how it was made.

Speaker: Yeah, it it it hits differently because it's just becomes part of the of the greater dialogue that I think that we have because, you know, there's individual sort of discussions on weekly beats of like, you know somebody commenting on the song or like leaving gifts and stuff like that.

Speaker: But there's also like a longer engagement of just like spending a year with somebody, ah like following them and like listening to them all the time. And then you get to hear them. overcome, you know, certain musical like, you know, barriers or fears or something else. And then you also see them like deliver things that like, that are incredible. And they're like, and it's different because it's not, it's not about an absolute good of music or something like that. It's about the fact that you've, you've like, you witnessed somebody sharing a very, very personal moment of like growth and, and, uh, development that is,

Speaker: I mean, that is genuinely intimate. Like that nobody gets to know this. Like the most loved ones don't get to know this because they don't listen to every single thing in the same way. And they don't yeah like, and that's the, by the way, I think that's a good thing because like loved ones have a bunch of other issues of life to deal with. But like, yeah.

Speaker: yeah yeah And I think that's why it's maybe so easy to connect with this community because like you just mentioned, you're spending listening listening to things that people are creating, maybe intimate songs. I mean, for I think early on every song for me was intimate because you feel like you're sharing some piece of you and you get over that after a while.

Speaker: But, i you know, I would call a lot of ah Emily's works very like sensitive, just like,

Speaker: there's a lot of emotion baked in And I think when you are, you know, kind of inside this community and getting to know people on this level, you know, from far distances that people that you've never met in person, it does hit different than just like any old person on the internet.

Speaker: Yes. And Yes. the I think there is subtlety to Emily's work in particular, where there is the surface.

Speaker: And usually, like if you read the the to sort of like what the song is about, or you read read the lyrics, there's kind of like the first layer to it. then like if you listen to it, and especially if you come back and you listen to it, or like, especially if you're like listening to your weekly beats at work on rotation and then like this Emily track comes in. So you're not immediately in this like mode of reading what the song is about.

Speaker: Right. The depth of that stuff, like that the the depth of her work is particularly, just like haunting in a way because it's like sad things through which happiness shines.

Speaker: And then like, you know, dreamlike things that also become nightmares in a weird way. And it's just, it's really, really, really remarkable to see that level of sort of depth kind of emerge, but you have to listen to it multiple times. and You have to put yourself in a, in a situation where like you experience that over and over again.

Speaker: Yeah. i I mean, yeah, I did the same thing with like Orange Drinks. Apparently I've been wrong. Like that song has been on loop for like yeah wait like so many weeks.

Speaker: And then also like just Sad Infamy Sings, Fetal Face, His Sheep, just like there's a lot of folks whose music I think has this depth of, ah and like it's it's kind of,

Speaker: I don't know, awe-inspiring to be in a community of people that are like processing all sorts of stuff, but they're also making some pretty incredible things that like bang and inspire and like, and jerk a tear at the right moment in time. that That's the part that is really, really cool to me.

Speaker: That's why i love the community. And yeah. Yeah, I mean, it is a ah great community and welcoming. You know, i i only did weekly beats for one year and now I'm like talking to all these OG weekly beats people that have way more experience than me. And it's so cool to be able to do that and, you know, share samples with people and just share what we're making and know that other people are listening to it.

Speaker: Yes. That's huge. i I have to say that like I think that the health of a community is probably – directly proportional to how the established like elder folks treat the newcomers.

Speaker: And like because like if and it seemed and i don't know of a better one than than Weekly Beats, period. like I don't know of any like Discord communities where the like where did there there is no sort of snideness to it.

Speaker: And like I'll share the story. like can Can I tell a story real quick? Is that true at time? you can, yeah. so So in music school, I had to go to a bunch of like departmental shows and like because i was a composition major and you have to understand like the the repertoire of every instrument whatever.

Speaker: So I went to the percussion departmental and i was at the University of North Texas, which is a big music school, massive percussion department. And it was the last departmental of the year and the room was packed. And percussionists, we all know what percussionists look like. There's a bunch of like bearded, tattooed, scary looking drummer men, as well as like all sorts of like, you know, just amazing musicians all stuck in the same room.

Speaker: And the first person that gets to go that day is this freshman and it's their first show at school. It's the last departmental. They've been preparing the piece like the whole semester. And the piece is like on a vibraphone, like a two-part Bach invention or something. just It's a relatively simple piece.

Speaker: And the person comes out and like you could hear a pin drop in that room. like Folks held their breath. A giant room full of extremely established musicians leaned forward in their chairs and shut the fuck up in a way that was haunting.

Speaker: And then like, so this this freshman plays the piece flawlessly, fucking nails it, absolutely amazing. And like, by the time that they're done, they can't contain their excitement, that they like clap their hands a little bit and they sort of jump in the air.

Speaker: And the room explodes with hoots and applause and stomps and everything else, this giant room of folks being like, fuck yeah, welcome in, like one of us, right? And it's like- And like and I sat through it and I watched it and I thought, this is incredible.

Speaker: And then I went to a composition departmental where, you know, undergraduates were playing their pieces and there were like two snide graduate students in the back, just kind of talking shit. And I kind of thought, right, I want to be back at that other community where a bunch of people are massively supporting somebody's effort, practice, and and like all of the nerves that it takes to actually perform this for other people in the way that it happens. Like I want that level of encouragement. I want it all the time.

Speaker: All this like tough words make you stronger. absolute nonsense. It's not like, it's not about criticism or hate. And like, and I think that weekly beats benefits from and extreme timeline, right? An extreme also amount of like endurance that it takes to just consistently produce stuff.

Speaker: for a very long time. And that also means that like perhaps some, like even if you are judgmental, like, I mean, how many snide comments can you leave really before you realize that you got another weekly beats to write, right?

Speaker: So, but like yeah whether mechanically or not, I think that there is something genuinely kind and supporting that is way more reminiscent of that percussion departmental that to me sort of is like a metaphor for like what I want the community to be.

Speaker: no gatekeeping, like welcoming everybody. in And then like, and you have to live that too. Right. And like, that's the, right yeah. I mean, it's nice. It's nice to build people up and it's nice to be in a community that builds people up.

Speaker: Yes, exactly. That's the, and yeah, yep and so that just means that show up and like do that for others that's all it takes yeah yeah and listen to songs and like just like listening to your stuff expand my mind on what is possible with like a squeak toy kind of sound or like just like you learn so much by intentionally listening to what other people are creating and, and being like, wow, that, you know, how many times have I listened to stuff on weekly beats? Like this isn't like my go-to playlist of stuff, but wow, I am blown away about what's possible from this human and what's possible in general in music.

Speaker: Yes. i I also have to say this, like if you try to listen to weekly beats without being in it, it doesn't work the same way. Like there is some form of empathy empathy that I think is like mandatory of being a part of the same sort of pressure and ah to like constantly deliver.

Speaker: And I think that that's a critical sort of realization is that if you're in the middle of making stuff, you're a lot more likely to be empathetic and kind to other people than if you're like a sideline observer, which is sort of is like, you know, not as good as Skrillex or whatever. Like it's like, yeah.

Speaker: yeah And I think there's a certain amount of bonding, kind of like if you've ever worked at like a shit job that like you become really good friends with coworkers because like you guys survive that shithole.

Speaker: There's a a little bit of like, like we're all out here on the front lines making a song every week and everyone's do it like under the same pressure. And but like, so we're, you know, we're kind of all in it together, making it happen.

Speaker: So you it does give you empathy every week of like, oh, this other person is just trying to make music just like me. Like we're doing the same thing. Yes, but.

Speaker: It's also great when you hear people grow and like it's it' a larger narrative, right? Like when you follow a bunch of folks and like, even if you discover somebody like midway through, do you go listen to their like past work and you just kind of go like, oh, snap. Like this is like so much of a difference between something. And I think that that's the part that is also really cool because as I said, like it's not about absolutes, it's about the relative sort of steps that we all take towards some form of something.

Speaker: And that's, I think, the reason why most of us come away from Weekly Beats with like, i you know, i was too precious about my stuff or like I i care too much. i you i wanted to make it perfect. Or like, i will you know, the all of these types of lessons are all, I think, in part from witnessing what it actually looks like when you're just grinding alongside other folks and just seeing this collective like kind of move forward.

Speaker: Yeah, I think it's awesome. It is awesome. Are you going 2026? Yeah, i my main concern was to make sure that I could do that without about, like in August of 2022, my spouse told me that this has been a relatively lonely year for them.

Speaker: And then I wanted to make sure that I fixed that, you know, in many different ways without doing this. And then like 2024, it was a conscious decision not to do weekly beats because we've had a lot of things going on that year. And, you know, being a good partner is pretty important, especially with something like we've been together for 21 years. Like we have a relationship old enough to drink, which is crazy.

Speaker: So that's, yeah. And like neither one of us feels like we're old enough for that, but like, but apparently we are and it's happening. So yeah. And it was, it if it wasn't for the fact that my spouse told me like, I think you should do weekly beats next year.

Speaker: Like I wouldn't be as sure, but now now it's official. So definitely. Awesome. I'm i'm looking forward to to hearing what you make. and yeah yeah and maybe you'll do a remix of one of my songs i don't know yeah you know it'd be sweet because yeah it's really cool to hear what you do with with other people's stuff and i'm interested to try it now too because of your reports of like what you've learned from just dissecting other people's music and like uh

Speaker: doing your take on it and we are near the end of our show and i'm gonna play it out with a live set from 2024 week 24 uh the title is jimak bratwurst remix and uh carousel yeah awesome Yeah.

Speaker: Do you want to fill us in on what we're about to hear? Sure. um GMAC Remix was, so as I said, GMAC, I've known GMAC for years and like we've lost touch and then resurfaced in the same tracker scenes.

Speaker: And so if you find the 2022 link of the actual GMAC Remix, because as I said, I played all of my 2022 material live 24. Got it, yeah.

Speaker: got it yeah I did, I linked, I think somebody asked it in the comments. I'd mentioned like the whole story of how I know Noggin and Jim Mac. And I believe I have shared Jim Mac's sphere, which we didn't in high school was like my go-to sort of like, I i i still think extremely highly of this track, but in high school, it was one of those things where I was like, one day I'll be able to do this.

Speaker: god One day I can kind of come close. It was like the, the, the, The Guiding Light. Your North Star. Yeah. um So, and the at the end of the live set for Modbang, I wanted to play Jim Mack's song because it fit the BPM of Dirty, the track before it, which is a...

Speaker: crazy dance track and then sort of have the Jim Mack remix be a calming thing that kind of transitions into the the finale, which is Carousel. And Carousel at the time, this is not true anymore, but at the in 2022 was the first and only proper house track that I've made.

Speaker: And I only did it because Noggin was bugging Jim Mack and I to make tracks for him to play live on his like, like sort of little mini tour where he had like played a bunch of M8 work.

Speaker: Cool. Yep. um Some, so. And Paracel's the one that you talked about earlier that like, it's all the same stems now, but it's drastically different from the version that we're hearing now. Yes, the one the the the current version, like even if it may have to sort of have similar kinds of, I don't know, yeah idea of like, got to build at the end, and then like you build and you build and you build and build.

Speaker: All of those things are way more effective now. I can send you or share in Discord a live recording from later that year where Carousel changed for the first time. Yeah, so. Awesome.

Speaker: yeah ah Yeah, it's a it's a great set. I think your transitions are great. That's one thing that I think about when I'm like, Hmm, should I put together a set? And I'm like, oh, how am I going to move from this to this? You know? So well executed.

Speaker: Thanks. are you i I think the M8 ability to like render, like like a quick render into a sample, it actually makes this this way easier now because you can now like render just the ending of a particular song, then load it as a sample. Switching projects. Yeah. And then like, as you're switching it live, like it actually gives you the thing.

Speaker: i I need another M8 that I can use live. I have three of them, but and but only one. My my Model 2 is good because my old Model 1, the jack is messed up and my BRK edition,

Speaker: randomly turns off and I can't bring myself to bug trash 80 because I see them live a very unhealthy life on discord. And I just feel like if I'm adding to their body, that's like immoral.

Speaker: ah Yeah. Yeah. I feel that. Yeah. Yeah. you You can't bother him about your, one of your three work. Yeah, exactly. it's It's not like I'm blocked.

Speaker: So, uh, yeah, but that's cool. All right. Well, dude, thanks for being on. This has been ear opening, eye opening to hear about more of your processes and everyone go check out more of his music.

Speaker: Like the sound design is next level. I hope to see more quick little videos of like some sound design tidbits of just like, I'm just curious how you go explore and experiment in the m a And yeah, excited to hear more stuff you create. and Yeah, thanks for having me. And huge thanks to Cat Break for volunteering because I secretly want to be on the show for like a long time.

Speaker: And if it wasn't for Cat Break, I would not have volunteered myself because that's impolite. So thank you. john It's not impolite. People out there that want to be on the show, it is not impolite to volunteer yourself. So like...

Speaker: Pull up. Okay. Yes. All right. Thanks, man. Thanks. Thank you. Really appreciate it. right. We're going to play it on out. And thanks again, everyone, for listening. And we're back.

Speaker: All right. We'll catch you later. Bye.

Speaker: Chircles. Any. Chircles. Chircles. Chircles. Sponmouth. Any. Chircles. Any. Chircles. Any. Chircles. Chircles.

Speaker: Meaning emerges from configurations of atoms.

Speaker: how wil

Speaker: with very, very rare configuration patterns, I think.

Speaker: I'm out.

Speaker: um