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 is Ace Jam.
Speaker: i Welcome to ace Jam, dude. Thanks for being on. How you going buddy? Man, ah keeping the Australian streak alive. Nice to to chat with you. And I'm a big fan of all of your YouTube videos.
Speaker: I researched some more videos while I was gearing up for this. But if people aren't aware of your YouTube channel, it is great.
Speaker: Thank you. Yeah, no, it's definitely been good to listen along, seeing the other Australian-based creators on Weekly Beats and being able to do this sort stuff, like being not located close to everyone else. Like it gives me a platform to just put stuff out there.
Speaker: And yeah, like i like I do have a tracker background, so the channel has been a good way to get that information out. But yeah, Overall, it's like Weekly Beats is just my fun little spot where I can try, experiment with new things. So it's good to see a lot more of the back-end stuff. So I really appreciate the video ah yeah the podcast and that, being able to pick people's brains outside of the Weekly Beat stress.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it is really cool to just hear everyone's experience and how people make music and what they're inspired by and all that. So excited to get into that with you and kind of to start things off. I know you got started in trackers with LSDJ, I imagine that's how you came to find Weekly Beats. But tell me a little bit of of your experience.
Speaker: early music creation origins and like how you even got into trackers? Yeah, well, I've, my, like you think like most people come from a background, oh, I did music as a kid in that. But in Australia, like I think the most advanced instrument I got to play was a recorder at kindergarten.
Speaker: Yeah. Music wasn't part of my life until after school, but I was more focused in like 3D modeling and game development. So through like from,
Speaker: age seven I was always drawing and then once I think around 14 I was starting to 3D model and starting to build my own games and like music is a very important part of those games and growing up like I've always had my Nintendos growing up so I've still got my original NES and that probably had a massive imprint on there especially like Sunsoft and Tim Follin and all those really good creators but I didn't know that at the time so it was really hard for me to articulate my music genre starting out but what was sort the cruise like the way I got into making music was like I had a lot of time on the bus going to and from work and
Speaker: and I wanted something to bring along. And then I started finding out, because I had my original Game Boy, that you could get some software to put on a cartridge and you could start making music. And yeah got really interested in that space. And I i think it was 2009, 2010 when i bought my first, like,
Speaker: cartridge where it was some cheapo battery powered thing where I could load software in via USB. It was a bit clunky. And from that, I was able to get LSDJ, which at the time I spent $1 because being a starving student, it's like that's all I could afford. And yeah, that just opened up so much possibility like a Yeah, I could just sit there and start making music and like having my background in the NES and that led me to Famitracker, which like is a NES-based tracker and I could actually get the sound files and run on the NES.
Speaker: And yeah, so started growing into that chiptune space. I think about 2010 there was like – it was at the Brisbane Powerhouse, but it was like a game developer conference, but they had like a chiptune – show and they got a bunch of people together like you had a Slado you had um keep forgetting his name but he does a lot of work with Game Boys and guitars and after the show I approached him because I wasn't really in the chiptune scene in Australia like i was just doing stuff I'm playing my own music maybe put it online every now and again and yeah so I was asking him a whole bunch of questions and that led me to find out about the Australian chiptune scene and square sounds and
Speaker: That's when I started really getting more into like going down to Melbourne and starting to play in the Brisbane area. And then i think around 2012, so between 2012, 2014, that's I really started establishing Ace Jam as my music label.
Speaker: Probably the most boring name where it's like my name just taking the first three layers of each and just flipping around. Such an engineer title. Yeah. Yeah, I made the brand and then just started making chiptunes and around 2018, that's why I moved to Sydney. So i was exposed to a bunch of chiptune slash demo scene slash like...
Speaker: drum and bass, like experimental music using Renoise, and that's when I first picked that up. And so it was really like as I was growing, I was like modifying the Game Boys because were really cheap at the time to get and um buy the parts from the States and modify them to like make them really good for making music and then giving them out to a bunch of people. So every now and again I see ah ah my boys in the wild every now and again. LAUGHTER Yeah. Boys in the wild. That's great. I'll tell you what, they make some noise, that's for sure.
Speaker: ah And, yeah, so it's like it's been this real roundabout way to come from game background, not being able to articulate the style of music because, like, the original Nintendo, those sort of millennial...
Speaker: tracker-based music with chiptunes. Like i didn't really have a way to describe the type of music I was doing, so I was just making what I liked and then was able to start connecting with people and start making music. And then because like throughout the day I work in, well, my bachelor's or study is in game design, so i'm actually a game designer.
Speaker: but have taken that and moved into immersive technology. So that sort of, and instead of focusing on games as entertainment, it's focusing that as a way to... like bridge gaps. So it's like I do a lot with education. So it's like building training material using game developer software, so VR and AR, but there's always that sound component that needs to get done. So having all this experience in chiptune led me into like actual, well, I shouldn't say actual music creation.
Speaker: Trackers are still music, but it's like it leads into this point where I can use sound as a way of like building this experience better, like making sound effects, using synthesizers. And yeah, Sydney was bad because I was living right next door to a music shop and that's when I bought my first synthesizer. and Yeah.
Speaker: As you can see.
Speaker: It was so dangerous because it was the music shop on one side and just the building next door was the art shop. So it was like a double whammy for my wallet. Oh, man. Yeah. like I would not recommend, but I did have a lot of creative fun in Sydney and then yeah As I've moved on, I've moved up to the deep north, Rockhampton, central Queensland. Nice. It's a different environment again. so it's like It hasn't really been tracker scene or a chiptune scene up here. like You do see people that have come from the regions that are chiptune people in Melbourne and that, but...
Speaker: Bringing it to the region has its own possibilities and like people I've shown in the music scene up here because it's more focused around like metal and like more traditional sort of scenes in regional spaces. But, yeah, you just see their faces light up when they're like, oh, you're making that with a game console like, oh I remember playing that as human. mean, it is impressive. It is impressive.
Speaker: So they really enjoy it. And then it just leads into like how that can happen. And it's just like, so I just enjoy my online space. So making tutorials and showing people along the way, how to use this equipment, but then also you bring that joy to people. And I think that's one thing I like about weekly beats is like, you can create some weird and random thing.
Speaker: If it makes you smile, that's good enough. And if everyone else, they have a good laugh about as well, like, I think that's doing a really good thing. Yeah. And even stuff that doesn't make you smile, sometimes it makes other people smile. So that's good too.
Speaker: It's good to make people smile because that end of like, or for us, it's like Monday morning, that crunch to get the song in and like, please work, don't crash. Yeah. trying to render last mickett. Yeah, that's that's not the fun. But definitely after it clocks over and you can listen to everyone else's music, that's where it's at.
Speaker: Yeah. And so you had like a good decade of making tracker music before you even joined Weekly Beats. Yeah, so joined Weekly Beats 2020 was when I first joined. So I was so i remember in 2019 I was talking to, it was at Syntax, which is a demo scene party in Melbourne.
Speaker: like old computers and all that, but one of the people was like, oh, you should try this out. And I, like, never heard about before, never knew about, I know about Trash 80, but I was hearing whispers of, like, this device he was working on. And, yeah, from that he's like, oh, you should totally join Weekly Beats. And that's where a lot of, like, we all catch up in that. And that, like, I remember 2020 was, like, a really big point for me because I had the option of going and get the M8, which is the Tim Special,
Speaker: Or there was one Poly-N tracker left in Australia and I had enough to get one of them. But because I was doing LSDJ all the time, like it would have been smart for me to like get there, mate, because like the workflow, everything's there.
Speaker: But I think it's important like you try something new as well. So that's what led me to get the OG Poly-N tracker. like I love that. not swearing. I love that device. It was really, really fun.
Speaker: and like There's no censorship on here, man. he can You can do whatever. I'm on YouTube. I've got to have my YouTube. Very proper. but i um but You can profess the the proper love for these machines is what I'm saying. yeah No, they are great machines. But, yeah, and that's what led into making a whole bunch of tutorials because it's like been doing trackers for so long.
Speaker: I've noticed a lot of people when they were talking about like the Polyam Tracker or the M8 on their online, they take it from a very musical perspective or like a door or sheet music where trackers themselves, how they work is like they cascade down from the top.
Speaker: And if you're not familiar with the workflow, it does feel like data entry, like you're putting notes in You can't really experiment in that. But trackers themselves, once you understand the workflow, they're very efficient.
Speaker: But you can also experiment if you build the system right. Like they are very... um modular like the M8, you can do like really generative things with the patches or you can make like a full song mode with it. So it really comes down to understanding how to use it to get what you want out of it. And that's why I started making the tutorials to show different techniques for managing. Like if you want to put chords into a tracker, this is how you do it, but you're using up lots of channels. So what you can do is render that down into a single sound file.
Speaker: And then you can create like jump points in your sample then you can play chords like that. So it's like it's showing people different techniques. So it's like, oh, really have this idea for a sound. And like, well, it's not too far away from what you're working on already because it's not very apparent.
Speaker: when you look at it from, but there's all these tricks from like way back when, like jumping into like the mod archive online or talking to some of the people like C-Tricks or a bunch of the chiptune people. Like we'll just sit around and talk about like the little tricks that we learned and yeah, bringing that all together so other people can learn and grow and try out new things. And then they'll come up with things that they found that works really well and then they can pass that on. So that's probably one thing like about traffic.
Speaker: I was just going to say like you're you're providing a killer resource for people. Because like you said, it's if you approach these things, like I didn't have any sort of tracker background before I got an m a So I was definitely approaching things from Dahl perspective.
Speaker: But now I'm like understanding it a little bit better and realizing... that, oh, you can pretty much do anything. You just got to know like the right effects to put in and to you harness all the tools that are available.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's one thing I do like about the Mate is how, like, you can pretty much have, like, a fully generative modular thing if you understand tables and how the instruments work and using the chains in a certain way.
Speaker: But that's not, like, if you're looking at Ableton and stuff, like, they've got all those tricks for doing that type of work. There's not much out there yet for these devices. So thank you. Like, I do appreciate like It's probably one thing I really enjoy being hidden away from the world is like all the very nice comments I get on my videos. like someone on So many people like, oh, I bought this device and ah just didn't gel with it and I was almost ready to sell it, but...
Speaker: watching your videos, like it showed me so much and I was able to make music and get into it And I think that's why I really appreciate with just putting that stuff out there for people to absorb and seeing if they enjoy it or not. But yeah, it's just,
Speaker: Yeah, it all helps out in the end and everyone gets to experiment because like some of these devices, I'm still learning new things with them. Oh, yeah. So it's always going to be something that grows, but definitely like having something that's always with you. Like I've got the M8 and the Tracker Mini and they always live in my bag.
Speaker: where I go everywhere so I've always got a music device with me now so it's just like pull it out when I feel like remember reminisce way back when I was on the bus making music it's like whenever i got a free moment at work or whatever I pull it out and start making music and then people come up and be like oh what's that thing and then you start explaining what it does and Yeah, they either enjoy it or they're like, oh, okay, and then walk off. But it's just like being able to create music, especially in this times where like after COVID, just all the interesting things in the world, it's like you can come back and always create something.
Speaker: sorry And with a great community. Because one thing that I have been reminded of recently is I, through the encouragement of other people on the Discord, i joined this like inmate Jungle Challenge.
Speaker: and it's the first time I've really been making a song and like showing the work in progress to a community of people.
Speaker: and I was just like, man, this is really cool to be able to, like we're all using the same device and to make music and show along the way and get some like tips on how to make it better. and ask for tricks of like, here's what I'm trying to do. i don't know what effects to use.
Speaker: And I was like, man, it really is about this community of people that are all willing to like help each other out that makes it like so cool. Yeah. I think when it comes to like online communities or communities in general, when they're centralized around like a unifying idea,
Speaker: probably getting a little bit too technical, but it's like with the m MA Discord group, like there is so much information. it's like, I'm having this issue. You probably four or five people jumping in trying to help you and support you along the way. Yeah. And it's like like one thing being in a regional space, I always talk about this with the people. It's like trying to like,
Speaker: If people know what Rockhampton's like, that's fair enough. But when you try and join these communities, it's like you want to come in with like your best self coming forward and you want that sort of support and help towards helping yourself out. Like I do stuff with a couple of the groups in town and like some of them, they have been like very supportive, like they've taught me new things.
Speaker: I'm able to experiment, being able to access machines to be able to build things. So it's been a really good space like that. But I think that's where a lot of these spaces have been managed well, like Weekly Beats. It's like a very supportive community.
Speaker: ah have like Personally, I haven't seen anyone like... start tearing down someone's song telling them they're idiots even trying and that like you don't have that and especially with like the ma and the poly and tracker forums like there is a bunch of people in there that are constantly trying to help out like i know sandroid in the poly and tracker forum he's always constantly trying to help out new people i have people reaching out to me and i try and offer support as much as i can I've got my own personal ah Discord where I put like my personal things. So it's like 3D modeling, like music, game design.
Speaker: And like it's just you try and create these spaces. So if people want to conjudette come in and enjoy the space, you can support and create an environment where like everyone sort of benefits instead of a few people benefiting at the expense of everyone else. so Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: Super important. Now, I do have to ask, because i have never messed around with any Poly-N device. Compared to the M8, what do you like better about the Poly-N machines? like Compare and contrast.
Speaker: That is a good question. They were both my babies. Because I'm always like, hmm, should I get Polyun Because I like to try all these things. you know i shouldn't be a bad influence. like Every YouTuber just starts shilling out devices. Go get No, but no, it is such a, i think the best way to explain it, the m MA is LSDJ, so that Game Boy, that sort of experience.
Speaker: And then the Poly and Tracker would be like Pro Tracker or Fast Tracker or like those more door styles. So really it's just like what I personally find is the m MA is a windowed experience, so you have to constantly shift your view. You can't see everything at once.
Speaker: The Polyon Tracker, it has that full spreadsheet, like it does have song blocks and that, but you get that more full view, like with the Tracker Plus, you have eight sample tracks with another eight MIDI slash instrument tracks. So you have full 16 tracks.
Speaker: lined up on the screen, you can scroll wherever you do. If you're doing complex chords and that, you can see everything visually. That's nice. Whereas on the M8, like if you have four tracks lined up to put in a chord, that way that you have to visualise it because like you can do all the transpose stuff and that.
Speaker: If you're trying to construct chords just using that, you have to like reference that tiny little part of the screen on the live view to see which notes are playing at once. So it's like you kind of have full vis availabl there did full visibility inside of yeah the Polyon Tracker. Like you can see all your instruments. Because you can like see inside the chains at the same time.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's how, like, that way it works. But there are things like the M8 with tables. Like, that is more synthesizer needs tables. Tables need to be more everywhere. Like, it just gives you a way to really get granular with your sound design and that. And that's one thing I like about re-noise is, like, you do have that more complex way of re-noise.
Speaker: modulating things. So it's like, if you have like a basic sample, you can make some really cool instruments inside these sort of spaces, but because it's hexadecimal and it looks like a spreadsheet, it does scare a lot of people off. And when I finally get to that video, I'm going try and make it as non-threatening as possible.
Speaker: They are good. yeah They are fun. Don't, don't be scared. Come on, handhold the person through. But yeah, I mean, I was, I was initially scared, but once I,
Speaker: got like the um like muscle memory down to move around like i can't even tell you what buttons i'm pressing now i'm just like i need to go over here and i'm like i don't even know what i pressed but once i got into it i'm like it's just so fast like i can go do all sorts of stuff super fast probably one thing I've noticed when I'm making the M8 tutorials, because I've come from LSDJ, I'm like, all right, left, right, A, B, start.
Speaker: And it's like, wait, no, it's option edit. And I like pause to look at the device. yeah, that button there. And try and make sure I show what I'm clicking. It's probably the worst thing with any tutorial. They're like, oh, yeah, go do this. And then they don't show you where that button lives. And it's like, where is that? And you're like, what happened?
Speaker: Where is that? Now, from... From a creation standpoint or like creation slash inspiration, how would you compare and contrast the two devices?
Speaker: Well, I think there's a lot of overlap. Like there's not much that you can't do on either one. Like if you're trying to make something that's fully generative with random trigs and all that, like the PolyM Tracker has some really cool fill features. So the M8 does when you hold option and left, right, up, down, like you can create a static pattern, but then you can jump into a table and do all those sort of randomized chances and all that.
Speaker: inside the instrument on the poly and tracker, like you got the fill tool, but you can create chance chains and that. And like it's other sister friend, which is the poly and play in that one, that's like fully generative. So you can go really in depth with like chance and cuts and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker: But I think for me when it comes to like tracker stuff, I find leverage samples more on the Poly and Tracker because of its sample engine.
Speaker: and Like it's not as powerful air quotes as the M8. The M8 has a lot more modulation controls than that, but like the tools that you have on the Poly and Tracker, little bit more streamlined, but a little bit more direct. So like it reminds me a lot of Famine Tracker where you have individual effects for each part of the engine. So it's like you have a pitch control, which you can add an LFO or a envelope where the M8, you can route it to wherever you want.
Speaker: But it's like the sound design on either or, you're going to get what you want. And like with the Polyane Tracker versus the M8, there is a... So it's like the Polyane Tracker, you've got to think of it more as you have a tracker with three other instruments alongside you.
Speaker: Because how you sequence it is you're sending the MIDI DA to internal instruments, whereas on the M8... each individual instrument can be a sample or an instrument.
Speaker: So it becomes more like a traditional tracker where it's like you play that one instrument in like a chain. But interchangeably, it's like each one like...
Speaker: The only real thing that I struggle with is doing vocals on trackers because you've sort got to plan ahead. You've got record them. You've got to make sure they're synced and then you sort of just bring them into play. It's like little clips. so And like, how would you explain it? Like I a lot of stuff where I sit there with the radio on the Pollyon tracker and just record things from trackers crazy radio stations or, yeah, some of those regional ads because they say some darndest things.
Speaker: LAUGHTER But even then, it's like both of them, like the Tracker Mini and the Mate, they both have microphones. So i' usually end up just sitting outside recording things and then finding new ways to destroy a sample in ways that yeah but so a original sound was never intended for. And then that becomes a new instrument and then I can keep experiments. So I don't feel limited with either one, but they do have their quirks.
Speaker: So it's like if you got one, and you feel like you want to test the other one, I'm not being a bad influence, but like there is that option. but There's so many different trackers out there, like Renoise, you've got Femi tracker, you've got like even the old school ones, like pro desktop and that, and like learning all of them, they sort give you different ideas on how to do things. And you start bridging the gap between all the different ways that you can make music. So it's just- What's your desert island tracker?
Speaker: Why are you making me choose? You are so mean.
Speaker: See, I think this is probably going be controversial, but the original OG Poly-N tracker, it was my baby, the first one that I bought, first hardware tracker.
Speaker: But even with, like, all the bells and whistles of the Tracker Plus and, like, the M8 and all that, it's like it's just... You can just sit there, you have a bunch of samples that you really enjoy, and you can just make stuff.
Speaker: And I think that's what's important with music. So it's like even if you have all the bells and whistles like coming back to a space where it's like, I enjoy making music. Yeah, yeah. And everything is set set up in a way that I can just make stuff. Like i've got all the drum samples I enjoy using. I have all the synth packs or samples I enjoy using. And you just sit there you just...
Speaker: vibe out, have a coffee. Close state. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, to kind of take it in that direction, what is your music or your song creation process like?
Speaker: it So it really depends what I'm trying to achieve because, like, I know for me personally because I have, like, stuff outside of just music, like I'm not 100% a musician.
Speaker: I'm sitting there trying to make albums and, like, being wanting to play on the main stage, like, a lot of my musical creation is for building our environment. So like doing atmosphere levels and games and immersive technologies. So it's like, that's where a lot of my actual musical focus is, but usually it depends on a goal. So it's like with, I've released two albums over the last couple of years. So one being a very ah drum and bass styled house genre that can be more
Speaker: for the average person. Then I've got Level Bangers, which is tongue-in-cheek poker flat beats, which is like this really cool... I forgot his name, but... like, yeah, very iconic style. And I just wanted to bring like those Australian style of regional ads and colloquialisms and binding sausages. want to bring all that together. So with those two projects, it was like, all right, this is my goal.
Speaker: This is the style of sound I want. And did like a big push to like, make the sonic palette to begin with because once you have the samples in a tracker, you can just start mixing and arranging and trying different things. And it's like you try and exhaust that sound pack. So I usually try and build a pack to start with.
Speaker: and then I'll start building an album for it and how many songs I can push through. Like I've got three new songs for like ah version two of Level Bangers. I don't know what the album title is for it, but each one of them makes me smile and it's just a fun way to like play with sound. But if there's like a particular genre or I have a melody line in my head or something like that, I try and get it down and then i start fleshing it out. So it's like,
Speaker: I take like the main part of the song. So like I'll make like a four bar loop, making sure that all the elements work together. So I might do like a bit of a mud map to figure out like what notes are working in what chord progression.
Speaker: So I've got that as reference. So it's like in my recent video for the MA, I started talking about like with broken chords because trackers, we have limited channels. So what you try and do is in the melody, you allude to a specific chord. So it's like,
Speaker: trying not to get too music theory, but like C major, you have C, E, and F. So it's like you might have the bass hitting C because that's the root note. You have your melody line that may be fluctuating between E and G, I think.
Speaker: Don't quote me. But yeah, you like bounce around those notes and then the actual sonic palette or the pitches relate to that chord. So you could probably have two channels, but you make like a full chord.
Speaker: And once I have... that whole process established, then it's like I start but taking things away and that could be like the intro. I take the main melody line, like jangle it up a little bit and just try out ah different arrangements and that can be the part B. And then I just start blocking out like the full song from there and then start making all like the rises and transitions and how this part is going to move into this part. Am I going to do cheeky things with like horizontal mixing, having one melody structure allude to another melody structure? And
Speaker: So it's like it just like what I try and do is block everything in as quickly as possible. So like I might have a lunch break that's 30 minutes and it's like I could get a majority of the song as quickly as possible, exhaust out an idea before I have to run away, and then I just have this project file and say, oh, remember I was working on this file and I'll come back to it and muck around. So...
Speaker: One part of me wishes I can just sit with a specific genre and just keep plodding along, but my brain's too scattered for that. But having a scattered brain, you start picking up all these tools and going to quote the great orange drink here. But yeah, once you create that baseline, so I remember he was talking about that a while ago.
Speaker: and it's something I talk about. But when you start building out a toolkit, it's like you have all these ideas to help. If this isn't working, I could try x y and Z to try and solve that problem. And but when I finish a song, I'll have a notebook beside me and I'll just sit back and listen to it on a bunch of different speakers and write down all the little issues I'm hearing and then refresh, don't think about the song for a day or two, come back to it, and then I'll just start ticking off those boxes.
Speaker: Do that. Sounds good. Leave it again. Come back. any more issues out here. And I do that a couple of times until like sounds good on a shitty little speaker. And then if that's hunky dory, that's when I start posting everywhere or I make my little animation to make a cool little thing off.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, that's really cool. So to kind of replay that, you start with like a four bar loop and then you try to like take things away and maybe copy that and add some different things. And until you've got enough parts that you can start like assembling them.
Speaker: Yeah, I think like there is a trap there because I know that's one video I need to build for every series I do with every device is like there is that trap of the four bar loop and it's like, oh, this sounds really good and you start copying and pasting that.
Speaker: But when you have that loop, it depends on, so usually if I listen to it and like I try and give different parts, different pattern So it's like I might have an arpeggiator, which is a really high pattern. So when you look at the columns, like one's full of note commands, one like a baseline that is just a drawing that has one note command.
Speaker: So I'm trying to vary it up. So if I notice something, like say I've got a melody line and it's got less notes, That could be the bass structure that I can start overlaying like little twills and adding notes here and there.
Speaker: might take away, so I don't try it. So it's like on the beat. You don't want to touch those notes because that's your foundation, but you can start augmenting the patterns to see what changes. So you can change the pattern. So like Uno, you like you can sync with a color or you can sync with a number. So it's like if you want to... change the person or change the color in your favor. It's like you can think of like the notes as something that you can change or you can change the instrument or you can change the like pattern itself. So you shift notes around or you can do both, but you want to keep it kind of the same but kind of different as well because you don't want to just keep alluding to the same thing. But each one of those like little tweaks that you do makes like even changing one note can change up the entire pattern. it's like,
Speaker: Understanding those little things can change something. It's like I could turn like a little four-bar loop, which on the M8, that's usually how I work with each chain chain or phrase and song mode.
Speaker: I think I've got it right. But yeah, each block of notes, so not the 16 steps, but each little block, I usually work in four blocks. And then in the song mode, then I stack them up. So it's like I know that I can take one those little four blocks, augment it up, and then that's part B. And I can jump to part A, and then I do a part C. And then that's taking a little four-bar loop into like a full 16-bar sequence.
Speaker: sequence and then I can put that somewhere else and then say oh the part b I can take that entire um chain copy and paste it across and just change the instrument and that gives a whole new feeling and like when I'm in like like with the m8 and trackers it's like I try and group instruments together that are similar so all my bases go together but it's like say I've got seven bases, the first three are like quiet, like more soft and moody, and then the last three are like more aggressive, and then I know that I have like a
Speaker: trying to think of the word, a spectrum of sound that can move yeah between. So it's like if I want to jump between hard and soft, I can choose these ones to start with and then slowly work the instruments towards a more harsher bass tone. and like It's just like little things that you start picking up and that's why I think weekly beats,
Speaker: as much as it's a a big commitment to try and get a song out a week. It's like can test and try and, oh, I heard about this technique here. I want to try and put it into this song here. Did it work? Did it not?
Speaker: Oh, yeah, it really did work because of these reasons. And you cap and can't say that word, compartmentalize. You take that little tool and you put that in your toolkit. So for a rainy day, you're having an issue here. You can pull it back out and say, oh, I can nail that to the wall.
Speaker: that's uh fix that one up so i think that's where you see like there are so many people where i've seen like they just start out with weekly beats the first year like you see that growth and then they have a year off where they're still experimenting or trying or absorbing new things and then the second time they come back it's like a massive jump and then by the end of that year they're like really improved and then Yeah, each year it's like just massive jumps of like skill and talent just because it's like they're committed to trying.
Speaker: And at the end of it, they have all these tools that they can help to try different things and experiment and grow and yeah. Yeah. I mean, um kind of on that theme, what are some other things that you've gotten from the whole Weekly Beats experience that maybe isn't directly related to music?
Speaker: like I highlighted that kind before where we were talking about the community and just having good people leaving good comments. But I think one thing too is being able to show gratitude, I don't know what the right word is, but like going into other people's songs, listening to it, and if there's something that you enjoy or find really good, just leaving that as a comment because like for one, they're probably not thinking like, oh, I'm really stressed out about this song. I don't know if it's going to do well.
Speaker: But if you go out and start posting on other people's music and saying, hey, I really enjoyed this section and that, like it gives them reinforcement, but they also probably in turn come back and comment on your thing and like give you yeah feedback as well.
Speaker: Like I have done a bit of writing for my, like I have like a blog where I talk about a bunch of different ideas around pedagogy entangled pedagogy and all that sort of stuff. But one of the things is constructive versus deconstructive criticism because see that online in so many different spaces, especially when it's like a digital artist and like all these different creative fields. Like you do have people that are very gatekeeper-ish. They will come in and try and cut you down because they just,
Speaker: don't enjoy themselves or some other way that you can explain it. But yeah, it's like when you can isolate what constructive criticism is. So like being able to give tangible evidence, being able to say like, this is what I really enjoyed about this.
Speaker: But I think you can improve this by going X, Y, and Z. Like, Like not fully unsolicited criticism because that's more deconstructive. But if someone's like in their comments saying, hey, look, I would like some feedback on that.
Speaker: Yeah, feel free to say, I think you could try and work with the riser a bit more so it lands a little bit on that beat or leaving it for an extra beat for like that delay that makes a drop just that little bit sweeter. Yeah.
Speaker: but But yeah, it's like, conversely, if you have deconstructed criticism and say, oh, you suck, fuck you. Yeah, that's not helping anyone. Yeah, but it's like you start growing that, like, like what like wait what are you talking about? Because being someone that's on YouTube, like you are like a lot of people do feel like, oh, shit, I'm just going to get teared apart by the internet.
Speaker: But it's like, there are times where I've had, see, I've only you probably had about five or six bad comments, like, oh, you suck. And it's like, but because there's no substance in it and you had all positive feedback before you- Show me your YouTube channel, man.
Speaker: Like, that is part of it. But it's like you can just sit there and look at the comment and it's like this was designed just to rile me up. And then you yeah create that internal boundary where it's like ducks off a water back. Like you don't internalise the bad feedback because it's bad because it's just no feedback there. It's not because, like, you're a bad person or, like, your song is shit. It's like someone's just out there trying to hit you where it's like, what, bro? yeah Like, I made a song. Where's your song?
Speaker: And i I do really like when people ask for more specific feedback of like, hey, I'm trying to get better at mixing or i want to know about like this particular sound because I think that helps people focus their criticism in a way that the the person asking for this criticism can actually take it and use it for good you know it's like A lot of times when people are like, I welcome criticism on my track. It's like, well, what are you trying to get better at Because like I could focus in on that particular thing and tell you what you could improve about it.
Speaker: um and just the act of listening to people's songs through the weekly beats year even though just my first year last year really taught me to appreciate everyone else's work that they put in you know like you're putting in work during the week this person just did the same thing maybe it's not the style of music that i gravitate to just listening on my own, but I can still appreciate what they made and how they made it and, you know, listen to it through that lens, which I think is important.
Speaker: Yeah. And I think because weekly beats is like, everyone's in it for the same reason you are going to get that positive sort of engagement. Like there are songs that are complete, like I do say I have like a wide palette of music that I enjoy.
Speaker: Country music is a little bit different because I was force-fed that as a child. But it's like I do appreciate country music. But it's like when you start hearing like people just going fully off the rails experimental, like there's nuggets of gold in those tracks. Oh, yeah. Someone that might think they made something that's absolutely not worth it and scared about posting it. So i just post it anyway. Like it's an experience of learning. But I think there's another point.
Speaker: Like external to like just the music is weekly beats. Like there are professional musicians in the weekly beats group. They are trying to do different things, but everyone's bringing something different. Like I know for YouTube, I'm probably getting attacked by the algorithm because I don't just like I do have a music channel, but I don't hide the fact that I do things outside of music. Like I use music for music.
Speaker: immersive technologies for VR and that like i've done a few videos now where I talked about how to import sounds into Meta Horizon and I want to do a series about designing sound or Atmos environments for VR environments and stuff like that like spatial audio and auditory navigation all that sort of stuff but everyone's bringing something unique to the table and it's like learning about where those people are. Like I know we were having a chat just before this conversation. It's like, you're a software developer as well.
Speaker: You're doing some really cool things. You're doing God's work, helping people make good coffee. That's right. very Need our caffeine. You are doing me a great service, even though you're on the other side of But yeah, everyone's bringing something different and it shows in their music as well. Like, um like for me,
Speaker: and probably you as well, like being in Australia, being like Commonwealth or like in the Western side of the world, we have a particular way of listening to music, 12 tone, equal temperament and all that sort of stuff. We have our tropes and all that.
Speaker: But when you start listening to some of the people that are in like different parts of the world, they bring their unique perspective to music making. And it's like like, I think it's like Bulgarian chant stuff. I was listening to that recently and like their tonal shifts were,
Speaker: is like a completely different setup, but it's like, that sounds sick. I want to hear more of that. And can I do that on a synthesizer? And can I make a tracker thing around it? And it's like, it's like, we don't always realize the like cultural boxes that we're in.
Speaker: The world is a, they're so normalized. Yeah. Yeah. Weekly beach just takes a slice of every part of the world and just makes a cool little space. it does. Very, very appreciative of that.
Speaker: Awesome. Well, should we get into listening to some music? I think so. All right. Well, let's see We're going to start out with week two 2024, we go.
Speaker: solarerge here we go
Speaker: you
Speaker: so
Speaker: That was Solar Surge from week two, 2024. It is
Speaker: it is a jam and i wanted to talk specifically about the video you made for this because it's super cool. And it's one of the things that I'm kind of curious about getting into in 2026, but I kind of have no idea where to start. Like I'm definitely inspired by all of the videos that orange drink made,
Speaker: but you know, do I have a video component in my future? So tell me a little bit about the song and like the video and your 3D modeling kind of stuff.
Speaker: Yeah. So, well, the song itself, that was Renoise special because I have the Arturia V suite. It just, it turns a tracker into like powerhouse. Like I just think of it like visually as like, I've got the giant rack of gear beside me and then I can like do my track and,
Speaker: But really it was trying to move into a space where it's like, because Rockhampton is very more of a metal country scene, bringing electronic music. Usually they just have DJs playing. So I was just like, I would like to be able to play in the town. And like I started building an album and wanting to build a set around it to play the music. But me, me, me stuck in regional Queensland, a lot of my work is putting it on lines and like you've got to break through the algorithm somehow. And I think A lot of the time, a good piece of information about like doing YouTube or any sort of social media is you're known for one thing.
Speaker: but you'll get recognised for what you bring. So it's like with Minecraft, it's like I'm going to be a Minecraft YouTuber. It's like, yeah, yeah, like you can play Minecraft all day, but what are you bringing to it? And it's like that could be a personality.
Speaker: That could be like your knowledge of Minecraft. It's something else. And like for me personally, it's like what I like. I do a lot of work in the synth community now. So talking about gear and that and try not to shill out too much because like like one of the things I struggled with growing up was being able to access someone to talk to.
Speaker: Like there was just no one. and it's like even here in Rockhampton, it's like I talk about synths and like we've got Greens Brothers, which is the big music shop in town. And like they have walls of guitar, me being left-handed. It's like you get that corner over there and that's it. But it's like I started talking about synthesizers and they're like a MIDI keyboard.
Speaker: And it's like that's not. And then I started talking about but it's like, A lot of people just don't have the ability to go out and talk to someone about the M8. So they're always brought into these online forums. And, like, I think that's the same thing with a lot of different technology. And it's like for me with 3D, when I first started when I was 14, it's like I picked up, it was in a...
Speaker: gaming magazine, but it was like, you can build your own games. It's like a CD of this software called Animator, where the eight is actually a figure eight. It's like leaked hacker stuff.
Speaker: It was in hindsight. I really appreciate learning the software and so practicing with it, but it was bucket of bolts. But at the time as well, you had like all these other softwares that were starting to come out. Like you had, I remember another one, which was Pro Desktop, which is like a CAD modeling software.
Speaker: For me, there was Blender. But at the time, it was like, I think it was 1.4 or something. And it was difficult to learn just because it's like 3D modeling itself, like,
Speaker: It's an art form, but it's also a technical experience as well, like you're managing meshes, like you've got geometry, you're dealing with vectors, quatonians, which they make my head spin, but they are...
Speaker: Like, you can get a lot of it. But at the time, like, what was this, 2004, like, YouTube tutorials were not a thing. And, like, you're diving into the forums to try and find stuff.
Speaker: You're trying to search terms and you couldn't find anything on the internet. So a lot of the work that I learned was through self-experimentation and the School of Hard Knocks. And yes, but that led me like through that passion. like I started learning game development.
Speaker: I built a couple of games which allowed me to go into Quantum College, which is SAE. And that's where I started learning more professional tools like 3ds Max. My background's in Unity, which is a game developer software.
Speaker: And that's how I moved into an industry. like I used to work for a massive engineering firm doing like massive, like four kilometer long, whatever the freedom unit know equivalent of that is.
Speaker: civil work, so like massive roads, bridges, ah buildings. That was in Sydney, so like I'd got to modelling of like the Sydney Opera House and Batemans Bay Bridge and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker: But Alongside that, you start seeing all these, like, Blender coming back to it. Recently, they had 2.8, which was, like, their massive UI update and, like, 3ds Max, $4,000 with Autodesk, Blender, free.
Speaker: And like... Prices rate. Yeah. Yeah, price is right, but it's like it didn't do everything that 3ds Max could, but i'm like, no, I'll make the jump and start learning this on the side because it's like it's a platform that can do what I do and if I can help other people or use that in my personal stuff, that means I don't have this, like no one can afford $4,000 unless they're doing it professionally.
Speaker: I think, like, in music as well, like, there's a lot of software out there that's, like, thousands of dollars and, like, all the VSTs and that you can pay a big chunk of change to get into it, especially with hardware stuff.
Speaker: Like... If you can lower that investment and just try something out, I think that is a lot more beneficial than like you buy all the gear and it's like, I don't like this. So it's like you can sort of build yourself up to it.
Speaker: But yeah, coming back to Blender, I started learning it. And as like the update sign come around, like they're up to 4.5 now on like geometry nodes and, probably you're going to say a whole bunch of buzzwords, but really like it's gotten to the point where it's almost my like 90% of the work. Like I can even do V-Ray stuff in it. Like it's it's not like I'm limited to the professional software to do professional work.
Speaker: I can use free and open source software. Like um I used to use Adobe Premiere and After Effects for video production, but now I've shifted to DaVinci Resolve. On my ah HGM Discord, I've actually done a retro links page of all the software that I use for my channel because it's like being a commercialized entity, like trying to make a profit, but it's like making sure that everything's above board on like making sure i'm not using pirated software and all that.
Speaker: But when you have free and open source software, it's like there's no need to pirate. And like Blender itself plus the Blender community, you can get really into a space where you want to learn something. So for me, it's like with the Ace Jam channel, it's a lot of using Blender to do audio visualizations. And if you've ever seen any of my videos, I'm using the sound to animate objects. And like with Blender,
Speaker: the video that we're talking about with solar surge, it's like I had that introduction as the plane fly off and like I had to model everything. And that was like the first section. And then the second section, it comes to this like laser grid that's pulsing and having all these asteroids coming around, but each like same stuff with like weekly beats. It's like I did lots of little projects where I tried a new thing and wanted to experience a new tool in the system. So like I had my knowledge in 3ds max and,
Speaker: the word's completely different in blender, like every single software, they love naming their stuff different. And then it's like, all right. So I have like the modifier stack over here, which sort of relates to modifiers over here, but over here they use bloom, but over here they use glare. And it's like, what is the bloody word for this thing?
Speaker: And that's where like having access tutorials where it's like, Oh yeah, go click this button here. And like, you can see where they're pressing it. It's such a godsend and then you have all the forums and like training tutorials and like people may pay courses and like you're just seeing this massive uptake so early in my hdm channel because i'm still trying to figure out youtube to this day and it's always changing so it's like yeah whatever but i tried to put 3d tutorials in my hdm channel but the algorithm's like no don't want to hear it like now you're making and music
Speaker: Exactly. So I've started a second channel where it's like teaching 3D modeling. So okay I've done like a little series on like basic polygon modeling and I did like a couple of studio monitors. And then I've done a series where I talk about how to use the sounds to samples with now. It's not sounds to F curves anymore.
Speaker: But that tool allows you to take an audio file and convert that into an animation track. And then I'm just using that with objects to pulse everything. So when the kick drum is- Can you shill this channel for us real quick?
Speaker: So pretty much it's called Hjam Oh, wow. Yeah. And now I've got another channel, which is Ace Jam Immerse, but that one's super tiny. It's one video, but it's like I had to separate all my skills out because like Ace Jam, YouTube, you got to treat it like a sort like a sitcom or a show. It's like a very specific ra genre.
Speaker: And that doesn't mean the audience doesn't like and they click off. It's like the algorithm has compounded this wording slash all the bits of information around your channel.
Speaker: So if you have an outlier video, it's like, well, that's obviously not going to work well with his audience, so we're not going to show up. So it's like you're fighting the algorithm to get in front of people, and that's why I'm more in the forums where I like i make a video, like say I make an M8 tutorial, and I write into the channel in Discord, sorry for being a shill, but I've released a new tutorial to help people do that. Can you...
Speaker: Watch and let me know how you enjoy it because, yeah, a YouTube is a means to the end. But it's like, yeah, it's like once you start getting different skills together, like I know for me, it's like with my programming side, I've got my 3D modelling side, I've got music side. like like I could sit here and build a game ah by myself. But it's like when you can start reaching out and using those skills in different ways, like,
Speaker: When I talk about immersive technology, like some of the work I do is just building a basic 3D asset with some rich context, so like points of interest over it.
Speaker: yeah And it sits in a URL and like, because I work at university and like sending that out to students abroad, like anyone with that URL link can experience that asset. And it's like, we didn't have that five or 60 years ago. So it's like things are becoming a lot more accessible.
Speaker: I'm definitely going to check out your 3D channel, but I'm kind of curious. I mean, I know I have a former life as a mechanical engineer, and I know how to 3D model things for like, building things.
Speaker: How much learning would I need to do to make the Solar Surge video?
Speaker: It's different. So, with mechanical engineering, I would say, oh, how could I print something? It's like, oh, that's pretty much aligned, but it's like when I explain the difference, like you have CAD modeling, which is more along the sides of mechanical engineering, like building yeah bridges and that.
Speaker: And like when I was doing visualization work, it's like you take that model and then you start applying materials. And like I know with like Rhino. Sheeting and lighting and...
Speaker: Yeah. So it's like when it comes to three Scene making. Yeah. it's It's the matrix. You get a blank slate and there's nothing in there. So you go know how to do camera stuff.
Speaker: You got to know how to light the scene. And then you got to like know how to animate. And then you have your object. They're like the four main areas.
Speaker: If someone to hold a gun to my head, it's like, how do I 3D model? It's like, okay, they're the four areas that you probably need to focus on. So if you got video experience, like if you can use a mobile phone camera, like the basic camera setup is usually pretty good, like a nifty 50 film camera.
Speaker: It's pretty much the same. So if you know how to like take videos and like everyone's got access to a mobile phone, so they're all filming themselves or filming like daily stuff, but you can start learning how to do that type of like, what's the pan, what's the zoom, what's the tilt.
Speaker: Like you start learning all those bits and then the lighting. So like you could do a basic three point lighting setup as much as a podcast cannot show my lovely space. You can jump on my YouTube. Yeah. You can look at the YouTube.
Speaker: but it's like some basic lighting, but you could also just use a, um, HDRI, which is a 360 image that has all the lighting information baked in. So you can just bring all those into a scene that can light everything.
Speaker: And then, um, and i have I have to say, I love the Australian ha ah this is Yes. H H it's not as hard.
Speaker: It's one thing when I remember one clip, it's like, how do you how do you tell like the difference between like met like being picky? It's like with Australia, we don't articulate our mouths. So it's like when you get an American to say Halloween, it's like their whole mouth lights up and it's like hallow and Halloween. Halloween.
Speaker: Yeah. And then for us, it's like, yeah, the mouth is like just ventriloquist. yeah nah yeah it's like okay you're late you're laid back you're laid back extremely laid back and it's like yep it was like the no oh yeah the no don't do it well i maybe one day hope to see a solar surge tutorial video on your 3d channel but we're gonna keep it rolling with
Speaker: the next song which from 2022 week 23 bunning sausage which i had to be educated about this one and we'll educate everyone else after this here we go
Speaker: Bating sausage.
Speaker: so
Speaker: up the law
Speaker: Running Sausage
Speaker: talk
Speaker: Bunning sausage. Yeah, that is ah killer Wub Wub track. and for the Americans, explain what a Bunning sausage is. it is a way of life.
Speaker: It is a pilgrimage. every Every state, every town, it is a way of life. You must travel to your local Bunnings. So if you don't know what a Bunnings is, it's like Harbour Freight or some mass hardware store where you go and stuff. But a Bunnings sausage is like usually it's on the weekends and there would be a little gazebo at the front run by a non-for-profit or a local community group. And what they do is they create...
Speaker: pretty much a slice of white bread with a bun and a sausage or a snag, and then tomato sauce, mustard, or onion. You get your pick. It's like two bucks. And, yeah, it is such treat. Nice.
Speaker: as Dero as it sounds, it just tastes a little bit sweeter when you get it from Bunnings and then you go in and get your hardware goods and always come out with more than you wanted to. just come in there for a couple of screws and somehow you come out with a lawnmower and a whippersnipper and all that jazz. so
Speaker: I love all these terms. a snag, whippersnipper. What else there? I had never heard a sausage called a snag either. so A snag on white bread. and Snare on white brain.
Speaker: It is a way of life. We just have hot dogs at Lowe's. That could work. Not as much of a pilgrimage.
Speaker: No. It depends. who's like Tell me more about this song. so You're obviously inspired.
Speaker: Very in inspired. It is a way of life. So you had to serenade it with sweet wub wubs and drum and bass. It's like, for me, like... That's the sound a sausage going down. did get some swallow sounds into there. It's like, and it's like, yep, perfect. I love that. And it's right there.
Speaker: It's like, whenever you make some random drum and bass thing, you've always got to have some weird sample in there. It's like, yeah oh, yeah, fully going hard. Then you hear like... like a water drop. And it's like, oh, yeah, okay, we're going there. So but that whole album was like I really enjoy that flat wobble bass.
Speaker: And what I did, so there'll be a few songs coming up that, are alongside this album, but regional ads. I don't know what America's like with their regional ads, but if you're listening to the radio and someone's tooting their horn and how cool their business is, they say the most darnedest shit.
Speaker: And it's just like- think there's, in the US, there's like certain cities. Like here, there's kind of some wacky ones, ah but- From recent memory, Boston, Massachusetts has the like wackiest local ads. Like, the wackiest.
Speaker: It's just, it's a guilty pleasure of mine to like listen to those. like Like it's probably just a town or like just a small area of like Victoria and that, but they just get these iconic ads and they just get so ingrained in your head. Like, because I grew up in Western Australia, like a big thing for us was air sprints mini golf. And it's like, you try and say that over this side on the Eastern side of Australia and they're like, what the hell are you talking about?
Speaker: But it's just so ingrained from such a young age that it's just like a trope. And like people just say it in the streets and yeah, everyone has their stuff, but it's like the bunning. So what I was doing was just sitting with the poly and tracker with the radio on. So it's got like internal radio and then it's like waiting for these ads to come on and there's like clip them.
Speaker: And it's like, they yeah, so of then it's like with the sample engine, it's like mangle up the sound and then yeah, just start putting drum and bass and some fat wubs underneath it. It just makes everything better.
Speaker: it It does sound great. I love the Wub Wub. And is that us is that a sample or is that like a synth instrument?
Speaker: So, this is the secret sauce, the Ace Jam Special. That is a single cycle waveform that I recorded from the original Game Boy, the 50% square sound.
Speaker: And then with the poly and tracker, it has some LFO stuff. So, it's like how i was saying before, each part of the instrument. So, like pitch, fine pitch. Mm-hmm. A filter ah has a dedicated envelope or LFO. So it's like with the single cycle waveform, you just have it on loop and that's how you get like a square oscillator.
Speaker: That's cool. I had the filter set quite low, but then I used an LFO to create that wobble and it doesn't have a way that on the poly in tracker. So this is one of the like limitations that create like a bug creating a feature.
Speaker: The waveforms, so like the LFOs, they only trigger when you first hit play. So no matter where you are, where you play from, that cycle is going to cycle from there. So if you start at the very beginning of the song, but you're testing your wubs halfway through, they could sound different as you record. So it's like when I created the wubs,
Speaker: it was me going in changing the speed of the oscillator as well as flipping the oscillator. So it's like I might have a triangle wave to create like more of a, like a ramp pulse sort of wub. And then I have like a triangle wave wub.
Speaker: And then what I was doing is bouncing between the different speeds, but making sure that the amount equaled the beat. So it's like I could have it drop to like a triplet and then I'd do like a bunch of eighth notes to get it to finish up the cycle on the waveform being straight again to zero.
Speaker: And then I know wherever I put that block because it's all 4-4 timing. it's all going to sync up no matter where I start playing from. um And then once I get that going, i'm just ah I'm just mucking around with waveforms. And then like as we were talking about for the B section, I start jumping octaves and going a little bit more crazy with the Wub Wubs. I could add a distortion to the square wave to make it so sound more gritty.
Speaker: and But yeah, that sound just makes me smile. feel like I just got a degree at Wub Wub University. Yeah. It is very prestigious. It is the Harvard 2.0.
Speaker: It will take you places as much as a Bunnings sausage. Yeah, it'll it'll take you to the hardware store and back. That you never knew you needed.
Speaker: I know. and I want to try one of these now. wonder if I can import one. might just have to visit. I just have to visit. Do it. Come see the WB ace Australia crew.
Speaker: Yeah, for real. And leave this hellhole of a country, but we won't get into that. All right, going to keep it going with 2022 Week Electrician. we go.
Speaker: automotive electrician here we go
Speaker: Oh
Speaker: so
Speaker: um level
Speaker: rain right, that was automotive electrician. This is our master's degree in Wub Wub. So ah tell me about this one.
Speaker: ah So this is another one of those regional ads, and it was like just a car electrician shop, but just how they said that automotive electrician, like was, yeah, I wanted to capture that. But this song specifically, because it sort burnt in my mind, the intro song,
Speaker: melody, it has this really wonky note in there. It was just how the sample engine was because it's like really fast-pitched sample. it It just came out so wonky and I was like, this doesn't, like, it's not melodically correct, but I like it.
Speaker: I like it. So I just started building. Yeah. I don't care about melody with this one. I'm just making this wonky-ass bloody song. And it's only short, but I just, yeah, just the sounds.
Speaker: The sequences, it's just got its own little vibe going. on just yeah I play this song live and it just has its own, everyone starts bouncing because of it. And and the annoying part is I've tried to extend it a few times because it's only like a minute and a half, but no, it just works. It's such a cool little song to like drop in the middle of a set and it's just like everyone starts going ballistic over it.
Speaker: Yeah. Do you do many live performances? Not as much as as I would like, but the performances I do have, I do get a lot more...
Speaker: like I enjoy doing them. So usually what happens is I make my grand pilgrimage from the far north down south to Melbourne. And then I usually try and line it up with a few different things. So it's like, I know this year, I'm definitely going to try and get down to Syntax, that being like a demo scene party. And like, they do have their competition.
Speaker: But last time I went down to Syntax, I lined up with a few other people. So I had Polyend, and i forgot the music group, but we set up like a tutorial um series. so it was like a live workshop where everyone could come along and then I would go through and teach the Poly-N tracker. And I want to try and do more of that because like the amount of these devices are around and it's like those in-person sort of conversation parts because someone could just have like, I'm having this really big issue and like I've had these questions before. It's like, oh,
Speaker: I'm really struggling trying to figure this out. And then, oh, you can try this. But everyone's having that issue, but they don't verbalize it. So I don't know. But they're usually the best ones that get turned to videos or into support or training. and I'm like, I would like to get more of that. But, yeah, really it's like either Brisbane or Melbourne. But when I do have a show, like I just – bring my Game Boys. I bring my, well, now I've got my Mate and my Polyane Tracker Mini.
Speaker: ah I would like to have a very nice mixer, which I'm trying to convince a certain company through propaganda and making some cool 3D assets to try and gently encourage them to make the device I want, my little mixer that could that could be My dream is a teenage engineering TX6 that's not $1,000 plus. Yes. But with maybe knobs that you could actually touch, like a little bit bigger.
Speaker: yeah If anyone's listening and you want to make this. My problem is when it comes to getting any sort of equipment into Australia, we have a lovely thing called nice beach tax because it's like importing items. Like when I bought my mate from Tim, the Tim Special, it costs, so I think it's about 1,000 Australian.
Speaker: Right now recently because of like the markets and that, people are trying to get their mates as quick as possible to avoid spare duty. But nice beach tax is when... We have lovely beaches here and we have to pay for it. So it's like when we import something, we have to, the exchange rate and like with America's dollars versus our dollary dues.
Speaker: Yeah, it can hurt a lot. And then when it comes onto to the shore, we're paying postage. That's also a kidney there. And then, yeah, I got hit with stamp duty with my mates.
Speaker: We got these tariffs now that yeah even if it's not on the final product, it's on everything that made that product. So. Yeah, it's a good time to be happy with the gear that you have, even though I'm always lusting after new gear, but, you know.
Speaker: I think I'm at my maximum of gear. Like, it's it's weird because I like... Part of me goes, I don't use this enough. They're all my babies and I want to use them more.
Speaker: But then it's like nearly every week I've gone through every device and it's like continually. So it's like... I think but there are things I would love to get my hands on. like I would like to get some form of wave sequencing because I really like that effect, especially like if you grew up with Donkey Kong on the SNES, those ethereal pads and like all that movement. like He manually hard-coded that into a tracker, which is like he's a crazy man, but I really appreciate that song. What was it? Aqua Attic, I think it's called, has a really cool synth pad.
Speaker: But like just having access to those sounds and like that type of engine allows you to turn little loops into this massive ethereal pad. It's like just a something don't have access to. But like i do like recently I got access to the Poly-N synth and some of their synth modules on there.
Speaker: like There's a dual-wave sampler, which I can get that sort of wave sequencing module fla in a different type of synthesizer so one thing i like doing with my space is i'll have a piece of gear like my mood grandmother for example oh it's a bass synth it's like really good mono synth for doing stuff and then here i am it's like routing the oscillators into weird and wonderful configurations to like make it's not supposed to i've broken it but no that's the whole point though It's like when you can take a synthesizer like, say, the Juno 106, it's like, oh, slap chorus on it and you make big chords with it. And it's like, well, it can do so much more. And it's like once you start having that idea that, like, you don't, like, one tool for one device
Speaker: like it's fine, but once you start figuring out all those sort of like, you don't want to get to the point when you only own a hammer, everything's a nail. Like you don't want to get to that point, but it's like when you can start cross-pollinating ideas between your different devices and everything becomes a lot more cohesive and like one of the things I'm doing at the moment is I'm sort of I'm looking at some form of recorder that is like an old-school multi-track, ah like Tascam and that, but recently picked up a Zoom.
Speaker: I forgot what it's called, but it uses these smart cards that look like giant SD cards. I'm like, I've never seen this format before, oh but it's got a good sound, and like I really want to start doing some more like minimal techno music things because I enjoy just listening to that in the back end when I'm working. So it's like I can make like a generative sequence on the poly in play.
Speaker: bringing together like maybe one or two other instruments, i like my grandmother and my original Digitone, as I just go nuts and just make something that lasts like an hour or two and just keeps generating through itself and changing the sequences on the fly. And then I can just like, I don't know about you, but for like a lot of the stuff that's going on in the world and like Spotify and trying to get your music out there to people, I'm finding myself turning...
Speaker: Not a digital recluse, like I'm on social media doing social media things, but it's like when platforms don't support artists, like,
Speaker: It's tough conversation, but it's like in the end, it's like my Spotify hasn't really given me much traffic compared to organic traffic, like compared to YouTube where it's like because I'm doing all my tutorials and that, it's like people are actively coming to my work and like like there's that organic growth that's happening it's like I'm going to focus on places where...
Speaker: that happens instead of trying to shotgun all my, like go on Distro Kittens, like all the places where people can hear my music. and No, I feel this like pull back to the physical realm in some sort of way, but i don't know where to settle, you know, like, cause there's tape, which, you know, ah grew up with tape and It's not great.
Speaker: ah ah CDs. CDs are ah like a cost effective way to put out music, but I don't even own a CD player anymore.
Speaker: i mean, I could get one. Vinyl is just too expensive and takes up too much space. I mean, I have tons of vinyl, but like I'm kind of maxed out. Yeah, i've I've got like an old Technics Hi-Fi stack with it has one of the original CD because I do a bit of electronics on the side. So i fix it all up and i listen to my little collection of records I've collected over time. But I think it's a very interesting time with a lot of opportunity. But...
Speaker: This is something I'm working towards, but because I'm in so many digital spaces and, like, with VR and all that sort of stuff, I want to try and make the digital more physical. So taking that idea of, like, going to a record store and you can listen to music, like, as much as Meta Horizon and Worlds, where it sits at the moment,
Speaker: I'm building Ace Jam space, and I'm going to actually build a jukebox and probably bring some of weekly beat tracks too, just so people can come in and listen to my tunes because it's like... Yeah, like I used to go to the Virgin Megastore in high school and like go to all the different album stations and listen to the album, you know? Yeah, because I ah feel like we've lost with digital spaces. It's like always optimized for the most streamlined, the user experience. They've made user experience experiential. They've taken the user out. They're just a product now. They're a consumer.
Speaker: We want everything to be around the dollar sign. And it's like, well, I think people are craving those sort of like the old physical spaces and like I was part of a PhD study, so I was one of the candidates that was talking about why are people regressing back to older technology? And like I know for myself, I've just picked up an old iPod,
Speaker: old old iPod Classic. it's like, that's not old, but it's just before where technology started to go into the cloud and started putting these like paywalls between you and the content. So it's like, for me, it's like, it's broken. I've got the parts to repair it. I've just been lazy and haven't repaired it yet, but it's like,
Speaker: I'm going to fill out this iPod with all the music that i enjoy listening to. So it's like every song on there is something I enjoy. Yeah. And then I'm going to hook it into my Technics Hi-Fi setup. And then it's like, well, there's my part. And that could be like weekly beats tracks. That could be weird, obscure sounds that you just don't find that stuff on the internet because it's all streamlined towards the big end of town and all these little... cri Like one thing I personally find that does annoy me, like there's one person...
Speaker: His name is Jim Somniak on YouTube. Like he has less than 100 views, but he does this stop-motion animation stuff with his music, and it's like really cool stuff. And it just reminds me of like when you were a child in Australia because it's like a French animation thing, but it's on ABC, which is like a public channel, like public broadcast channel.
Speaker: it was like this stop motion animation of fruits and vegetables. And it had this like weird orchestra track behind it. And just 100% rose tinted glasses looking at that. And it's like, this man deserves some more algorithmic love. Right. More subscribers. And it's like, I've seen that so much now where it's like these, like, cause I do poly and tracker stuff and part of the channels and like M8 now.
Speaker: it's like, you start listening to people that are putting tracks out. And it's like, this is a really good track and this person only has like 12 subscribers and they've been doing this for years and it's like this man deserves way more attention than some channels that like just screaming into a microphone how many of those people do we not even know about yet yeah you know and well i mean that that was kind of my motivation to do this podcast is because i'm like i have barely scratched the surface of
Speaker: listening to everyone that's on weekly beats there's gotta be like everyone on here deserves their time in the spotlight to hear the things that they've created and what a better time to do that when everyone's kind of taking a break yeah i think i think it's super important but it's like have you heard of like the dead internet theory yeah yeah I'll just clarify for people if they haven't watched, but it's definitely something to, it gives a nice frame of reference with what the internet's like now. Like you've got all these bots and everything in the dead internet being like the open internet.
Speaker: And then what people have done is regressed into the cozy internet. So it's like with, um, the weekly beats discord group you have the weekly beats forums people are engaging in those spaces because they're less prone to like people trying to flame each other because they're all trying to be there and it's not really something bots are looking to infiltrate yeah because it's like people making weird music what can we sell to them or what can we flame up right yeah but ah We're all in our own little like watering holes in a way. yeah And it's like, I think that's one thing I would like to see come back is like the old internet way where it's like human curation of ideas. Like you doing this podcast is really good idea. Cause it's like bridging the gap between all these interesting people.
Speaker: But it's like just having some form of like, oh, look, I found these creators. I found them really useful yeah and just posting it somewhere. that's why I built the old school links page. But I think for me, like with my skill set, I want to try and push the boundaries of what digital physical spaces look like.
Speaker: It sounds like a tongue twister, but like building like a little room on the internet, like if you watch Ready Player One, like just building out like the old games room that they had as like their home base. What would that look like?
Speaker: could You have human interaction using avatars and being able communicate with each other. And it's like, it might work. It might not. People still crave that. It's worth a shot though.
Speaker: Yeah, I think people really at the moment crave that real world experience of just connecting with other people and like where it's at right now. I think it's more important than ever to try and bridge those gaps because everyone just feels atomized and in their own little for sure trying to hide from it.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, We're going to keep it moving because we could talk about the internet for like hours. um So we're into my picks now.
Speaker: So 2024 week seven angry digital bees. And these are some lovely angry bees. Here we go.
Speaker: stopp
Speaker: Man, I love the sound design on that one. Angry Digital Bees. Tell me about how that one came together. Well, there was a beehive outside. They weren't too happy.
Speaker: So they can just stay outside. Then I was making tunes. But, yeah, ah I know with this album, a lot of the work... was around, like, because I use Renoise, which I think is still around 70 Australian. Don't quote me specifically.
Speaker: But, like, music, like, any sort of profession or career or just even hobby, like, there is a cost of tools and they can get quite expensive. So a lot of the work I do, like, I do have access to, like, the Arturia V Suite and stuff like that. Like, these are things I've purchased to bring along. But...
Speaker: One of the tools that I constantly promote, or it's a VST, is Vital, which is a wavetable-based synthesizer, but it's almost as powerful as Serum, but it's free. And like with Angry Digital Bees, like a lot of the sound design, like the main bases for that entire album are all Vital bass lines since I've created patches for.
Speaker: I've done a few tutorials now to highlight what Vital can do. But it's just a way, like, if you're looking for a couple of VSTs with whatever DAW you're using, that should be one of them because it is such a broad, accessible synthesizer. So if you get your head around it, you can create whatever sounds you want from, like, pads to drum kits to, yeah, and it's accessible. So I know with the digital bees, I got very fond of the distortion.
Speaker: Just pranking, I love it. Yeah, it sounds great. It hits hard. I was like, this is definitely the top of my list.
Speaker: And also cool to check out that Vital VST. And I'll also plug your Renoise tutorial. I haven't watched the entire thing yet, but I've been on this journey trying to explore different DAWs because I haven't like,
Speaker: I use GarageBand to make this, but I don't really make music with dolls, but I'm kind of doll curious. And Renoise is attractive because it's, you know, tracker based that I'm familiar with. So, and so far your tutorial is great.
Speaker: Is it shilling if I shell out reasonably priced products that I don't get any money for? No, that i think that's called helping the community that doesn't have bazillion dollars.
Speaker: Yeah, ah bazillion dollars would be nice. It would be cool. Like I think for like my whole goal with HGEM is to be that person like I don't know with most people but like there have been mentors in the past that have just been like, I just want to be able to do that one thing and then they're just able to help you through the process, not like handholding or spoonfeeding but, oh, yeah, try this one out because it will do X, Y and Z and it's great. And it's like I think like what I'm trying to do –
Speaker: like when I was talking about that separation, it's like I try and put like a little fun animation or add at the start to show what it can do, not just like sell the product. Like I did one for the, there's a little prototype product that I did a release for and it's for the Poly and Trachamia. It's called the KB1, but it's like a little MIDI keyboard that ah he's based in Texas, Sean, and he's done an excellent job with it. But it's like just getting the,
Speaker: like information out there. And it's like, well, the Renoise tutorial, like Renoise itself is such a massive thing. Like it is an absolute workhorse of a tracker and it can be as simple as you want or as as complex as you want. And I think that makes like any door scary. Like you go into it with no music knowledge, no technical knowledge, no mixing knowledge, and you just look it it's like, how do I do this?
Speaker: Same with Blender. You jump into and it's like, what do i do now? And it's like just having someone to sort of guide you. It's like, oh, like I know with my skill, like if someone wanted to do like – Industrial visualization.
Speaker: Random buzzword, just pick it off top of the hat. But it's like, oh, if you want to do that, you can jump into Blender. You get the CAD file of the building that you want to model. Then you go box unwrap it. You start texturing it, ah setting up a camera view, making sure the horizon, you haven't tilted the camera up and down because that creates parallax of the wall.
Speaker: And like, it's that conversation. It doesn't matter if you're a three d person or not or understand what i just said, but just having that person guide you through. And that's where I'm like, the little advertiser at the start. So frames, like framework understanding, it's like a...
Speaker: This pedagogical idea of like you scaffold information before you go deep dive into it. So it's sort of like it's an advertisement because like the person that made the thing, he gets all giddy. It's like, oh, someone's talking about my thing.
Speaker: But it's like show all the bits I'm going to talk about really briefly. and then I explain, all right, in this video, we're going to do this. And then I just straight into knowledge and try and support the person.
Speaker: That goes from... like I try and go from like a really easy, simple concept. So I was like, oh, this is how you start plotting into a note. And it's like really scaffold into an advanced topic. Like, all right, so now that we know how to do light notes, but we can start manipulating and start playing humanizing. We can create delays and we can use that to offset notes to create a more human feel so it's not on the grid.
Speaker: And it's like, that allows someone to be like, oh, I don't feel like I'm ready yet. But it builds their knowledge up to a point where they can feel that they can attempt the more scary thing without feeling like they've just been kicked out of the airplane. And it's like, all right, figure out how to use your parachute.
Speaker: that Yeah. Did you just kind of like naturally build that teaching style from how you learned? ah Like, because I used to teach game development for about four years.
Speaker: So I do have, like, in Australia, we have TAE 40110, which or I think it's up to 10 now. But that's your certificate to no training and assessing.
Speaker: It's not that you are a trainer and assessor and you can do anything. It's like your field of expertise. So it's like, for me, am a game developer or immersive technology developer.
Speaker: But the pedagogy and the rubrics, that's what you learn in that course. So what I'm trying to do is I want to build that for any sort of synthesizer. So I'm hoping that I can grow the channel enough that I can work with companies like Electron, excellent devices,
Speaker: Like I love my Digitone, but someone first coming into it can have an absolute brain aneurysm because right it's like conditional trigs and all that sort of stuff. And it's like if someone's not ready for that, that could be like, oh, what the fuck am I doing? I don't know how to use it. That's why I feel like I can use my platform to be like,
Speaker: Well, I have designed rubrics in the past, so that meaning I create course content to teach a specific thing. So each like the M8 video I'm working series, M8 series I'm working on now, the goal of that is to 10 videos. By the end of it, you're mastering your track on the device and you're getting it out there. You play that live, you render it out or you record it to your DAW.
Speaker: But the goal is after 10 videos, you can make a song. And the original video, so the MA overview, was just me going through all the stuff I was talking about. So it's scaffolding that.
Speaker: larger knowledge base of like deep diving into each sequence. So it's like I have those skills and I think when you have the ability to respond, it's your responsibility. So I think I can offer so much to like the synth community as well as the weekly beats community and I enjoy making them. Like it is nice to stretch those muscles of like designing rubrics and like because I do it throughout the day but that's more for because working with a university, they have quite a broad spectrum of different courses and materials. so one day i could be doing stuff with nursing and improving like how like one of the ones that we did that can talk about is like because our students are regional across Australia and if you're in the States,
Speaker: Australia is quite a big place. So it's like there are some people out in the middle of nowhere with really shitty internet connection. And like one thing that would happen is... actually looked it up. From your place to to Melbourne, it's like 20, almost 22 hours drive.
Speaker: It's just down the road, mate. What are you talking about? Just down the road, mate. To put that in universal driving terms that everyone can understand. Yes, but it's like if you, like, we don't have the infrastructure, like, we're all based on the coast. So if you go, like, I'm in Rockhampton, so if you go out past Longreach and that, they don't have good internet. They don't have that stuff. And, like, with our nursing students, what would happen is they'll be measuring syringes, so they'll post our syringe to them to get them to know the knowledge, but because they don't have the information,
Speaker: They have the item, but they don't have the teaching beside it. They were measuring wrong. out So it's like, because base of the plunger, tip of the plunger, you've got to measure from the base of the plunger.
Speaker: So I just made a basic syringe model and literally like... Big finger pointing out, measure from this spot here. And just from doing that, they had like, i think it was like 40% because like they'll come in and test it.
Speaker: So you got to test that knowledge and that's how, yep, they're qualified to know what they're doing. Just doing that had like, ah I think it was like 20 to 25% increase. Wow. Less than the failure rate. And it's like just those little things there. It's like you can use the stuff I do. Makes difference.
Speaker: yeah and it's like it doesn't matter where i apply it it's like i know from my videos as much as i haven't seen the other person on the other side and what they've done like i've got so much positive feedback and so i've released tracks and like you see people trying things that you've taught so i don't know if they'll watch my video or figure out now but like triplets is a big thing with trackers that is like you've got to do that little bit of math to figure out how to delay the signal so you get triplets. And now i'm seeing a lot more people being able to use that in their poly-end tracker videos.
Speaker: I've done it for the M8, so might see more of that. But, yeah, it's like it's enabling someone to go from very – new beginner, newish sort of beginner point.
Speaker: And just like within a couple of videos, they're like, can really try those advanced skills, which are people usually hide away in forums and just obscure places on the internet that i have to piece together.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm hoping. and Instead of having to dig for the information, you're pulling out all the good bits and like giving a little bit more exposure to it. Yeah, and always try and bring it back to the people. Like I know I reference C-tricks a lot in my videos and i always pay like a little bit of homage back to his stuff because he has just listened to his music and then like you go on Mod Archive and you can break down the like original mod files in certain software so you can see their tricks and learn from their music patterns and that. Nice. And it's like, oh, that's a really cool thing to remember and I'll link back to it or this track did really well.
Speaker: Yeah. gets bit annoying with copyright sometimes because like this is really good music bang how dare you but i think that's the cool thing about sharing inmate bundles is that like you can be like i wanted to learn how you did this and then i can have the exact file and like go look through it and see or like move things around you know that's really cool Yeah, and like I did that with Level Bangers too. So on my gum road, I released the album, but i also put all the tracker files with it as well because there's part like, oh, no, they're going to steal your song and play it. And like, I don't care. like
Speaker: I think like I'm seeing a lot more of this sort you can make money on it tell me how, ah you know? ah See, i because I'm probably doing business wrong. I'm the terrible businessman.
Speaker: i'm I'm definitely a creative person first, but I'm starting to see a lot more of like, um he's a big Freddie Wong or something that, but he just did a video talking about- No, he's an original YouTuber, but he just finished a film.
Speaker: And he's like, oh, here's the film on Netflix. But then he's like, he put it out on the torrent sites and at the start of it, it's like, you are recording, seeing a pirated version in full IMAX and that. And if you like this, can you please flick us some dollary-doos of...
Speaker: um What was he seeing? We pirated we'reallgoingtodie.com. It's like a specific website where he can collect people after they watch the fact. Oh, okay.
Speaker: It's like with the new game, what was it? Hollow Knight Silk Song, I think it is. Mm-hmm. And it's like they release it for $20. And, like, you're seeing that, like, piracy side of things, the not-so-good side of the internet, but they're like, no, we don't need a pirate. It's like $20. Like, I'm happy to give them $20. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: And I think with music and, like, with how probably touch base with a little bit of AI, but it's like you're starting to see a lot of people just generating as much content as possible through these models. And it's like, well, is that...
Speaker: having any sort of human component component to it. But what I personally would like to see is like I put my stuff out there, people want to learn from me, I'm happy to share.
Speaker: And then it's like like in my videos, I release a lot of the sound packs for free. So it's like when I'm teaching sound like doing sound stuff on the devices i'm not getting flagged for copyright because they're all my own samples but hey if you want to buy me a coffee for all this information yeah thank you so much the money goes back into the channel to help like buy lights and all that sort of stuff or get new synthesizers to do stuff like um yeah i wouldn't have been able to access the mate without like getting that type of support and i think there is a community of people that want to
Speaker: give someone, a real person on the other side, dollars that's gone directly into their craft and say like this third party into considerate, into a trust and then back down into the final person that probably gets one cent of a dollar to keep doing their craft. Exactly. but Keep them lean, keep them keen. But, yeah, it's like with everything.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Because that's one thing I try to do on my channel too, is like how do you enable an independent artist? And there's such a group of people out there that they really enjoy what they do, but it's like it's a hobby for them.
Speaker: And it doesn't mean that you have to commercialize everything that you do. I think that's one way of really burning yourself out and turning something love into something. Capitalism will kill your joys for sure. Yeah.
Speaker: But I do believe there's a part of it like commerce, like trading stuff. Like you could have a mate that's like, oh, I'm working on a game and it needs a soundtrack. And like both of you work together to bring that into the real world. And there's like a share or...
Speaker: So say you're a musician, you're putting your music out there and it's like you make that human connection with the person. So it's like um I remember i was listening to Feng Zhu. He's a really big concept artist based in ah China, but he does a lot of the hard surface designs for like Star Wars and all that.
Speaker: But he did a pot like he's got a really good YouTube channel, but in one of his videos he talked about basic concept artists as well as AI, they can hit the what, when, and where.
Speaker: So like the very physical presence. So it's like, I want a concept art of like a 1920s bar diner with people in it. but So it's like that physical component, but the the who and the why, that's where a lot of people struggle to bring that as well as AI, because it it can generate and idea but like making that story requires human components. Like even if you're trying to get an AI bot to generate, make me a story about this. And it's like, okay. And then just off it goes. But if you can really sculpt it or you're like, all right, give me an idea for this.
Speaker: And then you use that as a reference to really bridge the gap into developing that who and the why and being able to like show that value to the end user.
Speaker: I think you can, like, think, Personally, I'm probably going to get shot for this, but that human element is probably what's going to carry someone across, like, the whole AI slop side of the internet.
Speaker: Oh, for sure. I mean, i think people are going to start to appreciate... the human side of things more.
Speaker: This is also my personal motivation for not doing a ton of post-editing to this podcast. It's like, i we mess up words. like I say the wrong things it's at certain times. like We are human, and in a world where everything is becoming so sterile, curated, packaged as perfection, i think...
Speaker: people are kind of maybe looking for a little bit more of that, like, oh, these are real people making some of the same, even if it's just a speech mistake, as I do.
Speaker: Yeah. No, definitely, like, personally, when you see, like, larger channels starting to regress back into, like, holding the microphone in front of themselves. Yeah, like the old school YouTube style. Yeah. Yeah, I think people do get fatigued with, like, high-end polish.
Speaker: Like it was a way of separating yourself in the past because like people didn't have access to technology. People didn't have access to really good video editing suites or transitions. But now that's become simpler and like you can download packs with like hyper transitions and like, whoa, super smooth blur between two clips and that. But because it's so saturated now, people are like, well, that's the norm.
Speaker: What you bringing? And then it's like, well, if I bring my authentic self, how like someone could try and mimic that. Like I'm pretty sure as time goes on, like there could be other Ace jams that pop up, but it's like what I bring is that I want to make sure that everyone feels like supported when they use a new device. Or if I'm talking about 3D, it's like trying to give them the best information I can and people resonate with that. It's like, oh, he's not perfect, but he's trying to do the right thing. yeah
Speaker: And to kind of take it back to to weekly beats,
Speaker: there's this aspect of like whatever you're creating, it has to be attainable on some sort of regular schedule. and I think a lot of these people that have been making this highly polished, curated content, so many of them have quit because they get burnt out because of that grind.
Speaker: so like What Weekly Beats has taught me is like And what I've applied to this podcast is it's got to be polished enough, but also attainable where I can still want to do this every week and not feel like I'm getting burnt out, just like making music during weekly beats.
Speaker: Yeah, like I know i can fall into a professionistic trap. Like the last month for myself, like I've just been, I had other curricula getting things done. So I've like my tutorial series has slowed right down, which I'm like, wow, I've got to make a new video. But it's like if you're trying to chase perfection and everything, like cross the I, dot the T's, yeah,
Speaker: It's unsustainable. Like in the moment, if you're making your magnus opus and it's like this is my biggest, bestest thing, it's like after the fact, it's like, well, someone else, like you've got to make another one. and it's like if you like for bringing it back to that baseline philosophy,
Speaker: If you focus on the 70%, it's like, I want to get this song put together. want to make something that sounds really nice, but not stressing about like, oh, my kick drum isn't at 300 hertz or like getting really into that like fine tweaking of like like mixing.
Speaker: It's like, Like for me, it's like for when I mix my drums, I'm like, oh, the hi-hat doesn't need any low end because that's where the kick is. I just drop a high-pass filter and knock it up. Yeah, it is good enough and just move on.
Speaker: And it's like unless I really hear a problem, then I'm like, oh, it's fine. Yeah. And I think once you start getting into that mindset, it opens you up for like, well, what's important. And then that's like, well, what's important is like, maybe the melody line needs come through more of like, maybe this is part isn't working. And so like stressing on like one little corner of the piece, you start getting that sort of macro view or everything. Or it's almost the deadline. And it's important that I finish this. Yes. And make sure the render doesn't crash when you like to upload it.
Speaker: I think that's one thing I enjoy about this podcast is ah because we probably only hear from people where it's like, just screaming in the chat, like getting ready to upload instead of like, oh, we can sit back and relax and have a think about things.
Speaker: Yeah. It's a different way of working. All right. We're going keep it going and listen to 2024 13 Pixel Pulse. Here we go.
Speaker: pixel p we yeah
Speaker: you
Speaker: right, that was Pixel Pulse. I originally commented on this one about the melodies and the bass line, and it still holds true today.
Speaker: Love the melodies and the bass. And i think I like this maybe a lot because it reminds me of something that I might make or would like to make. So You mentioned that you kind of forgot about this one.
Speaker: Yes. I think that's one of the gentle surprises in life because when you're in that weekly beats mindset and you're just like smashing out songs, like I do this with videos as well.
Speaker: Like if you're constantly putting stuff out, like you're not thinking about, like you're building a catalogue of yourself over an individual success. lot things do fall into the wayside, but as soon as you hear it, it's like, oh, yeah, I remember that track, or I'd be sitting there listening to something and be like, this actually sounds really good. And then I look at it and it's like, oh, I made this one. And it's like, oh, that's great. And it's like, oh, maybe all the stress and caffeine and lack of sleep, maybe Tallulah building this one. But...
Speaker: Yeah, like this is another Renoise special using BST's Vital. And I did use fragments from the Arturia suite to get some like glitchy pulses that are rhythmically really cool.
Speaker: So, yeah, it was a nice little track, but... Yeah, it's like for me, like i know a big influence for this album was trying to build something Deadmau5ish but in my style.
Speaker: And that's where i started with like I usually start with Depending. So when I'm building an album, I try and create a sonic palette. So that meaning I'll create a sample pack or I create some patches that got it like a template sort of. Consistency.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, it's like it's consistency without effort. So it's not like I'm having to reinvent the wheel every time to try and make make the sound. It's like kind of an odd analogy. It's like like Pringles. Once you pop, you can't stop.
Speaker: And it's like, well, if I don't have Pringles in the house, Now, I don't need to stop because they're not there in the first place. So it's like the opposite idea of like, well, I have all this um template bass lines and that. I'll just pick one and augment it a little bit. Oh, that sounds cool.
Speaker: And then I can start building drums around it. And I know for this one I was just doing a very... um basic sort of like influenced by Deadmau5, so like the four on the floor sort of house style, and then I'll put my own little flavour with some retrigs and some other little bits and pieces here and there. and it's like just because I've got a low barrier to entry to hit that sonic palette because I've done all that work before I started the album, it's like, well, I can just sit around and play with things and say like, oh, fuck, I need to...
Speaker: really nail the style again and build everything from scratch like templates are your friend it doesn't templates don't mean it's template or formulaic it's it's a way to like get starting point yeah yeah i mean other people have talked about this like they have They just have some go-to presets that they're like, i mean I really like this one. So a lot of my songs kind of have this a lot of the same sounds because I just go to them all the time.
Speaker: Yeah. But is that wrong? I don't think so. don't think so. And especially if you're making an album, it helps to have that ah you know, cohesion between all of the songs, even if the songs are stylistically different, like they kind of anchor with some of the similar sound sets.
Speaker: Yeah. I think that's one important thing too is like, cause there is a lot of sample packs out there. It's finding the samples you like and like building your own sample pack from that. So if you like bought say four or five of them,
Speaker: And so you've got like over 20,000 songs trying to scroll through everything is too long. So it's like you just take the, oh, i really enjoyed that clap or that instrument.
Speaker: just bring all those files across to a new folder and you just work from that one. If you need to find something, then you still have your library of sounds to work from, but you have like your favourite playlist of samples and you just go back to it or patches, depending if you're working VSTs or the m MA. And I think but that's one thing I've witnessed a lot with like people like Commodore,
Speaker: or Amiga people with ProTracker, they just have like a couple of floppy disks it's like, this is all my music. And you watch them, they'll sit down 20 minutes, have like a full track ready to go because it's like they're just so in tuned with the process, the software and their samples and they just go nuts.
Speaker: it's like Yeah. There's something nice about that. Yeah. I think it's in important to clear out anything that doesn't work for you because it just becomes a distraction.
Speaker: but As I was saying before, having too many instruments can be a liability and instead of like, oh, it gives me options. and it's like, well, if you've got eight different reverbs, then like, oh no, which reverb do I want? And it's like, have my one reverb.
Speaker: It sounds good. I like it. That's so true. It's like, oh, I'm decision paralysis. Yeah. Yeah. Or you you just end up going down like a sound design rabbit hole, which also has its place.
Speaker: Yes, I think definitely having you set out time for that because, like, if you're just not doing any sort of sound design, everything becomes stagnant. But it's like if you spend a day just mucking around with sounds and recording those sounds and putting them in a folder, come back to a later date to listen to and then start chopping out bits that you enjoy, it's like you get a full library and, like,
Speaker: Like some days I just muck around, like I say, I sit on the radio recording things and build tracks from that. So it's like I could get a 30-second sample of a song and then I'll find all the nuggets of gold, like some drums and some snares and just snip them all out of the main track. And then off I go, I recreate this whole new thing with just four channels and make some mega bangers that way. And it's like, it plays that really well.
Speaker: That's fun. And I mean, it's all about having fun. So that's what we're here for. Well, we are also near the end of our episode, and I feel like we could ramble on for long time, but we will be respectful of our podcast listeners and close this one out. And the final song I'm going to play on the way out is actually a 2021, 2020 week 27 Palm drive, which is a really cool chill wave song with a Korg monologue.
Speaker: So we'll play that at the very end here, but again, check out ACE jams, YouTube channels. Now that I know that you have more YouTube channels than just that one,
Speaker: I will also check out the other ones. And I just wanted to thank you for being such this teacher wanting to you know help everyone get the most out of their gear and make songs and take the intimidation factor out of all these different tools from three d modeling to trackers to dolls, like super cool and appreciate all that you're doing.
Speaker: Yes, and I definitely appreciate all the podcasts that you're doing to pick everyone's brain because Weekly Beats is a collective of very interesting people, all young and old, all different walks of life. and Yeah.
Speaker: So many people have just so many different ways of working and I think trying to collect all those sort ideas just helps everyone else out, especially like if you haven't tried weekly beats before, I would recommend just giving a go, even if you make one song a month or one at the start or just being around the group like is, they're not going to bite.
Speaker: They are very nice people. but Don't let a broken streak stop you either. Like it's just a pause. Life things happen, you know. If you fall off your horse, definitely, like, I need to sit down and start recording again because I need to keep working on my mate series. But, yeah, it's like if you fall off your horse, like, it's not the end of the world. You're not going to ruin your streak. It's like just pick yourself up next week.
Speaker: But that idea of just trying new things and, Just experimenting, it does open up the possibilities and to be able to troubleshoot your music with like a catalogue of experiences behind you to say, hey, this is something I did before and it worked out well on this track. Will it work on this one?
Speaker: It just makes you a stronger music creator or, as you know about me, creator in general. Like if you can troubleshoot and work towards your vision or goal, like you're definitely better for it.
Speaker: and to to add on to that i personally have just learned a lot about consistently creating and how like the i've noticed the things that i've learned from doing weekly beats have translated into other areas of my life you know like one of them being music creation should be fun.
Speaker: So I shouldn't have this like dread feeling of like, oh, nothing's coming out right now. like How am I going to meet this deadline? Every time I'm able to shift to just having fun and experimenting, i end up with a song and I have a good time doing it.
Speaker: So I think that's just a constant reminder for me in other areas of my life that might feel daunting or laborious that like there's something fun to be had in those things and some things to learn and if you can find that you can kind of do anything yeah and i think the last point is definitely in the modern world being able to create something even if it's anything just gives you agency like
Speaker: is like me creating videos, me doing music, is have a really good outlet for me to like just decompress ah yeah and just enjoy being present because everyone else wants your attention. You want to your attention to yourself and just enjoy Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker: Yeah. They want our eyeballs. But put your eyeballs on this YouTube channel, that's for sure. Do the total like and subscribe. on more Nah.
Speaker: Nah. I think for me, it's like, if you like this video, definitely give it a thumbs up because the algorithm doesn't like putting good stuff out on the world. It's true. You have the loudest investors, but no, I'm pretty sure this is going to end up in all the forums and anything anyway. So the people will find it, build it and they will come.
Speaker: That's right. Shameless plug. Here's my video. Thank you, bye. All right. Well, we're going to play it on out with Palm Drive. And thanks again. I appreciate everyone who continues to listen.
Speaker: And we'll talk to you next week. Have a good one. Later.
Speaker: you
Speaker: Bye.
Speaker: Thank you.
