#335

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16.10.2024

Issue #335

Thanks to our contributors:
Rob Gee, Greg Long, Paul Blomfield, Jamie Colic, Andy Lloyd-Russell, Christopher Hockey and Jake Fitzpatrick.

Editor’s note:

Making music is full of risks. We’ll be inspired by an idea and begin building and sculpting a song. While we shape sound, we never really know how it’ll land, or how close to our imagination it’ll come to fruition, the results can surprise us at either end of the spectrum. We can nail our idea, or we can be surprised by how the sounds sum and mesh together, both in good ways and in ways that leave us feeling underwhelmed.

What’s most important of all is to forge ahead with your vision. As you build, often starting with a rhythm and adding melody, low end, counter melodies and leads, we’re really just hoping for the best along the way, and hoping the sounds we’re recording all work together.

It’s not until we add a bass guitar to big loud rock guitars that we realise the guitar tone was in fact just boisterous enough, the same as backing vocals help us to finally acknowledge how good our lead vocal is. Sparkly synths can be pretty, but thin, and that final low drone can fill them out. Adding one element at a time in production can often sound lacklustre until we’re close to the finish line. If I can offer one piece of advice as a fellow music maker, it’s this: trust the process and see it through. You might be surprised by the results.