mistrustmusic's posterous

I'm in Music Tech Magazine

Just to let you know I'm finally in Music Tech Magazine for winning the Motif XS6 synthesizer! The article is in February's edition - but in case you don't want to buy it, the editor sent me a copy of the page, and I've attached it here as pdf (the whole page) and a jpeg (click to see the whole pic).

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Other news... the manager of a band from New Zealand called "Pitch Black" has said I can have a go at doing a remix of a track from their new CD, "Rude Mechanicals". If it's good enough, it'll appear on the band's remix CD and as a download on music sites like iTunes and Beatport. More on that soon when I decide which track I want to have a go at.... Non-music stuff: we took Paul to see a residential school in Shrewsbury today. Absolutely amazing place. Part of a 16th century hall and estate. Class sizes are usually 2 students and one teacher - it's for kids with autism. He sounds relatively keen on it, but we'll have a job on convincing the education authority to pay for him. It's around £30,000 per year! Page from MTM magazine reproduced by kind permission of Music Tech Magazine/Anthem Publishing/Yamaha UK (c)

Filed under  //   band   blogging   creative   family   label   mistrust   mp3   music   pitch black   rude mechanicals   xs6   yamaha  

Winner of Star Letter, Music Tech Magazine October 2007

I've tried to write about music-related things recently (when I've actually had time to get on the computer!), as that's what my main interest is. I struggle as a bedroom (or rather, lounge - as in where the tv, sofa, children, wife, etc. live) musician, hoping that my tunes will make it onto some tv or movie blockbuster, so I can invest in some better recording equipment. That may not happen for a while or a long time, so the only way I can seriously get some decent gear is to either steal it (no way), borrow it (who from?), or win it. Which brings me nicely onto the fact that I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago on the new Music Tech Magazine Ning community, saying what a great place the site is. Then a few days ago, I got an email from the site admin people, saying they'd used my blog post in the latest edition of the magazine and I'd won the prize for "Star Letter." Talk about chuffed. My ramblings published in a major music tech magazine, and winner of Letter of the Month. The prize? A "Rode" studio microphone, complete with all the trimmings. Not bad, eh. If you're into music production, music technology, or anything like that, get yourself over to Music Tech Ning and join in....

Filed under  //   blogging   letter   magazine   mistrust   music   ning   tech   technology  

More satisfaction recording with hardware?

Is there more satisfaction and enjoyment to be had from recording with hardware and outboard equipment, rather than the latest plugins and softsynths? Are professional musicians and engineers drifting away from all things soft and going back in time? I've noticed that a lot of magazine tutorials, youtube videos, and general features on recording (bands, engineers etc) lean more towards recording with hardware rather than soft synths, outboard effects rather than plugins. The people in question spend ages patching things together and twiddling knobs to get the required sound. I've read many times in various music/music tech mags and forums that you can't write a tune on a computer. I've always this was rubbish, especially as there are so many great compositional tools out there. I'm beginning to think it's true because there's just so much that gets in the way when you're on a computer - which softsynth to use, record midi or audio, the list goes on....I'm sure I had more fun and was more creative when I had my Jen SX1000, cheap drum machine, and recorded everything on to tape. BSOD anyone?

Filed under  //   artists   blogging   hardware   music   recording  

Zen and art of selling music

Some people have been asking where they can buy my music. Well, the simple answer is: you can't. It's all free to play/download over the internet. You can listen to it and download it, make your own compilation CDs from my tracks. As long as you don't sell it on or pass it on as youre own, I don't mind. I'm trying to get my music into film, tv, adverts, that sort of thing, so the more people who listen to it, maybe the more chance that some music supervisor somewhere will hear the tracks and want to use it. That's the idea.... "mistrust music" can be downloaded here: TV Tunes (10 tracks) at MusicFreedom (including: Dubcrazy, Paul the phone is ringing, All roads) Making Movies (8 tracks) on MusicFreedom (including: Never Alone, Happy Birthday) Making Movies EP on Nishi Netlabel Myspace If you prefer me to send you a physical CD, I can send one out to anywhere in the world for just a small price to cover printing, postage and packing, with either the list of tracks that are on MusicFreedom/Myspace or a "pick and mix" selection of your choice. Click here to contact me if you want a CD.... If anyone wants to use my music for film/tv/advert work etc., please click here to discuss your project with me. Have a look on Youtube for examples of my previous film work. I'm already signed to Candy Cover music library on a non-exclusive deal...

Filed under  //   artists   download   exposure   film music   free download   free mp3   google   independent   label   lastfm   mp3   music   music library   music licencing   music publishing  
Posted July 5, 2007

Zen and the art of Myspace pimping

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image: Big chill night view by Neil Cocker (copyright 2005) (link to Neil Cocker's Flickr page) I tried it once. That was all it took to put me off it forever. Everyone else was doing it, so why should I miss out? That was what I thought at the time. The whole world except me was joining in and I was the only one not doing it. I finally plucked up the courage to have ago...... I'm talking about "Pimping" my Myspace. The art of changing your profile page to make it look funky, smart, catchy, and anything else you can think of.  Back to my first time..... .......Well, that was painless, wasn't it? Let someone else take control and do everything for me. Never again! Not ever! Never will I do that again. What a horrible experience. It looked like something my three year old would do in Photoshop or the like. I copied the code from one of the many thousands of so-called "Myspace editors", looked at my profile page, and then tried to decipher where my bio had gone, how people could add me, and why all my friends had vanished! Had I done it wrong, I thought. Well, the code hadn't changed, so it must be like that. Don't forget that nice floating advert, that pointed everyone in the direction of possible smiley/trojan hell. I must say, I've yet to come across a Myspace profile that has been tastefully decorated or that's not a navigation nightmare. Instead of "Add to friends", it's always "Be my fwend" or something just as wacky. Backgrounds that don't scroll and are repeated across the page are worse - you end up not being able to see what people have taken ages to write.  I'm sure I know a few things about webpage design - I may not have made the most interesting websites - and most people know when something looks right,  so why are people allowed to to have a free rein over of pimping their space? Myspace should start introducing some guidelines about what you can and can't do. Don't forget, too, that Myspacers who have loads of images, videos, banners, and all the other clutter, are just slowing down the page load time. We all know that a lot of users give up afer a few seconds if a page doesn't load for ages. I'm quite sure it's a lot of fun pimping your myspace. It's not for me, though. I hate it. I'll never do it again. If you're a Myspace pimper and disagree with what I've written, leave a comment and show me your myspace page. Maybe I'll change my mind, but in the meantime, I'll stick with a plain, boring, profile. Thanks to Neil Cocker from the Big Chill Forum for use of  photo.

Filed under  //   My music   add me   big chill   mistrust   music   myspace   news   photograph   pimp  
Posted June 19, 2007

Autism and music

image: 29 may 2006 - eventful.org.uk - 0008 - (medium) by Headancer/Simon Green (copyright 2006) (link to Headancer homepage) As you'll probably have read on Paul's blog, he's still not back in school. This is having a massive knock-on effect on the rest of family and my in-laws, and is generally causing chaos at Mistrust Towers. Anything from a decent night's sleep to watching tv is being affected as Paul's life is almost completely unstructured and he's having to find things to do all the time, something he finds quite difficult at the best of times. He's getting tired at all the wrong times, just because he's getting really anxious in the mornings from not knowing who may call round to see him (school inclusion people, mainly). If you haven't been here before, he's got Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not otherwise specified, which means Autism/Asperger's type personality and behaviour, hence all the anxieties. What's this got to do with "mistrust music"? Well, for some reason, Paul has decided that he wants to learn to play the drums. That means he wants a drum kit. Not just a basic, cheap kit. A proper one, with all accessories included. Bear in mind that he has a very small bedroom and there's nowhere else in the house that it could go. So that's a non-starter. I've told him we'll get a basic drum pad-type thing - one of those plastic things without about 4 pads on it, with a set of plastic sticks - so he can see how it goes. Judging by his recent attempt to learn to play the guitar, he'll give up if he can't work out how to play a particularly beat. With Paul, it will be as follows: Learn the bass drum, then the snare, etc. Then learn a rock beat, then a waltz, etc, and if he gets stuck on one, he'll pack it in. He also wants to learn keyboards..... He's been fiddling with my old Casio MT31 (which still works after nearly 30 years!) but it's got small keys and he's having problems playing the notes. He's gone onto "Learn to Play.com" or something which has basic riffs to play, and has been practicising the same thing over and over till he gets it completely right. The problem is that there's no audio on the site, so he relies on me to say if it's right. Once again, if he can't play one of the tunes, he'll pack it all in. It's good that he's interested in making music the "traditional" way, instead of using loads of samples in Acid Pro, and he's actually got potential in the technique side of things. He now wants to use my Evolution Midi keyboard, plugged into the computer, and use a keyboard training program. All this means I'm getting less and less time to come up with some new tunes. I've got the playing bug again and I want to do some live work, but there's very little time to do much at the moment because of all this domesticity. The tunes that went to Candycover music library should be live soon, and that could open up some new opportunities, and I'd like to be prepared for anything that comes along. Howeve, anything that will keep him focussed, occupied, and will develop his skills, is something we've got to keep up with. You'll probably have noticed the image at the top of this post. It's a photo by Headancer, one of the Big Chill Forum folk. I asked on there last week if I could use some of the things that have been occasionally posted on the forum, or if anyone could point me to some others I could use to brighten up my blog. So, thanks to Simon Green (Headancer) for use of the image. If you want to see more of his photography, please go to Headancer on Mac.com and tell him I sent you. Please note: All the images used on this site are copyright and should not be used without the owners' permission. The pic I've used is from eventful.org.uk. It reminds me of the fact that I'm off on holiday in about 5 weeks......

Filed under  //   artists   aspergers   autism   autism and music   big chill   blog   blogging   childhood   children   library   music   personal   photo   photograph  
Posted June 14, 2007

Attention surfer dudes

I got an email yesterday saying that O'Neill, the surfing, skiing, and snowboarding company, have launched O'Neill TV, featuring all their promo films, profiles, and all sorts of other video footage. I thought it would actually be proper tv station on Sky or the Extreme Channel, but it turned out it's just a glorified Flash player on their website. I'm not dismissing it though. It looks great, and there are loads of videos on there, especially for all you surf, ski, and snowboard types out there. Plus, it's got me on there. Actually, it's got my music on a couple of videos up there.

Three tracks - Croydon Library, Never Alone remix, and Hello - are on the Deep Blue Open 2005 event video, and two - Croydon Library and Never Alone - are on the video profile of Trent Munro (world-famous surfer dude).  I signed a non-exclusive deal with O'Neill Europe a couple of years ago, thinking that I'd just get a couple of DVDs from it, but I'm still getting exposure from it. I guess this O'Neill TV thing is getting a lot of hits, so more exposure for me. You can play the two clips here: Trent Munro Profile Deep Blue Open 2005 Both of these clips show how well my music fit with a variety of visuals. Any film makers out there who need music for their latest project, please get in touch!!!!

Filed under  //   artists   band   download   licence   license   music   music library   oneill   record   surf   surfing   tracks   tv   unsigned  
Posted May 25, 2007

Everything's gone green again

I'm something of a perfectionist when it comes to something looking right, and usually I get this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me that something doesn't look as good as it should. That explains why I've changed the look of this blog about 5 times in the last few weeks. I've reused the old "green" header and adopted a more plain-looking body. Hopefully I'll be satisfied now and not want to change it again. I've been trying to work out what to write here because there's just been so much going on at home, work, and with the music. When I've got everything straight in my head, I'll post more info here. Other things: I've been helping Paul with some more tunes. He's finally got back into music-making, so he's been asking for some help. Expect more of his stuff on myspace soon.  Also,  I came across a great Wordpress blog called Svartling.  It's a comprehensive list of loads of new VST plugins and music-making software. Highly recommended!

Filed under  //   band   blog   blogging   family   independent   label   mp3   music   personal   random   unsigned  
Posted May 23, 2007

All the world's an MP3 stage

I've been thinking about the number of music hosting sites and MP3 directories that I have my music on. Most of them are free-to-download places where people can just have my tracks for nothing. I started off in late 2004 by choosing just one site - Electromancer.com, which is now no more, just because I lacked confidence about my music and it seemed like a good place to start when I'd never even considered putting my music out to the public. In fact, even though Electromancer closed down last year, a lot of the artists are still active on the forums of another site, Nervejam, and are still as friendly and supportive as ever. I got a bit more confident after getting some great reviews, thinking that more people might give me a listen, so I followed links and recommendations about other hosting sites, signed up to 2 or 3, and waited for the plays to roll in. Then I started chasing more sites and more plays, until I had tracks on about 1o or 15 sites. I've now lost track (and usernames/passwords) of most of those sites, and still get the occasional email from them, saying someone has posted a comment. A quick check on google as to which sites I'm on offers up 94 links for "mistrust music site" and 30 for "never alone mistrust" (my first track from 2004). I still see the same old faces on all these hosting sites,

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Filed under  //   artists   band   big chill   blog   blogging   dj   download   electromancer   exposure   free download   free mp3   google   host   independent   ipod   label   library   licence   license   magazine   mastering   mistrust   mp3   music   music library   musician   nervejam   nervejam   oneill   personal   podcast   podcasting   production   prs   random   record   tracks   unsigned   web2.0   work   writing  
Posted May 3, 2007

Looking for music blogs

I can't seem to find many musicians who are blogging. Maybe everyone's too busy making music or playing live to keep a diary or blog of what they're upto. What's the point in blogging anyway, you may say. If you're a musician, unsigned or not, please post a link to your blog and I'll have a read and see what you're upto. I'll even add you the my "recommended" list. I know that Moby blogs on his myspace page, that's about it as far as I know. I blog so that I can a) promote my own music to people who wouldn't normally listen to it; b) let my "fans" and other listeners know what I'm upto with my music; c) help other unsigned musicians get some extra exposure. If you're not blogging or using Web 2.0 tools and all the latest social networking sites, you're missing out on a lot of exposure. Even my stepson has a blog about his music. So, as I said, please let me know if you've got a blog, or if you know of any musical bloggers out there. In the meantime, here's one of my new tracks for you to download for free.... mistrust: Say your name (glitchmix)...... [audio http://moses.last.fm/download/100909046/Say%2Byour%2Bname%2528glitchmix%2529.mp3]

Filed under  //   Self-Promotion   band   blog   blogging   download   exposure   free   ipod   list   mistrust   moby   mp3   music   music library   musician   myspace   personal   podcast   podcasting   random   read   social networking   unsigned   web2.0