mistrustmusic's posterous http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com Most recent posts at mistrustmusic's posterous posterous.com Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:34:52 -0700 mistrust music has moved http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrust-music-has-moved http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrust-music-has-moved
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I've now moved my "mistrust music" blog to www.mistrustmusic.co.uk/blog so please go over there to read my blog posts. If you don't want to go there yet, why not read my previous posts on here first.... Go to the new mistrust music blog>>>>

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Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:23:49 -0700 A "proper" release at last http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/a-proper-release-at-last http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/a-proper-release-at-last It's taken me long enough (how long have I been making music?), but I'm finally getting an "official" release - as in, on a proper label, legit, and I'll getting a % of sales, licensing, etc. I've done a remix of a track called "Rude Mechanicals" by a New Zealand band called Pitch Black (dub/electronica/IDM stuff), which is being released on their label at the end of October on all the main music download sites round the world (iTunes, Beatport, Amazon.com, etc.) It's part of a remix singles release along with versions by some well-know remixers and DJs from Australia and NZ. I know people do remixes all the time, but this is an official one - I got all the parts from the band's management, they and the band approved it, and it's being properly mastered this week. Took me a long time to get it sorted into something that sounded ok and did loads of different takes on it, but finally finished it last week, 2 days before the deadline! I know it's not quite all my own work, but I'm chuffed to bits. Not really bothered about the money (what's 50% of 99p per sale?), but it means a lot of exposure and maybe some more work as a remixer! I've mentioned the Pitch Black remix earlier in my blog.....

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Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:26:19 -0700 Kids making electronic music 2 http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/kids-making-electronic-music-2 http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/kids-making-electronic-music-2 Following on from my previous post about how I started making music with various bits and pieces of old radios and things, I posted a comment on Createdigitalmusic's website about all it in an article about Kids making electronic music between the 60s and the 80s. I also I put in a link to "This is the Mood....", the track I made in the mid-80s using just a Jen SX1000, Casio MT31, and a Kay Drum Machine. I was really surprised to get a reply. I maybe expected maybe a "hmmm", or "well, it WAS the 80's". The reply came from the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher himself, Peter Kirn: "Excellent. Totally excellent". I'm convinced there's something in some of these old tracks of mine - maybe I have a plan.... Have a look at the original article on Createdigitalmusic, with all the comments: Kids making electronic music

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Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:10:11 -0700 Golden oldies - kids making electronic music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/golden-oldies-kids-making-electronic-music http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/golden-oldies-kids-making-electronic-music I often get asked how long I've been making electronic music. The answer is - probably most of my life! My dad was a TV engineer in the 60s and 70s, so he had allsorts of circuit testers and oscilloscopes and other bits of junk that I could mess around round and make odd bleeps and sinewave wails! My dad also had an old valve stereo radio and I used to tune it in to all sorts of weird and wonderful Eastern European radio stations on Short-Wave, and made crazy frequency sweeps. I even hooked up a model train transformer to the radio's input socket and made wacky noises. I moved on to buying a cheap stereo reel-to-reel in a wooden box and recorded tunes I made on an old electronic organ that worked by blowing air from a fan. The first "proper" song I made was called "The Car Park", and then something called "Do you know Mister Wall?" (anyone spot where I got that title from?). I used to try making "musique concrete" tunes by cutting up my tapes, but I didn't have the right gear to join them up again, and made a horrible mess of the tape heads! I got my first synth in about 1980 - a Casio MT31, followed by a Kay Memory Rhythm, and then a Jen SX1000. Not much, I know, but it was all I could afford and it allowed me to make tunes for all the lyrics I'd been writing about teenage angst and life in general. I recorded everything onto a Phillips hi-fi system (with adjustable Left and Right mic inputs!) bounced down with a Phillips portable cassette player and a home-made 4-input mixer (in a small tin box!). Most of the parts were pretty much played live, then bounced down and things like the synth solos and vocals were played over the top. I made about 5 cassette tapes full on songs around that time, and they all survive to this day. The only one I've copied to CD so far is the first one, called "Ultraviolent Light". Listening to them now makes me think of the songs of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, who still use similar gear as I used. One of the tracks from this "album" is called "This is the Mood (I'm in) and is here for you to listen to in all it's glory. Bear in mind that it's from a cassette tape that's nearly 30 years old and I haven't used any noise removal equipment..... it sounds quite a quirky little song....see what you think! This is the Mood (I'm in) - 4'40" [audio http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/192871862/This%2Bis%2Bthe%2Bmood%2B%252...] Download: This is the Mood (I'm in)

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Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:42:02 -0700 Now form a band http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/now-form-a-band http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/now-form-a-band Just came across an interesting site which gives a really good breakdown on the things you need to do these days to get your music "out there". It's been set up by Last FM, the music networking site, who are calling the site "Now form a band", and has a manifesto of "The Campaign for Better Music". Aren't we all looking for better music? Well, hopefully this will explain.... The Campaign for Better Music is here to say: it doesn’t have to be like the old days. We’re going to show you how to produce, promote and distribute your music, without spending a load of money, and without lots of other people getting involved. Have look for more information over at Now form a Band.... 

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Fri, 25 May 2007 11:09:57 -0700 Attention surfer dudes http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/attention-surfer-dudes http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/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!!!!

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Wed, 23 May 2007 15:09:57 -0700 Everything's gone green again http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-gone-green-again http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/everythings-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!

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Thu, 03 May 2007 11:11:55 -0700 All the world's an MP3 stage http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/all-the-worlds-an-mp3-stage http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/all-the-worlds-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, desperately looking for more plays, trading reviews, asking if the rolloff should be at 40Hz or 20, continually producing new tracks in the hope of what? Getting signed by an independent label? How many of them trawl the unsigned band pages looking for new talent?  I don't mean any disrespect to all these unsigned artists, if that's what they're happy doing. It's just that I have got the time any more to keep making tracks, posting reviews, etc. I've thought about uploading my music to loads of other MP3 hosts, especially the ones that have been recommended by music magazines, just to get a few more people interested, by right now, what's the point? I've got a blog, a myspace profile, and somewhere to host a few tracks. I've been featured on a local radio show and played by a few DJs. That's probably all I need. I've signed a non-exclusive deal with a music library, so it's not a bad life. Here's some homework you, dear reader: How many websites am I listed on for "mistrust mp3" at google? Answers in the comments box, please! Don't forget to listen to some of my tracks... 

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Tue, 01 May 2007 16:08:52 -0700 Music Licensing http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/music-licensing http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/music-licensing Someone on the Big Chill forum that I occasionally visit wanted some advice about getting his music marketed through a music library and wondered if he had to sign up with MCPS and pay £100 for the privelege. As you may have read on here, I've recently signed a non-exclusive agreement with a major UK library, and haven't had to register with MCPS, so something doesn't add up if this chap has been told otherwise. As far as I'm aware, the agreement I signed sorts out pre-clearance for my tracks that the library is offering to film, tv, companies etc. In other words, if a few tv production companies hear of one my tracks on the music library's website and want to use it, there's no need to wait ages for them to send me an individual agreement for each programme, for me to check them, sign them and send them back, etc, before anyone can use them. From what I understand, the music library registers my track with MCPS (they get listed as the publisher), the production company requests a licence from MCPS website giving the catalogue number of my track, and the production company pays MCPS for the licence. MCPS (eventually) sends the licence fee (minus their admin fee) to the music library, which then pays me (minus their take - usually 50%). If anyone else is looking for advice on signing up with a music licence in the UK, have a look here at the MCPS production music guide, which even shows you the official rate card for different types of production (anything from about £20 to £000s). The music library should be registered with MCPS - if they're in the UK and not on this list, it's probably not worth dealing with them. If anyone from the USA or other countries is reading this and knows something about it in other countries, please let me know.

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Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:48:05 -0700 Looking for music blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/looking-for-music-blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/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]

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Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:25:04 -0700 Podcasting - well sort of http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/podcasting-well-sort-of http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/podcasting-well-sort-of
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I came across a website called Talkr that claims to let you listen to text-only blogs on your iPod and other mp3 players. The idea looks great for someone like me who wants to have a podcast but hasn't got time to record one. All you do is add your blog's RSS feed to their site, and a permanent link to your blog post, and Talkr will create an MP3 of what you wrote in your post. I tried it on my last post here, and although I was disappointed by the automated female voice, it's really quite good. I can see it being quite useful for people who want to listen to what I've got to say another time, rather than read it in one go. Also, visually-impaired visitors may like it. More features will be available soon! Find out more at Talkr.com or visit the Talkr blog. Try it for yourself and....
Listen to this article

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Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:45:17 -0700 Signed by a music library http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/signed-by-a-music-library http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/signed-by-a-music-library I've sort of mentioned this before, but now I can tell all..... I've signed a non-exclusive deal with a major UK music library, called CandyCover, that supplies music to TV, film, and advert production companies. They've worked with big players like Orange, O2, Virgin, and the Ministry of Sound. It's a massive break for me - never had anything like this happen before. They've asked to use 8 of my tracks - not my long, instrumental tunes that have been doing the rounds for a couple of years like Never Alone and For All we've done, but my more recent ones that are available at Music Freedom. They're all fairly short and are wanted for the library's "Art/Quirky/Cult Drama" section. I've signed a contract with them and the tracks are going to be registered with MCPS, the official publishing organisation in the UK, which means I get paid the proper rate if any of my tracks get used. I know that a lot of musicians get tracks signed to music libraries, and the competition is huge
Listen to this article , but it's a massive break and I'm really pleased about it. I've been told in the last couple of years that my music hasn't been commercial enough to get on a record label release, which was a bit disappointing at first. I got some tracks taken on by a company called Archangel Media Group for use in some O'Neill Surfing promo films - Deep Blue Open 2005 and Anglet Pro, but it was unpaid and not a lot came from it apart from a decent showreel and the prestige from getting airplay on Extreme Channel. However, more and more people in the music licensing business were saying that I had a "soundtrack" edge to my music and that it would fit in with the sort of thing that gets used in film and tv. I got a knockback a couple of years ago when a licensing company called Raw42 said that my style was not suitable for adverts, but I carried on in the same style, making more short instrumental stuff, and it looks like it's paid off. Finally, a big thanks to everyone who's pushed my music and kept me going with words of encouragement and support.

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Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:13:21 -0700 Paul can't open up to people but he can talk to his blog http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/paul-cant-open-up-to-people-but-he-can-talk-t http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/paul-cant-open-up-to-people-but-he-can-talk-t
Should this blog be entirely about music? Comments please! I just wanted to put in a quick word about Paul's blog. Paul Harrison is my stepson, who happens to have PDD-NOS, a condition similar to autism and asperger's syndrome. He's very withdrawn and hates having to meet new people, as it makes him anxious and can't cope. He can't get into school at the moment as his stress levels go through the roof whenever he thinks of being in class - he's 14 y.o. and you just try making him go! The whole thing makes him more anxious and less confident. His school agreed to send him work home, which is a start... We've had major problems getting him to communicate his feelings and anxieties, and won't go to see the pyschologist he's under at the moment, so me and his mum have to keep diaries and try to tell the psych what we think Paul is thinking. He just can't open up to people. Until he discovered I was writing a blog. Now he's blogging all the time. At first it was only to tell people about his music on myspace. Then he posted something about PDD-NOS, I helped him tag it, and he started to get loads of hits and a few comments about how he wasn't alone in the ASD world. People from around the world were writing to him. He's now added more posts, writing about his days at home, and life in general, and he's really opened up in writing how he feels, and actually puts across his anxieties. Whether he's found a way to get more hits than me (he's very competitive) or whether he genuinely thinks he can write down how he feels, I'm not sure. Oh, and if you want to read about music, I've just been signed by a major music library in the UK. Some of the tracks are on musicfreedom.com, so have a listen while you post a comment on here!

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Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:31:07 -0700 How many forums - how many blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/how-many-forums-how-many-blogs http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/how-many-forums-how-many-blogs
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Just how many blogs should a person have? How many forums should a musician sign up to? All in the interest of promoting a new song? My stepson, Paul, is trying to get people to listen to his music. He's only 14 and gets very focussed and obsessed with everything he does. You wouldn't say he's very musically-minded, but he wants to make tunes. He's not interested that they might need mixing properly or mastered to get them sounding good. He just wants to put them on the internet like me. He thought that people would just come across his myspace profile or his page on MP3.com and just his total plays would go up and up without any input or promotion from him. So, I told him that he should start a blog and tell people all about himself and his music. He could always join a few forums and start swapping reviews and opinions, and start to get people to listen to his music. I even mentioned music competitions. I think he's taken me a bit literally. He's looking on the web for almost every music competition that's listed. He wants to me to put him on every blog site going - especially the ones I'm on. He wants me to sign up to loads of forums and let him copy and paste a "Listen to my music" message so he doesn't have to write anything new. Why gets me back to my point. How many blogs does an unsigned musician need to do a bit of self-promotion and to get some new listeners? How many forums do you need to sign up to? Is it ok to sign up and just post a thread saying "here I am"? It made me think that when I first started putting my music on the internet just over 2 years ago, I wanted to post threads on every forum and tell everyone to listen to my tracks, hoping that someone somewhere would hear me and I'd stand out from the crowd. I'm still on a few of those forums, but don't post much these days, mainly because I haven't got time, due to other things like making music. Budding artists like Paul need to stick to getting some decent tunes together and put them on a couple of sites, and spend a few weeks plugging away and posting comments about other people's tracks, in the hope that someone will listen. It happened to me. When I go on the old forums, I see the same old names, hoping that someone important will notice them, or they'll get a good review from someone on Outer Mongolia who's never heard of them and will never ask the to play live. There's more to making music than forums and blogs.

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Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:18:19 -0700 MP3s and other updates http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mp3s-and-other-updates http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mp3s-and-other-updates
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I've now added quite a few new things to the site that should make things a bit more interesting. You can now play some of my tracks on the music page, watch a clip from the O'Neill Deep Blue Open video that features my track "Croydon Library", and meet some of my friends and people who've helped me along the way. I've now got a "I'm also on.." section to see where else I've got music or postings. I've also got some promo photos on Flickr. These are to promote a track of mine that's on Myspace. Guess which track it is? Talking of photos, I'd like to be able to add interesting images to my posts (paintings, photographs, designs etc) by people who frequent the forums that I'm on. Don't forget to go over to my stepson's blog and say hello - Paul Harrison on Wordpress - he's recently got the music bug from me, and is keen to get some tracks up on the web. That's Paul on the photo, with the word "ringing" in his face!

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Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:51:28 -0700 mistrustmusic.co.uk http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrustmusiccouk http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/mistrustmusiccouk I've finally bought the domain name mistrustmusic.co.uk. It's mine (for 2 years at least)! No more "blackburnt.portland.co.uk" in forums and directories! I toyed with releasing all my music under the name Tim Blackburn, but now I'm stuck with "mistrust". I don't think anyone else is using that name, so hopefully I'm unique! I know I sometimes sound like a Massive Attack copy, or maybe a bit of Faithless, or Leftfield, but I try to make original-sounding music, and not stick too much to one style, and try not to be influenced too much by other artists. I've been asked by a music library to submit some tracks to put out for film and tv projects. More when I decide which ones to submit. They've given me some guidelines, so hopefully I'll get some time to sort it out. Changes to the site: I've added "I'm also on...", which links to my other sites and profiles around the web. Please visit them and say hello. Some of them have voting on.... If you've visiting this site, and like the music (or not!) please say hello and leave your website address. Maybe you make music too, so I can add you to my friends list. (I promise not to hassle you!)

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Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:48:11 -0700 New mistrust website http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/new-mistrust-website http://mistrustmusic.posterous.com/new-mistrust-website
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Hello from Tim Blackburn, aka "mistrust". I've finally joined the land of "Wordpress" for my blogging exploits.... I've been on Blogger for a couple of years and just become fed up with the lack of options available. Wordpress is more flexible, more user-friendly than Blogger, and it's not owned by Google! I'd like to use this Wordpress blog to replace my own website, or at least integrate it into my site, as I'm limited with the lack of time I have to keep updating the site using Dreamweaver etc. Wordpress should be ideal to provide links to my music and other bits and bobs, so here goes.... There's plenty of old archive stuff from my Blogger blogging days, which will still be hosted on my website, and I'll be providing links to that soon. In the meantime, please bookmark this page, and add the RSS feed to your favourite Feed reader. Click here to read my previous blog
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