mistrustmusic's posterous

mistrust music

In the last week  I’ve had my very first interview on the radio, and my kids made some “well done” messages for me….

Media_httpwwwmistrust_bcfjp

my kids did these pics for me when I was on the radio!

Those nice folk at Chorlton Arts Radio, part of the Chorlton Arts Festival in Manchester, UK, invited me onto one of their shows last Friday evening. My very first radio interview! I was quite relaxed about it all a few hours before I arrived at the studio, but then the nerves hit me! Needless to say, I was still nervous when I went on air! You can actually hear how nervous I sounded on this clip that Mrs B recorded. Should make a nice remix with all those ummms and errrs! read more

Filed under  //   artists   band   blog   blogging   mistrust   mp3   music   radio   remix  
Posted June 8, 2010

You should watch this video

I know that I said that I was moving my blog over to my main website, www.mistrustmusic.co.uk but seeing as though some people are still reading my posts on here and have maybe subscribed via newsfeeds etc., I'm going to carry on posting here  for a while. However, I'm probably only going to post small excerpts on here and the full version on my main blog. Hopefully, then you'll get used to my new blog and start following me there! So here goes... You should watch this video.... Without repeating exactly what Ian Shepherd wrote on his production advice website, you should really watch this video. I can't really write much about it that will really do it justice, so it's probably a good idea if you just watch it first - like I did - and then see what you think about it. As Ian says on his own blog, there's more to it than first appears. The real message will "shock, surprise and move you." [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSO_d1svtfU] Click here to read the rest of this post and more on mistrustmusic.co.uk

Filed under  //   artists   loudness wars   massive attack   mastering   music   music production   production   zerodb  

Why Facebook and kids

Well, I'm certainly getting a lot of hits on here about kids using Facebook. Why's that then? Dunno, really. Maybe a lot of kids go on it, and a lot of parents either want to monitor what they're doing on it or don't want them on it all. I like all this social networking thing. Don't get me wrong. Think it's great. Very useful, very now. Can't see the world going back to a Facebook-less era. However, why are parents still letting their kids as young as six or seven going on Facebook? Why? What reason? Have they forgotten how to talk? Fine - if your relatives are halfway round the world. What about Skype. What about setting up your own family social network on blog thing. Anyway. The debate still goes on and it rankles with me that I still see all my kids' friends on there. So what are the schools doing about it? Not a lot at the moment, but maybe it's finally getting through to the schools that something should be done about it. Take this for example.  Internet Safety for children.  Maybe things will start changing. So, why am I on Facebook if I'm not happy about young  kids being on it? Well, I've been in touch with a few people from school, and I'm using it to plug my music. That's it. That's all. If you're on Facebook and want to become a fan of my music, click here and "Become a Fan". I'm also on Twitter. The gratuitous plug. I did a remix for dub band International Observer a while ago. The track is called "Popcorn Slavery (mistrust remix)" and is out on the band's EP on Monday 22nd February. You can hear previews of it on my Soundcloud and Myspace pages, and it's available to download from Monday on all major music sites, and the band's own Bandcamp page. Spread the word. Here's the soundcloud player for it.... [soundcloud url=http://soundcloud.com/mistrust/international-observer-popcorn-slavery-mistrust-remix]

Filed under  //   artists   band   childhood   download   education   facebook   family   mistrust   music   remix   school   soundcloud  

schizoid blog

Well, I'm at it again - can't decide which one of the many WP themes to use for this blog. Again. How many times do I keep changing? I just can decide. Same with my website. Can never decide about the look of it and what to include. Anyway, trying to get the blog to look like the website or the website to look like the blog? Mr Elgey once told me to pay for some hosting and use Wordpress for my site.  Maybe one day. Well, the website has now got a bit of a new look until I can decide what to include. So much for advising my stepson's dad about how to market his painting and decorating business using the internet! So, what else have I been upto recently? I'm trying to avoid all the usual Facebook toys and apps, but I've now got a "band" page, so hop on over and become a fan, and spread the word! I've also been working on another remix. This time it's for International Observer. It's due in soon, so I'm not going to tempt fate by saying what it's called. I'll announce it properly if Tom Bailey of International Observer and his label like and decide to release it. I find it quite amusing that a lot of the hits on my blog come from people searching about kids using Facebook and how to put soundcloud tracks on wordpress blogs.

 

Filed under  //   artists   audio   blogging   facebook   mistrust   mp3   music   remix   soundcloud   twitter   wordpress  

Rhythm Sound and Movement finally out

A while ago I mentioned the remix I did for New Zealand band, Pitch Black. I'm proud to announce that the remix, entitled "Rude Mechanicals (mistrust's ambiotik remix)"  is out now in New Zealand, and will be released worldwide over the next few weeks.... Here's part of the official press release from Pitch Black's label: "we're proud to announce the imminent release of Rhythm, Sound And Music, a collection of remixes of tracks from Rude Mechanicals. Some of our favourite from artists around the world have stepped up to the challenge of tweaking the originals: Bluetech, International Observer, Simon Flower, Patch, Kerretta, Friends Electric and many more (including England's mistrust!). The full track listing is below. You can check out the tunes in full at last.fm or most of them are also up on Pitch Black's myspace. (The mistrust remix is on my own myspace player here - myspace.com/mistrust) You can either buy the 14-track CD from one of the online stores below, or if you are one of those thoroughly modern interweb peeps who prefers a download, you can get the surgically-enhanced 20-track ultra augmented bumper edition!! To celebrate the new release, we are heading across to Australia in June for some shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and then swiftly over to the West Coast of the USA for a handful more. All these dates are below, we'd love to see ya! We will also be heading to the UK and Europe in October, so keep an eye out for us and we'll keep you updated closer to the time. Enjoy the tuneage, we look forward to seeing you on the dancefloor sometime soon!" Release Dates NZ - May 4th in stores, April 27th online AUS - May 30th in stores, May 12th online USA - May 16th in stores, May 12th online UK/EU - May 26th in stores, May 12th online Online Stores: NZ - available from Amplifier  AUS - available from Vitamin  USA - available from CD Baby  UK - available from Dubmission Records  EU - available from Dubmission Records  Special downloads: NZ - 20 track version available from Ampilfier  USA - 20 track version available from iTunes Track Listing:

1. 1000 Mile Drift - International Observer 2. Transient Transmissions - Deep Fried Dub 3. Rude Mechanicals - Mistrust 4. Bird Soul - Fold vs Horace 5. Bird Soul - Subtone 6. Sonic Colonic - Patch 7. South of the Line - Bluetech 8. Harmonia - Neon Stereo 9. Please Leave Quietly - Johnny Hooves 10. Bird Soul - Kerretta 11. 1000 Mile Drift - Simon Flower 12. Harmonia - Rob 13. Fragile Ladders - Groove Yantra 14. Please Leave Quietly - Friends Electric

Spread the word! This is the first time I've had a "proper" release on a CD!!!

Filed under  //   artists   audio   cd   ipod   itunes   mistrust   music   pitch black   random   remix   rude mechanicals  
Posted May 3, 2009

Deep Space Lament remix news

As well as the Rude Mechanicals remix I did for NZ band Pitch Black, I did one just after Christmas for a friend's band from Sheffield (UK) called Animat. The remix is of a song of their's called "Deep Space Lament", from their latest album, "Earplay". I'm really proud of this remix - I only had a week to get it done in and somehow it all came together really quickly. It's one of those tracks that you think to yourself "how did I do that?" Hopefully Animat's fans and followers will like it, and the people at the Big Chill label like it too.  A preview of Deep Space Lament (mistrust remix)  is now up exclusively on my myspace music player, so please listen and see what you think (and add it to your profile!). It's going to be released on Big Chill Records on 11th May 2009  There are actually two other  remixes up on my myspace music player. There's Deep Space Lament, and the two versions of the remix I did of Rude Mechanicals. The original version of this track is on "Rhythm Sound and Movement", Pitch Black's new remix CD, which is out on download at the end of April 2009, and in the shops early May!!!! Looks out for the change in title from the recently available EP versi0n. The track on the remix CD is called the "ambiotik" remix. Deep Space Lament (mistrust remix) by Animat is out 11th May on all good download stores! Rude Mechanicals (mistrust/ambiotik remix) is out end of April/early May 2009. Get more music on my Music page..... 

Filed under  //   animat   artists   big chill   blogging   deep space lament   download   mistrust   music   myspace   remix   space  

Internet Blackout New Zealand

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Internet Blackout New Zealand"]

Media_httpcreativefre_kfacd
[/caption] Partly because I've got a link with New Zealand music (because of my remixes for Pitch Black), and partly because I think the new laws stink, I've joined The New Zealand Internet Blackout to protest against the Guilt Upon Accusation law 'Section 92A' that calls for internet disconnection based on accusations of copyright infringement without a trial and without any evidence held up to court scrutiny. This is due to come into effect on February 28th unless immediate action is taken by the National Party. The webiste Creative Freedom says "Join thousands of New Zealanders already against this law by blacking out your Facebook photo, your websites, your Myspace pages, your Twitter account, in protest against this unjust new law that may come into effect on February 28." There are over 5,000 signatures to the petition on the site already. If you're a Twitterer, please include the #blackout tag to your Tweets! My Twitter profile and blog have been changed to reflect the "Blackout" theme!  If you want to get involved with this protest, go to the following link and get some more info! Creative Freedom

Filed under  //   New Zealand   artists   blackout   blog   legal   music   petition  

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

Filed under  //   80s   artists   blog   mistrust   mp3   music   old   retro   songs   unsigned  

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)

Filed under  //   artists   blog   kids   mistrust   mp3   music   music library   oldies   unsigned  

Presonus Firestudio - shall I get one?

I've been using Acid Pro, samples, plugins, etc for ages but I'm now seriously thinking of going "hardware" (much more fun!). Thought about getting a basic mixer but I need more flexible routing and control (MIDI/Audio), and someone recommended the Presonus Firestudio. It looks like it's the sort of thing I need, so maybe someone who's reading this has used one? I think it's around £500 and seems to be worth it - it includes loads of plugins and comes with Cubase 4 LE, Reason Adapted, and loads of other stuff. I've already got a computer so it might be the complete package - it got a great review in MTM too! There's an offer on at the moment where you get a rebate on the MSR remote control for the Firestudio.... Anyone else used one of these? If you have or can offer some advice, please let me know....It's a big outlay so I want to get it right!

Media_httpwwwpresonus_lmnch

Filed under  //   MSR   artists   blog   blogging   firestudio   presonus   recording   remote