Dan Burns-Findlay - my official artist profile -alivenotdead.com

new album

firstly - this will be the last time I post a picture of my desk when blogging about studio work! that 6 foot piece of wood happens to the centre of my life these last few years.

blog title says it all: new album underway. unlike the way I’ve written music in the past, I’ve been trying to avoid the computer and actually write songs & melodies out on the piano before diving into Logic or programming synths.

it’s bloody hard work! I suck as a piano player, I’m clueless on guitar and can barely hold time on a bass; so working through an idea is a really clunky disjointed and often frustrating process.

‘get the song down first before pressing record’ might be utterly obvious to songwriters or anyone in a band - but for producers such as myself (and I’m also guessing many electronic orientated musicians, as well), there is a tendency to diddle about in software and splice ideas together; building up an arrangement as you go. no right or wrong to either method - hack & slash served me well enough in the past - but I am very excited about improving & evolving the music I do, so changing M.O. is a necessary approach.

over the years I have been very careful never to refer to myself as a ‘musician’ and tried to avoid calling my music ’songs’ … but with this change in working pattern, hopefully the score can be rectified a little.

lastly - I have been debating whether or not to post up demos of work as the album progresses. work in progress could spoil the enjoyment of hearing the final music, so that’s why I’m cautious about releasing too much unfinished crap into the wild. but at the same time it might be of interest to people. I am going to take more photos this time though… will figure the rest out. video might be good. something coming eventually.

over 15 years ago 0 likes 4 comments 0 shares

Adrian Foster

i don't like calling myself a musician and i've been playing piano since i was six and guitar for a few years on and off. i used to practice and improvise many hours a day. but to me a "true" musician is someone who can play dozens of instruments well, can hear many complex chords and write them all down perfectly after one listen, can sight sing a melody line, etc... i've known people like this. but then on the other hand, just a few notes played the "right way" can be immensely inspiring. all the knowledge and ability is a powerful asset but most of the time it is the simple phrases and unplanned accidents that blow minds away. if it is not raw and contain something mysterious, beyond the notes, then it's just notes. i'm sure you probably know this, but i felt like i wanted to mention it here.... personally, i'd like to hear progress. maybe not for everything but showing a couple steps of some stuff and how you got to a certain point could be cool. i was thinking of doing that with some of my projects... hey, looks like i've got the same nord sitting in front of me too.

over 15 years ago

Dan Burns-Findlay

I hear ya – my definition of a "musician" is someone who can hang out with other musos and jam on whatever instrument gets handed to them. I can't do that! My lack of technical ability on real instruments is something I've been looking to improve on this year. Anyone can move a mouse, and a mouse does not make you a musician ... it might make you a producer, but not a musician! :) The Nord, after a JP8080 rack, was my first VA synth keyboard.

over 15 years ago

Adrian Foster

I've had countless jams with people who don't play or do music other than passionate listening. like one time i went with a friend of mine to a rehearsal space in LA with loads of equipment, i randomly looped beats of contrasting styles, and we picked random instruments and started improvising. he picked up a guitar even though he's never played and i'd be jamming on an old rhodes, the nord or whatever, then he'd start screaming and rapping while i took the guitar away from him, or i'd jump on drums and add more on too of the loop, etc... believe it or not we actually did some very cool spontaneous noise and stuff. yeah, some of it was crap but we had our trance like inspiring moments. anyway... yeah it's absolutely a good thing to improve your skills. then you can play without thinking about it. on keys i don't think about what i am doing that much, but on guitar i am still having a hard time. but even just a little bit of playing a day will get you there as you probably know, especially if you have a real piano you can jam on. i've got some solo piano pieces i'll probably put up when i can finish learning and recording them. but they're hard as shit to play so it takes a long time.

over 15 years ago

Dan Burns-Findlay

you mentioned another difficultly I'm having – I'll come up with a wicked little riff or something, get that down on the piano, then start evolving that into a chorus or whatever ... the switch to trying out some verses ... then the whole damn thing starts to change! trying to stay focused long enough and and remembering what you've played before can be a right pain. Taken to recording everything now in a series of 'idea' session takes. just need to make sure I go back at some point and start harvesting the good bits.

over 15 years ago

About

Arrive not Dead.

Learn More

Languages Spoken: english
Location (City, Country): Other
Gender: male
Member Since: July 6, 2007