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from: popeye-x dialup252-228.dotcomisp.net infomania
Now keep
in mind, I'm a mean ol' bald headed, drugged out, biker minded, science fanatic
type guy, in other words, I'm an ARTIST, and I work from the HEART, with a
technical edge that would sever your head off, so not everyone is going to see
it like I do. I have a complete studio with several studios inside it, I'm a
techno-pig of the most flagrant kind. I make ALL my samples from scratch, it
doesn't take long at all, but even if it did, I'd still go to the trouble. For
better or for worse, I sound ORIGINAL. This is a big deal to me. I have a few
friends I collaborate with, they have full sets of my samples to add to their
regular collections. I use ONLY homemade samples of me and my friends. I
recommend it to anyone, its the most important factor as far as I'm concerned.
When I do anything, no matter what it is, I never have the disappointment of
hearing my track inside someone else's music because we've used the same source
material. I hate having hard work "cancelled" like that, or any other
way.
I've never really had a steady job for more than a year, not in my whole
life. This is an amazing statistic considering how "rich" I am. I'm
not rich at all, except in music, I'm worse than rich, I'm a PIG. My mother and grandmother
indulged me to the point of nausia, I've played keyboards since 1959, and guitar
bass and drums since 1964. I've had instruments all my life, I've had lessons on
piano, guitar, and violin, I've had every kind of rock and roll amp made, but
mainly I've lived in this old funky whitetrash trailer since 1972. There's a
16x14 cinderblock room on the backside, that's my studio, I've been sitting in
this same chair for 32 years, putzing around, and writing and recording my own
music the whole time. I've never had much of an audience, I hear they play my CD
down at Tacoland every night, but that's about it. I don't want to stop doing
this, especially not now, I sound pretty fucking good! Not bad 
for a self-unemployed
so-called lunatic. Reputable local yokel engineers like Steve Cureton are
totally jealous of me, I have mixing chops that dwarf theirs simply because
writing music generates more opportunity to learn than waiting around for
someone to need me to mix their music. You can't do this automatically with
"talent", you HAVE to learn to do it by experience, step by step.
There is no shortcut unless you know someone like Will Alexander, and
he's my BEST FRIEND! (And has been for over 30 years.) Look at Herbie Hancock
albums or Keith
Emerson albums.... you'll see the name Will Alexander as their head
technician. I recently spent 3 1/2 months fucking with the music of No Doubt in
Reaktor, making custom ensembles FOR THEM to use. I was paid with over $500
worth of Native Instruments software, so I'm sitting on a small mountain of
techno gear and software for freakin' with it, and I not only know how to use
it, Will says I have "a unique insight" for knowing how to apply it.
Its just simple song construction and recording, nothing fancy at all. In fact,
my specialty is UTTER SIMPLICITY by admittedly ultra technical means.
They call me a genius, (behind my back), but really I'm like a child, I've never grown up, I've just been in this room. MANY people hate my guts for it. But they don't count, they're just jealous. There are MANY who are NOT jealous, they are accomplished in their own fields, and they are very respectful of me, most are simply good friends of mine, like the Duke. One thing that has made all the difference, and this is something dickheads like Cureton and Taylor fail to appreciate: I WORK HARD. I work LONG HOURS, for no pay, and no credit. Often I'll work a whole month and all I get out of it is KNOWLEDGE. That's where all my so called chops come from: HARD WORK. Trust me, you don't have someone like Will Alexander, who is the BEST, calling you up and egging you on, unless there's something new to be learned, or some technical FUN to be gained. I recently got these killer CD's from Rob Meurer, keyboards for Christopher Cross, he's showing me cuts that no one else is aware of, Christopher Cross songs from the vault. I love this kind of thing, it only adds to my knowledge and mainly its a LOT OF FUN. Music is fun, or it should be.
So you see, I'm at
the point where originality is a MUST, its absolutely of primary importance, so
that's why I make all my own sounds from scratch, and I am quite adamant about
that. In that context, Reaktor 4 and LIVE 3 are the logical tools to use. They
aren't the end-all be-all of what I do, I use them to generate backing tracks
for a multitrack framework, I use PARIS, its kind of like an obsolete Pro Tools.
I could use Pro Tools if I wanted to, I might make the plunge into it if some
gig comes along that justifies it. I use several sequencers, I'm an old midi
veteran. I mainly use Texture
(totally obsolete), Cubase SX (yes!), and Sonar (not bad at all.) but I'll use anything,
I'll even use NOTHING. That's the whole point, ya know? I sit around strumming a
gut string classical guitar, singing in my scratchy old geezer voice. I play the
grand piano for DAYS on end, if I want to, and I often want to. How many
engineers out there can do that? I would venture the answer is "NONE".
Oops, I'm wrong again, R.
B. Blackstone can, and DOES! RB is one of my favorite musicians of all
time, the fact he is a top notch engineer makes total sense.
When it comes to engineering that truly takes the music to its fullest potential, Will Alexander broke the mold. His work on the unreleased Keith Emerson "MORPHOSIS" music is nothing short of stunning. Maybe that will show up in the upcoming Godzilla movie, or so I am told. I sure hope so, EVERYONE needs to hear Keith Emerson sounding like that!
Anyhow, from my point
of view, Reaktor is
THE SHIT. In my whole life, I've never liked any machine better than
this wild-schwine program. (I don't just drop the name, like Nine Inch Nails
does, I actually USE it for my primary sound.) I recommend it to anyone who
wants to sound unique and cutting edge. Ableton LIVE 3 is not on the same level,
(despite what Charlie Clouser says, hehe), but its still very useful in
conjunction with Reaktor 4. Together they make a formidable combination. Of
course, slouch-ass phonies like Steve Cureton have never touched either one of
them, and NEVER WILL. Jesus Christ, they've never even opened up ACID,
Fruityloops, or even WINAMP! They're poser engineers, i. e. LAMERZ. All they
know, and will ever know, is MIXING VOLUMES, like a monitor mixer at a live gig,
only the most basic skill, the "easy part". I loathe laziness. There's
no use for it, there's no room for it, and there's no excuse for it. ANYONE with
any musical talent could do what I do. I'll be happy to help anyone learn who
wants to. Its not even hard, but you have to WORK at it. That's the main thing.
ANTI POPEYE X FAN CLUB
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