This post is in reference to the production module as part of my final year on Creative Sound & Music at Newport University.
For my future productions, I have decided to take a somewhat controversial but honest approach. This is based partially on my post graduate career plans of becoming a teacher (most likely primary school level), partially based on dissatisfaction with past production meetings, and partially based on a realization of my true musical nature. This realization is that I enjoy experimenting in and composing various genres of music that often clash with each other. So rather than try and pick one and run with it, or mould them all together, I have decided it is best if I just 'go with the flow' when it comes to my music style. This means that I may release futurepop music at one point, acoustic at another, powernoise at another, EDM at another, metal at another etc., and going back to other genres as I see fit.
This incredibly varied taste in music leads to a great difficulty in building a solid profile as a musician with a specific audience (although many musicians do work in various genres, but usually have one they've deliberately built up more than the others). This has lead me to form an alternative marketing strategy.
My marketing strategy essentially doesn't exist. Due to my intent on a career change and unwillingness to attempt to make money from my music or work within the music industry, marketing music seems to be a pointless effort. Therefore I decided to treat my music exactly as I originally intended it to be, the product of a hobby. Something that isn't taken overly seriously, something that doesn't have to 'take off' commercially, and something that doesn't get creatively ruined by the meddling of music business. This was the approach I took with my music before I came to Newport University, and one of my old singles ("Twin Flame") became relatively successful in the cybergoth scene, being played in clubs across America, Europe and the U.K., and also developing a small fan base in Australia and South Africa.
My music takes on more of a 'stumble-upon' approach. I leave it up on my bandcamp site for download (usually free with the option to pay for it if the fan enjoys it enough) and with links left with a few people in the scene and on a few relevant websites, forums and facebook pages. Beyond that, it is up to the fans to spread the music around. This particularly works in the cybergoth, goth, industrial, and noise scenes as they are often very close knit and small scenes (in comparison to more mainstream scenes) and word often spreads fast. My basic approach to this is that if someone likes my music they're welcome to download it, if they appreciate it enough they might even pay for it, and if they don't like it they'll move on. That way everyone is satisfied - I'm satisfied that my music is 'out there' and sometimes even more so if someone pays for it, and the audience is satisfied that they get my music for free, and the business is satisfied that I'm not interfering with their precious scene and trying to make something out of it that it isn't.
The artwork for the projects I create is always made by myself, sometimes with the help of photographer friends who are happy to help out. This means that with myself taking on almost 100% of the projects, they gain a very personal feel to them, as I believe music should.
With reference to the final semester of my degree, I intend to produce an EP of music in the Futurepop genre (an offshoot of Industrial - Futurepop being the genre I have been told that I excel at above all others, and admittedly the genre I enjoy composing for the most). I intend to work with other artists under the Industrial umbrella (I am currently discussing ideas with Cybershroom and Cryogenic Echelon, and intend to approach Digital Deformation again), and to remix a variety of artists of many different genres (remixing being something I thoroughly enjoy doing, but again, not something I wish to try and make a living out of). I also intend to utilize the various free remix packs and competitions that exist within this scene (I have just acquired the stems for Skin Tight by I:Scintilla and I will start on some more Assemblage 23 remixes - the last A23 remix I did has now got 12000 views on youtube and is acclaimed as one of the best remixes of their song "Spark").
The EP will be released for free download on my bandcamp profile and the project will be called "Redux" (in reference to my futurepop roots, and my reinvention of my old music style). My live module will also most likely be centered around this project.
Above all else, this project (and all other future projects) will be kept true to their nature - as a hobby, something I do for fun, and have no intention of turning into a business. This is partially an attempt to prevent music being ruined for me as Art, Theatre and Film were during my college years, and also as an attempt to prevent it from interfering with and overtaking my keen intent to become a teacher.
With this strategy I feel that I achieve something most artists yearn for: complete creative control of my own music, with no interference from outside producers and labels. The sacrifice here, that I have willingly made, is the sacrifice of the slim chance of achieving fame and fortune. This also allows me the opportunity to teach children, which in itself is a very rewarding and enjoyable experience, and also the ability to hold a decent and stable income that can keep a roof over my head, food on the table, heat in the radiators, petrol in the car, clothes on my back and access to the internet (all of which are at risk while working as a professional musician).
I'm Judah Carvanna and this is my blog following all my musical adventures throughout University, outside University, and beyond after University!
21.1.13
Live Performance
This post is in reference to my live performance module as part of my final year of Creative Sound and Music at Newport Uni.
In this module I was required to engage in 3 separate performances and play some part in the planning and running of those events.
My first performance was as a dance music DJ at Warehouse 54, Newport. In this performance I was the final act of the night having followed a variety of musical acts and a brief talk about the way music effects people. This was tough to follow as there was such a wide range of music and the mood was constantly changing from one thing to another and it rested on me to pull the night into a light hearted and danceable atmosphere. This was easily achieved by opening up with Gangam Style by Korean Pop Star, Psy. The song set the tone for the rest of the night, and especially with Starships by Nicki Minaj as a follow on track, it was obvious that the rest of the night would be filled with cheesy electronic dance and pop music, from the early 90's to modern day.
The performance went well and I continued to DJ on until the club had emptied out completely.
I thoroughly enjoyed DJing, especially as I only had one request (Gangnam Style, and this request came in just after I loaded the CD into the tray, so it didn't really count), and didn't have to deal with the often moronic requests of an alcohol fueled audience. The DJing technique was simple with simple beat matching, no clever mixing (just switching from one song to the next when it 'feels' right), no attention paid to key matching, and I only played songs that I personally liked, and yet restricted myself to songs that I know are popular and would work well within the set and the environment. This kept both the crowd and myself happy during the performance.
My attitude towards DJing is that when I do DJ, the 'employer' is trusting me to play music that suits the night and the mood, while also knowing that I work in specific areas. Also, because I'm not a resident DJ, I feel no need to play a specific set of songs over and over again as some clubs do. Because I'm doing this entirely for fun, as a hobby, this gives me the freedom to ignore requests and go with my own plan (once I have picked an opening song, I often plan 5 or 6 songs ahead, which leaves about 30 minutes until a 'free' moment to put in requests - if I feel they'll work with the set - which means I might as well ignore requests) and not worried about getting fired, because I'm not getting hired in the first place.
In short, although I enjoyed DJing, this is not something I wish to develop and take on any further, and certainly not a job I would want to do in order to pay the rent, and this is partly why DJing didn't feature in any of the other recorded performances I am handing in for this module. The other reason DJing hasn't featured in other performances is that my personal experience with the vast majority of venue owners and their staff (namely 'sound engineers', resident DJs and promoters) are difficult to deal with to the point at which their skills at dealing with the event and all technical duties that go with (as well as their capability of dealing with the public and the artist they've enlisted to perform in a reasonable and sensible manner) it come into question. This has resulted in my severe reluctance to go back to public venues for future performances and is also the reason that a public venue does not appear in any of the videos for the other performances.
The next 2 performance were held in my own living room with an audience of friends, both in the room and via a live stream on the internet. This isn't out of laziness, but rather out of the aforementioned reluctance to deal with 'professional' venues and also the nature of the performances themselves.
The next performance was an improvised ambient electronica set that lasted for as long as I saw fit. The piece was entitled "Beans In The Fridge" because (quoting myself) "It's designed to chill your beans" (chilling ones' 'beans' being another way of saying 'relax' or 'chill out'). I felt that the best place for a person to 'chill their beans' would be in their own living room, or the living room of a friends' house, or in their own room, or whatever room they felt comfortable in during the streaming in Ustream. Candles and red lights were used to set an ambience to the room and various covers were draped over furniture to add some creativity to the atmosphere and hide some of the more ugly and unnatural aspects of a living room. The performance worked as planned with the exception of the poor video and audio quality set my Ustream. Should I decide to repeat the performance in the future, I would use a better camera and a direct feed into the computer, rather than the built in microphone, but for an experiment, it went completely to plan.
The final performance was held once again in my own living room and on a live stream, with the same setting (red lights and candles), but this time I played some acoustic guitar cover songs (namely a rendition of Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden with a 6/8 twist to it, and a cut down version of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, performed more with the Johnny Cash version in mind, effectively making it a cover of a cover), and I sang the vocals myself. This performance was meant to have a very personal, homely feel to it, as if it were just a group of friends gathering together to have a relaxed night in with a guitar, and a friendly invitation extended to people on the internet. With this in mind the performance was a success, ignoring my persistent memory loss with lyrical content, and some chord sequences, which I put down to my lack of practice. My apparent inability to remember the chords and the lyrics to Run To The Hills, however, worked in my favour to create a more comic and light hearted atmosphere (an effect also boosted by doing such an odd, light hearted, and slightly folky take on a very 'heavy' song) and therefore a more friendly feel to the performance. Again, the quality of the stream was an issue (as it was done in the same streaming session as the prior ambient electronica performance) but should I decide to do these again in the future, more care will be taken to ensure a better quality stream for the internet audience.
However, will these last 2 performances in mind, it must be noted that I did them for the same reason I did the DJing - as a hobby, for the fun of it, and essentially because I felt like it. My past experience with performing in professional bands or as a professional solo musician have put me off wanting to perform again in the future in a professional manner. Having had experience in many different kinds of performance types in the past I now feel that if I should continue live performance in the future, it would be a short notice event focused more on the fun of messing around on stage with some music I made and in a very light hearted manner than to satisfy some market demand or local venue. My performances would be reserved for special events (end of degree performance, self organized events, events organized by friends, random jam sessions with friends), and would only require excessive planning if I was to perform electronic music (in which case miming would not be an issue, and the focus would be more on the performance and less on the technical work behind the scenes.)
I also would not wish to use live performance as a method of generating income under any circumstances.
In respect to my final performance for my degree, my current plan is to put together a set of new music I am currently writing (specifically in the Futurepop genre) and perform that live. I intend to approach some friends of mine who are more than adept at creating visual material to accompany the music itself. The final performance would be a futuristic take on 'live' synthpop music.
Once the venue is defined, and the layout of the lights on stage, software may also be used to control the lights to match the songs, or I may simply 'employ' someone to work the lights for me 'on the fly', depending on the nature of the venue and the technical requirements at the time.
In this module I was required to engage in 3 separate performances and play some part in the planning and running of those events.
My first performance was as a dance music DJ at Warehouse 54, Newport. In this performance I was the final act of the night having followed a variety of musical acts and a brief talk about the way music effects people. This was tough to follow as there was such a wide range of music and the mood was constantly changing from one thing to another and it rested on me to pull the night into a light hearted and danceable atmosphere. This was easily achieved by opening up with Gangam Style by Korean Pop Star, Psy. The song set the tone for the rest of the night, and especially with Starships by Nicki Minaj as a follow on track, it was obvious that the rest of the night would be filled with cheesy electronic dance and pop music, from the early 90's to modern day.
The performance went well and I continued to DJ on until the club had emptied out completely.
I thoroughly enjoyed DJing, especially as I only had one request (Gangnam Style, and this request came in just after I loaded the CD into the tray, so it didn't really count), and didn't have to deal with the often moronic requests of an alcohol fueled audience. The DJing technique was simple with simple beat matching, no clever mixing (just switching from one song to the next when it 'feels' right), no attention paid to key matching, and I only played songs that I personally liked, and yet restricted myself to songs that I know are popular and would work well within the set and the environment. This kept both the crowd and myself happy during the performance.
My attitude towards DJing is that when I do DJ, the 'employer' is trusting me to play music that suits the night and the mood, while also knowing that I work in specific areas. Also, because I'm not a resident DJ, I feel no need to play a specific set of songs over and over again as some clubs do. Because I'm doing this entirely for fun, as a hobby, this gives me the freedom to ignore requests and go with my own plan (once I have picked an opening song, I often plan 5 or 6 songs ahead, which leaves about 30 minutes until a 'free' moment to put in requests - if I feel they'll work with the set - which means I might as well ignore requests) and not worried about getting fired, because I'm not getting hired in the first place.
In short, although I enjoyed DJing, this is not something I wish to develop and take on any further, and certainly not a job I would want to do in order to pay the rent, and this is partly why DJing didn't feature in any of the other recorded performances I am handing in for this module. The other reason DJing hasn't featured in other performances is that my personal experience with the vast majority of venue owners and their staff (namely 'sound engineers', resident DJs and promoters) are difficult to deal with to the point at which their skills at dealing with the event and all technical duties that go with (as well as their capability of dealing with the public and the artist they've enlisted to perform in a reasonable and sensible manner) it come into question. This has resulted in my severe reluctance to go back to public venues for future performances and is also the reason that a public venue does not appear in any of the videos for the other performances.
The next 2 performance were held in my own living room with an audience of friends, both in the room and via a live stream on the internet. This isn't out of laziness, but rather out of the aforementioned reluctance to deal with 'professional' venues and also the nature of the performances themselves.
The next performance was an improvised ambient electronica set that lasted for as long as I saw fit. The piece was entitled "Beans In The Fridge" because (quoting myself) "It's designed to chill your beans" (chilling ones' 'beans' being another way of saying 'relax' or 'chill out'). I felt that the best place for a person to 'chill their beans' would be in their own living room, or the living room of a friends' house, or in their own room, or whatever room they felt comfortable in during the streaming in Ustream. Candles and red lights were used to set an ambience to the room and various covers were draped over furniture to add some creativity to the atmosphere and hide some of the more ugly and unnatural aspects of a living room. The performance worked as planned with the exception of the poor video and audio quality set my Ustream. Should I decide to repeat the performance in the future, I would use a better camera and a direct feed into the computer, rather than the built in microphone, but for an experiment, it went completely to plan.
The final performance was held once again in my own living room and on a live stream, with the same setting (red lights and candles), but this time I played some acoustic guitar cover songs (namely a rendition of Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden with a 6/8 twist to it, and a cut down version of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, performed more with the Johnny Cash version in mind, effectively making it a cover of a cover), and I sang the vocals myself. This performance was meant to have a very personal, homely feel to it, as if it were just a group of friends gathering together to have a relaxed night in with a guitar, and a friendly invitation extended to people on the internet. With this in mind the performance was a success, ignoring my persistent memory loss with lyrical content, and some chord sequences, which I put down to my lack of practice. My apparent inability to remember the chords and the lyrics to Run To The Hills, however, worked in my favour to create a more comic and light hearted atmosphere (an effect also boosted by doing such an odd, light hearted, and slightly folky take on a very 'heavy' song) and therefore a more friendly feel to the performance. Again, the quality of the stream was an issue (as it was done in the same streaming session as the prior ambient electronica performance) but should I decide to do these again in the future, more care will be taken to ensure a better quality stream for the internet audience.
However, will these last 2 performances in mind, it must be noted that I did them for the same reason I did the DJing - as a hobby, for the fun of it, and essentially because I felt like it. My past experience with performing in professional bands or as a professional solo musician have put me off wanting to perform again in the future in a professional manner. Having had experience in many different kinds of performance types in the past I now feel that if I should continue live performance in the future, it would be a short notice event focused more on the fun of messing around on stage with some music I made and in a very light hearted manner than to satisfy some market demand or local venue. My performances would be reserved for special events (end of degree performance, self organized events, events organized by friends, random jam sessions with friends), and would only require excessive planning if I was to perform electronic music (in which case miming would not be an issue, and the focus would be more on the performance and less on the technical work behind the scenes.)
I also would not wish to use live performance as a method of generating income under any circumstances.
In respect to my final performance for my degree, my current plan is to put together a set of new music I am currently writing (specifically in the Futurepop genre) and perform that live. I intend to approach some friends of mine who are more than adept at creating visual material to accompany the music itself. The final performance would be a futuristic take on 'live' synthpop music.
Once the venue is defined, and the layout of the lights on stage, software may also be used to control the lights to match the songs, or I may simply 'employ' someone to work the lights for me 'on the fly', depending on the nature of the venue and the technical requirements at the time.
26.9.12
CSM Final Year Manifesto 2012
Starting CSM Year 3
As a musician, I am currently narrowing down what I want to do into as few projects as possible. My passion for Pop orientated EDM music is taking the lead with my interests in Synthpop/Industrial/Rock crossover music coming second. Finally, my interest in Melodic Death/Tech Metal still exists, and I would like to do something with that (as a hobby/side project).
This year I would like to learn how to DJ and develop some more technical DJ skills. I would also like to learn more about live performance as an electronic musician, but also as part of a band that uses electronic backing tracks.
As a musician, I am currently narrowing down what I want to do into as few projects as possible. My passion for Pop orientated EDM music is taking the lead with my interests in Synthpop/Industrial/Rock crossover music coming second. Finally, my interest in Melodic Death/Tech Metal still exists, and I would like to do something with that (as a hobby/side project).
This year I would like to learn how to DJ and develop some more technical DJ skills. I would also like to learn more about live performance as an electronic musician, but also as part of a band that uses electronic backing tracks.
This year I’m hoping to have much more experience with live music and collaboration, particularly with the Pop/EDM music, bringing in guest vocalists, musicians, producers and remixers.
This time last year I was just beginning to explore Pop and EDM. Having just come out of Cybergoth culture, this was an easy transition as some bands in the Futurepop genre can sound very pop and dance like. My production skills have increased immensely over the past year, and I feel that my songwriting quality has improved, too.
After the degree, I’m not entirely sure what I’d like to do with my career. My yearning for a career in Science is having a big impact on this decision, however. I feel that, for now, going down the route of producer and live/resident DJ is the way I want to go in music, primarily because I don’t feel overly enthusiastic about touring. I am unsure as to weather I would seek a label to sign to, or self release, and this is because of the stigma surrounding the labels and their poor handling of the evolving music industry and the artists they sign.
20.5.12
Applied Research
Applied research, is part of the PDAR module I'm doing on 2nd year CSM at the moment.
The project I'm using (reinventing, updating and reviving) for PDAR will be my old Futurepop project, 'Digital Faith'.
Futurepop is a blend of Synthpop's aesthetics, song structures and arrangemtn; Trance's synth programming and sounds; and Electronic Body Music's (EBM) raw agression, use of sampling, industrial lyrics imagery and themes, and vocal styles. Elements of Goth, Darkwave, Pop and Electronic Dance Music (EDM) also frequently appear in the Futurepop genre. Many bands carrying this 'tag' frequently lean more to some styles than others within those listed and often introduce more styles, but there is a fundamental Futurepop sound that permeates all these artists and unites them.
Futurepop is an incredibly diverse genre and although it is considered alternative and to some extent underground, it still allows itself to become part of a variety of scenes. As it is part of the electronic music culture, it opens itself up easily to DJ and remix culture.
Many artists in this area have been remixed by much more popular artists, and some artists have gone on to remix more popular artists.
Live, most Futurepop artists form a band and would perform as other Sythpop and EBM bands would (e.g. Depeche Mode, Front 242), and don't go down the live DJ route as seen in Trance, Dance etc.
Grandiose, futuristic, tech-influence (sometimes in a retro-futurist sense) visuals are often applied to the live sets to accompany artists in this genre. Not quite utopian like Trance, but not dystopian like Industrial.
The Futurepop market exists primarily in Europe, with the most prominent bands in the genre coming from Germany (NamNamBulu, Frozen Plasma, Neuroticfish, Seabound, Rotersand), Sweden (Covenant, Code 64, Colony 5), Norway (Apoptygma Berzerk, Icon Of Coil), Austria (Mind.In.A.Box), and the UK (VNV Nation). Futurepop has also made an impact in the US with artists like Assemblage 23 gaining popularity within the scene.
Although the vast majority of artsist in Futurepop come from Germany, VNV Nation are considered the first Futurepop band, and it was singer Ronan Harris that coined the term in to order to describe the music of Both VNV Nation and Apoptygma Berzerk.
The biggest festivals that showcase Futurepop music are mostly in Germany with M'era Luna, Amphi and Wave Gotik Treffen. In the UK, there is one prominent festival, Infest, that showcases Futurepop music. There are some smaller festivals beginning to appear, too, for example DV8fest, and there are many prominent UK clubs that feature rooms dedicated to Cybergoth culture, and so play a lot of Futurepop music, for example, Slimelight in Camden, Corporation in Sheffield, Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester, Voodoo Lounge in Stoke-On-Trent, Tech Noir in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, The Wendy House in Leeds, Autonomy in Leicester, Nightmare in Nottingham, Bedlam in Glasgow, Ascension and Cyberia in Edinburgh, Chains on Velvet in Norwich, and Inquisition in Cardiff. Das Bunker in Los Angeles and Nocturne in Toronto are also popular cybergoth clubs. It appears safe to say that Germany and the UK are the best places for Futurepop although the following does extend across the world.
A lot of Futurepop acts also become popular within Trance, Synthpop, Techno, Goth, EBM and Industrial circles, too, so there is reason to believe that Digital Faith can expand fan bases across multiple target audiences.
Digital Faith will fit into this style. Although moving closer to the Synthpop and Trance and away from the EBM, but still utilising aspects of all.
The incredibly adaptive nature of the music will allow me to project this work onto a variety of audiences.
Originally, in terms of conceptual content, the project took a mocking anti-theistic approach, asserting that Digital Faith itself was a religion, where the music is 'God', the performer is the prophet, the DJs are the priests, and the fans are disciples. The message was that rather than worship something you can't prove exists, and something that arguably (in my opinion) causes more hurt than good, people would be better off worshipping something that only makes them feel good, something like music.
That was in 2008, and since then the lyrical content expanded and since came to envelop topics of positive nihilism, self belief, the self as the overman, astronomy, technology, human advancement, and more familiar topics such as romance and life issues.
The project will exist as myself as the sole songwriter, and providing the lead vocals and some keyboards live, alongside 2 other keyboard players to support the music.
The main sources of funding for the project will come from live performances, remixes, and sale of music.
Other artists in this genre and similar related genres have also been known to compose film scores (Ronan Harris for The Gene Generation), have music featured in films (Combichrist and Encephelon in The Gene Generation, Celldweller in various films including Spiderman 2, Constantine and Bad Boys 2) and have songs appear on games (Mind.In.A.Box for Crackdown and PGR 3 & 4), and so this presents another source or revenue.
The project I'm using (reinventing, updating and reviving) for PDAR will be my old Futurepop project, 'Digital Faith'.
Futurepop is a blend of Synthpop's aesthetics, song structures and arrangemtn; Trance's synth programming and sounds; and Electronic Body Music's (EBM) raw agression, use of sampling, industrial lyrics imagery and themes, and vocal styles. Elements of Goth, Darkwave, Pop and Electronic Dance Music (EDM) also frequently appear in the Futurepop genre. Many bands carrying this 'tag' frequently lean more to some styles than others within those listed and often introduce more styles, but there is a fundamental Futurepop sound that permeates all these artists and unites them.
Futurepop is an incredibly diverse genre and although it is considered alternative and to some extent underground, it still allows itself to become part of a variety of scenes. As it is part of the electronic music culture, it opens itself up easily to DJ and remix culture.
Many artists in this area have been remixed by much more popular artists, and some artists have gone on to remix more popular artists.
Live, most Futurepop artists form a band and would perform as other Sythpop and EBM bands would (e.g. Depeche Mode, Front 242), and don't go down the live DJ route as seen in Trance, Dance etc.
Grandiose, futuristic, tech-influence (sometimes in a retro-futurist sense) visuals are often applied to the live sets to accompany artists in this genre. Not quite utopian like Trance, but not dystopian like Industrial.
The Futurepop market exists primarily in Europe, with the most prominent bands in the genre coming from Germany (NamNamBulu, Frozen Plasma, Neuroticfish, Seabound, Rotersand), Sweden (Covenant, Code 64, Colony 5), Norway (Apoptygma Berzerk, Icon Of Coil), Austria (Mind.In.A.Box), and the UK (VNV Nation). Futurepop has also made an impact in the US with artists like Assemblage 23 gaining popularity within the scene.
Although the vast majority of artsist in Futurepop come from Germany, VNV Nation are considered the first Futurepop band, and it was singer Ronan Harris that coined the term in to order to describe the music of Both VNV Nation and Apoptygma Berzerk.
The biggest festivals that showcase Futurepop music are mostly in Germany with M'era Luna, Amphi and Wave Gotik Treffen. In the UK, there is one prominent festival, Infest, that showcases Futurepop music. There are some smaller festivals beginning to appear, too, for example DV8fest, and there are many prominent UK clubs that feature rooms dedicated to Cybergoth culture, and so play a lot of Futurepop music, for example, Slimelight in Camden, Corporation in Sheffield, Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester, Voodoo Lounge in Stoke-On-Trent, Tech Noir in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, The Wendy House in Leeds, Autonomy in Leicester, Nightmare in Nottingham, Bedlam in Glasgow, Ascension and Cyberia in Edinburgh, Chains on Velvet in Norwich, and Inquisition in Cardiff. Das Bunker in Los Angeles and Nocturne in Toronto are also popular cybergoth clubs. It appears safe to say that Germany and the UK are the best places for Futurepop although the following does extend across the world.
A lot of Futurepop acts also become popular within Trance, Synthpop, Techno, Goth, EBM and Industrial circles, too, so there is reason to believe that Digital Faith can expand fan bases across multiple target audiences.
Digital Faith will fit into this style. Although moving closer to the Synthpop and Trance and away from the EBM, but still utilising aspects of all.
The incredibly adaptive nature of the music will allow me to project this work onto a variety of audiences.
Originally, in terms of conceptual content, the project took a mocking anti-theistic approach, asserting that Digital Faith itself was a religion, where the music is 'God', the performer is the prophet, the DJs are the priests, and the fans are disciples. The message was that rather than worship something you can't prove exists, and something that arguably (in my opinion) causes more hurt than good, people would be better off worshipping something that only makes them feel good, something like music.
That was in 2008, and since then the lyrical content expanded and since came to envelop topics of positive nihilism, self belief, the self as the overman, astronomy, technology, human advancement, and more familiar topics such as romance and life issues.
The project will exist as myself as the sole songwriter, and providing the lead vocals and some keyboards live, alongside 2 other keyboard players to support the music.
The main sources of funding for the project will come from live performances, remixes, and sale of music.
Other artists in this genre and similar related genres have also been known to compose film scores (Ronan Harris for The Gene Generation), have music featured in films (Combichrist and Encephelon in The Gene Generation, Celldweller in various films including Spiderman 2, Constantine and Bad Boys 2) and have songs appear on games (Mind.In.A.Box for Crackdown and PGR 3 & 4), and so this presents another source or revenue.
11.12.11
My new website!
I HAVE A NEW WEBSITE!
It's so much better than my old one, it doesn't look as messy, it's all nicely divided up into the right places, and it's all short and straight to the point.
Design wise I feel like it reflects my futuristic personality and my obsession with electronic music.
This is shown also with my bright and shiny new logo which looks like something straight out of Tron! (One of my favourite films)
I wanted everything to be concise, so I limited the amount of space I use on the website to a rectangle in the middle. I got this idea from Chicane's website, where all his information has been restricted to a panel in the middle of the screen. The transitions between his different pages often include nice little animations as the panel expands and contracts to fit in more or less info from page to page, and the theme fits electronic music perfectly.
I'm glad that the creator I used to build my website isn't littered with ads (bar the small one in the bottom left advertising the creator itself) because there are many sites I've been on by similar artists that are littered with ads all over the place, even though they might be ads about their label or even their own music, but they make the site messy and difficult to read and I wanted to avoid that.
I wanted to be minimal but at the same time avoid being plain. I feel that the white background with the few words and picture is overdone and slightly cliche, so I wanted to head for a futuristic minimalism, and I feel like I've attained that quite well.
It's so much better than my old one, it doesn't look as messy, it's all nicely divided up into the right places, and it's all short and straight to the point.
Design wise I feel like it reflects my futuristic personality and my obsession with electronic music.
This is shown also with my bright and shiny new logo which looks like something straight out of Tron! (One of my favourite films)
I wanted everything to be concise, so I limited the amount of space I use on the website to a rectangle in the middle. I got this idea from Chicane's website, where all his information has been restricted to a panel in the middle of the screen. The transitions between his different pages often include nice little animations as the panel expands and contracts to fit in more or less info from page to page, and the theme fits electronic music perfectly.
I'm glad that the creator I used to build my website isn't littered with ads (bar the small one in the bottom left advertising the creator itself) because there are many sites I've been on by similar artists that are littered with ads all over the place, even though they might be ads about their label or even their own music, but they make the site messy and difficult to read and I wanted to avoid that.
I wanted to be minimal but at the same time avoid being plain. I feel that the white background with the few words and picture is overdone and slightly cliche, so I wanted to head for a futuristic minimalism, and I feel like I've attained that quite well.
Fortunately for me, the creator makes editing my website quick and easy and so the website can evolve as my music does, taking on the artwork for my latest project.
The site is currently split up into 7 sections.
The entrance page just feature the logo I created for myself. It's almost like a sign or a welcome mat to say "You've arrived at the right place".
The home page (which is accessed simply by clicking on the logo on the entrance page) is in introduction to myself and showcases my current project as it is developing.
The info page contains details about me and what I do, from my music projects to my collaborations and outside work.
The Audio page contains links to my albums and my bandcamp page where all of my releases can be downloaded and listened to. This page will showcase only my best or most recent work, and then lead people to the bandcamp page to find more.
The site is currently split up into 7 sections.
The entrance page just feature the logo I created for myself. It's almost like a sign or a welcome mat to say "You've arrived at the right place".
The home page (which is accessed simply by clicking on the logo on the entrance page) is in introduction to myself and showcases my current project as it is developing.
The info page contains details about me and what I do, from my music projects to my collaborations and outside work.
The Audio page contains links to my albums and my bandcamp page where all of my releases can be downloaded and listened to. This page will showcase only my best or most recent work, and then lead people to the bandcamp page to find more.
The Visual page contains videos of my work and a link to my Youtube page, and in the future a gallery of still images or my liver performances and project work.
The network pages contains links to various other artists I know personally, like, or have worked with.
The contact page does what it says on the tin and provides contact information and links to my other sites including my facebook pages.
Future pages will include a remix page showcasing my remix work, a guestbook for users to provide comments and feedback, a news page giving a regular and brief update of my work as it starts to move forward faster, and a live page, providing information on live performances and other public events.
The contact page does what it says on the tin and provides contact information and links to my other sites including my facebook pages.
Future pages will include a remix page showcasing my remix work, a guestbook for users to provide comments and feedback, a news page giving a regular and brief update of my work as it starts to move forward faster, and a live page, providing information on live performances and other public events.
This website essentially acts as a portfolio and news station for all of my projects. It's a place where people can come to see what I do, what I have done, and what I have planned for the future.
The site will act as my home on the net, and I intend to push fans and traffic towards the website for all the info they could need. Perhaps with a forum later down the line as more popularity rolls in, it will provide a home for fans, too, somewhere where there they can get all the news and info they require the moment it comes out. I intend to incorporate a mailing list in the future, too, although bandcamp already provides me with one for people who have downloaded my albums in the past.
At the moment, there are still a few bugs to iron out, primarily that I'm having issues assigning it to the domain name I bought. Until this issue is fixed the website still seems to retain the unprofessional looking domain name given by the imcreator website itself upon creation of my own site. This issue is currently being dealt with and should be fixed within the next few days, leaving the website with the official domain name of judahcarvanna.co.uk.
I'm hoping that as my music career expands, so will my website, and I'm hoping that it will improve with every incarnation hereafter.
The site will act as my home on the net, and I intend to push fans and traffic towards the website for all the info they could need. Perhaps with a forum later down the line as more popularity rolls in, it will provide a home for fans, too, somewhere where there they can get all the news and info they require the moment it comes out. I intend to incorporate a mailing list in the future, too, although bandcamp already provides me with one for people who have downloaded my albums in the past.
At the moment, there are still a few bugs to iron out, primarily that I'm having issues assigning it to the domain name I bought. Until this issue is fixed the website still seems to retain the unprofessional looking domain name given by the imcreator website itself upon creation of my own site. This issue is currently being dealt with and should be fixed within the next few days, leaving the website with the official domain name of judahcarvanna.co.uk.
I'm hoping that as my music career expands, so will my website, and I'm hoping that it will improve with every incarnation hereafter.
21.11.11
In 10 years time...
There's a lot of technology coming out of the music industry at the moment, and a lot of it is still in early stages, but when I get my hands on it, I'm hoping I can be one of the first wave of modern musicians to really put this new tech through its paces and help change the face of the music industry!
There are plenty of examples out there, including projection mapping audio-visual artwork, interactive music, reactive music, generative music, live gig streaming, live studio sessions over the internet, recording from the other side of the world.
One of the things I'd like to do is incorporate music and games together, but not like Guitar Hero or Audiosurf where you play according to the music. Instead, I'd rather create a game where the music changes according to your in game environment and what you do.
I intend to invade a Game Design lecture at University one day and get those guys involved in it all.
I would like to try the live streaming thing one day, but not just to homes, but also to cinemas and some of the massive TV screens you get in big cities (I know there's one in Manchester and one in London), and not just the UK, but also across the world. A worldwide gig would be a pretty amazing event, especially if you can get numerous clubs across every city and town involved, too.
I also like the idea of releasing an album on a multi-platform app where the music changes depending on how you manipulate it in the app. Add multi-player (or multi-listener?) modes for a much more interactive experience with friends, and even an ability to save the 'remixes' that are produced and upload them to a profile on the website for other people to enjoy. Maybe even add the ability to mash songs together from the same album, the same artist, or even just any songs at all.
I'd also like to try the above idea in a live situation, by having a line of MIDI controllers at the front of the stage that can control the music in some way. It would have to be restricted somehow so as not to let someone completely destroy the song live, but it would be an interesting concept to try out.
These are all things I'd like to try out in the future, and I'll certainly be developing some of these ideas further, as well as coming up with new ones.
One of the main things I'd like to do however, it to break the artist/audience barrier in live situations. I want to find a way, or multiple ways, in which the audience can feel far more involved with the gig, than just dancing and watching and listening to it.
There are plenty of examples out there, including projection mapping audio-visual artwork, interactive music, reactive music, generative music, live gig streaming, live studio sessions over the internet, recording from the other side of the world.
One of the things I'd like to do is incorporate music and games together, but not like Guitar Hero or Audiosurf where you play according to the music. Instead, I'd rather create a game where the music changes according to your in game environment and what you do.
I intend to invade a Game Design lecture at University one day and get those guys involved in it all.
I would like to try the live streaming thing one day, but not just to homes, but also to cinemas and some of the massive TV screens you get in big cities (I know there's one in Manchester and one in London), and not just the UK, but also across the world. A worldwide gig would be a pretty amazing event, especially if you can get numerous clubs across every city and town involved, too.
I also like the idea of releasing an album on a multi-platform app where the music changes depending on how you manipulate it in the app. Add multi-player (or multi-listener?) modes for a much more interactive experience with friends, and even an ability to save the 'remixes' that are produced and upload them to a profile on the website for other people to enjoy. Maybe even add the ability to mash songs together from the same album, the same artist, or even just any songs at all.
I'd also like to try the above idea in a live situation, by having a line of MIDI controllers at the front of the stage that can control the music in some way. It would have to be restricted somehow so as not to let someone completely destroy the song live, but it would be an interesting concept to try out.
These are all things I'd like to try out in the future, and I'll certainly be developing some of these ideas further, as well as coming up with new ones.
One of the main things I'd like to do however, it to break the artist/audience barrier in live situations. I want to find a way, or multiple ways, in which the audience can feel far more involved with the gig, than just dancing and watching and listening to it.
20.11.11
Buy some merch for some free music!
In a previous post of mine, I mentioned how illegal downloading of music makes it very difficult for musicians to make any money from selling music - which is the traditional way for a musician to make money, after all, they are musicians, and that's what musicians do, right?
It also appears that the physical CD will become something of a novelty, and that the vast majority of music will continue to be acquired online.
However it seems like a new business model is coming about. If people aren't willing to buy music, but will still download it because they like the artist, they might still buy a t-shirt or a badge or a gig ticket or some random crap with the band logo on it, just to show support and/or look cool.
After all we all know that you can't download T-Shirts, Badges, Cups, Hats and Toilet Paper.
After all we all know that you can't download T-Shirts, Badges, Cups, Hats and Toilet Paper.
Fair enough, it is possible to make these things yourself, you can buy blank cups and shirts etc and all the stuff you need to print/paint your own logos onto them, or, if you're really showing off, you can buy the fabric yourself, buy the clay yourself and scratch build everything yourself. It might look awesome, but it might also cost more in the end. Or it might just look crap. So thankfully, human laziness and a need for quality ensure that the vast majority of fans would rather buy good quality merch from the band, rather than spend time and effort making something themselves that might fall apart at the blink of an eye, or look like someone blew up an Abakhan store and glued some of the bits together.
However, there are some people out there who actually can't be bothered to order things form your website either, and when getting your merch into store on the high street can be more difficult than trigonometry, we have to find another way to sell merch and get our music out there.
It might come to a point soon where some artists are selling a t-shirt with a limited edition of the album they are promoting FREE with the t-shirt and some bonus tracks. It's selling out on a new level and could ultimately damage the artists rep. It's the same as your Mum saying "If you don't eat your veg, you won't get any ice cream." (which is a fair deal for me since I don't like ice cream.) Instead we're just saying "If you don't buy our shirt, we won't let you have our music." We have to make money somehow, and I'm expecting someone to try this idea at some point. It's an idea that pushes the music to the back of the product, and starts to turn the musician into a fashion icon or a trendy brand label of sorts.
Aside from this, the pay-what-you-want model appears to work, as demonstrated by bandcamp who stated that artists who release their albums with a set minimum price actually get 1.5 times more income than artists who just set a price. This model works if you're not releasing your music for free or with a minimum price of 0.
However, there are some people out there who actually can't be bothered to order things form your website either, and when getting your merch into store on the high street can be more difficult than trigonometry, we have to find another way to sell merch and get our music out there.
It might come to a point soon where some artists are selling a t-shirt with a limited edition of the album they are promoting FREE with the t-shirt and some bonus tracks. It's selling out on a new level and could ultimately damage the artists rep. It's the same as your Mum saying "If you don't eat your veg, you won't get any ice cream." (which is a fair deal for me since I don't like ice cream.) Instead we're just saying "If you don't buy our shirt, we won't let you have our music." We have to make money somehow, and I'm expecting someone to try this idea at some point. It's an idea that pushes the music to the back of the product, and starts to turn the musician into a fashion icon or a trendy brand label of sorts.
Aside from this, the pay-what-you-want model appears to work, as demonstrated by bandcamp who stated that artists who release their albums with a set minimum price actually get 1.5 times more income than artists who just set a price. This model works if you're not releasing your music for free or with a minimum price of 0.
It also appears that the physical CD will become something of a novelty, and that the vast majority of music will continue to be acquired online.
The good thing about going completely digital is that the 'album' can be reinvented. It no longer has to be a certain number of songs, or a certain length, etc. It can be as short or long as people like now there is no CD to be restricted by. The size of an album is only restricted by the hard drive its going onto. It also opens up entirely new formats of music - interactive, reactive, modular, as opposed to traditional linear music that we are all so accustomed to in everyday life. Imagine a song that you can change as you listen to it, or even a new generation of music games that involve you manipulation an environment in order to change the music, as opposed to just pushing the right buttons at the right time to recreate the music as best as possible to the original.
Many people are complaining about the death of the album, but the people behind applications such as RJDJ are bringing in a new era or music listening experience. Albums of the future might well start to incorporate more senses in the experience - we will no longer just be listening to music, we will be experiencing it.
This might be the answer to problems selling music. People illegally downloading music might be a sign of the times, a sign that people are getting bored of linear music and don't see its value anymore. the future of music sales may well be that people buy an app to play the music on, and the music is something they play with, as opposed to music they just play.
I am personally looking forward to the evolution of the album, and I intend to jump on the new media bandwagon as well as try to develop ideas of my own.
I am personally looking forward to the evolution of the album, and I intend to jump on the new media bandwagon as well as try to develop ideas of my own.
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