CDR Knowledge

I just got through the door and I am absolutely exhausted. Literally stuffed my face with some cereal and should be going to bed but… Tonight’s event was so inspiring that I feel like I need to write it all down while it is still fresh in my head. If it doesnt quite add up or make sense, I apologise in advance.

So… what can I say apart from the fact that I truly felt like home tonight. But that might be a big leap to the conclusion of this night, so lets wind it back a bit.

Some of you might now what the CDR nights at Plastic People are about, some of you might not. In the words of the burnt progress crew, it is a “night of ideas and tracks in the making mixed from recordable CD’s and other digital media”. You can catch CDR every second Thursday of the month at Plastic People, and it is a night open for all (small & big) producers and music/beat makers who come down and just play their new/old finished/in the making productions. CDR Knowledge was an event that took this concept one step further, inviting some of these producers and music makers to talk about how they make music and sharing their little tips and tricks with the rest of us.

In my own opinion, this evenings event was about many things. First of all it featured 3 amazing producers and beat makers: Bullion, Floating Points and Simbad, who all shared their personal stories and experiences of producing and making beats/music.  Second of all, they had an introduction to Logic Pro 9, and gave us all a chance to play around with the software on computers and ask the ‘pros’ for tips and various questions you’ve always wanted to ask. Not to mention that you had ‘members’ from the CDR crew like Morgan Zarate, Aaron Jerome, Soundspecies, Guynamite making beats on the spot. But I think that the most important thing this event proved, at least to me, that there really is a community out there, a little family of music makers that all share the same love and passion for great music. And instead of trying to compete and rip each other off, we should all come together and help each other out.

A lot of other great people where there, like The 8Bitch, Mr Beatnick, Semtek, Greymatter Beats, Soul Identity, Kev Luckhurst, Charlie Dark and probably many many others I never had the chance to have a chat with. But all in all, the atmosphere and the vibe was just amazing.

Bullion started off the night talking about his track “Get Familiar“, and what made me smile was that everybody were drinking and socialising, but when he started playing the track, a strange silence fell across the room and as you looked around, you found yourself bopping your head along to the beat with almost every single person in there. I don’t know how to explain it properly, but it was one of those great moments when you just start smiling to yourself because you realise that you are in a room with so many other people that are, in a way, just like yourself. And it felt really good.

Simbad went through his track “Soul Fever“, and I loved the fact that he pointed out the importance of backing up your music on several hard drives, because horrible shit can happen when your laptop suddenly crashes and you lose all your work. Im sure most of us had a little giggle to ourselves, because I know of so many people who have lost their work due to a silly little thing like that.

Floating Points finished off the night talking about how he made “Love Me Like This“, a track that I never seem to be able to get tired off.  He was saying how he now have learnt the importance of ‘pre mastering’ his tracks before they actually get mastered, and how much trouble they had gone through to actually getting the track mastered due to various ‘issues’ and things people don’t really think about when they make it in their bedrooms, but never gone through the process of putting it on wax before.

Personally, what I liked most about this event was that we were all there because of one common interest, our love for music. The little talks the boys had about their tracks didn’t contain many ‘AHA!’ moments, however, they gave most people a sense of reassurance. Meaning, just like the rest of us, these guys didn’t really know how to do things either when they first started out making music. They found their own little ways of making things work and sounding good, and they stuck to it. I think it was a great way of demonstrating the fact that making music isn’t rocket science, and even the most simple tracks can turn out to be amazing.

I had such a great time & experience, and I feel like a learnt a lot, even about things I kind of already knew. I hope they will continue doing these nights once in a while, because I believe it is a nice way of getting people who make music together and create an atmosphere where you’re not ashamed to ask all those questions that might have been annoying you for quite some time. As always, the only thing I missed was having some girls representing haha. WHERE MY GIRLS AT!? Hm, yes… I think I need to stop going out, save money, and start making music again.

Right, bed time for me I think. Much love to you all! x