We caught up with Lisn artist Joel Garnier – responsible for some fine ambient and atmospheric pieces on the Lisnmusic site. Originally from Strasbourg in France, Joel now lives in Menasha, Wisconsin.
What is your musical background?
I began by playing a banjo that was left behind at our house between age 10 and 15. I also had a nylon string acoustic that was decent. Later I stumbled upon the McNally Strum Stick. He also designed the Martin travel guitar which is similar. It’s funny that I began to take playing music seriously with a toy. After borrowing a very fine classical guitar at college I finally purchased a Guild Jumbo. With that I adapted my older finger picking techniques and learned by myself taking step by step. I simply played to learn and enjoy.
Then I moved back to the home town and discovered early techno. Old friends taught me to use Fasttracker and Soundforge to take a diversion from just playing guitar. Finally I bought a recording computer and set off on that journey. I combined the improvisational guitar work with the electro in a DAW. I helped other artists record. I worked at a youth center teaching recording techniques. Now I like to make ambient music for myself and produce whole records with friends.
How would you describe the style(s) of music you make? Do you focus on any specific instruments or equipment in your work?
I like to learn from experiments on my own and apply what I know when I record others. I have a certain range between noise and beauty. I usually begin with a guitar improvisation or a Reason track. In the end I have done my best to innovate and sound good.
What successes have you had in the music/synchronisation industry so far?
Aside from one DC Comics internet promotion Lisn is my first licensing contract.
Have you been involved in any exciting projects? Do you have anything new (music or projects) in the pipeline?
All I have in the pipeline are locals and friends trying to make time for the studio. I have other income so I can afford to help people.
What are you goals for the future?
I simply hope that I sell via Lisn. I have changed course to do so. I have many ideas like any artist. I do what I can.
Anything else you would like us to know?
I am also a painter. I have worked an art foundry (dirty, nasty but awesome), worked at glassblowing (awesome!), and a few other skills and arts.
To license music from Joel Garnier’s catalogue for TV, film, advertisements, games, corporate or other media projecst please visit the Joel Garnier page on Lisnmusic. If you are interested in Joel Garnier creating a bespoke composition please contact us.
Just squeezing in before the month is out, here’s a selection of the new music added to Lisn in November, including tracks from Rohit Bhusan, Thomsonaudio, JSL, Preybird and Ethereal Motion.
Ethereal Motion is the personal music project of Scott Ross, an accomplished recording engineer/producer/composer based in Seattle. The sounds and songs of Ethereal Motion blend melodic grooves, real drums, live drum loops, tasteful keyboard layers and real horn sections. Here’s what Scott had to say when we caught up with him for a chat…
Ethereal has a diverse catalogue of music – how would you describe the style(s) of music you release?
I record and produce in a large variety of styles, including rock/hard rock, jazz, new age, pop, dance etc. Most of my songs are instrumental, as I am predominantly a horn player (sax and trumpet).
What is your musical background?
I’ve been playing the saxophone (alto and tenor) for many years now, along with the clarinet. I picked up the trumpet about 10 years ago, as I wanted to be my own horn section!!
How would you describe the style(s) of music you make? Do you focus on any specific instruments or equipment in your work?
Being a horn player, a lot of my music tends to have big horn sections and be more pop/jazz oriented. I own a commercial recording studio in Seattle, WA, so I use the studio as a home base for all my personal recording.
Do you have plans to bring other artists into your publishing company?
When I can’t play the various instruments the way I want, I’ll bring in other people (drummer, bassist, guitarist etc.) to enhance my songs and add a little variety.
What are your biggest achievements in the synchronisation industry so far?
As a recording studio owner, engineer and producer (see Elliott Bay Recording Company), I have recorded over 500 songs for Muzak, and 150 for Pioneer America, which have been played all over the world in restaurants, airports, on hold music etc. My own music has played on various reality shows, indie productions, radio spots etc.
When creating music what is your inspiration? Do you make music with specific ideas and projects in mind?
When I start a new song, I generally don’t have a specific idea in mind! I’ll start with an idea, go somewhere with it, and it generally changes many times before it’s finished. I might start out trying to do a hard rock song, and in the end it will have a complete horn section and be more of a pop jazz song!
Do you have any specific goals for the future?
I will continue to produce music for the rest of my life. It’s my life’s work and my hobby. I enjoy producing and engineering for other artists and I certainly like working on my own music too. I continue to try to get my music out into the world!
Anything else you would like us to know?
I’ve been producing and engineering for over 25 years now. I’ve recorded over 400 records for various artists around the world. 8 records have been certified gold so far. I’ve worked with a wide variety of artists throughout the years and will continue to do what I do for as long as possible.
To license music from the Ethereal Motion catalogue for TV, film, advertisement, game, corporate or other media projects please visit the Ethereal Motion page on Lisnmusic. If you are interested in Scott Ross from Ethereal Motion creating a bespoke composition please contact us.
Downstream Records say of themselves, “We’re a label dedicated to bringing you ‘electronica’ in all its forms. From downtempo to minimal techno the aim is to deliver the best music we can, with both consistency and regularity.” With a steadily increasing catalogue of music available through Lisnmusic we thought it was about time we caught up with their top man Damon Vallero for a chat.
When was the label created, what was the reason for setting up your label, who is behind it and what is your musical background?
The label was started in 2004 and was a means for me (Damon Vallero) to release different styles of music to that which I had previously been producing. I had/have been running the Electracom label since 1996 which was predominantly hard techno and it was difficult to vary too much from that style when releasing.
My background is that I grew up in South Africa where I started out on a musical path dabbling in synth based music in the 1980s. I formed a duo with a friend and we got signed to Warner Bros for two singles which didn’t really achieve any widespread success. In the late eighties I joined with another friend and formed The Swanhunters who released an anti Apartheid single in collaboration with the Sheffield band Chakk, of whom Mark Brydon of Moloko was a member.
Moving to the UK in 1988 and after a break of three years or so I began producing dance music, predominantly techno and started the Electracom label in 1996. I produced a number of releases for the label as well as releasing other artists and in 2001 began DJing and playing live around Europe. In 2004 I started Downstream Records to allow me to produce other styles of electronic music under different guises.
How would you describe the style(s) of music you release?
I have released a number of different styles of music on the label. Downtempo/lounge music under the Admon name resulted in the 2005 album “4AM Life”. Following that I released “Let The Trend Be Your Friend” as Megatrend which had elements of broken beat, techno, dubcore, glitch, ambient and most points in between. The next album I released was as Displayaz called “Control The Event” and incorporated elements of Dubstep and Drum & Bass. In between these albums I have released singles mainly in the tech/deep house genre. All the releases have been my own projects and I have not worked with any other artists on Downstream to date.
Your output covers a number of different styles within electronic music when many other labels tend to stay close to one sound they can be identified with. What was it that made you take this broader approach?
With the proliferation of music genres and the advance of technology, I found that producing one style of music was becoming quite restictive. In the electronic field it is much easier to be able to produce under different names and so I wanted to experiment and explore areas I had never tried before. Latterly more and more labels are diversifying their music style which can only be a good thing for artists and listeners alike.
What successes have you had in the music industry so far, and in particular any in synchronisation?
My tracks have been played out by the likes of Ritchie Hawtin, Dave Clarke and many others and my music has also been aired on Radio 1 a number of times by John Peel years ago to more recently Mary Anne Hobbs. I won the 2002 Diesel U Music competition in the house category playing at Fabric in London and was interviwed on MTV. Three of my downtempo tracks were used by a US company to launch a new product.
What are you goals for the future?
The goals for the future are to keep releasing a diverse range of music that is both enjoyable and challenging and try and reach as wider audience as possible.
To license music from the Downstream Records catalogue for TV, film, advertisement, game, corporate or other media project please visit the Downstream Records page on Lisnmusic. If you are interested in Damon Vallero from Downstream creating a bespoke composition please contact us.
Recently a client approached us at Lisnmusic to supply music and sound design for a forthcoming animated advert. The advert was for ‘MTV at the Movies’, a weekday show on MTV reviewing the latest releases, running interviews and lots of other film related bits and pieces. The advert will run in 60 countries worldwide.
Below is a short diary to give an insight to how we approached the project and what is involved with this type of work – it runs through how the brief was interpreted, the stages of production for the audio and how things changed throughout the process.
PHASE 1
The project kicks off with us being supplied with a rough animatic from the animators.
The animatic is a low-resolution version of what the animators are creating. Not much character animation at this stage but all the key timings are there for us to sync up the sound design and identify key moments in the music. We identified four key moments in the animation section of the advert.
For this first draft we decided to only concentrate on the SFX elements. We made a list of all SFX required, then recorded everything where possible and the remaining sounds were sourced from our library. We then moved on to syncing it all, up after which we went to work on getting good continuity across all the sounds. This fix draft is sent over to the client as a WIP (work in progress) to make sure things are heading in the correct direction.
PHASE 2
Once the second animatic comes in we also have the feedback from the client and are ready to crack on.
You can see from the screenshot that the resolution of the video is now much higher and smoother. At this stage we started working on the composition. This particular project required cinematic orchestral at the start and then something more contemporary for the video montage at the end. As mentioned earlier we identified four key moments that should be highlighted in the composition. We created a composition based around this concept, but quickly realised that four changes in such quick succession made the piece far to frantic. Instead, we decided to work towards having a single large event in the composition in the middle (the romance section) and highlighting the other key moments with minimal sound design, so for example car crash, ogre noise, and lightning.
The WIP is then sent across to the client for approval and feedback.
PHASE 3
From this screenshot you can see that the project is now running at 55 channels. The colour coding on the groups defines each section of the production, animation, action, fantasy, romance, horror and montage (which is the last 15 seconds where the voice over occurs).
PHASE 4
Above is the final render of the animation, this is the version that we receive on delivery day and once our WIP has been approved. The remaining work consists of minor re-syncing of sound design to tighten everything up, final mix down of the composition, mastering to -10db and export of the various versions that the client requires. In this case we were required to deliver full mix @ 30sec, full mix @ 15sec, no music mix and no sfx mix in aiff format.
And the final video – seeing all the hard work come to fruition!
Kultur-Time Productions has been running for 5 years creating music which focuses on Latin soundscapes, European club music and unique 70s classic wah-funk sounds, all underpinned by cool, live grooves. For another instalment of our Profiles series we caught up with Kultur Time Productions’ main main Andy.
What is your musical background?
For me music has always been a very important aspect to my life. My first tastes of the industry came in 1990 from working as a live sound engineer for a company called Time Bomb artists, an event management company specializing in onstage artist performance and sound management. For 5 years I worked in various venues across the United Kingdom and Mainland Europe mastering the art of live audio engineering and onstage production. I moved over into the studio recording side of things when a position came up at Eternity Records studio in Witham Essex in 1996. This was a small production outfit specializing in the current dance sector with a group of song writers, producers and engineers recording demos for dance acts signed to Timebomb Artists. I later had ideas and dreams of my own so I started my own label Kultur Time – a music production company based in Colchester in Essex which I have been growing over the past 5 years.
How would you describe the style(s) of music you make? Do you focus on any specific instruments or equipment in your work?
It’s a hard thing to say where our musical tastes lay as they change with ever evolving new projects that I work on and also with other new artists constantly put new ideas and new musical concepts into our minds. Dance of all genres is of interest to us, we have a particular keen interested in Latin soundscapes merged with European club music and 70’s wah funk. We love to focus on customer ideas and really listen to their musical needs and arise to the challenge of filling a once blank canvas. We can make great music from an idea set to us and excel in turning the idea into a living breathing masterpiece that fits with the original idea. We can tailor make all genres of musical types using the latest in cutting edge music technology software and hardware, techniques from old and new and our intuition.
What successes have you had in the music/synchronisation industry so far?
We have just finished scoring a 30 minute nature documentary and are in the final stages of post production with the film makers. It’s been a very interesting project to work on and we have also been involved in the film editing process.
Have you been involved in any exciting projects?
Recently I have been working on some sessions for a company based in Slovenia (Urban Karma Productions) who record and master samples for publication to sample CDs/DVDs. We have also just landed a contract with a web travel company to supply 100% of the music scores and voice overs for their latest online travel videos.
What are your goals for the future?
Working mainly within the film/television/radio media industry excelling in our strengths of current up to date music and soundscapes for the latest ear catching music on screen and on the airwaves, Increasing our stockpile of pre-recorded material for web music sales. We plan next year to tour some dates in the UK and in Europe with a new live act we are developing currently.
Anything else you would like us to know?
We also work closely with a network of musicians from around the globe for real ethnic blends with original ethnic instruments and artists from countries of the instruments’ origin.
To license music from the Kultur-Time Productions catalogue for TV, film, advertisement, game, corporate or other media project please visit the Kultur-Time page on Lisnmusic. If you are interested in Andy from Kultur-Time creating a bespoke composition please contact us.
Nestled at the edge of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, Aedan Sherry doesn’t have to look far for inspiration. Through his music, he shares with us this inspiration. With his enrapturing, moving, evolving melodies and creative beats and rhythms, you can get lost in Aedans playful compositions. With over 14 years experience in writing music, his tracks convey happiness, optimism and more! Aedan works in several styles and genres, including Electronica, Dance, Chill Out, Alternative, and Electro.
What is your musical background?
Apart from being sent to accordion lessons when I was younger, I would say I’m mostly a self taught musician. I think my love for music probably began unconsciously throughout all those years of growing up at home to the background score of my Dad’s record collection. I would be playing with colourful toy bricks and building little wooden train tracks to the score of Vivaldi or the Beatles or even Kraftwerk. So I’m sure I’ve been influenced right from the beginning to have an ear for music. Also there was the Playstation era where I did nothing but play games for hours on end providing me with a soundtrack of mixed musical genres and styles from right across the globe. I could be playing Final Fantasy for an hour or two with its wonderfully melodic Japanese instrumentals, then later I could switch to Tony Hawks Skateboarding and be listening to the Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop. So I definitely wasn’t left short for inspiration.
Things really started to evolve for me when I received a music sequencing game for the Playstation (Music/Music 2000). At last I could sit and create a whole song from scratch using my own melodies, beats and rhythms. I got lost in a world of composition which continues right to this present day. The love never dies.
How would you describe the style(s) of music you make? Do you focus on any specific instruments or equipment in your work?
My style varies a lot. I could be working on an orchestral piece for a week or 2 and when I’m done I could move straight into a trance or electronic tune for my next project. It all depends on how I’m feeling when I start writing. If I had to categorise my style or styles I would say I mostly work in electronica and in its many forms (electronica, ambient, dance, trance, break-beat, IDM), then in orchestral and then in world music. A lot of the time when submitting music for synchronisation I am asked what bands or existing acts my musical style sounds similar to. I find that the most difficult question to answer as I feel my music usually doesn’t sound very similar to any of them!
Most of the time I won’t have a specific idea of what I want to create. Just a very strong urge to start creating. Sometimes I’ll start with a beat, sometimes a melody, and then build from there.
At the moment my computer is my studio. I always use the same software which consists of three or four electronic synths, one software drum machine and one sampler. I have all the sounds in there that I could ever possibly need. Real instruments, flowing strings, woodwinds, brass etc. right down to hard and heavy electronic leads, fat basses and thousands of individual drum hits which I use to compile my beats and rhythms.
What successes have you had in the music/synchronisation industry so far?
I’ve been writing music for about 14 – 15 years now but only decided about a year and a half ago to go full steam ahead into writing music for synchronisation . It took a little while before things got started for me. You need patience in this business! A wait of about six months ensued before I’d made my first sale. After that it became more of a weekly or fortnightly occurrence. I am now at the point where I’ve made nearly forty sales in total since I started. My biggest success in the industry so far has actually come from right here at Lisn Music where I’ve had a song synced into an American TV series, VP Challenge . So thanks for that Lisn! I’ve also had music placed in a couple of live theatre performances for the Open Learning Initiative and for the Colorado Children’s Hospital and just recently I’ve been asked to provide music for an up and coming free running online video project which I’m quite excited about. Also there were a few television sync opportunities I had to turn down due to conflicting contracts between libraries which was unfortunate, but it was still a boost to hear that my music had been successfully selected for use in sync for television here in the UK.
Have you been involved in any exciting projects?
I had a single released on iTunes about 3 years ago with a small label in the US. It was a one off project but it was still a cool experience. The label heard my track on Myspace and got in touch with me asking if they could put some lyrics down on it. I said yes and then 2-3 months later the track was released on iTunes. Even the local paper called round to my house, did an interview and had me on the front page of their music section. It was great!
What are your goals for the future?
My main goal for the future is to be able to continue writing and hopefully reach the point where I can write on a full time basis and support my family from my musical income. At the moment I’m only writing on a part-time basis which is enough to get some good music together but with a little more time I think I could produce something that little bit extra special. One personal goal of mine is to be the guy who writes the theme music for the coverage of the next world cup on the BBC or on ITV. Its in Brazil, and there’s plenty of musical culture to source inspiration from there! You never know, it might happen! But even just to be able to tell people that I write music for a living would be a nice feeling.
To license music from the Aedan Sherry Publishing catalogue for TV, film, advertisement, game, corporate or other media project please visit the Aedan Sherry page on Lisnmusic. If you are interested in Aedan Sherry creating a bespoke composition please drop us a line.
There’s so much competition to make your submissions to music supervisors (and others who may want to use your music) stand out that getting the basics right is crucial. In this article we present five ‘must do’s’ to ensure that you increase your chances of success.
1. Ensure the Audio Quality is High
This might seem obvious, but is easily the most important. Always provide the best impression of your music by sending final masters rather than early demos or works in progress. The Music Supervisor will often be looking for songs that they can quickly and easily license without the need for further work or delays. If they are on short deadlines this becomes even more important.
2. Have 100% Ownership
Make sure you own, or can account for 100% of the copyright contained in the work. As soon as supervisors have to deal with split masters or are trying to chase down a 5% share of a songwriting copyright (maybe an old band member has left who has percentage) they will walk away from the deal.
3. Provide Clear Contact Information
Make sure your full contacts are on both the case and the CD that you send. Also make sure your track listing is available on the case – if it’s only on the disc it can be hard to read when in a CD player. If you’re sending a submission by email make everything clear in the email and also within the information encoded into the tracks. This is easy to do with iTunes.
4. Register CDs with Gracenote Before sending your tracks off on CD make sure to register them with Gracenote – this is the database that iTunes uses to find track title when a CD is inserted. Register and make sure it all works before you send it off. It can take several days for the details to make it into the Gracenote database so be sure to plan in advance.
5. Have Stems and Instrumentals Easily Available
Sometimes your track can be perfectly suited to a project in all ways, but the lyrical content may give it an unwanted sentiment that doesn’t fit the production, or it may need to be used under dialogue. For these reasons supervisors will often want to know if there is an instrumental available and may want both versions to test out in the production. On occasions they will also ask for the stems as they may need to use a stripped down or slightly altered version. While there is no need to send all of these with your initial submission it can be worth mentioning their availability in a covering letter or email.
Lisnmusic make sure that all of the above tips, and more, are undertaken as standard when we represent your songs to Music Supervisors. If you are interested in working with Lisnmusic please contact us by email or via our website. And why not try out the above suggestions when sending us your music for consideration!
UK label 9 Volt Records formed in 2009 and is home to Auto-Pilot. With a sound largely based in electronic music, but without being strictly pure to the genre, Auto-Pilot and 9 Volt covers everything from laid-back loungey grooves to punchy and atmospheric electronica. Prior to establishing 9 Volt, Auto-Pilot signed to Holophon in 2007, releasing 2 albums (Ocearina & Out Here). Three more releases followed over the next few years through various European labels and they signed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell Music. Adrian Collier talked to Lisn about the label, successes and their future plans.
What is the musical philosophy of the label?
The 9 Volt philosophy is to release genuinely great music with real originality based around the electronic genre but somewhat deviating away into the crossover territory of live musicians and instruments.
Who is behind the label and what is their musical background?
The label was formed in 2009 by (myself) Adrian Collier and Shaun Herbert who together go back to the mid 90’s playing in the same band (Fokker Pilots). Back then I played bass and Shaun was the keyboards. Later the band dissolved and reformed into Auto-Pilot which went on to sign to a succession of labels including Holophon and Major Records in Europe.
Tell us a bit about your main artist(s)…
9 Volt was formed as an artist label for Auto-Pilot so for a while it remained that way, and the download sales reflect the hard work put in.
In 2010, Trance producer Cygnus X-1 aka Martin Craig came onboard and in a relatively short period established himself within the Trance community gaining real momentum.
What successes have you had in the synchronisation industry so far?
Relatively new to the synchronisation industry but since looking this way the most notable things we’ve done a global warming campaign for Greenpeace and work for Sky Sports 1.
Have you been involved in any exciting projects?
So far, in the 2 years the label has been running it has all been one big exciting project. Music synchronisation is the current project we are looking at and yes, were excited about the prospects.
What are you goals for the future?
We tread careful so goals are only baby steps ahead, I guess the word is tentative. Looking further ahead the prospect of running our own publishing is a real possibility.
Anything else you would like us to know?
We like the fact that we produce our own music videos and I guess in the short time we have looked in to synchronisation it has changed our outlook towards music. It’s opened doors to new ideas in song writing enabling us to think more out of the box.
If you’re interested in licensing music from 9 Volt Records for your project in a fast and efficient manner, with both the master and publishing copyright cleared for immediate use then visit the 9 Volt Records page on Lisnmusic.
For the latest in our series of Lisnmusic label profiles we caught up with David Newman aka autistici, who is founder and curator of the Sheffield-based label Audiobulb.
What is the musical philosophy of the label? Audiobulb releases more than purely music, it is an exploratory music label designed to promote creativity in all its forms. Our aim is to facilitate the development of new artists working within a realm of care, quality and craft. Works supported by Audiobulb often explore the interface between the electronic and natural world. We embrace the complexity of unique electronics, intricate acoustics and detailed microsound. I am constantly looking for artists who have found a way to express themselves and who have been innovative in the manner in which they have approached their work. I like to work with people who are on a journey.
Who is behind the label?
My position is one of founder and curator for the label, I search for new talent I then release and promote it. I see myself as having an equal responsibility to the label, its artists and the people who listen to our music or buy our products. I am a primarily a fan and always a supporter. I also release music of my own under the name ‘autistici’ .
Tell us a bit about your main artists…
We have a range of fantastic artists from diverse backgrounds worldwide. Monty Adkins is a lecturer in sound design and theory at Huddersfield University; Ultre is an extremely talented young man also from Yorkshire who makes award winning music. Calika is from the south of UK and he makes quirky, off-kilter alternative grooves. A Dancing Beggar crafts emotionally charged ambient post rock which rides the same vibe as Sigur Ros and Papercutz provides beautiful melodic soundscapes from Portugal featuring female vocals. We have many artists and I am lucky to work with so many talented people. Visit the ‘releases’ page at www.audiobulb.com to find out more.
What successes have you had in the music and synchronisation industry so far?
We have had some great syncs in the past. The highest profile being with Mercedes Benz supporting a new range in their line. In other areas we have been synced to indie films and extreme climbing videos!
What are you goals for the future?
The future is only ever a day away! I’m always working to link up with artists and creative’s to produce the next release whether it be music, video or music software. Audiobulb’s goals continue to encompass a desire to operate as a home to artists who are working on their unique explorative journey.
