Am in Florence and I’m surprised at how chill and safe it feels. It was much worse last time I was here in 2009

The problem with being 50 is you still look at the world as if you’re 20. But the world looks back and sees a 50-year-old.

Tried out a duo today. Was underwhelming.

Thinking about moving to Tuscany

Wandering through Florence and there’s amazing buildings and art around every corner. Can’t stop thinking about what they could’ve achieved if they’d had ChatGPT available back then.

AI creates opportunities even for people who hate it. Lead the charge against it and you can build a tribe around human made work. Show people how you use it as a creative tool and you can build a tribe around the possibilities. There’s money in polarizing positions.

Maybe the easiest way to make money from music is to write about it.

One of the most useful things I’ve done for making music was setting up a template in Logic. Drum bus, reverbs, delays. All the stuff I kept adding again every time I started something. Now I open a project and get to work on the music. Starting feels a lot less daunting when half the setup is already done.

Would love to go back to a time when I wasn’t asked for a review every time I bought a product or service.

Shared a snippet of an idea I’m working on. A DJ replied: “I’m gonna need this 🥰” Now I’ve just got to finish the bloody thing.

The 9 albums that made me. Looking at this, it’s pretty obvious I was heavily into rock, metal and grunge, particularly between the ages of 15 and 18. There’s also a bit of influence from my dad’s record collection in there. Dance music came later, at university. Club nights, Radio 1 Essential Mixes, Judge Jules, Euphoria compilations, and eventually Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy. Funny how your musical tastes evolve, but those early albums never really leave you. Could easily have picked another nine.

One thing that surprised me about releasing my first track was how easy it was to get it onto Spotify and Apple Music through a distributor. Seeing it there felt awesome. Bit weird too. Then nobody listened until I started pushing it on TikTok and YouTube. Getting it released and getting it heard turned out to be two very different things.

Yes @jayclouse my inbox habits are changing…

That confucius fella has a point.

Just had a bit of an epiphany… bounced my 8-bar loop from Logic, uploaded it to Suno and heard how it could work as a full track. My core idea, taken in directions I wouldn’t have thought of. I’m using it as a reference for arrangement ideas. Already itching to get back into Logic and try a few.

If you’ve listened to an 8-bar loop for an hour and you’re still moving to it, it can mean one of two things: 1) You’ve got something worth turning into a track. 2) Your ears are broken.

got a lead that I more than 50% happy with. And a vocal that doesn’t suck (may change later) think it’s time to do some arranging.

A friend played a couple of my tracks in a dj set on TikTok live last night. Listed to those tracks hundreds of times whilst making them but hearing someone else play them hits different. Never gets old.

It’s not much but it’s got groove. Think I can build on this.

seriously, if this 50yo who can’t play an instrument and knows almost zero music theory can learn to make electronic music, release tracks AND make some $ from streaming, then I don’t see why we can’t have flying cars.