The Feel of 100% Live Music
How It's Made: A Short Summary
Below are five reasons why I make backing tracks instead of buying them, but first - a little background on the process.
While many layers in the backing tracks are physical instruments (bass, guitars, some of the drums, mandolin, cellos, and violin), others are modeled instruments - as heard in movie scores and in plenty of your favorite songs. I don't use AI here. The purpose for me is to speak straight from the heart.
I've developed processes for creating these, depending on the goal of the song. It's only proprietary because nobody asked. I'm kidding. They asked - and they received - and as I spoke I saw their eyes wide and alert, then glazing with overstimulation. If you're interested in lessons, I'll teach you everything from laying down the first note through the mixing and mastering.
What Motivates Me to Create
Creative freedom
Mainly I do it for the stories I can tell in the notes, and the way each song sounds. I'm inspired deeply by two of my favorite musicians, Jimi Hendrix and Amanda Shires - so I try to make each song feel like its own world. But collectively, I create this repertoire as if it's one ever-expanding picture, because when you think about it - it is. I can create a lot of different experiences now with this big repertoire. And I keep going...
"To inspire people!" THIS is good motivation, and helps inspire me along the way. Read Reviews
Enjoyment
Imagine playing a melody with the same recording again and again. Would you grow tired of it? Or would it become like an old friend? For me thankfully, it’s the latter. Outside of performing, which is about 5% of my job here, I also enjoy working in the studio (which is about 70% of my job here).
At heart and in everyday life: I’m a cellist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and mix engineer.
Meaning and Passion
Live or recorded - I want an accompaniment that supports my natural cello style, dynamics, passion, and has interesting arrangements! Just consider what my cello professor said to me many years ago: “I’m sure we’d all be better players if every note felt important to us, as they obviously do to you.” (Sometimes the most passionate among us are ordinary, everyday people.)
Living my dream
In the last few decades full-time musicians have generally been solo performers. Since I'm not really a singer and don't want the rigor of long-term tour life, I innovated. Then, I fell in love with delicately-made live/recorded cello music (in case you can't tell!).
To let you know, I've been living my dream since 2018! It's a lot of work I do here, and also very rewarding in many ways beyond the music.
Dynamics and organic tempo
Tempo ebb and flow (what I think of as "organic tempo", and in extreme cases it's called rubato) and dynamic volume are deeply meaningful to me in my practice. The analogy from speaking is: soft vs. loud, and small variations in the speed. Together, they convey so much meaning to us as humans.
I know fast techniques to make tempo perfect, somewhat imperfect, randomly imperfect, or even to use a simulated groove. These are good tools, and I used them in some of the pop songs for example - but I love the results of the hands-on processes I use to create 95% of my songs. These are more human the the vast majority of backing tracks on the planet, and it's going to stay that way.
What I love most about this musical medium - live cello with backing tracks I create - is how it lets me shape a world of subtle sound for each song, where the live cello can truly shine. It's a space I get to design that's full of texture, expression, soul, and fun - just like me!