Good questions to think over and answer. When I joined this site I hoped to be able to share my musical creations with fellow musicians, artists, songwriters, etc. Sharing my music to get some feedback or advice. I'm also looking for some unique musicians to possibly collaborate with.
My music back story is ; I took drum and clarinet lessons way back when I was in grade school and on until high school. I've been in a few "garage" bands. I've jammed with quite a few musicians, I've played in many a drum circle, and I currently get together with a few friends to make improvisational soundscapes. Music, in some form or another, has always been a big part of my life. A majority of the music I make is improvisational. There isn't sheet music to follow. My musical approach is to think about something like a past experience that I'm emotionally connected to and I just play off of that. A full drum kit, doumbek, darabuka, a medium size djembe, timbales, bongo's, tibetan gong, various frame drums, claves, shakers and rattles, singing bowls, thumb pianos are the drums and percussion I have to work with. Irish penny whistles, didgeridoo, bamboo transverse flutes, different types of ocarina's and other various wood flutes from different parts of the world make up my flute/woodwinds collection. I still own the clarinet I learned how to play back in grade school. I also make Native American style wood flutes and use them as the primary instrument in my recordings.
I don't have professional music studio. I don't own a lot of recording equipment. All I have to work with is a Zoom H6 recorder and the 2 microphones it came with, an XY mic and a globe mic. I have been recording my own music with the H6 for approximately 6 years, and my music is usually a solo effort. Every now and then my wife contributes with some percussion or didgeridoo. The friends I make music with are too shy or lack confidence to get serious with collaborating to compose songs or to have a serious recording session. The music I make is difficult to put into a category... maybe world music? My music could also be labelled 'meditation music' or 'relaxing' or dare I say 'healing music.' Sharing my work and promoting myself are things I struggle with due to lack of know how. Maybe this is a start? I don't know. As a solo musician sometimes I find it difficult to go beyond what I can come up with musically. Being able to share ideas and what not is very inspiring to me.
Santana's latest release "Africa" is really inspiring to me, especially the percussion. I'd like to add more percussion tracks in my future recordings.
I know how to make music. I know I really enjoy listening to most music genres. How to record and basic mixing and what not is all self taught. I'm learning as I go. Cubase and Wavelab came with my ZOOM H6. Right now I use Cubase for my editing and mixing and I still have a LOT to learn with that program.
Like most things the music industry seems to be changing so fast as far as what media to use for releasing album material ( CD's, MP3's or other digital format). With that in mind I struggle which format to release any of my music on. Suggestions or advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
As far as musical collaboration, for me the other musician needs to be open minded and possess the ability to improv and not be afraid to just 'wing it.' I'd like to hear from a talented didgeridoo player or an acoustic guitarist or other stringed instrument (violin, cello, upright bass).
IF you're interested in hearing some of my music samples you can find them here: https://soundcloud.com/ken-talaga
