Moving Forwards

Hello people!

Well, it's been a week or so since I released the Sabotage EP. The ReverbNation, Twitter and Facebook page are all receiving some increased interest, which is all good. But, if you know me, it doesn't stop there.

I'm on my way to finishing another EP. This one is slightly smaller, with two pure DnB tracks, and if I may say so myself, they're sounding pretty awesome.

I'm working on creating a monthly podcast as well, where I'm going to feature unsigned DnB artists, and play you some of their tracks. I'll also be giving you some updates on the general world of DnB, and maybe some reviews as well.

I also have an internet DJing session, which is scheduled to be about 2 hours long (at the moment). It will be held in January, and I'll provide a listen in link closer to the date. Be sure to check this blog, the twitter feed or the facebook page to recieve the link so that you can listen when it goes live. Most of the tracks played will be unsigned DnB, Dubstep & Electro artists. I'll make sure I'll post a full track list with links to the artists pages and websites on this blog, the day of the session.

Just another quick note, I'm going to try and schedule the session for 8PM British time, which means I'll actually be doing it at 4AM my time (Western Australia), which is a slight pain in the arse, but ah well. The session will be left up to stream as many times as you want for about a month (depending on artist approval).

Make sure you check out the ReverbNation account (www.reverbnation.com/akumadnb) to listen to Sabotage, and keep your feed-eyes posted for the new EP due to be out in a couple of weeks.

That's all from me,
Brad

Akuma Presents: SABOTAGE

Click here to download!

Track list:

1. Sabotage

2. On the Edge

3. Shades

4. One Nation

SABOTAGE is free to download! Stream versions will be added to the YouTube, Soundcloud and MySpace accounts.

So a little explanation on this one. These are all brand new tracks (no reworks). SABOTAGE and ON THE EDGE are straight up hard hitting DnB, SHADES is an atmospheric one, and ONE NATION is more of a Dubstep style song.

Finally!

Right, here's the deal:

I finally have a decent internet connection. I'm still trying to iron out a few issues with the router and the modem, but it seems to be fairly stable and operating at a nice speed.

I also have a shiny new Alienware computer, for all my gaming needs, and soon to be my music workstation as well. So, I'm going to make all the transitions from my laptop to my new desktop.

Once that's all done, I'll finish off the songs I've been working on over the past few months and upload them to the YouTube channel. Plus now I'll probably get some time to work on the tutorials blog.

So hopefully, things are looking up.

Short Update

Just a small update to let you know I'm still alive.

I'm still struggling for an internet connection, and I have no time at work to do anything on Akuma, so updates are going to be a little slow still. Hopefully, after this weekend, I'll have a dedicated high-speed connection at home.

The new website is in development and will be completed shortly. It will be uploaded when I finally get my internet connection, along with a few new tracks and some articles for the tutorials blog.

All in all, I haven't given up, I'm not dead and I haven't yet been admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

New Website

I am currently designing the new website to promote my music a little better. Once up akumamusic.com will link to the new site. You'll still be able to reach this blog by the old link of:

akumamusic.blogspot.com

Tutorials

Keep your eyes posted over to AkumaTutorials for week by week guides, hints and tips on production and synthesis.

In the near future I'll be going over creating solid D&B beats using the wonders of FL Studio's FPC plugin, and the simple but effective mixing techniques you can use to get the most out of your drum samples.

I'll also be going over creating some nice DnB bass sounds using the Rob Papen "Blue" synthesizer, as well as some leads and pads.

I'll also be talking about the various ways you can automate in FL to get more out of your mixes.

See you soon!

Sorry!

Okay, so for the non-existent people who allegedly read this blog, I would like to apologise for my lack of visibility over the past couple of months. I promise you, there's actually a good reason this time.

I have moved from Manchester in the UK to Perth in Western Australia. Yeah baby, I'm on the other side of the freakin' world. Aussie winter is warmer than UK summer, the nightclubs are pretty good and I can still get a pint of Guinness if I really wish.

Back onto the music, Chaotica. Yeah. Erm. With the move and everything, it never really got the loving care and attention that it so very much needed, and with that kind of got scrapped. To be honest, I'd got really tired of rearranging and remixing all the tracks. I could never get them to sound how I wanted, and I don't think I ever will. So on that note, no, Chaotica will never be "released". If you want a copy, just throw me an email, but I can't promise a quality listening experience.

There is a silver lining to all this though, there is new material on the horizon. In fact, since I've been here I've created about 50 (nearly) useless patches for my synthesizers and actually completed two tracks. Yes: completed (until I listen to them in two months time, decide they're crap, re-mix them, re-release them, realise once again they're still crap, and start something afresh).

I see a dangerous and a destructive cycle within my creative process, but the problem probably lies with that the only feedback I am receiving on my music comes from myself. You can never really trust yourself to fully and honestly criticize your own work in the proper way. You spend the first few days with the creation still high on the ecstasy of creating it, therefore altering your perception to be more accepting of it's flaws. Then that high wears off and you become over critical, and decide its crap; but other people could listen to it and think it was actually good.

Without that public feedback I'm never going to grow at this. I'm never going to truly understand my creative flaws and only try to perceive the flaws with my creations, therefore desperately trying to correct the symptoms without ever addressing the cause. And here we are back to destructive cycles again.

I'm not sure whether it's a naivety thing, the fear of embarrassment or just a simple case of temporary loss of confidence and self esteem from not being in work for the past two months, but I just can't bring myself to submit to any labels. Have I been producing long enough? Is it of a good enough quality? Is my music appealing to other people enough? In what circumstance would my music be distributed? As a commercial track, a club track, a tag on the end of the label's yearly compilation CD? I haven't a clue. I know I won't find the answers until I ask the questions, and that means actually start submitting my material to labels, but I'm still not sure I should do.

And now I've written this I could never include the website with the release. Hell, they'd probably Google me, just to see if I had any popularity or following. They'd find this article and probably think I was a problematic nutcase with mild schizophrenia. But then again, I suppose a lot of successful artists have a few similar personality traits.

I don't know.

I have limited internet access at the moment, so the new tracks will appear for preview either on the soundcloud or the YouTube account whenever. Could be tomorrow, could be next month. I seriously haven't got a clue what's really happening at the moment.