On Beat
Music is everywhere you look. The sound of a car horn, the footsteps of a busy city, the sirens on a cop car going off. Music is happening all the time, everywhere, you just have to listen for it… Well, with this being said you could say that making music is pretty easy. Yes that is true, but making music people like is a whole other story. You HAVE to make them listen.
With that being said; you need to be able to arrange sequences of sounds in an orderly beat. Many people who can’t do this are not even accepted into the music making industry. It takes true talent to understand just when and where a certain note will go. There are about 1,264 different types of music genres out there in the world today. With that being the number, someone had to be first. To try new music and techniques is all what a music maker is about.[1] My friend Johan is one of these very creative people. He produces music in the genre of House music. He stays up all night and wakes up bright and early so he can start his day of making music. [2]
House music “is a genre of electronic dance music and has been the current standard of “club music” since the late eighties.” [3] It began in Chicago around the late 70’s, branching off of disco music. It didn’t become big until the 80s when a man named DJ Frankie Knuckles would DJ these tracks at a very popular nightclub called The Warehouse. There for, it was given the name of “warehouse music,” or simply just “house music.” The mood of house music is a bit darker and discreet compared to disco. Mostly because many other sounds are included, including, synths, funk, and soul. Lastly, it is one of the easiest types of dance music to combine with other genres to produce a new sound, like disco house, electro house, and tribal house.
Johan has always liked music ever since he was little but he didn’t find a real passion for it until one of his friend’s dad has a drum set and would let him play on it. “ He said that I was good at playing so I decided to get my own. I found out that other people in my school played instruments too and we started a band. I played with them for a few years but once high school came around we all broke up.” Johan says. With all his friends gone he had to make his own music. So he decided to download a music system on his computer. “ I started out doing acoustic stuff at first but then I heard a track from Swedish House Mafia and that inspired me to start doing house music.” Johan continues [4]
With having to make your own music, you will have to have the ability of knowing how to work and manage a music software.[5] “Its super hard to learn and super advanced and it took me about one year to understand how everything works. I was sitting with it for hours a day. Once I learned how everything worked I had to still learn how to do effects, bass, and Mids. You need to make sure everything is clean and that takes a lot of time as well.” It is a very time consuming job that takes a lot of patience and practice. Petter, who is Johan’s older brother, has been with him through his whole music-making carrier. “I remember when he started out that it could get very annoying to listen to a 5 seconds build-up for a drop like 1000 times before hearing the actual drop.” Petter says. It takes a lot of sweat and it takes a lot of tears to be in this industry. [6]
With living with Johan, and his room only being a wall apart from mine, I hear his music all the time. It’s a type of beat that inspires you to go and make today a better day then yesterday. “When the beat drops you feel energy and you get inspired,” Johan says. He sits in front of his computer, headphones on, eyes glued to the computer screen, and his hands typing away to make new notes.[7] Every time I see him in his “music making” mode, I don’t bother him. For if I am to say anything he probably won’t hear me because of the headphones. But when he does seem to hear me, it goes in one ear and out the other. So I have learned to STAY AWAY. Every night he makes sure to only get seven hours of sleep so he can wake up and start working. He’s very dedicated about music making and it definitely shows through his music that he makes.
House music is very different from any other music. Lastly, “Why I like the idea of electronic music is that it gives the chance to the producers behind the music to be in the spotlight instead of being a ghost producer for a slick, good-looking “artist” who will take all the credit.” This isn’t just one opinion; Petter has the same look on House Music. “I think electronic music brings something to the music business that hasn’t been around. Before electronic music people could get famous for their looks and not their music in the first hand. Electronic music recognizes people for their true music talent.” It’s more about the music than it is about the people behind it.
So whether you are hitting a pencil on the desk while you read this, or taping your foot on the ground. You are making music. You must be willing to put in tons of hours, you must be have the right mindset, and you must always stay on beat.
Bibliography
Englund, J. (2015, November 1). [Personal interview].
Englund, P. (2015, November 1). [Personal interview].
Gray, B. (n.d.). A Destination for house music fans. New York Times, p. One.
House Music. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from http://dancemusic.about.com/od/house/g/House_Music.htm
Quick: How Many Different Genres of Popular Music Are There? No. You're Wrong. - A Journal of Musical Things. (2014, September 21). Retrieved October 23, 2015.
[1] Gray, B. (n.d.). A Destination for house music fans. New York Times, p. One.
[2] Quick: How Many Different Genres of Popular Music Are There? No. You're Wrong. - A Journal of Musical Things. (2014, September 21). Retrieved October 23, 2015.
[3] House Music. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from http://dancemusic.about.com/od/house/g/House_Music...
[4] Englund, J. (2015, November 1). [Personal interview].
[5] Photo (2)
[6] Englund, P. (2015, November 1). [Personal interview].
[7] Photo (3)
