My name is Michael, I play bass, guitar and piano and live in Sydney, Australia. I teach Digidesign’s Pro Tools privately in Sydney, work in I.T and hope to get into the music industry as a songwriter and producer.
Here’s a bit about how I got into music and why I’m so obsessed with it!
I started playing bass and guitar when I was in high school. Funnily enough, one of my first bands was playing bass in a band with Michael Guy Chislett as the lead vocalist/guitarist, who these days is doing alright for himself in “The Academy Is…”. After High School, I began learning piano and audio engineering/production. At the time it was just something I did, another way to pass the time and enjoy myself – now I’m glad that was my grounding, as it helps immensely when I am producing and arranging.
My interest in recording music began 5 years ago. I was in a small record shop in Kings Cross Sydney, chatting with the clerk about home studios. As if by fate, someone behind interrupted to give their opinion on recording music. It turned out he worked in a music shop a few blocks away. We chatted for about an hour, and I left with my head buzzing full of ideas…I was setting up a home studio! I saved up and a few weeks later bought myself an audio interface. I had no idea what I was doing but it was going to be big, and music was how I was going to do it.
I spent the next few weeks learning all I could about this program, Pro Tools. I found out that some people hated it [and chastised me for going that route] and others liked it, as I knew nothing else I carried on learning all I could about it. Eventually the weeks turned into months, seasons changed, and before I knew it – it’s 5 years later and I’m knee deep in learning about pre amps, microphones and a myriad of plug-ins.
I wish [sometimes] I had the money to go to SAE but, I’d rather spend that money on recording gear, text books and private sessions with musicians, engineers and producers. The whole becoming a big wealthy rock star didn’t happen like I’d expected in 6 months [surprise huh?], but I’m still learning something new every day and [usually!] enjoying the journey.
For those interested, I’ll gradually post up anything valuable I’ve learnt and things I pick up on songwriting, music production, studio construction, Pro Tools, Sibelius, Reason – I hope you find something useful you can use in your music.
