My current creative writing and production setup
This setup is a nice change and upgrade from my old setup 2 years ago. I’ve since invested into some other tools and I've gotten into another hobby of sorts (food gardening). I decided to go deeper into some of the recording and production skills that I learned during the pandemic and I also bought a bass. I also got a better interface with more channels and expandable with ADAT/SPDIF TO 16 channels and the preamps are clean sounding. A big upgrade from the very noisy Presonus Audiobox 98 I had before.
Being a child who grew up in the 1980s/early 90’s and who saw MTV from the beginning and listened to radio in my hometown before Clear Channel took over everything, I grew up on the synth sounds of Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Tears For Fears, late Genesis/Phil Collins, Madonna, Prince, A-ha, Whitney Houston, Herbie Hancock, David Byrne and Talking Heads, late YES, Janet Jackson, etc. So of course I got a synthesizer!
The music that really pulled my to that sound was Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Africa Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force/Kraftwerk, Newcleus, Paul Hardcastle, Arthur Baker, Planet Patrol, Jonzun Crew, Debbie Deb, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Whodini, Hashim, George Clinton & P-Funk, Zapp & Roger, Shannon, Chaka Khan, Nu Shooz, Expose and Stevie B.
I have some great memories of breakdancing at the skating rink with some of my uncles lol!
I wanted the minimoog to be my first synth but the ridiculous price was just out of my range for the time, the closest thing? You know it, the Behringer Model - D but thanks to tariffs and climbing to more than double the cost, I had to put that on the back burner too. I opted instead for an Arturia Miniature 2 which is a semi-modular synth with 2 oscillators.
Well, I’m definitely learning on that thing, no presets here, if you want “that” sound, you need to find it then remember the patching. “Take a picture, It’ll last longer” No wait, “Take a picture” you’ll be able to recall your patch and fader settings in exact.
The bass I wanted (as a first time bassist who never touched the instrument….) was of course a 5 string jazz bass, specifically the Squier Classic Vibe 70s V (string) Active ( wooo so long gotta catch my breath…) but another tariff issue and more than doubling in price, I opted for what everyone told me to get, the bass that I needed, not the bass I wanted.
A Squier limited edition Classic 70s Vibe P Bass in Surf Green.
I’m having so much fun learning on this instrument and looking to start taking lessons in a month or two. I was saying for years (decades) “one day, I want to learn how to play bass” well, time is not stopping (hopefully), if you”re sitting on the fence about learning or trying something new, changing or instilling a new habit, NOW is always the best time. Just go and make it happen, this is motivation talking to you! Now find the inspiration to keep it consistent.
Although I do use Sibelius for marching percussion/general drum and percussion writing, I’ve been using MuseScore specifically to make bass tabs for songs that I’m learning and putting it with grand staff of sorts but with a bass clef and tabs and finally after decades of only playing melodic/harmonic stuff for a gig maybe twice in the last 30 years + the 1 season I spent playing vibes and Xylo my rookie year of drum corps, its making sense to me now.
I’ve always been attracted to and pulled in by the instruments from the African continent and from around the African diaspora and with my jump into melodic/harmonic learning and playing, a kalimba is just the right way to go and such a nice sound for creating and recording simple ideas with a limited number of notes. Does this mean I’m getting one made for flat/minor tunings? Well, it’s more accessible than a handpan.
It's sounding really nice coming through a voiced valve preamplifier using a tube on the output circuit.
Besides a few TB of music, books and movies that I have on some external drives, this shelf is my data center along with more books stuffed into what was only supposed to be a shelf for vinyl and mini discs. Some philosophy, biographies, history/cultural books on African and central/ south America, magazines in Japanese, Japanese language and kana books, American vintage drum builder histories and catalogs, ethnomusicology with focus on drums/percussion, electronic music/computer music and sound engineering magazines.
Also some books on photography and design and it’s use in architecture and interior structures, lots of great drum and percussion method and phrase books, Japanese drum mags and books on jazz and it’s culture and people from the beginning to 10 years ago, folk music and instruments from all over the world, piano books by a few composers, art and history museum books, percussion books from all of the Broadway theatre shows and stage shows I’ve played and more modern/contemporary architecture books, some wuxia (kungfu) films on DVD and a few concert DVDs.
So much inspiration here from some of my favorite old jazz, “world music” and R&B/Soul albums, some great fusion, funk and Bebop/Hard Bop stuff that Ive had on Mini Disc since 1998/1999 and pieces of my former life in Japan to some physical memories from Colombia, gifts from friends in Guatemala and from former students, notebooks/manuscript books and journals from the last 20 years. The bins is where I store my photography gear, cables and some guitar tools.
There are also some memories from my late and never forgotten band brother Ray Villadonga, something from my Great Grandfather who I used to spend almost every day with and every Saturday morning watching Looney Tunes and cowboy westerns until he left us when I was 5 and something from my grandmother who left us a few years ago who if you ever heard her sing, you would have never forgotten her voice and how it filled an entire church without a microphone and how you felt her voice.
Finally getting some of my photography works from my life travels printed (again…) in what I hope is it’s final state of me ever editing them hahahaha! There's one in the first photo of the blog from a walk through Ueno to Asakusa in spring of 2005
This is my drop off point when coming in or pickup if I'm going out to a gig, the gym or whatever. I usually keep a philosophy book here for easy access when I need to take a break from looking at a screen. Many times Just taking a walk with some fresh new or fresh old tunes keeps the learning process for me going and can really set or change the mood of the day.
To me, these are some of the things that provide inspiration. An instrument is just that, a tool; Until you begin to grow on it, carrying your life experiences and times of happiness, sadness, joy or even burnout, taking it on your gig or garage band rehearsals as a kid (yes, I mean early 20’s too) maybe getting a small scratch or that one time you saved it from a downpour at a gig in Florida during hurricane season, that small gift that you got from someone 20 years ago that is so cherished, that physical printed photo that takes you back in time.
These are the “things” that I put into my percussion writing, recording and music production and a part of where some of my creativity comes from.
What inspires you? How do you keep your creative juices flowing?