Release Schedule and Article Interview

[aymat]

@​johncave

John!

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you! I've been juggling a mess of updates with the upcoming site migration and it's been a real test in patience! 🫠

The good news is I finally put together the questions for the release interview. These are based around our conversations, your music, influences, creative process, and your experience working through the coaching sessions. If you can choose 10 questions that you're most drawn to and answer those in as much or as little detail as you like, that would be awesome. Or, if you feel like answering all of them, even better.

1. John, you originally contacted me because you felt your music was good but consistently unfinished. Since then, your productivity has ramped up... you're working on an album, you've released several singles on your own Bandcamp, and now you have your first release on Latent Forms. Has working toward an actual release changed the way you listen to your own music, or the way you think about what it means for a track to be "finished"?

2. You've mentioned that you've only been producing for around three years, and yet your music already has a remarkably developed identity. Do you feel like you've found your sound, or does it feel more like you're chasing something you can hear in your head but haven't completely managed to capture yet?

3. You're at an interesting point in your development as an artist, where your instincts and tastes are already quite established but there's still so much room for them to evolve. Are you excited by the idea that the person who makes your fifth album might be almost unrecognisable compared with the person making this one? Or is there something about your current perspective that you'd be afraid of losing?

4. One of the things we've discussed is your relationship with creativity. There's an interesting paradox in the way you've described it... you can become deeply immersed in your creative world, but after long periods of creation, your brain can struggle to catch up with the real world and begin assigning it dreamlike qualities. Do you think you're ultimately trying to escape reality through music, understand reality through music, or build an alternative reality that feels more meaningful?

5. A lot of your visual references... Serial Experiments Lain, Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, Y2K, retrofuturism, vaporwave... seem to occupy this space between the technological and the human. What is it about that in particular that feels so emotionally powerful to you?

6. You're interested in both futuristic technology and nostalgia for older technological aesthetics... Y2K, vaporwave, 80s/90s imagery, retrofuturism, cyberpunk. Why do you think the future seems to feel more emotionally interesting when viewed through the lens of the past?

7. You've described the album you're currently working on as exploring the polarity of technology... how it can be "unmistakably beneficial to the creative," while also contributing to derealization, alienation, and a sense of distance from the world around you. Can you talk about how that relationship with technology has developed for you, and how you think spending so much time inside a technologically enhanced creative world affects the way you experience the real one?

8. One thing that's come up repeatedly in our conversations is that you're very comfortable getting a track to that 80% point, but you've described the final stage... the polishing, transitions, ear candy, mixing, mastering, and ultimately calling the track finished... as much more daunting. What do you think makes that last 20% so difficult for you, and why do you think you've found it easier to create the music than to finish it?

9. You're studying music, building an album, learning instruments, buying hardware, and experimenting with going DAWless... you're exploring a lot of different sides of being a musician and producer at the moment. Do you feel any pressure to figure out what kind of artist you want to be, or are you deliberately trying not to define yourself yet?

10. You talked about 2814 and imagining what their ambient music would sound like "layered with breaks, and with more progression." That's almost a description of an artistic problem you're trying to solve rather than simply an influence. How often does your music begin with the question, "What if this thing I love was something else?"

11. Can you speak a bit about your release "Shoot By Mistake"... what influenced or inspired you to make the track, and what do you hope listeners hear that isn't necessarily obvious from the music itself?

12. Is there anything you'd like to share with readers about your experience through our coaching sessions... anything that surprised you, challenged you, or changed the way you approach your music? And, looking ahead, what can we expect from you in the near future?

I'll also need some images, ideally 2 to 3 that I can use for the side bar and one to use for the hero image. These should be photos or images of things that are important to you and that you feel represent who you are as a producer.

My plan is to have the track fully mixed and mastered this week for a Friday release. If you can get all of this out to me soon that would be awesome but if you need more time or over the weekend, let me know and we can schedule the release for next week.

Hope you're doing well and I'm so looking forward to getting this together! - J

[COLOG]

@​aymat 

Hi man, excited to answer all these! I think I'll have some fun answering and be able to finish them pretty soon. Definitely before friday I should think

I was working on a song (5 minutes long so far) that I was going to give you to also include with this release, but got caught up in some nasty flu and now my hearing is way too muffled to finish it. (forced to take a break now so it's good to have something else to do answering these questions).

Thank you for putting some good solid thought into the questions and good luck moving everything between servers!!!

Cheers!!

[COLOG]

@​aymat I was also listening back to your first master of my song and realised (and I remember you mentioning this in our call) that you simplified the snares and removed one of the layers or something? I think you should keep both layers because I notice some drum parts in the final breakdown sounding messier due to only the noise layer being present or whatever.

thanqs!!

[COLOG]

@​aymat actually I could probably get this other track done by friday-sunday. My hearing is beginning to clear up already. I could mix/master it for you too. I think a mini LP with both of these would be epic.

Here's a link to the track: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xE34Tx6MKYlzPjkPEtkN680DZAZlZubh/view?usp=sharing

Let me know what you think to the idea!!

(also note it is very quiet, turn volume right up when listening!!)

[COLOG]

Sorry for message spam teehee

Also thought i'd mention the fade out at the end in that is stupid and temporary, and it's a very rough mix right now, the final will sound better.

[COLOG]

yaa my second song is longer now and also the ending sounds much better. The ending especially fits so bloody well with shoot by mistake. Hope you agree to upload it

new version (still work in progress): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1yoqwIaAaIrT1HwoetOX2mQbKx3N54o/view?usp=sharing

[COLOG]

The original mix/master you did is growing on me a lot actually

[aymat]

@​johncave

Hi John!

The new track is great and would work as an EP for sure. 

So lets get a plan of action going so we can figure out what we'll be doing. First, do you want to release these as an EP or as singles? Second, Would you rather have me master your completed mixes or mix/master both tracks?

Lets start there first because then prioritize scheduling and preparation. Let me know as soon as you can because I plan working specifically on your release today and tomorrow so I can have it ready for release next week. And if you have time and want to jump on a quick call just let me know. Thanks! - J

[COLOG]

@​aymat I was thinking you still mix/master shoot by mistake as you were intending, and I had sent you my final master of the second track (Raison d'etre) in a separate post here: https://aymat.org/community/session-john/shoot-by-mistake-release/#post-315 

Since Raison d'etre is already mastered, you can focus on Shoot By Mistake in exactly the same way you were planning to, and then include Raison d'etre as it is. Though I can send you the mix and you can master it if you really want to.

I would love to release these as an EP rather than as singles, as I feel they complement each other nicely. 

I don't mind calling tomorrow, can I go ahead and just schedule that with the calendar?

[aymat]

Hi John,

For EPs I have to make sure the masters are consistent in volume/energy/etc. Two different masters wont work and I'm specific about mastering for releases on the label because I need them to be consistent with every release. The mastering I'll always handle for this reason. I'm happy to mix/master both and release them as an EP, but if you want to keep your master as is for Raison d'etre, then lets just release Shoot By Mistake as a single release on LF the way it is now, and then you can release both as an EP on your Bandcamp, that way you have two releases doing work. If that works for you let me know. Feel free to schedule any time!

[COLOG]

@​aymat check my replies here! https://aymat.org/community/session-john/shoot-by-mistake-release/#post-321

We can go ahead with the ep, I've sent you the Raison d'etre mix so you can master it. Booked a call for 4pm today