00:07when I discovered the world of modern
00:09ambient music my honest first thought
00:12was oh that seems pretty easy I can do
00:16that there really didn't seem to be a
00:17lot going on either harmonically or
00:20melodically which were the main points
00:22of focus for me as a composer up until
00:24that point so as anyone would I grabbed
00:27a slow evolving pad in serum
00:30threw some black hole Reverb on it and
00:33uh just drowned it entirely and you know
00:36that actually sounded pretty good to me
00:38so I was like well I'll just make some
00:39stuff with these sounds and I'll be an
00:41ambient artist then I tried to add
00:44another layer to that and then another
00:46one and of course everyone was equally
00:49drowned in Reverb on an insert of course
00:52and within the span of about 2 minutes I
00:55had completely ruined it it sounded like
00:57an absolute blurry mess hm maybe there's
01:01more to this than I thought I only
01:03really discovered this Loosely defined
01:05genre called ambient music about a
01:08decade ago late to the party I know I
01:10had been pretty intensely focused on my
01:12studies as a classical pianist organist
01:15and composer but I had also grown up on
01:18progressive rock thanks Dad there was
01:20one band in particular that I really
01:22loved and stood out from all of the rest
01:25to me they had this ability to not only
01:27shred and clearly they were all vir Osos
01:30with their instruments but they could
01:32also kind of get the listener lost in
01:34this bed of ethereal textures from time
01:36to time when they would slow things down
01:38and pull things back there were all
01:40these weird sounds coming and going that
01:42I had no idea how they were even making
01:45that band was called yes and thinking
01:48back on it I guess yes was my first
01:50exposure to anything remotely resembling
01:53ambient music even if it was usually
01:55tucked away in a 20-minute Rock
02:04fast forward to about 10 years ago and I
02:07was exposed to artists like olaer
02:09Arnolds and Nils FR that kind of
02:11reignited my passion for synthesizers
02:14and all of these electronic instruments
02:16that they were using they had this
02:18nostalgic vintage tape sound going on
02:22that I found to be really creative and
02:25much more accessible than the tape music
02:27I had been exposed to up until that
02:29point which was in the art music world
02:31of the more Avant guard so from there I
02:34naturally thought well who else is
02:35making music in this kind of style and I
02:38discovered other ambient artists like
02:39hammock and slow Meadow and my good
02:42friend now Tony Anderson who has been a
02:45guest on this channel a couple of times
02:46and I remember very specifically sitting
02:49in my crappy little first studio trying
02:51to hear what I could over the traffic
02:53noise outside and being really struck by
02:55the sounds that they were using the
02:58depth of their mixes all all of these
03:00incredible textures that again I had no
03:02idea how they were achieving it seemed
03:05three-dimensional when I was listening
03:07to it all of these seemingly very
03:09different textures fit together really
03:12well and it remained a mystery to me
03:14despite me trying to make it inside of
03:16Cubase until I started using some
03:19Hardware eventually I tracked things all
03:22the way back to the source Brian Eno who
03:24is largely considered to be the father
03:27of ambient music and Eno was using hard
03:29Ware tape machines synthesizers out of
03:32necessity that's kind of all there was
03:34back then and it forced him to be
03:36creative within a set of limitations
03:40what you need are fewer
03:43possibilities that are more
03:45interesting um you know the whole
03:47emphasis of synthesize a design has been
03:49towards giving you more and more options
03:53it's not more options that you want it's
03:56useful options now I don't have any
03:59Hardware to sell you today I don't
04:01review gear anymore and I really don't
04:04think you need Hardware to make any kind
04:06of music anymore but for me I did need
04:10that experience with Hardware early on
04:12just to fully wrap my brain around how a
04:15piece of gear can inspire you through
04:39using Hardware totally changed the way I
04:41thought about making electronic music in
04:43general as a Pianist and organist I
04:45really appreciated the ability to be
04:47more Hands-On with an instrument and
04:49actually reach out and grab
04:52things when I was in the box I had this
04:55sterile environment and seemingly
04:57unlimited choices and that just just
04:59overwhelmed me and everything kind of
05:02sounded the same I wasn't very inspired
05:05because there was no inherent character
05:07to any of the things that I was using in
05:10the box or at least I didn't know how to
05:12get character out of anything that I was
05:14using in the Box this is what kids today
05:17and probably some 32-year-old in the
05:19comment section would call a skill issue
05:22and in my case that's completely
05:23accurate though a bit uninspired as an
05:26insult at this point but something
05:28happened after I started using hardware
05:30and was forced into these limitations I
05:33then understood how to implement those
05:35limitations inside a Daw as well and
05:38that's the whole point of me bringing it
05:40up I'm not trying to sell you a synth
05:42here I'm trying to show you how to skip
05:45that step if you don't have any hardware
05:47of your own and maybe you can start to
05:49make more interesting things in the box
05:51that you'll find inspiring to use let me
05:54show you an example when I got into Euro
05:57I was really intrigued by the amount of
05:59inspiration I could find just in playing
06:43and I had never experienced anything
06:45like that in the software world nothing
06:47so Hands-On direct and relatively simple
06:50that actually unlocked a whole world of
06:52possibilities for me now I do similar
06:55things in Ableton with this Ableton Live
06:57device which by the way I highly
06:59recommend commend though I'm not
07:18them overall I've started to create
07:21maybe more simple elements and I don't
07:23mean uninteresting elements I mean
07:26elements that are maybe in mono so that
07:28I can layer them more e easily and they
07:30don't blur together maybe elements that
07:32are bandpassed so that once again when I
07:35stack them in layers everything feels
07:37like it has its specific place to live
07:39this is one of the most important things
07:41in making the kind of sound beds and
07:43textures that I find the most
07:45interesting but of course I cannot
07:48completely ignore the 25 years of
07:50classical training that I've had and to
07:52me the real Challenge and the real fun
07:55is finding interesting ways of combining
07:57those two worlds the interesting sounds
07:59from ambient music and maybe the more
08:02interesting harmonic and melodic ideas
08:05from the classical more traditional
08:07world I think there are a lot of time
08:09tested Concepts that have stood the test
08:11of time for centuries that we can apply
08:14to any genre and still get a lot of use
08:16out of and oddly enough if you use these
08:19older Concepts in new ways suddenly your
08:22music sounds fresh and interesting
08:24because other people aren't doing that
08:26most people spend their time chasing
08:29right now without fully realizing that
08:31those are probably also the things that
08:34will be forgotten by tomorrow if you'd
08:36like to know more about the specifics of
08:38the things that I found most helpful
08:40musically I have a free ebook that will
08:42walk you through those Concepts that are
08:44my favorites and that I use in my own
08:46music that's Linked In the description
08:47below the OG ambient Godfather himself
08:50Eno said that ambient music should be as
08:53ignorable as it is interesting for a
08:56long time I didn't fully understand that
08:57because it's never been a personal goal
08:59of mine to write ignorable music but the
09:02way I've come to interpret that is that
09:04there's plenty of unexplored space
09:06within the world of ambient music it can
09:08be used to create incredibly Beautiful
09:10Textures that will transport The
09:12Listener without them having to focus on
09:14it too intently it's just beautiful but
09:16it can also have another level to it of
09:19depth and craft for those active
09:21listeners who want to peel back those
09:23layers and I think that initial
09:25emotional weight that this kind of music
09:27can carry pulls The Listener in and that
09:31sort of depth and memorability keeps the
09:34listener there and that's exactly the
09:35kind of thing that I want to create with
09:37my own music so I think the very best
09:39ambient music is deceptively simple the
09:42key is not to let the hidden
09:44complexities become a distraction and
09:46that is a skill that goes far beyond
09:49just slapping some Reverb on your
09:51favorite syn or field recording if you'd
09:54like to support my ability to make more
09:55videos I don't do sponsorships on this
09:57channel but you can click the little
09:59join button down below and buy me a cup
10:01of coffee every month I would truly
10:03appreciate it thanks as always for
10:05watching and I'll see you next
