Influences?

Posted on Nov 10, 2011 at 10:39 AM   (Last Modified: Nov 10, 2011 at 10:51 PM) Hey there everyone! As of late, I've been doing my usual trotting around between the Dayton and Cincinnati areas. This week I had two concerts with the Dayton Jazz Ensemble, did my usual running sound at ArtStreet's Thursday Night Live, and have been making progress on this hip hop stuff I have been working on (official news on that in the near future), which has honestly been pulling some of my most creative work out of me. On the WatersEdge front, we're still working on pinning down the dates for their Ohio tour with Impact, so I'll keep you posted on that.

I've been meaning to post a newer podcast trying show the skopping around I've been up to, and though I've got more than a few clips for it, it still needs to be put together.

It's kind of interesting really how sort of stratified my musical experience has become. At heart I'm really a modern music kind of guy. Give me ethereal electronic music, melodic, hard, and passionate rock, film/game scores, and I'm happy. However, I often find people referencing certain music to me, and often I don't know it. My jazz sax teacher will rattle off tunes and players, a friend will mention
some deejays since I am now producing hip hop, a professor will mention a famous classical orchestra piece, someone else will mention a particularly popular pop song as of late since they know I make
modern music...sometimes I feel like with stratification comes so many canons to juggle. But to be honest, my listening is limited to a point. I know what I like first of all, but also much of the time I spend listening to music is when I am making it.

A friend of mine had something interesting to say about this though. Maybe in some respects, it's better this way. I'm not overly preconditioned (though we all are to a certain extent) to make my music the way someone else does. I just do what sounds good. I never want to shut myself in a total box and not check out stuff for the sake of learning, but I have to say, it is always one of the best
feelings in the world to sit back and say "wow, this really sounds like me.". Those are my favorite moments in my own music.
However, I can definitely hear all the things in my music that have influenced me, from production to performance, and most likely I could tell you what those influences are and how they come into play. Still, I think one of the main goals I personally have is to make stuff that sounds like me, and to continually discover what that really means.
Sometimes I'll forsake listening to other stuff and just listen to what I've created. Not because I'm narcissistic, but simply because I like it. And for an artist, it's definitely important to enjoy what you've made. This is what is so interesting about the gifts God has given us. Filtered through who we are, they have a distinct flavor. I think that's a large part of success, finding that unique "youness" that you
were created to bring to your path. I may never be the best pianist, guitarist or singer in the world, but don't try asking someone else to be me, and don't ask me to be anyone else either.