Your story is so similar to my own that I almost started crying. So many, mostly beautiful, memories. 🥲 I wrote my first pieces of music sometime around 38-40 years ago. At that time I thought you only had to have the best music equipment, then the hits would come by themselves. I bought tons of synthesizers, samplers, rack modules, effects, etc.. Got myself countless (vacation) jobs, fell asleep in school from fatigue. And yes, I made it onto local radio. With my first hit? Nope, with little simple commercial jingles! Oh how annoying! Today I write my music on the grand piano, the Korg Kronos or the Yamaha Montage. That's all I need to write for now.
Wow, thanks for sharing that. Its awesome to hear others with a similar story. And yeah, sometimes too much kit... or too many VST instruments is like modern TV... so many channels you end up not watching anything. You have some nice gear now.
Julian, I so want a 1 on 1 interview with you ! Love your stuff good job 👍 hopefully we can get together one day and I can ask you some stuff about music !
HaHa, I love the christmas song, Julian :-) Man, I saw we have so much in commom. Also almost the same timeline. I won´t tell you what amounts of money I throwed out of the window in the 90s :-) Just this, I paid 1000 DMark per 1MB Ram of my Akai 3000....Thanks so much for the insides, mate !!
Ingo, we must be music brothers! Happy to welcome you to the family :) lol. Me too in the 90's... but man that would've been a lot of money for not much RAM :) ouch!
Honestly, your first keyboard track sounds like the backing track to many popular dance songs from the late 80s. I don't think it's as bad as you might think it is. Sure, it could use some production help but the idea is solid. Just my opinion.
You have a keen ear, and a passion for your genre. Perfection is impossible, and pointless. That you clearly enjoy making music, and that you're able to reflect on the past, shows your true worth as a person. Revel in the cheesiness, drawbacks, and imperfections, if you hear them - they're simply a sign you're human. In the 90s I bought a Yamaha SY22 and "composed" something using Cakewalk ... I have a cassette with two versions of what I fondly and naively thought of as a "track" and I listen to it occasionally. No-one else in the world will EVER hear it. 🙂 Keep up your good work - it is valued and appreciated.
Thanks for the kind words Peter. That cassette of yours sounds like a piece of history, and like mine it's important to hold on to it. I eventually converted all my old stuff to digital.... Have you not done the same?
I have fond memories in the 90's visiting the Manchester Dawsons music shop at weekends, playing all the latest synths (KN5000, XP30's). I'd always end up in Johnny Roadhouse buying a pile of 2nd hand music gear. If I had only saved those Roland 808's and 909's 😢 Used to always bump into many indie band members like Morrisey then the Smith's, Gallagha brothers, Mick Hucknell. Great place to live in the 90's. It wasn't until early 2000 that I could really afford any decent equipment and cubase to start producing some pro sounding dance tracks. I ended up working freelance in the game music industry for software publishers. I feel your embarrassment with that first keyboard track😁 Your 80's track at the end was destroyed by that awful sax, reminded of the sax played in those ceefax and teletext channels late at night on TV 😆
I remember Roadhouse's too. I could never afford anything 😁. Sounds like you were around there at a similar time. It's really amazing how we develop as musicians by just doing it. It's like babies learning to speak. I really think it's worth sharing how bad my early stuff sounds, so people understand it's normal and don't lose heart.
@@juliancroot Yeah, sounds like similar time, I'm the otherside of 40 now (well should say pushing 50 🤫) Most of my synth gear was bought 2nd hand from The Loot (remember that paper) My music styles changed alot over the years but everyday I learnt something new when it came to creating music. 👍
This is totally relatable - except you got better and I didn't, because I was too lazy to apply myself in the right way. I've come back to it now after a good 20 years, and knowing where I went wrong. People think this is easy, it isn't and requires hard work. I'm a bit more disciplined these days so hopefully that will bear fruit. On the other hand though, I love going back to some of my early compositions - a lot of which no one has ever heard, so I can plunder those now, because I had some bangers going on back in the day, just couldn't make them sound good. Perhaps this time...
It was nice hearing about your background, Julian. And I have to say I am glad you left the "stabbing Hi-Hat" behind, haha. Keep up with both your great music tracks and your high-level videos :)
Thanks Thomas. I've not heard anything from you on your channel for a while... this needs fixing! :) I know I've said it before, but we should chat about a collab at some point soon. I have one idea .
Think I have to agree with the previous comment from ECsonka, you're being too harsh on yourself and your musical journey to excellence! What are those monitors you're using? they look like KEF's??
I love them, and have owned them since they came out about 8 years ago. There are plenty of reviews about them on here, although perhaps not in a production environment. I may do a mini review of them in context with other gear I'm using.
Wow! Every composition is masterpiece. You managed to make music from many different genres (😮) and they're all beautiful. I really loved the christmas song, very happy track.
Not as cringy as it seems - i started (for lack of funds to buy real Keyboards) using Tracker Prgs on Amiga and then PC. 😅
Your story is so similar to my own that I almost started crying. So many, mostly beautiful, memories. 🥲
I wrote my first pieces of music sometime around 38-40 years ago. At that time I thought you only had to have the best music equipment, then the hits would come by themselves.
I bought tons of synthesizers, samplers, rack modules, effects, etc.. Got myself countless (vacation) jobs, fell asleep in school from fatigue.
And yes, I made it onto local radio. With my first hit? Nope, with little simple commercial jingles! Oh how annoying!
Today I write my music on the grand piano, the Korg Kronos or the Yamaha Montage. That's all I need to write for now.
Wow, thanks for sharing that. Its awesome to hear others with a similar story.
And yeah, sometimes too much kit... or too many VST instruments is like modern TV... so many channels you end up not watching anything.
You have some nice gear now.
Julian, I so want a 1 on 1 interview with you ! Love your stuff good job 👍 hopefully we can get together one day and I can ask you some stuff about music !
2:37 lol u shouldnt be so hard on yourself just sounds very 2000'sy
HaHa, I love the christmas song, Julian :-) Man, I saw we have so much in commom. Also almost the same timeline. I won´t tell you what amounts of money I throwed out of the window in the 90s :-) Just this, I paid 1000 DMark per 1MB Ram of my Akai 3000....Thanks so much for the insides, mate !!
Ingo, we must be music brothers! Happy to welcome you to the family :) lol.
Me too in the 90's... but man that would've been a lot of money for not much RAM :) ouch!
Honestly, your first keyboard track sounds like the backing track to many popular dance songs from the late 80s. I don't think it's as bad as you might think it is. Sure, it could use some production help but the idea is solid. Just my opinion.
I'm definitely my own worst critic, but it was a very simplistic idea... The 90s had a lot to answer for! 😆
@@juliancroot I’m the same way.
I'm sure your first produced track with the Technics could have been a world wide hit if it had been taken up by a record company.
Haha...I think the decision maker would've been sacked 2 months later 🤣. But nice of you to say.
Thanks for watching.
You have a keen ear, and a passion for your genre. Perfection is impossible, and pointless. That you clearly enjoy making music, and that you're able to reflect on the past, shows your true worth as a person. Revel in the cheesiness, drawbacks, and imperfections, if you hear them - they're simply a sign you're human. In the 90s I bought a Yamaha SY22 and "composed" something using Cakewalk ... I have a cassette with two versions of what I fondly and naively thought of as a "track" and I listen to it occasionally. No-one else in the world will EVER hear it. 🙂 Keep up your good work - it is valued and appreciated.
Thanks for the kind words Peter.
That cassette of yours sounds like a piece of history, and like mine it's important to hold on to it. I eventually converted all my old stuff to digital.... Have you not done the same?
I going to check 👍👌
I really liked your Techie track 🙂
Perhaps I should remake it one day, lol. Thank you🙏
I have fond memories in the 90's visiting the Manchester Dawsons music shop at weekends, playing all the latest synths (KN5000, XP30's). I'd always end up in Johnny Roadhouse buying a pile of 2nd hand music gear. If I had only saved those Roland 808's and 909's 😢 Used to always bump into many indie band members like Morrisey then the Smith's, Gallagha brothers, Mick Hucknell. Great place to live in the 90's.
It wasn't until early 2000 that I could really afford any decent equipment and cubase to start producing some pro sounding dance tracks. I ended up working freelance in the game music industry for software publishers.
I feel your embarrassment with that first keyboard track😁 Your 80's track at the end was destroyed by that awful sax, reminded of the sax played in those ceefax and teletext channels late at night on TV 😆
I remember Roadhouse's too. I could never afford anything 😁. Sounds like you were around there at a similar time.
It's really amazing how we develop as musicians by just doing it. It's like babies learning to speak.
I really think it's worth sharing how bad my early stuff sounds, so people understand it's normal and don't lose heart.
@@juliancroot Yeah, sounds like similar time, I'm the otherside of 40 now (well should say pushing 50 🤫) Most of my synth gear was bought 2nd hand from The Loot (remember that paper) My music styles changed alot over the years but everyday I learnt something new when it came to creating music. 👍
@@arnolduk123you're just a little younger than me... Not much though.
@@juliancroot probably only by a couple of years but the same decade in our youth 🙂
Great video! An interesting review of your music thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing these pieces. Quite the insight into your journey.
This was really interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed watching your musical journey. It would be good to see some more of these!
@@ncoles4890 Thank you. I should probably do an update video 👍
This is totally relatable - except you got better and I didn't, because I was too lazy to apply myself in the right way. I've come back to it now after a good 20 years, and knowing where I went wrong.
People think this is easy, it isn't and requires hard work. I'm a bit more disciplined these days so hopefully that will bear fruit. On the other hand though, I love going back to some of my early compositions - a lot of which no one has ever heard, so I can plunder those now, because I had some bangers going on back in the day, just couldn't make them sound good. Perhaps this time...
Yes, yes, yes! Sometimes the best stuff comes from reworking those ideas you had years ago before your skills had sufficiently developed.
Do it! :)
Excellent channel my friend 👍🤝❤🙋 New sub 🙋
Thank you. I appreciate the sub too :).
It was nice hearing about your background, Julian. And I have to say I am glad you left the "stabbing Hi-Hat" behind, haha. Keep up with both your great music tracks and your high-level videos :)
Thanks Thomas. I've not heard anything from you on your channel for a while... this needs fixing! :)
I know I've said it before, but we should chat about a collab at some point soon. I have one idea .
@@juliancroot Indeed!
Thanks for this! 2 years into my journey, despite my advanced years (also a big fan of the '80s), and plenty to learn!
We never stop learning 👍. Thanks for the thanks 😁
Think I have to agree with the previous comment from ECsonka, you're being too harsh on yourself and your musical journey to excellence!
What are those monitors you're using? they look like KEF's??
Kind of you to say. Thank you.
Good spot with the monitors, they are indeed KEF LS50's. :)
@@juliancroot OK, thanks for the reply - friend is thinking of buying LSX's what do you think of yours? Perhaps a review??
I love them, and have owned them since they came out about 8 years ago.
There are plenty of reviews about them on here, although perhaps not in a production environment.
I may do a mini review of them in context with other gear I'm using.
Wow! Every composition is masterpiece. You managed to make music from many different genres (😮) and they're all beautiful. I really loved the christmas song, very happy track.
Thanks for the compliment. I am probably my own worst critic 😁