Featured User: Rig
Splice is only as great as it’s users, as you know. Occasionally, we have someone who really goes above and beyond in contributing to the site with their music and enthusiasm. We thought it’d be great to start introducing you to them, so how about a big old warm welcome to our first ever featured user, Rig.
Rig is a drummer who comes to us from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He’s been publishing some great music here, which you can check out on his profile page. He’s also really active on our forum, giving friendly advice and making awesome suggestions.
Rig has a TON of great songs on Splice. Here are just a few to get you started:
Read below to learn more about him and his musical adventures!
Thaumata: So tell me about your love of music!
Rig: My first love has, and always will be, the drums. I can remember sitting on the floor when I was at least 2 years old banging away on pots and pans with wooden spoons on the living room floor! That was the start of it. My mom, seeing the musical potential, put me into piano lessons when I was in kindergarten…but I didn’t really enjoy it. I wanted to be a drummer when I grew up, and no silly piano was going to take that away from me!
Time passed, and I joined the band program in Jr. High. I was given a euphonium, or baritone…it looks like a small tuba. I joined the Jazz program there as well, switching to trombone for that. I played the trombone throughout grade 10, and a bit of grade 11. But the current drummer was graduating, so I lept at the chance and started to drum in the Jazz band. I could only play the drums at school and at my church, as my parents had for some strage reason forbidden drums in the house (even though I promised to play quietly!). I took guitar lessons as well, but I stayed on the drums until I graduated.
Thaumata: What are you using to make music these days?
Rig: As a graduation present I got a laptop. With my new awesome computing power at hand, I started researching different drum machines. I stumbled upon a site full of loops, and they sounded great…but I didn’t have anything to put them together with. A friend of mine introduced me to a program called Acid (a loop sequencer), and I started to write computer music!
I used Acid for a while, but found that I had a lot of ideas for melodies and drums that I just couldn’t find on the net. So I did some research, and found out about this program called FL Studio. I’ve been using this program for about a year now, and I’m still learning! As of now, that’s all I make my loops with.
Oh by the way, I finally got my first drum kit a month ago! Hooray, my dreams have come true!
Thaumata: When you’re making songs on Splice, what’s the process you use?
Rig: Well, making a song on Splice is an adventure. One of the tactics I use is to listen to other songs people have made. When I hear a loop I like, I start a new song with it. Then comes the tricky part: finding loops that match that AREN’T the ones it was already matched with. Sometimes it takes seconds to find a loop, sometimes 5, 10 minutes or more! Along the way, I set aside other loops that I like…and if I can’t find a good match for my original one, I turn to those.
When I finally get enough loops together, I start arranging them. I usually try to start the song out quiet, then build, then back down to quiet again. If I have two melodies going at once, I’ll pan them out so that they each dominate a different ear…so it’s not all muddy.
Once I think I’m finished, I listen to the song like 5 times. I guarantee that I’ll be making changes immediately! This fine-tuning part of the song takes about 10 minutes, sometimes even more. All in all, I’ll spend 45 minutes to an hour on a song. If I made all the loops in the first place, it takes me about 5 minutes (cause I already know how I want it to sound).
Thaumata: What advice would you give other users on Splice?
Rig: If I had advice to share with the rest of you, it would be to keep experimenting! There’s tons of loops out there. If you get stuck, publish the song anyway and get some opinions…cause that’s the spirit of Splice!
Thaumata: Thanks so much for telling us about yourself! Anything else to add?
Rig: One more thing: I’m in a band! Guess what I play? Drums! lol
We’re called Beautiful Heroes, and we have songs available for download at myspace.com/beautifulheroes. Influences include Muse, U2, and Arcade Fire. There’s a whole whack more, check out the site!