Odyssey? What? Why? How?

 Odyssey? What? Why? How? 

Odyssey?

Yes, I know it's a tad pretentious, but bear with me, because this is no ordinary journey I’m on. Like Odysseus, I’m far from home and lost at sea. Well, if music is home, and the sea is the musical wasteland, my life has become for the last few years.

That's where the similarities with Odysseus end. I mean, I don’t have a wife and son at home besieged by greedy suitors, I’m not a King, and I don’t think I’m wise or cunning. Certainly not a pirate. Well, not since the Napster Days at least. I’ve not been to war, no Iliad for me, though I have been pretty ill. Still, like Odysseus, I’m lost and a long way from home (music if you've already forgotten the metaphor).

I expect the journey to come, my Electronic Music Production Odyssey, to be long and strange, maybe even a long strange trip, with lots of detours, false starts, and obstacles, and just like Wise and cunning Pirate King Odysseus’ Odyssey an eventful tale in the telling. Hopefully, none of my crew will turn into pigs along the way (ACAB). 

Not all who wander are lost, as another wise man once said, but I lost my way. I went from someone who listened to music, played music, talked music, wrote songs, read about music, breathed music, and obsessed over the minutia, the history, the lore, and legends of music, to someone who sold all his guitars, and barely listened to the music he knew and loved, let alone anything new. 

It’s been a long journey. Gradually, year by year, decade by decade, I’ve sailed through life’s storms on this voyage back to my love of music. Almost like a quest, a quest that has now reached critical mass as I’ve decided that this coming year all I want is to study music, listen to music, play music, make music again, and document my efforts here on this blog, and online in socials.

This is why I’m inviting you to join me on my Electronic Music Production Odyssey. Even though I’m no Odysseus, I’ll still need a crew to sail this ship, so hop on board!

What?

So what am I doing then? Well, on this year’s summer solstice (21/06/23), I decided to see what would happen if I spent this next solar year dedicating myself to music, specifically making electronic music. 

Call it an experiment. Call it a musical midlife crisis. Call it fun times. 

I don’t have plans. There are no incremental goals either. Nothing needs to be achieved today, tomorrow, next week, or next month. I’m just setting sail for that mythical, magical realm of music and seeing what adventures I have along the way.

So what happens at next year’s Solstice? Well, other than being happy to be alive, not much. Hopefully, another year of living and breathing music.

Why? 

Memento Mori. Put simply, Memento Mori is why. 

The last few years have been tough for me and my people. Looking at the world out there, I can see we're not the only ones. We’ve lost family and friends recently. Some in shocking and sudden circumstances, and it makes you question everything you’re doing and how you spend the very short and precious time you have in the world. 

Plus, my health hasn't been great. For decades, I had Ulcerative Colitis that was undiagnosed. A chronic disease that damaged my health, confidence, career, and mental health. After a while, the symptoms got so bad that I was hospitalised. A few years later, another hospitalisation led to surgery and a procedure called an Ileostomy. 

In the last few years, my overall health has taken a beating, and at 53, I don't feel like I have time to waste. I'm not playing anymore (except guitar and keys). I’m on a mission. I’m focused. There’s nothing to lose.

Memento Mori. Put simply, Memento Mori is why. 

HOW?

This is the bit where it gets vague. I admit it. I panicked and formed an LLC for a production company (Chillway Music Production LTD), before knowing how to produce, so yeah, maybe this is just a musical midlife crisis. 

And yes, I am on my second Spotify artist name, even though at 53 I didn't plan on being an artist. Yet here I am putting music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and everywhere else Distrokid pumps out my musical creations. So I need an artist's name. As a mature and thoughtful fifty-three-year-old adult, I figured “Hy Vyb” would be the most suitable musical moniker for a man of my esteem and maturity. Remember, this was my second attempt at an artist's name. Just think about that for a minute.

One thing I’m certain of is that I'm not spending money on this. Well, apart from all the money I’ve already spent on groove boxes, midi controllers, plugins, and DAWs.

The budget for this musical Odyssey is $50. Royalties from a tabletop RPG module I wrote a few years ago. $20 of that was spent on a year of Distrokid (well worth it), so this project will have to pay its way or get by with what I already have. Or fail. Failure is always an option!

Other than that, I'm not sure how. I’m gonna learn as much as possible about songwriting, composition, producing, mixing, mastering, beat making and loop making, and DAWs, etc. Some of which I already know from being a guitarist, and playing in local scene bands, some of which I know nothing about.

I’m going to explore different genres of electronic music and see what I like to make. I’ve got a back catalogue of about 50 demos, and what I would consider Juvinalia, that I’ve built up whilst messing about with this over the last three years. Now I want to see what I can do when I focus on music this coming year.

So if any of this sounds interesting to you, follow along with my progress, or mock the lack of progress, and join me on My Electronic Music Production Odyssey!

Want to listen to what I've created so far? Most of it is on Soundcloud. Older stuff is on Bandcamp or got buried because it was rubbish. New tracks will be posted at those two places, as well as Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon, Apple and all the myriad sites Distrokid sends my tunes to.

If you’d like to support this project, you can buy my tracks on Bandcamp.