All Just Play

 

Watched the Hans Zimmer Beato Interview and he said something I think about myself every so often.

Musicians don't retire as what they do is play (and have fun).

Not exactly his words, but his meaning. 

I "retired" 6 years ago now from my engineering/technical career.  I originally went down that path as it was an audio engineering hobby I turned into my career. But I don't do that any more, it became just work, the job, and even if there was satisfaction in making something, it was just a job. 

The music stuff I do now, to almost no views or plays of the things I release, is the result of my playing with my very inexpensive music instruments and Reaper based DAW. Consider myself a Producer and not a Guitarist. It is all just Play, and even if getting no Bandcamp or YouTube plays doesn't feel great, it is the playing with the gear, solving musical puzzles in time (a bit like Tetris isn't it? ) that is fun and rewarding, and I don't need any financial reward for doing it. It was never my career, and I never tried to make a living at it.  The capabilities I have in my tiny studio with a Reaper based DAW and being able top release stuff on Bandcamp and YouTube makes this the best time for a hobbyist like myself.  But that is partly as I don't need to make any money from music or my comics.  I only ever bought music making gear out of the money I earned from my Illustration work, not from my tech career. Seemed appropriate. 

Not my only Play things though. Making comics, drawing and going to exhibitions and sitting in cafes drinking coffee, and a few other things, is play to me too now. I had never thought about retirement, but very happy to be in the position I am now.

My latest Music Video above is extended from a music+comic I recently did about Osaka Expo 2025.  This track is twice that length and has more parts though.  The Track EXPO on Bandcamp is another, just take it track.

Getting the Simmons SDS-V vst has been a little inspiring, even if the last 3 tracks have pretty much the same drum track!  That sound and distorted guitar, and synthesizers is a very 1980s sound I think, and I love it. Had so much fun have ordered an Akai MPD218 pad controller and see if that sparks some different finger drumming world to me. I have no desire to learn to play real drums at this stage of life, so a V-DRUM kit is not required, even if I did give it a second or two of thought... 

I still use Winamp to play my music on the PC, but rarely use the visualizer in it.  But after thinking about how to put this track EXPO on YouTube, and do something different from my previous videos, it seemed an old school and cool thing to try. Used OBS to capture the visualization, then resynced the audio to the master track and added title and watermark in MAGIX Movie Studio.   

All Just Play.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology