In an era when musicians (electronic and otherwise) have literally thousands of high-quality digital instruments at their disposal, each with tens-to-thousands of immediately accessible preset patches, it's become frighteningly easy to ignore the once crucial art of conceptualizing and executing a "sound idea" from scratch. I've been as guilty as anyone of relying on soft-synth presets as a kicking-off point for my instrument designs, which is why I find the work of artists like Diego Stocco so inspiring.
Here's a glimpse into Diego's process for fabricating the sound of a fairly abstract DTS logo spot:
Beyond his obvious technical proficiency, I'm most impressed by the way he's able to conceptualize the final aural result, then construct the sonic components of that result piece-by-piece. I'd love to know how solid his ideas were pre-recording: did he have a firm idea of what he wanted from the beginning and stick to it, or did his ideas evolve in the process?
Mr. Stocco also works on less-abstract (but no less compelling) sound pieces, including music for soundtracks. Here's a short piece showing the construction and recording of his "Experibass":
Sound design has become a larger and more important part of my compositional process as I've become a more experienced producer, and it's incredibly exciting for me to learn about how others are using non-traditional (or perhaps more-traditional-but-since-forgotten?) sound sources and recording techniques to create truly original music.
For a start on more about Diego Stocco, check out his YouTube channel and his Bandcamp page.
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