A Foreword

If it sounds good - it is good.

All of the musical conventions of a genre, culture, civilisation - ever - are simply the rules we've agreed to communicate by. Like any language, they're pure invention. These pages do not seek to tell you that there is a 'right' way of doing anything, rather to offer an understanding of how we experience sound, and how you might use that knowledge to find your own means of expression.

We all have unique perspectives and interpretations, and will be drawn to equally unique sounds, tones and moments. The more you can surround yourself and engage with the things you love to hear, and investigate what it is about them that is animating you, the closer you reach constructing something of your own that is truly powerful.

If you want to communicate with someone, it absolutely helps to use the language they are familiar with. But the true greats in any artform find new ways to get their point across. They take those rules and blow them apart, creating new words, harmonies and flavours, rebuilding and expanding with their own inspired forms of communication and adding to their field with a new style. Think of any band, producer, composer, artist, writer, director; any creative who has achieved at the height of their game. They are distinctly 'themselves'. They connected with what they thought was 'good', and had the courage and commitment to fill their artform with it. This is the essence of creative 'genius', and it's a self-actualising potential that lives in all of us.

If there's anything to take away from the forthcoming discussions, it's to find that voice inside of you, and learn how to weaponize it. 

With an understanding of the objective properties of sound, how they're perceived, and the creative tools at our disposal to shape them, we can discover the technical power behind existing musical experiences - and we can find the path towards realising our own.

Let's get started.

~MixReady