18.3.26

In the past, if I wanted to get my music out there to find an audience, I would have to invest time and money to go into a studio, pay for musicians and engineers and record,  at most, one track in a day to completion. 

As an independent artist, I could only afford to do this here and there, sometimes meaning that sings I’d written might have to wait months, or even years, before finally getting a public release. 

I understand that AI has many negative aspects on both the environment and the music industry but, for me, I have now found a way to  produce a track relatively quickly and certainly more economically. 

In the past I could be waiting months to see how a new song sounds until I could afford to get into a studio and try it out. Now I can test a new song in literally a few minutes.

If the track doesn’t work, I can discard it or I can work on it some more, or in another way.

I can try out different musical genres, seeing how a song I’d originally written as perhaps a rock track would sound as a country ballad, or as an electronic dance piece. 

I now feel my role as singer/songwriter has evolved into something more like that of a music producer; creating my songs in the studio from scratch, building on lyrics and melody to a completed piece; very different from just me and a guitar strumming out tunes.

I can use my lyrics and melody, let AI come up with an initial sounding idea, and then hone and polish it in post production until it sounds exactly how I want  it to.

To differentiate this new way of working from the me that goes into a studio and records my songs in the more traditional way, I am adding an ‘a’ to my name, so that listeners know that Rico is still me, singing in my real voice, and Raico is me as digital music producer.

 

My new album of songs as a digital producer is entitled Soundtrack To My Life, and comprises of nine new tracks, all of which (like my previous rock album Dorian Gray) were written decades ago, but have been given a new lease of life by reworking them into different musical genres. 

Two Minutes is included twice; once as an upbeat K-pop type song, and once as an extended rock power ballad, and  I have given both versions (as I have chosen to with several other tracks on the album) a female voice.

The new album builds from easy on the ear bubblegum pop and dance songs at the start to more complex epic power ballads at its close.

Lyrically, even the seemingly more frivolous pop songs are not what they seem however, juxtaposing a happy upbeat melody with lyrics that concern teenage angst, isolation, and inner pain and anxiety, hopefully creating a depth of mood which carries through to all the tracks.

I hope that you enjoy my new album, which certainly represents a new departure in my songwriting and song creation work.