Nite Owls & Sci-Fi

Dune. 

Chud.

Scanners. 

Two more that I can’t remember and didn’t write down. Korg? Bear with me! Grr.

For the first time in LIFE I’m crafting a list of movies from within the Science Fiction realm to engage. I grew up far far away from any of those influences and have never really been encouraged to jump in.

That suddenly changed last night. 

What started off as my first sit-in session with a producer in the new studio had turned into a full-blown dissertation on Sci-Fi and the various ways in which the genre guides his sound design. Due to my lack of ability to take any notes at the time, the subject-matter was mostly put in a blender and I forgot exactly which names belonged to movie titles instead of interfaces so if you’d like to help round out this knowledge now is the time to link me your favorites. But I digress.

DRIVEBY drove by my space last night to let me peer into his production folder for the purpose of potentially purchasing. It was approaching 2300 hours by the time he arrived and with a return trip to make I considered he may not want to be on the road too late. As a chronic non-sleeper it made no difference to me but since I know nothing about driving culture apart from being an S tier passenger, it occurred to me that consideration could be useful. 

I asked him, 

“How late are you tryna stay?” 

He said, 

“I’m a Nite Owl so that’s your call” 

And passed me a joint. Glorious intro.

Look, to a lot of people this may seem like a super regular night that I am over dramatizing but that’s nowhere near the case. I am Big Celebrating all the little things from here on out. So far my year has been unfortunately overfilled with disappointment and it was refreshing to finally meet someone seemingly interested in what we do. As far as I’m concerned, that warrants a huge W. 

As we entered the STU and started talking, my anxiety dissipated and awkward questions like “um so what do you do?” made its way to actual conversation. I was able to muster the courage to play some unreleased music. There was head-banging. There was commentary. There was response. It is difficult to explain the weight of this moment due to the fact that it appears to be brutally mundane and capitulative. The truth is I have yet to come across outside ears with appreciation for what I do and where I have been trying to get. Not that approval was being searched for but the energy was certainly confirmation that my progress is still in the green and that love for the craft still exists. My thirst for learning and growth was greeted last night by a mans bearing gifts of insight. After my demos we went rummaging through his folders and for about two hours my studio sounded like someone was scoring a big feature deep-water submarine thriller. 

shot DRIVEBY in the studio customizing packs.

Geeking out would be an understatement. And the sonar was just the tip of the iceberg. In between samples I was given information on crate digging and the various practices he and his team are involved in when it comes to the finding and finessing of records. A story about his dad being the ultimate crate digger is ultimately what made me decide I’d like to reflect and write this piece. It is always awe-inspiring to learn about the different ways in which people are connected to and through music. The bonds that are able to be built and shared and spiral out in directions with energy often beyond control. It is a magical subject to get lost in and many times we found ourselves stranded miles off topic.

I asked him, 

“So are you a film buff?” 

He said 

*Scoffs* 

I’m confident that from there he went on to trace his connection with cinema, easily listing over two handfuls of movies I’d never even heard of all while showing me keys on how to score films on Ableton. I had a definite late start getting into music and film and the art spectrum in general. I couldn’t listen to explicit rap until I was damn near 14 and I had no idea people who didn’t go to art school or live in Hollywood could be involved in creative pursuits until I was like 19. Though a tragedy in many ways, the fact that I have so much more to see and hear and find is endlessly exciting and being in the presence of persons who prefer to share their particular inventories instead of being paranoid and weird about every inquiry is so much more peaceful than what I’d grown used to. 

S/o DRIVEBY for the delivery.

His music can be found here.