www.soundcloud.com/damonbreakz/weapon-of-bass-technology

hey guys, this is my latest track. I'm going to leave it like this for now and once I have made more tracks for my live act I'll come back to it to make it more interesting and glitchy, especially near the end.

Watch your speakers when the bass kicks in after a minute or so...


=)

//Damon Breakz\\

Nice tune fella, loving the wobbliness

Wow.

DamonBreakz wrote:

Hey Damon,

I've been enjoying the DnB tracks on your channel today.
Your tracks are all top class. Just curious at how you got so good lol.
Did you get taught in classes, watch tutorial videos, employ trial and error, or just model songs you like?

swaL

I second swaL's question.


Dope track. BRILLIANT idea, I think the story that goes with it is absolutely excellent.

Well done indeed. I'm jealous.

Fun.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the good words. I am going to answer your question in extended detail =)


Well the first thing I would say, is before you even touch an instrument, lose any jealousy =) it will eat you up. hehe. That used to be my mistake.

When Talvin Singh's Vibe bar opened back in the 90s, I was there.We all sat on the floor of a large room and saw him play tablas live and it was amazing. There were DJs followed by a live electronic music act. They were really young and really good.

On the way home I was in a bad mood, really jealous, boring my friend, I was saying things, something like "bastards, why can't I do a live act like them" blah blah blah. I was so annoyed I kicked a hubcap that was leaning against a wall and it slowly picked up speed, rolled out into the road and almost hit a car, the driver of the car behind saw this happen...it was a police car. Luckily I talked my way out of it and my friend now stays clear of me as much as he can... =) Anyway , the moral of the story is that it is bad energy to be jealous =)

You have to realise that there are 7 billion people on the planet and everyone is an unique person. No one can be You as good as YOU. So all you have to do is find yourself and do your thing, you will be the best in the universe at that.

I used to practice guitar 12 hours a day but I could never sound like my idols, because I am not my idols. I am me, so I had to find my own sound and that's when things started to work out.

Sure, you can emulate artists while learning, as this will help you develop skills and technique, and focus you towards a particular style, but don't get depressed if you can't get your music to sound exactly like your favorite artist. It will never sound exactly like that because you are not them and if it did sound the same it wouldn't be you and wouldn't be any good.

You have to be excited when you hear a good piece of music and be happy for the artist, you take all the influence and energy from it and put it into your own stuff, you use it to give yourself ideas.you filter your experiences and thoughts through yourself and find your own musical identity.

There is space for all of us in music, and be certain that no matter how good you are - Mozart, Elvis, Beatles, Michael Jackson, etc.. someone else will always come along and you will one day be forgotten, long before your music is forgotten. So, taking that in a positive way =) , just enjoy the music, do your best, find your own style, listen to other people's music, learn what you can and create as much good work as you can while you are alive.

I met a guitarist on a plane once and he said he never listens to other people's music. That is one way of doing things - if you want to stay jealous. I think that it is a little extreme but it gets results if you are trying to find your own way/sound. but I like listening to other people's music. So, I take his advice to mean focus on your own sound and don't worry about conforming to the fashions. Just make what you feel sounds good. You have to be blinkered a little.

I haven't 'made it' in music yet. I don't know why, but I never give up. I am 36 this year..it's a dragon year so could be my year to make it!

So for those who are interested here is my very long musical history:

As a kid was given a drum, I had organ lessons from 4-7, guitar lessons from 7. started teaching myself guitar aged 10 and writing songs. one of my teachers was Bruce Treasure from punk band the UK Subhumans. I took up Saxophone and joined a jazz band, started playing beatles stuff , rock and heavy metal, then reggae and funk. I got a prince's trust award and bought a marshall amp. (met Jim Marshall!). i also sang in choirs in church. I was in a few bands playing guitar and did some cool gigs.

I went to music college in chichester in 1993-1995 (i was in the same year as my friends John Roberts the current drummer of the Blockheads and Olly Hite of 'so it goes' fame (fat boy slim record - cover version) ) I played a lot of Blues guitar in blues clubs and busked a lot. I spent a lot of time in the music technology room using cubase and Roland JV-35s. got exposed to Ambient Techno, gabba and early jungle and got too stoned , had to deal with the collapsed universe and panic attacks. Spent a lot of time jamming,drinking, thinking and talking shite with mates. After college I lived in the middle of nowhere taught guitar for a bit and worked in warehouse for 6 months, bought a fender guitar.

Went to Audio college, Alchemea in London. there I knew fellow student Dan Stein when I was a supervisor there, he is now the top DnB Producer DJ Fresh who recently had a number 1 in UK. I also got to work with the late Stevie Hyper D with my friend JasonAir. I worked in semi-pro studios for a while for almost no pay and did programming/production on a simple minds remix for EMI. I had to sell my Saxophone to pay for rent, but later bought a Bass with my benefit money =) I got a bit ill from staying awake for days on end, drinking jack daniels, smoking and making music. Got asthma and stomach problems. Left London and went to my parent's house to recover.

I studied Japanese , electronics and computing and weight lifted to drum n bass for a year and a half to become superhuman. i worked in a care home cleaning up diarhea. I bought an Akai S2000 and got a crappy PC together with Cubase Lite. In 1998 i went to live in portugal to teach some big local DJs how to use their equipment, we formed a band, hung out as VIPs in all the House and techno venues and performed Drum n Bass warm up act before LTJ Bukem in 2000.I am now friends with some of the big DJ/producers in the Portuguese Dance music Scene.

I came back to UK to work in IT. got Reason software and took a Sony Vaio with me everywhere. Used purely Reason, cool edit and recycle until 2006 now I use it with Live IF I use it anymore at all. In 2001 got involved in Brazilian culture and got married out there. Brazilian music, like bossa and samba , plays a big part of my musical genetics.

After splitting with my wife I wrote my own acoustic/guitar/vocal songs and then joined a big local samba band in 2007 www.toquetambor.com , playing in festivals and events. I had a DJ school in Camden, London and our teachers included FromemOry a well know PsyTrance producer. I really got into the futuristic sounds of Psy and my best friend at the time sold the CDs so had all the best sounds available. I now make music at home using Ableton Live and I am now with a Lithuanian girl so I am influenced by Baltic music too, watching Lithuanian and Russian TV all day.

The Tom Cosm site has been a great help to piece things together. Especially with the megaset which I have been refining my own version of. So I hope to rock the party, finally, this summer with some low-key summer vibe live act performances to start me off. should be fun!

Thanks for your support, spread the word
www.facebook.com/damonbreakz.fanpage
=D now go make some music!
//Damon Breakz\\

Very nice track there. Great groove, I'm not really into DnB but I like it once in a while and enjoyed listening to your track. Nice detailed reply above, serious musical history, nice to get a look into that. Good luck towards the summer with your live act DamonBreakz. I'm hoping to this year get a nice workflow and prepare some tracks for a live set aswell in ableton (coming from reason aswell, back when it was reason 2).

Nice. would like to hear your Live stuff. Reason is still good if you use high quality samples and reWire. You should remix your old tunes in Live, you can always render into Live and close Reason or put all the MIDI in Live and just use reason like a 'VST' . Go for it ! =)

//Damon Breakz\\

www.facebook.com/damon.breakz

Thanks for the reply Damon, I enjoyed reading that.

You certainly have an interesting background, which makes your advice all the more credible.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

As a side note; I am curious as to how the story in Weapon of bass technology ends. What is the trump card that the man uses? It’s intriguing, I want to know more!


“…unfortunately for them, there is a piece of information that I did not tell them about the device. A trump card if you will, that I decided to keep in my back pocket just in case they decided to somehow double-cross me.”


Cheers,

swaL

Damon

Thanks for sharing mate! You have a great inspiring story and it sounds like your diverse life experience would obviously reflect in your music. Good on you!!

Sab

www.soundcloud.com/sje-music

P.S - What does "Not made it in music mean"? You don't have Paparazzi or a manager with a bank cheque? I think you have already made it mate!

Dear Damon!

This is my first post on this forum, and it goes out to you!

First of all. The track is amazing. I love it, the intro is soo well polished, and it builds up great expectations - which you later on fulfill.
I love the dope feeling to it.

Second of all.
I loved reading your story. I immediately went to soundcloud to follow you, check facebook as well - but didnt find the page
Your post has a pure and vital point to it - be yourself, thats what you do best.
And I completely agree with you on that one. When you make music, you gotta make your music. And the reason why you havent "hit the market" yet, is probably because of lots of random reasons - but first of all, maybe the market isnt ready for you? And nevertheless, to hit the market these days - you gotta have a bucket of luck on your side.
Anyway, great point - keep on being you, make your music - and ppl will follow. Rome wasnt built in one day.

Anyway, the reason why I'm saying this is - that knowing what you've been through (when you grow old, you sure have something to talk about. And your not even close to 40 yet!)
made me wanting to hear the song. I cant express enough how many times ppl link their own stuff - without that touch. You know, you gotta add a bit of yourself when your selling!

Anywayssss (I say anyway allot, dont I.. Must be my Norwegian vocabulary kicking in)
Keep on. Song is great.

Cheers
AMV

Hey Damon, thanks so much for sharing. I really resonate with what you say about having to run your own race, make music for yourself and not compare yourself to anyone. You're so right that no one can be YOU as well as you can, so if you do that then you'll be the best in the world at what you do.

I went to high school with a guy who was just on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, and years ago that would have eaten me up. I've learned a lot in the last few years (turning 30 this July), and I know who I am and what I want out of making music. Strangely enough, what I actually want is a lot different from what I thought I did when I was a kid.

There is true power in doing something simply for the sake of doing it, with no fear and no desire.

Also: Sweet track