When I grew up I didn’t know I wanted to get into the graphics industry. There simply wasn’t a clear and paved path cut out for me at school. At the moment I finished a study to become an IT-guy, there was this new development taking place called ‘the internet’. And everything about it shouted for visuals, creativity and diving into a world that was yet to be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A new study was introduced by a school in Eindhoven called ‘multimedia vormgeving’ and it had it all: photography, photoshops, 3D animations, sound and video-editing and so on. It contained every aspect to create a full-blown multimedia product. Here is where I learned the real craftsmanship of putting creative ideas into results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The graphics industry? Nah, not for me. I’d rather stick to IT stuff. But I do try to keep up with new developments, techniques and apps as they come along. I find it very relaxing working on a visual or come up with some really nice photos. Just for fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music was my first love, and I guess it’ll be my last? But it wasn’t always like that. I still remember myself as a 5-year-old, crying when our local marching band came by. The noise they’d make was so loud! Yet it somehow got my attention as just a few years later I decided to join that same marching band at the age of 7.
Playing the drum in a marching band teaches you all the stuff you don’t have time for when you grow older: reading music notation, playing techniques, playing percussion, play at the right tempo and obviously playing together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But by the the age of 12 that single drum didn’t do the job anymore and I wanted to buy a full-blown drumkit. Back then I was heavily impressed and inspired by my friend, Paul Thissen, who I looked up to as a brother. He was completely into rock and metal drumming and had a big drumkit to match his great talent.
Together we became better, but Paul’s natural talent for music even got him beyond playing the drums: when he set his mind to it, he could arguably play any type of instrument! At some point he picked up the guitar and we started practicing together, him on guitar, myself behind the drums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ease of him, picking up and learning the guitar, was my cue to try and do the same: if it’s that<\/em> easy, why not give it a try – right? Paul turned out to be a natural on guitar as well, where I had to practice quite hard. During my final years in school I still kept track on developments around having a digital audio workstation (DAW), which is basically a computer with a sequencer and a bunch of virtual instrument software (VST’s). The moment came that I started to use SoundFonts, which was a temporary piece of technology offered through SoundBlaster sound cards. Not long after that I entered the world of VST’s. Nowadays I find joy in working with other musicians and singers. And due to my interest in all sorts of music, I dislike sticking to a single style. I find the process and the journey of learning how to make a nice, ear-appealing song in a particular genre very interesting and challenging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the very beginning… When I grew up I didn’t know I wanted to get into the graphics industry. There simply wasn’t a clear and paved path cut out for me at school. At the moment I finished a study to become an IT-guy, there was this new development taking place called ‘the internet’. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-296","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296\/revisions\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xynochzo.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
For me, I was also more interested in getting stuff composed with some help of the computer. I remember trying to write songs in MIDI when I was 13 or 14 years old. Learning to play guitar really helped with this whole process as well.
At the age of 18 I moved away from my home town and Paul. We still kept in touch at some occasions, but unfortunately our paths never really crossed again. My heart stopped for a moment when I heard that Paul had suddenly left the world. A great inspiration and a great natural musician was no longer.
Thanks Paul, for all the good memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHome recording<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The virtual instruments mostly help with creating the drums- and synths parts, while virtually all the guitar and bass guitar parts are “inserted” playing the actual instrument.
Gradually I started buying more instruments. My collection at this moment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Today<\/h4>\n\n\n\n