DivKid's Month Of Modular Issue #7 April 2016 | Page 8

So the reader can get to know you a little ... first, what led you to music? And what had you been doing as a hobby or professionally leading up to getting into modular? 

I was classically-trained for years as a kid, and went on to take a degree in

Popular Music & Sound Recording at the first University to offer it, Salford. After that I had a 10 year career as a recording artist and producer, largely under the name Blue Light Fever. I eventually tired of the continuous see-saw hype train of the music industry and retrained as a teacher, moving from that into college technician work (which I know you're familiar with! :) 

That takes us up to you working with modular, what were you using it for at the time and how long was it before you started making audio demos for modules? 

I completely gave up music for a while after quitting the industry, but eventually got sucked into giving it one last go - but strictly as a fun hobby. I bought a huge Mac and a ton of software, and that was great for a while - but I hit a wall. I was treading the same creative paths over and over again, and also suffering with RSI from being tied to a mouse constantly. I investigated buying midi controllers for my plugins, but decided that setting them up would suck up too much time & energy. Eventually I decided to take the plunge into modular, and found that I was suddenly bursting with ideas and recordings - and they were happening much, much quicker than in the past. A lot of it may not be particularly mainstream, but it was a lot of fun putting it together. I was putting tracks together, including mixing, over a weekend. If you want to get an idea of the kind of music my modular led me to, check them out at: 

https://soundcloud.com/spitezoo-experimental-lab

After a couple of years I started producing demos for modular manufacturers (Synthetic Sound Labs, WMD, Intellijel, Frequency Central etc..). This happened organically, after I had got involved in suggesting ideas for modules and beta testing them - something that had grown out of long email conversations with manufacturers troubleshooting issues with modules. I did demos in exchange for free modules, but eventually decided that he sheer amount of work I was putting in was not making much sense (as much to do with my own tendency towards perfectionism as anything)