The All Is In Us

The History 

I remember noodling on a piano from a very young age, not formally trained, just tinkering on the family piano. I was always ‘obsessed’ with sound, making noises (which kind of annoyed the rest of my family!) and would play little chopsticks duets with my mum or make up random strings of notes, melodies and ‘songs’.

There was something in sound that moved and transfixed me.

At the time, I didn’t know what that ‘thing’ was, but as soon as I could afford to do so, and was old enough, the ‘attraction’ to sound would lead me to get the bus to Bromley High Street where there was an HMV that I could buy cassettes and CDs from. I would buy the ‘Naxos’ budget recordings of classical music, and any other albums that were either on sale or I had ‘dreamed about’ owning because of singles I’d heard on the TV or radio. I would also endlessly record songs (for free!) from the radio onto cassette and make mixtapes of any and all music styles I listened to. I was obsessed with any and all ‘sounds’, and if there was a song that I loved, I’d listen to it until the tape would wear thin and sometimes break!

Before I actually started ‘playing’ music and getting serious about being a musician, I was such an avid listener. A fanatic. Not of any singular genre, but a fan of any and all music, especially music that had an ‘ethereal’, meditative or hypnotic like property. A lot of fans memorize and obsess over things like who played what, and at what studio and with what instruments and through what mics, what gear, and the exact time and date etc. etc. But I didn't care for the ‘trivial’ information like that. I was obsessed with the sound and the ‘spirit’ in it, or the ‘magic’, the intangible nature of it and the feeling it evoked in me. Everything other than that ‘feeling’ was superfluous to (and still is). 

I can’t remember when or why, but I developed a particular fondness of electronic music. The thought that an electric ‘synth’ could make such thrilling noises was spellbinding for me. The way a non-acoustic instrument could affect you as deeply as an acoustic instrument blew my mind. Maybe it was after watching Bladerunner that I started to really get into Vangelis - he composed the music for that movie and was involved in early creation of electronic music - and listening to his transporting and transformative music left a deep impression on me. I’m not exaggerating but I listened to the album, and particularly the song ‘Albedo 0.39’ hundreds and hundreds of times. It NEVER got old to me (and still hasn't!) It was constantly in the background when I drew and painted (I used to do that a LOT when I was younger). I also loved the music of Jean-Michel Jarrre, Mike Oldfield and other early electronic music pioneers. ‘Oxygene’ by JMJ and ‘Tubular Bells’ by Mike Oldfield were listened to endlessly! The ability electronic music had to ‘transport’ you, to take you on a ‘journey’ was so resonant with me. I could escape to practically anywhere in the universe of my imagination and go on endless creative ‘excursions’!

I loved the synth sounds in rock music too and the way ‘electronic’ sounds could be fused with traditional rock music instruments, so of course, I became obsessed with Pink Floyd and their more ethereal tracks. As well as the more classic or popular Pink Floyd albums I was particularly drawn to and loved the less well received album ‘Animals’ - which Dave Gilmore actually cites as his least favorite PF album! But, nonetheless I listened to it endlessly and drew great imagery and creative energy from it. 

Picking up the guitar and getting ‘serious about the sound’ or understanding music about 35 years ago meant that I could explore my love of sound in a deeply interactive way. Instead of just listening, I could actually CREATE music and I remember, as soon as I could string a few chords together, I wanted to write songs. I vividly recall the THRILLING feeling I got when I put 3 chords together on my guitar and thought ‘I’M WRITING A SONG!! I’M ACTUALLY WRITING A SONG!!’ The song was garbage, trust me! But the feeling that I could ‘emulate’ the music and musicians I loved listening to so much by actually creating my own music was a LIFE-CHANGING feeling and process for me. 

It’s from there, and through my continued devotion to understanding ‘sound’, and particularly rock and electronic music that I’ve based my whole life around the creation of music and the facilitation of other people’s ability to write and create music themselves.

I read somewhere that you don't choose your interests, they choose you. My obsession with sound has not only chosen me, it's literally imprisoned me in a cell whose (virtuous) chains have shackled my mind, body, ears and heart with a lifelong task of finding expression, discovering creative truths, unearthing profundity through music that I can share with the world and make my time in the ‘cell’ a little more bearable!

It’s my genuine life goal to flood the world with music to lift and inspire. As mentioned in the ‘Story’ page, my vision statement is:

‘To use my creativity and intelligence to bless the lives of others so the spirit of abundance flows through them and me’.

I formulated my vision statement nearly two decades ago and it’s with the intent to use my creativity and intelligence that I’ve built my studio, honed my ability to play, learned how to engineer, sequence, record, mix and master every last piece of the music available on ‘The All Is In Us’.

The Gear 

My obsession with early electronica led me to study the formative pioneers, which then led me down the wonderful path of discovering the gear that these musicians used. 

A list of the synths, the preamps, the boards, the outboard gear, the pianos etc. that Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre and other early pioneers used could fill volumes so I won’t bore you with that, but I I reckon I’ve been pretty fortunate in the era my musical exploration ‘grew up’ in. I would capture my early recordings on a Tascam Portastudio 4-Track, and then various minidisc and even CD recorders but it wasn’t long before I had a computer that enabled me to explore the world of ‘Digital Audio Workstations’ to record music using inexpensive technology that 10 or 20 years earlier would’ve cost 100s thousands of dollars.

I bought various samplers, synths, preamps, mics and other gear all with the desire to re-create the music of the bands and artists I loved.

One of the most exciting parts of the technological revolution in music is the creation of Softsynths. Basically a softsynth is a software program that generates audio that either recreates an ‘old’ synth or is its own unique ‘new’ synth. Softsynths enable musicians to have pretty much every single synth that the pioneers of electronic music used right at their fingertips at a fraction of the price and without any of the downsides of owning the physical synths (weight, tuning, storage, unreliability etc.)

I have hundreds of softsynths and marvel at the beauty of the sounds that these modern software programs can create. As someone who owned synthesizers and a modest amount of physical/analogue gear, the availability of modern music software is one aspect of technological development that, to me, is absolutely wonderful, and I am extremely grateful to the companies that create these tools that allow musicians the world over to easily and effectively realize their musical ambitions in an affordable and amazing way. I have fully embraced the ‘movement’ of the creation of music to ITB (in-the-box) i.e. inside the computer and have sold a lot of ‘outboard’ synths and equipment because what you can do ITB is just as good (if not better) than using the ‘real’ equipment.

All of the music in the ‘Illuminated Manuscripts’ has been written, recorded, mixed and mastered using these softsynths, a piano (which can be used to control the synths), some mics and preamps, my voice and guitar. It’s a true labor of love that I’ve spent a large part of my life cultivating alongside running a successful Music School and raising a family of five.

The Process 

This is where I take the knowledge, software and equipment I’ve accrued over the years and while meditating on the underlying philosophy/message.

The music I create for ‘The All Is In Us’, whether for ‘Illuminated Manuscripts’, ‘Transcendental Essences’ or ‘Re-Frames’ almost invariably starts with drones. The reason I start with a drone is that drones (to me) instantly facilitate a ‘changed-state’ in the listener, and that ‘changed-state’ enables a quieting of the conscious mind and allows a meditative and receptive journey to ensue.

I have a few favorite synths that I’ll use to create the right ‘feel’ for the piece of music I’m creating, and then I build from there. This allows my creativity to spark from a "feeling space" versus a "thinking space" whilst relying quite heavily on intuition to make the ‘optimal’ choices for the track.

I have a saying when writing songs which is: ‘You have to serve the song’, and whether I’m writing ‘drone’ music for meditation or a 4 minute pop song, the philosophy is the same, you have to serve the song, not the self. I imagine the song ‘births’ itself and I have to act like a musical doula and help the ‘delivery’ while constantly serving its evolution and growth. Making sure not to be too heavy handed or ‘getting in the way’.