GrayBeat is/are...?
GrayBeat is an independent musical project that I started around 2017, when I first discovered my passion for music production, and which I now believe to be my life’s calling. After playing drums and percussion in myriad formats and genres over about 20 years (I first picked up playing them when I was around 12 years old), I found myself noticing that something was lacking in my life. I hadn’t been actively playing much music at that time, and I gravitated toward the idea of trying my hand at composition using MIDI technology. Now in 2022, looking back, GrayBeat has taken on a life of its own. I’ve gone from releasing my first self-produced EP, Whaelstrom, in 2018, to many other releases. I’ve developed an innovative audio/visual live show, which, until now, has been wholly virtual due to the timing of the pandemic. I’ve also formed the vibrant and diverse community, the Grayliens, a collection of motivated and active individuals coming together around all the concepts that make GrayBeat unique. These are concepts like peace, rhythm, technology, contemplation and diversity.
Paper Shoes
GrayBeat, ein "musical project" aus Minneapolis, genauer gesagt steckt producer Robin Sedivy dahinter, veröffentlicht heute mit "Paper Shoes" seinen neuesten Track. Als "...hypnotic and melodic
sound in the electronic and psych-pop realms...", bezeichnet er das Stück selbst und da darf man dem Künstler auch gar nicht wiedersprechen, diese Charakteristik oder diese Bezeichnung trifft es schon ganz gut.
Alles begann mit den Worten "You don't need anyone to justify the truth", sprich Wahrheit braucht keine Rechtfertigung, als Inspiration, wo Ehrlichkeit und Mut an oberster Stelle stehen. Diese Themen verarbeitet respektive setzt der Künstler musikalisch im Genre des Electro meets Synth Pop um und bietet dabei auch perfekten Dream Pop in dem vor allem der Chorus, welcher mich immer wieder an die Pet Shop Boys erinnert, grandios heraussticht.
Die Selektion der Sounds hervorragend und kann durchaus als das bogenspannende Element zwischen Electro und Synth Pop bezeichnet werden. Die Vocals, im Übrigen prädestiniert für dieses Genre, erzeugen eine einzigartige Psych/Dream Pop Atmosphäre und verleihen dadurch dem Track Glanz und Schimmer.
"Paper Shoes" by GrayBeat, modern melodic Electro meets Retro Synth Pop to melt into a catchy Electro Psych/Dream Pop Vibe.
Q&A
Who inspired you to make music in general?
My parents have always supported my picking up an instrument, or singing. They made sure to get me into drawing and reading at a young age, as well.
My Dad is an extremely talented visual and physical artist, and so creating new art or coming up with new ideas was always on the forefront of my mind. I also met a lot of cool friends along the way that either supported me or played music with me.
What's the story behind "Paper Shoes", respectively what or who was your inspiration?
The song is about the honesty and bravery of pursuing a life of artistic or musical creation, in spite of my own internal logic, existential fears or economic barriers. The composition began last spring, when the lyrics, "You don't need anyone to justify the truth", came to me in a harmonious dream. When the lyrics came to me, they were sung to me by a female acoustic guitar player. I wasn’t actively collaborating with anyone like that at the time, so I made a mental note of the experience, but didn’t have a clear idea yet about how this composition could be brought to life.
After some time, I found myself in a music production class with a well-known Grammy award winning producer. I needed to start composing a completely new song from scratch, one that included lyrics and vocals. What would become “Paper Shoes” was really the only inspirational piece that I had at my disposal that would meet the requirements at the time. Fortunately, I was very taken with this melody, and I knew that this would be a perfect opportunity to finally start to build on its inspiration.
When I first started composing the song, the rest of the melodies came to me right away. Lyrically, I hadn’t filled in those other melodies yet, so I recorded some scratch vocals using gibberish words like ‘la-la-la’ and so forth.
Over the next days and weeks, the rest of the lyrics started to fill themselves in, and the term ‘paper shoes’ came to mind. I found this a bit interesting, and definitely perplexing. But, the term just kept popping up in my head. I knew I had to incorporate those words into the lyrics. When I did, the meaning of the song finally became clear, and I not only maybe understood what a paper shoe was, but I also was able to complete the lyrical arc of the composition.
Since I was learning some new music production and composition techniques in class, I was able to get over some of the creative hurdles that could have held this song back from coming into fruition. One of those hurdles was letting go of trying to find that female voice, but going ahead instead with trying to sing it myself. As it turned out, the song worked really well in my range, and I was able to complete the vocal recordings myself.
At one point during the recording process, my wife Tracia mentioned maybe she could sing on the song too. I thought that would be nice, but I once again wasn’t sure how to execute the idea in terms of the sound of the production. Luckily, one Sunday, when I was recording my vocals, the timing seemed right to have her get behind the mic so we could see what might work in terms of her singing on the song. The recording session with her went extremely smooth and her backing vocal parts came together, adding a very big piece to this nearly-completed puzzle.
Once all the pieces of the puzzle were in place, and while I was still in class, I spent the next five weeks mixing the song to make sure everything sounded as good as it could possibly be at the time. I then put the song on the shelf for another month, before coming back to it with a fresh perspective, and determining that it really was, in fact, ready for release.
When I went to create the cover art, I considered the lyrics, “Justice sees everywhere at once…” and considered including a depiction of Lady Justice, which would have been fitting. However, since the song is ultimately about the pursuit of liberty through art, I decided to depict the statue of liberty. Adding origami paper shoes to the depiction seemed quite necessary. A friend of mine many years ago painted a statue of liberty using a cross-hatch, almost impressionistic technique, and I used that as inspiration for the background. The illustrated green watercolor-like statue was inspired by the Gorillaz first album cover, and the paper shoes were inspired by Jason Priest’s albums and also Thick as A Brick by Jethro Tull.
What is your creative process like?
It’s varied a lot over the years, as I continue to tune a methodical process that I’ve learned. Up until a year or two ago, I would start composing a song with no particular ideas in mind. I would hunt around for interesting sounds that could give me the inspirational spark I needed to keep going. A lot of times those sounds would be drum sounds. There was a lot of trial and error when I first started composing, and much less so now that I understand so much better how to consistently produce quality compositions.
The trial and error period was a necessary part of my development, as it made room for me to learn so much about audio and sonics in general. While I had, of course, been involved in music nearly my whole life, I wasn’t yet highly skilled at music production. I would often take my rough mixes and demos to my car and drive around listening to them in an attempt to glean whether or not they sounded like they should. For the first couple of years, they basically never sounded like they should. I was extremely confident that I would eventually figure out how to get my songs to sound correct, and I really enjoyed the process of making music. For months and months, I immersed myself in this constant cycle of experimentation, testing and learning.
Today, when I start a composition, it’s often from a voice memo, or series of voice memos, that I’ve recorded for myself during my daily activities, as new musical composition ideas pop into my head. I will then compose in my Digital Audio Workstation a rough sketch of that idea just using virtual piano emulations. Once I have the main three chord structures and melodies composed on piano, I will start listening to music that I like and find interesting sound ideas that encapsulate well the feeling and direction of my own new composition. I’ll make a playlist with songs from other artists that have sounds or ideas relevant to how I hear my own composition shaping up in my head. I’ll then make notes of those elements and start incorporating them into the song.
As I continue to layer on new sounds and ideas, I will record a scratch vocal take or two. Once most of the elements of the song are there, I’ll record a real vocal take, and then add on the remaining layers of the song composition.
When do you say/decide that a song is ready for a release?
Ideally, I won’t release a song until I can listen to it without being able to find something wrong with it that I need to change. I like to get feedback from other people as much as possible, at various stages in the process in order to be able to get a fresh perspective. It’s also nice to be able to listen to the music in a number of different non-studio environments and real-life situations.
So, I might drive around with it in the car, or listen to it in the background while concentrating on a mundane task. Making the music requires listening to the music quite a lot, over and over. So, any way that I can get my own head in a different space while listening, can help provide me with a fresh perspective. All of this process is what leads me to a point in time when I can safely say that I can’t find anything more to change in the song, and it’s ready for the world.
What's your most useful talent besides music?
I know a fair amount about digital technology, including some coding. I use this skill to help manage my online presence, but I also use Python coding in order to develop my innovative live show.
This show uses real-time graphics that change from performance to performance based on how I decide to play each particular song that night. This is only possible due to me being able to use this code in order to connect different applications together in the digital world, so that they can ‘speak’ to each other.
Do you remember your first ever self-written song?
I composed a song for a group of about 10 people for my college music theory class at Macalester College using Mac Gamut notation software. This was about 20 years ago. It was the final project for the semester, and I included myself playing drumset and my friend playing electric guitar.
I included a timpanist, two piano players, shaker players, and other mallet percussion players. It was a difficult composition for many of the players to perform, but it went pretty well. I’ll never forget that experience!
What’s next for you?
- releasing more GrayBeat music
- doing in-person shows for the first time
- connecting with more and more true GrayBeat fans through my online Grayliens community
- continuing to produce music for more and more artists
- teaching music production classes of my own
