©2008 THMusic. Logo designed by Sector Three.
About THM
Why Instrumental Music?
When I began recording the music ideas that were flooding my head, my equipment was not necessarily the best. I was working with a home dual cassette tape deck that had the capability of performing a ‘sound-on-sound’ recording. By switching the 2 tapes back and forth from the playback and record sides of the deck, I could fake a multi-track type of recording. I did not have any microphones, and everything else I used for the recordings had a cable (bass guitar, keyboard, etc.). So, by necessity, I started recording instrumental music. This was a good thing for me however, because I have never thought of myself as much of a lyricist. Not having to worry about coming up with words made it easier to get the songs out of my head.
Naturally, I started sharing my new stuff with friends and family. Almost everyone who listened to these early works commented on the fact that it sounded a lot like soundtrack music (which makes sense because soundtracks are instrumental). They would also comment on the ease of listening to the music while doing something else. Since there were no words, it was easier to use the music as a background for their activity. I liked the idea that my music could be enjoyed while people were engaged in something else. I felt that this made my music more universally appealing.
When I started working with a true multi-track setup (TEAC 3340S w/Fostex 8 x 2 mixer), even though I had mics and mic inputs, I still continued to record instrumental music only. I was
Naturally, I started sharing my new stuff with friends and family. Almost everyone who listened to these early works commented on the fact that it sounded a lot like soundtrack music (which makes sense because soundtracks are instrumental). They would also comment on the ease of listening to the music while doing something else. Since there were no words, it was easier to use the music as a background for their activity. I liked the idea that my music could be enjoyed while people were engaged in something else. I felt that this made my music more universally appealing.
When I started working with a true multi-
comfortable with the style of music and it allowed me to experiment along the lines of one of my favorite bands, Yes. As my confidence level grew, the length of the songs grew too. I began working with the “suite” concept of writing songs, developing several multi-part compositions. Taking a cue from the then current leading edge music trend (the New Age style), I incorporated nature sounds and other effects into these multi-part pieces. To date, the longest composition of this type runs about 40 minutes.
As computers came on the scene, I slowly made the transition from analog tape to digital recording. I had gone ‘back to school’ to get a degree in Computer Hardware Technology. My first couple of tech jobs were actually in the music industry. (I worked for Oberheim and then for a musical instrument and amplifier repair shop) Eventually I wound up working for the PC clone manufacturer and bought my first PC. I started messing around with MIDI and got comfortable making drum tracks and simple melodic lines. As time went on, the PCs got more and more powerful. As was the natural progression with computers, the operating systems became more powerful and could do more. Finally I moved to digital recording and began experimenting with loops (taking a small snippet of sound and manipulating the pitch and time independently). Today I enjoy combining digital recording with MIDI to produce a more realistic band sound. I will quite often use loops to develop a drum track, then MIDI to bring in some keyboards, then finally digitally record bass and guitar live.
As computers came on the scene, I slowly made the transition from analog tape to digital recording. I had gone ‘back to school’ to get a degree in Computer Hardware Technology. My first couple of tech jobs were actually in the music industry. (I worked for Oberheim and then for a musical instrument and amplifier repair shop) Eventually I wound up working for the PC clone manufacturer and bought my first PC. I started messing around with MIDI and got comfortable making drum tracks and simple melodic lines. As time went on, the PCs got more and more powerful. As was the natural progression with computers, the operating systems became more powerful and could do more. Finally I moved to digital recording and began experimenting with loops (taking a small snippet of sound and manipulating the pitch and time independently). Today I enjoy combining digital recording with MIDI to produce a more realistic band sound. I will quite often use loops to develop a drum track, then MIDI to bring in some keyboards, then finally digitally record bass and guitar live.
I still do not have a good grasp on lyric writing, so I now do what a lot of professionals do, have someone else write the words. Collaborating with other musicians has been one of the most rewarding activities I have done in the last few years. It gives you a chance to stretch out a bit and connect with other like minded musicians. But no matter how much I work with someone else, I know that I will be the one to come up with most of the music. I have to. I’m the Instrumentalist.
A Brief History
“Hello. My name is Tom Mitchell and I play the bass.” Up until the mid 1980’s this was the extent of my musical background. Then, in 1985 I started writing down and recording the musical ideas that kept coming in my head. Since then I have written background music for videos and live stage plays and compiled many CD’s worth of material. But my musical history goes way back to the early 60’s to a little town known as L.A. (cont.)
