Part 2
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.
Right now I don't have an everyday routine ...
I like staying up late working on music (I concentrate a lot more at night, with no people around, or for example, in the case of being in the city, not hearing the street's traffic, etc). I also work as an event producer for massive concerts, and used to work as a house manager in a cultural centre, in which we made huge expositions and concerts. Artists that we received include; Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama, among others. Plus, we had the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim, Kent Nagano, among many, many others in the theater. This last one is considered to be, technologically speaking, the best show in South America. And the one with the best acoustic treatment.
I work as a freelance event producer, and of course, I do music when I'm able to. Things have been very difficult these last years with the pandemic. And it hasn't changed too much till now.
Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?
I don't have a concrete creative process at the time for composing music.
I used to always start with the foundation (bass and rhythmic patterns), and after I apply the bass with its notes. But if I'm playing with some synths and a great melody comes out, I'll work on the other elements respecting this one. (And here I refer to terms of notes, rhythm patterns and stuff). But most of the time I just let my creativity flow to reflect what's on my mind. I consider myself terrible at composing lyrics.
The musical and melodic parts are easier for me, and in the live performance you are playing your compositions. Here you have to get together your different creations, make sutil transitions, equalize them as delicately as possible for them to not have frequency conflicts, etc.
Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?
As a teenager, I participated as an active member of several bands. Participating at school music festivals, and even winning most of them, but in the "cover" category. I always wanted to go further, and by this I mean composing my own music. But the rest of the band members didn't agree. It was at this point when I decided to quit these bands and started my personal musical career.
It was quite difficult to find people who were interested in composing, especially in the genres I wanted to do so. I studied Audio Engineering at SAE Institute Barcelona, and this was a way of being self-sufficient at the time of producing my own music and not depending on others.
It's been impossible for me until now to create music with other musicians. Maybe I haven't been lucky to meet someone that shares my methods, and likes. I'm very focused on my own ideas, and can find it hard to hear other opinions and ideas when I'm in the studio with someone else. I think it's something I should work on ...
Origin Of Truth was made all by myself ... In the first place because we were in a pandemic, but in the second place, I must recognize that it was because of this intransigent character I have when producing music. (But I have the hope that I will meet someone, someday with whom I will be able to collaborate!)
How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?
As I said before, Origin Of Truth was made during a pandemic. Its music expresses what was going through my mind at that time. Those were hard times ... I was going through a big depression, as I had no social contact and was living in the South of Chile with terrible weather, practically isolated from the rest of the world. Origin Of Truth is a transcription of what I was feeling at that moment. That feeling of emptiness, uncertainty, melancholy ...
Talking about the role of music in society ... I think it's huge. Many people feel a sense of identity with the music and its lyrics. But I think that here we can talk more about feeling music. The melodies, and the musical elements in general, communicate different moods and vibes. It's a very melancholic album.
And I think that, at the same time it could work even as a healing method. More than a sung message, there's a melodic message that for sure will make people vibrate with it. Those dark arpeggios, those melancholic pads, those crying guitars ... These elements are able to create powerful sensations in certain people.
Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?
As you mention, music has always been a way to deal with difficult situations. And has been useful, both listening to others music, and also creating my own music.
I would say that especially creating my own music has been a tremendous tool to deal with some situations. During the pandemic, it was through music that I was able to express myself. I couldn't say that it brought me answers to my questions. But it definitely helped me relieve those distressful sensations through which I was going at that time.
How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?
They are totally connected.
First of all, music is pure mathematics. And, most importantly, music is a way to heal people as I just said, through music therapy. I'm not a specialist in this area. But I do know that when I'm feeling anxious, depressed, stressed, or going through hard times, listening to the correct kind of music makes me feel more comfortable.
Plus, you can find sound therapy. Each human body is born reproducing a certain vibration. Each organ has its own vibration. With the passage of time, and being exposed to different stressful situations, those vibrations change. As a result, the body and its organs are not capable of working at 100%. Through different vibrational methods, the organs are able to recover their original vibrations.
Vibrations, music and the human body are directly related to each other.
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
For me, of course it's different from something mundane. And it has to do, principally with the last question. Music has the power to heal. Music has to do with melodies, harmony, atmospheres. It can make you dance, which is another way to heal. For me, there's no point of comparison.
Music is a way of communication, in the first place. And it's been a way to communicate since the first human being was living on this planet!
Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?
It's all in the mind power, I guess. Usually we don't realise the great power our brain has. It controls your body, your emotions ... Everything. And it's the one in charge of making you feel music.
The ears are the transport to it. (And are very delicate. Each one of us should really take care of them!). Especially when you're exposed to a great quantity of DB's. Without ears, there's no transport of music to our brain, and therefore, you're not able to feel emotions with it ...
