11 Years ago, after my last original band broke up, I was trying to figure out what to do next. I was never really much of a "singer-songwriter" type of person, sitting up on stage with just an acoustic guitar was always something that felt weirdly naked to me, like I was standing in front of an audience with my pants down. I always enjoyed the synergy that happens when you're in the middle of a bunch of musical elements coming together to make one sound. I had been intrigued by this Norwegian artist named @BernhoftOfficial, who used a loop pedal to bring together multiple instruments and create a live band sound all by himself. I had seen other people use loop pedals before, but Bernhoft did it in a way where it didn't really feel like he was looping. The performances felt like a normal performance, and it had all of the energy and attitude of a live band. So inspired by his example, I pulled out a Boss RC-20 that I had received as a gift not too long before hand, and decided to give it a try, using one of Bernhoft's songs "Ever Since I Was A Little Kid" as a means to learn the ropes. I was hooked.
The RC-20 was a pretty minimal pedal, and it had huge limitations for the application, so I immediately went to Guitar Center with what little cash I had, and picked up the biggest baddest loop station that was available at that time: The Boss RC-300. Within a couple weeks I had written a few songs, played my first show, and within a few months I was opening for the Black Eyed Peas at the Greek Theater in LA 🤯. Stupid stuff. Looping was a whole other animal. There were so many things to keep track of: Which instruments go where when, press this pedal at this time, don't miss the beat, swap the guitar for the bass or the bass for the synth, oh and on top of all of that, don't forget to put on a fucking great show! Every night, I'd sit in a secluded corner of the venue, hanging out in the calm space in my head, trying to steady my heartbeat (I have terrible performance anxiety). When it was my turn to perform, I'd quietly get up on stage, set up all my gear, route all the cables, do a quick line check, and then just sit down, wait for the audience to quiet down, curious as to why I was sitting there surrounded by all of these instruments. Then, when it was quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop, I'd take one final deep breath, position my feet above the pedal, and boom... it was fucking on, and there was no turning back.
For the next 4 years I played and toured as a one-person-band, The Boss RC-300 as my sidekick, two guitars, one bass, and a miniature synthesizer my bandmates, and the audience my playground. Then in 2016, I moved from LA to Nashville and for some reason I just stopped. I wish I could explain why. I flirted with getting back to it a handful of times during the first couple of years, but in 2018 I packed the Boss RC-300 away in it's travel case, and it would stay there for 6 years. Until now 😈
Last weekend on a lark I felt inspired to pull it out, hook it up, and see if I could still do it. And I couldn't really think of a better way to dip my toe back in than to go back to where I started: Bernhoft.
I know it's been a while, and I've gone back and forth on how to best address my extended absence. "Maybe I can say this, or maybe I can frame it this way. I really need to come back with a bang!" At one point I had an idea to open a video with two versions of myself acting out a whole scene, one version representing my inner critic and the other representing my conscious self. But the deeper down that rabbit hole I went the more daunting the prospect seemed to me. Luckily, I recently had a conversation on the Orchestrated Podcast that dispelled me of any of the creative pressure I was putting on myself. So instead of doing a huge production, I decided to do something I've never done before: Turn on the camera and just talk. No scripts, no fancy special effects, just you and me in my dining room talking. In this video I'll explain where I've been, how I've been trying to navigate the biggest creative burnout I've experienced thus far, and I'll even share with you the portion of the conversation that snapped me out of my mental loop of self criticism.
So stoked to be part of a project like this.
As a traveler, I've always felt that there are a few good ways to learn about a culture. There's going and meeting the people (my personal favorite). There's food, you can often learn a lot about a culture through their culinary traditions. And then there's art and music.
Now, I'm definitely a believer in the idea that music is a universal language, in fact sharing in that language across what would otherwise be communication barriers has been one of the primary experiences of my life. BUT, it would be a mistake not to acknowledge that there are very distinct differences between musical cultures, almost like dialects of that language, and subsequently an incredible amount that we can learn from one another. Things like rhythmic foundations, tonal structures, and even the instruments present in a region are shaped by centuries of external forces, much in the same way that wind and water will carve stone into great canyons.
After 16 years of recording and sampling the traditional western orchestra, Cinesamples, Inc. turned it's sites to the rest of the world, traveling to various countries across the globe to learn about their musical traditions and capture the sound of each country's true musical heritage. Today, we're excited to release the first collections from this adventure: "Iceland" and "Women of the North" as Virtual Instruments in our plugin Musio. Both of these libraries were recorded at Stúdio Sýrland in Reykjavik, Iceland and feature iconic Icelandic instruments (and choral traditions), performed by the local musicians that know them best. All along the way, our amazing production team captured footage of the sessions, and a couple of weeks ago I got to sit down with each of them to talk about what it was like to travel to this remarkable place, and work with these remarkable musicians to create a library that preserved their ancient musical traditions within the modern world of virtual instruments. So with that, we hope you enjoy this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Musio's Iceland sessions.
Hey there, friends. I know I've been offline for a while. I promise I'll be back soon. I'm working on some video ideas as I write this, the first of which will be addressing my extended absence. However, I thought I'd give you all a brief explanation of why i've been away and also share with you something that I'm really excited about.
So, at the beginning of the summer, right when the YouTube channel was getting cooking, I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed. Being a lifelong musician, it's not a position I haven't found myself in before, but this time was different, as I'm a relatively new father and husband. I couldn't just buckle down, eat ramen, and throw myself into my creative endeavors like I would have done before. I had a family to consider, and this was the first time I'd ever found myself in that specific position. For a brief moment I thought I could try and lean into the YouTube thing, build the channel and become a full time content creator (hence the poorly timed and rushed Patreon which I later shut down), but I quickly found that I didn't enjoy the incentives of that. Part of what's so wonderful about making this content is that it's purely for the fun of it, but adding the pressure of trying to make a living began to affect my relationship with it in ways that I didn't like. So I decided to step away to focus on supporting my family, working some freelance gigs and looking for a new job. After months of searching and over a hundred job applications later, I finally landed a job making videos for a really amazing Virtual Instrument company called Cinesamples.
Which leads me to what I'm so excited about. As some of you might recall, I fell somewhat accidentally into a career as a film composer back in the early 2010s. At the time, I knew nothing about Orchestral Instrumentation. I was a rock guy navigating an entirely foreign musical landscape, but I quickly came to understand the importance of quality Orchestral Sample Libraries, and some of the best libraries out there were made by companies like Spitfire Audio, East West Quantum Leap, and... Cinesamples! All of their samples were recorded on high quality soundstages with flawless instruments and incredible players, and you could hear the love and care that they put into it every time you played a note. But there was one drawback... These libraries were expensive. I mean, really expensive. We're talking thousands of dollars just to have a workable collection for a full orchestra. So you needed the money to afford the instruments, but if you were trying to make a living as a composer, you needed the instruments to make enough money to afford to buy them. So the result was a collection of elite Virtual Instruments that were really only available to the elite composers. And if you were just starting out, you either had to settle for subpar sounds or find "alternative" ways to get your hands on these high end libraries.
But Cinesamples is changing all of that. Earlier this year they launched Musio, a single, streamlined, Virtual Instrument plugin that includes their ENTIRE catalog from the last 16 years, as well as new Musio exclusive libraries. And they've priced it in a way that just about anyone who wants their legendary virtual instruments can access and use them. Essentially, they're lowering the barrier of entry and making these high quality sample libraries available to just about anyone. And I'm super excited to be able to be part of the team that helps get that message out there, because honestly, this is something I wish I would have had when I was just starting out. I can tell you from personal experience that everything about this company is legit, from the way they treat their employees to the way they respect and listen to their users. These guys really do care, and they really are packing a ton of value into this plugin in the hopes that it will inspire and encourage young musicians to keep exploring and making music.
Now, I wouldn't share this with you guys if I didn't feel like it could add real value to each of your individual musical journeys. When I first started this channel I had been working for a different Music Tech company for about 4 years, and I never talked about them here because I didn't think that what they offered was all that valuable to this community. But the truth is, I've never seen any company do what Cinesamples is doing in the way that they're doing it, and I just think it's really cool, so much so that I felt compelled to share it with you of my own accord (They don't know I'm posting this). Even if you're not a composer, Orchestral instrumentation can add a unique depth and texture to any genre of music, and a good orchestral sample library can be a great tool to have in your arsenal as a producer. It's been priceless for me.
Anyway, here's a video I worked on with the CEO explaining what all the hubub is about. You might even see/hear some familiar stylings :). And if any of this peaks your interest, you can head over to Musio.com to try it out for yourself completely free for 30 days. No strings attached.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. If you try out Musio I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to hear what you make. I'm looking forward to uploading some new videos soon. Until then, Don't forget to enjoy the journey. And Embrace the Suck.
-Chris
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Grab your Taylor, your Martin, or your Breedlove guitar and buckle in. It’s time to go on an acoustic journey and unravel the wizardry of the captivating songwriter that is Scott Goldbaum. In this episode of The Art of Sucking at Guitar, we’ll take a look at Scott’s gorgeous yet formidable song “Forest Home” and try to unravel it by ear. This beautiful and highly technical song has been on my need-to-learn list for years, but I’ve always been a little intimidated by it. So I figure it’s finally time to bite the metaphorical bullet and give it a try.
How often do you check your phone? Your phone is a powerful tool, there’s no doubt about that. But it can also be your worst enemy. Creativity requires a deep and uninterrupted focus, but with infinite possibilities and endless distractions in the palm of your hand, achieving that level of focus can often feel just out of reach. So in this video we’ll take a look at how these little devices might be blocking us from our creative selves, and we’ll explore some possible boundaries that we can implement to break our phone addiction, and reconnect with our creativity.
Music and technology have been inextricably linked throughout all of history. From The Player Piano, to the Synthesizer revolution, to modern digital recording, music and tech have shared a symbiotic relationship with technology influencing music and music influencing technology. But with one-touch-songs and A.I. tech full steam ahead, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what the future of music will look like. Technological wizard Jeremy Bennett (AKA Saurus) joins me on The Art of Sucking at Music Podcast to talk about this and more, using his own expertise in music tech to offer a unique perspective. Catch the full episode here!
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Last weekend my good friend Jeremy Bennett AKA Saurus was kind enough to be my first guest for The Art of Sucking at Music Podcast. As a juxtaposition to me, Jeremy is an incredible electronic musician, and his understanding and perspectives on music technology have always served as a catalyst for great conversations between the two of us. On this episode we talk about music tech, obsolete copyright law, and A.I. generated music. But even more importantly, what that could mean for music moving forward. The full video conversation will be dropping on my Patreon on June 30th and on July 5th you can listen to the full audio version for free wherever you get your podcasts. For now, however, enjoy this little preview 🙂.
Hey friends! I hope you're all having a great weekend so far. I was finally able to make The Art of Sucking at Guitar Episode 1. It took me a little bit, my relationship with guitar is a complicated one, and it took a while to find the right way to approach it. So after a couple weeks of chipping away at it, here it is :).
I hope you enjoy!
Hello Friends! I'm currently working on a new video that will be out sometime within the next week or so. As I'm making this video I've started to think, creating videos in the way that I enjoy takes a lot of time and energy, and the production and editing value that I apply to them has me releasing videos at a somewhat slower cadence than perhaps your average YouTuber. Rather than releasing one or two videos every week, I release one video every week and a half to two weeks. And while I'm happy to continue at that cadence, I wanted to ask you all what you would like to see. Would you prefer one high quality video (like the videos I've been making) every two weeks or so, or would you like to see more videos more often at a lower quality? Vote below!
Hey there, I'm Chris Hayzel! I'm a professional multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and film composer based in Las Vegas, NV. The goal of my channel is to provide content that entertains, motivates, and inspires you to explore your love of music. I'm a strong advocate of failure as a blueprint for success, but I know that it can often feel discouraging and impossible to avoid, especially in creative endeavors. So my hope is that through this channel you'll find the encouragement you need to work through the difficult moments, regardless of your experience or skill level, and lean into being bad at something as a necessary part of getting good at it. You'll also be helping to keep me accountable to make sure I'm continuing to challenge myself musically and creatively. I hope you enjoy the videos as much as I enjoy creating them. :)