Synoiz Music Blog
Synoiz music blog.
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Posted 20th June 2015
Geez why are these things always so difficult to sit down and write? Thanks for all the feedback on the latest album, Frontiers has done really well for itself. I am planning to release more singles from it as well as doing a short run of gigs, it's just a lot to plan right now and frankly I'm really wanting to write more new material while I'm in the zone as it were.
So the plan for me right now is that I'm working on a new album of tracks unrelated to Frontiers but that should be released in time for my near regular Halloween slot, I'm working on getting some gigs lined up and there will be more singles/b-sides/videos from Frontiers eventually.
It's become a big dilemma for me that I get stuck in a particular "release" and things just pile up behind it, I think the way I'm going now (after the Ambients era lasting so long) is that I'm going to release things when they're ready regardless of if I'm already promoting something else, so while I may release a new album later this year, I'll still go back to Frontiers and release new stuff for that afterward rather than a linear release system. So you never know, in 7 years time I might release another single from Ambients haha.
So... exciting times!
Hope you're all well and still enjoying the latest material, a common thing I seem to be hearing is people getting Brave New Worlds stuck in their heads, so here it is again, hohoho.
Listen to Brave New Worlds by Synoiz on Soundcloud
Syn
Posted 2nd October 2014
Hello there!
It's been bloody ages since I last updated my blog, it's been a crazy year and I've been taking things in my stride while I've finished the new album Frontiers. It's out on Monday at iTunes, Amazon, to stream on Spotify and to buy direct from my own webstore right here (I think it's cheapest on iTunes but you get a digital booklet if you buy from here).
In August and September I ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a physical CD release of the album and wonderfully it exceeded its funding target and we were able to get CDs made, they'll be available from the webstore from Monday and I'm in talks with getting them stocked locally in some Newcastle / Sunderland stores in case you're nearby and don't like ordering off the interwebs.
I've had some really good feedback from the fans who got the album early through the campaign, I was a bit scared that Frontiers isn't quite as dramatic as Ambients was but it's a different beast essentially. I've got a few reviews of the album and interviews coming out over the next month so keep an eye out for them (no doubt I'll be spamming my Twitter and Facebook with them when I've got a copy myself!)
Oh yeah, I best put this up while I remember, to test out some of the new tracks including the vocal songs from Frontiers, I did a secret gig in Sunderland back in May. Thankfully the new stuff went down very well, here's a setlist:
Frontiers Preview Gig Setlist:
- Such Blissful Inactivity (Intro)
- Make Up Your Mind
- The Captain (Segue)
- Long Forgotten Centuries
- Brave New Worlds
- The Cataclysm (Segue)
- U.N.Stable
- Becoming More
- The Asterism
- Getting Safer
Thanks to everyone who made it, it was a lot of fun even if we had crazy sound problems for the first few minutes! I've been offered a gig or two for the new album lately but what will probably be happening is that I'll get a band together (I kinda need more keyboardists to do half the stuff!) in the new year and then start doing some gigs around the North East and maybe further afield.
Hope you're all doing well,
Frontiers is out on Monday 6th October 2014, please grab a copy and tell me what you think!
Syn
Posted 12th October 2013
Finally some music news, I've been really busy lately with so many things that aren't Synoiz related it's unreal. A week or two ago I scored a short horror filmed called "Summer's Night" which is apparently going to be released as part of a horror compilation at some point. I'd like to say I enjoyed making it but at the time I was really ill, the film edit had overrun and when I got it to start on there was only a weekend before the submission deadline and no time to get better, so it was a weekend full of Lemsip, hot chocolate and playing long cello patches on the keyboard with a wild disregard for tempo. I liked that though, the more soundtracks I work on, the better I get with them. The first one I did I treated like a collection of songs, finding a tempo and key for each scene (compromising when I had to) and making it very mechanical, now I've loosened up a bit and seen that when most people edit films they're not counting the beats in their head between one shot and the next, they're working the flow around many different factors and so a fixed time signature and tempo can hinder rather than help in some cases.
Anyway that's enough on that, the new Synoiz album is in that horrible unending 99% complete stage that a lot of other artists have told me they get also. The songs are written, I'm playing about with some voice acting parts and the production is really close to being good but it's just been stuck for the last few months where I tweak little bits and fiddle about with patches and sounds rather than going "sod it, this is done". I'm aiming for a February release date and while I don't want any singles from the album there might be an EP with instrumentals of the vocal tracks and some outtakes. There will be music videos too but while myself and 12 Ft Beast Productions are bandying around ideas for them I don't want to think of all that stuff until I'm done with my music.
I do hope you'll like the album, it's not as varied as Ambients I don't think but really nice to just slap on your headphones while you're out and about.
Over and out, for our unity,
Synoiz
Posted 17th June 2013
Once again it's been a while since my last blog, I've had lots to ramble about but nothing interesting enough to actually write about! If you saw the news I'm in the middle of working on my second album, I'm enjoying the process but it is a bit weird. 90% of the songs are written and just being spruced up, but now it's getting to the cutting room stage and I'm having to forget about my "ideals" and think about the best way to present an album.
In the past it would be that people would buy records based upon artist name or cover art or the success of a single etc, now it seems to be a lot more about the structure of the album.
Because we allow streams or previews of albums online we need to think about immediately "hooking" the listener. Don't get through to that listener in the first 30 seconds? Well they've got a million other artists on the internet to listen to and they're not gonna give a slow-burner the time of day unless they know it's gonna be worth it.
It's cynical but I'm having to be realistic, I can leave my 3 CD deluxe egotrip albums for if I ever make a name for myself, right now I need to make songs that people can use and relate to their lives, whether if it's listening in the background while working, or a song to have on in the car.
The way I started the new album was with a track called "Dawn" that was wonderful for me, it was a perfect representation of how I feel conveying an honest picture of the melancholy I often find myself in (not in a bad way, I see it as more of a comforting sensation). But when listening through the album these last few days, it wasn't the way to start a record. Every stream, every iTunes preview would start with this track and people might switch off before they got to the heart of the album. That's what happened with a lot of my last album Ambients, we started with Forest and because of it, most of the streams we see online end before the first intro track is done, even if that listener might have loved Getting Safer or Andromeda, the structure of the album stopped them getting that far.
Maybe people don't have the patience for albums anymore but this new Synoiz album is starting with something a little more dramatic, it's still got a lot of stuff for the existing fans to enjoy but there's a few vocal tracks in there too. We may even have an EP from it as we like all the tracks but some of them won't make the cut and I want to make this album as accessible and listenable as possible.
How do other artists feel about this? Do other artists feel pressured to slap people in the face with their music or feel like you can't do the album you want to do because of how online releases work?
As a listener do you feel like there's too much to listen to or that you want albums to grab you on the first track?
Hope you're all well, here's the Dawn track I was talking about, I love it but it won't be on the new record!
Posted 31st October 2009
I'm so excited, my debut album "Ambients" is OUT NOW!
You can buy it from any of the stores listed in the dropdown below, including iTunes and Amazon.
One thing I must mention is that I have had very little control over the pricing of my album and personally I think it's way too expensive on Amazon (£6.99/$8.99) and iTunes (£7.99/$9.99). To apologise for this I'm offering a FREE Limited Edition CD copy of the album (only 100 in existance) with every digital purchase from those two stores (including postage to wherever you are).
I love this album, spookily it was exactly a year today that I finished the album with my tongue-in-cheek horror piece "Shock! Horror!" which was the last track made for Ambients. It seems weird that it's been an entire year of producing/mastering/re-mastering/promotion and working on the EP and three singles (two of which are still to come). Please buy the album and and follow the instructions on the mini-site to get your free CD.
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