Today's guest is Brandon Rowan, who writes and produces music as Birocratic.
He has been recording songs since 2008, when he spent earnings from his first job as an ice-cream-scooper on a digital recording console.
Since then, Birocratic fostered a love of making sample-based beats in the vein of ‘70s funk and old-school New York hip hop, augmented by live-recorded bass guitar and synthesizer.
Birocratic's Beets albums have topped the Bandcamp hip-hop charts.
And Birocratic has toured the US multiple times, including stops at venues like Red Rocks in Colorado.
Finally, Birocratic has co-written songs with Grammy-award winning artists. Birocratic currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
In the first part of this two part episode, we get into:
Approaching your creative process through a place of excitement and fun versus hard work.
Sampling and it's role in Birocratic's own process as well as it's value as music education.
Lessons learned from giving lessons to other producers.
Motivation.
Making money and its place in artistic development
AND, we even have a mini-listening session and discuss a couple tracks.
This was something new and I had a lot fun with it. I hope that you do too.
Top 3 Gems:
MORE IS NOT BETTER. Birocratic shares perspective on his earlier music and how he has learned that there is beauty in simplicity and restraint in service of the song. If you’re stuck in an attempt to add, ask yourself if it is serving the song. The current project may actually benefit from removing elements, it may even be done.
SAMPLING ENCOURAGES DISCOVERY. In an algorithmic world, we are presented with new music all of the time. If you’re interested in looking for samples, the process becomes more active in the opposite direction, driven by the desire to discover something you have not already heard. This will inevitably extend your horizons and musical palette. Keep in mind: sampling inspiration does not necessarily have to come from something released decades ago. If you don’t normally listen to current pop music, you may find inspiration there as well.
ACTIVE LISTENING AS A PRACTICE. We sit down on the couch to focus on a movie or tv series, why not for music? Birocratic reminds us of the value in dedicating time and attention to listening to music as an end in itself. And, as we listen actively, we better understand our tastes and how we may incorporate what we hear into our own music.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
Tap in with toru:
Substack: https://torubeat.substack.com
Instagram: @torubeat
tiktok: @torubeat
Tap in with Birocratic:
email: birocratic@gmail.com
Instagram: @birocratic
To jump to a specific moment in the conversation:
0:00 Intro
1:53 Convo Start
2:10 Active Listening
5:00 Origin's Birocratic's inspiration for Active Listening
8:00 Listening 1: Justin Stanton - Secret Place
13:13 Talk about Justin Stanton - Secret Place
17:00 Authentic Expression
18:30 How Birocratic discovered this song
20:00 Listening 2: MNDSGN - Dah's Baker
21:45 Talk about MNDSGN - Dah's Baker
28:00 Birocratic's Creative Process
30:40 Don't force it. Open yourself toward inspiration
31:25 Be the producer for you as an artist
33:12 Learning that less is more in service of the song
34:20 Drum Programming
35:50 Sampling as a teacher
37:20 Sampling encourages discovery
38:23 Sampling can help with creative blocks
39:18 Motivation
41:20 Frustration experienced as a producer
42:54 Outro
Referenced:
Active Listening, Track 1: Justin Stanton - Secret Place
Active Listening, Track 2: MNDSGN - Dah’s Baker
Expanding your listening habits: ProducerHead 001 - featuring jacuzzi jefferson
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