Ronald Silverlight talks about 'Desert Caravan', the art of song writing and how he promotes his music.

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Ronald Silverlight recently won the '2001: A Musicians' Odyssey' competition with his song 'Desert Caravan'. Out of the 10,000 plus votes that rolled in, Ronald attracted four times as many votes as the person next in the vote tally. He wouldn't have been able to win if he hadn't have had the material, the determination and the desire to win. We decided to catch up with Ronald via email, find out a little bit more about the music he writes and just generally catch a vibe.

Q. What's the story behind "DESERT CARAVAN"?

I chose to enter "DESERT CARAVAN" because it was a song that a lot of my friends and peers enjoyed. The song is not one of my more technically difficult ones -- its just a song with a nice feel and mood to it. If the contest was based on musical content and technically challenging material, there would have been several other of my songs which I would have considered to use as an entry. With "DESERT CARAVAN", I wanted to try to write an instrumental song that captured a certain "feel" to it - a "feel" that would take the listener on a journey to an exotic land and to a place where most people have never physically visited before.

The day the idea of "DESERT CARAVAN" came to me (back in July 2000) was a very hot, dry day here in Michigan, USA. And my air-conditioning was not working so the thought of the heat of the desert, like some place in Egypt, was something that just came naturally to me at the time. I pictured a camel caravan slowly treking across a hot desert sand looking for that oasis where cool water and shade could be found, thus the title--"DESERT CARAVAN".

Q. How did you write and record it?

I write and record all my music at my home. I do not have a "studio room" or really any kind of "privacy" to record in. I actually have a little area in my living room, in a corner next to the television, where I do all of my composing and recording. There is a lot of activity in my household with my family, so most of what I do musically has to be accomplished in the "wee hours" of the morning when everyone is asleep upstairs. It's just too hard to concentrate with the TV blaring, telephone ringing and just the general "movements" of a typical household. I have VERY little equipment at my disposal so this "corner" by the TV suits me well. The conditions that I have to record under are horrible, most anybody else would not put up with recording conditions like this. So it's truly a wonder to me that I have produced 34 songs this way. One does what one has to do.

Q. What software did you use for this process?

I am glad you asked this particular question -:) "DESERT CARAVAN" was not created, composed or recorded using any software of any kind. As a matter of fact (except for my latest 2 songs--"Come On And Do It" and " Booty An Da Body") I have NEVER used a computer or program to do ANY of my songs. I just recently (about two months ago) learned the basics of using software and a computer to compose on. But I miss the "freedom" of composing and recording my OLD way (in REALTIME) - the way I have done ALL my songs (except for the two) including "DESERT CARAVAN".

My equipment consists of a Korg D8 (digital eight track recorder), a BOSS DR5 Rhythm Section ( which I call the "box"), an old Roland Juno 1 keyboard, a Shure SM57 and SM58 Mic and a Tascam 700 CD-RW Burner (most of which -- by the way -- had been purchased through the MUSICIANS FRIEND catalogue)..............my studio !!

Almost all the sounds that I use in my songs are from the "box" -- which, if you are not familiar with this piece of equipment, has 36 keypads on it. I basically started with a bass drum beat which I use as my metronome for the entire song. Each beat is manually played and recorded to the "box" for 8 measures. The "box" will then "loop" this beat. I then manually put in the snare drum, cymbals etc. in the same fashion until I have an entire drum beat track "looped" on the "box". From here, I record the drums to my digital eight track for an indefinite period of time (usually about 3-4 minutes worth).

Now that I have a drum track to "play" with, I hook up the "box" directly to the digital 8 track and play the 36 keypads just like an instrument -- like a piano -- in REALTIME and record. The wonderful thing about the "box" is that it has a great many SOUNDS to choose from trumpets, synth, bells, percussion, guitars and bass. But it's important to realize that I do all this in REALTIME and do not "loop" anything else (just the initial drum track). With most of my songs having 15-30 tracks on them (as I only have eight tracks to work with) --- I have become pretty well adept at track bouncing --- as one might imagine with only having eight tracks to record on. All my mixing is also done on the Korg digital eight track. So the answer to your question as to what software do i use for the process? The answer is NONE.

Q. Tell me a little about your musical background.

A. I have been involved with music since I was 8 yrs old. Trumpet was the instrument I started on and still play it today. I am 50 years old now -:) I have a B.A Degree in Elementary and Secondary Education in Music. I have toured most of the USA with several "roadbands" I was involved with over the years, mostly through-out the 1970's and 80's. It has only been within the last two yrs that I have been composing and recording my own "digital" music which can be found on MP3.COM at www.mp3.com/RonaldSilverlight. By listening to a few of my songs, one can very quickly find where a lot of my musical style and influences come from. Funk and dance music is where my heart is at although Jazz, Rock, Latin, Classical, Pop and just about any other style of music you can think of are somehow "touched" upon in my material one way or another.

Q. The competition was partly about generating votes and publicizing yourself. What methods did you use?

A. Obviously, the Internet is probably one of the best ways to get the word out about yourself to the entire world. Fortunately for me, I have received a good deal of exposure on the internet through sites like MP3.COM and HITSQUAD.COM, especially through the "MUSICIANS FRIEND Odyssey 2001" contest. E-mailing is ALWAYS a good place to start to generate exposure for one's self. I have met and made many good friends, musicians and non-musicians, directly due to music sites like MP3.COM and HITSQUAD.COM which, in turn, creates a fan base if they enjoy your music. I have made considerable efforts to always respond to my mails. I have also always made sure to "invite" everyone to give a few of my songs a listen. In general, music is very emotional in one way or another and is usually written from the "heart and soul" of the composer. Music is meant to bring pleasure to the listener. And if the listener enjoys what they're hearing --- well ---THAT'S a wonderful reward for all the time and effort spent on producing a finished product ---- your song.

I started from the very first day of the contest to try to make all my friends aware that I was even IN a contest. After all, how were they going to know unless I advised them. I do not have a label or "big money" behind me to get publicity or exposure so it was entirely up to ME to do what I felt I needed to do to get the word out.

Again, fortunately for me, I have made a lot of good relationships through my music on the internet over the past two years or so and I am forever grateful to all these people for sticking with me through-out this entire contest. This was a VOTING contest and I was just lucky enough to have many loyal friends and fans behind me that voted nearly everyday. No "tricks" were used. No "scams" were tried. Every artist who was entered in this contest knew it was all about the votes and the votes would not be there if the effort was not given to generate those votes. It was a very long, hard contest for me -- for nearly 5 weeks I would put in 16- 18 hrs a day emailing and, more importantly, RESPONDING to the return e-mails. The easy part was getting the initial e-mails out, the hard part was to remind to keep voting daily.

Even though it just literally took 15 seconds to cast a vote, many would forget to continue to vote through-out the contest. So the key was to try to keep reminding people to CONTINUE to vote (very much like "politics") -- extremely time consuming on my part -- but obviously all my efforts finally paid off. This was the method that I used.

Q. What are your feelings about putting your music on-line?

I feel that the Internet is a marvelous tool for showcasing and exposure, especially for the "unsigned artist". Without sites like MP3.COM, HITSQUAD.COM and several others --- it would virtually be impossible for the unsigned artist to reach the "masses". Just about any song you desire to listen to can be accessed on the web today, and as time goes on, I truely believe that the store bought CD will go the way of the old vinyl 33 1/3 RPM and 45 RPM - virtually impossible to find in any stores. Mp3 players are the wave of the future. Cars are being built with Mp3 playes in them. Stereo systems have them. VCRs and TVs have them. So I have GOOD feelings about putting original music online.

Q. What do you make of the current enviroment for web-based musicians?

The whole idea is still in its "infancy" and a lot of work and problem solving still needs to be done --- ESPECIALLY between the major labels and the net. The labels KNOW the net is the future for selling their music and they are trying desparately to "position" themselves. I only hope that the web-based musicians -- the unsigned Artists -- get a "fair shake" when its all said and done.

I would again like to thank HITSQUAD and MUSICIANS FRIEND for having a contest such as the "Odyssey 2001". There are soooo many good musicians and songs out there. The talents of the Mp3 Artists are AWESOME. I especially want to thank all the wonderful people who believe in me and my music. No way would this have become a reality for me without YOUR help. Your time, effort, support and kindness to me through-out the contest will never be forgotten.

Ron Silverlight
www.mp3.com/RonaldSilverlight

 

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