Author Interview: Drudoran

This week in our series of interviews of AudioJungle authors, we meet…

Drudoran (Andy Doran)

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

I live in the North West of England in a little village where mysteriously, everyone looks similar and has the same surname… apart from me. I work as a digital media designer, creating motion graphics, flash animation, web development and print based media, and of course music composition. About half of my work is for direct clients that I’ve accumulated over the last 10 years and the other half is for creative agencies, primarily in the Manchester area.

2. How long have you been composing music and what got you started producing?

Since I was about 16… so lets just say ‘a long time ago!’  I learnt to play guitar at 14 but was much more interested in the unusual resonant sounds a guitar can make, rather than how many twiddly notes per second I could achieve. A couple of years later I got a multitrack and started putting layers down, playing with stereo and mixes. The composition and arrangement process was much more exciting than the technical ability.

3. Do you play any instruments? Do you have any formal music training?

I mainly play guitar, but I can find my way around a keyboard. When I was about 14, I found a guitar with just two strings, made some sounds with it, then added a third string a few weeks later. I added an extra string every few weeks, and taught myself to play gradually, so I don’t have any formal training. My dad’s a jazz musician so I suppose all I was taught was that ‘anything goes.’

4. Could you describe to us your home studio and the equipment and software you typically use to produce audio?

A bunch of guitars – Fender Strat, Epiphone Semi, Gibson acoustic, Ibanez bass, a couple of keyboards that are hooked up to the Macs. The room used to full of stuff – mixing desks, samplers, percussion, but as virtual instruments have got better, the room has got a little more sparse. At the centre of everything is Cubase which I’ve used since the beginning of time, and a disk full of samples and virtual instruments.

5. Could you tell us a bit about how you typically compose and then produce your audio? Describe your creative process.

It’s a real chicken or egg thing – sometimes strumming on an acoustic will be the start of something, sometimes I’ll stick some virtual instrument melodies into the Cubase timeline and just add layers and then take bits out, then maybe keep the MIDI data but change the actual instrument. It’s a bit like building a house out of lego – you can just get in there and make something, but then you can always take bits away and rebuild with different colours. Some people say that software takes the spirit out of songrwriting, but I disagree – it’s easier to get an idea down quickly, and it’s easier to mould your mix into exactly the shape or form that you desire.

6. What genre of music do you enjoy producing for and why?

I still love the mixture of crashing guitars with orchestral backing. That’s where I came from – playing in bands and mixing chaotic sounds with beautiful serene soundscapes. I’m still a sucker for a catchy melody though. However warped things become, I always seem to end up with a melody in the mix.

7. What kind of things inspire you to create music? Do you have any musical influences?

I think influences change throughout your life. I’m not necessarily influenced by the same things that I was ten years ago. I get more motivated by a great album that really gels together than a one off single. Music that has the power to change my mood is always influential.

8. What genres of music do you listen to in your spare time? Do you have any favorite bands or artists?

When I’m working I often listen to music that doesn’t  demand my concentration – Groove Salad on Soma FM and Drone Zone play some nice stuff like this. Nature sounds and ambient soundscapes – Brian Eno’s Music for Airports is always a winner. I’m a big fan of Eels, Elbow and Doves, but I do like to listen to something new every day.

9. What is your advice to other AudioJungle authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio of audio?

I would say one way of building a successful portfolio would be to diversify and use your varying moods to fuel your creativity. By that, I mean if one day you’re full of angst, then channel that anger into a crashing, tempestuous wall of sound, if you feel happy then channel that happiness into a lovely melody. That way you’ll inject some of your soul into your music and make it’s sentiment much more powerful.

10. What do you do to market your AudioJungle files?

I have a few online projects and blogs where I’ll announce any new tracks. Twitter’s a great channel for this as well.

11. What are your three favorite tracks in your AudioJungle portfolio and why do you like them?

Amble through the Sixties is a catchy little riff that goes on and on, but with lots of subtle little things happening around it. It eventually arrives at a chorus and has a slight 60s feel to it. I like this as a commercial track, because it gives the user scope to add things over the top of it – a voiceover perhaps? sound effects to bring an animation to life?

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The Little Hippo was inspired by my little 1 year old who was just starting to trundle about. She looked like she needed a soundtrack to crawl around to, so I made this:

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Green Celebration was from a Heifervescent album which I never finished. I never got to write any lyrics for it, so it remained an instrumental. I think it stands up on its own and has quite a majestic feeling:

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12. Apart from yourself, who is your favorite AudioJungle author and why do you like them?

I like Tejas Tunes – he has a great understanding of how instruments work together and is a fantastic arranger. And also Drax is a great Audiojungle author who can transform different emotives into music and back again.

13. If you could change anything about AudioJungle, what would it be?

Nothing – I’d looked at selling commercial tracks on quite a few sites but AudioJungle was by far the easiest from an author’s perspective.

14. Could you tell us about some of your audio projects outside of AudioJungle? What have been some of your biggest audio successes so far?

I played in bands for years – Monkeyland, Cannula and my solo project Heifervescent. Commercially I’ve been busy, recorded soundtracks to accompany motion graphics sequences for Dr Martens Boots, Lloyds Insurance, Anchor Trust, Umbro and other brands and most recently Orange (France Telecom) have commissioned one of my Heifervescent tracks to be used in a TV advert in September/October this year.

15. When you aren’t busy creating music, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Spare time? What’s that? If I’m not working, then I’m desperately trying to learn something so I can do more work… Or I’m teaching my one-year-old daughter intensive ActionScript so she can help clear some of my workload and then eventually I might get some spare time.

View / listen to Drudoran’s AudioJungle portfolio.