Author Interview: MartynHarvey

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

MartynHarvey (Chris Martyn and Geoff Harvey)

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

We’re actually two people, Chris Martyn from Leeds in Northern England and me, Geoff Harvey (right in picture), from South Manchester. I’m involved in other media-related businesses and Chris works for the British National Library.

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

Together, we’ve worked together for close to 25 years – mostly in alternative, sometimes very alternative, rock music. We’ve naturally slipped into commercial music since we seem to have a knack of writing and recording at breakneck speed.

Neither of us would be happy being on a tour as musicians where we had to play the same material every night – in fact Chris, who has played in various bands, gained a reputation for completely changing his performance and sound on a nightly basis. The fact that we can be doing a thrash metal track one moment and then a pre-school kids piece the next, and never need to play it again, just seems to suit us.

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

Between us, we share duties in keyboards, bass, guitars and drums. We have a slightly perverse habit of ‘swapping instruments’ – playing the parts that the other one would be naturally better at. This brings something different to the mix – Chris is strong on chord structure whereas I tend to think melodically. We’ve had some formal instrument training.

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

We have totally different tastes in guitars. Chris can’t stand the ones I like and vice-versa. Remarkably we’ve recently found one we both enjoy – a black Gretsch with a dreamy tremolo arm. Chris has stuck with a very tasty short-scale Westbury bass for about 20 years. I own, but don’t particularly like, a 1977 Strat – preferring a new Tanglewood natural wood thing.

Chris has an oldish Ensoniq synth as a master keyboard, which has a glorious clunky action. I use a Kurzweil K200, which is passable. They get connected to the iMacs via Edirol audio interfaces

The workhorse of our studio setup is Logic Pro. Compared to Native Instruments’ Absynth and FM8 we find Logic synths a bit wanting (though many swear by them), but as a central control Logic’s spec and usability are superb.

Like most, we have our favoured ‘pet’ bits of gear. For instance, we are gaga over the samples of British saxophonist Pete Thomas. He sells sample libraries (with proceeds going to charity) of various instruments such as saxes, drums and bass that are bizarrely natural-sounding – we suspect it’s something to do with the way he ambient mics everything. Other gems include the weird ‘horticultural’ synth, Synplant, and our collection of acoustic percussion instruments.

Reason’s sounds seem very trippy and there are some crazy ReFills – it always seems like you’re triggering a note from an early 1970’s vinyl recording. But its mad rack layout with all the leads swaying around can get a bit tiresome. Native Instruments stuff is clearly the Ferrari of music sampling software (Kontakt is mind-blowing) – but it feels as though it gets stuck in the garage rather too often (ie, its bonkers authentication system).

FXPansion’s BFD drum module is an amazing bit of kit which we wouldn’t be without now, but it’s a bit of a wild beast which needs taming! We also use a few SoundFonts and sampler instruments such as Bolder.

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

It varies – individually we’ll often get a musical idea out of nowhere, or we hear something inspiring on our travels, or we deliberately write something “in the style of”, or we have to write to order. In any event, we record a very basic track, often with just the melody or chord progression, as quickly as possible, before the idea vanishes. Once we’ve done our initial bits separately we’ll come together to swap tracks and work on things collaboratively. Swapping tracks, so that the other can add to work already done, is very productive – Chris will often add something to one of my tracks which I would never have thought of, and vice-versa.

When we have sessions together, they are quite militaristic, partly because Chris is very impatient. Multiple takes are frowned upon and we tend to get rather ‘animated’ about things. Chris has been known to demand that I do a take without having even heard the track. The language is none too elegant – though neither of us is remotely like that when we are not recording. Chris is ultra-methodical and fast – like watching a film that’s been speeded up – whereas I’m quite freeform. I have an eccentric habit of watching (and listening) to TV whilst recording – even during takes.

The fact that we work so fast and because the “musical” aspects of a track are of greatest importance to us means that we don’t spend too much time on manipulating sounds and effects, or on complex workflows such as those described in music magazines.

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

No great preferences as long as we don’t have to get stuck in one style for any length of time.

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

Could be anything – a melody fragment heard while walking around, a phrase which inspires a particular musical mood, TV and film music, music we listen to. I hear a lot of incidental music on TV and want to try and recreate it. We have loads of property renovation programmes on in Britain where hapless couples make a mess of converting terraced houses. Someone bodges the floorboards and as they’re looking into the hole in the floor, there’s a weird distorted Rhodes piano twiddle. I like to see if I can go and do the same thing. (The music, not making a hole in the floor.)

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

Oddly, often very different from the music we write. I like quite grungy, dark stuff and musical extremes. Generally, I’m fixated on late 70’s Lou Reed and the heavier stuff of Neil Young. Benjamin Britten is my favourite classical composer – often considered to be an establishment figure – which is surprising considering his often risqué output.

Chris likes rock, folk, jazz, and film soundtracks. In addition to top-drawer artists like Dylan, Beatles, Neil Young, Miles Davis, Beach Boys, Morricone, he has a number of guilty pleasures such as a fondness for early-70’s prog rock and some of the 80s pop music he grew up with.

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

Simply listen to what sort of commercial music is popular and try to emulate it. Keep a close eye on what type of tracks are selling on AudioJungle.

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

We’re trying to get all our material in the ‘right places’ and link it all from our website, www.purple-planet.com, Facebook page and so on.

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

Magical Garden

Childlike, but also slightly dark at the same time.

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Trouble in Cleveland

Simply dark. Someone must surely want music to accompany scenes of dereliction??…anybody!?

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Gone Trippin’

A typical ‘Reason’ track; strangely retro.

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

Emmet (Musicformedia) is the spiritual leader of commercial music free-lancers. His forum is a must-lurk and his advice is impeccable.

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

I’m a bit confused by the beta-upload thingy – but it doesn’t take much to confuse me.

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 think being a bit ‘left-field’ in commercial music terms, we get commission requests to match – fantasy type stuff, music for aquariums, and songs to accompany disturbed cartoon characters.

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

We’re bookworms – I’m mainly into economics and politics. Chris likes fiction and history. Chris has a mindblowing collection of vinyl, meticulously catalogued.

View / listen to MartynHarvey’s AudioJungle portfolio.