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Conversations with Richard Bone Richard Bone is arguably
one of America's finest and most innovative
underground electronic, ambient music
composers. Since 1991, he has released 11
recordings on his own label, Quirkworks
Laboratory Discs, including
Electropica (1998) and
Coxa (1999). The music is
relaxed, lyrical, evocative and jazzy, with
rhythms derived from mambo and bossa nova
styles. It's the kind you might play on quiet,
sensual evenings. Rapaport: Why do you release your two labels? Bone: I wanted to delineate my rhythmic compositions from the more floaty, ambient, rhythmless music that the radio program Hearts of Space likes to play. Mike Griffin is a great businessman who loves experimental atmospheric music. It is easier for him to promote a genre that includes more that a dozen artists, than just one individual. Rapaport: What characterizes ambient music? Bone: All my music is keyboard controlled. There are no other instruments. And a few years ago, I even cut out my vocals. I also use libraries of sampled instruments and rhythm sections from early 60's jazz recordings. I love piano trios from that era. My album Coxa is dedicated to Cal Tjader, Rudy Van Gelder, Creed Taylor and Dave Pike. Rapaport: How do you promote your records?
Bone: When I started Quirkworks, I got a copy
of New Age Voice
magazine, sent for their list of radio
stations and mailed a copy of my first
record, Quirkwork, to the
entire list. A few played it; then people
began requesting it; and some small
underground mail order houses started carrying
it. Rapaport: What has your presence on the internet done for your career?
Bone: The Internet is a great word of mouth
medium, especially for those of us who have
niche followings. It makes it so easy for
people to find us. One friend turns on
another. The web helps create a buzz for my
music. If someone hears a song on the radio or
at a fan's house, they can go to my web site
and learn about by background and find out I
have made music my career. Rapaport: Who designed your web site?
Bone: One day I had an e-mail from a fan named
Marleen. She had just heard the song
Cancion Del Arco -- the first
cut off of my album Metaphysic
Mambo -- on the radio program
Echoes, which specializes in
ambient music. We became e-mail friends. One
day she wrote that she would like to set up a
web site for me so people could find me more
easily. (http://mkmk.com/bone/) Rapaport: What is your ambition?
Bone: My goal is to be the best human being I
can be and hopefully the music will reflect
that. I've learned not to put my focus on the
end result, but on creating a piece of music.
I don't worry about what it is going to do, I
appreciate the creative moment I'm in and try
to let everything else take care of
itself.
Rapaport: How do you find combining being a creative person and a business person... Bone: I practice mindfulness -- being fully in the moment, whether I'm creating, doing business or meditating, but I think of myself more as an artist, not a business person. I do mail the CDs. I get records to the distributors, I correspond with fans because I believe that these activities mean that I am being responsible to my art and to my dharma. There's no separation. Rapaport: Do you have a hard time collecting from distributors? Bone: They have always paid me without my having to beg. I've never been screwed. I don't know what that feels like. If you approach people with honesty and integrity, they will return it. But it is also true that I use my intuition to stay away from people who present negative colors. That's why the universe gave us intuition: to pay attention. It's just so obvious. Why do people have such a hard time listening to their inner voice? Call it karma: you get back what you put out. Rapaport: Do you have advice for other indie artists? Bone: Many independent artists (myself included) do not take into account how important graphics are. The old A&M CTI recordings all have a similar look and feel. It's so cool. Every Hypnos recording, no matter by what what artist, has a recognizable graphic style. The last two albums on my label now have a coherent design that will help people identify my more rhythmic, lyrical side. The covers have a similar layout: glossy black background, my name centered in the yellow at top, followed by the album title in red and then a wonderful and colorful rectangular water color by my friend, artist Jim Szarkowicz. They stand out. They make you want to open them up and listen to the music. Rapaport: How do you make your recordings? Bone: My studio is in my home. I use an ENSONIQ 1 for my main controller and I MIDI that up to a floor to ceiling rack of sound modules from Roland, Korg and Proteus. Everything I compose is mixed direct to a TEAC DAT recorder. Then I go to an ear I respect, Anthony, at Reel to Real, a neighborhood studio, and we assemble the tracks in the sequence I want and adjust the level and the time between tracks. Then the recording goes off to QCA for mastering. Rapaport: Why is mastering important?
Bone: For me, mastering is what happens after
you have finished a painting. You have to
trust someone to put a good frame around it
and provide the finishing touch. Once I'm done
with an album, I have no perspective left.
I've heard it about 6 gazillion times. I need
to turn it over to an objective ear. |