How long have you been messing with music?

Does playing the piano count? In that case, around 25 years.

20 years so far (i’m 21)

Funk – Soul – Metal – RnB – Punk – Pop – Trance – House – Breaks – House – DnB.

I currently like: House, Breaks, Trance, DnB and all sorts of IDM

Ah also to add:
Cello – 11 years
Drum kit – 5 years
African drums – 3 years
Berimbau – 2 years
Oboe – 2 years
Bass guitar – 3 years
Professional Singing (Baritone/Alto) – 5 years
self-taught piano – 7 years

Mixing around 1 year or 2
Composing/producing 3 or 4 somewhere here

Ok, a bit of biography now, as it might inspire a bit more content than 5 years…

At the age of 8, I pleaded for a guitar for Christmas. I got a cheap acoustic and played along to Elvis. Or at least I thought I was playing along. My family wasn’t ‘rich’ and replacement strings came from a bicycle brake cable untwisted. The Thatcher era hey.

In the 3rd year (aged 14) of secondary school, I decided to do music as part of the curriculum. In the final year, I was playing truant for approximately 80% of the time (do it kids, it’s really boring) and still came first above all the ‘mummy and daddy paid for my music lessons’ brigade. This upset quite a few of them.

Then left school, went and joined a band (with the brother of my then girlfriend, and now he’s my ’employer’) and eventually spent £899.00 on a BC Rich ST3 with grey snakeskin custom finish (absolutely brilliant guitar), and a further £800.00 on 2x Laney Cabs, 1x Linebacker Amp, and a Yamaha FX500 effects processor with MIDI foot controller. It was also at this time I began banging the old drums, and managed to program a Yamaha DX7 that was borrowed from the vocalists mate.

Anyway, went into the studio for a demo, and I was extremely interested in what was going on with the mix (got the bug for engineering here I think) and it turned out fairly well. However, I left the band due to musical and management differences, though I still remained friends with everybody.

I then got asked to do the Live mixing, as I had knowledge of the songs, and I agreed. Some months after, I was asked by another band (who I was friends with, amongst many others) to do their Live mixing. I agreed and went with them ‘part-time’ and left my old band to rely on the PA providers to mix. I did this until I got a bit of a ‘stalker’. Long story.

Then, left music for a few years (travelled the UK) then was influenced into the Computer way after seeing an interview of ‘Pop Will Eat Itself’ and how their production goes. This was later enhanced by ‘The KLF’ (masters of ripping and twisted the schitt out of the mainstream) and then The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Orbital, LeftField… etc etc etc etc…

Then joined up with an old school friend in 1996 and started to use an Amiga 600 to write stuff (got the bug again) and I went and spent £1200 on a Yamaha SY85 (was going to get a Korg Prophecy, glad I didn’t). Then, after a few months we went our seperate ways (for a few reasons) and ever since I have had the SY85 as my trusted controller.

Just after spliiting up in 1998, the Amiga 600 went bang, and was replaced with an Amiga 1200, a BassStaion Rack, Yamaha A3000, Alesis 3630 compressor…… it was at this time I started to use the SY85 to write things and record. I even bought I Tascam 488mk2 without a working recording section.

Anyway, to fast track…. I now work (3 days a week, sometimes more) with my ex-girlfriends brother (the one I was in the band with) and his wife. They own a multimedia equipped studio where I now do various tasks, from Producer (in the traditional sense of being in charge of the session(s) Audio Engineer, and Mix Engineer. Sean was the last person I thought I’d be working with in a studio environment, as he was cr@p in the band.

So, thats it, from age 8 to 34 years old. Thats 26 years. And i’ve left all the funny stories out.

ive been doin music for about 4 years now( i been djing for about 2)

been producing almost 2 years now,, dont think i’m ever gonna stop

I also started at 13 but with an older friends turntables and mpc back in 98-99, which he was teaching me about until it all got stolen. I couldnt afford any equipment so I started getting every program I could find to play with audio and made my first blend using dr suess’ fox in socks over a dr dre instrumental everybody I played it for wanted a copy so I started making mixes in every spare moment I had and havent stopped.
so uh yeah 9 years about

Overal I’ve been messing with music in the following ways:

DJing various styles from Indie -> DnB etc: 14yrs
Messing with computers to make music: 6yrs
Playing bass/guitar: on and off for 12yrs

playing or trying to play instruments would be 9 yrs and mixing would be 1 and a half

I started when I was 14… I quit playing baseball to do it (I was all city) I don’t regret it!!