I like to say that I grew up in an electronic music studio -- my dad was the professor of electronic music at Victoria University of Wellington in NZ so in the 70s I remember vividly the smell of audio tape and the sights of rows upon rows of dials and knobs of kit like the Synthi-AKS. I remember the tremendous excitement in 1984 when the studio got an Emulator II. 1.7s of sound on a 5 1/4" floppy disk. $16,000 for that synth in NZ (maybe $US10000). In 1984 can you IMAGINE what that price is equivalent to these days. It was an elite time. It's brilliant to see vastly better tools and distribution now available basically for free. Wizzing over there after school one day and pressing keys to hear sounds we made play back at different pitches. It had a reverse button which was so much fun and a COMPLETELY new idea. My dad is a tape splicing expert -- that's how you did "samples" before digital audio. Over time I collected a few synths of my own -- mostly donated / leant by my dad. My first synth of my own was the Roland SH101 -- mono analogue and immensely fun. It took years to save up for different bits and pieces: Casio SK-1 was the first sampler I had, a little toy but you could do some fun tricks with it. No stored memory so if it turned off -- all gone. Tascam Porta 05 4 track tape audio. Roland JX-3P second hand that was immensely fun. Got some basic drum machine that was fun then dad gave me his old TR-606 (we couldn't afford the TR-808) when he "invested" in an E-MU Drumulator ($NZ2000 I think). Most of that kit I "leant" to a friend when I left NZ in 1999. I don't know where is is all now. These days my studio is Garageband mostly on my phone but I have a Roland drum kit TD-KV1 and a Casio Previa 88 key weighted keyboard to dabble with.
Music brings bliss into my life.
To create and play music every day that people love.
A way for every musician to make a comfortable living
To A Child, by my father Ross Harris, that I was featured in as a baby in 1973
So many! Kraftwerk, Laurie Anderson, Art of Noise, Yello, Chick Corea, Da Lata, Goldfish, Fat Freddy's Drop, Les Hommes, The Mighty Bop, OMD, the list goes on.
It's an inner compulsion, but it's particularly inspired by my kids. I started singing a lot when my first son was born.
Joy and fun
Never done it! I'm a studio musician.
I think there are more ways to make money than before but with such an insane excess of talent it's always going to be tough to make a lot.
Da Lata wasn't on your list.