Mick Chillage recently provided a comprehensive, insightful and entertaining interview session with Jason Martin. Somewhere in here is the guide to understanding the mind of a prolific ambient producer, and more…
Understanding the mind of a prolific ambient producer
Many of you out there are likely familiar with the musical outputs of Mick Chillage. Mick is a fairly prolific producer of mostly ambient music in recent years, but has a much broader back catalogue worth investigating. Well known for his releases on Pete Namlook’s Fax Records, solo and in collaborative mode with Lee Norken as Autumn Of Communion, and has had a steady flow of releases on Txt, Carpe Sonum, Fantasy Enhancing, and Databloem to name just a few. Mick recently joined A Strangely Isolated Place label with his collaboration with Dr Atmo on their Ruhleben album. You will also find his music on Touched Music, Móatún 7, and NeoTantra, to name just a few more. As I said, prolific!
In 2021 he released a large body of new work as well as some digital compilations of early works that were otherwise unavailable or even unreleased. Added to that if you follow Mick on Bandcamp he regularly does digital deals on different weekends, reducing his prices to very affordable or even free. Today we are going to focus more closely on Mick’s new label founded in 2021, Before & After Silence, and the releases on there. A great starting point might be the recently released Year One Compilation which looks back across the releases from 2021. Nine full tracks plus a one hour mix version of the release are included. Being a digital only release, it is not limited to CD capacities. So you get a LOT of music for less than the price of a coffee. There are some excerpts, albums mixes, preview of tracks scheduled to be released in 2022 and an exclusive track, as well of course as the mix Mick put together himself. Possibly one of the best last bargains of 2021, and priced to match peoples spending capacities in January, after the holiday season.
So, Mick and I have co-existed in the city of Dublin for many years, and it is perhaps strange that our paths never crossed until recently. Despite us frequenting the same record shops, and attending some of the same gigs. People often comment that Dublin is only a “big village,” which I really do agree with. When you participate in any of the musical subcultures here you typically end up getting to know a lot of people.
Who might have expected a pandemic and lock-down to create a situation by which we finally came to meet. I forget what I was buying from him exactly, but it was some old releases and the first Before & After Silence CD. It was going to be relatively expensive to post the bundle of CDs across the city, and as a sort of “green” solution I asked Mick if he perhaps lived anywhere near me, and maybe I could do a drive by and save myself the price of another CD by collecting the purchases from him. It turned out we only live about 10 mins in the car from each other!
That day we met was a bit cold and damp, but that initial meeting was completely the opposite. I met a very friendly and engaging individual, and we chatted outside his house for about an hour, before I started turning blue, and saying I better leave the poor man alone! At this time we were in a medium level lockdown with social distancing! Since then I have made several visits to collect and exchange music, and the chats have continued too.
Mick’s new label Before & After Silence has released six albums in its first year, and I had recently enough started contributing reviews to Igloo, this led me to suggesting to Mick that maybe I could write a feature article on the label and himself. Happily he agreed. What follows is his responses to lots of questions I provided him with. Mick very kindly has provided comprehensive, insightful and entertaining answers, so let’s have a read. Somewhere in here is the guide to understanding the mind of a prolific ambient producer, and more…
Igloo :: So Mick, how about we start with Before & After Silence, what prompted you to start the new label?
Mick Chillage :: There were a couple of factors in this, I’d always thought/dreamed that maybe one day I would set up a label of some sort. I had no desire to run a digital label as I felt almost anyone can do that now. As I got more at ease with creating music and I get inspired fairly regularly (as I have a pretty fast workflow) I knew I needed an outlet for myself, as the labels I work with although brilliant could not truly handle my works as quickly as I could produce them, I don’t see the point in music sitting existing in the “etherworld.” The real catalyst in all of this was actually the pandemic, I found myself at home and during this time, I was able to work a lot more without the stress and strains that a nine to five can leave you with.
For me, weekends were usually the time where I might get some music made or occasional weekdays, often staying up until the early hours of the morning if I got inspired to complete a piece and being like a zombie the next day at work. So during the pandemic I found myself working on lots of new music and being greatly inspired. The beauty of the internet and a platform like Bandcamp is that I could start a piece of work from scratch in the morning and work on it through the day, mix and arrange and then master it, decide on a fitting title, knock up some art design (I’ve got basic Photoshop skills ha ha) and have the new piece up for sale before the day ends! I had done this quite a bit during the first wave and then I realized, I think it’s time to give this music dream a shot and do it full time and run a CD label! So far it’s working well, and I have sustained a good level of output. It’s nice doing the instant digital releases but I prefer CD myself and I don’t really purchase digital at all, it may seem like an archaic mindset to many, but I just like physical and CD in particular is a medium that lends itself to long-form works better than vinyl. I also know that there’s a certain demographic of consumers in my age group that like ambient music on CD so I cater to them.
Is there any meaning for you in the name of the label? (Any Brian Eno connection with Before & After Science?)
Very well spotted, yes it’s a merge of two of my ambient music heroes, Eno and Namlook, The “Silence” being a reference to Pete’s first CD release with Dr Atmo on Fax Records. The label name also suggests that there is always sound, always music, and of course the Eno bit being a play on the Before & After Science album title.
You have released 6 albums in the first year of the label, that is super productive for a one man label, was it always your plan to be so prolific with this label?
Yeah, when I started the label, I had considered the possibility of somewhere between six and eight releases per year, so I kinda hit the mark, I also released a digital album through my main Mick Chillage Bandcamp page Morphogenic Realities. I usually run one completely new album and then issue some of the previously only digital ones with some bonus tracks/alt versions to entice any hardcore collectors to grab the CDs. This is something that would certainly work for me if I followed a particular artist.
Urban Nature ::
What plans have you that you can share with us for Before & After Silence recordings for 2022?
I’m fortunate to be sitting on at least four complete albums that have not been released before plus quite a lot of digital only ones that I feel need a CD release. One album that is due in 2022 is called Urban Nature. It is inspired by a wonderful section of wild land that is between two urban locations near my home. It has a river that runs through it that springs from the Dublin mountains, it’s full of wildlife and has a path that runs through it for about 5km, which is being expanded at the moment. I walk it most days, often seeing rabbits, squirrels, foxes, badgers, various birds, hearing lots of different bird songs and witnessing fish jumping etc.
I found it fascinating that this thriving natural habitat sits between dual carriageways, motorways and flyovers, shopping centers and even a cement plant nearby. There’s a waterfall and a weir and remnants of the old canal system that lead from the old developing Tallaght village to the heart of Dublin’s city center. So armed with my Zoom portable recorder I gathered lots of various recordings, nature and urban sounds and they inspired me to improvise over these elements using piano and subtle synths and effects etc. Urban Nature was pretty much completed within about two weeks.
Over the years I’ve regularly been asked if I was going to do a FAXology 2. While some of my more out there Space music albums may be in a similar universe, it never seemed right to call them FAXology 2 as only Pete Namlook can decide if it belongs to the sound of Fax. It was Pete who decided on the title of my album on Fax back in 2011. However, I’ve been fortunate to find some stems of the original recordings which I had backed up on a USB stick, I thought I had lost everything from these sessions due a catastrophic strike of lighting that fried my Mac back a few years ago, yes, I’m terrible at backing stuff up, partly because I believe once a piece of music is done it’s done, move on. But I have some plans for a revisit to FAXology of some sort, I have it in my head exactly what I’m hoping for but it’s way too early to say. All going well, I should get another six releases at least but hope to manage more, some previously released digital works will see a CD release in some form also.
Thanks for sharing all of that information. You’ve really placed where the label fits into your life and music plans. It sounds like 2022 will be another exciting and prolific year for your fans! I’m certainly looking forward to hearing more. Maybe we can delve a little deeper into Mick Chillage, the man, next? Can you share with us something about your personal music history, how you discovered music etc.
I guess for a lot of people their music is discovered from records their parents played. As my parents moved to England from a very rural part of Ireland in the early sixties they loved traditional Irish music, my grandfather on my dad’s side played the accordion and as a kid my sister was a world champion Irish dancer and I was at a lot of contests known as a Fèis. So you’d imagine that this music influence in my family affected me? Yes, it did, but not in a positive way ha ha, strangely I felt no connection whatsoever to my family’s musical heritage and to this day I’m still the same.
Who were your first or early musical loves?
My first true musical love was John Barry the film composer, known mainly for his brilliant Bond themes and many more works. I caught Goldfinger on TV one evening in the mid 70’s, I was about 7/8 years old. I loved the movie, the Aston Martin with machine guns, ejector seat and a naked lady on a bed painted gold! Apart from the visuals, the music was a whole other world. I knew pop music of course but something about the huge brass, the sweeping strings, the jazz elements and guitar riffs just captivated me. Sometime later it was shown on TV again and I set up the tape recorder to capture as much of the music as possible, an utterly horrendous way to do it ha ha.
Anyway for my ninth birthday my mum and dad got me the James Bond 10th anniversary soundtrack collection, it was a double gatefold vinyl and I played this endlessly. Suffice to say I was hooked on instrumental music and particularly I had a huge interest and passion for soundtracks.
Beyond soundtracks, in the late 70’s early 80s etc. I liked Gary Newman. Pink Floyd “Another Brick In The Wall” single was the first record I purchased, I guess it was because I hated school and loved the line “Hey Teachers, leave those kids alone” as time went on, I liked a lot of synth pop and the emerging electro/break dancing scene. Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” and Prince’s album Purple Rain kinda took me into the mid 80’s for the most part. The late 80’s I got completely hooked on the sound of Acid House and Techno.
I think we can all admit to horrendous recording habits when we were very young. I certainly used my tape recorder to primitively capture some favorite early songs too. Luckily for me, my older brother was a music fan, and a young DJ, so I was exposed to lots of good music from an early age too. Which artists stood the test of time for you?
Regarding my influences? Early tastes? John Barry is definitely timeless, he’s one of those unique soundtrack composers whose movie works stand alone brilliantly and can be enjoyed outside of the screen images.
Always conjuring otherworldly or emotive moments that linger in your brain. Electronic music wise, early influences Vangelis, Kraftwerk, John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream.
Finding something from the chaos ::
Thanks for sharing again Mick, very interesting stuff. Let’s move on and chat about your approach to producing music. Were you formally educated in music?
Not at all, my experience in music class in school was the awful recorder which I couldn’t play very well and I usually ended up being given the triangle by my music teacher. I just could not and still cannot make any sense of reading music, I have no idea what notes/chords I’m playing. Some people may see this as a huge issue when it comes to writing music but to me I like the chaos at the beginning and then finding something from the chaos and letting my intuition take over and ending up with something I could never have preconceived. Strangely, once I find what I’m looking for on the keys I can play quite well.
Do you have some favorite piece of equipment or musical gear?
I guess I don’t have one definitive piece of kit I love. I tend to have love/hate relationships with some and I like that. Sometimes the kit surprises you, even if you have it for 20 years. I’m happy with my setup now, I don’t have an endless desire to buy new kit all of the time. I think with most kit you may only utilize maybe 60/70% of its features, even this will give endless sound permutations. I feel, ultimately having one really good polyphonic synth is important, I have two. My trusty old Supernova II and the Prophet Rev2 16 voice (Analogue). Also maybe one decent mono synth, people often say that poly synths don’t handle bass as well as mono synths but I don’t feel that is completely true.
What is your take on Hardware vs software debate?
Both are important to a degree but for me, nothing beats a dedicated hardware synth with as many knobs and dials as possible. It could be because I started making music at a time when digital kit began to have knobs, the endless menu diving of a lot of 80’s and early 90’s synths was gone as the manufacturers began to look back at the analogue gear of the past. I owned synths before I owned a computer, so the mouse feels a little alien to me and slows up some sound design processes. However I like to use some of the virtual instruments that Native Instruments offer etc.
I would love to at some point have a piano room mic’d up with a Steinway or any decent piano, If I win the Lottery or some other fortune comes my way ha ha. For the moment the multi-sampled virtual acoustic instrument does the job, I’ve got velocity sensitive keys but not weighted, that would make a big difference. When I play the piano sound on my keyboard controller I can go through the midi performance after and edit the notes that are too light or to heavy etc if needed, but generally I like to try and capture a natural performance rather than editing too much afterwards. With these virtual instruments you can set up various parameters to create a particular recording environment or piano settings, lid open, compressor settings etc, I just experiment with everything until I hit a sweet spot for each track.
This may be somewhat a moot question for your more recent work, but in production terms, for you, what came first: the beat or the melody?
In the early days it was definitely the beat. My first tool was the Roland MC303 which was a PCM sampled drum machine and sound module/sequencer. As time went by using just this machine I realized it was possible to make some ambient music, but it was very limited and was very much structured to a range of editable bars, so I used a click track at first or a basic rhythm track to lay down my more ambient pieces at that time. My methods are much more organic now.
You work more organically now and I think this is apparent to the listener, I certainly feel like your music is more organic, and not fixed or limited by equipment limitation. Can you share anything more on your approach to producing music?
My way of working has changed a lot over the years. In the early 00’s I used logic on an old Mac LC from 1992. It handled midi only and had incredible midi timing with a midi interface multi-port I had. I would make an arrangement and have all the synths/samplers triggered by logic at the same time. This was mixed through an analogue mixer but my recorder was a hardware CD recorder. This meant I had to keep the mixer settings until I was happy to get a final mix. I could however save the sounds via sysex messages which logic would send back to each synth when you reload a project. It was troublesome to say the least.
I eventually moved to digital audio recording with Ableton in 2004/2005 I think? I got a brand new Mac, it was a huge leap and a bit of a learning curve. Over time I found myself scrapping the idea of having every synth running in Midi. Ableton’s midi clock doesn’t handle it as well and I had some techie issues here and there. Now today I mainly just overdub everything. I know a lot of artists now who use modular etc. like to have everything triggered live, this is not how I work.
I now use Ableton mainly as a multitrack recorder, almost like a lot of electronic artists in the 1970’s would have worked but it has a lot of digital benefits. Most of my tracks are born from either some experimental sound design sessions which I will then play/improvise on the keys and record the audio directly into Ableton, I may also have the midi track armed as well, in case of any Bum notes, so I can fix and re-record the audio. If I feel the first element is working, I move on to the next sound and play over the first part and continue this. Often each part is of a different bar length with no click track guide or true BPM particularly if it is ambient. I also tend not to have loads of individual audio parts. I find less is definitely more for me.
I may scroll through the audio parts to find interesting moments I can loop, pitch, effect, filter, process, move its timing, endless possibilities once I’ve digitised each element.
A couple live arrangements will happen first to see what works and maybe what doesn’t. Then some fine tuning of the arrangement and mix will happen. I see this like a sort of sonic sculpting, shaping off the rough edges and getting all the sounds to compliment each other. I rarely save any sounds I create, not all my synths have sound bank saving, like the MS20 or my Moog Grandmother, but the two poly synths do. My reason, to avoid over use of sounds, however I think it’s clear that I find myself attracted or inspired by certain sounds/tones aesthetics that often arrive during the sound design process.
Less is definitely more ::
Congratulations Mick! You’ve made it to the quick fire round. Here are some more questions which do not need long answers, but of course feel free to expand your answers at will. Favorite recording artists/composers?
Of all time?? I’ve so many, here’s a taster: John Barry, Harold Budd, Pete Namlook, Brian Eno, Vangelis, John Carpenter, Debussy, Steve Reich, Wendy Carlos, Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Depeche Mode, Mark Van Hoen, Aphex Twin, 808 State, Kraftwerk. Global Communication, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Mark Isham, Uwe Schmidt, Move D, William Basinski. Prince, Bisophere, Nine inch Nails. Slowdive. Arvo Part, Cabaret Voltaire. Feel so bad as there are so so many more.
Maybe some you discovered more recently, rather than all time classics?
Ulrich Schnauss, Loscil, may add more, so much music to narrow down.
Favorite DJs?
Funny thing is I’ve never really followed DJ’s myself, I’ve had some great nights out: I’ve enjoyed sets from Weatherall, Kenny Larkin, Paul Chillage ha ha.
Favorite live events attended?
Again, strangely I don’t go to a lot of live gigs. I’ve enjoyed Kraftwerk, but no desire to see them again, Nine Inch Nails back in 92′ Meat Beat Manifesto, Richard H Kirk was low key but great to see a legend at such a personal level. 808 State were brilliant in Dublin in Jan 2020. RIP Andy. & pop music wise, Michael Jackson in Cork in 88, and Prince 1990.
Favorite movie?
Only one? Blade Runner. It may seem because of this answer I’m mainly a Science Fiction fan but I love lots of different movie genres, particularly low key character driven stuff and lots of 70’s counterculture cinema.
Oops! I should have asked your favourite movies plural, maybe tell us the last movie you saw?
The social Media” ha ha, rewatch of course.
Favourite soundtracks? (better be sure this is plural)
Vangelis Blade Runner, John Barry OHMSS, John Carpenter, Escape From New York. Jerry Goldsmith, The Omen. Loads more, I’ve got quite a CD collection of various styles of soundtracks.
Last TV show you binged?
Don’t watch TV shows really, but probably Peep Show or Alan Partridge.
Authors or books you love?
God, this is gonna look bad, I’ve none, I’ve never read a book! Hence my poor punctuation and grammatical errors etc ha ha, I guess I’ve always spent most of my free time firstly by listening to music, watching movies and being creative, when younger, by drawing and then I got into BMX freestyle, which is a creative expressive physical art form, that’s how I see it! I tend to gather information/education from documentaries (etc) if I do watch TV or YouTube. However, writers like Hunter S Thompson, William Burroughs and Philip K Dick are some I’ve been meaning to delve into.
Don’t worry Mick, I used a spell checker but left it set to Dublinish mode! Artists or art styles you love?
I love modern Graffiti art, certain styles of architecture grab me, some of the brutalist stuff to classical, gothic etc. Always loved the work Of Syd Mead, also many car designers, particularly the Italian design from the 60’s/70s Bertone, Pininfarina etc. The Lamborghini Miura is one of the most beautiful sculptures put on four wheels! I can appreciate the impressionist painters as much as the classic renaissance styles but I’m no expert on either. Just certain things touch you in ways you cannot explain.
The CD, vinyl, and digital debate ::
Okay Mick take a breath there now, we are into the home stretch! But before we let you get back to walking that amazing sounding nature space between the Dublin urban sprawl, tell us a bit of your thoughts on the music industry as it is now, and say for example, CD or vinyl? and digital. How do you see things moving in the future? What do you want to release on your label format wise?
The music industry and its trends are truly difficult to predict, I don’t think anyone expected the vinyl boom to have ever crossed over into the mainstream pop world again! Edel’s latest album had 500,000 copies pressed seemingly. There are lots of positives and negatives with this, while it displays a shift away from streaming platforms somewhat, which is a good thing, although with huge pop artists signed to major labels the lack of royalties paid from Spotify etc won’t be a huge issue for them. They will still make a decent living from tours, merch, download platforms etc.
It’s the smaller independent labels that are suffering from the surge of the major labels hijacking the vinyl market and the demand it’s put on the remaining pressing plants. It’s a difficult one, while the smaller labels have kept the plants running with cottage industry releases over the last 25 years or so and then all of a sudden you have the majors are dangling a huge carrot in front of them. Any business is going to bite the bigger carrot and push the smaller ones out and this is what happened. I see so many small electronic based music labels that run maybe 300 to 500 copies of releases saying the delays are now up to one year or more and it’s affecting them badly.
However, I feel this current trend of vinyl is like any trend, it won’t hold up long in mainstream culture and by the time the majors smell the slightest decline in this, the plug will be pulled. Unfortunately, many of the independent labels will have folded and chances are this will cause the smaller pressing plants to fold. It could take years for the true vinyl market to recover from this if ever.
Ultimately In my opinion, I know this kind of suits my taste and how I consume music and how I like to distribute my own releases. I think CD is a better physical format in some regards and may have a resurgence. So it may not have the analogue warmth a detail of vinyl, however, it takes up less space, it’s cheaper to ship, less chance of it being damaged, you can listen to up to 78 minutes of music without having to flip it over, so ideal for ambient music in particular or any album that has been created for one seamless listen. Also, once a CD has been well mixed and mastered you won’t have the issues with noisy pressings/crackles pops etc.
I see endless reviews on Discogs for vinyl pressings of classic albums and it’s mainly people complaining about the pressing quality, so CD truly eradicates this risk.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love vinyl, taking it out of its gatefold, placing it on the mat and dropping the needle, the slight surface noise before the music reaches your ears. Sitting back and truly appreciating the artistry, the passion within the music. I find the CD a similar experience, some may laugh, once you’ve purchased the music you have committed to it. Digital, particularly with streaming platforms with so much content at your disposal I’d imagine the temptation to endlessly partially play music until something grabs you is a great way of devaluing art. At least if you’ve made a purchase, you’ll give the music a chance. I have many times picked up a CD album or vinyl and maybe not truly connected with it at first but would find myself returning to it, only to discover its brilliance over time.
For my label, it looks like CD will be the main physical medium, I may venture with a limited vinyl run of one particular release in 2022 if the CD goes as I plan, it will involve some other artists in a sort of collaborative form. This will test the waters for me for further occasional limited vinyl releases. However, Before & After Silence Recordings will still act as a platform for my solo work solely.
Many thanks Mick for sharing so much of your time and insights into your world. I hope those reading this are looking forward to 2022 as much as I am. Surely the 2020’s is a golden time for ambient music, with more and more quality labels focusing in this area.
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