koko

I AM KOKOPassionate musician and dedicated producer.
I release post-hardcore music under artist name PTHFNDR.
I am guitarist for post-progressive group The Defenders
and bassist for punk rock quartet Sally's Pink Toothbrush.I would love for you to listen and to connect - you choose the way you like:

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Feb 24# Keep on keeping onIt was a good month and I managed to keep on pushing through the intense amount of work ahead of me. Everything was geared towards making sure the the next Album for Sallys Pink Toothbrush gets mixed and mastered in time to make the release schedule and that I get started on my pthfndr project simultaneously. It worked. Captain Dynamic is out - you can check it out under my projects. It has been a long road to get here. In 2019 talks of realising our entire catalogue of 22 songs as a band and release them as two Albums "Pictures of Youth" and "Captain Dynamic" had started and we went ahead with tracking - then this neat thing called a global pandemic hit us and we were stopped dead in our tracks. Finally, after many ups and downs this is all behind me now. Two albums of 22 songs are done and released to the public. That is something.
The band is by no means stopping. The next song is already ready and I have plans of testing out a 1-song-in-one-month kind of production for it. Very keen to learn if I can manage that. Get four people tracking and do all post production in a set timeframe.After tracking the bulk of pthfndrs upcoming releases in January I am now also rounding up post production there and diving deep into potential promotion strategies. Honestly overwhelmed immediately and have no clue where to really start but trying hard not to get discouraged.When all this is set and done it's on to the next one. Tracking for the upcoming EP and subsequent Album of my beloved Defenders.Keeping it honest and real... the gear trap snapped again as well and I got myself a WA76 compressor. Analog heaven is closer and closer. It's been so much fun experimenting with it and I'm really looking forward to using it.For now prepping the aforementioned 1-song-in-one-month needs to go on.Talk soon.
Koko

May 2023: Milestones and a Change of StrategyThis month has been a milestone—both in terms of progress and a change of direction for our release plans. As summer approaches, the band's spirits seem lifted, with everyone eager to finally share our music with the world. Sally’s Pink Toothbrush is almost ready to go. But there’s one issue: I’m not quite there yet. Out of 22 tracks, I’ve only completed mixing seven, and none have been fully reviewed or approved by the band for release. So, despite the overall readiness, releasing a full album at this point seemed premature.That’s when the band had a change of heart. Instead of holding out for two full albums, we’ve agreed to release one song early. This month marks the completion of our first approved Single Mix—the track Schwimmbad, one of two German-language tracks in an otherwise English catalog. It’s a bit of an oddball, but we’re excited to share it.Alongside mixing, we’ve also been preparing through band practice, where the energy has been great. It’s refreshing to see everyone so engaged, and it gives me the motivation to keep pushing forward, even if we still have a ways to go.Gear Update: IsoAcoustics and Blackstar ST Bass
No update would be complete without some gear talk! I recently added IsoAcoustics Isopads to my studio setup, and I can already tell they’ve made a difference. I haven’t had the chance to fully recalibrate the room yet, but even without it, I feel more confident in my mixes, especially with material I know so well.On a more practical note, I also picked up the ridiculously compact Blackstar ST Bass for band practice. This little bass has been a (very) small game-changer—switching between bass and guitar now requires almost no adjustment in playing, making rehearsals smoother and doing away with any wrist pain or inaccurate playing after switching instruments. Sometimes, it’s the small, utilitarian purchases that make a big impact.Music Distribution: DistroKid
If you’re looking to release your own music, I can’t recommend DistroKid enough. It’s the distribution service I use, and they make it incredibly easy to get your music on all major streaming platforms. Plus, if you use my link, you’ll get 7% off your registration—and it helps support my work too. If you’ve been thinking about releasing your music, now’s the time. You can do it, I absolutely believe that!May has been a fun and productive month, both musically and in terms of gear upgrades. Here’s to more progress ahead.Talk soon.
Koko

Apr 2023Inspiring Experiences and Lessons in Efficiency.This month, albeit there was some progress Mixing the Sallys Pink Toothbrush project was rather slow on the "making" end of music. Inevitable there was a gear purchase - this time I couldn't help myself ordering some new straps to experiment with instrument height during practice. Actually though, all of them went back as the super-cheapo one in service now yields the most comfortable height + it's truly a no-frills solutions which I am a fan of also. I can now call myself owner to two rummer caps that help secure the strap. Nice.The month was still also awesome though. I saw Plini live - quite the intimate venue and quite a lot of fun. It is still inspiring to me watching well reheased players making complex music and progressive riffage + melody lines seem so effortless. Great stuff.Most impactful however was a lesson I took with Richard Henshall (of Progressive super.outfit Haken). As they were in Munich I got to meet him and talk guitars, life, kids, shows, keeping music and skills alive + managing all the aforementioned on the daily. Beside some very cool apporaches to making the practice on the guitar explorative and more of an investigative fun experiment, Richard gave me one key lesson that I feel can be applied to practiving the guitar as well as life over 30 in general. It is about efficient use of time. About efficient practice. About a good use.
It's about multilayerd practice and the idea is simple: instead of practicing one concept at a time like bullshit-left hand runs training your right hand's alternate picking or barely usefully intonnated notes of some meldoic run that you try to get your left hand to do or non coordinated noodling within a chord structure to familiarise yourself with the given notes... instead of lining these concepts after one another and being inefficinect make it for example an arpeggiated melodic chord line that you alternate pick in different tempos to a metronome while actively outlining the chord notes in your mind - explore different chords each day.This way you just put 60 Minutes worth of training in 4 separate excercises into a 15 minute super efficient musical workout.
That's the stuff right there. Especially when your cramming your own musicianship next to producing a day job career and a family (especially when definitely they are not prioritised in that order).If now the mental health would keep up with it all that would be gold.
More on that some day.Talk soon.
Koko

Mar 2023Progress and gear. Gear and Progress. The never ending story. Sometimes gear gets in the way. Whether it's not having it and telling yourself that whatever is around isn't good enough, or building yet another castle in the clouds telling yourself that once you've acquired the next piece, finally homeostasis is achieved and you will for sure get started on that big project of yours that you have been procrastinating on so successfully thus far. Or, funny enough, having too much of it. Too much choice and the lovely paralysis that comes along with it. Plugins (or entire suites thereof) are a meaningful example in the audio world here.Ok so why so heavy on the gear side again? And do I detect a hint of a point to be made? I thought we had a good thing going last month, finally getting one of the projects to the mixing stage? Shouldn't this be the fun part and smooth sailing from here on out?Indeed. It should.I try to be a digital minimalist and find my own way of doing things although heavily leaning on the pros and their tips. We're standing on the shoulders of giants here, no point in reinventing the wheel. I want to be aware that if you don't make your own choices someone else will make them for you and yes, stay on YouTube long enough that goes as deep as choosing the order of specific plugins that you didn't discover on your own either now did you? See?With this in mind, my session template makes things easy, almost set and forget especially when it comes to the choices of tools. SSL Channel Strip various compressors among them 1176, LA-2A, LA-3A and a few select other popular things. Nothing fancy + the things you find most material on.I'm leaning heavy into the waves suite though - I got started there as a young guy, and being the perma-discount guys they are, you collect a few licences over the years. Okay decades. Anyone will agree, the update plan always sucked. Since they pulled this subscription stunt though, where they announced overnight that the next morning the only way to maintain licences would be over subscriptions and that all perpetual licences therefore are basically now out of date with the expiry of their attached update plans I felt incredibly cheated and borderline disowned.
I wasn't alone, the backlash was so huge that they apologised and went back.
The damage has been done however.It may sound stupid, and I am aware there is more to life. Being confronted however with this felt like our entire lives are becoming for rent.
Ownership is no longer existent. You rent the house, the car, the computer, the daw, the plugins? Wow.
That was too much for me. For a few days it killed all drive to even open the sessions.
And now, even that everything is seemingly back to what it was two weeks ago it doesn't feel the same.Long story short. I'm 3 Songs into a 22 Song Mixing project and will pedal back and replace every single waves plugin in my session and template going forward. Money down the drain for sure.
But if the perma-discount cheapo guys are on the cash-grab route now - and they've shown their face - I'm going premium. If for no other reason than out of spite. We’re talking a lot of money over the years, and the disregard for that to so many professionals, hobbyist, people ffs. Most of the stuff I kept using from them are emulations of things and I stuck by their versions out of familiarity. By now though, I actually own or have access to most versions made by the actual manufacturers of the hardware. So I'm committing that same hard earned cash and rather continue down the path of a very select view premium plugins that can stay in the arsenal forever and not look back. Through past experimentations I'm already lucky enough to have gotten a start in many ecosystems. Waves SSL channel? How about the original done by SSL, why not use that? Waves "CLA" plugins? Fancy endorsement there, I'm sure Chris is on his original Universal Audio hardware though. They have native plugins now? Boom. Graphic EQ? Hello FabFilter! Limiting with colour? Oxford Inflator good day to you sir! You get the point. And if you ever find this, let this sink in, Marinate yourself in these words and similar words by so many. All of the ones I listed cost way more than your cheapo discounters often 10x as much, and before you argue: yes some of these even are subscription models. They do however offer choice. Subscriptions, Rent to Own, downright buy a full licence and own. So many models , not force me from one into another and then pedal back because I threaten to leave altogether.
I hope you track your user data right and count all the licence deactivations.So once more with feeling: thanks for shaking me to the core and activating my Weltschmerz about our lives on rent. It was fun.
I'll buy the ticket and take the ride, but no longer from you.On the visuals today: throwback to my setup in the last two bedroom apartment I lived in before moving. Live did seem simpler then, pandemic and all.Talk soon,
Koko

Feb 2022Another month, another update. February went good. There are some things that went really good, some things not so much.Let's get into it.
It's winter, that means runny noses left and right. Mine is fine so far - nice - yet the rest of the band cannot say the same. Resulting of course in a lot of "3/5 players" or entirely cancelled evenings. Not as much practice as I had hoped. The new guitar did not get put it through its paces as planned, esecially after the pickup change. Aynway, with time I'll see where it goes... the ideas around it are not stopping. For example, it features a kill-switch which I do not plan to incorporate in my playing. So that can go - but I wouldn't want to leave a big hole. I already moved the pin for the strap so it sits more comfortable - this actually did leave a hole. What are we to do? ... correct! Construct an entirely new body for it obviously. I will see if and how I can make that an actual reality. Off to the drawing board. Not that I would know much about building guitars or have a ton of ongoing projects to tend to. Ah the perils of a creative mind trained under instant gratification.Ok, so not much playing left a lot more time for... mixing! Finally we're here. The tedious turning of knobs and pushing faders, not after hours and hours of prepping tracks and sessions. Reamping everything within an inch of its life. The first song is 90% done. Pending approval of the band. Let's hope that countless hours (I stopped tracking those over a year ago) will have paid off and after recording, editing, tuning, the aforementioned reamping and track- and session prepping we will finally have a piece of music in hand that we would like to listen to and share. Great let's hope everyone is happy with it and then there's only 21 more to go. For that band. Two others waiting in line.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It has become a bit of a bow wave I'm pushing though, keeping me from other waves. Time is a valuable thing. I want to give these my all though, so I cannot justify scattering my mind with more and more projects. So sequential it is.On the gear side of things - did I sucessfully stop the obsessions with bying new things make me feel my hobby is legit? Well sort of. Okay no. I did not. Plugin Offers got me again - then again I was holding out on these until the first mix is here and it was. Fair enough? Sure mate, keep lying to yourself.
Let's see.
To be fair to myself -and you- , I'm neither hoarding gear nor super rich. So after the recent spontaneous switch to a different amp and some more coming to terms with its consequences, I have decided to bid farewell to the HX Stomp. Bye friend. It was fun. Sold within minutes of putting it online.On we go. More mixing to come. Then we'll talk artwork. And then friends, we'll talk release. Yes!Talk soon.
KokoAnother month, another update. February went good. There are some things that went really good, some things not so much.Let's get into it.
It's winter, that means runny noses left and right. Mine is fine so far - nice - yet the rest of the band cannot say the same. Resulting of course in a lot of "3/5 players" or entirely cancelled evenings. Not as much practice as I had hoped. The new guitar did not get put it through its paces as planned, esecially after the pickup change. Aynway, with time I'll see where it goes... the ideas around it are not stopping. For example, it features a kill-switch which I do not plan to incorporate in my playing. So that can go - but I wouldn't want to leave a big hole. I already moved the pin for the strap so it sits more comfortable - this actually did leave a hole. What are we to do? ... correct! Construct an entirely new body for it obviously. I will see if and how I can make that an actual reality. Off to the drawing board. Not that I would know much about building guitars or have a ton of ongoing projects to tend to. Ah the perils of a creative mind trained under instant gratification.Ok, so not much playing left a lot more time for... mixing! Finally we're here. The tedious turning of knobs and pushing faders, not after hours and hours of prepping tracks and sessions. Reamping everything within an inch of its life. The first song is 90% done. Pending approval of the band. Let's hope that countless hours (I stopped tracking those over a year ago) will have paid off and after recording, editing, tuning, the aforementioned reamping and track- and session prepping we will finally have a piece of music in hand that we would like to listen to and share. Great let's hope everyone is happy with it and then there's only 21 more to go. For that band. Two others waiting in line.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It has become a bit of a bow wave I'm pushing though, keeping me from other waves. Time is a valuable thing. I want to give these my all though, so I cannot justify scattering my mind with more and more projects. So sequential it is.On the gear side of things - did I sucessfully stop the obsessions with bying new things make me feel my hobby is legit? Well sort of. Okay no. I did not. Plugin Offers got me again - then again I was holding out on these until the first mix is here and it was. Fair enough? Sure mate, keep lying to yourself.
Let's see.
To be fair to myself -and you- , I'm neither hoarding gear nor super rich. So after the recent spontaneous switch to a different amp and some more coming to terms with its consequences, I have decided to bid farewell to the HX Stomp. Bye friend. It was fun. Sold within minutes of putting it online.On we go. More mixing to come. Then we'll talk artwork. And then friends, we'll talk release. Yes!Talk soon.
Koko

Jan 2023What a start to the year. Lots has happened on all fronts. Guitars, gear and goals.
Let’s take it from the top.Guitar first. I got another 8 string, I admit it was one of those purchases made out of frustration but it turned out to be great-and-not-so-great-at-the-same-time. Definitely interesting. So it’s an 8 string and it’s on the affordable end. GOC is the brand and it was roughly 1k new at some point. Cool matt grey color and specs e.g. roasted neck. The build quality in itself is not great, tool marks and scratches and other issues. Interestingly though, it plays nice. I plays very nice, it actually makes the 8th String even more accessible than my Strandberg does, which is crazy to me.
The pickups were horrible so it brought along with it a nice project to finish in January: find a set of Strandberg 8 string pickups and come up with a switching system that allows for split sounds and similar. Enter the freeway switch - looks like a three-way toggle but actually packs six positions.
Great stuff, I was able to achieve what I wanted with it.Gear next. Huge change there. I don’t know what happened, I was very very happy with the Minimalist Line6 HX Stomp setup. It brought two things though which do not mix nicely. Choice paralysis mixed with fear of missing out. Holy crap did I realise this late in the game, that this was in the back of my mind all this time.
This suddenly mixed with a desire to create a setup that would encourage more accurate and clean playing.
Enter Strymon. Their Amp Modeller Iridium has three models and their Deco Pedal allows for Saturation paired with just enough Delay/Chorus Options to make the sound atmospheric while playing but clean and tidy when not. To be fair, to aid with the transition to the new requirement of insane accuracy I opted to add a compressor in the v1.1 of the board and I’m learning to cope with that and adjust my playing. It’s an interesting experience and so far has yielded exactly the result I wanted. Also the Compressor is made by “Kok(k)o” how the hell do I not add this to my setup. Case in point.In redoing the band practice space I left the toolbox on the sideway by the road before driving off into the night. Not the keenest of ideas. It was of course gone the next day, all my tools I collected over the course of 10 years with it. So, off to the store to replace all of them to be able to finish my other project for this month.
Desk upgrades. - I wanted to have the Pro Tools controllers live with the desk, so I cut a recess into the desktop to house them. Gave me a chance to redo the entire cabling as well which was a breath of fresh air. Yes I am fully aware of the obsession with neat cabling on both desks and pedalboards. It’s just so much fun. Redoing the desk brought the need to re-measure the room treatment and correction which I got around to one week later as well.Goals we set as well. Not the classic ones that are ditched by the second month of the year (looking at you, last year’s YouTube channel…)¹ but rather a continuation of last years goals that carry over as they haven’t been completed. It all neatly boils down to one simple word. Catalogue. Every action this year should in some way relate to extending and/or recording the catalogue of songs for any and all projects I’m involved in. Simple as that. And we did track Vocals for six songs this month, which considering day jobs and families is a nice pace actually. One last solo parts and we have finished the tracking of two albums for one band next month. Freaking finally after the pandemic stopped us dead in our tracks.¹on that subject I did some thinking as well and I plan to plan - and come back strong - I do not want to give away anything of commit to something just yet but I am not finished there at all. However it became clear to me that anything I want to be doing is only validated through my completed work. So. Catalogue. Let’s go.Overall, this month, I feel very accomplished in both having had fun around the tools and toys (let’s be honest), applying my craft and also actually getting some real work done.Talk soon.
Koko

Dec 2022More edits and a band practice. Winter and colds have arrived with a huge high five in the face with a chair.A very quiet month on the leave-the-house front. So it only just saw some more editing to the Sallys production and the birth of a protools template. But also again updates to ye ol’ setup back home.Why am I making this switch? Am I absolutely insane to switch to the -probably- most controversial DAW on the planet? The industry standard everyone seemingly despises and would like to move away from? What the hell Koko?Ok. Let's get into it briefly to end the year.
Why did I make this decision?
Why now?
What lead me here?
Didn't I just switch DAW to Logic?
Didn't I just introduce Mixbus to my workflow last year?
What the hell?Ok, ok, ok.
Here's what's happened. I cannot remember when we first recorded ourselves (improperly I might add) but it must have been 2007-ish.
I think the first DAW we were using was Cakewalk and I had a Line6 UX guitar Interface. We owned a small mixer that was able to output its twobus via USB.
So we mic'd the drums, recorded them to a stereo track, did horrible overdubs (phase, latency, analogue and/or digital clipping, those weren't things we were interested in then) and adjusted things according to a scattered loose collection of knowledge we acquired through heresay.
Never officially released any it naturally.I found most DAWs overwhelming then to be honest and had discovered ableton live via that same interface package that included live lite as far as I remember. I was a fan of the minimalist UI and especially the concept of all onboard plugins having basically the same stripped-down UI language. So I endet up buying a licence and learned the thing. I didn't get into third party plugins (and especially not paid ones) for years. We produced singles, side-projects and an entire EP with it with mostly using stock plugins or few third party vat plugins (we were solely on windows then) that were freeware and easily shared among collaborators. We fully entered with the release of live 7 2008 I believe. Came live 8, 9, 10 and recently we upgraded to 11 for its introduction of linked tracks and take lanes. (Late editions there, but hey, we got used to our workarounds and shortcuts)For the longest time (and actually still) I believe that the DAW itself doesn't make too much of a difference so long as you know what you want to achieve and how to navigate it (effortlessly and quickly). It fit that bill mostly.
However for me it comes with certain frustrations:
- every track produced within live is stereo, I don't like that
— > yes I know, if both sides have the same signal it's still mono blablabla, visually I just do not like it
- standard editing workflows like linking tracks and comping through takes came sooo late to the party here
—> I’m so used to the workarounds the switch took me ages, we'Ve simply been missing out there
- to me, mixing in live is horrible
—> it has all the features and functionality sound wise there is no difference
—> but the UI man
—> the way plugins are added to tracks etc etc is perfect for creation and mixing/sound design as you goyet, the more I do this the less I can accept a mixing page with a mixer that displays tracks but is not able to list the plugins per track to give a simple overview of your current processing to all tracks, you have to individually select a track to see what's on it etc. by now, for the way I want to work this does not work for me any longer. Yes I know, there is a options.txt file and the deprecated feature from whatever Version waaay-back can be turned on, but it does not fully work. Any other DAW I tested has this.So why go searching for others? The way I like to work mirrors an analog workflow of an inline console mostly.
That's the way my brain works. I want to arrange the tracks in a certain way, some to busses a certain way, sum these to twobus a certain way and all this brings in terms auf Auxes, Sends, VCAs etc etc. This is not only great for processing efficiency but also for overview, repeatable workflow, templating, moving and navigating quickly and developing muscle memory through controller integration.First obvious choice: Harrison Mixbus (based off of ardour) Why not go straight to the one DAW specifically modelled after a console workflow?
I loved its concept and still do to this day. If it weren't for its performance problems (for me anyway) which I never got over or could solve- even with great support from their end- the lagging meters killed it for me.Second obvious choice for a -by now Mac M1 user - Logic Pro X. Having waited almost a year with the M1 purchase most compatibility issues were solved, even Live 11 was native two weeks after the machine arrived - Logic did the job perfectly. I understood its flow quickly, the template for mixing was up in no time and the first mixes were fun. Even Softube CS1 integrated after a recent upgrade. Great stuff.
Very happy to have spent two months learning it in and out, finding great resources. Loving the sensible Shortcuts like effing "R" for record TAKE THAT "F9" on ableton with a small Mac keyboard. Sure I can remap shortcuts, but why not make them obvious in the first place? Damn son.So.
Now.
Why switch again so soon?
First of all since the Strandberg delivered and almost end to the holy grail search in the guitar world (I'm sure I'll buy more, still want a LP Special with P90s some day and want to own a PRS McCarty Birds with Stoptail and I want to own a Brian May guitar some day as he is the reas..... I digress.)Since starting this music production journey, so many tutorials I watch and courses I take are in Pro Tools. It is still - even with all the heat it catches - (and I'm not talking about it's saturation plugin here) it seems to be the industry standard for a reason. Yes this might change some day and I will let it happen without freaking out about it on some internet forum.
But the sheer amount of directly applicable knowledge, documentation, videos, discussion on it is simply a great asset to have.
Through the Pro Production System of Jordan Valeriote I was so familiar with Pro Tools and his workflow already that it took me virtually no time to get me started (in fairness having learned 4 other daws prior may have helped)
the discovery there is: if you know what you want to achieve, so long as it's not some hyper-esoteric supercalifragilisticexpialidocious double side chained quadruple loopback extra route processing proprietary to some software, the tool you use also becomes somewhat secondary. And it did for me. Every single piece of software has its intricacies. Some solve things elegantly that others don’t and vice versa. There will never be the holy grail to all. Hell we haven’t even laid to rest the debate if we should produce analogue to tape or digitally, don’t have any hopes of actually ending the discussion on digital audio workstations any time soon. It’s not meant to end too. Competition drives development.Now to get back on track there, what brought the decision home for me is EUCON. I underestimated this protocol too long. I thought midi would always suffice for me in terms of resolution and integration and responsiveness. The recent update to Softube Console 1 Fader making it a generic yet integrated controller for logic proved this point to me - or so I though until I had tried an Avid Artist Control with ProTools in my own home studio. I shortly after added an Artist Mix and I'm so happy with the hands on workflow this creates in conjunction with my Micro 4k (Rocksolid Audio follow up Version to Channel Strip 2, highly recommend it!)
That I have no regrets.Also, since this works for me and my journey I know better than to get in an online pseudo-gatekeeping bitch-fight about the best DAW.
Grow up and support each other, please.So many words.
Happy Christmas.Talk soon.
Koko

Nov 2022They say: "The magic is in the edit". Great.
I only wished someone would tell me how to get it out of there.Kidding of course and I do agree. While I don't believe in making everything fit exactly to the grid (we're still bands with actual musicians who know and love their craft chipping away at it for 20+ years, and do deliver great performances and not programmed sound libraries) I'm not against helping a performance along. In my opinion most listeners are (for the most part) subconsciously tuned to quite perfect timing and pitching through what they've been exposed to in almost any genre, especially mainstream productions of course. SO if you're not too far off the mainstream - which I feel both my Punk Rock and Prog Rock as well as my Solo Prog Rock Projects are not - you have little room to not be on perfect timing and pitching.
We're not talking grid-programmed drum-machines and auto-tune all the way, but even the most "authentic" artists and bands are actually heavily produced these days. Be it just the intense (and insanely well done) vocal compression on Adeles Vocals even if the song is "just her and a piano". Yes Adele is pitchy live - which gives her great character and a heartfelt authenticity by the way, she isn't as much on a Studio record though and "just her voice" includes some of the best mics in the world probably including a Neuman U47, vintage of course, I recon a Neve Console or at least a (real, not clone like mine) 1073 preamp, some of the finest compressors on the planet, either LA2A or 1176 or both and just as many intense digital and analog processors on the twobus and mastering chains after that. So it’s “just her, a piano” and the most elaborate production chain known to us. You catch my drift I hope.
Why shouldn't we use every tool at our disposal to make things sound as pro as we can. After all producing sub-par records for the sake of being "true", "real" and "authentic" will just about yield zero listeners. - Again, this is my opinion so don’t crucify me for this mentally agree or respectfully disagree at will.So yes. This month has seen a lot of post production on the aforementioned tracking. Mainly editing and re-amping. For the better. I think.And damn that October for black Friday. As a non-recovering gear addict, this is a bad month. Though I got out of it ok I think. Just a UAD Spark Subscription for three Months which of course I haven't even looked at yet, some new PluginAlliance stuff that I didn’t touch but at least added to the template, an entire redo of the wiring and power supply of my current HX Stomp based Pedalboard, oh and did I mention I'm switching to ProTools for all post production?Damn you Black Friday.By the way, I've done a test mix for a Sallys Song that I shared with the band and gotten mostly positive and fair Feedback on (I'm really proud of it, which took a long while to get there, to be not only blindly convinced but objectively proud of what I've accomplished with it. Especially after I was able to intentionally achieve sounds and deliberately create a production instead of the religious knob turning in accordance to the most recent video in the YouTube history.
This was huge and I have ten years of trial and (mostly) error to thank for it. So dear enthusiast reader, just stick with it. If you're reading this and are stuck somewhere - stick a while longer. You will get through this. There will be some thing, some sound, some process, some tool that is for you and that will help untie the next knot and untangle and rearrange some of those connections you've been loading into your brain.It'll all make sense in the end.
Trust the process.
Trust the path.Talk soon.
Koko

Oct 2022Hey there. Remember my thoughtful words on how each pice of gear in sees one out and that the acquisition madness had to stop and all that… WELL SCRATCH THAT - I BOUGHT SOME STUFF!
And it was awesome.First things first: the month saw regular band practices which is rarer these days. We see each other regularly but seldom are we complete and get to be so for weeks at a time. Refreshingly great to get to play together that often.More tracking of Sallys vocals has been done too and with tracking phase slowly nearing it's end (in a few months if we keep up the current speed- ... hey we're all adults here, with one of full time jobs each I might add, remember those other lives I keep mentioning?) I did get into the gear thing again.This time I really -for the first time- dove deep into the ITB vs OTB, digital vs. analog debate. I've mixed quite a few songs in recent years (about 50 mixes, mostly of free or paid multitracks, none of which are shareable easily without getting into license and copyright issues) mostly to develop an ear, muscle memory and an understanding of the basic tool set and also testing myths, finding a style, testing DAWs (so far by the way: Ableton live, Harrison Mixbus, Logic Pro X, Pro Tools) I found a video on re-amping tracks through analog hardware.Not only running your final twobus through a mic pre but basically every single track. The video was by David Vignola and he ran all tracks of one of his productions through a Neve 1073 500 series, quite carefully level matching it all.I know the discussion is decades old and I will not pick sides but always stay with myself on the matter. I will say, that this video - for the first time - had me hear a difference. Albeit it subtle-to-inaudible to many, this one finally made it clear to me what happens in the process and that I would want replicate it for me and also why.
So I did. I went and bought a WA 273 and started running all my edited tracks of the sallys production through it.
It is night and day to me. It gives character, helps with separation, depth and levelling, helps me trouble-shoot and preparing the mixing session as every track is carefully re-examined in the process, it emulates a neve console sound for me without the actual invest. It is a lot of fun and through its gentle saturation - if driven not too hard- it adds almost compression like processing helping a lot with the final mix as tracks arrive much more level and even throughout at the mixing stage. I'm a convert.Also, hitting that same note: I bought a Tech 21 Bass Driver DI. After having heard Jordan Valeriote (I'm a member of his Fullstack Producer Corse via the Pro Production System via his Hardcore Music Studio - he likes three worded terms you see- ) go on and on about it being THE thing to have, I gave it a go. And well. He was right. Instantly recognisable pro production (hint hint) level bass sounds. This, paired with the DI signal of our Mark Bass, both through the WA273 lets me get "my" sound printed on the production just the way I was never able to before.
Damn that's exciting. IT also made me realise, that for Band productions I want to go with as much OTB / analog sound creation as possible. To me this is simply the easiest way to create a unique sound footprint and not be as generic. I can still add tons of digital processing (and enhance double tracked DIs with plugins etc. - not opposed to that at all - and the actual mix will probably be ITB completely. That’s just the thing though. Yes I’d still be mixing entirely ITB. The sounds were analog to begin with though and went through some real hardware and transformers before hitting the mixing state. To me this is the step into the hybrid world.But I digress.Which is the whole point of this blog by now.Talk soon.
Koko

Sep 2022Is de-investment a term?
Well- I don't know, but I wanted to make clear that with all the gear acquisition and investing always comes a counter-part. This is all done out of love for the craft, the search for the best thing and of course the ever prominent workflow but also to fuel inspiration and childish excitement about new toys- this is meant as a good thing.
With almost every piece in you see a piece out. So if a new Midi controller enters the game it usually replaces another.
Notably exception for the most part are guitars. Since strandberg I rarely purchase those anymore. It used to be: flip at least a guitar a month. Even my bandmates noticed that the constant deals have subsided. With the introduction of record producing, video producing and some other hobbies like cycling, making coffee and bookbinding + actually spending real time with family and traveling, the madness has to stop somewhat anyway.The dayjob also only gets you so far in terms of budget.
What can I say, I'm a victim of the forums and the YouTubes. Not ashamed to admit, and also not at all ashamed to sell something if it did not deliver as promised by the lovely ads and videos.
If all "gamechangers" and "speeds up the workflow like no other" claims proved to be true we'd all already be finished with all the work and the game would actually have changed.
I see through that but still enjoy and rather I see it like this: it will definitely be the right thing for some, just not for all as everybody has to claim in the game of superlatives we all seem to play.So let's not do that and again cherish a month where nothing was bought and all time spent was spent using the gear at hand actually producing. Again tacking and editing even more vocals for the Sallys production. We are way past half-done which I consider a major milestone in these kinds of projects.
Less ahead than behind. Starts to feel downhill from here. I leave the interpretation of that last sentence entirely up to future me when I hopefully hold in hand the finished product. Only then may I commit as to which "downhill" it all went. The smooth no effort coaster kind or the crash and burn type.See then.Talk soon.
Koko

** Aug 2022**The definition of radio silence.
An absence of or abstention from radio transmission or, the
absence of communication from a person or group from whom communication might have been expected.Radio silence is what everyone "public" experiences on any of my new official channels where I act as kokocreatesmusic.
A facebook page with all but one post. An instagram with pictures without hashtags (a job well done. not so digitally native after all, are we? - Ok I'm not young enough to count as that anyways, let's leave it at that) and a YouTube channel without any videos.Mh.
Try to keep the self deprecating jokes at a minimum now as I look at a positive outcome nonetheless. I was able to assume my role of producer for one of my bands production again. We've tracked a lot of vocals for the Sallys Pink Toothbrush production.
This was not only great fun but also made me feel accomplished in that I was producing music. I was working towards a goal. I wasn't telling anyone about it except this here well hidden blog. Tracking, Ediitng, basic Leveling. Some of the Songs start to take shape. You can already hear a sound of this production emerging.This is great.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, the whole production spiel was taken on to record the catalogue.
It felt nice actually working towards that goal again.Great stuff. Share eventually.Talk soon.
Koko

Jul 2022Another post-less month. Damn I'm starting to think this whole YouTube thing wasn't for me. Funny thing is, I cannot wait to get back at it again. All of it was fun, but I'm struggling to come up with videos that are worth watching, even to me.I need to find a tone and topics I actually want to talk about. My original thoughts were document. entertain. educate. However those are vastly different games each and none of which am I truly an expert in. Mh. Put a pin in that - we need to revisit.July hasn't been unproductive at all. Just not publicly. I've joined "The Bunn" via YouTube memberships. His channel and the whole ”50 year old baritone guy from the internet trying to earn a living off of super niche music in 2022” just about hits home for me.I don't want to blatantly rip off all of his style and videos however so I need to get some distance there as well.The gear acquisition syndrome is alive and well also in case you wonder. This months flavour is video gear. First tragic observation is, the videos do not age well at all.
Ok this is YouTube and content creation 101 (I'm being told, and not just by Matt D'Avella) but the key is to keep creating. Which I didn't, so major pitfall there.However I'm plotting to come back strong. One strong subplot if this being the setup. While everyone on YouTube whispers "gear doesn't matter" in their SM7b's on their RED Cinema Cameras in front of their expensive appeture lightdomes with the nice backdrops rolled down I feel this only holds true after reaching a certain level of gear. Good gear makes things more comfortable also. You don’t want to be fighting your gear all the time.
Yes you don't need the fanciest gear in the world. Not at all. You don't need everything right away too. You need -some- gear. Gear that works.
And you won't be creating nice depth of field with blurry backgrounds and a nice cinematic colour profile on a used GoPro with cheap lights, that's for sure.So camera gear it is.
How nice to sidetrack oneself with that and trick the mind into thinking we’re actually working towards anything while we’re simply distracting us, keeping busy with focussing on the toolset. Also shut up minimalism, not now, I’m busy. With the things. All the things.Important interjection: I finished song 5.
Only to my own benefit as of now, but still. That happened. I promise.Interesting observation also: the songwriting inspiration indeed came form the new 8 string guitar, so that paid off already to me - even if it bought me only this song, that's still huge. Others pay ghostwriters, I just have to pay a guitar.
I do fully appreciate that this is a hobby (which I would like to turn into more and am dedicated to try) that is currently only done as a side thing.
The production inspiration came from Bogren Digitals new Amp Knob Rev C plugin. One knob to get a production worthy guitar sound? Sounds intriguing enough to ditch Neural DSP for this one demo and try it. Indeed there is something to it's simplicity - and removal of decision fatigue and the overwhelming choice paralysis that comes with having so many sounds at ones disposal - knob left is clean(-ish) knob at noon is rock, knob past two is metal to insanity. Great stuff. More of that. Let's go.Talk soon.
Koko

Jun 2022Vacation. That always relaxes things. So again this time. The dayjob on hold, a little away from family and friends (the closest being right there of course) -distance in the literal always translates to the figurative for me.I took the 8 string with me and got to practice a lot which was great. Far from mastering it, humility is a virtue, but I do feel I can own it or make it my own. The extended range offers new perspective certainly.
Tried to incorporate it into the first songs for one of my bands, but it's not a true fit there and not what it was purposed to do either. It was purposed to help me find my own sound more and experiment out of my traditional box.Mixing in Logic Pro X, which I purposed the full licence for this month, got me further there as well. Derived a template for me and while I'm not fully proficient I can definitely navigate it well enough to suit my needs and it helped me gain more perspective on the things I most look for.
Well organised interface, good controller integration.
On the note of controller integration I got Rocksolid Audios Channel Strip 2 plugin controller. Very good and I'm moving much more in a direction I enjoy with my current setup, redoing the home studio arrangement once more.Growing a little unhappy with the radio silence on the YouTube channel I started Matt D'Avella's "master youtube" course. This is to trick myself into feeling like I was making progress. That worked,
I didn't post anything, but I feel like I am working myself up to picking up where I left at least. Nice.End of the month some of these things finally did pay off though: I started the lyrics to song 5 and 6 and writing the music for song 5.By the way, in the recent months (and posts) I've been throwing around these numbers. By now you correctly guessed... one song a month was the hidden agenda for the year. Since we're nearing the end of June and song 5 and 6 are technically at least started I'm not too far off track there.
Realistically speaking, and factoring in the head-start I had on some of the songs of 1 through 4 I don't thing I'll make it.Trying to come to terms with that without being frustrated is not easily done.Since it's vacation month, this months picture has nothing to do with music at all.Talk soon.
Koko

** May 2022**This other life and dayjob, they keep getting in the way.
I suppose with all the targets set in content creation and music production one can only frustrate themselves as any of these alone are full time jobs in their own right (as is proven by the many full time producers and content creators out there).One can dream, right? I certainly can. I do so Still actually. So this seems to be turning into a blog on gear acquisition (be it syndrome or just report) lately.Well then, here we go: this May's gear acquisition report:
- last months 8 string is still going strong
- acoustic treatment
- sonarworks room correction
- Ozone Advanced Mastering SuiteAlso: the aforementioned drummer and I are pondering the idea of opening a studio together, we acquired a domain and some ideas together at least.One can give themselves nice tools to learn right?Produced Content 0.
Felt content? Yes.Talk soon.
Koko

Apr 2022No videos. I've been sick a lot this Month and haven't gotten around to producing of any kind. This faeels like a low point. Even with all the preparation work I tried to bring into my efforts - which of course I ran out of soon enough - I couldn't keep up. Once I dropped out of the rhythm and the self-imposed pressure it was tough getting back on track on the content production.
To make matters worse I read an intriguing quote that said, if all we produce is content, no wonder there isn't much substance to it.And, full disclosure, a (un-)healthy dose of self-doubt found its way to the forefront of my thoughts lately as well.
Who am I to talk about these things? What am I sharing exactly? Do I sound overly didactic? Because it's not like I'm an expert in, well, any of this.A lot has been learned here. It’s through experimentation and experimenting we may get to know things about ourselves I believe.One positive thing: I managed to takeFridays off of the dayjob in the other life generally. That should help with moving towards any creative goals.The same actually went on with the (song-)writing as well.So I endet up looking for inspiration and re-invention and a start of something new, since I got the feeling I was running in circles after such a short time already. Enter gear acquisition syndrome.Firstly -as a Mac user of more than a decade- finally I got a trial licence for Logic Pro and started teaching myself. Works like a charm.However that didn't proof to be enough, so there I am, researching again, trying to come up with any way to spice things up and re-connect to that spark. Which I know is always there, yet gets buried by all lives’ other commitments and lovely endeavours.Of course I found a guitar.
Could a radical change in instrumentation carry me across the finish line?
How is a new guitar (adding to a collection of guitars) relevant? Well, this one has more strings. Nice. A rationale for getting it. Like now.Ok. Self deprecation paused for a second.
Let's turn on the excited Koko for a bit.I've been on a near constant search for the “holy grail” of guitars. To me anyway, I mean. There are some guitars that are widely considered to be holy grails, a '59 Gibson Les Paul or a '64 Fender Stratocaster or a nice vintage Telecaster, a nice Gibson ES-335 and many others.
I'm lucky to own decent (and reasonably priced) homages any of those giving me a great toolset. My beloved collection of instruments is one that I have spent years searching and acquiring. As a (wannabe-) minimalist of course I would not define myself or self worth through my possessions… but damn son. Guitars.
How does one balance that?At the least I do take the term “instruments” literal here. The guitars I own are players instruments, tools to do a job, not dusty old lifeless museum pieces.
All of them are worn (or part of the fender road worn series from the go), all are played regularly, most have been tampered with with endless tweaks, replacement parts like brass trim blocks aftermarket boutique pickups or similar. Like I said: I treasure this toolset.
Yet these are sort of publicly approved “great guitars”. For "my" own main guitar I was on the lookout for long. I’ve been on this grail quest for a while. Unsuccessfully so. I have learned many things as a result of this search however.Until I've discovered Plini on YouTube and with him the unique guitar he was playing. It was a Strandberg. Unique shape, neck profile, new, fresh, modern yet not only moderncapable of a broad range of sounds.
I was hooked. To me., these are unattainably expensive though. Also I had made the discovery in the past, that if I own and play an immensely expensive guitar that I don't play it in full confidence. So I need that sweet spot between premium build quality, playability and features yet affordable-enough pricepoint where you're not afraid to "dig in".Enter the Strandberg Standard Series- and it fit that bill.
I got one, haven't changed main guitar since.
Maybe I’ll add new pickups at some point.
But the feel of the instrument and how light it is changed the way I’m able to interact with a guitar (in a 5 hour band session) forever.
I am so grateful to Ola Strandberg for his unique view on the subject and will follow his upcoming inventions carefully.Until the search started again now.
Though I wasn't looking far.
Still Strandberg.
Just more strings.
8 of them.I had owned a 7-string Ibanez before, because KoRn. It wasn’t playable to me and, influenced by my teacher as well. I’m mostly staying in the group of players in standard tuning not making songs harder by tuning low but by other disciplines and subtleties like songwriting and timing and control over the instrument. Don’t just hit hard, be hard by different means.
Strandbergs Endure Neck profile isa game changer for me, let’s skip the 7 string, go straight to 8. Even numbers make more sense anyway.Long story sh…ok medium-ish: I got the exact same guitar as 8 string version. An entirely new instrument to me that I need to probably learn from the ground up. Think different. Play different. Write different. Write.Let's hope this works out and manages to get me unstuck.Talk soon.
Koko

Mar 2022Ok I'm already struggling. The frequency I originally aimed for may have been too keen a plan. Let's recap.
I play in two bands, The Defenders, and Sallys Pink Toothbrush. Both of which exist for a long time but have never officially released anything. Shortly pre pandemic I decided to remedy that fact by taking on the role as producer/engineer and making great plans to record all of our material so far.
This means - managing the projects and files, tracking (also playing things myself), recording the rest of the band, mixing, mastering, distributing the whole shnizzle! - Our drummer for both bands is a great help there actually as he's keen on producing as well and can self-record, edit etc. that means after pre-production the first tracking phase is with him after which I can take over to collect all takes of the rest of the band.So far so good.
Wow. This is a lot of work.
Much of which is worth documenting as well. I've started a new series on the channel for that which I called sallyrecords for what we're doing with Sallys Pink Toothbrush. - Which is two albums with 22 Songs total by the way. So no walk in the park in terms of workload.
One Album with about 12 songs for the Defenders on the other hand is not exactly relaxing either.
Good thing I had completed this months songwriting for the third song for kokocreatesmusic already and have an idea for the fourth cooking.I need to fulfil my "duties" for these projects though which means tracking guitars and making some progress on all other tasks.So, what did March bring in terms of accomplishments?
- started a new video series sallyrecords
- published 8 videos in total so far with a weekly schedule
- compelted about 80% of my own takes for the defenders trackingWhat else did it bring. Resistance. I started to feel a lot of resistance.
If you've read "the war of art" by Steven Pressfield, which is probably considered an inspirational masterpiece for young and naive creators such as me and a sort of bible for more seasoned pros, you know what I am talking about.
If not, do so immediately. Or consider signing up to a trial of Audible using my link - doesn't change anything for you but makes a huge difference for me. - Honestly it does.
Maybe skip on the third part though, or take it with a grain of salt if you're not religious/christian. I'm not, if you’re interested, and I still could derive tons of value from it.Anyway. Things have been learned. Things have been achieved.
Good stuff.Talk soon.
Koko

Feb 2022The second month has passed. It's a lot of fun. The nights working on all of these things however are long. Somehow now with this YouTube endeavour on top I'm not just a guy playing guitar anymore but I actually have to finish the songs. Arrange. Track. Edit. Mix. Master. Shoot videos, make these at least partially interesting and fun to watch, and once more: Edit. Mix. Release and generate content for the aforementioned myriad of social accounts I created.Ok, so first things first. Admittance.
Between all of this I’m a non-recovering gear addict and gadget boy. This totally goes against my striving to be a minimalist and its core ideas, at least the ones I cherry picked for me through my own research and observations, but hey, everything that adds value may stay, right?
If that’s a wall of guitars so be it right? RIGHT?That gear acquisition syndrome is now however quickly extending to all sorts of media accounts and camera gear which I also need to take time to actually learn to operate. Oh man, What have I gotten myself into?I’m having fun. That’s nice.
Already started trying to optimise the shooting process trying to work in bulk more. I’m a productivity nerd somewhere in all of this as well.
The inefficient writing style is in stark contrast to that. I do realise the irony.Recap: what did Feb 2022 bring?
- my first homepage is live under kokocreatesmusic.com
- I got to code it using a w3schools template - fun!
- I updated my setup to a Mac Mini M1 - the entry level version
- released three more episodes
- completed and release the demo of Song 2
- prepped the video shooting for March
- posted my first thing on instagramThere is some momentum there.Talk soon.
Koko

Jan 2022Not Ready? Set anyway. - Go!
It's now 2022 and the year only just started. This means it was also my birthday coming up and for this year I had planned to end procrastination.
In my not so humble opinion: Everyone procrastinates on something. Maybe it's even fact. A universal truth. Probably somewhere out there in the distance some ethereal being from an alien race spotted us on their sky-device and now has plans to contact us. Tomorrow.What am I procrastinating on?
Music. More specifically: writing, producing and releasing my own.Who am I? My friends call me Koko. I’m a musician and (let’s face it: wannabe-) producer. I play guitar and bass, sing, dabble in a bit of drums and have really almost no clue about keys.
On good days I do know where middle C is.
I play in two bands and co-write for one of them.That’s a lot of creative output and I feel blessed for it. Yet there’s sometimes music that doesn’t make the cut, doesn’t fit for one of the bands for some reason or is just too much of my own to give away. Throughout the years I have observed that these tracks, however old, never let go of me.
I know professional musicians and bands write hundreds of songs and only a select few make it on their releases a lot fall through the cracks. The odd one out is release as a b-side later, but many are never made public.Next to my other life, the one with the dayjob and family it, which I’m just as committed to, I don’t have the luxury of much spare time to allow myself to actually work like that. So every idea that isn’t fleeting and gets phone-recorded, voice-messaged, written down or drawn out in some way is worth pursuing. Rarely is something really “worth” not finishing. Maybe not releasing, yes, but the problem already lies with even finishing, whichb is also probably why these ideas tend to stay with me. The are asking to be dealt with and completed. And I’m not a quitter either.In an effort to give myself a goal to finish these kinds of songs I gifted myself a YouTube Channel called kokocreatesmusic accompanied by a myriad of social accounts that sites like namechk were initially immensely helpful with.These posts are meant as a monthly log, looking back on what I was able to do and where this journey takes me. I will change tone, topics and writing styles dramatically each second and digress. A lot. Forgive the constant in inconsistency as hI’m trying to find own my voice and a path in all of this.So, hard facts, what did Jan 2022 bring?
- the birth of kokocreatesmusic
- a YouTube Channel
- using previous artwork as my logo
- a short intro video
- two follow up “episodes”
- completion of my first solo song not intended for any of my bands
- start of more song ideas
- a demo version of the same
- published to the channel
- a completed shopping list of social media handles like Facebook, instagram and many othersThis is an immensely exciting start and I’ve made ambitions plans to try and keep at it consistently.Talk soon.
Koko