With the first 'Next Wave' event taking place this Saturday at Phoenix Square this Saturday (3rd December), I though it would be the perfect time to upload my interview with Manic Music Productions' Matt Cotterill. This is going to be an article... but as usual I like to put the full interview up here. Also I've uploaded the flyers for the event.
So, could you tell me a bit about Manic Music?
Manic Music Productions was set up at the beginning of 2011, as a music production company in Leicester to serve the Leicester music scene and to support local talent. We're from different backgrounds. Myself, Michael and Maryann are media composers primarily and music producers as well. And Jed comes from a musical theatre background as well as having extensive experience in the musical industry in previous years, so he brings the business expertise to direct the company.And we're involved with working with artists and writing music for films.
On your website it seems like Manic Music do A LOT of things. Could you give a quick run-down of what you do?
I'm not sure that our updated website has gone up yet. We kinda reviewed where we were. We wanted every service on our website to reflect our ethos which is to support the Leicester music scene and encourage local talent. The focus is going to be on artist and band production; mixing and mastering; and it's going to be on artists' development (vocal coaching, advice in regard to where to take your next step in your career.) We're a portal for people to drop in and have a friendly chat with us with no commitments. Just come and tell us what you're up to or what you think you're next step might be and how we can help.
And what about people who want to go into recording and producing. Do you offer anything in that aspect?
Training, which is another large aspect, which I haven’t actually mentioned yet. We have three different workstations all running different digital audio workstations (it's the big three: Logic, ProTool, and KeyBase). So the guys in Leicester that have got their own set-up and recording themselves and making their own music, but they need help from a technical point of view to sonically improve what they're doing, then when can offer training in music production techniques all the way from pre-production to mastering.
Do you see this as being quite a traditional way of coming into that aspect of music, or is this quite a new thing, that didn’t exist before? As some would argue that you have to go to university to study things like music engineering.
I'd be very interested to see how the huge amount of courses out there do, especially with the fees that have soared out of proportion, and wether people will still be doing that as an option. Because there are websites available now that weren’t around when I was at uni, that are just up there for free and have better information than I was actually given on my course at university, It's more relevant, more up-to-date, more diverse, more practical, and less academic. If you're serious about a profession in the music industry and want to get going early, I'd be tempted to argue that going to university isn’t the best thing to do.
What do you think of the facilities here at Phoenix?
We love being here. We still feel there's untapped potential in the place. And it's great to be in a facility like Phoenix where stuff's happening. And resources scope for us to get involved in pushing a whole facility forward and get it on the map.
And Next Wave? How are you involved in that?
I guess Jed was the brainchild of it. And with that we worked together in the same room has made it useful to communicate about how we should set it up and what it can be about. I guess I'm going to be running the technical side of things on the day and liaising with the artists. And I'm always on the hunt to find new talent to work with. I guess the thing with Next Wave is that whilst we want to get involved, potentially, in a recording point of view in the long-term, the primary emphasis is to get people in and perform and just encourage talent.
And where did the original idea stem from?
I met Maryann and Michael in 2010. I bumped into them at a film evening. And I was introduced to Jed through them. They were friends and associates of Jed for a couple of years prior to that. And that's how we all came together really.
So what do you think of the music scene, and the art, in Leicester
There's a huge diversity and I think there's a wealth of great art being practised and made in the city. I think it's quite an exciting place to be as a creative person.
What advice would you give to emerging local talent, who, at the moment, are at a small stage, trying to build up?
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From your perspective, what makes a good artists? What sort of people do you see coming to you?
I think the music industry can get quite convoluted with musical styles and you can try lots of different things. And variety is good, and whilst I like to seeing an artist that does different sorts of music, I think it's good to see somebody who is self-assured and has a strong sense of musical identity in what they're doing. So I like to see somebody who has their own stamp and personality when they're writing their own music but in terms of performance you can do covers and I think it's always good to see someone do a good cover and put their own take on it.
To round it off, where to you see Manic Music Productions going from here?
I think Next Wave is going to be huge in Leicester, there's huge potential with that event. So we're kind of going in, all guns blazing and want to get that out into everyone's consciousness in the city. And I think we'll start to see more people coming through our doors, just cause it's going to raise the profile of the business. And in the process I'll have a lot of fun in the process.
Tina Barton, excitedly, talked off having “bouncers on the door,” and you are linked with Martin Luke Brown, who is MASSIVE, performing. Do you see Manic Music Productions producing more big starts, and even going onto be national stars?
We've already had a couple of people through our doors who are real quality. And one of them is already making waves in the music industry.
Can you mention any names....
Not at this stage. I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut. Yeah, that's quite exciting.
And it's great to have Martin with the company in this way. I believe he's going to be hosting Next Wave, which is going to be a great asset to the event. I definitely encourage everyone to come down, cause it's going to be exciting.
Thank you for you time.
*Might be worth noting that I did "modify" this version, just to clean it up and make it a bit clearer (as we did go off on tangents). But I must stress it is pretty much the same as the original- except I haven't managed to proof-read this version. Hope you enjoyed it all the same.
