When was the Moment that You Knew you Wanted to be Creating Music?
 

As a young teenager I wanted to play the piano so I was given my Auntie's old Upright. She used to play the piano in a Dance Band. In those days a Dance Band would have been 10 musicians or so including saxophonists, violinists, a drummer and a pianist. She met her husband who was one of the violinists in the Band which was called The Syncopators. They performed in various Dance Halls for Ballroom Dancing. This was at a Semi-Professional level: they got paid but had full-time jobs. She was the Person that Inspired Me the most.

I taught myself how to play the piano and Read Sheet Music from a Hymn Book. Hymn Books are great for learning because they have 4 Part Harmony for both hands and are played slowly. This progressed into playing the Organ at my Local Church with Tunes from the Same Hymn Book that I'd learnt on.
 

Your website showcases 3 Different Styles of Equipment you predominantly use to create Arrangements and Covers Songs. Can you explain?
 

My website: www.harveytwyman.com is arranged in Chronological Order starting with music that I created using an Atari ST running the Cubase Sequencer and several Sound Modules that were available around the Mid-1990s.

It took Several Months to Create and Edit a tune using Cubase, which was probably one of the reasons that I gave up creating music after a Couple of Years. The other being having a Young Family to look after. However, I did manage to Record Some Track on this equipment of which 11 of Them are on My Website.

Fast Forward 20 Years to 2015, I wanted to Revisit the music scene again after my children were all grown up. By now, I thought that it should be Easier to make music with more Modern Equipment. Yes, it was Much Quicker to produce tracks as I was recording them Live on the keyboard. I wasn't Sequencing the Tracks on a computer anymore like.

Unfortunately, it started to become Much More Complicated Again because of needing to control All the MIDI Signals to All the pieces of kit. I was Building Electronics and Programming Units so that I could Play Live. However I did manage to create Over 200 Tunes using this kit, but it was still Very Hard Work.

I created a Video at the time describing How I Use It All:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TekeXG_oe1g
 

You have now Minimised All your musical equipment down to a Single Keyboard, the Yamaha PSR-SX900. What drove you to that decision and do you create Everything with this keyboard?
 

In around 2020, I decided Enough was Enough. I researched Arranger Keyboards and purchased a Yamaha which is my Current and Only musical instrument I now possess. This has been Much Easier to use as Everything you need is Built-In. No more Complicated MIDI signals to handle.

The main reason for getting a single keyboard is so that I could make music and Play Live, once you had Set Everything Up. I chose Yamaha because they have the best Authentic Sounding Instruments. Yamaha Manufactures virtually Every Type of musical instrument and has gained a reputation for it. They have Sampled all their Own Instruments in this keyboard which all sound Very Realistic.

This is a Demo Video of my Yamaha PSR-SX900 Arranger Keyboard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7exwr_4GJ9I

This instrument has Finally Fulfilled All my needs of being able to Create a tune and Record the performance Live onto an SD Card. So far, I have created Over 300 Tunes with this instrument.
 

You have built up your Online Musical Presence by consistently releasing a Name That Tune series. Can you explain your reasoning?
 

The Name That Tune Idea came from my thoughts that people would Communicate More Often in their comments with their Answers to the Tunes' Titles. Normally you would get Likes, but no Real Communication. Once you have Their Comment, you can then Converse with them, because you know that they Recognises your Tune and are More Likely to Listen to some of your Other Tunes.

This website acts as a Tune Title Reveal. All my tunes are Referenced by a # Character, which makes it easier to find. Each tune is Linked to the Full Tune which are all currently held on my SoundCloud Account.
 

Can you describe how you Choose a Tune and what Processes you go through in Creating the Tune?
 

• I'm Not a Drummer or Bass Guitarist, so I have to Rely on getting a Good Song Style for the specific tune. I have Purchased Over 10,000 of these Song Styles over the years.
   
• I can read Sheet Music so I have to Acquire the sheet music for Each Tune. There are Several Websites for Purchasing sheet music.
   
• Because I want to Record Live, I have to spend Many Hours setting up the keyboard's Registrations. These are Single Buttons that change Everything that you have programmed. These buttons are Essential for Playing Live. The Registration's Settings set up the Instrument's Voice Characteristics which includes Volume, Pan and EQ. This Fine-Tuning Task is repeated while Practising the Tune over and over. I always use my Audio-Technica ATH-M50X Headphones for Mixing. I find them to have a Very Flat Response.
   
• Once I can play the tune All the Way Through, without Too Many Mistakes, I then start Recording Many Takes. I try not to make the tunes Too Long, 2 to 3 minutes Max. I find that songs with Lots of Verses are OK with Lyrics, because each verse has Different Words. However, Without the Lyrics as in an Instrumental, Multiple Verses sound Very Boring to Listen to. In this case, the Arrangement will Usually get Truncated.
   
• I try to get around 6 Takes Recorded, where I Complete the Tune without Too Many Mistakes.
   
• I then Edit the Takes with my Sony Vegas Editor and choose the Best Parts from Each of the Takes to create the Final Version. This includes EQing and Compression.
   
• When Editing Out Sections of a Take, you need a Click Track to Maintain a Regular Tempo. I use the Generate Rhythm Track Feature of Audacity.