The talk show started when our CEO, Grahadea, introduced himself and informed a short story about Kuassa to the participants. He also announced that the chatterbox session will be held every three weeks. The participants in this first event were mostly musicians. Few others were band managers and publishers. These musicians said that they promote their music themselves in guerilla ways.
As the moderator, he continued to introduce the mentors, what their background is, and the relation between the mentor and the theme of the talk show. The mentors are Anandito AR (the founder of Orange Cliff Records), Adhit Android (record producer/sound engineer), and the electronica duo Bottlesmoker.
Anindito is the man behind the recognition of Orange Cliff Records. They brought acts such as the psychedelic rock band Sigmun, folk singer Bin Idris, and soloist Vira Talisa to the scene. At first, Orange Cliff Records was not founded as a serious business. At the time, he was the manager of Sigmun. He started the label only to release and distribute Sigmun’s earliest single. It went big and bigger by releasing more artists, vinyl releases, cassette tapes, and also band merchandise. They earned recognition as a ‘boutique’ record label with limited releases, cutting edge music, and classy artworks. We could see the result, their rosters gain enormous acclamation and fans from all over the country. Orange Cliff’s releases are something to look forward.
Bottlesmoker is Angkuy and Nobie, an electronica duo from Bandung. Angkuy says that he started to write music following an electronic music scene community called Open Labs. Angkuy and Nobie started to make music from collecting the sound of nature, toys sound, and any minimalist instruments. We can hear their exploration on their previous albums such as Before Circus Over and Slow-Mo Smile. Their last album titled Parakosmos took a different approach by combining traditional or ethnic music with electronic instruments.
Adhit Android is known as a producer and engineer for numerous acclaimed albums from Indonesian bands such as Mocca “Colours”, Polyester Embassy “Fake//Faker”, Homogenic “Echoes of The Universe”, and Sigmun “Crimson Eyes”. He shared his knowledge of unorthodox recording styles, minimalist home recording techniques, and some uncommon music distribution methods. He also told the story of music composing and sound design for the viral horror game “DreadOut”.
The talk show runs casually but still on the path about music, from producing to the distribution and promotion. The participants discuss and exchange questions and answers about what is the best way to create and promote music and how to do it in today’s development in the scene and industry.
Discussion finished with a conclusion that when someone started to make music, the important thing is to have an original and authentic creation, and they should have confidence in their works and arts. The best way to promote music is with a system that is relevant to what nowadays, but with a different arrangement for every musician. The more simple it is, the better, and let your creativity do the rest. Nowadays, every step of producing music, from recording to mixing and mastering, can be learned from the web such as Youtube, blogs, forums, and online courses. But when you want the best, working with an experienced producer/engineer in a professional facility is still the way to go.
This first chatterbox session is the pilot project of Kuassa Crash Course that will be held regularly once every three weeks with more in-depth theme and discussion topics. Many thanks for every participant, mentors, and everyone who is involved with this event. See you at the next event.