Graeme Young

Graeme Young is a sound engineer based in the South of Scotland, starting his career after being presented with a Yamaha MD8 in the late 1990s by a friend who had despaired of figuring out how “the damned thing” worked. Brimming with enthusiasm as he learned his way around his new toy, he immediately set to work with gusto, creating some of the most abominable sound recordings of musical doodling ever committed to tape. Nevertheless, the heady times of fun and friendship that were built up in the early days convinced Graeme to go back to college and expand his knowledge and skill set, meeting contacts and learning the tradesman’s tricks from industry professionals. In the meantime, student loans were spent on studio equipment to expand on the trusty MD8 while the O2R96 and the old StudioMaster at the college provided experience of working in both the analogue and digital domains. Now, Graeme has gained years of industry experience working on a number of studio recordings and location recordings with professional musicians and in directing and editing video projects for professionals in various fields. Graeme has fronted two bands, the now discontinued Popping Cherries alongside Gwen Smith, who had fifteen minutes of fame on the X-Factor before being told by Simon Cowell that she would “never do anything” and now his own Moonstruck Project, with a loose collaboration of musical friends.

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Author Insights

From the Studio

The Three Instruments

Working musicians carry three different relationships with instruments. Mostly, we never separate them out. There are the ones you play – where you’ve played an instrument long enough that we don’t need to think of technique. There are the ones you can fake – where retakes and the forgiveness of a DAW let you get a passable part down that holds up in a mix. Live, you’d be exposed inside eight bars. Lastly, are the ones you understand well enough to write for – instruments you might never play, but you understand them, the register breaks, the voicings a player would actually choose. That last category is often underrated.

From the Studio

On Writing Chord Progressions – John

I find the circle of fifths useful, but also chord_files “Progressions” and “Dark Harmony”, for both piano and guitar, are very useful. Both can help take you in quite interesting directions, by opening up your available palate, no matter where you find yourself when you go down an arrangement rabbit hole.