How this album and the MRDC sound came to life:
Back in 1993 I taught myself how to use a computer to create music. I released a CD that will remain nameless. Long story short I moved to Whistler in 94' met my future wife and moved all my gear up there. I took on a writing partnership that led to many recordings. This is how I met Gordon Fordyce as he showed an interest in what we were doing. Four years later and many hours in the recording studio we had a killer demo that was taken to Tony Ferguson of Interscope Records. He liked it, but said "Loose the singer" and you'll really have something and I'll be interested. At that point I gave up as the singer was more work than she was worth. I took a full year off recording and making music I almost gave up for good. I was introduced to my now good friend Sean Horne during this time. He was breaking out on his own using Adobe After Effects and various other visual motion graphics stuff. He needed some sound track stuff for what he was doing so I agreed to give it a shot. One thing led to another and what we were doing eventually made it's way to television. I was re-inspired. I had the basis of 10 + tracks from all this work and I thought I should finish this stuff somehow. The dilemma for me was I had no interest in singing, so how would I make an album? Then my wife brought a copy of Moby's "Play" album home and my eyes were opened! I no longer needed a singer, this guy Moby only whispered on a couple tracks and most of it was instrumental with a few vocal loops here and there. All I had to do was work on the arrangements a bit. Play with some vocal tracks I had (I really got into editing the samples making vocal tracks !) And Timecode was done. This is how this album and the MRDC sound were created. From true experimentation and creative inspiration.
Bio:
Martin Richmond is a successful independent composer, sound designer and music producer with an impressive array of radio, television and film credits that recently include, the CBS weekly series “Ghost Whisperer”, MTV's "Date my Mom & Making the Band," Global TV's "The Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival", Beyond the Action ,and a number of television commercials. Martin is equally at home on keyboards, guitar or bass. He’s an exceptional rhythm programmer, sound engineer and re-mixer. An early gig with the Record Plant's Gordon Fordyce (Motley Crue, Van Halen, Ozzy, P'Diddy, Tone Loc, TLC and Seal) helped Richmond to cement his own distinctive sound that blends diverse musical soundscapes to create a memorable mood for any story or livingroom. Martin likens his intuitive music-making process to an electronic canvas, saying "anyone can throw paint on the wall and call it art, but a true artist instinctively chooses the best colors, shapes and textures... "I don't follow formulas and yet my music works because I know how to blend all the right grooves."
Read more...