New Zealand Music Month – How To Build An Album

Have you ever wondered what it involves to take a musical idea from a concept to a finished album? As part of New Zealand Music Month, in association with Rattle Records, Wellington Central Library is proud to stage the panel event “How to Build an Album”. Sound engineer and sonic adventurer Steve Burridge, renowned exponent of ngā taonga pūoro Alistair Fraser, conceptual artist Neil Johnstone, and owner and founder of the highly acclaimed Rattle Records Steve Garden hope to provide the perfect introduction.

Each panel member will cover a different aspect of the process talking about their professional experiences tips and hints using their newly released album ‘Shearwater Drift’ as an example to illustrate the whole process. Amongst the topics to be touched on will be how to generate ideas and concepts, the difficulties of recording in the outdoors, the nuances and challenges of playing and recording ngā taonga pūoro in the studio environment and in the open, how to create promotional videos, marketing on the cheap, to go digital or physical or vinyl for release, and of course the role of the record companies.

This one off workshop will be on Saturday 26th May from 2-3pm. Includes a sneak peak of their forthcoming album ‘Shearwater Drift’ along with promotional videos and a short Q&A session.

Just announced: SPECIAL GUEST!
Special guest Ross Harris will talk about his involvement with one of the tracks and the process behind it.

Introducing the Deluge: Music workshops in May

The Deluge is an all-in-one, stand-alone, portable synthesizer, sequencer and sampler designed for the creation, performance and improvisation of electronic music, created by Wellingtonian Rohan Hill, and developed by Synthstrom Audible Limited, a boutique electronics manufacturer from Wellington.

We have purchased a Deluge for our Music Equipment Lending collection, and for New Zealand Music Month on Saturday 19 May from 2-3pm we will be hosting a practical workshop from its Project Manager Ian Jorgensen, who will be familiar to all from having organised, promoted and produced a dozen multi-stage music festivals, including the renowned “Camp A Low Hum”.

Before we make the Deluge available for public lending Ian will run a workshop that shows people how to use it, as well as talk a little bit about its background & history from a marketing/product evolution angle. He will be demoing our Deluge, but will also bring some more units with him so everyone can have a play!

At Central Library we will also be hosting on Friday 25 May 6-7pm an advanced DIY electronics and hardware development workshop from its lead engineer & developer Rohan Hill. He will give an overview of the hardware and electronics behind the Deluge & the skills and tools he’s learned and used in his career to date.