Recap: Saffron’s 7 Days of Sound
Saffron’s ‘7 Days of Sound’ event showcased a diverse range of talent sharing their experiences as artists and creators in the music industry. The music tech initiative operates as a non-profit organisation and focuses on creating a space for women, trans and non-binary musicians to develop invaluable skills for their careers. Saffron works to provide greater accessibility to music tech for all while highlighting the gender imbalance in the music industry.
Between January 27th to February 2nd, Saffron held seven online workshops, each covering a range of topics from vocal production techniques and composing and arranging tracks to DJing and running a record label from the ground up. Novation collaborated with Saffron to sponsor the first panel, ‘Sonic Fullness when Gigging Solo’, held by multidisciplinary artist and activist TRISHES.
TRISHES created her artist’s persona in her early twenties as a means to process deep questions about integrity and morality, with her stage name and persona expressing that internal conflict. The live looping method of performance provides her with a powerful and therapeutic space to explore that as her songwriting process naturally lends itself to looping.
TRISHES has been live looping for 12 years and gained a wealth of experience. “It’s one of those things that you need to do live a bunch until you get the hang of it,” she explains. “You’re real-time mixing yourself while protecting yourself from feedback. I got good at it in two or three years, but I got really good at it in five years.”
Throughout her seminar, TRISHES gave live examples of how she layers her music in performance, translating the studio productions into a full live sound with just herself and her equipment on stage. She seamlessly layered her vocals, modulated them and performed on keys, building the sounds effortlessly.
“I’ve never been super interested in producing my records, I love doing live stuff, so my demos are usually my voice, with all the elements made out of my vocals.”
TRISHES broke down her live set up and provided her Zoom audience with invaluable tips on arrangement and how to create a large live sound by herself. Her performances focus on DAW-less creation in a live set up, where everything is done without a screen. Using a mic into a vocal effects processor, a Novation MiniNova, a MIDI keyboard controller and a loop station, TRISHES moved deftly between her instruments, creating a dynamic performance filled with complex layering.
Aside from technical tips, TRISHES also gave helpful advice on how to approach performing with a positive mindset to overcome the fears and potential nervousness one may encounter when performing solo.
“Nervousness and excitement are the same physical feeling inside your body, at least for me, the only difference is the mental state,” she says. “I just turn that nervousness into, ‘I’m pumped let’s go’. I think early in my career I learned to switch that mental state. This nervousness, I’m going to feel it as excitement instead.”
With less than 5% of the music tech industry is comprised of women, non-binary or trans people and less than 1% of these being people of colour, Saffron’s projects are invaluable to changing the landscape of the music industry as it stands today, with events like ‘7 Days of Sound’ providing those from underrepresented backgrounds the essential tools to break through in the industry.
Find out more at https://saffronmusic.co.uk/