Éclat Part 80
eclatcrew | January 25, 2022
Happy New Year! And welcome to a 2022 hopefully full of music-making.
I'm going to start off tonight's challenge with a few thoughts... feel free to skip down to the downloads and the description of tonight's challenge if you want to get stuck in. But if you've got the patience, stick with me for a couple of thoughts that I've had to start the year with.
There are very few things in this world that we can control, but our relationship to our music-making is one of them. By joining us for our first workshop of 2022, you're not only starting the year off treating yourself to some quality music-making time, but you're also showing up for all the other folks in the community, who are super grateful for your support, but are also here to support you. Music-making in today's computer-based environment can be isolating. Releasing music on the internet, for all the potential that it seems to offer, can be dispiriting and unrewarding. People and organisations are overflowing with advice, telling you how to set up your Social Media, how to write the perfect email to a record label, how to "Make It In The Music Industry".
Despite all that well-meaning advice though, the last couple of years have shown all of us exactly how much is out of our control. Some people thrive in times of stress, focusing in on their goals to the exclusion of all else. Other people though can be easily overwhelmed and can find themselves completely unable to connect with the things that in more regular times would bring them joy. I know that I certainly fall into the latter camp. For me, it can be extremely hard to make something, and to believe in it, when everything outside seems to be at odds.
One thing I have treasured deeply about Éclat in the past two years is exactly how much it has grounded me and connected me to a community of other music-makers, even when I've felt overwhelmed, even when I've felt I haven't had any musical juice left in me. But regardless of what's been going on outside, this group of music makers have regularly shown up for themselves and for each other. I can't describe how much that means to me. By being here, you're not just showing up for yourself; you're showing up for everyone who's ever shown up at Éclat. I hope that 2022 will continue to reward all of us who are here for doing just that, and will continue to feed our musical selves with a little bit of creative joy (or struggle or pain) every couple of weeks.
Thanks for being here. Ivy. x
TONIGHT'S CHALLENGE
Tonight we're going to be using samples from Kenyan ambient artist KMRU.
In 2020 Ableton made a beautiful documentary about KMRU, exploring the influence our surroundings can have on hearing and composing. You can watch the documentary below, and download the samples from the Ableton Blog here.
In tonight's challenge, use at least 2 of the samples from the KMRU pack, plus any other sounds you like, to make a track of up to 2 minutes long.
Check out what we made!
You can watch more about KMRU's process below.