7mint——共鸣之海
采访正文
7mint：Da jia hao（原文如此）！我是7mint，是一名主要在八打灵再也（Petaling Jaya）活动的自赏音乐人。我的中文名字叫曹健丰，但是一般我都用Kenny Chow这个名字。尽管我身边的朋友们都会说中文，但是我自己不怎么懂，所以我主要说英文。我住在八打灵再也，这座城市紧挨着首都吉隆坡；但是它更宜居，也没那么拥挤。
我在3D艺术行业工作了将近八年。由于工作的特殊性质，没有任何东西可以供我在主页上展示；因为签了保密协议，我也不能讲太多过去的项目。但在允许的范围内，我可以说，我的工作主要是制作宣发材料、游戏资源创建、解决和处理游戏引擎的技术问题。
所以自然而然的，我的爱好包括电子游戏（主要是复古游戏）和视觉小说；除此之外，还有制作音乐、摆弄各种乐器和音乐设备——这绝对是最花钱的爱好！
7M：要是长话短说，那就是我决定参加2023年的RPM Challenge，那时我的心中一直回荡着我梦寐以求的东西——融合了shoegaze和drum & bass的声音。
具体来说，我一直在寻找我真正想做的音乐类型。
我从14岁起就开始创作音乐。得到ESP B-55的那一刻，我就开始享受创作音乐的过程了，那是一款非常重的5弦贝斯，配了最便宜的Kustom贝斯放大器；作为一个十几岁的小孩，我又在网上“合法获得”了我的第一款音乐制作软件。我从来没有正确地学会如何演奏任何东西，我只是照着贝斯谱弹，照着六线谱用古怪的动作按着指板，把这些指法翻译成声音。那段时间，我迷上了Death From Above 1979，《You're A Woman, I'm A Machine》里围绕着鼓和人声不断跃动的法兹感十足的贝斯引起了我的深刻共鸣；不过随着时间的推移，经人推荐我接触到了更多的专辑：Airiel的《The Battle of Sealand》、DJ Okawari的《Mirror》、Mouse on the Keys的《an anxious project》、BLOOD STAIN CHILD的《epsilon》、capsule的《MORE! MORE! MORE!》、山下達郎的《It's POPPIN' Time!》等等不一而足。我的音乐口味也越来越杂，我不知道自己该做什么样的音乐，所以当时我只是做一些能力范围内能做到的东西。
如果所有流派都很棒，那我该如何选择自己的最爱呢？
https://soundcloud.com/philoluminescence https://soundcloud.com/kkkkurses
（Kenny的早期音乐作品，用他的话来说，“那时我还是个迷茫的青少年”）
当时我对自己的作品并不满意，对它们一点感觉都没有。我没有声卡，所以所有的一切都是在音乐软件上完成的。在我和我心目中的好作品之间挡着的，除了缺乏经验和器材外，还有不断的自我质疑：我的作品真的是我内心的声音吗？
高中毕业后，随之告一段落的还有我的音乐创作。我把更多精力放在了专业文凭和第一份工作上。这一停就是八年，那段时间里我时不时会自己买（有时是别人送）一两块效果器接在我的贝斯上，在法兹的基础上加上了混响和延迟。就这样有意无意间我攒起了一块盯鞋效果器板子——毕竟贝斯不是万能的。
2020年初，我买了人生第一把电吉他——冲浪绿色的Squier Classic Vibe 70s Jaguar。我对贝斯的肌肉记忆让我始终无法学会正确演奏吉他，所以我干脆把它当作六弦贝司来弹。在它的帮助下我重拾了那些曾引起我真正共鸣的专辑和乐队，比如Airiel, Supercar, My Bloody Valentine, Number Girl, Swervedriver, Ringo Deathstarr。那些能把自己淹没在里面的扭曲声音一直是我的心头好，自然而然地，在我拿到吉他的一瞬间我就下决心转投自赏音乐的创作。
https://stygean.bandcamp.com/album/not-blind
（Kenny拿到第一把吉他后做的第一首歌，他感觉自己搞砸了，这让他非常沮丧；也是这首歌让他下决心再也不在自己的歌里献声）
完成这首歌之后我感到无比的沮丧，我没能力做出让自己满意的东西。另外，繁忙的工作也让我不能像当初在学校里那样有足够的时间投入到音乐上。尽管我爱自己脑海中时常回荡的声音，但是时间、金钱、能力似乎都在阻止我追逐这样的声音。我花了一年时间才挫败中走出来。然后我得知了RPM Challenge，便报了名。
RPM Challenge是一项每年二月举行的线上活动，它要求参赛者在一个月内完成一些音乐并且在月底的时候发布。这是以低成本尝试新流派的绝佳机会，这恰恰就是当时我需要的。我能以一个新的艺术家身份尝试新事物，而且它有明确的截止日期来监督我不会浪费时间。所以我就参加了。
https://norivers.bandcamp.com/track/and-so-i-decay
（Kenny于2021年第一次参加RPM Challenge的作品，受到了理发师节拍和蒸汽波的影响，并且加入了他当时正在玩的RPG游戏元素）
参加RPM期间，由于ddl的存在，我总是处在紧张创作的状态——不管是在某个进程上花太多时间，或者是因为没心情而暂时停止，还是仅仅出于懒惰而消极怠工都是不能接受的。不过说到底这仍然是个几乎没什么其他限制的项目，我重新找到了十几岁时创作音乐的快乐。当我完成并提交我的作品时，我感觉很舒坦。然而没头苍蝇似的曲目和它们的草率听感又让我体会到了先前无法达到自己标准的沮丧，再加上这样的流派不是我脑海中真正的声音，我又落入了失望的循环。如果想再创作音乐的话，就需要时间来恢复。
我知道这听起来只是在自我内耗，但这一次情况确实有了转机——不是动机或者灵感诸如此类的东西——加薪。待手头宽裕些之后，我换了份工作。新工作在时间方面的要求没原来那么紧张，再加上有了点钱，所以我学了些音乐制作、混音方面的技术；我也终于买了那些我日思夜想的设备，在我的设想中，它们可以为我的创作过程排忧解难。两年间，我拼了块新的效果器板子，添置了新的贝斯（同样是冲浪绿的Squier Mustang Bass），买了新的工作站（Bitwig）外加一堆插件。我终于知道怎样才能做得比以前更好了。唯一的问题是我无法真正做到把精力都放在一首歌上——越来越多半途而废的个人项目。
2023年的RPM开始了，我才意识到我已经碌碌无为两年了，于是我决定再次报名。几天的深思熟虑之后，我以7mint名义注册参加了RPM。最初我的设想中7mint是一个Liquid/Atmospheric DnB计划，产出一些受PS1时代影响的jungle和氛围碎核。在我听碎核的时候，我逐渐发现了它和盯鞋在扩展和弦使用方面的相似性。这让我开始好奇如果器乐音色听上去更加shoegaze或者grunge结果会如何——破碎节拍独特的密集能量与盯鞋吉他中倾泻出的失真海洋间的碰撞——某种特别的声音在我脑海中浮现出来。这种声音似乎成了我2023年唯一的焦点，因为我幡然醒悟：这就是从2009年开始创作音乐以来我寻觅的能与我产生强烈共鸣的声音。
7M：这是有充分理由的，流派融合有不少的问题。对老乐队来说，远离以前的声音可能就意味着失去忠实听众；对新乐队来说，潜在的听众可能很难接受这样的融合。流派融合是一把双刃剑，音乐人挥舞起来要格外当心。理论上来说你可以讨好两边的听众，而且对他们来说你可能更特别，甚至特别到足以开启一个新的子流派或者引领新一轮的潮流。但在我看来，这永远只是理论上的。
事实往往是两头不讨好的，就像我的专辑对传统盯鞋迷来说可能不够shoegaze，对DnB死忠粉来说又不够DnB。这可能是西方网络世界中一个巨大的问题：即使是一支完完全全的自赏乐队对某些人来说也可能不够盯鞋，被亚文化圈子视为局外人或者观光客是一件很糟糕的事情，尤其是当你想要融入它的时候。换句话说，对某些人来说我本来就不属于这个流派；就算我真的属于，那我是否是因为新颖的融合尝试而为人所知的也依然是个问题。
即使是在艺术层面，在融合中兼顾各方也是很难的事情。我在处理专辑中的曲目的时候也有这样的感觉：声音的选择是一项特殊而又具体的任务，很容易就过于偏向某个特定的流派。这也是我对7mint充满焦虑的一大原因，我不想在一首歌里出现太多的DnB或者shoegaze元素，就好像有种先验的阴阳平衡的融合配方那样。幸运的是，最终我放弃了遵循这一本不存在的配方而仅仅专注于制作适合这一音乐项目的作品。如果我严格按照这样不切实际的配方，那么像Angel Complex, Sear My Mind, Bomb Queen这样的曲子就永远不会出现在最后的成品里。
作为一名艺术家，我想做的就是让我的音乐被目标受众们，也就是热爱音乐的，不希望任何特定的审美观像紧箍咒一样套在任何音乐项目上的人们听到。
实际上，对我影响最大的那些乐队已经证明了就算有随之而来的种种问题依然可以做得相当出色。这些影响之一就是Supercar（他们对我的Drum&Gaze项目无疑也有着巨大影响）。《Three Out Change!》依然是我最爱的盯鞋专辑之一，但他们后来的专辑，比如《Futurama》加入了更多电子元素，曲目《White Surf style 5》甚至与我脑海中的声音非常接近。Supercar对我的影响已经大到了他们成员的个人计划也使我受益匪浅的地步，当我制作这张专辑时，Aem的《Gloss Of Speed》和LAMA的《Spell（Alternative Version）》等曲子反复在我耳畔闪烁。
我只是在追逐我脑海中的声音，任何副产品，比如一个朗朗上口的流派名称或者是概念都不是有意而为。我尽量不拘泥于即成的流派，我认为《Drum & Gaze: Dazey Chain》就是最好的代表——它有垃圾摇滚的内容但也不拘泥于简单的强力和弦和重型音色；它有自赏乐的质感但是不满足于单纯的梦幻或者仙音；它有点流行但绝不是流行听众喜欢的类型；它肯定少不了drum & bass不过又和俱乐部里听到的那些截然不同。于我而言，这不是为现实生活丰富多彩的人准备的音乐，它只对在互联网上花了过多时间的人有意义。说白了，就是我这样的人。
我大概知道那些不是目标听众的人会怎么看我的音乐，这就是我为什么小心翼翼地不去无度地扩大我的听众面：比如做一些病毒式的TikToks/Instagram Reels来试图吸引圈子外的人。不是说这不对，只是对我而言，在钱和听众都不是首要问题的情况下，紧密而小众的地下粉丝群体更有价值。我对自然的粉丝增长更感兴趣，尤其是考虑到其中还有“如何发现我的音乐”这一有趣的过程。（K：的确，一开始交流没多久Kenny就问我是怎么样发现7mint的）。我希望我的音乐能通过只有深度乐迷才会阅览的文章、RYM评分、Bandcamp浏览、品味相似的人制作的歌单或者口口相传等等的方式传播。
7M：我倾向于称之为Drum & Gaze。如果DnB和shoegaze之间有一条分界线的话，那我想我已经偏离了这条线，当然有些时候我还是会碰到这条线，这取决于你在听哪首歌。就像我上面说过的，在专辑的制作过程中，我已经学会了放弃追求“正确的配方”；或者想方设法让自己保持在这根分界线上。比起这些，我更在乎曲子和专辑本身。
当然你可以说鼓组和打击乐都很DnB，这主要是因为节奏、节拍的风格以及用了不少chopping & stutter效果。在器乐方面，一些基本的底层和弦就是DnB风格的，但是音色方面就更盯鞋一些。除了这些，其他影像风格的元素就要视情况而定，不过基本的大框架是这样的。
Space Echo tape delay大多数曲子里也起到了重要的作用。它就像是为这个音乐计划而生的，因为它在流派方面的定位就像我自己一样有些模糊不清。Space Echo在dub和DnB方面表现出众，而且它总是很适合用来制造重型吉他噪音，这使得它成为了呼应专辑特色的标志性元素。
7M：7mint是我的个人项目，女声是用Synthesizer V调教出来的花隈千冬（Hanakuma Chifuyu）的声音。
老实说，我对此很焦虑，因为这个角色涉及到很多知识产权问题。我在上传项目的时候发现流媒体平台上填不上她的名字，我已经尽可能地提及了她，比如在YouTube和Bandcamp上。我知道在这个为技术取代人类吵得不可开交的时代用这样（虚拟歌姬）的方式会遭受非常多的不解和非议，我向那些人道歉。不过在谴责我之前请先看完下面这些话：
就像作为Vocaloid出名的初音未来（Hatsune Miku）一样，花隈千冬也是一款可用的虚拟歌姬。这项技术起源于二十世纪初，在日本，虚拟歌姬及其周边文化非常繁荣。虽然对圈外的听众来说可能有些陌生，但虚拟歌姬不是什么新奇的东西，我十几岁时听的大部分歌都是虚拟歌姬演绎的。在我听过的所有虚拟歌姬专辑中，没有一张能像《mikgazer vol.1》那样在我心中占据如此重要的地位。这是一张合集，里面收录了初音未来在盯鞋领域中的一些最初的尝试。到今天为止它都是我最爱的专辑，尽管可能有点争议，但要是让我在《mikgazer vol.1》和《Loveless》之间选择的话——很抱歉《Loveless》，虽然我爱你，但是我必须选择《mikgazer vol.1》。如果你没有听过的话，强烈推荐你去听一下！（K：哈哈，当然听过啦。）
人声合成器不像语音AI那样工作，它更像是普通的合成器加上了额外的参数和发音输入。调教人声合成器本身就是一门艺术。与别的一些歌相比，Synthesizer V可能会让某些步骤更加容易，但是想要达到像《Heatdeath》和《Stockholm Syndrome》中的效果仍需要大量的调试。我不觉得自己的调教水平很熟练，但是在制作过程中我很清楚，更重要的是以自己的方式创作并达到预期的效果。
不幸的是，风口浪尖上的AI将Synthesizer V也卷了进来，它已经成为了西方音乐论域中的一部分。这很大程度上是因为搞不清AI语音克隆器，以至于混淆了这些不道德的语音AI和Synthesizer V。据我所知，Synthesizer V市场本身也包含了部分AI功能：人工智能负责语音的“自动”调谐（我觉得大部分功能无法使用，所以我选择全部手工调节）和不同语音模式的混合。不过总体来说，虚拟歌姬技术仍是一项前AI技术。
在生成式AI井喷的过程中，我测试了大量的软件和工具，工作中更是如此。我对生成式AI几乎没什么好印象，主要问题出在技术和道德层面上。在大多数情况下，我从gAI获得的输出结果都不够好。即使有ControlNets和LORA等工具和附加系统来深入特定主题，它依然无法预测，不能控制。对于一个没人关心的愚蠢表情包，这不是问题。但对于艺术表达来说，它几乎无法使用。在我看来，直接将其用于你自己的创造性表达，表明你非常缺乏必要的谨慎、严格的标准和足够的预算。但是，即使gAI输出了能称得上是杰作的盯鞋，还有更大的道德问题等着它。我确实相信有一种可以使用gAI，而不会窃取遵守规矩的艺术家的作品的对策；但今天的解决方案在很大程度上都依赖于不道德的数据来源，所以我不会在任何自己的作品中使用AI。
合乎道德的方案一定会找到的，因为早在AI诞生之前声音合成器的使用就做到了这一点。事实证明我们可以正确理解这项工具背后的相关人员并保证他们的利益，并且围绕这项技术发展出良性的生态。然而，gAI的情况远非如此。这就是为什么我可以在几乎没有道德风险的情况下使用Synthesizer V，但永远不会使用生成人工智能来进行创作。
不谈AI了，我在听到callasoiled的“透明”后选择了使用Synthesizer V，结果完全出乎我的意料。原本，我考虑过在IA语音库里买人声合成器CeVIO，但发现不太好操作。这首歌让我想到了Synthesizer V，在浏览可用的虚拟歌姬时，我发现了花隈千冬；当我听到她的声音时就知道这种低沉、柔和的声音是Drum & Gaze计划的最佳选择。
Synthesizer V的跨语言输出能力也帮了很大的忙，这大大提高了花隈千冬的英语输出。
当完成这张专辑时，我才发现使用她的声音会带来法律上的麻烦。最初，专辑封面会包含重新设计的花隈千冬形象。后来又改成了一个无关的女性角色，但在最后一刻决定把它改为现在这个版本，没有任何女性角色，因为我觉得匆忙绘制的封面不够完美。我想我非常喜欢当前的版本。总的来说结果都不错！
7M：最大的不同在于写歌的心态和过程上，因为我要有意识地为topline（人声部分的主旋律线）留出空间。我先前积累的经验几乎都是器乐方面的，仅有的几次用上topline旋律的尝试我都觉得非常失败。这种感受源于我总是尽量在专辑中避开使用种种元素。我先做了些没有topline的歌，听起来就像是些背景音乐。全都准备好之后我才开始topline的写作，为了确保有最佳的听感，所以它成了制作过程中最耗时间的步骤。通常来说，我可能会早早放弃写很多抓耳的旋律转而用更多的重复填补空缺，但对这张专辑来说不能这样。写topline绝对是整张专辑创作中最让我身心俱疲的部分。《Nostalgic》的topline我做了不止三个月，我差点就抓狂了，我一度想放弃在这首歌里加上人声，甚至干脆就不把它收进专辑里了。幸好我决定坚持下去，最后一次尝试让我得到了现如今你听到的这个版本。
第二大区别在于制作风格。我尽量避免在一个项目文件上花太多的时间，特别是在连续几个小时都没什么进展的情况下。所以我制作这张专辑的方式是先弄出大量的草稿和想法，然后看看有哪些是我感兴趣的。最后一共有48个项目文件，有的只是简单动机的循环，而有些已经是完整的曲子了。最后，我选了11首放在《Drum & Gaze: Dazey Chain》里，也就是说有37首的弃曲。2023年的四月到十二月间我都在创作这张专辑，所以比起为RPM制作的ep来说时间要充裕得多。
就像前面提到过的那样，另一个很大的区别在于我放弃了对shoegaze和DnB融合的“正确配方”的幻想。所以专辑中不同曲目间的差别总让我感觉有些不可思议。比如说《Sear My Mind》听起来很偏盯鞋，但是《Angel Complex》就非常DnB，尤其是氛围碎核那一类的。《Hitori Puzzle》又只沾了一点shoegaze和DnB，整体听起来更像是流行歌。但是我的经验和方法论还是让这些歌之间保留了许多共同点，并且以一种不经过对歌曲的具体分析就不那么明显的方式把它们组合在了一起。例如，要是你打算扒谱的话，那你大概率会发现整张专辑的用了不超过四种和弦。我在做完ep之后才有了更多自信，确信自己可以完全放弃某种特定流派的统一声音，信任自己的声音特质以及拥有打造属于我独特想法的声音DNA的能力。
尽管听上去很做作，但是我的确相信自己的独特DNA。并不是因为我发现了什么革命性的吉他演奏方式，事实上正相反，我太固执了，学不会怎么正确演奏吉他。我的吉他仍然是全四调弦（all fourths），就跟贝斯一样。正因如此，我从来不弹开放和弦，而且我也只会一部分特定的和弦。我把整把吉他往下调了两个半音，调到了D，所以我的贝斯现在也是D弦调音。我也用Fretwrap，因为手太笨了学不会怎么消除泛音和共鸣。我坦然接受了无法正确演奏吉他的事实，并且利用它，让它成为我的个人风格。如果你给我一把吉他，那我只会演奏前四根弦，我甚至弹不出自己写的歌。不是说我对自己的无能感到自豪，更大意义上是指我接受了自己的缺陷，我宁愿把“修补”这些缺陷的时间花在其他事情上。
7M：制作ep的原始版本的过程有些搞笑。由于不知道要做一张ep，所以我在一首歌上就花了25天时间，就是第一首《Pale Rider》。那时候还有没几天就要截止了，我差点就放弃做一张ep，想着直接放一首单曲就得了。最后我还是决定在三天之内做完另外三首歌。我很健忘，那三天又忙得晕头转向，所以我也不记得哪首是哪首了。不过我觉得自己用了两天时间创作《Heather Chase》，因为这首歌是在我很久以前在MPC Live上录制的废案里截取的一段吉他solo的基础上完成的。《Herbal Pharmaceutical》和《Love, Lariat》是在一天之内完成的。就像就像我的学生时代和艺术工作一样，离截止时间越近我办事就越有效率，哈哈！
刚刚我又回听了一遍ep，的确可以说更加“晦暗”，但是个人而言在考虑器乐方面时，它肯定更加有“电影感”，听起来更有“希望”。我用了一些合成器和原声乐器，比如钢琴和中提琴，这些都是源于电影配乐的启发，另外，诸如Haircuts For Men之类的理发师节拍也启发了我，因为之前的个人计划就是这类风格的。
而且我感觉《Love, Lariat》听起来挺浪漫的，一开始这首歌叫做《Temptation》（我所有的曲子在制作过程中都有一个名字，通常它们会在制作途中或者结束后改名）。
7M：并不是说我没有这么（词作含混）做，我感觉《Sear My Eyes》这首歌就是用这种方法写的，哈哈。这是我第一次用吉他尝试和弦进行时写出来的歌词，感觉效果不错就保留了下来。
至于其他的曲子，我确实非常在意歌词，这主要出于两个原因：第一，用人声合成器的时候，我要手动调整每个单词和音节的时间，所以整个进程里我必须时刻思考歌词，并在制作过程中不断记录和修改润色；第二，我做歌的顺序，也就是在写topline和人声之前先把曲子的整体框架写完的习惯意味着我必须在topline的调整上下更多功夫。我自认为不是个非常好的topline写手，但是我的的确确花了非常多时间来确保最后的效果是我内心完全接受的那种。
另外，我刚刚笔误了，我本来想说《Sear My Mind》的。一开始它是叫《Sear My Eyes》，我也保留了原本曲目中的其他人声，但是我觉得eyes的长音节听起来有些别扭，几次尝试之后我决定用mind来替代。
7M：对我来说算是个殊荣，它标志着你能够自立，并且可以做到适合自己的事情。我不是在自夸，即使我不是一名音乐家，我也会非常尊重那些就算没有很好的环境仍坚持尽其所能创作的艺术家们。我真的非常尊重独立精神，同样也非常尊重真正重视独立精神并把艺术作为使命的那些人。尤其是考虑到除了艺术之外他们本还可以有其他的生活方式的时候。他们不是因为外部的环境或者是期许而从事创造性事业的，仅仅是他们的心之所向。对我来说，（卧室音乐人）是一种纯粹的艺术家形式。
7M：当务之急是给《Nostalgic》做mv，主要用3D动画来完成，我准备在农历新年之前准备好大部分的素材。和我的音乐一样，我也会负责mv的所有制作。除非工作突然特别忙，否则mv应该会在二月的某个时间发布。（K：我也争取在二月前完成采访的翻译和编辑，哈哈）这是目前最紧迫的任务。
与此同时，我也在想法子怎么现场演我的音乐。一开始，这些音乐都不是为了现场演奏而写的。比如，我有意识地在某些曲目的某些部分堆叠了多层的吉他音墙，我完全没想过现场的事情。我的设想依然是独奏，所以我必须考虑台前幕后的各种事情。我不觉得观众会乐意看到我全程拿着电脑而不是吉他表演Drum & Gaze。目前我打算用一台MPC Live 2再加上我现场弹的吉他；我还买了一些效果器版和循环器，到时候我表演的时候就可以手脚并用了。等都准备妥当以后我打算在当地找个场地表演，并且把它拍下来。
至于长期的计划，我准备今后每年至少发一张ep。以后的ep应该会保留DnB和shoegaze的独特声音质感，但是每张ep都应该有自己的声音特征，而且曲目间应该会更加统一。在发行了《Drum & Gaze: Dazey Chain》之后，我感觉以后做ep可能会比做专辑更能保证内容的可控性和统一性。这并不是说我会放弃做全长，只是全长需要一个很好地理由或者概念来支撑；要是哪天我对某个概念特别有信心，可能就会准备做全长。我只是担心喜欢《Angel Complex》的人可能想要一张继续深挖类似声音的专辑，就像喜欢更流行的《Hitori Puzzle》或者是更盯鞋的《Sear My Mind》那样。我当时的想法就是做一些概念上更加紧凑的ep或专辑来应对这种担忧。
除非是严重的不可抗力，或者我死了，不然一年至少会出一张ep。要是我没能做到，那一定发生了你能想象的最糟糕的事情。希望某天我可以实现自己的终极目标：在下北泽（Shimokitazawa）为一小群喜欢我音乐的人表演。
采访原文
Da jia hao! I'm 7mint, and I'm a shoegaze musician based in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. My Chinese name is 曹健丰, but I mainly go by Kenny Chow. I unfortunately don't understand Chinese very well, so I mainly speak English. I live in Petaling Jaya, which is the better, less congested city right next to the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur.
As for my job, I'm a 3D Artist that has been in the industry for almost 8 years now. Due to the nature of my work, I don't have anything to show on my own personal portfolio nor am I allowed to talk about the projects I've worked on in the past due to Non-Disclosure Agreements, but I can say I've mainly worked on promotional materials, asset creation for video games, technical problem-solving & handling of game engines.
That said, it shouldn't come as a surprise that my hobbies include video games, primarily older retro games and visual novels. Aside from that, making music and playing around with instruments and music gear is one of my main hobbies. It's definitely the hobby I spent the most amount of money on!
The short story is, I wanted to participate in the 2023 RPM Challenge, and decided to combine shoegaze and drum & bass after having a clear mental sound I wanted to chase.
The long story is, I've always struggled to find a genre I was truly satisfied with making.
I've been making music since I was 14, I simply enjoyed the process of making music the moment I was given an ESP B-55, an incredibly heavy 5-string bass with the cheapest combo Kustom bass amp; and as a teenager on the internet, "legally acquired" my first music making software. I never properly learned how to play anything, I just played along with bass guitar tabs and messed about with simple shapes on the fretboard, reverse engineering the tabs I learned. At that age, I was obsessed with Death From Above 1979 and their album "You're A Woman, I'm A Machine", the heavy fuzzed out bass guitar in a constant dance around the drums and vocals was something I really resonated with; but as time went on I was then introduced to Airiel's "The Battle of Sealand" album, DJ Okawari's "Mirror" album, Mouse on the Keys' "an anxious project" album, BLOOD STAIN CHILD's "epsilon" album, capsule's "MORE! MORE! MORE!" album, Tatsuro Yamashita's "It's POPPIN' Time!" album, and the list goes on and on and the interest in genres grows ever more wider and wider. I didn't know what kind of music to make so I just made whatever I could at the time. How do I pick a favourite genre when they're all so good?
https://soundcloud.com/philoluminescence https://soundcloud.com/kkkkurses
(Some of my earliest music that is still online, when I was still a confused teenager)
To me at the time, I felt that nothing good was made, and there was nothing I made that resonated with me. I also did not have an audio interface so everything was done on the music software itself. On top of me being too inexperienced at the time to produce anything good, there always was something in the back of my mind that constantly questioned if the type of music I made at the time really represented me. Leaving secondary school, I put a pause on making music to focus on my diploma and my first job. This pause would last about 8 years. I occasionally bought or was gifted an effect pedal or two to add to my bass guitar's chain. Adding reverb and delays to heavy fuzz. Without thinking about it, I had started building a shoegaze pedal board, and started to wonder that maybe I can't do everything on the bass alone.
Early 2020, I purchased an electric guitar for myself, for the very first time. A Squier Classic Vibe 70s Jaguar in Surf Green. I was too stubborn to learn how to play a guitar properly, so I tuned it like a 6 string bass. I revisited the albums with guitar that really resonated with me, artists like Airiel, Supercar, My Bloody Valentine, Number Girl, Swervedriver, Ringo Deathstarr. I had always loved heavy distorted sounds that you can drown in, so my heart naturally veered towards making shoegaze the moment I owned a guitar.
https://stygean.bandcamp.com/album/not-blind
(The first track I did after getting a guitar, which I felt was incredibly flawed and greatly frustrated me, this song confirmed my feelings that I definitely should not be on vocals for my projects)
Completing the track, I felt incredibly discouraged and frustrated in my inability to produce what I felt was good enough. In addition to that, I simply was too busy with work to spend as much time as I did as a teenager on making music. While I loved the sound in my head, I did not have the money, time, or ability to achieve it. I consider it a failure and it took me a year to move on from this frustration, where I then discovered and participated in my first RPM Challenge in 2021.
For those wondering what the RPM Challenge is, it's an online challenge every February where you're given a month to produce some music and release it at the end of the month. For me, the RPM Challenge was exactly what I needed, it was a really good low-commitment way for me to experiment with genres. I could just make up a new artist persona and try something fresh that I hadn't tried before, with a clear deadline that made sure I didn't waste my time. So I did.
https://norivers.bandcamp.com/track/and-so-i-decay
(My first entry to the RPM Challenge, 2021, I was inspired by barberbeats/vaporwave music and the RPGs I was playing at the time)
Through the RPM Challenge, I had the urgency to not spend too much time due to the deadline, while also not being able to run-away and not complete anything if I were to lose the mood to do so or simply got too lazy. It being a low commitment project, it helped me rediscover the joys I felt as a teenager creating music carelessly. I completed it and put it up, and I felt pretty good about it at the time. But the aimlessness and sloppiness of track made me feel the same frustration I once felt about not being up to my standards, and the feeling that this genre did not resonate with me. Once again, I return to the cycle of feeling frustrated and needing time to recover if I were to make music again.
I know it sounds very repetitive and annoying, but things do change this time. Nothing special about motivation, inspiration, or anything like that; I simply got a pay raise and eventually changed jobs. In terms of time, the new job wasn't as demanding as the previous job and I had more money. So I spent a bit of time learning production techniques and learned how to mix and master my tracks. Gear that I spent a long time wishing for and always theorized would solve the problems in my music, I finally bought for myself. Over the course of 2 years, I built a new pedal board, got a new bass (Squier Mustang Bass, in Surf Green), got a new DAW (Bitwig), bought a lot of plugins and assets for music production, and I finally had learned how to do things a bit better than I used to do. The only problem was that I couldn't really commit to any one song, and I kept making more and more projects that ended up being abandoned. RPM Challenge 2023 came around and I recognized that I haven't finished anything in 2 years, so I decided to join.
After thinking about it for a few days, I created and registered 7mint as "a Liquid/Atmospheric DnB project" on the RPM Challenge. The original plan was actually to make some PS1-era inspired Jungle and ambient breakcore music. As I was listening to some breakcore, I started to see some similarities between the extended chords used here and in shoegaze. This made me wonder what would it sound like if the instrumentation was more shoegaze or grunge. The unique hectic energy of the chopped up breaks, and a heavily distorted sea of sound from shoegaze guitar; a specific kind of sound was conjured in my head and it immediately became the sole focus of my mind in 2023, because I immediately knew, ever since I started making music in 2009, this was the sound I waited all these years to resonate with me.
I think that's for a good reason, I think putting yourself in a position of genre fusion like this has several problems. If you're an existing band that's steering away from a previous sound, you risk alienating your existing audience. If you're a new band, you might have issues getting potential listeners to buy into and accept your concept. Fusion genres are a double edged sword, I think an artist would need to take extra precaution and care when dealing with it. In theory, yeah it's great, you can potentially appeal to multiple audiences at once; you're a bit more unique and special; and maybe you can even start a whole new subgenre or trend. But in my opinion, that's just in theory.
More realistically is that you're going to fail to appeal to multiple audiences at once. You're more likely to be perceived as a cultural mismatch. Like my album might not be shoegaze enough for mainstream shoegaze fans, and not DnB enough for mainstream DnB fans. Maybe it's a bigger problem with the online western scene, even some fully shoegaze bands aren't shoegaze enough for some people, being perceived as an outsider or tourist to a subculture can be difficult to deal with. In other words, I don't truly belong in the genre for some people, and even if I did, am I known strictly by the novelty of the genre fusion?
Even artistically, it's a bit difficult to juggle the expectations of sounds of each genre in a fusion. I felt that personally when dealing with the songs on the album. Sound selection is very specific and easy to veer too much in any one direction. This was a big source of my anxiety for the project as I didn't want to appear too DnB or too shoegaze during any one song, as if there was supposed to be a proper "correct" fusion of the sounds. Fortunately, I eventually gave up trying to create a "correct" fusion of the genres and just made music that fits the project. If I did not give up this unrealistic ideal, the songs Angel Complex, Sear My Mind, and Bomb Queen would not have made it to the album. I, as an artist, would like to keep my music to the target audience, to people who enjoy the music as it is for what it presents, to people who don't expect any specific aesthetic to be attached to any one project like it's a uniform.
That said, my biggest influences have proven that you can still do fairly well despite the potential problems that come with it. Of my influences, the one band that definitely had an impact on me and specifically my Drum & Gaze project is Supercar. The "Three Out Change!" album remains one of my favourite shoegaze albums of all time, but going to their later album "Futurama" that is dripping with more electronic production, the track "White Surf style 5." was scarily close to the sound I was chasing in my head. Supercar was so influencial on me that even the band members' later work individually further inspired me. Tracks like "Gloss Of Speed'' by Aem, and "Spell (Alternative Version)" by LAMA were particularly present in my mind when I was working on the album.
I'm chasing the sound in my head, any additional benefit like a catchy genre name or a catchy concept for people to check out isn't intentional. I try not to adhere to genres like it's a rulebook, and I think "Drum & Gaze: Dazey Chain" is a good example of it. It's grunge-y but doesn't commit to being driving or heavy, it's shoegaze-y but doesn't commit to being entirely dreamy or ethereal, it's kind of poppy but it definitely doesn't sound like something the pop audience would care for. It definitely has drum & bass in it, but it's not something that you can imagine playing at a club. To me, it's music with no home in the real world or any major scene, it only makes sense on the internet to people who spend way too much time online. It's music for people like me.
But I am aware how the concept of my music can be perceived by people who might not be my target audience, and that's why I am careful not to grow my audience inorganically; like trying to make viral TikToks/Instagram Reels trying to appeal to people outside of the shoegaze niche. Not saying that's wrong, just that for me, where money and audience numbers aren't really a priority, I just personally see more value in a more closer, more niche underground fanbase. I personally am more interested in natural growth where the discovery of my music is part of the appeal. I want my music to be discovered through articles that only music fans would read, RYM ratings, Bandcamp browsing, playlists made by people of similar tastes, word of mouth between friends and people in the genre, things like that.
7mint is a solo project by me. The female vocals are provided by a character named Hanakuma Chifuyu using a vocal synthesizer called Synthesizer V.
Honestly, this was a great source of anxiety for me. Due to the IP rights surrounding the character, I found out during uploading the project that I was not in a position to place her name or involvement on streaming platforms. However I do mention it where-ever possible, such as on YouTube or Bandcamp. I am very aware of how this may be perceived, especially in this era of strong opinions regarding technology replacing humans, so I apologize to anyone who might have assumed otherwise, but before anyone decides to paint me a certain way, please do take some time to read this part.
Much like Hatsune Miku of Vocaloid fame, Hanakuma Chifuyu is a vocal synth that can be licensed for use. It is controlled using technology whose origins go as far back as the early 2000s. In Japan, vocal synths and the musical culture that surrounds it is incredibly strong and remains strong to this day. While foreign to external audiences, virtual singers are hardly a new concept and have been involved for much of the music I consumed as a teenager. Of all of the Vocaloid content I've consumed, none has as much of a special place in my heart as "mikgazer vol.1", a compilation album of various artists showcasing Hatsune Miku on original shoegaze tracks. To this day, it remains one of my favourite albums. This might be a bit controversial, but if you made me pick between "mikgazer vol.1" and "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine. I'm sorry "Loveless" I love you, but I have to pick "mikgazer vol.1". If you have not listened to this album, I highly recommend you seek this out!
Vocal synths do not automatically do the work for you, like how AI voice cloners do. It operates very similarly to a normal musical synthesizer, except there are additional parameters and input for the vocalization of words. Tuning vocal synths are an art in itself. Synthesizer V makes it a bit easier in comparison to some of the competition, but still requires heavy adjustment to achieve the results you hear on tracks such as Heatdeath and Stockholm Syndrome. I have no delusion that I am anywhere near the skill level the veterans of vocal synths are, but in making the album, I was in full understanding that I was more interested in doing it my own way and trying to get the results I had imagined.
AI is a big topic these days, and unfortunately Synthesizer V has been part of that discussion in the western music scene. This is in large part due to confusion to the large number of AI voice cloners and confusing these types of unethical generative AI with Synthesizer V; as Synthesizer V markets itself with AI capabilities. From what I understand, the AI is responsible for the "automatic" tune of the voice (largely unusable in my opinion, I decided to tune everything manually) and the blending of different voice modes; but the technology largely remains fundamentally the same as it had existed before AI.
During the explosion of generative AI tools, I tested a good amount of them extensively. For my job, even more so. At the end of the day, my personal feelings about generative AI are largely negative. My main issues with it are technical and ethical. For most cases, the technical output or results I get from gAI aren't good enough. Unpredictable and uncontrollable, even with tools and additional systems like ControlNets and LORAs to hone in on any specific topic. For a dumb meme that no one cares about, I don't see the issue. But for artistic expression, it's barely usable. Using it directly for your own creative expression, in my opinion, shows a severe lack of care, standards, and budget. But even if gAI had output what is regarded as a masterpiece, the bigger issue are the ethics surrounding it. I do believe there is a way to use gAI without stealing and scraping unconsenting artists' works, but largely the solutions today all rely on unethically sourced data, so I don't believe in utilizing it for any work I'd attach my name to.
I believe there is a way to generate assets ethically, as I believe vocal synths have done exactly that since its creation, far before generative AI. With proper understanding of the tool being made by the people involved, compensation of the talent and staff, and a healthy culture surrounding the use of the tool, it shows it can be done. This however is not the case with gAI as it stands. This is why I can easily use Synthesizer V without any moral dilemma about it, but would not ever use generative AI for my creative output.
AI tangent aside, I specifically chose to use Synthesizer V after hearing the track "透明" by callasoiled and was blown away by the results. Previously, I had considered getting the vocal synth CeVIO with the IA voice bank but found it a bit difficult to purchase. The track prompted me to check out Synthesizer V and in the process of exploring the many available voice banks, discovered Hanakuma Chifuyu; the moment I heard her voice I knew that was the exact kind of low, soft voice that I wanted on my Drum & Gaze project.
It also helped that Synthesizer V has inter-language capabilities, which greatly improved the English output of Hanakuma Chifuyu's Japanese voice bank.
On a related note, I only found out about the legal complications of the use of her name when I was complete with the album. Originally, the album art would've contained an original character redesign of Hanakuma Chifuyu for the project. This was later changed to an unrelated female character, but I decided to change it at the very last minute to the current version without any female character, this was because I felt the rushed illustration I made was not good enough. At the end of the day, I think I very much prefer the current version so it all worked out in the end!
One of the biggest differences was in the mindset and process of songwriting, as I now had to actively leave space for a topline melody. My previous experience was largely instrumental, and the few times I utilized a topline melody, I honestly feel I failed terribly. This I feel was due to many factors that I recognized and tried to avoid for the album. I made the songs with no topline first, so effectively like a backing track. Only when that was ready did I work on the topline. The topline process was the longest part of the production as I was trying incredibly hard to make sure it sounded the best I could make it. Normally, I would've given up earlier and settled for something less catchier and more repetitive, but not for this album. Toplining is easily the most frustrating part of the process. The track Nostalgic was almost left without vocals or outright rejected for the album due to how frustrated I was after attempting to topline it over the course of 3 months. Luckily I decided to persist and my final attempt resulted in the current version on the album.
The second big difference was production style. I tried to avoid staying on any one project file for too long, especially if there was no progress after a few hours; so my method for the album was to create as many sketches and ideas until something appealed to me. The final number was 48 project files, and these range from short loop ideas to finished tracks. Out of those 48, 11 was selected and are on "Drum & Gaze: Dazey Chain", so that leaves 37 songs unused. This was in the time period of April - December 2023, so much more time in comparison to the EP that was done for the RPM Challenge.
Another big difference, as mentioned earlier, was me letting go of the idea that there should be a "correct" blend of shoegaze and DnB for the project. So I went a bit wild with how the songs felt when compared to each other. For example, Sear My Mind is very shoegaze heavy, Angel Complex is very DnB heavy, specifically ambient breakcore, and Hitori Puzzle is only slightly shoegaze and DnB, and is more pop than anything else. But my methodology and specific experiences retains a common DNA between them all and unites them in a way that may not be obvious without analyzing the songs. For example, if you were to figure out the shapes of the melodies and chords used, you probably wouldn't find more than 4 total chord shapes in the entire album. This complete surrender to an idea of a genre's uniform, along with trust in my own personal sound and ability to forge a unique DNA of voicing my ideas is something I only learned to be a bit more confident about after the EP.
It sounds very pretentious, but I genuinely believe in my own unique DNA. Not because I have discovered some new revolutionary way of playing guitar or anything, but more like the opposite, I was too stubborn to learn how to play guitar properly. My guitar is still tuned to all fourths, like a bass. Because of that I never use any open chords and I only know a few chord shapes. I tune it down 2 semitones to D for the whole guitar because I just decided to do that one day. So now my bass is also tuned down to D. I use a Fretwrap because I'm too stubborn to learn how to mute strings properly. I fully accept my inability to play guitar correctly as my own personal style that I actively utilize. If you handed me a normal guitar I can only play the first 4 strings and I wouldn't even know how to play my own songs. It's not that I'm taking pride in my inability, but more that I accept my flaws and would rather spend the time that would be used for learning to "fix" all these, doing something else.
The process of creating the original EP was actually kind of funny. I actually spent around 25 days on a single track, despite knowing I was supposed to create an EP. That track was the first track in the EP, Pale Rider; and I almost ran away from creating an EP and just releasing a single since I was so close to the deadline. I decided to complete the EP at the end and completed the other 3 tracks in 3 days. My memory is terrible and it was a hectic 3 days, so I don't remember which track was which very clearly, but I believe I took 2 days to create Heather Chase and that was because I ripped a guitar solo out of a grunge demo I recorded in my MPC Live a long time ago, and Herbal Pharmaceutical and Love Lariat was done in a single day.
Yeah, just like my experience as a student and as a professional artist, I get very productive the closer I am to the deadline, haha!
Listening back to it, the original EP can definitely be described as darker, but in my opinion when I consider the instrumentation, it's definitely more "cinematic" and slightly "hopeful" in sound, the use of some synths and acoustic instruments like piano and viola was also definitely inspired by movie scores and barberbeats like Haircuts For Men, as my previous project was of that style.
Also I think 'Love, Lariat' sounds quite romantic, originally the track was called Temptation (all my tracks have an original placeholder name that is usually changed at the end or halfway through production).
Well not that I didn't do that, I think the track Sear My Eyes definitely uses that method haha, it was the first original lyrics that came to me as I first tried the chord progression with guitar and I felt it worked quite well so I kept it.
I think for the rest of the tracks, I would agree that I'm definitely paying quite a a lot of attention to it, I think it's mainly for two reasons:
1. Using a vocal synth, manually inputting and timing of each word and syllable makes me think about the lyrics a lot as I work, so I do catch and edit quite a lot as I produce the track, and
2. My process of having the music done first before toplining the main melody/doing the vocals means I spend a lot of time just focusing on just the topline. I don't think I'm a particularly amazing topliner, but I do spend a good amount of time to make sure I only use something that I fully accept in my heart before I commit to it in a track.
Also I made a mistake, I meant to say Sear My Mind.Originally the track was Sear My Eyes. I kept the vocals of my original idea, but I felt the long note landing on "eyes" didn't sound quite right, so after trying a few different words I decided to use "mind" instead.
I define it as Drum & Gaze. If there was a straight line between DnB and Shoegaze, I've stepped off the line but I'm still touching the line somewhere, and it depends on which song you're listening to. Again, a big part of my learning process on this album was to let go of this idea that there was a "correct" blend between the two or if there was somewhere I need to stand on the line, I focused more on what would serve the songs and album more than where I stood on the line and I think it was the right choice to make.
You can say that most of the drum and percussive elements lean far more towards DnB, mainly due to the tempo, beat style, and use of chopping & stutters. Instrumentally, it usually has a base layer of chords that is reminiscent of DnB styling, but the timbre of this layer is usually a bit more shoegaze. Then the rest are wildly dependent on what the song needs and calls for, but as a base, that's the general idea.
There's also a distinct use of Space Echo tape delay in a majority of the tracks. I think the Space Echo is a perfect device for the project and is very appropriately as lost as I am when trying to place it on a genre map. With it's prevalence in dub and DnB, along side being used as a sought after piece of gear for heavy guitar sounds whenever possible, it's the one characteristic element of the project that resonates with the identity of the album.
For me, I think it's a badge of pride, it's a sign that says you'll stand on your own two feet and do what you feel is right for you. I'm not praising myself here, even if I weren't a musician, I have great respect for the people making art where-ever they can even if they might not have the ideal set up. I really respect independence, and I also respect the people who had truly thought about it, decided art was what they wanted to do, and made art. Especially when there are so many other ways to spend their lives. They are not creatives due to circumstance, they are not creatives due to expectations, they are creatives because they simply are; and to me that's such a pure form of artist.
Most immediately is a music video for Nostalgic. It will be mainly done using 3D animation, and intend to have the majority of the assets ready by Chinese New Year. Much like my music, this music video will be entirely self-produced. Unless my job suddenly gets incredibly busy, the music video should be out sometime in February. That's the most immediate plan for now.
At the same time, I am figuring out how to perform my music live. Originally, the music was not designed to be played live, for example, I actively decided to stack multiple guitar parts that starts at the same time on certain parts of certain tracks because I didn't at all think about performing it live. My plans are to perform solo, so I'll have to think about how I'm going to prepare the live set and how I'm performing it, because I don't think people would want to see my Drum & Gaze set being performed entirely on a laptop and no guitar. Currently my plan is to perform it using a combination of an MPC Live 2 and a live guitar setup, and I'm ordering pedals and loopers to make it possible to perform with two hands and two feet. Once I get that sorted out, I intend to do a live set at a local venue and film it.
As for long term music plans, I plan to release at least 1 EP a year moving forward. Future EPs should still have a distinct Drum & Gaze sound, but each individual EP should have their own sonic characteristic and would be a bit more cohesive when comparing track to track. After releasing "Drum & Gaze: Dazey Chain" I feel that future projects would be a bit more manageable and cohesive as EPs rather than doing full albums. I don't think I'm giving up on full albums per se, but I would need a good reason or concept to commit to a longer project like this, which could happen if I feel confident in a specific concept. It just gives me a bit of anxiety that people who liked Angel Complex might want an EP that explores that sound more, as does someone who likes the poppier sound in Hitori Puzzle, as does someone who likes a heavier shoegaze sound like in Sear My Mind. My immediate thought is to produce Albums or EPs with tighter concepts like that to answer that anxiety.
Outside of a major international catastrophe or me being hospitalized or dying, there's no way I can't produce at least 1 EP a year. If I fail to do so, you're welcome to imagine the worst has happened. I just hope I get to fulfill my end goal of performing in Shimokitazawa to a small crowd that genuinely enjoys my music one day.
以上采访大部分以邮件的形式进行，小部分段落采用聊天记录。所有的引用和翻译均征得Kenny Chow的同意，英文原文附在文末。Kenny是个非常有态度的精益求精的音乐人，我把问题发给他之后第二天就收到了非常详尽和真诚的回复，反而让我的问题非常干瘪。实际上，目前看到的采访中问答之间各方面差距如此之大的还是第一次。
以下是7mint的linktree，大家可以多多支持优秀音乐人：
