’They have free Red Bull!’ were the first words my friend said, when we met up at Culture Box yesterday. And sure enough, there was plenty of free caffeine for everybody once inside. While a solid energy boost should never be neglected, I was more interested in RBMA’s general involvement with the event. As far as I recall, we have already had a few master classes around Copenhagen hosted by the caffeine giant, but this year’s Strøm festival hosts well over a handful of master classes and workshops that borrow the traditional RBMA structure while adding a handful of both local and international acts.
Yesterday’s event saw Bjørn Svin, Troels Abrahamsen, and Tomas Barfod elaborating on everything from production techniques to distribution. The raw surroundings at Culture Box had received the cozy treatment with pillows and bean bag chairs ready to be occupied, and they did indeed get occupied when an impressive number of people showed up.
The first half of the event had Abrahamsen and Barfod discussing the electronic music landscape, touching on everything from clearing samples over approving remixes to whether vinyl is still a viable medium. Of course, the two are known to be some of the scene’s most vocal debaters in discussions about the future of the music business, which made them excellent choices for yesterday’s mix of Q&A and in-couch debate.
I would venture a guess that had you shown up for that part of the talk eager to learn all the tricks of the trade, you left somewhat disappointed. Here, the Master Class label seemed a little overblown, if only for the fact that the advice from the comfy couch seemed directed at music fans in general rather than aspiring producers in particular. As a casual listener with no production ambitions, however, I thoroughly enjoyed both the format and the topics the two touched upon. Considering how often discussions about electronic music revolve around little more than how to get the party started, hearing two of the country’s finest artists sit down and talk through their own experiences revealed just how well the scene has matured and, similarly, how the crowd’s appetite for these events has increased along with it.
If the first part left you could, chances are Bjørn Svin’s lecture gave you what you wanted. Having last delivered a similar presentation to roughly 10 people, he seemed overwhelmed by the size of the crowd, but only for the better. The second half was dedicated to the technical parts of music production, where Bjørn got to play around with and explain the intricate workings of his ”machines” (in his real and not my air quotes, that is).
Music production is of course a lot fuzzier than the music business itself, which meant that the talk often became somewhat abstract for casual listeners. After all, terms like mood, feel, and artistic quality are hard to quantify. Still, when Bjørn let the machines do the talking in explaining frequency modulation or complex drum patterns, I imagine even the non-techies in the room were following. Once again breaking with the notion that electronic music is dumb and simplistic (a sentiment that, to be fair, is far removed from everything Strøm), he showed just rich tools tone and timbre become when treated right. Even if you are not rushing out to get that several-thousand-dollar Elektron machine, I can’t help thinking that you left Culture Box slightly enlightened yesterday.
Photographic high five via Strøm's Flickr (Marcus McNair & Adam Garff). Read more on the Strøm blog
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