Hello. Can you provide us a little information about yourself and what you are attempting to do with your music?
I am an independent musician/songwriter currently living in Austin, TX. I write songs since a very young age. For me Music is vital like breathing, making Music is my passion, I love to make Music, to represent emotions, to convey feelings, a way of expression.
What difficulties have you experienced being a solo artist?
As a solo artist you are always looking for resources to grow, to get your goals with your Music. You can not do everything by yourself, you are always learning, you need to find people that you can have really good communication with and feel comfortable to be working with. Every well crafted song we listen from every artist in the world is the result of serious team work.
432 Hz is your new album. What significance does the album’s title have?
I love recording audio and I’m very interested in Acoustics and Cymatics. Tuning your guitar to 440 Hertz for example is a standard nowadays, but who said that 440 Hz should be the standard tuning? why? since when? why not to try to tune up in different frequencies and see what happens.
Cymatics shows clear differences about the effects of 432 and 440 Hertz sound waves on matter, you can see figures forming in a plate with sand with the effects of different sound waves frequencies, 440 Hertz sound waves create non symmetric chaotic patterns, while 432 Hertz sound waves result in very interesting symmetric patterns . We are physical matter, our bodies vibrate with music, then it has to be a particular effect in our bodies and minds to particular sound waves frequencies, I tune up my instruments to 432 Hertz targeting to a more natural harmonic and get different sound waves to Rock Music.
How has your style evolved and changed over the time since you first started playing?
I studied classical guitar when I was 16 years old, and whenever I take a nylon string acoustic guitar I feel like home, but I also love to plug in a guitar to a guitar amp and do distortion and play loud and furious. I always wanted an instrument giving me the best of both worlds, and few years ago I found the “guitarviol” that is hand made and is a guitar like instrument with cello strings so you can pick and bow it, then I left home (the guitar) to start experimenting with my guitarviol.
Can you describe your creative process and your recording set up for us?
I keep ideas for songs since around 15 years ago in tapes, notebooks, etc. Ideas can come at anytime, I capture them in whatever is available at the moment. Sometimes the idea sounds like is taking me to a whole song right away, and sometimes I listen to the idea and I feel is not a good one and I forget about it, sometimes I listen to old ideas I recorded that at the time did not take me anywhere and now it feels it works. I play my instrument a lot, is basically almost all the time in my hands, I’m having breakfast and my guitarviol is sitting on my lap, sometimes just playing without actually thinking about it, suddenly something sounds like an idea that can work. For me creating music is like hunting ideas that appear in the air at any time, any place or situation and I capture them, usually when Im working in a song Im thinking, brainstorming, trying visualizing the song in my mind all day long wherever I go, even while I’m doing groceries ha ha, I do that until I can listen a song I like in my mind, and at that point I start recording my tracks in my DAW. The challenge is to bring that song that is in my mind to the real world. Some songs take months to be finished like “Worried” and some flow very easily in one single day like “Fear Free”.
My current recording set up: Shure SM57, sE Rupert Neve RNR1—-> Rupert Neve Portico II channel strip——> Digidesign 003 interface——> Pro tools 8——-> Dangerous Source——> Dangerous 2-BusLT——-> JBL speakers monitors
What acts have been the most influential in creating your unique sound?
I think the music you make is some kind of mix of all what you have listened and seen in your life, most of the time I listen to bands like Metallica, Muse, Black Sabbath, System of a Down, RHCP, and music from Bach, Paganini, Vivaldi. I listen to different radio stations to keep my ears up to date. It wasn’t intentional I started listening a lot to radio stations since my car CD player broke ha ha, and also since I got interested in recording and mixing I’m appreciating and listening very carefully to the work Audio Engineers do in very different music genres.
Which tracks are your favorite on 432 Hz, and what makes them so?
All tracks in this record are different in style and intention, I wanted to do that as I like to try something different in every song instead of following the same line in all of them, “Lucky” is an instrumental light piece with tempo changes, acoustic and electric sections, picked and bowed guitarviol, clean and distort electric guitar, the bass guitar takes charge of the melody in the first section. “Evilution” is a dark metal slow tempo song with dramatic lyrics, I imagine the devil dancing a waltz with human race in this song. As a guitar player I enjoy a lot playing “Worried” specially the guitar solo at the end. “Code Love” it was the last song recorded and I feel it has all the elements the other songs combined, and it’s structure uses more repetition, for me is the ballad of the album. And the chorus of “Fear Free” is one that is been in my mind probably since 10 years ago or so, then is now out there and I love it. “Virus” is the fast tempo one, I always wanted a song with a drum solo instead of a guitar solo, this is the perfect song for that. “Earthquake” is like a mini movie, the contrast song with a nice pleasant acoustic first section where everything is happiness and everything is perfect in the world and then progressively goes to end up with the chaotic distor devastation section. Every song is vital in this record, I usually listen to all of them like they all are one.
What would be your dream lineup of bands and performers to play alongside?
It comes to my mind a band with James Hetfield, Robert Plant and Serj Tankian at the vocals, Johan Sebastian Bach with a church organ, Paganini at the violin, Flea at the bass guitar, John Bonham at the drums, Tony Lommi at the guitar and Omar Bowing at the guitarviol ha ha. Anyways the bands I admire the most are Metallica, Black Sabbath, System of a Down, Muse.
Can you give us an insight about what listeners should expect from yourself through the end of 2014 and into 2015?
For 2014 I’m already working in more songs, this time one song at the time will be released, I want to focus and spoil every song, as it would be a full album every song will have an art graphic design, concept, etc, my goal is to release one song every 1-2 months. I want to make more and more music, keep improving, keep learning, networking, working hard, been open to projects, collaborations, etc.
How can individuals contact you and hear your music?
You can always contact me at my website www.omarbowing.com, music is available on my youtube channel, iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, Soundcloud, Spotify, and many other digital stores.
Do you have any further comments for NeuFutur readers?
This is a very exciting and challenging time for musicians. Exciting because of the tools available and the internet, information and communication are available 24/7, on the challenging side with the digital formats and digital big companies selling and streaming music, many things changed, physical CD’s sales dropped and it was probably the main income to Record Companies, and these Record Companies are the ones funding and supporting new artists. As an independent musician you are paid basically nothing from digital sales or streaming services, so you have to find ways to fund yourself and be able to be dedicated and focused working on making Music. I mean changes are inevitable, we have to understand and adapt to these changes, and we need to find a way to directly support Music, to support musicians, so we can have and listen the Music we love and see developed talent, thanks to the internet artists can be contacted directly from anywhere and can be supported, there must be ways.
Omar Bowing Interview
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