Music needs defiance: The ringing of the school bell against the campus-wide silence, the strumming of contrasting chords on a guitar. Likewise, music needs compliance: The blending of similar notes on a piano, the tones necessary for composing a harmony.
This compliance becomes especially evident when musicians find themselves collaborating with one another. This might involve something as simple as jamming to a song, or as daring as creating a one’s first extended play (EP).
Given the ease with which you can now record, rip and burn virtually anything, you might think making an EP, which usually consists of three or four tracks, is fairly simple. But as a handful of artists can attest to, it definitely isn’t a one-man job.
Finding inspiration
Regardless of the genre they play, most musicians start out the same way: They grow up listening to different artists, maybe running the gamut from John Mayer to Rage Against The Machine. Being surrounded by such a diverse selection of music can only serve to influence them to making their own.
Take, for instance, Mateo Escueta, a communications technology management senior who is releasing his first EP, Crawling, this December. Having gone from being only a listener to a composer, he says that the charm of songwriting lies in the fact it allows him to tell his story through music.
“Some people have different reasons to write songs,” he says. “I wanted to write songs because I loved how songs… were really trying to say something in terms of a particular experience. I said to myself, ‘Wow, maybe I have some personal experiences that I can write about and turn them into a song.’”
On a similar note, Anj Florendo, also a communications technology management senior, went down the songwriting route because of a need to channel her emotions. Describing her sound as jazz pop, she explains that her EP, launched last May 29, is named Undress because “it’s really just an undressing of feelings.”
For hard rock band Imelda, the songwriting process is quite organic. The members of the band—vocalist Jam Pascual, guitarists Vincci Santiago and Miguel Feria, bassist Diego Manzano and drummer Nash Ignacio—all contribute to the process. They operate on Santiago’s belief that the song will “write itself over time.”
“We don’t rush songs, we just jam it,” Manzano says. “If something’s missing, we throw in ideas from jamming it by ourselves at home then [get the] song down when we’re all together.”
Over time, the songs begin to pile up and there’s an itch to share the music. This is where the EP release comes in: A desire to have something physical, something tangible that can showcase the growth of one’s sound.
Give life back to music
The production of the EP, however, involves more work than one might expect. “Blood, sweat and sleepless nights,” is how Escueta describes the process.
A main problem most musicians face is generating enough money to cover the costs. The initial figure can easily hit five digits—definitely a drain on their funds, especially in the case of those who are still in school. Artists whittle down their budget by pre-selling copies of their EP, as Imelda has done. But as Escueta reminds us, “You don’t just need money to make the EP, but you also need people to make it happen.”
Like the assembly line for any product, creating an EP is a collaborative effort: The musician or band may have their names emblazoned on the cover, but tucked away in the acknowledgements page will be a long list of people who have helped them out.
Among them are photographers and artists for the EP’s art, those who handled the logistics, sometimes the markers of the artist’s music videos. With so much going on, most independent musicians hire a producer. As in most independent ventures, you get by with a little help from your friends: Imelda had Perth Salva (BS MIS ‘10) act as their producer, while Escueta’s enlisted the help of his brother, Miguel Escueta, an established musician.
Having a budget in hand and people backing them up, these musicians go on to face the technicalities. As a full band, Imelda had the instrumental part pretty much down pat— but solo artists don’t have the same advantage. In Florendo’s case, she recruited her other musician friends to help record her songs.
As most artists will tell you, the recording process is very difficult in itself. First, one has to find a studio and have enough money to pay for each recording session—a cheap studio can charge around P300 an hour. Second, the recordings have to be “as close to perfect as possible,” according to Escueta. “It takes you hours to finish a song, or even days.”
But it’s more than just plopping the entire band in the studio and letting them play until they get it right. Audio components such as the vocals, guitar and drums are recorded on separate tracks. These are then mixed into a single audio file and mastered, meaning the tracks are stored in a master CD to be used as the source of all future copies.
From there, it’s only a matter of finding a place to print the cover and booklet for the EP. “We’d love to have it mass produced and get it out as much as possible, but right now, we’ll have to stick to selling it at shows and by doing meet-ups for the EP,” says Manzano, whose band spent more than P10,000 on reproduction.
Finally, the artist officially releases the EP with a gig. This is when they get to reveal the fruit of their labors to the world. The final product is proof that, as rocky as the road to making an EP is, it is by no means less satisfying.
Imagining the indie
Crafting an EP while in college demands much from its creators, though the process has come a long way from notably simpler beginnings. “[Back in] 2003, things weren’t as big as they are now,” recalls Yagi Olaguera, the moderator of Ateneo Musicians’ Pool. “Everything was pretty much grassroots level.”
However, Olaguera notes that a consistent detail between then and now is the friends and support that surround an aspiring musician. What this support allows for is a free exchange of ideas, which help form the artist’s voice.
Likewise, the shift to digital recording and the rise of social networking sites aimed at music sharing have also paved the way for the current college music scene. “How people consume music is pretty much defined by how the technology is,” Olaguera explains. “It’s a very vibrant scene [today].”
Florendo admits that it may be difficult to stay in the music scene after graduation. “I think college is the best incubator for you to make a band… Once you start working, you’ll be thinking of a lot of other things,” she says in a mix of English and Filipino.
Olaguera can attest to this, saying how college musicians have so much time on their hands without realizing it. “A lot of bands do break up when they do get out of college, because real life sets in; they go into careers that don’t allow them to do this.”
As bleak as it sounds, though, Olaguera insists that music making after college is still a real possibility. “A lot of people who do it, who are in it talaga, they continue to do it and they find ways to make it happen,” he shares. “It’s not as difficult as it was before.”
Although Olaguera supposes that releasing physical copies can become outdated someday—given how overwhelming the costs can be—EP production will perhaps be one of the last options to die out. It is, after all, smaller than a whole album, yet more engaging than a single.
Regardless of the changing times, musicians will always have company to fall back on: Each other. Getting the right blend will be tricky, but it makes for sensational music nonetheless.
Editor’s Note: Jam Pascual and Miguel Feria are members of The GUIDON’s Inquiry and Multimedia staffs, respectively.
Small tunes, big break
A well-crafted EP is more than just a listener’s invitation to discover a fresh sound. At times, it can also be a band or artist’s one-way ticket into the limelight.
The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones
After releasing their eponymous debut EP in 1964, this English rock and roll legend saw its fame skyrocket to the top of the charts within the same year.
She’s Only Sixteen, She’s Only Sixteen
Hot on the heels of fame, this part-Ateneo, part-La Salle band has been stirring up the local music scene ever since the release of their eponymous EP in 2012.
The Strokes, The Modern Age
This three-track piece sparked a bidding war among record labels once it was released in 2001—a feat not many bands have the privilege to brag about.
Eraserheads, Pop-U
Launched in 1991, Pop-U was first official EP of this now-legendary band. Prior to its release, the Eraserheads were getting rejected at every turn. But this EP was eventually picked up by Sony BMG, which subsequently gave them a three-year record deal—and the rest is history.
