AudioJungle Author: Abir – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Reason, KRK monitors, Ozone 4, and playing football. Our sister site AudioJungle is a royalty-free stock audio site that helps musicians earn money. In this interview series you’ll learn about those musicians, their gear, and their AudioJungle experiences. Today we meet Abir (Abir187).

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Hi everyone. My name’s Abir. I’m 22 years old from the UK, and live in a place called Camden, which is situated in North London. I came out of university last year, where I studied civil engineering – nothing to do with music, haha. And at the moment I work in a property estate agent in London, and produce music as a hobby in my spare time.

Which marketplaces do you belong to? What types of files do you sell?

AudioJungle is where I belong. I try to sell a variety of music, to cater for most peoples needs, from hip hop, to electro, to cinematic and corporate music.

How did you get started? Have you had any formal training?

I’m a self-taught musician. Growing up as a teenager in London a few years ago, I managed to get Reason 2.5 when I was 16, and started to play about with the software. At first it seemed a bit daunting as I was a novice, but I kept experimenting, and got myself a MIDI keyboard, and it just went from there really.

Eventually I got the hang of making beats, and as time went by I became more experienced, and this turned into my main hobby. After learning how to use Reason, I moved on to Cubase and a few others, and finally on to Logic, which is my favourite (DAW), and the one which I currently use.

Describe your home workspace.

Well, I’m still saving to get a few things. Equipment doesn’t come cheap I guess. My room is my studio, so space is limited, as I live with family.

I use my MacBook Pro, KRK monitors, audio interface, and an Xboard keyboard. I also have an SE Electronics mic which comes in handy for recording and sampling my own voice etc.

I’m a big fan of Native Instruments. I use KOMPLETE 6 in my productions as well as the KORE 2 hardware/software, just to name a few.

Describe your creative process. What steps do you normally follow to create your files?

I don’t really follow a specific guideline. Usually I can get into my studio and lay a track down quick, and sometimes I need a bit of inspiration to push me in the right direction, so I listen to music from other artists, and it helps.

I like to get a vision before I start, and picture the specific sound I’m going after in my head, and then make it happen in my studio, on the keyboard. A bit like painting a picture.

Sometimes I start with the melody, before the beat or percussion, and vice versa. I tend to build on things and work my way up by layering the instruments and making them fit together. Once I’ve got the basic skeleton of my track, I like to experiment a bit by removing certain instruments from different parts of the track, and just creating variations and eventually sequencing to a full track.

I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so if something doesn’t sound right, or doesn’t sit in the mix in my opinion, then I’ll scrap it and start again.

I also master my own stuff, and use Ozone 4 and T-RackS mastering suites, which I find quite good. I am also learning to improve my mastering skills further.

What is your advice to other authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio?

Quality over quantity. Better to make five great tracks which you have spent your time on and can potentially sell well, than to make ten average / below average tracks which you rushed, and may not even sell!!

There are pros and cons about this, but that’s my opinion.

What do you do to market your files?

I must admit I need to brush up on my marketing skills. I usually promote my stuff on Facebook as everyone tends to be on there, and sometimes Youtube.

My personal website will be up soon…

What are your three favorite files, and why do you like them?

My first fav file is “Jungle Sacrifice“. I did this a while back but still remains my fav, because of the fast paced drums with the voices in the background. I also like this piece as I think it has an eerie feel to it and because it’s quick and reaches a climax fast.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

My second fav file is “Hip Hop Life” due to the fact that I love hip hop and it is my main genre. When I was producing this I wanted to get that West Coast Gangsta vibe going on , and hence the piano melody, which I think works well with the vocal sample on top in the chorus.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

My third fav file is “Joker DnB“. I like this because its very fast upbeat, catchy and makes me want to jump up and down.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

Apart from yourself, who is your favorite marketplace author, and why do you like them?

That’s a tough one! There’s soo many, and there’s always new ones. Apart from myself haha. I never intended on saying myself. I have a long way to go.

Well, I love the cinematic music from palmtreep. My fav track from him is “Night Stalker” – what a great track. I love the catchy piano melody, and the grittiness of the track when it drops, very original.

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

Uuuummm… Another author I like is Jurgen Beck, who I think is new on AudioJungle and has one item up called “Uncovering Secrets” which I find amazing!! I just love the ambience of the track and the epic cinematic vibe it comes with, very unique.

And finally, I like garethcoker – probably my fav author at the moment. My fav track from him has to be “Firefly in a Fairytale“. When I heard it, I was like this man is a genius. It sent shivers down my spine when I heard it. I expect it to sell a thousand times over!! Keep them coming!!

Download audio file (preview.mp3)

Sorry, I was suppose to pick one author. See how hard it is!