Three North students used their free time to explore their creative talents and express themselves through digitally recording their own original compositions.
Junior Jacob Frisbie’s Facebook profile is full of posts sharing links to various songs. What makes these songs unique is that Frisbie composed and recorded all of them himself. He used a program called FL Studio 10 to make his music with programmable electronic synthesizers. His recordings were used as an outlet for one of his tendencies to naturally come up with music on his own.
“I’ve been musical my whole life,” Frisbie said. “I often have melodies or chord progressions in my head, and the thing to do would be recording.”
Seniors Dakota Jafferis and Ben Johnson also recorded music of their own. Their seven-song EP, titled “…In the Attic,” was recorded so that they could more easily share the music of their band, An Alien. They recorded live in the home of a friend of theirs who lives in Eudora, Kan.
“We met a couple of guys with a little studio who offered to record us for free,” Johnson said, “so we couldn’t pass it up.”
Frisbie’s tracks were released sporadically and linked to his Facebook profile through a website called soundcloud.com. Most of the tracks he has recorded have no vocals.
“Although I’m a singer by trade,” Frisbie said. “Recording my voice on my songs is often too difficult with the software.”
Copies of An Alien’s EP are available for purchase at one of the many local shows they play, or just by inquiring about them to any of the members of the band. A few of their tracks can also be downloaded through their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/analienkc.
Frisbie said that he didn’t have intentions to pursue a career recording music in the future.
“I am more of a singer,” Frisbie said. “It would be cool to record my own music in the future, but it’s mostly just a hobby.”
As for An Alien, what the future holds is still unclear. They still plan on playing and recording music together.
“Honestly, for me, it’s just for fun,” Johnson said. “But it would still be nice if it took off and became a stable career.”
Jafferis’ advice to any aspiring musicians is just to experiment.