Unrealfish is just one person, Alex Wilkie, professional graphic designer by day and guitar noodler, sound designer, composer, etc in the evenings and when possible, at weekends.
The name came about by accident, more time ago than I care to remember, we (my wife & business partner) loved the name and felt it could be used for personal projects under the banner Unrealfish Projects. The logo was designed, some 10 - 12 years ago and nothing else really happened. Not until much, much later when I found a purpose for it and the domain names we had registered.
Ambient music requires lots of effects and processing to achieve the spacious vibe and I am really into experimenting with effects pedals. I do have a bit of an obsession with sourcing and purchasing effects. I probably spend an unhealthy amount of time reading an watching video reviews. I also like experimenting with kinds of electronic music technology, linking up the equipment and passing it through different effects chains, getting lost in the sound design moment.
I am fundamentally a guitarist with the vast majority of musical ideas starting life as chord sequences sketched out acoustically. I plug in and switch on when I have a solid fully formed idea ready for further development.
Andy Warhol was quoted to say “Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination”.
I started playing guitar in 1974, I was mostly okay, I could improvise blues and compose simple tracks but the music was not going anyway. My compositions would frequently if not always hit a brick wall, because I lacked musicianship and music theory. I take my hat off to those out there that have the natural talent to create great music without any formal training.
In around 2007 I decided to take guitar lessons and enrol in music theory lessons, I wanted to do things properly. I had great teachers, I passed grade 3 and grade 5 music theory and stopped there. Grade 6 ventured into territory not necessary to my musical path, fine for classical composers. I continued with guitar lessons until 2109 and only stopped when I injured a thumb, then Covid happened and I never went back to lessons. The guitar lessons have made a big impact on my skills as a musician giving me a great all-round ability. My music sight reading, despite Brian, my guitar teacher’s best efforts are pathetic. These day’s I don’t play other people music on guitar.
Like any Netflix series, where would they be without the flashback. Well around 2002, I was intrigued by Midi and how I could use it to create music. This lead me on to synthesisers and DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). I purchased a Novation A Station rack synth, Cubasis for Mac and a simple Midi keyboard, I was hooked. My DAW of choice these days is Reason for Mac, currently I use V12, I have tried other DAWs but for me Reason does the job. I still use Midi, it’s just more complicated, connecting extra kit and to a much bigger mixing desk.
In the pursuit of the perfect studio set-up (spoiler alert; it does not exist) I use a mixture of outboard and in-the-box production techniques. I enjoy the hands-on-approach of outboard equipment but the convenience of working with a DAW.
My working processes are constantly evolving and changing as I try different things to keep ideas fresh.
I enjoy the creative freedom of creating ambient music and the anything goes mentality. Mixing field recordings with shifting drones with Euclidian sequencing and escaping the confines of working with fixed loop lengths. I also steer clear of predictability, I leave that to the commercial market where pop music is (mostly) just a product to sell in quantity. Music consumption has changed massively because of streaming services, it’s too easy to jump to anther track or artist if their music does not hit the spot in the first few bars.
I salute anyone that gives my music a serious listen and I appreciate that I will only have a small audience - I create music because I enjoy it and find it deeply rewarding, but with touches of frustration now and then. Music is something I just have to create!
