A brief introduction

Hello there :)

If you're reading this blog, chances are you know who I am, or am familiar with my work in some way. My name is Iain Morris, and I am an audio engineer, producer and electronic musician, otherwise known by the alias Kamihamiha.

The purpose of this blog is mostly as a way to share my knowledge on sound production, particularly within the creation and production of electronic music, although I'll occasionally use it to plug my music and post updates on Kamihamiha projects. It's 1.30 in the fucking morning, so I'm in 2 minds whether to start tonight or whether to do it tomorrow, but either way, here's a little about me.

My involvement in music started at about the age of 12 when I wanted to be an MC. I quickly took an interest in writing rap lyrics and recording my songs. At this time I had no production skills whatsoever, no musical ability in the slightest and the results were nothing short of hilarious - a 12 year old white boy from Scotland attempting to rap into a computer microphone with no backing track whatsoever. Not surprisingly, I think I only sold one copy of that album, and at that i'm not sure if I ever even saw the money for it.

As I got a little older, my ears turned to rock, metal and punk music and I started to play in bands, on vocals at first, and then at about the age of 15 or 16 I started to learn to play guitar. While I never turned out to be much of a great guitarist in the wanky solo sense, I quickly became a bit of a jack of all trades, learning drums and bass guitar as well. By the time I left school I may not have been the greatest performer, but my music theory knowledge was plentiful and I focussed far more on composition than on actual performance.

After school, I attended Perth College to complete an NC in musical performance on the guitar. I learned a lot from the course, mostly that music courses are full of wasters that don't want to go to school or get a job, and their parents won't let them join the army. Having to depend on others to achieve my grade put me off the idea of furthering any academic venture within musical performance, and so on completion of the course, I took a HND in sound production at Adam Smith College in Glenrothes.

During my time on my HND, I started to compose and produce electronic music, as I realised that it was the easiest way to practice my skills required without having to depend on others. I could easily make electronic tracks in my bedroom, and had no need to get a band in. By the end of the first year, I barely played guitar at all anymore, although I was still performing vocals in metal bands.

It was around this time that Kamihamiha was born. I went to see the band Hadouken! play live, simply because some friends were going and I thought the show would have a good atmosphere. I wasn't really that bothered about the band, they just seemed like another Myspace fad. On seeing them I was blown away, but had a gut feeling that I was still right about them being a Myspace fad, and that their music wouldn't be around for long. This is when I started Kamihamiha! I had enjoyed the music, but as a joke aimed at my aforementioned scepticism towards their potential shelf life, I decided to make music in their style, but in a slightly different style. I had decided that if English MCs could rap in their own accent and local dialect, why couldn't I do the same with Fife colloquialisms? The Kamihamiha! name was adopted as a very obvious rip off, and I started work. To my shock, people seemed to respond very well to the songs recorded, and I started to wonder if it could be a possible project to work on.

3 years on, I'm now in my 3rd year of my degree, after taking a year's break, and the Kamihamiha! album is almost finished. Over this time, my musical tastes ventured far more towards serious electronic acts, and as such, so has my musical style.

2011 looks to be a big year for Kamihamiha, with the target date for the album release being late January/early February, a full live band has been assembled, various remixing projects and the prospect of potential DJ work, as well as attempting to bridge into the Scottish hip hop community for some serious MCing and production.

Within this blog, I hope that I can share my experiences and hopefully provide a starting point to any aspiring new audio engineers or electronic musicians. If there's anything you'd particularly like me to cover, feel free to email me or add me on msn. I'll leave the details at the bottom of the page.

Thanks for reading, I hope I can make music as enjoyable for you as it is for me :)
K! x

Email: Kamihamiha@hotmail.co.uk
Listen here: http://www.reverbnation.com/kamihamiha
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kamihamiha/370562867221
Remix me here: http://www.ccmixter.org/people/kamihamiha