Matt Whelan
A bit about me.
Musician and producer Matt Whelan (or Mattaous), currently based out of Huddersfield for his course in "Creative Music Production" is a talented music maker and enjoyer, so get ready to dive into some of his work and stay tuned for exciting releases and updates!
Matthew Sean Whelan grew up in Broadstairs in the far south-east of England, where his passion for music came by curiosity, using his ears to work out and play on the chewed up piano his family recently obtained. He then took up some piano lessons and from there his musical journey began. Being from a musical family, going to music-encouraging schools and attending church most weeks gave Matt a great classical foundation in his music knowledge, from which he began to pickup other skills and instruments down the line, such as singing and saxophone.
Matt's musical taste is derived from a long and diverse history of the music he's exposed to and enjoys. With many influences giving a unique and ever evolving sound to his music and performance. In a below section you can find some of the more recent material Matt has been interested and influenced by.
Matt prides himself in having a wide, diverse skillset - all the way from being a multi-instrumentalist to being a well tuned, detail oriented producer/engineer on the tech side. With much experience of playing live for audiences and performing for recording, Matt can find his use anywhere in a musical environment, even if it's just down to making a good cuppa tea.
Some of the instruments he is practiced in include - vocals, piano, saxophone, bass, flute and he retains some experience with other instruments such as various percussion and stringed instruments.
His love for music production blossomed during the 1st pandemic lockdown of 2020, where he began using Ableton. Since doing music at both GCSE and A-level and music tech at A-level his skills within the DAW became more proficient. Now since joining his Music production course at the University of Huddersfield, he has experience using Ableton, Pro-tools, Logic and more, with his technical ability becoming stronger by the day.
Matt currently has not released much of his work publicly so as to focus on his current studies, but you can find snippets of what's to come...
My Work
In this section you can find some of Matt's work in music production over the last few years.
Creative work
A piece made at the start of 2022, in collaboration with a friend - this song posed as a challenge to see what could be made with limited time (3 hrs)
credit due to George Pearson
A piece played, recorded and mixed by myself in collaboration with a couple friends, the aim being to reproduce the original song. This is a more recent work, produced to a high level
A piece begun early in 2020 when life was changing due to a rampant pandemic. This is only a demo, a taster of what my music might be...
Briefed work
This piece is some of my earliest work - another reproduction of an original song which I've chosen as a good example of where I started. I made this song with some limited gear at the time I was working on my A-levels.
This piece is a more recent example of my remix work. (original track above and my remix below) I had a focus on synthesis for this piece, using my theory knowledge to achieve desired timbres. I managed to completely renovate the style of this song, predominantly through the use of synthesis, effects processing and reharmonization.
In these examples of briefed work, I was essentially set out with the goal of experimentation and trying something new. I ended up creating a couple tracks, one featuring unique percussion samples and experimenting with the use of "dilla time" (a rhythmic technique). The other being a harmonic experiment, with the use of 16 different vocal harmonies all different melodically. To call them a success is subjective, yet I did succeed in creating something different...
The brief of this piece was simple enough - to "Write a song that expresses something of interest or importance to you", which I do, discussing recent dramatic cuts in budget at Huddersfield University and all around the country within the lyrics. I used this piece mainly to play around the idea of mixing instrumentation and synthesis.
This piece followed on from the idea of one of the examples above, using only vocals and harmonic layering to create a song - yet I was more refined with this time, not taking it too far with the harmonies, and the result (although not perfectly produced) became a beautiful example of what you can make with one medium. I think I will be revisiting this song later down the line...
Live performances
I've come to realise I don't have many recordings of my pop focused and soloist performances, but these videos show some of the ensemble performances I have been involved in over the years.
In both of these am singing tenor parts. These two videos were taken from a music tour to Paris with my old school. One is performed as a flashmob under the Eiffel towel and the other is performed in "La Madeleine"
In both of these performances I am playing baritone saxophone. These were performed with the Huddersfield symphonic wind orchestra in our local St Pauls church.
Some influences and recommendations
Some songs and artists I take inspiration from and enjoy/recommend giving a listen to - I think they speak for themself
Gallery
