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Episode 32

Karina Byrne talks about writing music for ads and sonic brands, and accidentally writing with Hans Zimmer

Personal stories of inspiration from music industry professionals.

In this episode, Gareth chats with composer, producer and vocalist Karina Byrne about writing music for ads and sonic brands, and accidentally writing with Hans Zimmer.

Host: Gareth Davies

Produced by The Sound Boutique

Connect with Gareth

Support The Music Room

Music Room newsletter

Transcript
Gareth:

Welcome to the Music Room.

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This time in the Music Room.

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Karina Byrne: I know there's a lot of

kind of music creatives that don't like

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to work under pressure and then there's

kind of a camp of people that do.

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So I think you need to be

okay with trusting your ideas.

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You need to be okay with working at speed.

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And there's an element of kind of stress,

to be honest, that does come with that.

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Gareth: Welcome to the Music Room,

the show where I chat with music

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industry professionals about their

work before going back in time to

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find out how it all began for them.

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And stick around to the end,

because at some point I ask my

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guests to leave an item and a

piece of advice for you to find.

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And if you go back to all the

other episodes, that's over 30 now.

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It's quite amazing.

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Uh, you're going to find so much brilliant

advice for music creators, just like you.

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So it's well worth having a

delve into the back catalogue.

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Today's guest is Karina Byrne, who

specialises in producing music and session

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vocals for advertising campaigns, sonic

branding and production music libraries.

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I haven't covered much

on that side of things.

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So I thought it might be useful to

chat with someone about how it works

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and, uh, Karina's extensive experience

and let's face it, Karina, your sunny

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disposition meant that I just knew

we'd have a lovely, relaxed chat.

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But before that music stories.

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Comedian Catherine Tate has

just hosted the Doctor Who Prom.

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Catherine, who played the Doctor's

companion, Donna Noble, returned to the

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show in 2023, alongside David Tennant

for the 60th anniversary specials.

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Alongside the music of composer

Murray Gold, the prom also featured

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Music Room guest, Segun Akinola's

music, which was specifically created

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for Jodie Whittaker's 13th doctor.

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And you can hear all about that

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in Segun's episode, the link

for which is in the show notes.

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The prom will be on BBC sounds for 30 days

and shown on the BBC later in the year.

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And finally I asked the Music

Room Facebook group, what are

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the areas of the music workflow

I can produce an episode around.

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Some of the answers were just great.

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What about an episode on red flags, useful

warnings from the community that can be

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applied when working with publishers,

directors, collaborators, et cetera.

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That's a really interesting idea.

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I like that.

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I'm going to mull that over,

but definitely worth uh,

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producing an episode on that.

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Thank you.

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Um, advice on releasing your first album.

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How to even get started

with sync libraries.

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Sync libraries, definitely on my radar.

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So maybe we can include releasing

your first album in that.

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Thank you everyone.

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Uh, if you have any other ideas for

themed episodes, just let me know on

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the email hello@thesoundboutique.com

or via the link in the show notes.

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Karina Byrne specialises in producing

music and session vocals for

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advertising campaigns, sonic branding

and production music libraries.

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She's created a wide range of music

for some of the world's biggest brands

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via global music agencies, such as BMG,

EMI, Warner Chappell, Sister Music,

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Siren, Wake The Town, Massive Music,

D L N D D., Sonic Brand and Leland.

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Let's get into the music

room to find out more.

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Gareth: Karina Byrne, composer,

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producer, vocalist.

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Welcome to the music room.

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Karina Byrne: Thank you.

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Gareth: How are you doing today?

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It's very hot here.

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Karina Byrne: Uh, very well, thanks.

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I'm actually not too hot today, thank God.

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Gareth: Excellent, excellent.

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Where in the world do we find you?

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Karina Byrne: Um, so at the moment

I'm, I'm based in Shoreditch in London.

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Um, quite a busy part of the world.

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Gareth: Yeah,

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Karina Byrne: But lots going on.

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Gareth: Yeah, wonderful.

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And lots going on with your company

slash website, Neighbourhood Jukebox.

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Would you, is that your company?

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Karina Byrne: Yeah.

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So, um, so it's actually not

like anything too serious.

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I'm, I'm kind of just a self employed

person really, but it looks, it looks

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and sounds cool to tell the truth

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Gareth: Yeah, it does, it does.

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I mean, it's a great name.

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Neighbourhood Jukebox.

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Um, where did it come from?

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Where did it originate from?

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Karina Byrne: Um, it's actually

a relatively interesting story.

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So, when I came out of uni, I did a music

degree, at the London College of Music.

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And then afterwards when I came out, I

was like, right, how do I get out there

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and get the attention of, uh, future

employers and kind of get my self known.

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So I thought about doing basically

a music blog, um, quite randomly.

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And

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I don't know where the name came from.

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I thought, yeah, I don't really know.

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I just sort of brain, like thought

about it and pondered on it a lot.

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And I ended up calling

it Neighbourhood Jukebox.

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Um, and it was like just a

kind of WordPress site, so

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it was nothing glamorous.

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Um, and I wrote an

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Gareth: Was the blog about a

local music scene or something?

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Karina Byrne: It wasn't actually, that

would have made more sense, wouldn't it?

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Would have made more sense.

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I liked the idea of this kind of like,

neighborhood being kind of a collective,

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like, um, a bit universal kind of meaning

to it, friendly, like anybody can kind

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of join in and it's kind of approachable.

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I liked that, those kind of

connotations of the word.

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Um, but yeah, I actually wrote an article,

a few, I wrote a few articles on there,

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but the one that got somebody's interest,

which is what I was hoping for, was one

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about the marriage of music in media.

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Marriage of music and media, I should say.

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so I kind of picked out my favourite

adverts, having never kind of written

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anything for ads at that point.

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And yeah, wrote about what I liked and

why I thought that the music really drove

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that visual and what it brought to it.

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And I got a message on LinkedIn

from somebody asking me if I

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wanted to come in for an interview.

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Gareth: as a writer or a composer?

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Karina Byrne: Um, as a, well,

it was, it was kind of like an

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assistant music licensing exec job.

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Very random.

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Gareth: Blimey.

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That really is, yeah.

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I've heard a lot of stories

about how people got into music

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and that's, that's a new one.

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Yeah.

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Karina Byrne: Yeah, well.

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Gareth: And your bio on

your website opens up.

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I've co written with Hans Zimmer

and performed with Professor Green.

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I mean, if you're going to have a humble

brag, they're pretty good, aren't they?

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Tell me more, what happened there?

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Karina Byrne: Well, I tell you what.

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Firstly,

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I will say you, you have to shout

about things that you've done, I think,

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and you have to be quite unmodest.

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And that has actually taken me quite a lot

of years to learn, to be honest with you.

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I think I used to really massively

undersell myself and struggled with kind

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of having the confidence to be like.

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Actually, yeah, you've got achievements,

that you should be showcasing.

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So yeah, um, it's quite random,

um, and they probably sound a bit

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more impressive than they are, if

I'm completely honest with you.

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So the Hans Zimmer one was

actually an accidental co write.

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Um, so it was for an advert that I was

working on that was like a tic tac advert.

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And initially, they asked me to write

a completely brand new, like, track.

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So all of the music, all of the

vocals, um, there was a whole brief.

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So I did that and they were

like, okay, that's great.

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We really liked the top line.

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But actually we've got this musical track

that we used on a previous campaign and

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we want to reuse that, but we'd really

like you to write a top line with it.

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So I did that, won the job, writing a top

line vocal with this instrumental track.

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And then, yeah, it was,

it was kind of, approved.

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And then they said, yeah, so that track

was actually written by Hans Zimmer.

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Gareth: Amazing.

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Karina Byrne: And I was like, sorry, what?

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So that's, um, that's, yeah,

I've not, unfortunately I've

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not been in the room with him.

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Which would have been nice.

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Actually, no, I have been

in the room with him.

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But for a talk, but not for a co write.

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So that's the Hans Zimmer one.

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Gareth: well.

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Next time you're in a talk, you

should go and tell him what happened.

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Karina Byrne: probably.

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Probably wouldn't even remember, he's

probably churning out so much music.

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but yeah, and um, as for the

Professor Green, performance thing.

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So I used to be in a band, when I was

19, and it was called Diamond Empire.

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Don't look it up, because it's not a

reflection, well you can look it up

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if you like, but it's certainly not a

reflection of the kind of music that I

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Gareth: When someone

says, don't look it up,

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Karina Byrne: I've just invited.

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Gareth: an invite to look it up, isn't it?

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Yeah.

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Karina Byrne: Yeah, I've

put my foot in it there.

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I shouldn't have given the name.

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But anyway, it's fine.

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We all have to start

somewhere musically, don't we?

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And it's not, it's not terrible music.

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It's still music I'm kind of

proud of, but it's outdated.

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And

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Gareth: Absolutely.

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We all have that.

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You've got to go through it, haven't you?

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Karina Byrne: You do.

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You do.

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But yes, so I played a festival, um, at

Roehampton University, of all places.

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It was like their summer ball.

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And Professor Green was one of the

headliners and I was a supporting act.

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Gareth: Fantastic.

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Karina Byrne: It was cool.

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And there was also, there

was a number of other names.

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There was Scouting for Girls.

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There was Rich32, who was

pretty big at the time.

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and I can't remember

who else was on there.

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But there was, quite a few big names.

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And then my little band.

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Gareth: Superb.

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You've also, created a wide range of music

for a lot of the biggest brands the world.

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How does that all work?

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So you're creating music for

brands, you're creating music for

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ads, how does that process happen?

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Karina Byrne: Okay, so for me,

there's kind of two sides to that.

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So one of the avenues that I do that

in is, is writing bespoke music.

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So I'll be given a brief and it

will usually come from a music

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agency, a music supervision company.

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And they'll already have kind of thought

about what genre and pacing and mood

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and various other kind of facets to the

brief instrumentation, whether there's

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vocals or not, you know, all those kinds

of things that make up a music brief.

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And they will basically be sending

that out to composers of their

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choosing based on what they, you know,

whether they think you fit that bill.

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And usually that process is like a pitch.

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Very occasionally you might get awarded

a job, which is the dream scenario.

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Um, meaning that, you know, somebody

might go, yeah, we really wanna

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work with you and that's great.

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You're not gonna need to

pitch against anybody else.

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But in the ad, in the ad space,

generally speaking, it is a pitch.

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Gareth: Do you know how many other

people you're pitching against

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ever, or is it just literally here's

the pitch and then you know that

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other people are pitching for it?

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Karina Byrne: Sometimes the music

company that have briefed me will

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tell me how many other people

that they have briefed themselves.

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But that's one company pitching.

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There'll probably most likely be

several other music companies pitching,

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and obviously there's no way of

really knowing who's on those briefs.

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So, it can sometimes be,

cast out pretty wide.

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Gareth: And so, you've got the

brief, you crack on with the pitch,

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and so, I mean, legend has it that

you're not given very much time.

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You can be squeezing it in to

a very short space of time.

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Karina Byrne: yes.

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That is completely gospel truth.

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So it's, it's definitely

not everybody's cup of tea.

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I know there's a lot of kind of

music creatives that don't like to

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work under pressure and then there's

kind of a camp of people that do.

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Um, so I think you need to be

okay with trusting your ideas.

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You need to be okay with working at speed.

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And there's an element of kind of stress,

to be honest, that does come with that.

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But also excitement.

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It's a pretty exciting

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process, because it's like, you don't have

time to, uh, procrastinate on your ideas.

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Gareth: And if you're pitching

against people and you win that

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pitch, is that generally it?

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Or do they come back and say, right

now we want this section reworked?

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Or, you know, do they give

notes back at that point?

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Karina Byrne: Yeah, so even in the

kind of pitching process, you've not

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necessarily been selected as the winning

demo, you might be asked to make some

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tweaks, and what is kind of cool is that

music companies try and keep that to a

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minimum really, and they try and manage

client expectation to make sure that,

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you know, you're not overworking for the

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Gareth: yeah, they're going to be

right in the middle of it, aren't they?

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Karina Byrne: Yeah.

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But yeah, sometimes even when you have

won the project, you might need to do

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some, some tweaks and amends to get it to

the place that they're super happy with.

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Gareth: Fantastic.

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Karina Byrne: So, the other one actually

something called sonic branding, which

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is another kind of aspect of my work.

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and basically, that's like, In

the past, it was all the jingles

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that you would have heard.

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Um, and now, in the more modern

day sense of the words, it's about

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creating sonic logos, which are also

known as mnemonics, and brand themes.

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So the sonic logos tend to be like,

three to four sec well, actually two

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to four seconds, really, of um, audio.

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And, yeah, it's a lot it's a very

short space of time to create something

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Gareth: And in a way, I did one of

these for a manufacturing company last

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year, and it took about six months.

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Karina Byrne: Yeah!

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Yeah.

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Gareth: it was dealing with

so many different departments.

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Going backwards and forwards and

narrowing down and it's actually a bigger

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challenge I think to try and distill a

brand into that short amount of time.

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Karina Byrne: you've hit the nail on the

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head.

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Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, um, because

exactly, because you'll be presented

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with brand values and, how they want

to be different to their competitors

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and all of these different things.

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And you've got lots of boxes to

sort of tick in a tiny, short, short

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kind of timeframe, but it's, it's an

interesting process and you'd be surprised

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Gareth: And then at the end they

say, do it like the Netflix one.

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Karina Byrne: Oh, the number of times that

they reference Netflix and McDonald's in

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sonic branding is quite, kind of comical.

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Gareth: Yeah,

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Karina Byrne: It's constant.

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Gareth: To be fair the Netflix

ident is really good, isn't it?

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Karina Byrne: It's really good,

but I've heard that they're

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changing it, which is shocking.

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wait, don't, don't, don't

take my word for it though.

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I don't know if

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Gareth: wow.

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I tell you what, uh, just thinking

about that, one of the cleverest things

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I've seen in, uh, sonic branding was

years ago McDonald's had the, I'm

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loving it, and they had the actual,

I'm loving it, sung at the end.

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And then, they changed it, but

they just whistled the tune,

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Karina Byrne: Mm.

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Gareth: and that was it.

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They took out the singing at the

end, they took out the message,

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because in your brain, that,

you're going to be thinking it.

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Karina Byrne: Yeah,

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Gareth: I thought that was so clever.

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It was

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Karina Byrne: that's actually

a brilliant observation because

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yeah, you don't need the call and

response if you know it already.

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Then, yeah, exactly through a

the power of association you're

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just going to get it aren't you?

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Gareth: Yeah.

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Karina Byrne: Love that.

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Gareth: So I don't know who

was in charge of that campaign,

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but well done whoever it was.

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That's a really

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Karina Byrne: I don't

know, but do you know what?

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I found out the other day that, um,

T-Pain actually wrote that theme.

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Gareth: Really?

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Karina Byrne: because I think it's,

I think it's common, um, a common

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misconception that Justin Timberlake

wrote the original song that it was

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derived from, but I, I, well, hopefully

this isn't any like deep fake internet

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information, so everybody needs to do

their fact checks, but I'm sure that it,

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that I read that T Pain, was the writer.

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Gareth: He wrote it while he was

sitting eating his McNuggets, dipping

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his McNuggets into barbecue sauce,

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Karina Byrne: And then

the inspiration came.

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Gareth: Yeah, I'm really loving this.

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Karina Byrne: Brilliant.

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Gareth: Ah, well done T Pain.

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Okay, Karina, let's go back in time.

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I want to know how it all began for you.

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And, uh, how you got into music.

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Karina Byrne: Okay.

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Gareth: here we go.

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Karina Byrne: yes.

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So, I guess my first, like, segue

into music was learning the piano.

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So I actually went down a classical route.

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Gareth: How young were you when you were

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Karina Byrne: um, like 10.

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So, not the youngest

in the world, I guess.

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People start earlier than that.

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But, yeah, from like 10, I went down the

classical route and I got up to grade 5.

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And then, I sort of realised,

that all of the being boxed in

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to grades wasn't really my style.

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Gareth: When you started

learning, what was the motivation?

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Were you kind of pushed into lessons?

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Um, or did you have a hankering?

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And thought, right, classical

is the only way to do it?

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What was the motivation to

start in the first place?

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Karina Byrne: My household

was incredibly musical.

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So my mum was, um, a

really massive music lover.

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And used to have, um, one

of those old hi fi systems.

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And it had loads of her vinyls and stuff.

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So she'd be blaring out the

likes of, like, Doris Day

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and Jim Reeves in the house.

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And Louis Armstrong was,

like, her all time favourite.

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So that doesn't really have any

bearing to classical music, obviously.

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But she had learned the

piano when she was young.

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So had both my sisters, so I think it

was more of a, initially it was more

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of a like, this is what the girls

in our family do kind of tradition.

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but actually what really

sparked my love for music was

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playing songs with my brother.

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We used to write music together and um,

we were actually in a band together.

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And he, he was the person that inspired me

to write music and to actually play music.

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believe in myself.

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Gareth: Oh.

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Karina Byrne: So, yeah.

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Shout out to my brother

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Gareth: Well done, Aidan.

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That's a lovely thing as well.

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And, having music as a really positive

presence in a household growing up can

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mean the difference between wanting

to get into it for a career and not.

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Karina Byrne: Yes.

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Well, speaking of the career side of

it, I was actually kind of discouraged.

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As much as music was a huge part of

our life, I think there was a fear

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around making it a career option.

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My mum's actually Indian, so I think

that did have a little bit of a

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cultural bearing for us because, she

kind of wanted me to go down more of

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the academia route, which is a, yeah.

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Um, and then I suppose gradually I

just realised I just couldn't be that

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person and I had, I just needed to

try and make a career out of music.

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And if I didn't, then

I'd always regret it.

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Gareth: Um,

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Karina Byrne: Sadly, in 2017,

my mum actually passed away.

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Which is a bit of a driving force

really for me, kind of thinking,

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right, life is actually quite, I'm

getting a little bit deep here,

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but thinking life is a little bit

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short.

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:

puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

375

:

Yeah.

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:

it really does, and I think at that

point chosen to go and study music at

377

:

degree level, so I had committed somewhat.

378

:

But what I was lacking before that point,

I think, was, belief in my own abilities,

379

:

and belief that I could, you know, I

could put my mind to it all and actually

380

:

make a success out of it as a career.

381

:

It felt like a big daunting thing

and I think sometimes you can feel a

382

:

little discouraged by the amount of

competition that there is out there

383

:

and feel like there's not enough

space for everyone to flourish.

384

:

but when you have a life changing event I

think it can really be a bit of a driver

385

:

to go after what you really always wanted.

386

:

Gareth: I think there's a point

where you have to ask yourself,

387

:

why not, instead of why.

388

:

you know, if you want to do

something, what have you got to lose?

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:

Karina Byrne: Definitely.

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:

And I think, I think also for me, partly

it was, it was thinking, well, if all of

391

:

these other people that I'm admiring from

a distance and thinking, wow, I'd love

392

:

to do that, have been able to do it, then

why can't I, you know, and it's um, it's

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:

then about equipping yourself with the

tools that you need to be able to do that.

394

:

So I, kind of embarked on like, Some

online music production courses and stuff

395

:

to try and get my skills up to the point

that I felt that they needed to be at

396

:

Gareth: Yeah.

397

:

So is this all after university?

398

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah

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:

So I finished my, my undergraduate degree

And then after that, to kind of top up

400

:

my skills, I did an online course at Point

Blank, music school, in music production.

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:

And, um, yeah, just, I think

things like that, when you, for

402

:

me, when I was at uni, I was kind

of a little bit, what's the word?

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:

I don't think I was quite as determined.

404

:

So doing that course later on when

I was really ready to kind of gear

405

:

it up a level was the right time and

I paid a lot, a lot more attention.

406

:

Gareth: And I think in, um, moree

recent times, there's a lot more

407

:

around, there's a degree in pretty

much everything nowadays, isn't there?

408

:

So there, there are courses, that you

can do, in pretty much anything to do

409

:

with music production, songwriting,

you know, whatever you want to do,

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:

there's going to be something out there.

411

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah, definitely.

412

:

And I don't know about you, but I

certainly feel like the best, education

413

:

I've ever had in terms of the tech

side is actually putting into practice,

414

:

like the things that I've been taught.

415

:

Gareth: I do wonder if in hindsight,

I would have gone to university.

416

:

Karina Byrne: I've thought this

417

:

too.

418

:

Gareth: There's nothing you can't

learn in an active studio situation

419

:

where you're, you're making the coffee,

you're doing all the little jobs and

420

:

learning right from the ground up.

421

:

yeah, I wonder if that

might have created more

422

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah, definitely.

423

:

I couldn't agree more.

424

:

And I also think it's really

important to reach out to people.

425

:

I've actually been quite astounded by

how open people are to giving me advice.

426

:

And if you're kind of brave enough to

make yourself a little bit vulnerable,

427

:

because it's not easy reaching out to

somebody and saying Hey, these are my

428

:

weak spots, but we're all human and we all

have things that we're trying to improve.

429

:

But I actually think the level of,

like, support from other musicians

430

:

is, when you do reach out to

them, it's actually really lovely.

431

:

Gareth: I mean, I wish when I started as

a composer, uh, falling off that cliff

432

:

of discovery and didn't know what I was

doing, much like everyone else, I'm sure.

433

:

It would have been nice to know that

it's okay to be open, it's okay to reach

434

:

out and know that other people you're

looking at who you think, wow, you've

435

:

got it all sorted and they haven't,

you know, everyone's in the same boat.

436

:

and it's okay to figure it out

together a lot of the time.

437

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah, definitely, and

we all want to paint the picture

438

:

of, we've got everything in check

and we've got nothing more to learn.

439

:

But the beauty, in my opinion,

of a career in music is that

440

:

there's always more to learn.

441

:

It's like a game where you've

never unlocked all the levels.

442

:

Gareth: Getting profound.

443

:

There we go.

444

:

Oh yeah, that would be a great

segue into gaming, wouldn't it?

445

:

But,

446

:

Karina Byrne: I haven't

touched upon that, I'm afraid.

447

:

Gareth: yet,

448

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah,

449

:

Gareth: So you've, done another course.

450

:

What happened then?

451

:

Karina Byrne: So, at that

time, I was writing tracks.

452

:

Not finishing them, like 90

percent of all musicians.

453

:

And I, yeah, I actually had that.

454

:

That's such a thing, isn't it?

455

:

For people like not finishing

tracks and I completely get it.

456

:

And now all I do is finish tracks, but

that's because I think partly when you

457

:

have deadlines, kind of focuses your

attention and somebody's paying you.

458

:

So you have to finish the tracks.

459

:

Gareth: You've trained yourself to do it.

460

:

We have a previous guest on this show, uh,

Gary Clark of Danny Wilson fame, uh, who's

461

:

one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

462

:

And his advice was finish

track, finish the song.

463

:

It doesn't matter, if it's crap,

if it's not, if it's brilliant.

464

:

Just get it finished and then you

can actually go back and go right.

465

:

What do I need to do?

466

:

because there's this this thing isn't

there of if you if you don't finish

467

:

something then you know, you can't kind

of criticise it or you can't put it

468

:

out and for other people to criticise

469

:

Karina Byrne: yeah,

470

:

Gareth: So

471

:

it of hangs in that limbo.

472

:

Yeah, that's it.

473

:

That's it the perfection trap

474

:

Karina Byrne: It's, it's, it's

like, it's a huge curse and what I

475

:

think is really, really important

to note is that we're all together

476

:

in the imposter syndrome epidemic.

477

:

Everybody, no matter what

level they're at, still.

478

:

Kind of sometimes goes, Oh my

God, I don't know what I'm doing.

479

:

Is my work terrible?

480

:

And it's part of the creative process.

481

:

There's a graph out there

somewhere that I saw.

482

:

And it's like all of these kind

of stages that you go through

483

:

when you write something.

484

:

And it's like, inevitably, at some

point, with pretty much every piece of

485

:

music you're going to make, you're going

to have a little moment when you go,

486

:

Oh my God, I really don't like this.

487

:

And it's just a kind of

teething process as part.

488

:

Yeah, it's a teething issue.

489

:

And, um, yeah, I think,

I think exactly that.

490

:

So if you wait until.

491

:

You're 100, 000 percent

happy with something.

492

:

You're never gonna get to that point

and you're never gonna be able to put

493

:

it out there or share it with anybody.

494

:

And sharing something, you

know, of a decent standard is

495

:

better than sharing nothing.

496

:

Gareth: absolutely.

497

:

There you go, kids.

498

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah.

499

:

Gareth: Karina has spoken.

500

:

Get your music out there.

501

:

Karina Byrne: yeah, get it out there.

502

:

Don't let it sit on a hard drive

where nobody's ever gonna hear it.

503

:

But another interesting thing that I

learned was, um, I used to collaborate,

504

:

pretty extensively with somebody else

and they taught me a hell of a lot.

505

:

So they came from a like

commercial background.

506

:

So they wrote with like various

commercial artists via another producer.

507

:

So they had that hat

on, which I'd never had.

508

:

So that always used to say, go

down the rabbit hole in the studio.

509

:

It sounds a bit hippy trippy.

510

:

Um, but actually it's

stayed with me ever since.

511

:

So it's kind of what it is in essence

is allowing yourself to dive deeper

512

:

into an idea and run with it, even

not, and kind of get out of your way.

513

:

So rather than kind of overthinking it

and then, you know, wanting to know where

514

:

it's going to go, it's like getting.

515

:

Sounds cheesy, but it's kind

of getting lost in the moment

516

:

and getting lost in that idea.

517

:

Gareth: Yeah, I couldn't

agree more with that.

518

:

So, I ask all of my guests, Karina,

to leave an item and a piece of advice

519

:

in the music room for others to find.

520

:

So, have you brought an item

that you would like to leave?

521

:

Karina Byrne: I would leave, the

voice memos app open and recording.

522

:

for somebody.

523

:

Gareth: Just leave it open and recording.

524

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah.

525

:

So I'd leave, I'd, I'd donate my

phone and I'd leave, I'd leave the

526

:

voice memos and I'd gift that to them.

527

:

Um, because that has, that has

been an amazing tool for me.

528

:

Just like going out and walking

my dog literally or wherever I,

529

:

sometimes I've been on the train and

an idea will come and you'll get down

530

:

this kind of gibberish voice note.

531

:

But there's, there's something in it.

532

:

So that would be my

533

:

item.

534

:

I'd leave my

535

:

smartphone.

536

:

Gareth: I'm sure.

537

:

The amount of stuff on the

collective music creators phones

538

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah.

539

:

Gareth: It must be gazillions of hours

of just people going doo doo doo doo doo

540

:

Karina Byrne: Some of it, I would

not even share with like the people

541

:

that are closest to me in my life.

542

:

Um, but that's fine.

543

:

It's, it's a powerful tool.

544

:

Um, with all of the gibberish,

there's something in there.

545

:

Gareth: that is fantastic and what piece

of advice would you like to leave Mmm.

546

:

Karina Byrne: Um, okay, my piece

of advice is don't judge your own

547

:

progress on other people by comparing

where you are or what your skills are

548

:

to them because there'll only be one

you and there'll only be one them.

549

:

Gareth: I mean, full stop.

550

:

There you go.

551

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah, because what,

what people's power is, creatively,

552

:

my opinion, is the essence of

them and what they're all about.

553

:

So if you're trying to imitate other

people, then kind of, the world's

554

:

missing out on your uniqueness.

555

:

Gareth: Absolutely, and you

inevitably become a poor

556

:

imitation of someone else as well.

557

:

Which, um, won't get you anywhere, will

558

:

Karina Byrne: No, there's already one

John Mayer, so you know, if we, I, I

559

:

certainly would not try and become him.

560

:

Partly because it's just never

going to happen, but yeah, exactly.

561

:

Gareth: I'm sure John Mayer

is mightily relieved that

562

:

you're not on, uh, hot on his

563

:

Karina Byrne: Yeah.

564

:

Watch this space.

565

:

Gareth: Watch this space.

566

:

Fantastic.

567

:

Karina Byrne, it has been a

joy chatting with you today.

568

:

Thanks for joining me in the music room.

569

:

Karina Byrne: Thank you so much.

570

:

I've, had a great time being on the show.

571

:

Gareth: Thanks for listening to

the Music Room podcast today.

572

:

If you'd like to know more about the

show or the community that surrounds

573

:

it, head to musicroom.community.

574

:

The link is in the show notes.

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About the Podcast

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The Music Room
Personal stories of inspiration from music industry professionals.

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About your host

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Gareth Davies

Composer of music, producer of podcasts. Latest TV series: Toad & Friends (Warner Bros. Discovery). Current podcasts include The Music Room and Podcasting People.

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Thanks for making this podcast! I appreciate all the advice and useful items that guests leave, it’s helped me think about how I go about things.