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Kris Keogh is Blastcorp - a one-man band based in Darwin.

Today on EB we meet Kris, and find out just how to make a record. Kris explains the process in a very interesting way.

Hi. I'm Kris. I'm Blastcorp. You're in my studio and this is how I make a song.

First, I normally muck around with something, maybe a guitar or anything hanging around, just to get some sound which I need to mangle.

First, he mucks around with anything hanging around.
Around in these phrases gives the sense of something that's not specific or definite.

Muck around, play around, clown around, horse around.

They all mean to play about, to do something in a playful, not very serious way.
He plays in the studio. He uses a guitar or something else hanging around.
To be hanging around means to just be somewhere, for no real reason.
He just picks up anything that he sees about the place.
Then gets some sound to mangle. To mangle is an unusual word. It means to spoil or ruin.
He means he does unusual things to the sound he makes, to make it sound very different.
After he's played sounds, what does he do?

OK, and so then I get those sounds, put them in the computer by recording them and then I've got to burn a CD so I can put them in the magic next machine. It's ready. Alright! Let's go.

He records them and burns a CD. He says: It's ready! All Right! Let's go!
All right, and let's go are exclamations, so when we write them down, use an exclamation mark.
Ok! Let's go! Alright!
What's next?

Ah, so there's the guitar I played. So then you can go...

And then record a bit of that.

Ohh. So everywhere on this keyboard is really fast up this end... ..and really slow down this end.

Listen to how he makes his language more interesting.
He could say:
"I record some of the guitar. Then I play it on the keyboard. Everything is fast up one end and slow down the other."
That gives the information. But he gives much more than that.

Ah, so there's the guitar I played. So then you can go...

And then record a bit of that.

Ohh. So everywhere on this keyboard is really fast up this end... ..and really slow down this end.

He uses sounds, and pauses, and he even changes the speed of his speech, to give feeling and emotion to it.

OK! Alright! What's next?

And then you play along with it. And then you get fancy. And that's starting to sound like music.

OK, then I'll put the guitar sounds into this computer and then fiddle around with it until it kind of sounds nice.

And then we need to add more sounds. So, like, definitely need some drums and some bass. You know, I'm trying to be a whole band here.

So then I'll record a whole bunch of that. And then I'll need some drumbeats. Alright. Cool. And then we put that all in the computer and it should sound something like this.

He fiddles around with the sound. Notice the pronunciation and spelling of around and sound.
'o-u-n-d.' ownd. Like:

ground, found bound astound hound mound pound wound.

But watch out - w-o-u-n-d can also be pronounced woond - when it means an injury or sore.
So Kris puts the sounds - the noise he has made - into the computer. Then he plays with it until it sounds nice.
Sound can be a verb and a noun, and it's pronounced the same way.
He likes the way this sounds.

Yeah, and then you've got to get your trusty secret lyric book and write in for a while.

OK, so then once you've got the words, you've got to sing along till it has a nice tune.

Yeah, and then you do that for a while and then you have to record the singing.

This is the scary bit. I always do it when no-one's home.

OK, and then, once you've done everything, you put it in the mail to your trusted record label in Europe somewhere and wait for a while, and then they send you back one of these. - dad dada Ah. A record!

Da da! A record! Da da is a sound you can make before a big announcement.

So you can hear how he makes his story interesting, by playing around a bit with his language.
And you can listen to Kris again on our English Bites website.