About Bing Satellites
My name is Brin Coleman. I'm a prolific mostly ambient musician and producer based in Manchester, UK.
I have been creating and releasing mostly ambient music since 2008 as Bing Satellites, although I now also release a lot of music under the guises of
The Ambient Visitor (longform generative ambient drones),
Blocker (harder electronic music),
Ethereal Ephemera (peaceful ambient music),
Ghost Harmonics (minimalist and deeply ambient longform drones),
Infinity Wave (dark industrial ambient drones),
Kowalski Room (minimal experimental ambient),
The Lovely Moon (positive and relaxing generative music) and
Theta Wave Orchestra (experimental space ambient).
I work a lot with my friend, the greatly talented Daniel Land, on his song albums and as part of his wonderful live band. I also contribute to his ambient project riverrun. We may or may not be working on one or two other surprises.
Music is my passion.
It has been said that I am rather prolific and with over 350 releases in 11 years, I guess I can't argue with that! I need to make music, I love doing it and I do it a lot.
I have been asked how I create so much music and if I ever sleep.
The answer is I do sleep (not as much as I should) but I spent a lot of time making music and I have found ways of making it very quickly.
I don't have kids or a 9 to 5 job and I work mostly at home with a simple set up which gives me a lot of time to experiment and work whenever I feel creative.
I also work as a supporting artiste (an 'extra') on TV, films and commercials. You might spot me on Coronation Street, The Real Housewives of Cheshire (honestly!) or a variety of other shows. This work gives me plenty of time for music making.
But how do I make so much music?
There are a few answers to this. As I have said, I spend a lot of time doing it (seriously, many days I will work every waking hour).
Much of my music is improvised and recorded live, so an album is created in almost the time it takes to play it (plus time for editing, mastering, cover art, etc).
I don't overthink it. With the improvised music, I have a palette of sounds I change and add to on a regular basis. I don't overthink it, but I have a range of sounds that are easy to play with and change on the fly.
This means I can switch on the computer, press record and go!
The other secret is, and this is somehow sacrilegious in music, I am not afraid to repeat myself. I don't get caught up on using particular synths or spend an age perfecting a sound. Improvisation and generative systems come with the element of chance which I embrace!
I work under many guises. Some of these guises are just a particular system I use to make music. I will explore these systems and see want they can come up with again and again. For example, my project Kowalski Room is a way of creating music using phasing, using layers of virtual tape loops slightly out of sync with each other to create to soundscapes. Where some people might try this once, I will try this again and again to see what is possible with it.
Making music under many guises and having various projects means I can do what I like whenever I like. I work very hard but I feel lucky to be able to do this.
My studio - Mission Control or something
Recently, a number of people have asked about my studio set-up.
Right now, it is fairly simple - a laptop, guitar and midi keyboard. The vast majority of my music uses Reason and Ableton Live. This is a simple and versatile set up that can be used for many thing. I play the guitar with an ebow a lot. I have found ways of using this so it doesn't get the usual ebow sound.
In the past my studio had a lot of synths too. My studio has included Waldorf Blofeld, Yamaha RM1x, Yamaha CS1x, Novation Bass Station, Novation K Station, Novation KS rack synth, Korg TR rack synth, Roland SH-32 and probably more. For various reasons, many of these were sold or are not currently available.
My studio is also just a spare bedroom in my city centre flat. It is a pleasant place to work. I am surrounded by the hustle and bustle of city life while surrounded by trees. This room gets sunshine all day (the sun does shine occassionally in Manchester!) and gets a great view of sunsets for much of the year. Having the luxury of such a great working environment in my own home is such a luxury and is one of the reasons I can create so much music.
Creative Commons and Name-Your-Price Downloads
Most of the music I release is shared under a Creative Commons license. It is pretty much the same as regular copyright, only you can legally share it with your family and friends or on your non-commercial radio station for free and without the threat of legal action or whatever. Commercial uses require the same royalties and licenses as regular copyrighted material. While my CDs are available to buy at a certain (very reasonable) price, many downloads are available as name-your-price. This means you can pay what you want or whatever you can afford. It suits how I work and works for me. I feel it is important to be able to share music. This is why I chose to release it this way.
Feel free to share my music with your family and friends, on your website or non-commercial radio station.
If you wish to use my music for commercial purposes, please contact me.