An accomplished black Pop/Funk sound from Bedford boy, a home studio plugged into a computer, a career in the retail business sacrificed to the demands of the artistic muse. Hardly sounds like a recipe for success, but despite appearance to the contrary, George Thorn has really got his act together...

George's demos don't give much of an insight into his thinking, mainly because they make him sound like a large band with mucho Fairlights and a massive studio. Nothing could be further from the truth; the truth is that he gave up working in music shops such as Gigsounds about eight months ago to concentrate on writing songs, and as you're reading this, he'll be spending his time touting them around publishers and managers. Don't you mean record companies, I hear you ask? Nope – oddly enough, George's efforts aren't intended for the public ear. He wants to sell his songs, not himself... but let him tell it in his own words.

"I got my first guitar when I was 11 and started playing in bands when I was 14, so the guitar has always been my main instrument. But I've put a lot of what I learned on the guitar to use on keyboards, which can be much more versatile. I like working on my own, so after working in various music shops over the years I decided that a computer would help. At that time I had one-inch eight-track and an S&H desk but no instruments apart from a guitar, so I sold it all to buy a Commodore 64 with one of the first Jellinghaus composer packages, a TASCAM Porta One, a DX7, an SCI Six-Trax, a Casio CZ-101, and finally a Roland JX-8P. At the time there wasn't a decent stand-alone sequencer that I could afford, and the computer does so many other things like patch dumping that it seemed the best choice.

"Last year I gave up my job to concentrate on writing full-time. I discussed it with my wife and we decided to give it two years to see if I could make a go of it, so the 10 songs I've recorded so far represent the first wave.

"Most of the songs start with a chord line on the JX-8P, then I develop them a section at a time on the computer. It's funny how the computer changes the way you write it – you store pieces away and come back to them later, so a chorus might bear much less relation to a verse than if you were writing in a conventional way. The computer helps if you're working on your own, and of course it's a great track-saver because you can record the first three of four parts simultaneously onto a couple of tracks – depending on how many synthesizers you have! But of course you do lose some of the spark of working with other people.

"I use an RX11 drum machine and I had a pulse amplifier/clipper built so that it syncs better to the computer's control socket. That goes down along with the JX-8P – I use some of the 8P's preset sounds, the Voice is very good for instance, but usually I touch up the envelope lengths to suit what I'm doing. I've had the DX7 for two years now and have got quite deeply into it – people say it's sounding a bit thin now, but that's just because they don't spend any time coming up with new sounds.

"On the Porta One demo I write patch changes into the computer so that the synthesizers play all the parts consecutively. But the Porta One tape isn't good enough to bounce off anywhere else, although it's fine to remember the tempo and any nuances I like on the demo vocal. Then I take all the gear down to a 16-track – at the moment the one in the basement of Gigsounds in Streatham – and remove all the patch changes from the computer file. If I can afford the space, all the keyboards get a separate track on the 16-track and the drums, which are usually pretty sparse, are separated onto three or four tracks for the bass, snare, percussion and cymbals.

"I've been using the Microvox Sampler to replace some of the drum sounds as well – it's monophonic, so I haven't experimented much with pitched sounds from it because that would tend to make me wish for polyphony! I'd like a Mirage or the Akai S900, but I may treat myself to an Amiga computer instead and wait for a polyphonic version of the Microvox – it's quite straightforward for anyone who's battled with the Jellinghaus software.

"I hardly use any effects at home because none of the tracks are final, but the studio has a good range and I've been using the Yamaha REV-7 a lot. There's also a Korg SDD-7000, a Roland SDE-2000, Drawmer gates, a Time Machine and lots more. At the studio stage I need some engineering help, and Chris Whitcombe who helps me with publicity usually lends a hand. We do come up with the occasional problem – we did some of the vocals with a Neumann U87, and it's so sensitive that it picked up the sounds of the monitors through the wall from the control room!"

The final results on George's tracks are pretty commercial, ranging from out-and-out dance floor stuff to smoochier ballads, all laced with Funk bass synth patches, sparkling trills on the Casio and rich chord sounds from the JX-8P. But they're still only demos, and the next stage is to go out and sell them.

"It's a waste of time posting cassettes to record companies – they probably don't even get listened to. So at the moment I'm concentrating on publishing companies who are a little more sympathetic and human. I need some feedback on this first batch of songs, so the next batch may see some changes in the angle of the songs although not necessarily in the way they're produced."

"But you have to work out which publishers are doing what. There aren't many white acts around doing black music, although Five Star and a few other bands do work in this country, and I'm going to see the company that handles them shortly. The candid approach is to get hold of a list of publishers, call them up and just ask what they're interested in. If you don't do that, you may just be wasting their time and your own time and resources".

I don't know what sort of deal I may be offered. Obviously I'd be interested in one-off sales of songs – a friend of mine got a £4,000 advance on a song which charted for EMI – but you may get as little as £100. The alternative is to try to become a staff writer for a particular publisher, but that means being very versatile, and I don't know if I can do that – yet!"

"I never write any of the songs down on paper, they just exist as sequencer files, so if a company wanted them scored out I suppose they would pay to have it done. The alternative is for me to buy a Scorewriter package for the computer!"

George's versatility must bean advantage in the area of music he's targetted. His vocals sound great to me, although he modestly comments "they're getting better – I'm more inspired in the 16-track than at home", and his guitar work (on a fretless Gibson assembled from spare parts and a custom Ackworth guitar) is suitably sparse and funky.

But his approach to the music business is one which isn't usually considered, however logical it seems. There's a much greater demand for good songwriters than for new Pop stars, so perhaps there's a better chance of succeeding in the former area (while we're on the subject, George recommends 'How to Succeed In The Music Business' by Dann and Underwood published by Wise Publications through Music Sales for information on contracts, publishing and management).

It's rare to find someone turning out such an impressive product at home who still wants to invest in 16-track overdubbing time and who still, after all that, is modest enough to work on selling the songs rather than the singer. Somebody ought to give this man a 24 track!

George Thorn, (Contact Details)