THE ART OF BEATMAKING
How Snapdragon helps innovative producer Gnarly make digital music that's deeply human
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The British-Sri Lankan music producer, finger drummer and content creator Gnarly is from London, but her music is truly global: with more than 220,000 social media followers, 7 million digital streams, countless critically acclaimed collaborations, and appearances ranging from the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg to the Glastonbury Festival, Gnarly is celebrated for pushing the boundaries of modern music production and beatmaking by fans all over the world.
"I've always known since I was a little kid that I wanted to do something in music," Gnarly says. "I didn't know exactly what it was going to be, but I just loved music so much." And by music Gnarly means all music: her own musical adventures have been incredibly wide-ranging.
Gnarly's musical journey has encompassed all kinds of genres, multiple instruments, and all kinds of digital tools. But it began very traditionally. "I started playing piano when I was six years old, and that was the beginning of everything," Gnarly recalls. "Even though I started on classical grades I got into hip-hop and rap and then had a singer songwriter phase for a while. I was just playing guitar and singing songs, indie-style stuff."
One of the things that Gnarly really enjoyed was the physical feeling of performing music, not just creating it. So when she began making more electronic music, finding a way to make it feel human too was a key goal. "When I started finger drumming it was because I wanted to find a way to bring back that performance element," Gnarly says.
Modern music production is heavily computerised, and Gnarly wanted to do more than just program patterns: she wanted to bring the art of performance into the mix. "The way for me to bring in that performance element and human feel was through finger drumming," Gnarly says. "I think it's such a good way of fusing the traditional music playing (with) the modern music technology side of things."
"I wanted to find a way to bring back that performance element."
Gnarly fell into music production almost by accident: she wanted to make beats to rap over, and fell in love with the possibilities. Today, Gnarly works in Ableton Live on an HP Omnibook Ultra powered by the Snapdragon® X2 Elite processor, enhancing her human performance and creativity with the powerful tools Ableton offers.
"When you're using something like Ableton and you've got loads of plugins open it's really CPU-heavy," Gnarly says. "You need something that's going to be able to keep up with that pressure. So having the Omnibook Ultra powered by Snapdragon X2 Elite gives me the performance and battery life that I need to keep creating all day."
"You need something that's going to be able to keep up with that pressure."
Gnarly's creativity doesn't stop with the music. Her online videos attract huge audiences, and they're all edited on her laptop powered by Snapdragon. Gnarly doesn't just use social media as a promotional tool; she uses it to show how the music is made and how Gnarly uses her Omnibook Ultra to amplify her ideas, build beats and create something special.
"The reason I started posting videos was just as a record of my progress and how my practice was going," Gnarly says. "And that just kind of snowballed, really. I ended up getting followers and that community slowly grew. Without that online community I wouldn't have a career in music."
"My laptop's a crucial part of the process."
For Gnarly, it's the human element that matters most. "The reason that people probably resonate with what I do so much is because I'm making stuff that I resonate with. I feel like I put a little bit of my soul into every piece of music I make."
"I think music in itself is a lifelong journey," Gnarly says. "Whether it's learning piano, guitar, finger drumming, I think there's always, always going to be something new to learn. That's why I love it so much."
"I put a little bit of my soul into every piece of music I make."
Gnarly's computer is an essential creative tool, and the portability and stamina of her laptop powered by Snapdragon is crucial. "I start at the desk creating the loop and that'll be done on the computer," Gnarly says. "Then I head downstairs onto the sofa to play about with it down there. I think it is quite nice to move rooms because it keeps it fresh like you're in a new space, and it gives you new creative ideas." Gnarly's laptop is the perfect tool to help those ideas grow, supporting Gnarly's creative flow rather than interrupting it.
"My laptop is a crucial part of the process," Gnarly explains. "Everything from starting off the production, making it sound good, recording, and then also being able to edit the videos and stuff that goes on social media as well. It's a really core part of my workflow."
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