FOLLOWING HIS MUSICAL INFLUENCES

BSSC Alumnus, Ned Thompson, first made news at BSSC in 2018 when, as a Year 11 student, he won the Tyabb Airshow Photography Competition. Ned went on to win BSSC’s Click Aquisitive Award for photography in Year 12.

While photography is still close to Ned’s creative heart, it’s music that has been his driving force since graduating in 2019.

He’s just released his second album, Conquest of the Electronic Beast of the West, recording as DJ N3DDY T, available on all the popular streaming platforms including Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4BQhnQCbq0ybqWkKgLNEtm

Ned first started making music in Year 8 when he was just 14.

“I was in love with this app on my iPad called ‘Novation Launchpad’ which allowed me to put loops together to create songs,” he recalls.

“My love of electronic music just grew from my love of music in general. Honestly all music inspires me. I love a lot of different genres and try to take it all on board. Flume and San Holo are my all-time favourite producers, and you can hear how they’ve influenced my own music.”

Ned is currently studying a Diploma of Music Production at SAE Institute Melbourne and definitely sees music as a career path.

“The moment I began making music I knew I wanted to do it for a living,” he says. “I’m slowly getting closer to that goal—giving it my all. I don’t plan on giving up anytime soon.”

The latest album has been in the pipeline for a while, but Ned says more than six months of hard work has gone into the 13 tracks.

He uses a digital audio workstation called Ableton to create the myriad sounds that make up each track. It’s painstaking work, but allows Ned full control over the creative process.

“Most sounds are created by me using different techniques and synths,” he says. “I also experimented a lot with real instruments on this album to give some songs a more natural feel.

“On the song titled ‘Love Me Instead’ I used only a kick, bass guitar, electric guitar, vocal effects, and raw emotion.”

Ned’s music is brought to life graphically by his friend and fellow BSSC Alumni, Cody Dewit-Hayes, who designed the cover art for all of Ned’s recordings.

“Cody was in my year level at BSSC,” Ned says. “He’s an incredible artist who has a very cool design style that I fell in love with the first time I saw it. He creates the visual side of DJ N3DDY T.”

 

Cover art for ‘Conquest of the Electronic Beast of the West’

 

Ned confesses he “wasn’t the greatest student”, but his two years at BSSC taught him a lot.

“I learnt a lot about time management and hard work,” he says. “I definitely grew as a human, my social skills improved, and I made lifelong friends—that’s the most important thing to me.

“I also had a lot of fun. Most of my subjects were art-based so I was able to be creative and make the most of my time.”

Ned is looking forward to a time when musicians can get back to performing in front of a live audience.

“I was fortunate to perform two gigs before covid,” he says. “I’m looking forward to creating and performing a set from the new album.”