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Name: Bayden Packwood Hine
Date of birth: 17^th December 1986
Place of birth: Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Production executive for inflight entertainment and musician

How would you describe what you do for a living?

I produce in flight entertainment for a number of airlines. A whole host of different shows – classical, popular, hit, love song dedication. I also include movie and television shows too. On the side I do my music and I scrape a little bit of a living from that but it’s mostly more debt involved there. Laughs

Just like every good musician, you have to chase your dreams and start somewhere. Have you always wanted to be a musician?

Yes, always. Mum and Dad sat me down when I was four and gave me the option of learning guitar or piano. I didn’t know what either were but I chose guitar. I have always wanted to do something with it as far back as I can remember.

The guitar is a little bit more portable too. So you probably made the right choice there! What would you consider to be your greatest achievement so far?

I think finishing my EP has been my greatest achievement so far. I think it’s one of the only things I have actually finished as well so it’s nice to finish something for once. I’m very proud of what I have made and happy to show it to people.

Congratulations on your EP. Yes, it must be really satisfying to confidently say, “This is the best I can do.” It’s your baby. How about in life, is that is something different to music?

I have an amazing family. I wouldn’t call that an achievement of mine, it’s just a default thing but I care a lot about them. Gardening, I love too. I have a working garden now, where I grow a lot of food, so that’s something that I have wanted to do for a long time as well.

It’s great that you’re doing it now instead of putting it on the “one day list”. Do you have a favourite part of the creative process?

I think the best part was hearing the 50 piece orchestra play. The arranging application Sibelius has a really horrible midi sound set. It sounds nothing like the real thing in any way. The first time I heard the orchestra play my songs was just amazing. I can’t describe how good that felt.

It’s amazing to hear it come to life, especially fifty strong. Not many musicians are that lucky. Were a lot of the songs born in your bedroom, or in a small, private place?

Yeah, out on the back porch, looking at trees and just fiddling around on the banjo. The journey from lucky mistakes on the banjo to translating that into a symphony orchestra situation was an incredible feeling.

I think that’s something universal for creative people. It’s a series of happy accidents. It’s exciting creating something that you don’t know the end to it yet. Do you enjoy collaborating with others?

Yeah I love it. A friend helped me with my vocal parts with sorting out how to breathe. I had never trained in any way as a vocalist before so that was a new thing. Collaborating with my friend Ella Jamieson on the arrangements is effortless. It definitely helps that she is a lovely person and an incredibly talented musician and arranger. Collaborating with all those 50 people, well 100 people actually because I had to record the orchestra twice, was an incredible thing as well. They’re all such wonderful people.

How did you go about sourcing and organising all these musicians?

It all started with Ella because she was the only person in that world that I knew. She gave me a few numbers of the Sydney conservatory of music students and I spent a few months calling a lot of people racking up quite a big phone bill. The vast majority were really supportive even if they couldn’t be involved, they would still forward me more contacts.

It must have been quite an orchestration in itself to collaborate with that many people. Well done.

Where and when do you get your inspiration?

Generally when I am on the edge of sleep. I find that a lot of people are the same. I think it’s because you tend to turn off a bit and your brain is just doing its thing. I’m inspired when I travel but I can also draw inspiration when I’m at home in Bathurst.

What part of creating the album did you find most challenging?

Well I had to record the orchestral parts twice. So I think not rushing things was the biggest lesson that I learned .I really tried to push everything through to have it finished so I could start getting it out into the world. I spent six months trying to record over what we originally recorded with the orchestra and it just didn’t work so I had to get a loan and sell more of my stuff. I already sold the majority of my things but I got rid of the rest. A little bit more preparation on my part would have helped but I had never done anything like that before. Being patient with myself was probably the biggest lesson.

I don’t think you can be too harsh on yourself. It is something that needs to evolve, but I can imagine that you were keen to finish it by that point. So what happened that required it to be recorded again?

We didn’t use a click track metronome for the orchestra the first time. We simply didn’t have access to 50 headphones and a system that could run it efficiently. It was a bit of a guerrilla recording at the conservatorium hall. We just walked in on a Saturday that I knew was free and shot it with the orchestra. There were a few mistakes from some of the musicians because it’s not separated. It’s just one big instrument, so to speak. I learned that you can’t just record a 50 piece in any room and expect it to work.
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