Michael Cronin
How to Love and Make Weird Things
How to Love and Make Weird Things (15 minute version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
DISCLAIMER: Because I enjoy talking to no end, I’ve included two versions of my project. The first is the first five minutes of my original recording, which I feel can work as it’s own story. The second is the full 15 minute recording that captures what I truly wanted to capture with this project.
Music, like any other art form, is a true expression from the artist.
The first time I heard the album “Donuts” by J Dilla as a young teenager, I was a bit confused. It was choppy, dissonant, yet strangely alluring. It was a whole new sound that I had never heard before. “Donuts” was the first avant-garde pieces of art I’ve ever encountered. It reshaped how I view music and helped me appreciate artists who challenge their audiences rather than purely entertain.
My own copy of J Dilla’s “Donuts” in my record collection (Photo Credit: Mike Cronin, 2025)
Alt text: A vinyl record titled “J Dilla, Jay Dee, Donuts” featuring a man in a baseball cap looking downwards and smiling sitting atop a stack of other vinyl records.
Eventually, I wanted to make music just like J Dilla. I spent the remaining years of my high school education using an MPC 1000 (seen in the photo with the green buttons) to make short tunes. After a while, I started to doubt myself. I thought the songs I had made were too amateurish and I didn’t have what it takes to make something half-decent. After a 10-year period of avoiding music production altogether out of fear of failing, I decided to give it one more go. Today, I have a small production studio in my apartment. While I still don’t think I’m ready for primetime just yet, I’m having fun learning new things and making music once again.
My studio has expanded quite a bit since I started making music! (Photo Credit: Mike Cronin, 2025)
Alt text: A table with numerous synthesizers, effect pedals, a laptop and a large mixing board placed on top. Vinyl records are stored below the table and a painting of two women hangs above.
A short demo I made based on music production techniques utilized by J Dilla
Instagram story to tease the multimedia storytelling page (Video Credit: Mike Cronin, 2025)
Alt text: Eerie synthesizer music plays as close-up images of synthesizers scroll by. The text, “How to Love and Make Weird Things, By Michael Cronin” is superimposed on top. A web link titled “Listen Now” is placed at the bottom of the video.