Who or What is "Binary Baby"?

My name is Owen Southwood. I live in the UK. Binary Baby is the name of my on-going computer music project (my "binary baby"). The aim is to write loads of half-decent techno tunes, put them online, and get people's feedback so I can improve my music further. The music is totally FREE. All I ask in return is a little feedback.

I have been persuing my hobby of writing music since around 1994, but only started publishing the tunes on the web around 1996. The very old tracks are either too awful to publish or lost on a floppy disk somewhere. But most tunes since around 1998 onwards are on this site.

The genres of music that I produce are basically all the different forms of techno. This includes trance, ambient, drum'n'bass, electronica, IDM (intelligent dance music), cyber funk, experimental, and so on. I write these tunes purely for enjoyment because I love electronic music.

How To Listen

Confused? Absolute beginner? Don't worry. Downloading and playing my tunes is very simple. To download tunes off this website, go to the Tracks page. In your browser, right-click on the track filename and choose Save As... to download it. Some of the tunes have been Zipped in order to speed up your download time. These will have a .zip filename. To extract the music file, use WinZip. Files on this website are either .MP3, .OGG, .XM, or .IT format. Never heard of them? Don't worry. You can play all of them using WinAmp. There are many other music players out there, but WinAmp is popular and covers every format on this website. Just like my tunes, WinAmp is FREE.

Remember This. Put simply, all of the music on this site (yes, every single track) can be played using either WinAmp or XMPlay. Or try a web search for some of the other music file players out there. (There's quite a few!)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are these ".IT" and ".OGG" files, and how do i play them?  .IT files are the music files I wrote with Impulse Tracker. You can play them with most popular audio players such as WinAmp, Sonique, or XMPlay... Ogg Vorbis (.OGG) files are the music files I wrote using Buzz. .OGG is a rendered format, like .MP3 only better quality - and smaller in size. XMPlay plays these best, but WinAmp handles them nicely.

What's the advantage of OGG over MP3?  Put simply, it sounds better and it's smaller. Also, it is open source, which means it's not owned or controlled by any particular organisation. A growing number of hardware mp3 players are now supporting the OGG format. Try it, you might like it!

Does Windows media player play OGG and IT formats?  No, but then again who cares? There are so many non-Microsoft music file players out there, all free and easily downloadable.

Why have many formats on your site, instead of standardizing on one?  I provide MP3 tracks for those who are famliar with that format, whilst introducing people to other, better formats at the same time. Open your eyes (and ears) to the variety of formats out there. MP3 is not the only way. There is so much more to life.

What kind of music do you produce?  I write music in many differnet genres of electronic music. This includes techno, ambient, trance, drum'n'bass, breakbeat, house, club, experimental, electronica, intelligent dance music (IDM), and various other types of electronic music that I dont have a convenient label for. For the most part my music is purely instrumental, apart from the odd vocal sample here and there. Download a few of my tracks and you'll get the idea!

What software/hardware do you use to create the tunes? The hardware is just my PC, SoundBlaster 5.1 soundcard, and occasionally my roland eg-101 synth. The software for my older tracks was a DOS program called Impulse Tracker. For all of my newer tunes I am using a cool program called Buzz.

Why is your website so rubbish?  Because you haven't yet sent me your brilliant suggestions for making it better!

I can't beleive you changed your website design again! Why do you keep changing it all the time?  Everything happens for a reason. The only constant in life, is change itself. How boring would it be if all websites stayed the same forever? I dont like it when webmasters leave their websites untouched for years. Those sites become stale, they become dead, they sit there gathering dust and wasting bandwidth. A website must be like a platipus. It must change, evolve, adapt to suit its changing environment.

Can I remix one of your tracks please?  Sure! That would be great. You will need to contact me first and I might need to send you the source file (.BMX or .IT). Don't try remixing one of my MP3s, it won't work. Just get in touch and I'll email what you need. I publish every remix emailed back to me, on this site.

Can you remix one of my tracks please?  I can try my best... just let me know what you want me to remix. Please note, I can only remix .IT, .XM or .BMX files. It's no good sending me an MP3, WAV, OGG, WMA, or any 'rendered' soundfile.

Can I use one of your tracks in my computer game?  Definately! That would be awesome. But you must ask my permission first, and give credit when it's done. And of course send me a free copy of your game!

Please can you include me in your Links page?  Yes, I can include your link, as long as I think it's relevant to the topic of computer-created music like mine. Just email your request, I normally update the links page within a couple of days.

Why should I bother to send you feedback?  Because it makes me happy! And I will always reply to every email I get. If you have some music on the internet then let me know, I will send you feedback too.

I have another question which is not answered above. No problem... Just ask it here.