For those same students, reading 300 pages for personal enrichment sounds completely ludicrous.

When junior Alex Syse got his copy of the music-sequencing program Ableton Live the summer before his sophomore year, that is exactly what he did. Without anyone to teach him the software, he familiarized himself with it by reading the 300-page manual from cover to cover.

“It was a pain to get through,” Syse said. “It was a different language to me, hearing terms like ‘midi,’ and all the effects I knew I could use – it was overwhelming.”

Since then, Syse has developed into an up-and-coming music producer and has begun to make a name for himself on music Web sites and around the Midwest.

People who are familiar with him usually address him by his last name, but when he is producing music he goes by the pseudonym Basic Physics.

In the beginning .
Growing up, Syse said he always had an interest in music, but he could never quite decide which instrument to stick with. He said that at different points he had a drum set, a piano and a guitar.

“I learned a lot of instruments but I never mastered one,” Syse said. “I can play them all decent, but nothing out of this world.”

He said that the older he got the more he actually wanted to get involved in music, but wasn’t exactly sure how he wanted to do it. Just playing music, starting a band or starting his own record label were all ideas that passed through his head.

Syse said he didn’t have any friends who produced their own music and that his fascination with it started on his own. He started to become more interested in it as he began to listen to more and more electronic music, he said.

“I had been a big fan of Daft Punk,” Syse said. “I guess I just started wondering how they do it and that’s how I started getting into it. I got the right software and went from there.”

Getting started
To enlighten himself with his new software, Syse said he began messing around with the pre-set instruments that were in the program.

“Once I got familiar with it, I wanted to step it up,” Syse said.

To do that, he got a Groovebox for Christmas during his sophomore year. A Groovebox allows its user a combination of sound sources like a drum pad or synthesizer, he said.

He said that getting acquainted with this new instrument wasn’t as bad as learning his Ableton Live software, but that it still took time.

“There was another 200 pages in a manual I had to get through,” Syse said. “It’s a lot of just trial and error and actually playing it, like with any instrument.”

After reading the manual, he started going to work by practicing with his music software and Groovebox. To this day, he says he still probably only knows about 80 percent of the program.

From there, he started remixing popular music, mashing songs together and eventually making his own original tracks. He produced his first original song, called ‘The First Light,” last summer and said that it still remains one of his favorite original tracks today.

“That was the best feeling when I could get everything together for that first song and it sounded really good,” Syse said. “I was like, ‘wow, I finally did it.'”

Gaining credibility
Syse said he began playing his music for his roommates, and when he started getting positive feedback from them he wanted to start posting his songs online and for music blog sites.

His roommates’ brother, Eric Mitchell, was interested in the underground music scene and started a music blog for him called Basic Physics.

“I’d send him my music and he would post it on there,” Syse said. “I’d always get feedback from him, and his friends would give me feedback too.”

Mitchell said that he was impressed with Syse from the start.

“When I first heard it I was really excited for him,” Mitchell said. “I really liked it and thought it was really good . I thought he was really applying things well.”

Mitchell said that once he heard Syse’s music that he knew it would benefit him to start getting his songs online.

“I’ve seen a lot of the big producers are putting their things online, and that’s kind of how you get to know people in the industry,” Mitchell said. “It’s really a good way to get your name out there, get more fans and get people interested in what you are doing.”

Syse said that the main music blog site is called “The Hype Machine,” which acts as a Billboard 100 charts for all of the blog sites on the Web.

“You can vote for songs and climb the charts,” Syse said. “I was getting on to that and that got me some credibility.”

Performing
Syse said he did a few shows at his house during his sophomore year, but that they were never really his best effort and were just for friends.

After establishing himself on the Internet he was given the opportunity to perform at his first real show in March of last year. The founder of the Chicago Grand Prix, a music festival in Chicago, was impressed with his work and offered him the chance to open up for DJ Logic.

“He’s pretty well known overseas and around the U.S.,” Syse said. “So of course I was going to take it.”

Syse said the best part about it was that he was able to meet one of his idols in the process.

“I sat down with him for an hour and he spilled out all his knowledge to me,” Syse said. “He had heard my stuff and liked it and gave me his information if I ever needed to contact him.”

He said that, like anyone, before that first show he was very nervous about hitting his parts. He added that it was a great experience and that he knew from then on that it was something he wanted to pursue.

Since then, Syse has played in Chicago again at the Lollapalooza after party, Madison on multiple occasions and, most recently, in Sweden. Likewise, he has scheduled performances coming up soon in Minneapolis, Chicago.

Anyone interested in seeing Basic Physics perform live have the chance on Feb. 13 at the House of Rock, when he will be playing a benefit show for the victims of the Jan. 13 house fire in Eau Claire.

“I wanted to play a show in Eau Claire,” Syse said. “So I figured, why not do it for a benefit show?”

The Release
After recording numerous songs and performing at multiple different venues, Syse’s next project is releasing a CD that he is currently working on.

He said that he does not have a record label, but that it is not because he hasn’t been given the opportunity.

“I don’t want to jump into anything too quick without thinking it through,” Syse said. “This album coming up will be the trendsetter for which direction I decide to go.”

Right now he says that he has 11 potential songs done out of the 25 he wants to have total to choose from. Out of that 25, he wants to pick the best 10 songs for his CD.

He said he hopes to release the CD by early May and that it is going to be called ‘Nightlife in the Northwoods.’

Syse said that when people think of electronic music they usually classify it as techno, but he stressed that is not what his CD is.

“It’s a different genre of music,” Syse said. “It’s electronic, but I’ll have different beats that are up-tempo . and then I also do down-tempo music too which is more of a hip-hop feel – so there will be a mixture of that on the CD.”

Syse said he plans on following in the footsteps of artists such as Girl Talk and Pretty Lights by releasing his CD for free on his own site and giving people the option to donate if they want to. He said that if people want to hear his music online prior to the release that they can check him out online at www.myspace.com/basicphysics or www.facebook.com/basicphysics.

Mitchell, who helped Syse get to the position he is in today, is excited for him to release his first CD.

“I think it’s going to be really great, I think he has a really unique style,” Mitchell said. “I think that this first CD will be a big boast for his confidence and will get a lot of people interested in what he’s doing.”

Syse said he feels like somewhat of a pioneer producing his electronic album here in Eau Claire.

“It’s something that I don’t think anyone has ever done here before,” Syse said. “It’s a different genre for this area.”

School and the future
Currently Syse is a marketing major and is interested in picking up entrepreneurship as a minor.

“It’s (marketing) definitely something I am interested in,” Syse said. “It would be cool to take something I learned from school and put into music . combining them would be ideal.”

Syse was just elected vice-president of the business fraternity Beta Upsilon Sigma and now has one more thing to balance between his schoolwork and music.

“What I try to do is get the schoolwork done first, get the B.U.S. done, and then my reward is that I finally get to get to my music,” Syse said.

He says that it is hard for him touring with school and that he usually tries to get his shows on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays. Although he’s been sidetracked by his music career, he says he is still in line to graduate on time.

Right now, Syse hopes to pursue a music career after school, but said he still always wants to keep marketing as an option to fall back on.

“I want to do tours in the U.S. and in Europe,” Syse said. “I want to come out with a few albums and continue to get my name out there for now, but I’d really like to get on the big stage some day.”