By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor
Dennis Crocker’s musical experience has its start in Pennsauken. Growing up in town, he learned violin and trombone in elementary school, moving on to acoustic and electric bass in high school. The member of Pennsauken High School’s Class of 1968 took his show “on the road,” joining the Army and playing in a variety of bands on the bases where he was stationed. After a 21-year career in the military, Crocker became the audio/video technician for the Pennsauken School District, a position he’s held for the past two decades. And while he doesn’t play as frequently anymore, the music never left him, as evident by the release of his first album of music, “Homemade,” which features “highly rhythmic, grooving, swinging, smooth jazz and funk.”
What’s even more impressive is how Crocker develops his songs. Surprisingly, he only plays bass on one track in the album and doesn’t sing.
“I really don’t play constantly. I play for my own enjoyment,” says Crocker. “I picked up the process of producing a song by using musical loops.”
A loop is a repeating section of an audio track, whether it’s a snippet of a bass line or a few notes of rhythm guitar. Crocker learned that by using a computer program called ACID Pro, he could take a variety of loops and combine them in a puzzle piece fashion to create an original song.
“About 15 years ago, I tried my first song and I’ve been looping ever since.”
Crocker finds free loops from online communities and various other sources, never using the same loop twice in any of his songs. He then painstakingly links them together, a process that can take anywhere from three to nine months for one song.
“It’s not something I do every single day. I’ll work on a song about twice a week,” says Crocker. “Most of the loops you have to put together to make your song consistent.
“This album is 13 years’ worth of working on loops. I have 18 tracks that I’m releasing now. Nine are going on the internet for the first time.”
Proceeds from both physical sales and digital downloads of Crocker’s album during the month of April will go to the DMC production awards; Dennis give a scholarship each year to one band member and one chorus member at Phifer Middle School.
“I’ve been doing that for the last eight years, donating $950 since the scholarship started,” explains Crocker. “My goal is to raise the scholarship amounts and maintain it for the future.”
To listen to his music or to purchase the album, “Homemade,” visit FilaofSoul.rocks or visit CDBaby.com/Artist/DennisFilaofsoulCrocker.
