SoundGym Hero: Diego Conget Roche

A proud father, Self-taught visual designer, and Enthusiastic music lover, Diego Conget Roche is this month's SoundGym Hero!

Who are you, and Where are you from?

My name is Diego Conget Roche, but the SoundGym community knows me as Cuantasvacas. I live in Zaragoza (Spain), the same city where I was born. I share space, food, good & bad times, etc. with my 13-year-old daughter, my parenthood partner (her mother), and our two cats.

I am a proud father, a fortunate son, and a lucky friend. I used to be also a draftsman, a 3D virtual buildings modeler, a self-taught illustrator, a graphic designer, an occasional DJ, a drummer with some bands, and an enthusiastic music lover...until, suddenly, I was none of these things anymore. After 10 years of dealing with depression, after many efforts, with a lot of support, and the daily gratification of raising my daughter, today I am writing these lines and that's a huge step forward for me. 

How did you get into music?

I began being exposed to music at a very young age at home. One of my teachers at pre-school classes told my parents I showed quite amazing musical skills, and in no time I found myself taking piano lessons and watching four guys lifting and carrying a piano all through the stairway up until the 11th floor, where I lived.

Some years later I was accepted at a music school where I learned music theory and went on with the piano for about 5 years. By the time I quit, I still hadn't developed an interest in the music I had to play (strictly classical) or for the instrument itself and therefore I was going nowhere. I wish my passion for music had grown inside of me earlier.

I got my own first recorded tape from a school friend, Franco Battiato's "Nómadas" in Spanish, at 13 years old. By the end of my High School years, I had listened to enough genres and bands to know Rock music was my thing. This was confirmed when, a few months later, I was exposed to Led Zeppelin and The Pixies for the first time.

A few years later I went through a period of academic uncertainty, I felt an urge to learn how to play drums, as a second chance to become a musician. I found a great teacher and one year later I was playing with two rock bands. One of them lasted for almost two years, and I enjoyed every minute. 

More recently, as my daughter started her studies at music school, I had to resort to my dusty knowledge of music theory in order to help her whenever she needed it. She plays French Horn and she's doing quite well! I felt so good reviewing all those concepts that I started listening and enjoying music again for the first time since the blackout. I also started playing my favorite records for my daughter, learned how to play Cajón and other instruments, and found a new challenge that's got me busy to this day: composing music, bringing it to life in the box, and making it sound as good as possible.

What do you like to do for fun outside of the world of music?

I've always enjoyed pencil drawing, and I have a notebook close to me at any time. I only apply color to little humor vignettes and "stickers" I draw on cardboard.

I also play table tennis 2 or 3 times a week, which is the fun part of the exercise I need to do to repair the damage prolonged inactivity has done.

I like playing with my cats, Miguel and Peggy, and making weird toys, caves, and tunnels out of scrap materials to keep them busy and active. I actually use cardboard from packages to create all kinds of objects. I even built a pair of cardboard speakers, but they sounded too "boxy"...lol And I like to drink coffee.

What's your most useless skill or talent?

I can think of two, but I'll let you decide which one is the most useless. I have always been quite good at aiming in general, but especially when throwing any suitable object with my right hand into any kind of open container placed anywhere inside my range.

The second one is related to music and many people have witnessed it over the years. I can recognize a song and tell its title, album and performer(s) just by listening to 1 random second (twice if needed) of any song from any album in a selection of about 200 CDs from my collection.

What do you feel about your visual design becoming the billboard for the memes space?

It actually means a lot more than anyone could think because creating (graphic) jokes requires a certain perspective, a fair amount of knowledge about the subject, and your own sense of humor, and these memes for SoundGym were epitomizing my progressive recovery in many aspects of life.

However, the chosen meme for that billboard is respectfully "based" on SpacePan Olympic Contest's alien characters and I would like to credit SG Graphic Design for this group of "visitors" and also for the outstanding design of the whole website, in my opinion, a great example of amazing visuals fitting the site's contents perfectly.

How did you first come across SoundGym and what made you stay?

Soon after I decided to give music composition a try, and being a total newbie to making music with a computer, I had to undertake a long and wide research process that, to this day, has kept me quite busy. When I was into deciphering concepts related to different processes involved in mixing, I visited a blog and saw this entry that talked about the utility of ear training apps for those into mixing, SoundGym caught my attention and I clicked on its link.

From the first training, I found it very "noob-friendly" and intuitive. Though I had no idea about subjects like compression or filters and I had never actually paid much attention to delay time or reverb size on recordings, I soon started grasping basic ideas about those points just by playing the games. 

Despite some difficulties, there was a rewarding atmosphere that made it easy to keep trying to overcome any failed attempt, or just to go one level further. I even earned the Beatrace Legend badge (points only by games, no racing) before I even knew what that was! When I got involved in the community and I found out how nice, warm, and helping were its members, as soon as I was "tempted" with a discount on Pro Membership I went for it. 

Almost 16 months later, I can assure that I made the right choice. Even though these last months I have been focused almost exclusively on ToneGym (also an amazing platform), I'm coming back to my daily training. Besides all I've learned and the improvement of my listening skills, SoundGym represents a voluntary and deliberate compromise with a daily practice aimed to achieve goals I have decided to pursue, inside and outside music. Taking this step means way more than it seems, and I thank SG, the staff, and every member in the community for making me feel so comfortable here.

If you could pick one, what would be the theme song of your life?

I'm far from being fond of breaking rules, but I need at least two songs, as two milestones, each one covering a smaller portion of life...
1990 - "Stop"  from "Ritual de lo Habitual" by Jane's Addiction:

Although in the album there are two songs I consider to be slightly better, "Stop" was the opening track, the primal punch of unexpected color and shape that put me at the right spot to receive what the newborn decade was to deliver. 
2000 - "Everything in its right place" from "Kid A" by Radiohead:

The outstanding turn Radiohead took in their career for the creation of OK Computer and the massive acclaim and recognition the album generated made everyone believe (me included) that the guys from Oxford had found a comfortable sonic ground with still lots of concepts to stretch and explore. But then...

What is your favorite SoundGym feature?

The fact that so many people, coming from different musical and professional backgrounds, with a wide range of goals to achieve and diverse learning paces, have decided to stay at SoundGym says so much about what are, in my opinion, the platforms' key features: versatility, adaptability, and fun. The "social media" feature and a great community are the perfect complements to make the user experience so pleasant.

Among the games, I especially like dB King, PanGirl and all the Rhythm section. I enjoy every EQ game but I got stuck months ago and I don't seem to be able to sharpen my ears any further (that is my next goal). I've always found every game useful, but these are the ones I enjoy the most. 

This should not surprise anyone, but my absolute number 1 activity on SG is SpacePan Champ. Although lately, my scores have dropped a few points, enough to keep me out of the medals, I'll be trying every single time to come. It's the perfect combination of Panning detection challenge and a classic arcade.

What inspires you to keep moving forward?

For many years it's been with my daughter and trying to give her everything she needed as she was growing up and, while I still wasn't able to do anything else, doing my best to be in a good mood for those who were by my side. Thanks to their perennial presence, today I can find inspiration also in music and art, in the words of people wiser than me, in the things I learn every day...

What does the future hold for Diego Conget? 

At this point of my process, I often feel insecure when I face new challenges, and then it's useful to have a clear view of the recent achievements, so I've been setting short-term, more modest goals as a way of increasing the chances of success and minimizing the negative effects in case of failure. 

This makes the idea of the future look a little less exciting, but also less uncertain. Right now, making plans for anything beyond next week is still out of reach. Whenever that changes, I might resume my old project for opening a silk-screening workshop and T-Shirt store. I also consider becoming a respected music composer/producer or an astronaut.