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I enjoy music a lot, more so than most people I know. I grew up playing my dad’s seven-singles on his retro Hammerstein radiogram. It was an FM unit with a turntable. Despite his best efforts to lock the glass covering of the turntable section, I always managed to open it. When I think back, I realise that my dad (an Afrikaner) had a surprisingly comprehensive collection of 60s Brit Rock; I think my British mom contributed a little. His Valiant had an 8-track tape player - and the likes of Jose Feliciano, Nana Mouskouri, Johnny Mathis, John Denver and The Carpenters still remind me of road trips down to Durban for Christmas.

My own taste in music was enhanced in the 80s, when I got my first portable, double-tape-deck, detachable-speaker boom box. The synth sounds of the 80s from the likes of Depeche Mode, Yazoo, OMD, Alphaville and Yello, along with artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Enigma and Mike Oldfield, remain firmly entrenched in my iPod playlists.

When the end of the previous century rolled around, I was properly swept up by Electronic Dance Music (EDM), and I am not ashamed to say that I have many rave parties under my belt. While I was partying like there was no tomorrow, I was always aware of the intricacies of the music that was keeping me on the dance floor till well after sunrise. This exposure to thumping dance music also introduced me to slow, chilled-out versions of the popular dance tracks played in the chill-out lounges at these rave parties. As I write this article, the soothing ambient sounds of Marconi Union are washing around in the background.

I consequently built up quite a music collection over the years, and at its peak, had a collection that would make a small radio station proud. Mix tapes became mix CDs, and at one stage I bought a rather expensive CD writer for my computer so that I could write my favourite mix CDs. This CD writer came bundled with a piece of music-creating software called Rebirth. It was a simple bass and drum machine, but the bug bit hard. I now have a fully-fledged home music studio with top-end equipment and software in which I create electronic musical soundscapes for my own enjoyment. Sometimes these are pumping, trance-like tracks, but most often, they are chilled, ambient pieces of music. It’s a great hobby and a superb anti-stress pastime. I get immense satisfaction from listening to something I’ve created. I am by no means a good musician, and one of my greatest regrets in life is not having taken the trouble to learn how to read music or to play a keyboard.

In order to make music that sounds reasonable in a studio, you have to have a set of speakers specifically designed for studio music production. These are referred to as studio monitors. Unlike typical hi-fi speakers, high-quality studio monitors play your music creation with the greatest level of accuracy, and with no colouration of the music. What you hear in the studio is a perfect rendition of what you are trying to create. One of the spin-offs of this hobby is the fact that I have, over the years, developed an ear for a good music system. I have an opinion of what sounds good - and what, despite the best efforts of the hi-fi sales person, does not. Like most 4WD folk, I do a lot of homework before I part with my hard-earned cash. I have a lot of respect for Yamaha amplifiers because of their industry-leading DSP (Digital Sound Processing) circuitry. I am also of the opinion that the English make the best hi-fi loudspeakers. Once you’ve heard a set of Bowers