Ergh
Did you know I have a blog?
Well, if you're reading this, you do now.
Wonder what I write about on my blog? Well, you can find out here.
Today I have mostly been listening to Dwele and Al Green.
It's been good.
Has the day been good? Well, there's not been much of it... slept most of the day.
Got back from Germany last night, and went straight to Fabric for some DnB love.
Got home afterwards and slept a lot.
Germany... Frankfurt Musikmesse ... big trade-show where all the companies in the business show off what they're working on, and what's coming next.
Anything worth mentioning? Not really. Nothing earth shattering.
Was anyone showing anything that's going to change the face of music making? No.
People rehash their old stuff so they can squeeze a few more coins from their old ideas. Exciting.
If something is going to revolutionise music, I'm guessing that it's not going to come from a big (low-innovation) company that shows at Musikmesse. Cynical? Perhaps.
People are doing good stuff to integrate the process, and that's great, because it will save me three cables, and make my studio a tiny bit tidier. How exciting.
Does that change my life?
Does that make me feel different about making music?
No. Not really.
The technical / engineering side of musicmaking is pretty much wrapped up. A computer with a sequencer does everything now. Sure, there'll be interesting effects that make stuff sound different for a while, maybe some new bit of kit which gives us a fresh way of glueing things together... But that's not exactly magic.
Bob Moog. Legend.
Why?
Because he made a synthesizer and it sounded fat?
No.
Because he made a synthesizer which humans can interact with in a way that feels right.
Something that lets you express yourself in an intuitive way.
Other examples: Hammond B3 tonewheel organ, Fender Rhodes organ, guitars, pianos. Trumpets.
Things that put you right there in the driving seat, and tell you to express yourself in the most direct way you can bring yourself to.
Everything worth having is two inches outside of your comfort zone.
Give me something to play with that hurts me, but makes me feel.
I've played with a lot of synthesizers. How many am I proud to own? Not many.
The Access Virus is great, because it's wired up right, and it makes the noises that your emotions ask you for.
I ought to buy one, but it's still not as exciting to me as a rhodes.
When the rhodes talks, I listen. It puts it simple for me, so I can understand it.
MPC2000. There are new versions. Great. It's 16 drum pads, wired up to a sampler, in a box.
The MPC has changed the world, because it's perfect for what it does.
With an MPC you can cut up a beat, and play something new in a very easy way.
I can set up the sensitivity so that I have to hit the pads so hard my fingers bruise, to get the big angry sound I want.
That feels intuitive. I can put a sample on a pad that's far away from where my hand is, so it takes longer to hit it. I'll hit that sample late every time, and it will swing for me.
Every hiphop producer in the world owns an MPC.
It doesn't sound magic. It just works right.
There's no magic sound effect. No box you can buy that will make your music sound better.
If something in your studio offends you, throw it out.
Your studio is your special place, where you can go, and be yourself, and make music just for you.
It's your quiet place which you fill with sounds that mean something to you.
If something actively disagrees with you, throw it out.
But don't fill it with crap. Don't buy this or that because someone else uses it.
They use it because it says something to them.
If it doesn't say something to you, loud and clear, sell it on.
Let someone who will love it love it.
Your studio is you.
Your studio is just for you.
Once upon a time, there were big studios, filled with kit, designed to satisfy arbitrary clients.
The equipment was used by engineers, not musicians.
If you're a musician, why line up a rack of boxes that don't mean anything to you?
Talking to people recently, making music is sounding like a construction job.
Engineering is a construction job. Take this music, build a record.
But where's the sex, soul and love in it all?
People leave loveless relationships.
You will leave your loveless studio.
Don't build your way out of your own studio.
Studios are different places now.
Your studio probably ought to be part of your home.
It's for making music.
The kit you need for engineering is just a bit of software. Get the software. Forget about it.
The kit you need for making music is a different story.
Fill your studio with things that mean something to you.
Even if you don't, eventually the studio itself will mean something to you; you'll fall in love with a working studio. It's inevitable.
A lot of people don't get it. I don't completely get it. But I think I have a clue.
Making music because you think it will make you cool is stupid.
It won't.
You're in the harshest game in the world.
You will be criticised.
Until you write music that says something; that says something about you, or something you feel, or something you want to say, you're just doing a construction job.
When you put things together that resonate with you; when a groove or a vibe is drawing you in, you're there.
You're telling people about the shape of your soul.
When I listen to music, I want to hear someone expressing something about themselves.
Follow this logic:
Music not made by a human would be worthless, because music is a form of human expression.
So express!
You're a human. You're Deep. Complex. Tainted. Vulnerable. Secure. Confident. Insecure. Powerful. Weak.
You experience things I can't.
Tell me about them, and I'll listen.
Tell me how cool you are, and you can go screw yourself. I don't care. I can already tell you feel that way from your style of dress. Shut up.
I like music about love. Not gushy romantic stuff; that's often too obvious.
Give me something interesting.
Realise that no item of studio equipment is enough to make your music making better.
It's all inside your head.
Some things will help you express yourself more directly. See my list above. Write your own list.
Anyone who wants to talk to me about A/D or D/A convertors is on my hitlist. They'll all be dead soon, after I bury them under printouts of meaningless and irrelevant specifications.
Did any of your favourite musicians care about convertors specifications?
Try and hold an argument with me about latency. Watch me fail to care.
You wanna discuss floating point vs fixed point processing?
Really?
How about we discuss something relevant instead?
What happened to your first true love?
Have you ever rushed into something too quickly? Did you regret it? Did it turn out good?
When you're on your own, what do you think about?
Are you spiritual?
Do you think that religion teaches you how to love properly?
A quote, from The Manual / KLF:
"So why don't all songs sound the same? Why are some artists great, write dozens of classics that move you to tears, say it like it's never been said before, make you laugh, dance, blow your mind, fall in love, take to the streets and riot? Well, it's because although the chords, notes, harmonies, beats and words have all been used before their own
soul shines through; their personality demands attention. This doesn't just come via the great vocalist or virtuoso instrumentalist. The Techno sound of Detroit, the most totally linear programmed music ever, lacking any human musicianship in its execution reeks of sweat, sex and desire. The creators of that music just press a few buttons and
out comes - a million years of pain and lust.
We await the day with relish that somebody dares to make a dance record that consists of nothing more than an electronically programmed bass drum beat that continues playing the fours monotonously for eight minutes. Then, when somebody else brings one out using exactly the same bass drum sound and at the same beats per minute (B.P.M.), we will all
be able to tell which is the best, which inspires the dance floor to fill the fastest, which has the most sex and the most soul. There is no doubt, one will be better than the other. What we are basically saying is, if you have anything in you, anything unique, what others might term as originality, it will come through whatever the component parts used in your future Number One are made up from."
Did you know I have a blog?
Well, if you're reading this, you do now.
Wonder what I write about on my blog? Well, you can find out here.
Today I have mostly been listening to Dwele and Al Green.
It's been good.
Has the day been good? Well, there's not been much of it... slept most of the day.
Got back from Germany last night, and went straight to Fabric for some DnB love.
Got home afterwards and slept a lot.
Germany... Frankfurt Musikmesse ... big trade-show where all the companies in the business show off what they're working on, and what's coming next.
Anything worth mentioning? Not really. Nothing earth shattering.
Was anyone showing anything that's going to change the face of music making? No.
People rehash their old stuff so they can squeeze a few more coins from their old ideas. Exciting.
If something is going to revolutionise music, I'm guessing that it's not going to come from a big (low-innovation) company that shows at Musikmesse. Cynical? Perhaps.
People are doing good stuff to integrate the process, and that's great, because it will save me three cables, and make my studio a tiny bit tidier. How exciting.
Does that change my life?
Does that make me feel different about making music?
No. Not really.
The technical / engineering side of musicmaking is pretty much wrapped up. A computer with a sequencer does everything now. Sure, there'll be interesting effects that make stuff sound different for a while, maybe some new bit of kit which gives us a fresh way of glueing things together... But that's not exactly magic.
Bob Moog. Legend.
Why?
Because he made a synthesizer and it sounded fat?
No.
Because he made a synthesizer which humans can interact with in a way that feels right.
Something that lets you express yourself in an intuitive way.
Other examples: Hammond B3 tonewheel organ, Fender Rhodes organ, guitars, pianos. Trumpets.
Things that put you right there in the driving seat, and tell you to express yourself in the most direct way you can bring yourself to.
Everything worth having is two inches outside of your comfort zone.
Give me something to play with that hurts me, but makes me feel.
I've played with a lot of synthesizers. How many am I proud to own? Not many.
The Access Virus is great, because it's wired up right, and it makes the noises that your emotions ask you for.
I ought to buy one, but it's still not as exciting to me as a rhodes.
When the rhodes talks, I listen. It puts it simple for me, so I can understand it.
MPC2000. There are new versions. Great. It's 16 drum pads, wired up to a sampler, in a box.
The MPC has changed the world, because it's perfect for what it does.
With an MPC you can cut up a beat, and play something new in a very easy way.
I can set up the sensitivity so that I have to hit the pads so hard my fingers bruise, to get the big angry sound I want.
That feels intuitive. I can put a sample on a pad that's far away from where my hand is, so it takes longer to hit it. I'll hit that sample late every time, and it will swing for me.
Every hiphop producer in the world owns an MPC.
It doesn't sound magic. It just works right.
There's no magic sound effect. No box you can buy that will make your music sound better.
If something in your studio offends you, throw it out.
Your studio is your special place, where you can go, and be yourself, and make music just for you.
It's your quiet place which you fill with sounds that mean something to you.
If something actively disagrees with you, throw it out.
But don't fill it with crap. Don't buy this or that because someone else uses it.
They use it because it says something to them.
If it doesn't say something to you, loud and clear, sell it on.
Let someone who will love it love it.
Your studio is you.
Your studio is just for you.
Once upon a time, there were big studios, filled with kit, designed to satisfy arbitrary clients.
The equipment was used by engineers, not musicians.
If you're a musician, why line up a rack of boxes that don't mean anything to you?
Talking to people recently, making music is sounding like a construction job.
Engineering is a construction job. Take this music, build a record.
But where's the sex, soul and love in it all?
People leave loveless relationships.
You will leave your loveless studio.
Don't build your way out of your own studio.
Studios are different places now.
Your studio probably ought to be part of your home.
It's for making music.
The kit you need for engineering is just a bit of software. Get the software. Forget about it.
The kit you need for making music is a different story.
Fill your studio with things that mean something to you.
Even if you don't, eventually the studio itself will mean something to you; you'll fall in love with a working studio. It's inevitable.
A lot of people don't get it. I don't completely get it. But I think I have a clue.
Making music because you think it will make you cool is stupid.
It won't.
You're in the harshest game in the world.
You will be criticised.
Until you write music that says something; that says something about you, or something you feel, or something you want to say, you're just doing a construction job.
When you put things together that resonate with you; when a groove or a vibe is drawing you in, you're there.
You're telling people about the shape of your soul.
When I listen to music, I want to hear someone expressing something about themselves.
Follow this logic:
Music not made by a human would be worthless, because music is a form of human expression.
So express!
You're a human. You're Deep. Complex. Tainted. Vulnerable. Secure. Confident. Insecure. Powerful. Weak.
You experience things I can't.
Tell me about them, and I'll listen.
Tell me how cool you are, and you can go screw yourself. I don't care. I can already tell you feel that way from your style of dress. Shut up.
I like music about love. Not gushy romantic stuff; that's often too obvious.
Give me something interesting.
Realise that no item of studio equipment is enough to make your music making better.
It's all inside your head.
Some things will help you express yourself more directly. See my list above. Write your own list.
Anyone who wants to talk to me about A/D or D/A convertors is on my hitlist. They'll all be dead soon, after I bury them under printouts of meaningless and irrelevant specifications.
Did any of your favourite musicians care about convertors specifications?
Try and hold an argument with me about latency. Watch me fail to care.
You wanna discuss floating point vs fixed point processing?
Really?
How about we discuss something relevant instead?
What happened to your first true love?
Have you ever rushed into something too quickly? Did you regret it? Did it turn out good?
When you're on your own, what do you think about?
Are you spiritual?
Do you think that religion teaches you how to love properly?
A quote, from The Manual / KLF:
"So why don't all songs sound the same? Why are some artists great, write dozens of classics that move you to tears, say it like it's never been said before, make you laugh, dance, blow your mind, fall in love, take to the streets and riot? Well, it's because although the chords, notes, harmonies, beats and words have all been used before their own
soul shines through; their personality demands attention. This doesn't just come via the great vocalist or virtuoso instrumentalist. The Techno sound of Detroit, the most totally linear programmed music ever, lacking any human musicianship in its execution reeks of sweat, sex and desire. The creators of that music just press a few buttons and
out comes - a million years of pain and lust.
We await the day with relish that somebody dares to make a dance record that consists of nothing more than an electronically programmed bass drum beat that continues playing the fours monotonously for eight minutes. Then, when somebody else brings one out using exactly the same bass drum sound and at the same beats per minute (B.P.M.), we will all
be able to tell which is the best, which inspires the dance floor to fill the fastest, which has the most sex and the most soul. There is no doubt, one will be better than the other. What we are basically saying is, if you have anything in you, anything unique, what others might term as originality, it will come through whatever the component parts used in your future Number One are made up from."
posted by Dave Sonalksis at 4:44 PM
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