CDM Interviews Robert Henke

[Destro]

Great read.

This part is especially revealing:

"The most exciting new music comes from young kids guys running some audio software in a bedroom, listening to the result over a shitty hi-fi and use Melodyne all the way wrong. Those folks do not read gear magazines, they could not care less about yet another mastering EQ, but create the most stunning beauty. If people talk too much about gear I usually do not expect too much good music. I am often trapped in this twilight zone between engineer and composer too, so I know what I am talking about here…"

Link: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/02/2 ... sic.com%29

[Illiac]

here here.

[Emissary]

I agree with this statement, gear heads are usually terrible at composing anything with any soul

[Rabalder]

Great words from a great man.
Its all about the music..

[SubFunk]

I am often trapped in this twilight zone between engineer and composer too

totally,

there are two main 'personalities' involved in the process of making / creating music, the engineer / producer and the musician / composer, in most cases people are either one... in a very few cases they are really both.
(in equal quality and ability i mean)

i for sure now that i am a better engineer and DJ then a composer. i don't need to lie to myself.

[Bagle]

great interview

thanks robert

[SubFunk]

Having the choice between 5000 compressor plugins whilst not understanding what makes a compressor really sound the way it does it pretty much my idea of hell.

he he, how true is that.

[IP]

so true !!!!
lets leave the forum now

[silveriofunk]

so true !!!!
lets leave the forum now

great article though!

[mikemc]

Thanks for posting this link. RH's interviews are great readingg, they always make me feel like I'm smarter than I thought (by the things I see he does that I do) and dumber than I thought at the same time (when he starts talking about 'thinking in terms of swirling particles' ,,, ).

Also, being the fossil I am, this resonates in a big way:

Are you guys aware that you have more power right in front of you than the best music producers and hardware designers just ten years ago would have dreamed off?

This is often what proves an obstacle to my approach to using Live, the depth and breadth of the choices, which one??. Not that Live as a DAW has a monopoly on this, but the choices are so right in front of you and easy to throw in.

So it all ends up: don't think so much, have fun, start off with some more or less sketching, develop it to a point, get bored with it, save it and come back to it later.

[Hidden Driveways]

I agree with this statement, gear heads are usually terrible at composing anything with any soul

I disagree. Generalizations like this are inherently flawed.

I am a gearhead and my music doesn't (totally) suck.

[SubFunk]

I agree with this statement, gear heads are usually terrible at composing anything with any soul

I disagree. Generalizations like this are inherently flawed.

I am a gearhead and my music doesn't (totally) suck.

well, generalisations do prove a point, if it is in 70% of cases true then i think it is already valid to 'generalise' it is common sense
that exceptions always apply you don't need to mention that, unless you have a conversation with a bunch of brain dead idiots.

and, i really think it is true, all those "super rack manufacturers" and knowing live (technically) inside out, are usually sucking with crap and un-inspiring music, they spend way to much time into this kind of thing, which adds nothing to their or any other music. (if they ever finish a track or album or have a release out) again, exceptions do apply but are really rare exceptions.

i totally love the part in the interview where he says and even 'teaches' his students that the most important thing is to get things done rather quickly and to get it out... there is to much music and talent waisted because of technical wankery and the try to make things perfect, perfect music, what a joke in itself.

and as robert said, absolute NO ONE gives a flying fuck how you made whatever, ONLY the result counts, absolute nothing else.

(and i am very much a technical guy, but only for myself and my workflow and speed i need to achieve to get things done super quick on deadlines... that is all i care technical and well, yes OK the quality i can achieve sonically, because i am more of an engineer and DJ as i mentioned already, but otherwise i don't care about technical stuff a lot, the result, the result (and the delivery on deadlines) is what really counts)

well... i am drifting off here...

and i don't think that your music doesn't suck

just kidding.

[Bagle]

some very valid points, i do believe that technical bullshit gets in the way to a degree, and that gearheads can often get lost.

i know a guy who didnt make music for over a year because the room wasnt perfect to work in..
and i myself have been guilty of spending too long dicking around in maxmsp and flicking through sound on sound then making actual music

[Hidden Driveways]

well, generalisations do prove a point, if it is in 70% of cases true then i think it is already valid to 'generalise' it is common sense

70% of cases? Have you been conducting some kind of clinical study? The answer is, no. You haven't.

The bottom line is that artistic talent is rare. It doesn't matter if you know a lot about your tools or not. Making sweeping generalizations is never a healthy practice, whether you're talking about religion, race, politics, or art.

And yeah, I'm not terribly proud of the last thing I posted in the Link Your Music section, but damn it, I finished a stupid track and shared it with the world. Now I'm on to the next one, and I feel free and empowered to learn as much about the tools I use as I want.

[SubFunk]

some very valid points, i do believe that technical bullshit gets in the way to a degree, and that gearheads can often get lost.

i know a guy who didnt make music for over a year because the room wasnt perfect to work in..
and i myself have been guilty of spending too long dicking around in maxmsp and flicking through sound on sound then making actual music

well, the best example i have is a DnB duo i know, they are the best selling (in terms of released music) DnB artists around, they have a studio full of gear, because they get tons for free... they use nearly exclusive an pretty old PC with an old version of cubase and old version of reason and that's it.
and they have a lot of friends (which i know some of) that save constantly money to buy the next finalizer because the production is not yet up to par...
and that since years

just look at this forum how often people "re-buy" the trillions-ed controller, the funniest thing to me personally.

whatever, i just agree, simply because i see it to many times around me happening, all the people i know
who actually really get things done all the time are the ones not getting lost in technic.