Not a revelation but oh so true!

DJRetard · Post by **DJRetard** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:14 pm

Read this

http://www.studioreviews.com/killingmusic.htm

I couldnt have said it better myself. Damn, I constantly think about putting my atari and hardware samplers together again. A song would be written and mixed down from scratch with that system in 4-6 hours now Im lucky if I can finish a bleepy techno thing in two days.

The author forgot to mention one thing though. Forums ldestroy careers also

Ive been spending way to much time on this forum and whichever way I look this activity its probably hampering my musical progress and Im gaining nothing from it. So with that in mind this is my last post. I will look in from time to time but wont post. Oh and I will def keep my word

for some of you have a read of that article though. Its very simple and I think we all know it but sometimes it just needs to be seen in print for it to sink in.

So have fun all, I only wish some of you actually got the humour behind the Retard

[/i]

elemental · Post by **elemental** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:24 pm

The article makes a lot of sense in terms of live performance musicians but not so much to electronic artists where the home studio is essential, and most of whom only perform as DJ's if at all.

forge · Post by **forge** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:02 pm

interesting and thought provoking, I think about everything he said every day.

I used to write songs all the time, now I hack away at slow burners thinking I'll finish them one day.

Having grown up on mentors like Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Cure, the Stones and Happy Mondays as a guitarist I really notice the difference in the way the writing process has changed - but that's exactly what it is, change.

The standards are alot higher now. Because the technology has got so advanced there are people achieving incredible production standards.

So you would get out your atari etc and find you wouldnt be able to do a track in 6 hours at all because you've forgotten how much you and your technology has progressed and you'd find you'd be trying to do things and not even coming close and realising that alot of water's gone under the bridge since then.

That's why it takes you longer because you have to work harder to get a current decent sound. Alot of the things that used to be impressive arent any more because people have acces to incredible depth of sound quality and manipulation, plus the mastering and use of 24/32 bit makes things sound so much better that every step of the way you'd find something that held you back.

I tried loads of times to put my yamaha A3000 to good use after only about 6 short years and ended up selling it for £50 because I couldnt think of a single use for it I couldnt do on a PC 100000 times better.

It got me through the latter 90s, but in 2005 it's useless.

The thing is the technology has progressed SO quickly it's almost impossible to not forget just how much things have moved on.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:28 pm

It's strange - the contention is that it is now more dificult or time consuming to make music, or that the technology & process gets in the way more now than previously. The time taken in bugchecking your tunes eats away at your live time ?

This may be the case if you are a guitar act and technology is alien, but if you are an electronic act it is false.

In the electronic music field the 'home studio' is equivalent to a guitarists guitar and pedals .. it is the instrument. Most electronic musicians take the bulk of their studio on tour with them!

I think there are different reasons for the stalling and stagnation of live acts that are more often to do the age and life situation of the performer in certain instances (IE the article writer) .

True the democratization of the music making process has not been matched by an awareness of the songwriting art .. but give it a few years and perhaps we will see well structured songs being the way that a talented individual can be noticed above the bazillion 'garage band' users.

perhaps Live should come with a CD tutorial on the basics of music theory, composition and arrangement!

Emissary · Post by **Emissary** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:56 pm

guess were all pretty fucked here then hahahahaha.

DubGusset · Post by **DubGusset** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:23 pm

elemental wrote:The article makes a lot of sense in terms of live performance musicians but not so much to electronic artists where the home studio is essential, and most of whom only perform as DJ's if at all.

Exactly.

C

roby · Post by **roby** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:43 pm

can't speak for everyone here, but for me this article is like a wake-up slap in the face.

time to start using the 4track again...seriously. with a 4track, a guitar, a bass, an hr-16, and pedals, i would forge out 5 tunes a night (whether they were good or shitty, that's another topic), and i was that prolific for many years, until i started building my DAW. this whole year alone i've only made one complete song, and many unfinished ideas.

actually, i won't bring out the 4track. i'll just set limitations on my DAW and try to make music within those limitations. i'll clean up my VST folder; i mean, shit, i only really use 2 VSTi va's anyway, why do i need to have 10 of them?! why 10 delays?!

roby · Post by **roby** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:44 pm

DJRetard wrote:Forums ldestroy careers also

freaking internet for that matter...

clipperer · Post by **clipperer** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:54 pm

this is stupid.
but sure, it will work out for for you if you dont like progress.

clipperer · Post by **clipperer** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:55 pm

fucking hell, this is the new step, the whole computer music.
to make great things you have to be dedicated.

Cache · Post by **Cache** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:18 pm

makes sense. for 2-3 years i was learning my trade locked away in a studio with minimal contact with other people. then Live came along and i started playing shows and performing and meeting lots of other people. it definitely changed everything getting out there and performing.

so if you're worried that you're spending too much time in the studio killing yourself over a 2 bar loop. get out and go to some live shows and talk to people. you never know. next weekend you might find yourself working on some new tracks in an exotic location (ie out of your bedroom)

roby · Post by **roby** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:28 pm

clipperer wrote:fucking hell, this is the new step, the whole computer music.
to make great things you have to be dedicated.

absolutely...
...but this is just the steps i know i personally should make to discipline myself again, not the gospel according to me.

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:35 pm

I have gone through all of this for about 10 years or so. Eventually ended up with a room full of gear and was having lots of fun.... then people wanted to pay me to record them.... which sucked the artistic life out of me. After hiding in my own shadows for too long I regained interest in my own artistic ideas using new things like Reason and Live and BAM! Again, I found myself in a studio recording other artist. So, a year ago I sold off the studio and have been selling all my outboard gear as well. I am down to just my old DJ rig, a laptop and a MicroKontrol. My focus is all about just making noise now and recording it over mics into a tape deck. Life has never been better and slowly I am rediscovering what it means to be an artist. Whether I am a good artist or not is not really important but, I am having fun again and that is what it was and is always about.

psilosly · Post by **psilosly** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:53 pm

Getting booked to play a show in two weeks or a month is a great motivator to stop fiddling with tech and actually nail some ideas down.

ikeaboy · Post by **ikeaboy** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:19 pm

Shit (lies back on the couch,stares at ceiling), I suppose there's not many here that havent gotten sidetracked by gearlust or the perfecting of technique rather than time spent exploring what the technique can produce. I've been aware of the tendancy in myself for a long time and told myself i would reach a point when the emphasis would shift because i would be close enough to technical perfection for my own taste but i keep moving the goal posts on myself and, in the process, found the technical side more and more satisfying even though it was originally a means to an end.

WHAT SHOULD I DO DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a revelation but oh so true!

Not a revelation but oh so true!

Re: Not a revelation but oh so true!