There are so many sound sculptors out there who’s life in younger days revolved around sound and music but ended up exchanging that life for other pursuits. Those pursuits were valid and valuable and probably enriched your life in a way that gigging with a band never could have.
Now the kids are grown, you’ve retired from that corporate job, and you can think about a new life. Perhaps, you are toying with the idea of getting back into music again, but the music you listened to back in your ‘glory days’ has changed so much and you wonder if you are still viable as a musician, songwriter, producer. You wonder if it is even possible to jump back in to this new world of sound and technology.
The answer is a resounding YES!
In fact, today’s music needs you more than ever. As we continue spiraling out into a world of constantly changing technology, ever expanding social media presence, faster streaming and instant access to everything, we are losing the value of human interaction, the musical conversations between players, the organic fun and creative exploration of jamming, the very soul of what making music is all about.
Don’t get me wrong, It’s not all bleak and empty out there. I love some of the music being made these days. There are amazing songwriters and creative artists creating brilliant performances. The new beats and recording techniques are innovative, and, for the most part, well produced. That being said, I also feel that modern pop music tends to be void of the depth and nuance that existed before the digital revolution. Producers these days seem to eschew the valuable lessons learned over the decades preceding today’s modern technology when musicians had to play their parts live and interact as a band rather than sitting at a computer and typing the notes in.
Organic performances by musicians playing together, with the occasional overdubbing of course, have been replaced by the desire to produce perfect recordings quickly. Drum machines have replaced real drummers. Synthesizers record MIDI notes that can be manipulated later on instead of recording live keyboards and guitar. Digital audio workstations have the ability to modify tempo through quantizing, control vocal pitch and edit the music down to the sample. The majority of music these days has the life sucked out of it because of the heavy handed implementation of this technology.
You can liken the digitally produced music of today as compared to the music that used to be recorded onto tape in the ‘old days’ to the difference between a lab grown diamond and an organic diamond pulled from the earth. They can both be beautiful on the surface and shine like a.. well, you know, but lab grown diamonds lack the depth and the subtle imperfections that make natural diamonds so much more valuable. Lab diamonds can be created quickly and on demand while natural diamonds take a long time to grow. It’s the imperfections that make them so unique and wonderful.
So, let me get back to the real reason for this article. We need all of you, shall we say, seasoned musicians to get back out there and rejoin the music scene. Your experience will provide todays music with the depth it has been missing. We need a cross-pollination of musical disciplines to create the next evolution of music. Where the old blends with the new and creates something perhaps deeper than both. New music is precise and focused while the older vibe is more about the performance rather than absolute perfection.
That is why it is important, no, essential that all of the older undiscovered musicians, songwriters and producers need to come out of your cocoons, build home recording studios and get back to work!
Embrace the new technology. Get a great DAW. Utilize the new production techniques. But, above all, get some nice microphones and a digital interface and plug in your guitars, keyboards and percussion – and avoid relying on the quantize buttons and pitch correction tools. Play from the heart and let your creative juices flow. The old and new together will pave the way towards a new music that has the power of the beat plus the depth of unlocked freedom of expression.
If you are interested in setting up your own home recording space where you can lay down your musical ideas without breaking the bank, please check out my Your Sound Sanctuary tutorial to get going on your journey back into the world of creativity and joy.