Wednesday, February 17, 2010

New Lamps for Old

In the field of electronic music many ideas are tried time and time again and often it seems as though what is new is more important than what is old. In music stores after the advent of MIDI people rushed to trade their old analog gear for fresh sparkling Digital synths like the Yamaha DX 7. Now the old Oberheim is worth around 2-3k and the DX 7 sells on Ebay for much less. However with the even more new and improved VA synths rapidly becoming passe I notice DX's are slowly rising in value. The Oberheims are too. It is all relative!

  I am posting a link to my first album "Retroflection"done with *Alien*Mbc* back in 2000 in the interest of History and with a view to the future. All the gear used for the "Retroflection" CD is pretty much defunct, replaced by Vst's and pretty new interfaces as well as some truly improved recording gear. Getting back into the studio seems like a goal worth pursuing. What Retroflection lacks in sound quality it more than makes up for in heart. Music is more than the drum skin, it is the beat, more than a sampler it is the melody. Music is about Soul and about feeling. If your a creative artist in the electronic area remember that you can always rent equipment from a studio or borrow something. A local music store in Oregon arranged for us to have the use of many neat tools for a very small fee widening the sound choices.

 So the next time you see a shiny box you got to have think of the advice that Ed McMannus gave his Electronic Music class : "Wait a bit and it will cost much less as the latest and greatest machine comes along." The learning curve on gear is often pretty steep and after you really KNOW what your old gear will do maybe that's a good thing. The important thing is to make music not scrimp and save for the "perfect" synthesizer! muli-tracking one synth may just make you a better artist. Look for deals in the local paper or Craig's List and check the garage sales. These are great times for low tech finds and to buy new gear that probably exceeds what we used 'back in the day.' A 400$ digital recorder will out perform the 800$ 1980's era 4 track cassette in my opinion. And I have seen 200$ recorders with very good specs. If you have a 48 channel mixer and a rack of gear I say good for you but I am wondering why you are reading this Blog. Just kidding, I know some people have stacks of stuff and I have envied them for sure. But make do with what you have and make some music.

No comments: