all about the music! - Julian Coryell - Blog

HELP JAPAN!

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:00:34 -0700

Greetings everyone. I hope you're doing great. I wanted to let you know...
I was supposed to go to Japan for a four month tour on March 13th of this year.
I was shocked when the twin natural disasters struck to say the least. In the aftermath, as things started to unfold, it became clear that all of us were going to have to alter our plans. Ironically I had just completed a Japanese rock opera concept record intended for Japan only. When I realized I wasn't able to physically go to Japan, I felt frustrated and very sad. I wanted to be there to help somehow. I wanted to do something, anything, to reach out, connect and lessen the blow in some small way. I took an informal F.B poll asking people for their thoughts. Every response suggested getting the music out there for people to hear. After meditating on it, I decided to do an internet release of the Japanese record. It's called "Gaijin" and 50% of all proceeds will go to Japan disaster relief. This tragedy has been devastating for so many people. I sincerely hope this record brings a little light into the darkness. Please help in any way you can, record or no record. The Japanese people are strong. I have every confidence they'll recover from this and a little help goes a long, long way!

If you're interested can get the record here: http://juliancoryell.bandcamp.com/album/gaijin

Thank you,

Julian

New Year's Day Diatribe aka: The Trouble With Rupert Pupkin

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:13:34 -0800

Well... It's just before 7 am on January 1st, 2010.

I sit alone in my little living room, with only the ticking of the clock to keep me company.

Writing somehow soothes me. That's why I still do it I guess.

I've been thinking a-lot about today. About the time we're living in.

I don't like it one bit.

I see so many troubling things.

Not the least of which is the current state of the music business. It is so odd to me at present.

It really seems as if no one can be bothered to dig deep anymore...

Did you know that music has become an ancillary art form? Merely an audio accoutrement to accompany more important technological breakthroughs like social networking and gaming? Well it has!

Seriously, when was the last time you bought a new collection of an artist's songs, sat in front of a pair of speakers (not your laptop!) and did nothing but listen to their music? Can you still do it? Or do you have to do it in conjunction with updating your Face-book status and IM-ing with someone while simultaneously surfing the web for new things to buy??

Oh yes friends, it's gotten bad.

This Twitter thing is the silliest (and to me scariest) sign of civilization's decline in my humble opinion.

I was laughing the other day, imagining Bob Dylan tweeting... or any other of my childhood heros for that matter.

John Lennon: Just had another nervous breakdown in my primal scream therapy : (

1 hour ago from the Dakota

John Lennon: Yoko just scolded me (AGAIN!) for wanting to contact Paul

30 minutes ago from the Dakota

John Lennon: Was wondering where a bloke can get some good fish and chips and heroin in NYC... Any suggestions??

15 minutes ago from the Dakota

John Lennon: OMG!! Just tried to crap for the third time today!! Not enough fiber??

Still wondering about that heroin!! LOL

5 minutes ago from the Dakota

Kind of ridiculous, right? Because we can't be brilliant all the time, now can we?

You see, art is a piece of who we are. Some might argue the best piece. It's a means to take the parts of ourselves that need to connect in this unique way and focus them into something tangible and special.

The ordinary isn't special, that's why it's ordinary!

Do you think the artists of yore would have tweeted? And would their tweets have been the same inane, semi-mentally handicapped, misspelled child like snail trails that I have to endure from today's artists??

When I was a kid, artists were only soaccessible. You scoured every avenue available because information on them was limited.

You had to piece together a personal idea culled from a few carefully created photos, magazine snippets, newspaper articles, and the occasional interview. Mostly though, you had to form your ideas about your favorite artists from their music!!

Today I can learn seemingly anything and everything about a new artist. Way too much in fact.

It's ridiculous. There's no mystery. Nothing is left to the imagination anymore.

Growing up, I had friendships with numerous people based on the time we spent (literally hours somedays) trying to figure out what made an artist tick or what their lyrics were about... Hell, I'm thinking of a guy right now who I spent years with just trying to decipher the meanings to Steely Dan songs!! Today, all the info anyone desires is just a search and click away. Remember that colloquial phrase too much information??

I was watching an old film recently. "The King of Comedy". One of my favorites.

As a kid, I was drawn to this story of a man who wants to be famous so badly, he's willing to go to any length to get it.

Back then, I liked the film because the idea seemed so outrageous to me, and it was! The protagonist, Rupert Pupkin, was so desperate for fame and fortune. He was so desperate to be above his fellows, to be looking down on them with an air of superiority and exclusivity. Why? Because he was a sad little man. A lonely shut in. A pathological bachelor who lived at home with his mother and spent years in her basement fantasizing that he was a star. His desire to be someone else was so great that he hatches a plan to kidnap a famous talk show host, and use that act as leverage to get what he wants, i.e fame and fortune.

I always enjoyed this movie because it wasutter fiction. Rupert Pupkin was so over the top, so narcissistic, so delusional... He could only exist in a movie. But as I re watched this film recently I was shocked to discover that his musings, his dreams and schemes, his sheer desperation sounded eerily similar to a-lot of actors, musicians and wanna-be celebrities today.

What do you do when the paranoid fantasies of your youth materialize into reality when you've grown up?

How am I supposed to feel about this now? How long can I laugh and shake my head, dismissing the times we're living in as innocuous, when I know they really aren't?

These days all I hear are so many Monday morning quarterbacks directing us artists to tweet, status update and post our way into a successful career in the new millennium.

Is that really the solution??

I mean, c'mon friends, do you really want to know what I'm doing today, and everyday, several times each day??

Do you really find me that interesting??

Of course not! Because by and large, most of my days are spent doing the mundane things we all do.

Working, eating, paying bills etc.

Not particularly interesting.

However, if I made a sex tape, or got busted for drugs, or was taken into custody for domestically abusing my girlfriend, might you want to know me more?

You see, this is the problem. Rupert Pupkin couldn't get arrested (or booked on a major talk show) until he broke the law and threatened someone's life. That movie was funny and entertaining because it wasfictional. Well not anymore...

Today it's real. It's really happening. And even stranger to me? No one seems the least bit phased by it.

But I am. I think it's a fucking crisis. Do you?

In my last blog, I wrote about the current state of pop music lyrics, and how devoid of consciousness most of them are.

I was surprised how very few people found this to be a problem. We really are living in a Brave New World I guess.

But do you know we are the ones responsible for how this Brave New World will turn out?

When I was a kid, the grown ups warned me us young 'uns would screw things up if we weren't careful, and boy were they right. Of course to be fair, they were screwing things up pretty bad themselves.

Still, I reasoned that if I abstained from certain base actions, at least I wouldn't be contributing to the problem.

I now realize that by doing nothing I still did something.

If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice! To quote an old chestnut...

So, it's my 2010 New Year's resolution- I've decided I will do what ever I can to help redirect things.

Because I think we can all agree 2009 was bad. Personally, it truly sucked. Might very well have been the worst year of my life. 2010 will be better simply because 2009 couldn't have been worse!

I don't know where guys like me fit into the musical strata now. I fear I'm an anachronism. That may be the case indeed.

In my defense, I'm still trying to figure out how to get out of the music business and make a living doing something else.

But ultimately I know I'm stuck being a musician forever, even if it becomes just a hobby as times goes on.

I wanted to leave you with a bit of philosophy to chew on in this new year.

Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once postulated there are three states man resides in at any given time.

the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious.

Most people, he observed, live an aesthetic life in which nothing matters but appearances, pleasures, and happiness.

It is in accordance with these desires that people follow social conventions.

I'm of the opinion that most of society is currently stuck in this state. Consequently, our relationships are superficial and shallow. By and large, we think only of ourselves and only look to connect or assist others when it suits our own needs.

For example, every day I get a friend request from some new artist or other on Myspace or Face-book. Usually I get several. The short messages that accompany said requests are cliche' and impersonal. They are clearly copied, pasted and delivered through some automaton like program that has no interest in me other than adding my information to some list or other for reasons of personal gain. When I click on these artist's profiles and listen to their music, I'm often disappointed because usually their songs are unoriginal, lackluster and... I can literally hear the computer plug-ins they used to correct their lack of innate musical talent.

People, it's so very depressing. It's so lonely. It's as if I'm in a warehouse of full of food, and I'm starving because every piece I put in my mouth turns out to be a fake plastic replica. You know, like the kind you see in the windows of Japanese restaurants? From a distance the food looks real, but get close enough to smell, touch and taste, and the deception is quickly revealed.

Surely there are some real edibles somewhere, but I may very well die of starvation before I find them!

In contrast to their soulless music, what really stands out with most of these so called artists are the number of "friends" they have. The number of social networking sites they belong to. The wealth of self disclosures they're happy to reveal. It's as if instead of spending their formative years studying music and practicing their musical instruments, they instead studied and practiced the art of public relations and marketing. It truly feels like one of Dante's circles of hell, but there's no Virgil to guide me through... So now I'm thinking, am I your Virgil? God help us all if that's the case!!

BTW, Kierkegaard also considered the violation of social conventions for personal reasons (in the pursuit of fame for example) to be a personal aesthetic choice. So when one of your beloved matinee idols decides that another social transgression is needed to boost their profile, to recapture some of that coveted market share, remember that it's calculated and therefore devoid of innocence. And while we're on the subject, is there any innocence left anywhere??

Now according to Kierkegaard, a much smaller group of people live in the ethical sphere. They do their best to do the right things and see past the social superficialities and one dimensional ideals of our half baked society.

Where are these people BTW? Do you know why you don't hear about them? Because America doesn't reward or even support these folks. And you know, it gets pretty hard to keep on keeping on when you're unsupported...

Finally, Kierkegaard speaks of the third and supposedly highest sphere- the faith sphere. To be in the faith sphere, he postulates, one must give themselves entirely to God. Now, I'm not a religious guy. I naturally shy away from God stuff where these discussions are concerned. But as an observer, I do find it interesting that this is a potential ideal to aspire to. If only to give you guys options as you ponder (if you even care to) the ideas I've put fourth in this blog.

And I really hope you do. Because if we keep moving in the direction we're currently in, there won't be anything substantive left.

And a life without substance is not self sustaining...

Well. That's enough straight talk for now. You can go back to your post New Year's Eve hangovers and Web induced trances.

I'll love you no matter what : )

And as always, may 2010 bring you all the love, happiness and success you can endure.

The Trouble With Lyrics

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:16:35 -0800

I'll tell you what really troubles me these days, Pop music lyrics.

In the past, I might have listened to a slew of popular songs and shown you guys how they're all ripped off from songs that preceded them, a neat little parlor trick indeed. But when I sat down recently and listened to a cross-section of current chart toppers, I was kinda shocked.

Some lyrical samples-

Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack

'Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back

What the F is this? Is this supposed to be empowering to young women? You start your morning drinking and you stay out all night?

How does that support your self-esteem?

BTW, there's nothing in the rest of this lyric that tells me why she has to behave this way. Did she have a bad childhood? Is she from an alcoholic family? Is she mentally handicapped? We'll never know.

In the rest of the lyric, she talks about partying, guys trying to grab her "junk" and so on.

What troubles me most, is there's really no consciousness to it. If popular music reflects the consciousness of our society, then according to Kesha, currently our society basically wants to get drunk, party and have potential romantic partners grab our genitalia.

Now don't let me mislead you into thinking I'm some kind of prude, uptight neocon. I like to have a good time too, and I'm no stranger to copping a feel in the name of "love". Here's the problem. If that's all we're doing, then it's just base and lacking in anything substantive.

Another example-

Lets' make a team

Make 'em say my name

Lovin' the extreme

Now are you game?

I'm guessing this lyric was written in, oh... 45 seconds?? So what's the message here? That sex with multiple partners is RAD?? Let's see, you're an impressionable young girl, and Britney's telling you to have three ways. Great. Guys will love that for sure.

And the rest of the lyric doesn't add any more dimension. Among other things, it says "living in sin is the new thing" (it's not), and also gives potential instructions on how you might proceed with said three way. Again, the problem for me isn't the idea itself, it's the way it's presented.

BTW, the only time the word "love" is ever mentioned, is in reference to counting. As in, "everybody loves counting". Other than that, it's devoid of it.

What if instead, the lyric was about true polyamory? What if it was about someone, who after years of soul searching, came to the brave conclusion that they love more than one person, and have courageously decided to buck the social moorings of society to be true to themselves? Now thatwould be an interesting lyric!

Here's one that surprised me a bit-

You would not believe your eyes

If ten million fireflies

Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air

And leave teardrops everywhere

You'd think me rude

But I would just stand and stare

This one isn't that offensive. There's some nice imagery, and the lyric hints at something deeper than just the literal meaning. There's also some mystery there, giving the listener the opportunity to find their own meaning in it as well. You see, it has layers. You can enjoy the literal meaning, and you can also glean something deeper from the subtext if you choose. There's self reflection. Overall, it's just a little more conscious than the other examples in my opinion. The production (although well executed), is a little too synthetic for my taste. I have no idea if this artist has any bona fide musical skills. Does that matter? To me it does, because a generation of musical artists that can't really sing or play an instrument is a troubling notion. You may disagree. Does the track feel good? Pretty good to me actually. As I've stated before, if the production is synthetic as anartistic choice, then it's justified, and to me this is the case.

Lastly, I mustn't exclude this enlightened chestnut-

Work it, I'm a free bitch, baby

Okay Lady Gaga, I think I get it. Woman are free bitches, is that it?

Honestly, this one's a little tougher for me to criticize, because I think Lady Gaga is actually talented. I'm disappointed she didn't try harder. The rest of this lyric basically takes the idea of a bad relationship being desirable, and whips it into a froth. Now, I understand better than most that when you're used to being mistreated, you learn to spin it into something appealing. And there's enough sadists and masochists in the world that will relate to that idea as well. But once the whole "bitch" thing starts happening, I lose interest because it's a lazy, unimaginative lyrical choice. And, whether they know it or not, people (especially woman) are hearing a female role model reiterate that they are "free bitches". Is that how you like to think of yourselves, ladies?

So what is being sold these days? To me, it's very clear. Woman are drunk, partying, free bitches that want to have threesomes. Wow. How evolved. You've really come a long way, babies...

Seriously, my heart goes out to you Gen-Y kids. Your role models are selling you one dimensional, low brow ideals. It's no wonder you can't hold a conversation longer than five minutes, or have internal meltdowns when you have no cell reception or wifi signal. You're hooked on the junk, and you don't know what to do with yourselves when your supply gets cut off and you're not being instructed to act like idiots. It's not your fault!

On a personal level, I'm disappointed in some of my peers that produce this stuff. I've known more than a few of you guys for years, and fellas, YOU have a responsibility to help these impressionable ingenues reach their higher ground as Stevie so eloquently instructed us to do all those years ago. Remember?? So what gives? Why aren't YOU trying harder?? Is it fear? Laziness? Greed? What??

Now I know there are those of you out there who might read this and say "Wait! There are great young artists! There are great, conscious lyrics being written!" While this may be the case, I'm addressing the most popular songs in America. That's why they call it Pop Music after all. Because these are the songs that reach the most people, make the most money, and as a consequence, get recreated again and again for better or um... Worse.

So... What am I proposing?

All you young artists, all you music makers, lyric writers, poets etc... CHANGE IT. It's entirely in your hands, whether you know it or not.

Know this; your role models can only sell you what you buy. Currently, a-lot of you are buying vapid, lazy, uncreative music. If you stop buying it, THEY WILL HAVE TO CHANGE IT.

Why not make it just a little more challenging for them? Make them have to think a little more about the things they're singing when they open their mouths.

Why, you ask? Because this is YOUR world, and one day you might feel more than just a little ill when you realize you've been fed a steady diet of musical junk food, and you're suffering from spiritual starvation and malnourishment.

And just an aside: To the young ladies who's lyrics I've quoted... Consider how it will feel to sing these songs when you're 35 or 45 or 55 years old. What will it feel like when your kids ask you what you meant when you sang these songs? Upon reflection, you may feel more than just a little uncomfortable. But hey, it'll be okay. You'll just drink your Jack, party, and have another three way. 'Cause you're all just a bunch of free bitches anyhow, right?

The Trouble With Pro Tools

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:37:39 -0800

I think I officially gave up on the music biz as I knew it about a year ago.

I'd been hired to play guitar on the recording of a very successful artist's CD. This artist's prior CD had done very well, selling in excess of millions. Being asked to participate in the follow up was an honor to say the least. Not just because of the predecessor's stellar sales, but because the other people involved in the new record, namely the producer, engineer and other musicians, were among the best in the industry.

I arrived at the studio the first day of tracking, full of excitement at the prospect of making music. I made sure to be there with plenty of time to be set up and ready to go when the down beat came. The other musicians were also arriving when I got there. After saying our hellos, we all loaded our gear into the live room and made small talk while getting ready. I finished setting up with plenty of time before our 11 a.m start, so I double checked my equipment, and mentally prepared myself for an intense and exciting day. At 11 a.m, the artist still hadn't arrived. No worries, the artist reserves the right to show up late (or not at all as the case is sometimes). As long as I'm being paid for my time, I'm okay. Around noon, the artist ambled in and after the requisite introductions, we all jumped into action learning the new songs. I was thrilled we had begun and was really enjoying listening to these fantastic new tunes. What a privilege! The process lasted about an hour, after which a song was chosen from the batch to start our maiden voyage. Hooray!

It was decided that a drum loop would be made first. We had one of the best drummers in the world on the session, so he and the producer set out to make a loop out of his performance on an exotic percussion instrument. Cool, I thought, this will sound great and shouldn't take long. Several hours later, the desired effect still hadn't been achieved. Problem was, it didn't jive so well with the programmed drums on the demo. Moving on, they brought in the bass player to overdub on said demo, which had now been dumped into Pro Tools. He picked up his bass, played a few takes and that was that. Then, I was asked to add some guitar. Now we're cooking! I thought happily. I picked up my axe, and the producer, artist and I discussed some different ideas and approaches. After agreeing on the direction they wanted to go in, I played a few passes. Seemingly, the producer was satisfied. Then he proceeded to "correct" my performance with a plug-in. Now, I'm a pretty humble guy when it comes to record making. I'm there to do whatever is needed, and I'm the first to admit when something I played isn't happening. But it was puzzling they wanted to alter this particular performance, because to me, and to other people in the room, it sounded... good. When I asked the producer about it, he said something like-

"Your performance was 95% perfect. This new plug-in will take care of that last 5%."

I thought the whole reason you hired musicians was because of that missing 5%, for the "X" factor, as we sometimes call it.
Most of us prize the X factor because it contains, dare I say it... Humanness. However, it started to become apparent that for this particular project, the X factor was not as highly prized as I'd thought. (BTW, In case you're wondering, the bass player and drummer were also treated to the X factor reduction, so it wasn't personal!) Anyway, that was all the recording I did that day... About 45 minutes worth. I hung around the studio for another few hours until the producer sent us all home.

Day two was more of the same, except this time, I didn't play at all, and neither did the bass player or drummer. The producer had just bought a new plug-in and decided to explore it's use on the song we were doing. I get it, it's all about the music and what it needs, and like I said, as long as you pay me, I'm good.

Day three, just like day two, except I started to feel silly getting paid to do basically nothing. At the end of the day, the producer must of felt silly too, because he took me aside and as gently as possible, explained the direction of the record had changed and I was no longer needed... Ouch!
(A few days later the bass player and drummer got let go as well.) But hey, I got paid, and the producer honored me as best he could while putting the artist's needs first. Not an easy position to be in for sure. So, no hard feelings on my part.

What was the new direction that record went in, you ask? Basically, it ended up being more software than human driven.

Flash forward to a few months ago...
I'm in Tokyo rehearsing with a Japanese artist. I go to the Men's room to take a leak. Rehearsals were long, so I was a regular visitor to that little grey tiled room. Usually, the bathroom speakers softly pipe in some saccharine J-pop or the occasional American smash from J wave radio, and I tune it out as I'm doing my business. I mean, how many times in a day can you hear "Womanizer" before you start to lose your mind?? About five times, actually...
But on this day something was different, the song playing sounded sort of familiar. I cocked my ear towards the tiny speakers in the ceiling and listened more carefully. Lo and behold it was one of the songs from that other artist! I remembered the tune well. I remember charting it, pencil and yellow legal pad in my grubby hands, furiously scribbling down chord changes in the control room while the artist played it for us.
It was a thrill to hear the song completed after all that time. It was finished, and on the radio! Wow! The production was rock solid, but to be honest, sonically it sounded similar to a-lot of songs out there now. Which isn't to say bad. Actually, it was quite good... Just not so much my thing. I guess I'm too old school, because in my mind, I could almost see those multi colored audio waveforms scrolling by on the computer screen as the song played. I felt a twinge of sadness when it ended. I wondered, what might it have sounded like if the bass player, drummer and I had all played on it, together at the same time? You know, looking into each other's eyes, inter-dependent, knowing we all had to work seamlessly as a group to create something magical??

I know at least one urinating guitar player that would've loved it!

I'm not pretending we don't live in the age we do. I know better than most the old regime is DEAD. I have to live with that truth and it's consequences every day like so many of my bewildered peers. I accept that. This new regime has changed the game entirely. I accept that too. But it doesn't mean I like it!

Flash forward to now. I have ZERO interest in making records in this "contemporary" software reliant style. Why? Because the very thing this modern recording technology set out to do (make music easier to create) has actually made it harder! Guess what kids, there's no more spontaneity in recorded music anymore. In the "old" days, you showed up for a session, the engineer got the sounds, then the band played the song... TOGETHER!! If you happened to be listening in the control room and stepped out to grab a smoke, chances were by the time you came back the bulk of the song was finished! And most importantly, because editing on tape was limited, the musicians had to be able to really PLAY their instruments... Well! Seems like every time I'm on a session now, hours are wasted as the musicians take a seat while the engineer "corrects" their performances. When did we all become so inferior? These days, if it's not the timing, it's the intonation. If it's not the intonation, then the timbre of the guitar is wrong, or the snare drum needs to be replaced... And don't even get me started on vocals! When a peer tells me they spent hours and hours editing a vocal, do you know what that means? The singer can't sing! Or to put a finer point on it, that "singer" ain't no singer! Back in the day, the guitar player would just plug into a different amp, or the drummer would simply put up another snare. Now it's hurry up and wait as the engineer and producer muse over what kind of virtual amp and/or drum samples should replace what someone played. Of course, most "engineers" these days are just musicians who bought some Pro Tools software and a laptop, and after reading a few recording articles on the web think they're f-ing Al Schmitt...
Years back, editing, (especially cut and paste style editing) was a pain in the ass (not to mention costly), and used only AS A LAST RESORT. You know, like a defibrillator on some unfortunate soul when they suffer a heart attack! Cut and paste was never meant to replace PLAYING the song! That is, unless you were just plain lazy, or going for an effect, i.e like a fake, sterile un-human kinda thing. In those glorious "old" days, the singer had to sing in tune. Heck, the singer had to be able to SING!! Even singers that couldn't really sing had to squeeze out something real to make you believe them. The drummer had to groove and keep time... I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. Or maybe you don't if you're too young to know what I'm talking about...

This morning I was driving from a coffee shop back to my house. I turned on the radio to listen to NPR (talk). I accidentally punched in a station that was playing music. I immediately turned the volume down. I literally feel assaulted listening to modern music now. The mixes are usually compressed to the point of making the recording dynamic-less, which not only takes away one of the most powerful of musical devices, but also fatigues the ear to the point of serious hearing damage over time. However, something was different about the song that was playing. It was good!! What made it good? It made me feel something. It drew me in. I was attracted to it. Cautiously I turned up the radio a hair. Not a bad song at all. Good chord progression, interesting singer. But there was something more than that pulling me in. The drummer was great, (sure his time was a little shaky), but he was all heart. The guitar player was picking a humble but earnest arpeggiated ostinato. The transients on the drums themselves were pleasing. The way the stick hit the snare was nice and squashy, but not crushed. There was plenty of breathing room in the track. The singer was even slightly out of tune at times... Delightful!! These were REAL HUMAN BEINGS playing this song!! Fantastic!! I drank it up, my soul felt nourished. I had to pull over and listen to the whole song. As the rest of the track unfurled I thought about life, the good and bad of it. I thought about the people I love, and have loved, and those I used to know but no longer do. Oh yes, THIS is why art is important. My day had suddenly gotten brighter. When the song finished, I got back on the road and drove home, feeling more than just a little better about the world. Who was this magical band? Turns out it was an old R.E.M. song, and I drew the conclusion I've drawn often these last few years; I love records made on tape, AND I HATE MUSIC MADE ENTIRELY ON COMPUTERS!! In fact, the more involved the computer is in making the music, the more I hate it!!

Just imagine if ALL bands today had to record exclusively to tape!! How f-ing HILARIOUS would that be?? I guarantee you at least HALF of 'em wouldn't be able to do it!! Remember folks, Dark Side of the Moon, Songs in the Key of Life, Sgt. Peppers and SO MANY MORE amazing masterpieces were all done to tape!! Not Pro Tools!!

Now I don't blame Pro Tools per se. It gave the cash strapped underdog a chance to compete with giants. It's been a true game changer. One that helped spear head the implosion of the once mighty fascist record company evil empire. And after all... It's just a software program... You know, like, guns don't kill people, people do??

But bottom line? it's made a-lot of people lazy. Worst, it's distorted the way we perceive right and wrong when recording music.
Being a starving artist on a budget is one thing. But if you have access to really great musicians, and the budget to hire them to record in a real studio, Why are people depending on computer programs to do the bulk of the work? How much time does it really save? Is it really superior? Because to those of us who know better (and there's more of us out there than you think), most of the records made this way today kinda sound like shit. Not to mention most new songs suck too (which is a whole other problem that must be addressed separately!)

I'm not saying throw the baby out with the bath water. I'm saying it's gone too far in one direction. It's too software and computer reliant.
I'm asking my fellows to consider swinging in the other direction a little. You know, get a real drummer to play it in one or two takes instead of you programming fake drums and spending days trying to make it sound like... A real drummer! Or how about making the singer sing their heart out instead of having them sing it down once or twice without really trying and then you spend the next three days "editing" their performance to achieve a crappy and fake comp. These are just suggestions, I'm sure you could come up with some ideas of your own... And BTW, I welcome opinions on this. Maybe you think I'm nuts. Maybe you love the way records are made today. Alright. Defend your case. Who knows... Maybe you can help me feel better about it!

Lastly, if I could give the youngsters any useful (but highly subversive) advice, it would be this- Practice the hell out of your musical craft, and when you're good and ready, go into a proper recording studio and make an amazing record, to tape... If you dare!!

Oh yeah, and whatever you do... Don't go back to Rockville!