Junkie Thoughts and Opinions: Digital Music Revival

December 9, 2008 5:04 PM
by Pete Tremblay

Music, like all things, is a victim of the universal truth that the past repeats itself. Musicians, like all other people, tend to follow this concept blindly and predictably based on a few different truths in art:

1. The human attention span in the 21st century is only about 28 minutes long…

2. Everything in music has theoretically been done before, and there are a limited number of pathways to take your music within the means of the traditional styles of making that music.

This leads me to:

3. Maybe everyone has forgotten number 2 due to number 1 and we can get away with passing old music off as new music, with a little bit more production, class and infusion of the fact that kids love the catchy shit no matter where it came from! (IE the short disco Revival of 2004-2007, Scissor Sisters, VHS or BETA etc.)

The good news is that as musicians we are capitalizing on elements of music that were once and will always be catchy popular, and in good taste. The bad news is that the means to this end is beginning to cost more than a new car when you are searching for that perfect sound. Or so the hipsters would have us believe.

Luckily for the new generation of retro minded musical scientists, we do live in the 21st century and with that little tidbit of circumstance comes the fact that we no longer are limited by the bounds of tube technology, $5000 price tags and wild goose chases to find that perfect condition Fender Rhodes organ from the 60’s.

Like everything else in modern existence, all we need is the internet! Add a $100 midi controller combined with any one of the millions of midi controller software options to pretty much any computer and voila! The entire technical musical history of sound is at your fingertips just waiting for your manipulation.

The coupling of midi technology as well as digital effects processors has completely revolutionized music with the nearly limitless (and cheap) musical sound options that can be downloaded or installed onto your machine, and the ease that they can be used. Just 10 years ago, blossoming artists couldn’t imagine even coming close to finding that vintage sound without dropping a couple grand at a vintage boutique and then cursing the fact that they could have outfitted the entire band for the price of that VOX AC 30 they just bought (which by the way has the versatility of the color red).

There will always be those nay-sayers that will viciously defend with their noses in the air the idealism that the only way to get vintage sound is through vintage equipment; and in some respects they may have a point. Sure, nothing is going to have the exact same sound characteristics as a 1959 Fender Blues amp with original tubes played through a ’62 Fender Jazzmaster with all original wiring. There will always be a slight differentiation through digital modeling amps that will leave a little to be desired from that hard core sound obsessed vintage junkie, (or hipster that ONLY listens to the Stones) but with sound a little engineering and the coupling of a few different and relatively inexpensive outboard sound manipulations elements (like effects petals, preamps and equalizers), it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference, especially for your audience who isn’t looking for it.

The point is that sound and music itself is more about the feeling that is invoked in the listener, not always the way that the listener is delivered that sound. For those who can afford the real thing, it is always better to go that route in order to preserve the ideas instilled in us in the past. But if being able to run your guitar through $300 worth of equipment instead of $3000 worth of equipment and getting a comparable result means you can pay rent next week and afford that pair of skinny jeans from Urban Outfitters, than instantly your options become a little more open. Performance is about just that, the relationship between the show and the audience. As far as a musician is concerned, we have to do the best we can with what we can afford. And if that price tag for that limited piece of equipment is a bit too rich for our blood, there’s always Reason, Ableton Live and Fruity Loops.

Views expressed in this article are solely that of the author and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CoolJunkie.