Think about it...when The Beatles worked on an album (remember those? people went to stores with clerks and bought music that was [gasp] on shelves IN A REAL STORE WITH REAL PEOPLE!) they went into a studio, had mics set up by professionals, had George Martin working on arrangments for strings, horns and what not...and they sat down and actually did what they loved to do....WRITE MUSIC.
Nowadays, it's every woman (yes and man) for herself (himself).
I won't utter a word about the economy, ok I lied I just did. But aside from that, who really has a Beatles budget? Even the studios themselves don't..and if they do, they rarely RARELY are willing to invest in a COMPLETELY unknown artist unless they a) have an already well known artist that supports the newcomer. b) the new comer sounds exactly/similar to an already successful artist on another label that they hope to overcome by marketing the shit out of this newcomer. c) they can shop a particular song to a jingle co., commercial or theme for a TV show. d) your name is indie and you are so far out there that it is so insane it just may create $$$ or oh yeah e) you are Disney material, aka you have a parent that wants to live vicariously through your success after their career hit it's high mark about 20 years ago.
ok so with that said, maybe not all is lost when it comes to fancy studio record label signing and production..
But for those technology savy or at least attempting to be, geeks and music composers...what is out there for us?
Sweating away understanding the ins and outs of every new gadget that pops up as the NEW must have software to be a success. Pro Tools, Logic anyone?
Having the most state of the art plug ins so you walk out sounding like the next John Williams after hiting just a c-chord on your crappy MIDI keyboard.
When does music composing become simply "click and drag"? I was completely horrified that the reason why most modern day hits on the radio makes me cringe..is because yes they all are horribly HORRIBLY auto tuned...c'mon...take a voice lesson or adapt to what you've got. I can't tell you how disappointing it is when I hear an artist and then hear them live and go "wtf was that seriously the same person singing??"
They also, use the SAME DAMN PLUG INS AND LOOPS AND OTHER DRAG AND CLICKS!!!!
This is where, true songwriting goes to die...now yes you can call me a bitch, and that I don't know what the hell I am talking about, don't get me wrong I think that there are a lot of awesome beats and songs out there that are completely rocking and kick ass and I'd be honored to have the opportunity to work with any one of those beat makers and artists.
What I am saying is, when music starts to sound all the same because we are being lead to believe that in order to be successful in composing and songwriting we have to sound like everyone else....something is wrong with that.
Think about this...did Elvis have auto tune? no
Did Janis Joplin? NO
Did Bob Dylan...hahaha no way obviously!!!
Did Led Zep have plug ins and loops that you'd hear and say "hmm that sounds like the loop on Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon"
NO
That's all I am saying...
Lets try and go for a unique sound so that way 10, 20, 50 years from now, (if the earth is still here then) people don't listen to what we did and say "oh that was all the same exact shit"
UPDATE UPDATE cuz I like to PROCRASTINATE...
I am CURRENTLY working on a tune where I brutally use Auto Tune...So YES I am being a hypocrite in some extent...I'm straight up with everyone so I don't deny that I am now using what I bitched to death in this posting...i still am all for the make your own shit from scratch and THAT is true composing/songwriting...I'm doin' some fun, no serious tunes mixed with my true to form as well.
Keepin' it as real as possible! Happy new year 4 more days of 2009..thankfully....well, at least for me it's thankfully!
and merry whateveritisyoucelebrate!
