State of the Art

[Leon Portelance]

When I was studying music in university, one of my special projects was to build a synthesizer from scratch. I spent hours soldering transistors and resisters onto circuit boards. When it was done, the thing was a monstrosity - kind of like a prototype of an early Moog only more like the mad-scientist version. Wires poking out all over the place. And it worked, sort of. I don't think I ever used it to play any music, it was more of a learning experience. And the buzz at the time was talk that someday soon, synthesizers would be polyphonic. Just imagine that!

After college, I went to work at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver. I was an assistant engineer which meant I swept the floors, made coffee, picked up lunch at the deli and spent hours running 2" tape back and forth through an old Ampex. I was responsible for arming the tracks and doing the punch-in and outs. I remember at one session, Terry Jacks (the Seasons in the Sun guy) was producing. He must have listened to the same 4 bar segment 50 times in a row trying to decide whether or not he liked it. Nothing like being decisive. Everyone else left, but I had to stay and rewind--play--rewind--play. Kind of got to be like Chinese water torture.

I remember my first personal multi-track, a Fostex A8. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Then later I upgraded to a DA 88.

I guess what I am leading up to, is how amazing it is to just sit in front of a computer and have whole symphony orchestras and choirs at your fingertips. Pretty awesome. Technology-wise it is a great time to be a composer. Too bad the business-side is going downhill so fast.

[David Rubenstein]

Leon, I agree that it is too bad the business side is going downhill while at the same time technology is making great leaps forward. But is that really a coincidence? Is it possible that business is going downhill because of the technology? Just a couple of decades ago (maybe less), you couldn't easily get away without a full-blown orchestra or band recording music for a TV show. But now most television music is synthesized. So the bar has been lowered, and more "composers" can leap over it than ever before.

[Leon Portelance]

Hey David, you are probably right there. I used to be a part owner of Bullfrog Recording Studios in Vancouver. The advent of cheap multi-track equipment like the Fostex A8 and then the ADAT made it so any musician could do demos in their home. By the early 90s we had to close the doors. For a smaller studio without the bread and butter demo market, it was no longer viable.

Probably the same thing with film composers. Now that anyone with a computer, DAW and some sample libraries can call themselves a composer, the market is flooded. And it doesn't help that most of them will work for free and even sign away their publishing for nada. Sadly, it's a race for the bottom.

[Xcid]

The business side is being modified I think, is not necessarily about to die, and this began not with Vsts and hosts, but with the Internet and the long distance collaboration power it gave to everyone by using a computer.
Now things are faster, everything is changing and everything will settle to this change eventually and reach a new balance, things like you don't have to move from your office to work with somebody else in the other side of the planet oppened the door to colective inteligence in lots of domains.
This forum is an expression of that, when would all of us would've met in a future if it was not because of the internet, also, how would weve realized about the existence of hosts and vsts. Recent generations like mine got into music production on pcs because of the internet like 6 years ago average.
All what you said you did in the university, was the prelude of all what's going on now, which is not bad but an amazing stage of a global social evolution, thanks to that, many of us are here, and thanks to that, our music will have something that 90+ years ago artists didnt have, thousands of people in realtime and a multicultural mixture of our beings expressed in whatever we do. I bet they would love for being at this moment in time.
Every stage in life, has its "pros and contras", this change has just happend, its up to all of us to reach a balance and get something possitive for the future.

[John Banting]

Oh dear, why do I get tetchy when people use the term composers and put speech marks around it? David? Is it because it smacks of the elitism that seems to surround music and some musicians? Quote: Probably the same thing with film composers. Now that anyone with a computer, DAW and some sample libraries can call themselves a composer, the market is flooded. And it doesn't help that most of them will work for free and even sign away their publishing for nada. Sadly, it's a race for the bottom. Source: Leon

The music industry has changed and will continue to do so. Thank goodness we can access good quality kit at affordable prices, making music far more inclusive to all, irrespective of percieved talent. The bar has been lowered? - No, it's just that more people have been enabled to jump over it. Quality will always have longevity and in any event, appreciation of music is subjective.

Whilst I agree that a real orchestra, or band sounds more like a real orchestra, or band than even the best sample libraries out there, I, along with many others, wouldn't have had the opportunities presented to me that I have, had samples not been available. I certainly could not have afforded studio time, let alone an orchestra, when I first started out.

No, I didn't spend eight hours per day learning to play the piano, or study orchestration - I did, however spend days, weeks and years learning about technology, playing with other musicians and collaborating (learning) on the job. I worked hard at marketing, meeting and greeting too. Do I call myself a composer? - Yes, I do, since that is the term for someone who composes - it isn't a special club for 'those who have' any more, and I truly hope that it never returns to wallow in that vacuous pit of smugness.

As for giving up publishing rights for nada, then yes, to break in to the sanctum, I did such things but then earned the right to charge and make a decent living out of music. We are lucky to be able to do something we love - it's got to be worth proving yourself for little reward to begin with, surely?

Ooooerr, I've gone off on one again - Now, were we talking about state of the art? :)

BTW: well done Xcid for making your point without getting jolly cross, unlike me!

[Danilo Chompor]

But, my friend, you is so so jolly right to be so so jolly cross with such pessimizm. We are all artistes in our own little world trying to make money from giving people pleasure. We are the prostitutes of the art world (in a good way). David and Leon, what you say is the same as saying 'now that battery operated shaky plastic is on market, then gigolos should work for no money.' Is all nonsense. We must celebrate the new technology and use to financial advantage. There is no reason why can i not make CDs of my music and sell on corner of street? Not possible 10 years ago, but possible now. Business isn't worse for composers. It is different.