The power of the internet

The internet is an amazing place... or virtual world, I guess, really. For all the talk of how the internet is destroying the media (and particularly music) industry, there is so much freedom to do things your way now, so much flexibility in how to work, and so many resources available to help you do it, that it's totally inspiring.

Sixteen years ago, when I produced my first album, Hearts On Fire, it was hard work to get anything done. It was a cassette-only 10 track album with only 50 copies ever produced, some of which had issues which made them play at the wrong speed. It was recorded on a borrowed Tascam 4-track portastudio, using whatever gear I could get hold of. I couldn't easily get tapes the right length, so I had to hand-splice the tapes at the end of side A so there wasn't a 20 minute gap before turning over. I only knew ONE person with a colour printer, who I paid to produce the inlay card for me. And then, when the work was done, I had to pretty much beg my friends to buy copies off me - no easy means of publicity or anything. It's no real wonder I didn't release anything else for nearly 9 years!

I've just finished recording, mixing and mastering what will very shortly be my third release, "Voyager Project". Without having a single physical copy of the tracks pressed or burnt yet, the 10 songs are available to listen to on MySpace, Facebook, Reverb Nation, Last.FM, Soundclick and a huge range of other sites. A very small investment (less than it costs to buy a guitar tuner or a couple of decent leads) will see my tracks available to buy from Amazon, iTunes and an assortment of other online stores. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to seeing how much easier it is to produce and publicise music thanks to the internet.

Much of the effects and dynamics processing used during the recording and mixing came from freeware plugins from programmers who distribute their wares on various websites. Even the commercial ones were purchased online - no paying extra for CDs, boxes, paper manuals, shipping etc. Even if I'd heard of them without the web in the first place! I learn so much from tutorials and forums I read online, which have not only helped me to make more efficient use of the tools I have at my disposal, but also help me keep my work sounding current, and broaden my horizons. Sites such as YouTube, Last.FM etc also give me instant access to millions of songs by other artists so I can compare my mixes without having to go out and buy armfuls of the latest CDs.

Slightly outside of music production, but still related, is the stage I'm at now. I've done all the artwork in Paint.net, which I was able to download for free. It's a powerful piece of software with a fairly small overhead, and has allowed me to move away from questionable copies of Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or whatever. And then, as I'm no artist, I've been able to find hundreds of suitable images available as public-domain on Deviant Art to manipulate and layer on my artwork. It's a fantastic way of working.

Is the internet killing the music industry? I don't believe so... it may be killing record companies, but we don't need them in this day and age. As a musician, I believe I'm in a stronger position than ever. The internet scares the music industry because it puts control into the hands of the artists... which is exactly where it should be in 2010 and beyond.

Old Ramblings

I found these old ramblings I’d obviously posted somewhere years ago. Thought I’d add them here as it’s quite an interesting look at my headspace from about 2005

When I was a kid, I thought like a kid. At 14 I wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. At 17 I wanted to be the best bassist in the world. At 21 I realised I was never going to be either, so I set my heart to making the music I wanted to make. I’ve built myself up, technically, to a level where I can play what I want, pretty much, and I can record whole albums without involving anybody else. Whether or not I choose to bring other people in is irrelevant. I’m doing my thing, painting my picture, writing my story, singing my song. And that’s what I see is important.

It’s the same thing with influences… too many people focus on one person (be it Jordan Rudess, Rick Wakeman, Steve Vai, Lars Ulrich, whoever) and aspire to be that person. But guess what? IT’S NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Listen to everything, soak in everything. The more restrictive you are with your music listening, the less you will grow as a musician. The more negative you are towards other musicians and other styles of music, the less you will grow. The more anal you are about sitting in your room practicing in minutiae instead of getting out there, getting sweaty and tired, playing in front of (and with) other people, the less you will grow.

Music is one of the most accessible art forms we have available to us. With the internet, we have the ability of reaching out to millions of people. But we as musicians have as much responsibility, if not more so, as the general listening public to appreciate all styles of music. Otherwise, why should anyone listen to us and the music we play? We need to open our eyes, our ears and our minds to new things. Just because somewhere is playing hip-hop or reggae or funk or whatever, it’s still music, and there are still things to be learnt from it.

It’s no use bemoaning the state of the music business. Moaning won’t do anything to improve things! We should be going out and asking bar and club owners whether they’ve got any plans to have live band nights. Encourage our friends to do the same. Keep up the pressure, and things will improve, club owners will see there is a demand for live band nights and will start to have them more often. I was once in a band that was one of the main live music attractions in our town. When we all left to go to college, the number of live music venues halved in about three months. Why? Because while we were going around hassling club owners for gigs, and taking out new bands as support acts, the other musicians in the area were too self-absorbed and just let all their possible outlets dry up.

I love progressive music. I really do. But it’s on a level that a lot of people simply won’t appreciate. Those less passionate about music than ourselves, want something to listen to in the background, something that is a distraction but doesn’t require absolute concentration. Prog doesn’t offer that. Even the hard rock with prog-tinges that comes around every now and then isn’t quite there, but it is more approachable. Concentrate on the musicality, not the techniques, and it’ll stop prog being such a clique and start opening other people up to it. We owe it to ourselves!

Returning to the music

This was my last post on my MySpace blog before I moved across to here. Thought I’d share it as a first post.

I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but…

I seem to spend too much time on focusing on things that are music-related, but are a distraction to the music itself. Whether it’s working on techniques, or programming gear, or reading about gear and other stuff on forums etc. It is all beneficial to an extent, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I think you need to take a step back and realise what all this is about.

This afternoon I put on one of my favourite CDs of all time, V by Spock’s Beard. I’ve probably not listened to it in 6 months. There’s no exceptional guitar playing (Alan Morse is a unique player and gets some great sounds, but it’s not technically anything particularly special), the production isn’t world-class, but it’s just great music. Great songwriting, great arrangements, great vocal harmonies…

Isn’t this what we’re in danger of missing so often these days? It’s certainly true for me that I get so focussed on one path that I lose sight of the big picture. Gear is important (well, no… sound and playing is important, and the right gear facilitates that), technique is important, but overall, it’s about the music. I feel inspired to return that to my focus.