An Epiphany

I picked up a Zoom R24 with the intention of getting away from the PC to do some recording without all of the shiny stuff to distract.  It's quite a shift, but once I get control of it (the R24) I'll be stepping back some too.
 
 

nice post enjoyed reading it.

Great story, thanks.  My experience is almost the opposite, though, in that I dreamed of doing things for years, but until there were virtual orchestral libraries, computer recording/editing, and other such tools, I could not realize the things I imagined.

I'm a keyboard player by profession but I try to stay away from midi these days. It's a necessary evil sometimes but it's too easy to get sucked into editing mode. I try to play it well and sometimes do a part again, but don't do very deep editing unless there really is an obvious single offending note. That's regarding VSTs. Actual synths and keyboards I do all audio. It helps. Good post!

I also have lots of uncompleted songs.
 
However, when I play them for people, they ask what am I still working on?
 
Last year I said I would complete an albums worth of song this year. I have about four or five close to complete, about that many in demo/construction mode and about that many in idea mode. I work on a different bunch to keep it fresh.
 
I worked on one song for over five years. Kept telling myself i was learning the software. Get close to finishing it and then start over because I'd tell my self I could do it better now that I have more knowledge. Yep that went on for five years!! The best version by the way was the one I did about year three!!

I can see both sides of this argument. On one hand, yeah sure, life and recording was simpler and more focused on the actual making process when we had simpler tools. I did a lot of reel-to-reel recording in the 80's and there was not much else to do but hit record and lay stuff down. What were we going to do, sit around reading the manual all day? The thing has, like, 5 buttons. So a lot of actual recording got done. (Until we ran out of tape)
On the other hand, I remember seeing the very beginnings of what would become DAWs when I was studying computer music (amongst other things) in Montreal in 1992 or so, and beginning to understand where it was headed and what would become possible - of course it would have been impossible to imagine everything that it has become, but the vague outline was coming into view around then - and, well, here we are today.
 
So even though I spend far more time installing, updating, and trying to understand and effectively use the tools than I ever did when the tools were simpler, and certainly a case could be made that I do less effective creative work as a result... what I am able to do when I actually get down to it is still completely mindblowing to the teenager with the reel-to-reel that I still carry around inside, and that keeps me going. 
 
Plus most of my real work, that actually puts food on the table, is playing real instruments on stage with great musicians... so that balances things out pretty well.

BobF

Anderton
...
I've also designed a whole bunch of effects chains that have one knob. Cakewalk isn't quite sure what to do with them but it's so useful to get the sound I want by rotating one knob...
 
...

That sounds similar to the EZ Mix concept.

Sorta, but I really don't want to distract from the premise of the thread, which I think is important...the point was about having limited options so you wouldn't tweak forever.

Maybe this is related and maybe not; but a lot of modern records sound huge and I think a lot of it is effects, layering parts several times, and other such tricks.  That said, early Beatles records with a 4-piece band and sometimes doubled voices sound "huger" than some of my 60-track songs. I think it was 1-musical arrangement, 2-superb vocal parts, 3-a great sounding studio space, and 4-engineers who knew how to select and place mics.  Some will say it is tape v digital and that may be a factor but I don't think it is the major reason.
 
Random thought: We used to tell people that a lot of things sound good but not everything sounds like a record.  I still test tracks that way.  I close my eyes and try to visualize a 45-rpm record turning while I listen.  I just finished a song last week and it was the first one in a long time that popped that image into my mind.  Sorry if I am getting too mysterious and Zen here.

This is one of those classic threads that hit a note perfectly. Everyone can relate to it. Its instant recognition upon reading. The comments are superb.
 
 
 
 

I'm the same way, and when doing solo stuff, and playing each of the instruments myself, I seemed more likely to "finish" something inbound before tweaking anything much.
When I used 4 tracks, reel to reels etc, there was no digital option, and I was forced to write, "learn" and play everything through before jumping to the next instrument, including getting the sound right with each first, and bouncing was always out of pure need for track space, not a normal workflow.
Even if it wasn't mixed down very good, the piece was finished, whereas now it's easier to mix and tweak, and even easier to get caught up in it... there can be no end lol.
 
I do a lot of different art and constantly try new mediums and throw myself into them, (music always number one though), and it's tough for me to sign-off and say it's finished no matter what it is .... always more I could do, different or better, and I wind up with several versions instead much of the time.
But back in the analog days there was a point that I had to meet before going back very much.
The digital options are great, and almost limitless, but there's something to be said about being forced to complete the song process first. lol
 
 
 
 
 

I was at my most productive in the late 90's making drum and bass, funnily I went under the name Sonar at the time, before Cakewalk had come up with the name, and amongst my friends I was ironically the only Cakewalk user I knew. I had Bassstation rack and keyboards and a drumstation, Fat383 (analoge 303 clone) Quadrasynth (which I used as a drum source as much as the drumstation) and and I would mangle up thing a couple or rackmount effect and stomp boxes. I gigged and collaborated and finished stuff.
 
Then came the Emu6400 Ultra and swamped with options and a learning curve things seemed to come to a halt. My tastes moved and I realised I needed to develop more of a musical understanding to take a new journey. This made dropping the Sonar moniker easier, when Cake adopted it, and at the same time I was travelling out to Barcelona to the Sonar festival year after year.
 
I took up my Father's flute (not a euphemism), then a Baritone Sax(now sadly sold on but always in the back of my mind), Soprano, Alto Flute, and though I was now using Sonar, it was mainly playing over stuff and committing to nothing. Not helped by a new Sonar learning curve, hindered by Sonar issues along with MAudio 1814 firewire and laptop issues (yes my Firewire was a TI chip, and I'm glad to be USB now)
 
Learning musical instrument has become a distraction from making music, but I am at a point where I have a plethora, and as I progress I hope they start contributing to finishing music. Now I also have 2 guitars and a Bass.
 
When I sit back, and I think what do I like in music, what tracks do I listen to, wheat do I really want to make? It's not complicated, as Craig points out above, Miles kept it simple. He's certainly an influence for me, can't escape it, my brother is named after him (Me after Scott LaFaro and Lester Young), I grew up with it being part of my childhood background music. Miles I believe also said at one point he was seeking music with a funky bottom and cool bop top, and I relate to this.
 
My relationship with Sonar over years is off and on, New versions drag me back and my enthusiasm for music productions spikes, music problems or outside life gets in the way, but I keep coming back. I am far from a consistent learner of musical instruments, but I keep coming back, and progress is made over time. After jumping from 8.5 to X3 (after a gap that included setting up my own business and failing, emigrating to Vietnam) I then had another break when I finished working in HCMC and was homeless (well I still am, but I have my things with me again). 
 
My latest step has been to buy a new laptop (which seems to be working very well) and Platinum. I doing so I took a step back before I installed. I'm not sure if it was a epiphany as such and just and acceptance,  I wanted to keep things simple. Not have a stack of synths and GUI's to learn, but to have a comprehensive  knowledge of one, like I did with my basstation. Unfortunatly the AAS Ultra Analog (I own most of their stuff) has a crappy midi modulation implantation and a it's GUI is tiny on my laptop. I have had my eye on and tested the FabFilter Twin, just waiting for the right price. I installed all the Sonar FX (and a the +10dB), but none of the cakewalks synths, loops and things where I sit and scroll through loads of stuff trying to find inspiration. I want to open something and make the sound I wanted like I used to. 
 
I think I get stifled by options, and that I used to create nice stuff with less, and I have plenty. Where Sonar is now, for where I am now musically I have a picture in my head of where I want to go. Just need to do it.
 
 
 
   

Anderton
"Art is never finished, only abandoned" - Leonardo da Vinci

Ahhh, yes indeed, I had forgotten that wisdom.
 

dcumpian

konradh
Great story, thanks.  My experience is almost the opposite, though, in that I dreamed of doing things for years, but until there were virtual orchestral libraries, computer recording/editing, and other such tools, I could not realize the things I imagined.

I'm with you Konrad. There is no way I could have done the stuff I like to do now with my old reel to reel, with just me myself and I. Kontakt changed my life, lol.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

I'm with you guys.
 
Moving from a pair of Fostex 8 track HD recorders to Sonar 6 was my epiphany.
 
I simply cannot imagine going back to that.