My view on music is that today is that while music has DEFINITELY changed, there is music AND magic out there. The MAGIC is harder to find because since the advent of digital music production, there is so much more music, be it mediocre or phenomenal music, available. For me, I find myself LOVING some things, and marveling at how cool, or good they did something using new technologies or new ides. And I find myself listening to something and wondering WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? Or, WHAT CRAP THIS IS!
"I" personally catch myself thinking along the same lines of what my parents, grandparents, and other elders once use to say to me when I was THE YOUNG GENERATION, and people said to me what I was listening and dancing to wasn't music! But, I would look at them quizically, and wonder what was wrong with them! And, while I agree that todays music is different than what "WE" grew up on, I also find many tunes that are musical, have great melodies, vocals, instrumentation, composition, production, and arrangement. I can very much understand that it is sometimes hard to accept the new ways as being REAL, as music was once people playing instruments, and today is people programming computers, sequencers, modules and plug ins and electronics.
Then, I also have another perspective, because I purchase, procure, select, program, and play pre-recorded music professionally. I look beyond what "I" think, and what "I" like, and have over the years honed my ability to read my audience, and know how to predict successfully the NEXT BIG SOUNDS or HITS as well as play to my room and audience and lead them in MY own particular direction. Some of the things I feel, see, hear and notice is how todays music, technology, and music makers has finally matured, and come into it's own to the point where IT IS GOOD NOW! 10 years ago music was at a standstill because we were in between proper musicians, EXPERIENCED production, tried and true GOOD analog recording and playback gear, and BIG BUDGET productions. And we were going full force into digital playback, digital and electronic production, LOW BUDGET MUSIC PRODUCTIONS, with many music makers that were/are young, and were inexperienced at the time. As well, much of the digital music production, sounds, and playback media were very inferior to what "WE" had become accustomed to, and was OUR standards.
So, today, we now have producers, artists, and electronic musicians that are maturing, and have matured. We have digital production gear, and playback gear that IS quite good these days, albeit different from what MY generations state of the art analog audio was! What I hear and feel in the music of NOW is once again, VARIETY, VOCALS, electronic music with emotion, composition, instrumentation, and FIDELITY! However, unlike 1979 when I was in the record stores all over Manhattan, searching and buying vinyl, or 1999 when I was all over buying CD,s, today I am all over the internet at online music retailers purchasing music in a downloadable format. And, unlike just 5 years ago, when downloads pretty much were a cheap sounding, low rez format, and the music was lame, today we have good sounding downloads, and good music available, and IT WILL CONTINUE to get even better, as it is still fairly young, and has ways to go! Another thing I have been noticing over the last three years is HOW MUCH music is available. Sure it isn't all great, or even good. But 20 and 30 years ago, the 50 records that came out in a 2 week period weren't either. Today I search through hundreds and thousands of titles weekly. My current library of tunes that I am using right now, this years music, has swelled to 3500 titles. My ears tell me todays digital productions and playback gear has become MUCH better than what we had just a few short years before. Honestly, some of it sounds VERY good. And in some ways SURPASSES what we could do or get out of the analog medias. By the same token, we also have an over abundance of CHEAP mass market products and music, too.
About music playback gear, sadly, there is a ton of BAD junk portrayed to us as being all that. But there is also quality music playback gear too! And, unfortunately, THE GOOD STUFF has become exorbitantly and prohibitively expensive. And, just like the music, there is so much more gear available to look at and shop than ever before, and does become confusing to the inexperienced, and even the experienced, I believe!
I listened to and played music on basically the same school of gear from the early 70,s to the turn of the century. I always did improvements, upgraded from good phono cartridges to better, went from good EQ,s to the BEST of the type of EQ I was using, upgraded to from one amp to the next and latest offerings from the brand I use, etc! And, up until the mid 90,s it always worked, the sound was excellent, and consistent, and I had become set in my ways and always figured as long as I kept doing what I did, everything would always sound great. And, just like everyone else, one day it no longer sounded good. And the brands of audio gear I grew up with, and had grown accustomed to and dependent upon either completely changed their lines, or went out of business. At the same time, the music changed, completely, and I both DID NOT LIKE what I could get, and was unwilling to accept the fact that things were changing, and had to change if I was to get anything good from what we have to use these days!
I would take my new music home with me every week, to listen to and become familiar with. At home, I listened to records through JBL 4312 monitors as well as other things I have, I have had these speakers since I was 15 or 16, and were/are among one of my favorite small speaker systems. At work I played my music through my grand and HUGE JBL and ALTEC system, and one day NOTHING sounded good anymore, all the new music just didn't sound right. At the same time when I would hear the music of the moment on other peoples newer systems, and while maybe not to the nnnth degree of sonic perfection, I began hearing the new music sounding good. One day, I decided to get with what's happening, and I endeavored to recreate my system so TODAYS music can sound as spectacular as it did with yesterdays. And it was worth the work, and the time to invent my own NEW recipe for sound. Now, I hear todays music, and IT SOUNDS GREAT, and I hear music in todays music too. There most definitely is magic in my room, in the music itself, and the system. Getting to this level is much costlier than it once was, but it is out there and can be done. I know because I did it, and ONCE I GOT MYSELF sorted I have not yet looked back on " THE GOOD OLD DAYS", I am just too busy inventing " THE GREAT AND PROMISING TOMORROW"!
YESTERDAY WAS FUN
TODAY IS GREAT
TOMORROW IS LOOKING EVEN BETTER
AND THE FUTURE IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING ELSE