Amateurs and Pros?

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in the quiet recesses of Kerry Hall, one of the performance halls at Cornish College of the Arts, watching a friend of mine, Seth, perform the Bach cello suite no. 5 in c minor, arranged for viola.  The entire body of work is beautiful, and each piece was encapsulated in perfect silence. The performance, and the sounds (the runs, the rushed notes, the squeaks, the perfections and imperfections), that emanated from his instrument lived and died in that room – and it was amazing.  It was human and only existed for that one moment.  There is a part of me that wished it was recorded, so I could re-listen, but also that was part of the charm and magic of it.  It was mortal.

Sometimes I think recorded music has the ability of ‘sucking the life’ out of a piece of music.  How many times have you heard a top forty track, played ad infinitum, and can no longer stand listening to it? The not so sweet side of immortal music. Those artists though can be so incredibly venerated, and idolized in our society.

Back before there was recorded music, (1870’s), there wasn’t such a venerated divide between ‘musicans’ and audience. Most classical performances had a lot of amateur musicians and composers in the crowd, and there was more performer/audience interaction, at least more than there is now in the sterile classical performances we get in concert halls today.  The point is, that everyone to a degree was an artist. It was ubiquitous and a part of the fabric of a community.  Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case as much.  You have professional musicians, some amateurs, and a lot of listeners.

I recently read this article written by artist David Gerard, and it was interesting to hear his take on the state of music for independent musicians currently:

“The problem isn’t piracy — it’s competition. There is too much music and too many musicians, and the amateurs are often good enough for the public. This is healthy for culture, not so much for aesthetics, and shit for musicians. Literally everyone is a musician if they want to be. Good for culture, bad for employment. The serious problem for the working musician, though, isn’t records being cheap — it’s competition from other musicians. Because any talentless hack is now a musician. There are bands who would have trouble playing a police siren in tune, who download a cracked copy of Cubase — you know how much musicians pirate their software, VSTs and sample packs, right? — and tap in every note. There are people like me who do this. A two-hundred-quid laptop with LMMS and I suddenly have better studio equipment than I could have hired for $100/hour thirty years ago. You can do better with a proper engineer in a proper studio, but you don’t have to. And whenever quality competes with convenience, convenience wins every time.

You can protest that your music is a finely-prepared steak cooked by sheer genius, and be quite correct in this, and you have trouble paying for your kitchen, your restaurant, your cow. But everyone else is giving away zero-marginal-cost digital steaks, even if they’re actually reconstituted tofu or maybe poop. This means art becomes entirely a folk enterprise: the sound of the culture talking amongst itself. This is lovely in its way, but all a bit fucked if you aspire to higher quality in your subcultural group. We’re not going to run out of music, but it’s going to be a bit mediocre by and by.”  – David Gerard

In essence, with the accessibility of new technologies, everyone can become an amateur musician again. Music creation has been brought back to the masses. Shouldn’t that be a good thing?

The plight of the professional creative:

I used to have a home studio: Saffire Focusrite Pro interface, simple microphone and preamp setup,  a standard midi controller keyboard, and a killer view of Magnolia and the Puget Sound.  I also had enough cracked copies of professional software, VSTS and samples, that I had a pretty sweet setup.  I could wake up leisurely and record music right in the comfort of my own home, and just record when I felt in the ‘mood.’  Also during this time, I was juggling a 9-5 job at a label in town, which demanded the majority of my time during the workweek, but also which allowed me a level of safety financially.  I was taken care of, and didn’t put expectations on my own creativity and music-making.

I took the brave step to become an ‘official’ full-time professional musician in the winter of January 2014. Over the last four months I have created a music studio in south Seattle, updated my setup tenfold, legitimately licensed my music software, and purchased some kick-ass microphones for recording.

A week ago, I walked into my new outfitted space, and felt pride, but also an overwhelming sense of panic.  There was now a new dimension added to my routine that I hadn’t anticipated: “expectation.”  When I had just a home studio, I could create without any expectations, and it was wonderful.  Now, there was a need, and a reliance on creating.  My music now has to make money somehow to support me.

I think one of the most alluring and magical things about all the creative arts is the fact that there is always a risk of not knowing if something you work on will make money or not. Some of the time, money isn’t the intent, and in an ideal world , it shouldn’t be ever. Unfortunately, you also need to be a pragmatic sometimes.

I was reading an article recently about the difference between a ‘professional’ vs. an amateur photographer (which certainly has many parallels with musicians), and the one difference, is the necessity of the professional to run a profitable business. Amateurs can leisurely work, be fly-by-night, make good work – but not until their personal life is tied in with the success of their own business, can they be fully deemed ‘professional.’  Like Plato said, “..let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet a true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”

With my new studio, I now have the tools, but now need to really develop and perfect my own voice, and hopefully that is something that will ultimately be marketable, and sustainable.  However, with this in mind, was I merely an amateur before I took the leap of faith to finally fully pursue music?  I’m not sure, since it is such a fine line.

The Danger of and Instant Gratification of Technology:

I just about finished the book, “ How Music Works,” by David Byrne (of Talking Heads), and there was a section in the book which fascinated me greatly:

“In music… a group of hot young programmers soon emerged whose skills were in constructing, for use by others, grooves made from scratch. With a relatively inexpensive piece of gear or software, you could make contributions to major songs from your bedroom. In contemporary hip-hop, there is now often no relationship between a compositions backing track and a simulation of a live performance by musicians in the traditional sense… In the early days, there were live DJ’s using vinyl to loop drum breaks, but now everything – every instrument – is sampled, processed, or in some way shamelessly and boldly artificial. This music floats free of all worldly reference. Most other pop genres retain some link to simulated live performance, or at least to the instruments used in one, but a song put together with finger snaps, super-compressed or auto-tuned vocals, squiggly synths, and an impossibly fat and unidentifiable bass sound doesn’t resemble any existing live band at all.”

I remember being at South By Southwest a couple of years ago, at Fader Fort, and was disappointed that a majority of the artists were just behind a laptop. Maybe there was some variation here and there: dancers, maybe some keyboards, at most a couple cursory instrumentalists… However at it’s core it was recorded, synthetic based music.  Without a laptop, none of it could have happened. Even with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, we have crafted a live show which, at it’s core, is Lewis’ amazing beats.

In a sense, we are in a ‘golden age’ for DJ’s and electronic musicians.  Some of the biggest chart-topping success stories are artists like: Daft Punk, Kaskade, Skrillex, David Guetta, Avicii, etc.  I don’t remember any DJ’s from the 80’s, and don’t think any of them have the power that they hold today.  Deadmau5, in a blog post, opened up honestly about the live performance of DJs:

“its no secret.  When it comes to “live” performance of EDM… that’s about the most it seems you can do anyway. It’s not about performance art, its not about talent either (really its not) In fact, let me do you and the rest of the EDM world button pushers who fuckin hate me for telling you how it is, a favor and let you all know how it is.

I think given about 1 hour of instruction, anyone with minimal knowledge of ableton and music tech in general could DO what im doing at a deadmau5 concert. Just like i think ANY DJ in the WORLD who can match a beat can do what “ANYONE else” (not going to mention any names) is doing on their EDM stages too. “

A lot of the music technology available nowadays is geared towards ease of use, quickness to master, and instant gratification.  It makes sense though: why would you release a piece of software which makes your clients frustrated because it takes ages to figure out how to use and get results?  Our world is becoming more and more impatient… we get pissed if our internet connection is slow, we find instant dates on Tinder, we hunger for faster delivery, etc.  – Slowness is bad for business.  We have even made finding our favorite music easier by providing an instant gratification library, which we don’t have to pay much for – thank you Spotify. (I love and hate you.)

The scary thing though, is that with speed, and powerful technology, comes a lot of smoke and mirrors.  With all of this, you can pose as a decent music creator (most people wouldn’t know the difference), and not have a shred of training in you, or taken any time to perfect your craft.  Essentially you are getting something for nothing.  Instant-success yay! In an age, where we see instant fame with shows like American Idol, the Voice, America’s Got Talent, etc. it all seems in line.  Like David Gerard pointed out earlier, “a bit mediocre by and by.”

One of my favorite youtube videos has Mozart and Skrillex duking it out and arguing which of their ways of music creation is better:

Let me make a quick point of clarification: I am not demeaning the art of electronic music – there are a lot of incredibly talented and innovative producers, musicians, & engineers that I admire in this style of creation.  And I’m proud to work with some of the best producers to come out of Seattle. I am merely pointing out that technology has made it easier for an amateur to appear much better than they actually are.

On the flip side, does having years of academic education and training necessarily deem you a ‘professional’ and a better musician?  Personally I feel like this should at least give you more tools and skill to excel, but it doesn’t mean you are automatically a professional either.  I remember meeting a Julliard graduate who never became a professional musician, and they were exceedingly gifted.  Unfortunately the career of a concert soloist didn’t work for them.

In the End:

Ultimately, my opinion on this matter is skewed by personal bias: I have been playing and crafting my art as a violinist since I was five years old.  I’ve been learning composition/theory/music business since I was in college. Obviously anything that can be mastered in a shorter timeframe seems threatening to me.

I think that when technology gives us such powerful tools which creates shortcuts, and instant gratification (canned drum beats, easily downloadable samples,  arpeggiator, abelton live, etc. etc.) you make way for programmers, and technicians. Not necessarily musicians. But we are all making music, so why does it matter?  I think it matters when the listener doesn’t know the difference, or doesn’t care to know the difference.

Mistaking an amateur as a genius just because they have a $2,000 sample library, and tons of technology at their fingertips, seems to be misplaced praise to me. Most people now unfortunately seem taken in by the glitz, sleek, and easily digestible packaged music – ultimately, because it is all made for instant gratification.  Well doesn’t that just make those creators smart artists and businessmen? In my opinion, that makes them just cheap opportunists.

In the end, looking back at my friend Seth’s performance at Kerry Hall – the thing that was most amazing about his performance was that it was honest, and without any extraneous trappings, and it took genuine skill to accomplish.  No smoke or mirrors. Hopefully that type of music will be appreciated by the masses in years to come.