Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Producers Often Destroy Originality

When a young artist finally gets to the point at which they have enough audience and charm to work their way into a professional studio, the excitement often runs so high that they fail to realize what is actually occurring to their music.  Often, the perspective of the producer does not line up with the original vision of the artist for their music.  I think it's pretty apparent when you look at artists who art out as folk acts and all of a sudden have extreme string arrangements and monstrous rhythm sections.

I think that the appeal of simplistic music has been underestimated for decades.  As the increasing capability of technology has extended the potential reach of musicians and producers alike, it also draws focus to inclusion of all types of content that could not normally be created by a core band.

From my experience of working with a group of different studio producers, I realized that each of them has been involved in variant projects that ranged from classical compositions to rock influenced reggae.  The artists who have brought their content to the table are coming from drastically different realms of music, and the integrity of their compositions deserves variant production techniques that respect those different spheres of musical innovation.

Often, an artist will have some very original material, but the immersion of that material into a studio-produced format will take the originality away a bit.  EVERY musician in the whole world knows how to hammer out a 4/4 rhythm, so why do studios feel the compulsion to add percussion tracks doing so into every song written in that time signature?  I feel like it numbs the ear quite a bit, hearing the same thing over and over again.

I suggest step back from the pulsating rhythms and so forth, there's been more than a fair share of exploration in that area by hip hop artists and jazz players.  Let's focus on allowing melodies and nuance to thrive without stifling them.  The percussion is really neat as just being a garnish anyway, a way of tying a whole piece together even, but it gets to overpowering sometimes and it kills the originality of music more often than not.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

"Ahoy" (a slightly satirical introduction)

From here to an indeterminate amount of time, this blog will take shape of a weekly journal about my fascination with the life of the world's aquatic organisms.  Ever since I was a child my imagination has always been curiously attracted to learning about the denizens of the deepest watery environments here on earth.  In recent years I have explored many areas as hobbies such as performance, theatre, debate, law, music, comedy, poetry, and broadcasting... however none of these fields informs me of the world around me, particularly the aquatic portions I find to be so captivating.  Thus this is my manifest reasoning behind my new ventures towards discovery.  
I leave you know of a with a parting thought of three words in regards to my value for knowledge and nature:

Imagine, Explore, Appreciate 

- Mr. William Bell Flourance
University of South Carolina

(no direct affiliation) 

Saturday, April 4, 2009

19 swiftly approaches

What the sam hill have I done in this year? 


- got into usc
- graduated
- 3.6
- radio show
- written music, ruined music
- stopped writing poetry
- started learning spanish one word at a time
- fucked up and felt okay
- made too many new friends, seriously I can't handle it. 
- not gotten any better about checking my voicemail
- lost the most sleep I ever have in my life
- bought my first industry standard microphone 
- new found love for law and the constitution 
- thought more about my family than ever 
- had two roommates I hate
- applied for my first internship
- downloaded too much music I can't appreciate 
- learned how to save money
- defined how much I care about people
- worst halloween ever
- contradicted myself and things I used to believe
- spent a lot of time in the library 
- realized that on april 11th, 2009, I will no longer be barely an adult.  

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Lil Wayne takes it further than Kanye

So Lil' Wayne's new single "Prom Queen" leaked over the weekend and it sounds quite the way I would imagine if in a drunken fit,  Weezy himself stumbled on stage at a goddamned finger eleven concert and began singing* into a vocoded mic, while the band simultaneously decides it's a good "career choice" to play along .

*talking shit in tune

worst.album.ever.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Stacks in Jail

Hood Life Is Hard Buddy.
Guess Jail Life Is Hard Too.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

It's A Wonderful Life

Got a Ukelele.
Ate.
Played With Logic 8.
Daydreamed.
Read David Sedaris.
Saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

By the way, does anyone remember the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name as this holiday academy award nominee?

if not ----------> Thanks UVA

The plot of the film is completely off.  I understand it's  an adaptation, but seriously?  
Civil War ≠ WWI
Button Family ≠ Retirement Home Foster Family
Seeking an Education ≠ Going on Tugboat Voyages
Hardware Business ≠ Button Business

whatever David Fincher.  Well... it's still a great film.
The best piece of cinema I've seen with Brad Pitt in it since Ocean's 11.