Audio Technology - Issue 22

What's wrong with music today? - AKA "Why Kylie is top of the pops" Before I get too far into this issue's rant, I would just like to give a quick nod to whomever did the live sound at the Ray Charles gig in the Hunter Valley vineyards some months back. It was the best live sound I have ever heard - clear as a bell and at a sound pressure level that gave me goose bumps .. not a migraine. Congratulate yourself, or if you know who did the gig, congratulate them for me. It put faith back into my live sound world. A gig without having to wear earplugs? Who would have thought...?

Not a week goes by without some rocket scientist feeling the need to let me in on the biggest secret of all - what's wrong with music today. Now, depending on who's telling me this little gem I will do one of two things: if I'm in a session and therefore getting paid to listen, I will usually smile politely and act as if it's the first time anyone has ever told me their little secret; and if I am not in a session I will probably cut them short or just walk away. When it comes to the recurring themes musicians, engineers and people interested in the making of music share, 'what's wrong with music today' tops the list. And everyone seems to be saying the same thing: 'it has no passion', 'it's fake', 'puerile', 'it has no depth', 'it's all stolen', or 'it is all about the money'. My reaction? It's just plain nonsense.
 
I cannot remember a time when I ever liked the Top 40 charts - not when I was a child, a teen, or at any time in the 17 years I've been involved in making records. But here was something I became very aware of on about Week 2 of making records for a living - the Top 40 changes every week. Those 40 magic chart positions dance around like honeybees. You don't like the Top 10? Wait a week and it will change. And when it does, chances are that you will like one of the songs. No luck this week? Give next reek a turn. It has never been any different.
 
What I'm getting at is that in any given year there are about 1,000 different entries no the pop music Top 40 - same with the Dance charts, same with the Indies, and probably a few less in the Country charts - and that makes up about 4,000 records a year representing modern music today. Well, actually, that's bogus because we all know heaps and heaps of stuff never makes the charts for a myriad of reasons, so let's throw in about another 4,000 records just to keep the guys without record deals happy Anyway, 8,000 records a year... you must like some of them right? They can't all be bad, shallow and ripped off can they? While you're busy trying to remember which songs you liked this year, let me just say this: I like, I mean really dig about 50 songs a year, and believe me I hear a lot of music you’ll never ever get to hear.
 

But even if you have as many as 50 favourite songs this year, you certainly won't remember all those 50 in a couple of year's time. In fact, when you look back in 20 years time more than likely you'll only remember one or two songs from each year – and that's how we get our 'golden oldies', the all-time favourites. But people tend to kid themselves that the classic tracks are somehow representative of a 'golden age' when music was consistently great. Remember: for every Led Zeppelin track there are stacks of Bay City Roller hits you've forgotten; for every Beatles hit there were miles of Lu Lus and The Four Kinsmen. The Top 40 is just a numbers game, not a social comment, or a sign of the times. History is really good at showing us some perspective on what was going on. You thought everything was sampled, metronomic and Pro Tooled this year? Wait until the 2002 box set comes out in 2020. I bet it holds up better than the nay-sayers would have you believe. Now, the thing is, what the rocket scientists who come into my studio are really doing is just taking a pot-shot at pop music - 'its not real music', not like the incredible stuff they're doing - and usually it's just a protective glove, to let me know this is serious stuff and needs my full attention. Sometimes I find it an interesting study in humanity, because I like to raise and lower my music snobbery standards to match my clients, so it's really interesting when I have a month like the current one. I am in my busiest time ever. I am working almost everyday, and long days, with lots of different kinds of work. I have mastered two New Christs albums for Rob Younger, a couple of tracks for The Doves, I have spent a week on an English record with Tony Cohen, been dragged out of bed to lend some help to Ronan Keating, been kept out drinking with Kylie's band, done an album for Kasey Chambers' dad (and one for her backup singer), I just did the final Died Pretty record, and the current Top 40 Whitlams single is mine - I deal with a really diverse range of people and none of the mentioned characters waste any time telling me what is wrong with music today, it's the other guys. It's the guys without record deals. The ones without good songs or a hope of finding one that keep telling me what's wrong with music. It's not that I don't want the business; I just can't pretend to agree any more.

And, if you think today's music is all about the image or the show? Well I figure pop music has never been any different. I bet the first night they played the 1812 overture it was about the music and from the second night on... well, it was all about the cannons.
 
I was talking about Kylie before and I think she is an interesting case. On Sunday a guy brought in a pop record to master, and on the way to the session he bought Kylie's latest album to reference against. First, let me tell you, as far as pop records go the current Kylie record is about as big as it gets. To my pleasant surprise her record is not searing y bright, brittle and harsh, loud as hell or without bottom end. It's actually quite a warm-sounding record -out of place in today's pop market really - yet it is the absolute top of the market. (Maybe there's a change in the air. Hmm... warm pop records... cross your fingers.) The other thing I noticed about Kylie's record; every song was produced by the guy that wrote the song. That means, if you're an engineer trying to be a producer. you better get your music books out. It seems like we're back in the songwriter/producer era - it worked in the '50s, worked in the "62; worked in the 70s, then the boffins got to be in charge. But songwriters producing tracks is back in style. (Hmm... music produce: by musicians... no more dweebs... cross your fingers.)
 
Anyway, later that Sunday night I went to see Kylie's show – no, I'm not really sure why. But aside from an arena full of normal folk, Kylie's audience was full of musicians, lots of celebrities - lots of industry people there for a look. Make no mistake; Kylie did six arena shows in Sydney - all sold out... no rolling guest list - so there must be entertainment for the masses here somewhere. What did I think of her spectacle? How did it sound? Erm, I couldn't tell you. I couldn't see all the video screens and I couldn't hear much - I was at side-stage wearing earplugs.

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