Babe Ruth, Cabbage, The Beatles and the State of Music ProductionThat’s a crazy title, eh? Babe Ruth was born on this day in 1895. Did you know that he often wore a cabbage leaf under his baseball cap to keep cool? He changed it every few innings! I saw this little nugget today, and it got me thinking. It’s amazing that some of the people, who accomplished great things years ago, did it with what would seem to us as “unheard of” or impossible. Back when Babe Ruth was playing, baseball players didn’t have near the amount of luxuries that today’s players do, like breathable, lightweight ball caps…and most players had “regular” jobs in the off season. Can you imagine that now? So what’s my point? Well, the Music industry is the same way. As soon as I read that fact about Babe Ruth, I thought of how the Beatles recorded most of their early hits with a 4-track analog recorder. If you’ve every used a 4-track, you know this is crazy! To put it in perspective, I just finished tracking the Collins Brothers CD at my home studio, and I have At Least 10 tracks on each song…. and my debut album “Short and Sweet” easily had over 30 tracks per song. Now, the Beatles certainly had more than 4 tracks per song, but they had to do some serious work to make the records sound as good as they do. Today, everything is digital, and you can almost do anything you want to a track, with the push of a few buttons. Music is feeling. The Beatles were able to convey a feeling on those records that really connected with a HUGE amount of people. That is really hard to do. Some of the best bands today would find it nearly impossible to re-create the sound that the Beatles came up with, and they have technologies at their fingertips that would seem impossible only a few decades ago. It made me realize how dynamic and subjective music really is. I learned a while back, that it is impossible to please everyone with your music. Some people will like your style and some people will probably hate it. That’s the great thing about music! There’s no right or wrong. If it sounds good to you, who’s to say it’s not good? If it’s really out there, then you may be one of only a handful of people that like it, but that’s ok too! I thought for a long time that I needed to spend a TON of money to get a great sounding record. With the technology we have today, the home recording studio, and the ability to distribute music across the world almost instantly, it doesn’t really have to be that way. If you’ve got talent, you can write a good melody, and you are confident in what sounds good to you…go for it! If you’re lucky, (and me too!) you can find a “handful” of people that really like what you do, and find a connection to your music. Who knows? Maybe a “handful” can turn into enough to make a career out of music! So here’s to Babe Ruth, The Beatles, and everyone else who inspires us every day to do the best with what we have! Leave a Comment |
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