12 years ago, I had borrowed a Korg 01W synthesizer from a friend for a show. I was so blown away by its Alto Sax tone, and pitchbend/modwheel design that I vowed I would buy one for myself one day. ( Interestingly 01W was supposedly used by Rahman in 'Roja'. ) Years later I did buy a supposedly high-end music workstation synthesizer, but was greatly disappointed with its sound quality. The violins made me cry for all the wrong reasons. The trumpets sounded like toys. The pianos were mediocre and sounded thin and lifeless. The sonic character so deeply embedded in the instruments from the 90s had unfortunately given way to sounds that were mostly suited for hip-hop production. I soon realized meanwhile that the manufacturers actually no longer 'wanted' to make the best sounding instruments. They reserved the better sounding tones for 'add-on expansion cards' that one had to purchase at a ridiculously high price..
Ideally I would've loved to buy a lot of high end equipment, as well as the services of a few top notch music production consultants and set up a world class studio, but since that is beyond my budget by a few orders of magnitude, I've decided to settle for the next best solution for my 'dream studio', which finally comprises 3 entities- A synth, a pc, and some ingenuity. VSTis ( Virtual studio technology ) have now levelled the playing field a lot more, making it possible for home producers to get good sounds at affordable prices. And as I have often discovered in my own life, creativity loves constraints, and less is often more...
I have always felt that my posts on this blog accurately reflect my writing abilities( or lack of it thereof..:-), but I've never felt the same way about any of the music I've put up here. I am 'always' disappointed with the sound quality, and I know that they could all be made to sound a whole lot better, but I've have lacked the sound design skills, and the resources to do so. So, with my 'studio' nearly ready, that is where I intend to focus my energies...
Ideally I would've loved to buy a lot of high end equipment, as well as the services of a few top notch music production consultants and set up a world class studio, but since that is beyond my budget by a few orders of magnitude, I've decided to settle for the next best solution for my 'dream studio', which finally comprises 3 entities- A synth, a pc, and some ingenuity. VSTis ( Virtual studio technology ) have now levelled the playing field a lot more, making it possible for home producers to get good sounds at affordable prices. And as I have often discovered in my own life, creativity loves constraints, and less is often more...
I have always felt that my posts on this blog accurately reflect my writing abilities( or lack of it thereof..:-), but I've never felt the same way about any of the music I've put up here. I am 'always' disappointed with the sound quality, and I know that they could all be made to sound a whole lot better, but I've have lacked the sound design skills, and the resources to do so. So, with my 'studio' nearly ready, that is where I intend to focus my energies...
4 comments:
All the best with the studio effort! While the general impression is that studio is a room with expensive gadgetry, it really only needs to be one creative mind and atleast one decent instrument!. I am yet to get cracking on my plan to have a room full of instruments. Everytime i see n instrument, i make a 1000 year plan to acquire it :))
thanks swat ... I remember you being so skilled on the Mandolin, and even at that time, I remember, you had many instruments ...:-)
Good luck Karthik! Looking fwd to hearing some of your compositions... it's been a while!
Thanks Neeraja ! I'm still honing my skills to get my compositions to sound the way I'd like, so it will take a while ..thanks ..
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