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Looper's Delight
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Upon some introspection, I think excessive compression levels are a symptom of broad trends in modern society. As "indie" musicians we may view the big labels with skepticism. As musicians, except for the most cynical, we desire performance situations wherein people actually listen and respond to the music. We want to be something other than "Muzak" -- at least for some listeners. We would like to reach listeners -- after all, music is a form of communication. However, trying to reach people who have a conditioned "ignore" reflex is very difficult and frustrating. People are overloaded with cell phones, pagers, spam, junk mail, phone-solicitations, un-naturally loud music tracks, etc... and tune it out in order to cope. They tune out live music, too. Per wrote: > People screening out people, crippling our own sensibility. The bad > effect this has on > people is that they loose their natural ability for mental and > emotional reflection, which in a longer perspective also may reduce > the ability to feel compassion. When I started to play weddings back in the 1970s, people were pretty quiet when they entered the church and all the more quiet when the music started. By the late 70s, people just talked and when the organ prelude started, they would talk louder to drown it out. They would only stop talking when the singer sang a solo. By the 90s, people would continue talking while the soloist was up in front singing the solo (usually music selected by the bride). Today, people tune it all out: the organ preludes, the singers, other instruments. The money for weddings was good, however I felt like what I was contributing was merely a distraction to people's private conversations rather than anything that brought something special to the occasion. It may sound self-serving for me to speak of compassion for musicians. However, as a musician myself, I simply refuse to talk while someone is performing. They are playing their heart out and I respect that. Other people may wish to listen, and I respect that. I am old-fashioned. > We're all part of this noise. I kept raising my fee, figuring that I'd get less bookings. Instead, I got MORE bookings for more expensive weddings. I no longer book weddings. The money was not worth the profound sense of sadness/futility that came with the work. The other professional musicians were in the same boat -- just winging it -- why bother to practice? No one listens anyway. Just collect your check and move on to the next gig. > Since there are no silent spots left, we > need to develop a good sense of what to filter out, just to heal > ourselves and stop the destructive dehumanizing trend. A bit of a > paradox. We have reached a point where people tune everything out unless it directly affects them. When I was in Scouts people used to sit respectfully for the quarterly awards ceremonies. Now, people go to these things and just talk through them -- they only stop to take a pic or two when it is their kid's turn for his award. There is not even a pretense of paying attention. People don't whisper anymore. They simply ignore everyone and everything. Such behavior was unthinkable thirty years ago. Today, it is the norm. I think part of the problem is the commercialization of what, at one time, was a person's private space. Spam, junk-mail, phone solicitations, etc... is an assault on our time and resources. The problem goes way beyond compression levels. A person must tune out nearly *everything* to survive -- and in so doing throws the baby out with the bathwater. How does this apply to looping? Well, all of us here appreciate communicative performances and aspire to deliver such work to our listeners. To find satisfying performance opportunities can be a challenge. To find listeners that are genuinely interested in music and willing to listen is difficult. The ensemble sound of loops is built up a piece at a time and such an approach flys in the face of the "full-out-loud-all-the-time" material to which people have become accustomed. May we all hone our abilities to create fine music, to deliver communicative performances, and reach listeners. -- Kevin