Commodore Remix

My George Martin book came today. And a flip through shows just how out of the ark it is, even now. The home recording section starts off with a kid in his bedroom and ends up covering some pretty posh arrangements for the time, while computers only warrant a couple of small sections.


And not even a Commodore or BBC Micro in the picture. My age back then, I could have at least tried to have a computer in my equivalent, even without a synchroniser.






Fantastic stuff and just what a retrohead adores. A love match with my older copies of Sound And Recording, Sound On Sound and Home And Studio Recording. And it's packed with essays from the stellar producers and stars of the day, like Quincy Jones and Paul McCartney. Excellent entertainment in today's context.



And I also found part of a 1968 edition of the Reading Evening Post local newspaper, just wafting around under a bush. Quite how and why it got there I can't be bothered to ponder.

Interesting book about George Martin. Thing is because technology was limited then they had to be more creative and the end results are probably more credible in most peoples eyes. For me the studio has become smaller but the emphasis has less to do with actually playing and more to do with programming.

You're right about the processed ready music now. It's just so easy and much safer for an industry never too keen on taking risks on pop singles. Which is why I suppose Rod Stewart and other more weighty artists still top the album charts.

But even so, I like the change. It's both good and bad how music changed, along with the tools to make it, in so short a while. It's what you do with the change that counts. And I even say the labour saving isn't too bad a thing as even the Beatles 'cheated' to get the most polished results.







Though mind you, perhaps things weren't too different at the end of the 80s. Steve Levine's kind led the smaller studios in being packed with computers, samplers and sequencers on top of the usual amps and mixers. And I know I, for one, wouldn't want to go back to a time of fewer tools, whether in pro studios or home.

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