Op-Ed: Audio’s Allure – The Sonic Spark Rediscovered
I recently wrote about what we lose when large facilities go away. Soon after that I was at Quad NYC, which today consists of two smaller rooms and a third on the way, occupying a single floor. It was a stark contrast to the halcyon days when the studio occupied five floors in the building atop of Times Square.
Catch the spark in 2014! Rick Slater is hot on the trail.
Yet it was hanging out there on a client’s video shoot that I found it, that spark and drive that we all had back in the day.
It was emanating from the staff there on a Saturday – management was off for the weekend and you could see the pride and enthusiasm that these people had about being there and making music. Out in the lounge they watched Revolt TV “because they play music videos like MTV used to!” Even the young artists they were watching were musically engaging.
Two of the staff engineers at Quad were especially notable, full of both questions and some definite opinions. Here were guys who wanted to know what hardware and software I liked and why. They were interested in the perspective of others even though they had obviously spent some time with their own gear and formed their own opinions.
This was like being back at Mediasound or the old days at Quad! They also had some things to say about the lack of quality in released music as they perceived it. Listening to various genres of music lately, I have to agree with them.
A Welcome Rediscovery
Could it be that I had found what I had thought we were losing at too great a rate?
Sure, I’m driving to the producer’s home studio this week – but the conversation still goes on. The desire to inspire listeners and capture the magic of a performer still continues, despite it not happening at some great pantheon of a recording studio. Then again, a whole band crammed into a single room around a mic seemed to work for Sun Studio.
Just look at this year’s AES Convention which drew record numbers, a bounce back from two years ago when you just wanted to run screaming from the audio industry. Everyone there in 2011 was feeling disengaged and uninspired it seemed. But this year the air was filled with enthusiasm, and people of all levels seemed to be picking up new bits of knowledge.
The industry has seen a major reset, the likes of which no one had ever seen. Many talented people have moved on and historic rooms have closed. Yet the drive to be the best at something creative is still instilled in many of us. That same desire to inspire the listener, to be part of that journey of creativity, is what inspired those who came before and in turn inspired us.
Rediscover Yourself
The question now is, what inspires you? Is it working with a truly gifted artist? Or perhaps some new found creativity in the tools of today?
I haven’t changed my mind about what has been lost to us but I am hopeful that the future of audio will be full of creative people, putting their love of the craft into everything they do.
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