How was music made 100 years ago vs. how is it made now?

0:02 Music Appreciation. What up guys, it's Scoobert Doobert. I was talking to one of the members of my family recentlyAnd I realized that it was kind of hard to talk about music because we did not come from the same vocabulary

0:28 And like not complicated vocabulary just like what are the jobs of musicians and how was music madeAnd so I decided to make this podcast episodeTo talk about what music creation was and what music creation is, at least you know broad strokes overview of the whole thingIn a nutshell, the TLDRThere's less money in music nowAnd so a lot of the lot of the times

0:59 People are wearing multiple hats, people are taking multiple rolesYou probably feel it in your own job, where you're being asked to do like 12 different people's jobsAll at once because there's not enough money to go aroundSo you're having to just like suck it up and deal with everybody else's crapSame deal with musicBut there's a pro and a con to itAnd I'm very that lead, you have to get there when you get there

1:24 Alright so let's go back in timeLet's talk about where things used to beSo you would have a composer who would come up with an idea or a group of composersThey would be writing a song or writing a melody, writing a vibeOftentimes then they would go to the lyricistSo like some people might know Elton John has a lyricistWhere he'll you know work with the lyricist and then come up with a melody

1:53 So he's more focused on the music side, the lyricist is more focused on the lyrics sideAnd so that that already, from the creation of the songThere is a division of laborOne of my all-time favorite songwriting consortiumsGoing back to Motown era is Holland Dozier HollandAnd so the Holland brothers and then Lamont DozierOne of the Holland's would write, oftentimes would write the music with Lamont

2:26 And then another Holland would pencil in the lyricsAnd they would take that music, which would be the chords, the lyrics, the general melodyThink of this as like the acoustic singer, songwriter, versionTotally stripped down, the MTV unplugged versionOr the coffee shop versionAnd they would take that and bring it to an arrangerThe arranger then would take the general concepts that are present

3:00 Within the lyrics, the chords, the melodiesAnd throw stuff to different parts of an orchestra or a rock band or jazz combo, whateverSo they would say, okay, this is the bass hookThis is what the bass is going to playThis is what the guitar is going to play as the drums are going to play and they write it outPut it all on music and that's given to the musicians

3:26 The musicians then interpret that, add a little bit of flairSometimes they'll get pretty bare-boned stuffBut they'll at least kind of get a gist of where they're goingThe musicians will perform thatAnd then it'll be captured by a recording engineerRecording engineers originally were basically like scientists

3:48 Where they would understand a room, understand microphones in such a way that they would position a bunch of different instruments from one micBecause we didn't have multi-track recordingWe didn't have the ability to lay sounds over soundsSo this is like the first technologySo if you're going to rail on technology, ruining musicLike start thereJust kidding, I love technologyI think technology is saving music

4:16 So anyway, it's all started withYou had literal physical distance from the microphoneSo you had the singer closest to the microphone and the drummerThe drummer, the furthest away because the drummer is the loudestAnd eventually you ended up getting different microphonesAnd then eventually you ended up getting the ability to multi-trackMeaning layering sound on sound

4:40 So you could record the drummer alone and then recorded guitar on top of itAllowing you to like perfect the drum part before adding other stuff on top of itWhich really helpsParticularly if you're making arranging decisions in real timeWhere it's not just, hey, everybody play your part perfectlyIt's, hey, like, play your part perfectlyBut we might evolve it a little bit over time

5:03 Or we might want to add a little bit of improvisationLike say, for example, you're going to take a guitar solo or a sax soloIt'd be nice to take a few and not have to have the whole band to play with you every single fricking timeI've been in those sessions and they suckWhere you're literally having to play like 40-50 rounds of the songUntil your hands are burningBecause they're not getting the solo that they want

5:28 And it's like, why don't I just record my thing until it's done and it's goodAnd then you can solo as many times on top of it as you wantSo it's like technology part oneSo it's the musicians and the recording engineer partThat's the capturing of the audioRecording engineer is making a ton of decisionsDeciding what type of microphone to useWhat type of cable to use

5:48 What type of input and preamplifier that they want to useThe thing that makes the microphone louderAll of these decisions have massive, massive implicationsBecause adding any different microphone to any different sound sourcesLike having a different earIt fundamentally changes the input of that audioAs well as even like little decisions like the cableAnd the preamp is a big decision

6:13 Because it's like, how am I amplifying the sound of that microphoneEverything has its own different colorAnd then from that, you say, okay, how am I going to get itOn to a reel-to-reel tape recorderOr in my case, into a computerLike convert it from this analog signalWhich is exactly what I'm doing right nowI am pushing vibrations in the air into a diaphragm on a microphone

6:39 That is resonating against it in the same way that our ear drum doesIt is sending an electrical signal down the cableInto the microphone cableInto my universal audio, Apollo TwinAnd then my Apollo Twin is applying virtual saturationVirtual, you know, outboard gear, virtual old school sound to it

7:02 As though it's recording into a, you know, a Neve, like a proper channel strip, channel preampAnd then it is converting it from that analog signal to ones and zeros that my computer can readSo all of those decisions are incredibly impactful, even the conversionThat's part of the reason why I would like a universal audioThey have really good analog to digital conversion

7:29 Because that's one of the most important steps of the processLike translating something as though it was going on to reel-to-reelWhich would just be analog to analog onto a computerOkay, so the engineer makes all of these decisionsThis is like the process of going from sound in the real world to sound on a recorded mediumBut it's not done yetThroughout the entire process there's a producer

7:56 It's helping to manage this whole situationMaking a lot of the creative decisions that the engineer might or might not be doingAgain, the producer engineer world has always had interesting boundaries that are entirely dependent on the type of personnelI call myself a producer engineer because I do bothA lot of people have done bothSome people as a producer they think they're just the vibe person

8:23 They're going to help make the environment in which you create positiveAnd allow the engineer to make a lot of the engineering decisionsOther producers will step in and say, no, I don't want that mic, that's too darkI want a mic that's brighterOr I want a mic that's crisper or I want a mic that is more old school or more new schoolThese kind of conceptsSo producers doing a whole bunch of different things

8:47 But the main main job of the producers is to get stuff doneGet stuff done on time and in budgetAnd to produce the whole situationJust like you would in any sort of TV productionThe producer is getting stuff done on time and in budgetOnce you get everything recorded though, it's not even close to doneYou then have to decide what takes do we useThat's also a big role of the artist and the producers

9:17 Usually the producer is determining we played this 15 timesAnd even in the old days they would do this tooWhich one do we like?And what combinations of one do we like?We like to take number two of the drumsBut then take number 12 of the bassAnd then take number nine of the guitarsAnd take number 52 of the vocalsAnd then you combine them allThere's a much more laboriousWhen it was with tape

9:43 Now it's just easy enough with protoolsStill not easyWhich people like to pretend that it isBut you have to go through all this stuffYou have to make really hard decisionsJust determining which version of the word the do I likeFor every single instrument in every single part of the songAnd then multiply that across in multiple albumsIt gets complicatedSo once you pick all of your takes

10:11 Once you've made all of the decisionsOnce the arrangers done its workOnce the composer and the lyricists have done their workOnce the arrangers have playedThe recording engineer has captured itThe producer has quarterbacked itIt's time to mixThis is the one that I think a lot of people don't even know what mixing isAnd that's perfectly okayMixing is the process of turning a bunch of different ingredients into a cake

10:36 We're going to mix it up and we're going to bake itThe mixing engineer does thatAnd that's part of the reason why it's one of my favorite thingsAnd also one of the scariest things to doBecause if you mess it up, all of that work before you is worthlessBut if you crush it, all of that work is amplifiedIt's like the synergy of like 1 plus 1 equals 3That's what the mixing engineer does

11:00 And the mixing engineer is fun because it...Their role combines some of what the recording engineer doesWhere, you know, they're making mathematical decisionsLike, okay, we're in this frequency spectrumDoes this instrument lie and the other instrument lie?You know, they're making these very minute decisionsBut then it also combines the producer and the musician, all this kind of stuffWhat is the vibe decision?

11:27 What things do I reach for?How are we combining these things and in what way?Well, the things that people don't know with mixing, the don't mixAgain, perfectly reasonable, how would you know this?Combining instruments is one of the biggest things you can do as a mixing engineerAnd let me explain what I mean by thatWhen you have drums on their own, all these individual drums

11:56 So you have just the kick drum, boom, boom, boom, just the snare drumYou can now combine them into what's called like a bus or an aux. A thing that sums them togetherAnd you can have them interact with each otherThat's where the magic isSo you can combine an entire drum kitSo now it feels like one glued together thingBut then the next decision is a little bit harderLike, that's an easy decision, it's all one instrument

12:25 How do you combine the rest of this stuff?Do you want to combine the drums in the bass?

12:29 That's reasonableMaybe you want to combine the drums the bass, the drums together onceAnd then the drums together with the bass and then the drums and the bass together with the guitarsThat's one decisionOr maybe you don't want to combine stuffYou want to keep them all kind of separate and then have them combined at the end So there's more openness and space in the trackIt's this decision of glue versus separation

12:54 That is so fundamental to mixingAnd then also the directionLike we have new directions with this 360 spatial audio stuffBut fundamentally, I mean two channel is like a lot of it's very coolBut two channels still the supremeYou have a left and a right ear that's not changingOh, stuff sounds like it's behind youIt's like, okay cool, but you still only have two earsLike the fundamental stuff is two channel

13:26 So it's deciding where in that spectrum of left to right it isAnd like yes, that spectrum can include above and below and behind youBut it still is between two earsWhere do you place things?These are fundamental, very tough decisions for a mixing engineerBecause they're additive, they all combine to create an impression of vibeAnd changing them slightly just like changing baking a cakeEffects everything else

13:59 I'm gonna put the guitar's center or I'm gonna put the guitars all the way hard in your left earMassive vibe differenceAnd not only does it affect what the guitars sound like, but it affects everything elseBecause like think about it this wayIf you have everybody dead center right up where I'm talking right nowIt's right in between your two earsIt's like as though I'm in front of your forehead

14:27 And then you shift things over to left and rightThere's gonna be a massive impression change between those twoIn the same way that if somebody was whispering in your left ear and then was screaming in your rightYou're gonna feel different stuffBut it's not just that because everything is happening all at onceSo when you move something that's really loud from one ear to the next

14:54 It's gonna expose the other things that were not as loud in that earIt's like a vacuum that vacuum gets filledAnd so it's all reactiveI can wax poetic about mixing foreverBut essentially what I'm trying to say is that every decision with mixing affects everything elseIn a very deep visceral wayWhen I'll do like a total walkthrough of like what that actually sounds like

15:20 I'm actually thinking about making some songs that do that poeticallyWhere people can listen to it and be like I get itThat's a goal of mind for next yearAnyway, mixing is that art of taking everybody else's work, putting it togetherBut you're not done yet, the next step is masteringMastering is very weird because I don't do itSo it's weird because I don't completely understand it

15:45 The gist is is it makes everything louderThen it makes everything more doneAnd the same way that like mixing is mixing up the cake and then baking itMastering is like the egg wash and the plating and the accoutreementThe stuff that you put on top of the frostingIt's not a cake yet when it's just baked and it's done and it tastes really goodYou need to do the next step, you need to frost it

16:14 You need to put it on a beautiful plateYou need to have it at the right temperatureAll of those things, that's what the mastering doesIs the cherry on top but the most vital cherryBecause without it, it just doesn't sound rightAnd as a mixing engineer, you almost have to keep that last step in mindUnless you're doing it yourselfBecause you need to mix to thatIn my humble opinionIf you try to mix so that it's done

16:44 There will be no room for the mastering engineer to frost the cakeYou need to bake the perfect cake that is ready to accept the frostingRather than try and do it all at the same timeOkay, that's the fundamental multi-multi-step processThere's even more stuff in between that's the gistThere's a system, engineers, there's everybodyAnyway, that's like the main job domains

17:11 What happened now? We have less money, so we have less specializationWe have less time, and we have less gearRecords used to be hundreds of thousands of dollarsSometimes they would take multiple yearsAnd they'd be in state-of-the-art million-million-dollar facilitiesNow I'm on a TV tray recording into my laptopYou know, I hope it doesn't sound like thatBut it's understandable if it does

17:43 And I think there's a certain vibe within thatSo it's a good and a bad thing, depending on your viewOn the one hand, you might say, oh, there are no more classic records anymoreYeah, maybe the way that you narrowly define classic records, I could get itYou know, nobody's spending a quarter of a million dollars to a half million dollarsLike who knows, with the inflation help, then maybe a million dollars

18:03 On a record anymore, like of course not, it's ridiculous, you're never gonna make it backBut also you don't need to anymoreAnd though it was really cool to have that specialization where it's like, oh, that's not my laneAll I do is arrange for stringsOh no, I don't do anything, I only write lyrics, I don't touch anything elseOh, I'm not a producer or a recording engineer, I only mix

18:29 Those walls have been broken down because they have toBut it's consolidated, consolidated decision makingWhich is like double-edged sort, of courseBut I'm excited about it because it means that you can make more decisions about your musicIf you're any of those people and you're assuming any of the other rolesYou are fundamentally shaping the music moreAnd if you are good, the music should be even better

18:57 Because it's more of an imprint of you, rather than a being an imprint of like 20 peopleIt's an imprint of like two or threeAnd if those two or three are like really friggin' slapLike that's gonna work, that's gonna be really coolIn a different way, it's gonna sound differentSo like some people think the golden age of music is behind us, I don't think soI think it's actually now and I think it's ahead

19:21 Because there are more people that are more skilledAnd more things now than that have ever beenAnd technology is not something that's making us lazierIt's making us more capableBecause I'm not having to spend all this time cutting tapeAnd using all the super cumbersome gear just to put audio on a campusI can do it at any time, in any state, in any placeI am recording frequently with my iPhone as a voice note

19:55 And I'm using it in commercially released recordsIncluding those that are on major labelsThat is powerful, because it is removed a barrierAnd by removing barriers, yeah, there might be some time where it doesn't sound as goodBut fundamentally, there are less things in the way of creatingBecause there are less things in the way of creating

20:17 You can make more, you can put more of a stamp of your own self into your artistryAnd there's just less stuff getting between you and the goal, which is moving peopleSo I recommend shaking yourself of some of those thoughtsBecause a lot of what you hear is psychologicalIf you, the perfect example is like people have liked my music moreWhen I have better numbers versus when I've had worse

20:54 Same music, same person, contextThere's a psychological aspectAnd hopefully that's wings in my direction someday, like fully, fullyBut who knows?

21:05 I'm just trying to say, try to rid yourself of that a little bitMeet the art where it is and celebrate it rather than just saying, oh, technology's making people not as good at instrumentsSay, no, technology's making people better at more things And fundamentally, it is clearing the path for us to make more music

21:30 Which is what I'm trying to do here, trying to make more music, trying to make you love music moreIf you want to hit me up, scoobertdoobert.pizzaIt's where you can find all my links, all my music, and also some other dumb stuffBecause it's all part of itLater guys, bye