Here are some basic things a person needs to write and record pop music:
1. Instrument
2. Microphone
3. Recording Medium
4. Speakers/Headphones
5. Inspiration
Here are some basic things a person needs to write and record classical music:
1. Ensemble or solo instrument.
a. If you know how to play classical music on it already, consider how much money it took to get lessons, education, etc.
b. Or you can rent the instrumentalist(s)
2. Room Rental (especially in the case of the ensemble)
3. Microphone
4. Recording Medium
5. Speakers/Headphones
6. Inspiration
Ok, so I remember people in music school bitching and moaning about how classical music was dying. What do they expect? Their tools have not been democrasized, as pop music's tools are. It's easy for some kid to go to a friend's house, plug a microphone into a computer, and record something. It's just as easy to post it on the web, because they created it. No copyright problems. Do you want to save classical music?
Democratize all the tools that a person needs in order to write it and/or record it, and you'll save it.
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Much sincere appreciation to Chris Anderson and his brilliant book entitled The Long Tail. This entire post is based on his insightful observations.
Dave Wirth
Alden Olmsted, John’s son, stopped by just in time to see us standing over one of the record players from the 1930′s listening to “Poor John” by Ada Jones on 180 gram (see video on the “news” page). He may have mentioned that John had a self-proclaimed recorded sound obsession. Alden also shared a great story about John harvesting cacti needles on a camping trip in the desert so they could listen to a portable record player. “The needles only lasted one or two songs, but they worked, and he had collected hundreds of them.” It seems to me there wasn’t anything about recorded sound John didn’t collect.
