Recording New Mixtapes for New Moods
The evolution from analog to digital recording has made it extremely easy to trivialize the impact and importance of music. Cutting vinyl never really caught on, although my dad did find just such a recording device. It records by melting blank platters rather than by cutting as a master recording would be cut on metal, and we didn’t have a personal stereo, the walkman, until 1979.
After that, recording our own tapes, and later CD’s, MP3’s, AAC’s (essentially MP4’s), and lossless compression for audiophiles, is one of the many joys of our day. Although MP3 players have replaced tapes and CD’s for most of us, we still call our compilations mixtapes. Whichever musicians and genres we enjoy, we can always make new mixtapes of whatever we want, be it Hip Hop, Rock, Jazz, Classical, or whatever.
It is all too possible to have too much of a good thing, not to mention of mediocre things or things we’ve grown out of. I like to imagine back to when all music was live, to before music was recorded–before the MP3 player, the CD player, the walkman, the portable radio. A time when the only way to hear music was in person, when the greedy tentacles of record companies didn’t control this form of expression and creativity that we so enjoy.
Hard to fathom? There really was a time when music wasn’t everywhere; when every store, lobby, elevator, and car didn’t crank out tunes, and when it was unheard of for movies, phones, and video games to have music. Different phases of audio recording and amplification advancement occurred during the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s.
Atmosphere is created through architecture, decoration, art, lighting, but without sound, without music, the impact is incomplete. The ease of playing songs in public and in private can create opportunities not possible with live performers. As much as I would love to effectively concert hop when at the mall and elsewhere, I think it would be too much, too distracting for customers, for better or worse.
I’m all for giving musicians venues for more consistent employment, but the space and personnel required for staging, sound, and lighting equipment would be too much for most businesses to handle. Because we can listen to what we want to through our own mixtapes, we have increased power over what we allow to influence us. Our mood can be affected; we can be calmed, inspired, or pumped, depending on the music. There are many benefits from seeking out and enjoying good music.