Be the First

The Lounge General Discussion
#24

There’s always a firmware update if u missed the first round lol

I get where sabana is coming from, tho. Being first gives the poster more notoriety, more clicks, the perception of being important etc. some awesome videos you see online have like, 100 views, others that were done at release have 10’s of thousands.

I’ve had one or two videos that I was always surprised had a tonne of views, and then projects I poured my soul into no-one cares.

I wondered about it, I guess ultimately you have to think, what do people want? probably, they want the product in your video. products can give people an identity and lifestyle. there’s a whole cast of psychological actors at play in all this

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#25

…i’m still pretty convinced, it’s not the gear, it’s the mindset behind the gear that’s first in something…or not.

there are gear junkies…and there are musicians…
the good thing about new gear is never the fact that it’s new…
it must offer some tricks ur not able to do without…
otherwise, it’s just another bunch of more or less fancy presets u cn suck off…
that has nothing to do with beeing creative…
in fact, it’s quite the opposite of that…
and the best shit happens with gear u know inside out…
happy accidents, common to take place with new gear, are nice, but nowhere near to any kind of real fresh sonic mindset…

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#26

Exactly. I remember the Human League being one of the first to grab a Fairlight. I lost count of how many people bought their records just because it had a crazy new synth with unique sounds. And the pouring your soul into things i get. The first often just noodle on it a bit and get notoriety and huge interest. But years down the line jo nobody gets a few views despite it being a better track. Of course this is if your only bothered about sales. If your just buying equipment for yourself and have no intention of releasing a track then this isn’t so important.

#27

So true. Ive experienced this in the Camera Industry first hand.

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#28

People are interested now

#29

In the history of Electronic music being the first has been a huge influence in success.

#30

But then it’ll be obvious I’ve got no talent :man_shrugging:

#31

First with a tool, or with a technique? Thinking about people like Glass and Eno etc cutting up tape. Tape had been around, they didn’t get the newest tape machine…

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#32

I’ve always been years behind on getting gear and couldn’t be happier.

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#33

With a tool. Although new techniques(id call them novelties however), like the one you mention are getting thin on the ground.

#34

We’ll see. I bet that has been what people have thought througout the history of music.

Anyway, to your original thesis, I don’t agree, or if it is true, I don’t care. Define success? I just bought a few CDs this week, mostly from the 2000s and 2010s…they’re great CDs…one has a flugal horn on it…hardly cutting edge tech

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#35

I’d argue that going viral as a roadmap is going to get you more publicity, more reach, etc. these days than just “being first”. And by going viral, I mean assimilating your content with something trending or targeting the demographic who can provide the most likes/views (Gen Z) at the current moment in time.

For example, YouTube channels like Davie504, Kmac2021, Jared Dines, Marc Rebillet etc. aren’t necessarily doing anything “first” with gear but they’re integrating their music content with either humor, weird technique or meme-friendly content to skyrocket their reach.

These channels each have millions of subscribers (Davie has close to 10million…), while compared to even the most popular gear reviewers who tend to do “first” videos (BoBeats, Nick Batt of Sonicstate, Ricky Tinez, Stimming, Multiplier, etc.) only having a few hundred thousand at most. Only Andrew Huang has really broken into that space beyond 1 million and his content doesn’t do “first” videos at all, to my knowledge.

With the exception of Davie (because he’s a very talented bassist), I’d say most of these channels have similar talent, skill & mastery of their instruments but their reach is exponentially different because of their content. And that content is not being “first” to review something.

I believe that type of content appeals to the 10-sec attention span / GAS friendly personalities that want to believe something new provides them with a fresh creative outlet, when in reality we’ve all been ripping off / borrowing the same melodies / rhythms that have existed in society (both western & eastern) for hundreds if not thousands of years - we’re merely finding new ways to introduce them.

I would say if you believe new techniques / novelties are getting thin on the ground, your ear to the ground isn’t close enough.

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#36

Okay name some new techniques? Being in it from ground zero from 1972 so i will of course be a surly old bugger who has seen it all.

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#37

Elektron’s Gear Safety Squad destroyed my synthfluencer lab, after I made the first Syntakt unboxing video after acquiring the Syntakt through nefarious means via the darkweb (rollerblades were involved).

Now as I am clutching piles of wires, and destroyed hard drives, I ask myself was it worth it?

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#38

Coming from a musicians background (particularly guitar), most of my references will be in that regard but obviously still the same concept (gear techniques). If you’re referring to “new techniques” around using synthesizers, I may not be as familiar in the last year or so but I’ll start with what I know over the last 10:

(Also don’t mean any offense by my earlier comment, just recognizing creativity is evolving all around us & at rates higher than previous era)

  1. Live looping / beatboxing / sampling -

Obviously the sampling renaissance took off in the 90’s techno era (reaching it’s peak with Daft Punk’s Discovery album) but since then gear has allowed this to get pushed further into drafting these types of songs live.

Two great examples of this would be Reggie Watts & beardyman, both taking live sampling & song creation to pretty intense levels. Not saying they’re the first to do it but both have made careers out of getting on stage with numerous pieces of gear and using them in interesting ways to create songs out of thin air (very little pre-prepped sets). I’m sure there are more examples than those that I gave and probably some pre-dating mine (educate me?) but those two definitely have had sets that I’ve watched that have expanded how I look at my gear / setup / creative workflow and realized that I shouldn’t feel so restricted / forced into a certain path and more free to just create my own.

This concept has been expounded upon by Marc Rebillet in the last few years (less than 5?) as he has become a pretty known phenomenon taking live-sampling / beat creation but combining it with humor / meme-worthy content that people enjoy seeing live. Obviously he is very technically & musically talented but his gimmick is what seems to keep people hooked.

  1. Guitar techniques -

Obviously techniques with stringed instruments have ever evolved since the first lutenists had to play / sing for their lives in the royal court. But in more recent years there’s been a lot of cool developments.

First I would point it is the very obvious Candyrat records. If you’re not familiar, Andy McKee really took the guitar and (obviously not the first to do it) expanded upon the popularity of the guitar as a percussive instrument to help flesh out the full range of sounds you could get from it. Entire songs are crafted with beats interwoven into the riffs when previously this was used as novelty at best? Other artists have (like Jon Gomm, highly recommend the song Passionflower) have taken these techniques to quite extremes and I’d find it hard to say that 10-15 years ago musicians were playing guitars / stringed instruments in similar capacity. And if they were, it certainly isn’t as mainstream as it is today.

Next I would point to the very popular genre of djent metal, where percussion has again pervaded the stringed instrument. Obviously most guitarists become very talented by combining multiple techniques learned from previously eras of guitarist (Satriana, SRV, Hendrix, Zappa) but it does start to become it’s own life. Djent has adapted new picking techniques (using the thumb similar to a bassist) and rhythmic intervals which were maybe discovered previously but not mastered or as prominent as they are today.

Other artists playing their stringed instruments in new capacities that I would recommend would be the likes of Charles Caswell or Lucas Mann. May not be a style that everyone loves (you can tell these guys grew up on midi tracks playing during their favorite video games in the 90s/00s etc.) but between some of the sweep tapping, kill-switch & tremolo combinations…at what point do you say that all these separate techniques combine to something larger than the sum of it’s parts? These artists may not be doing something entirely new but their technique isn’t the norm when you think of a guitarist, metal genre or not.

I’d also recommend the likes of Plini, Chon, Polyphia, Owane, etc. taking rock into interesting direction in the last 5 years.

But we’re discussing something very subjective at it’s core so who is to say? I just know that I find artists evolving & attempting new technique (for better or worse) in their musical endeavors and no day do I sit down and truly believe we are in an era of stagnation. I feel that, with more music options than ever, people are that much more free to find the sound that defines them & to continue pushing the envelope for musicality that may not have existed a minute, a day, a year, or a decade prior.

Cheers

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#39

Another really good example (Candyrat artist) that I forgot to mention was Ian Ethan Case. Check this out and let me know your thoughts on this - is this just regurgitation & mastery of outdated techniques or is he creating something “new” in your eyes? If you do not see innovation here, I doubt we will find common ground!

I guess this then becomes a philosophical theory of forms question, which neither of us can answer but simply offer insight toward.

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#40

I’m not sure I’ve bought any music because it’s made by ‘new gear’ … it’s often because I like the track.

Eg
Of the stuff I’ve bought lately if I were to guess the gear it’d be 808,909,303,101,Juno or prophet for nice pads , nice fx …

I can’t recall ever thinking ‘that track was made on a ‘xxxx’ box released last month.

The track above … not my thing. Noodling looped guitar … didn’t sound particularly innovative to me

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#41

The above example was less about the final audio (trying to stay away from subjective arguments) but more the techniques used for it’s creation.

You mentioned “sounding innovative”, wouldn’t this inherently be different from being innovative in technique? Are we talking about the final result or the avenue to get there? Because at the end of the day, we aren’t inventing new frequencies to play…just finding new ways to get there.

Regarding the above track, I can appreciate the melodies, etc. but this isn’t something I’d listen to regularly for lack of…direction?

I appreciate more complete approaches like the Jon Gomm example provided earlier.

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#42

Thanks for the above posts guys interesting stuff. But its getting away from the thread a bit in that being the first isnt quite what it used to be. I remember the synth drums being very popular when they came out. Not Kraftwerk experimental but more early 80’s ABC and other groups. It was new(ish). They were the first to bring them to the publics attention(the first to popularise them). The same with Walter(Wendy Carlos) Hooked on Bach series. Popularising synthesizers. Innovators who were the first. I’m not saying they’re the best but they got in before the rest.

Fast forward 50 years i guess and now its increasingly difficult to be the first. That’s why when new stuff comes a long we salivate like wild dogs over a bone. If you wait too long there’s no meat left on that bone. Isn’t that the ways its become?

#43

Andy credits Preston Reed’s instructional video as well as the work of Michael Hedges. Kaki King studied with Reed. Just about all modern percussive playing on acoustic guitar can be traced to those two guys.

Some clips from Reed’s influential video on Homespun

The late Michael Hedges in 1986

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