Two days ago I started on my first musical project in almost 3 months. The summer has flown by, and I've been busy beyond my normal constitution; that is, everything happening at once. But I was determined NOT to do anything musical for as much of the summer as I could stand to be away from it. After the first month or so I was practicing Chopin at the piano, Scherzo #2 in Bb minor, and a number of Preludes and Etudes, and it felt nice that it wasn't for anything. Not that I've been all that busy for the past few years, but the difference is that I didn't care.
I've had to get that feeling of urgency out of my musical work — you know the one — that makes you feel like you're not doing things fast enough, well enough, or... just "enough." The way it has made me feel ever since I stepped down from full-time working is that I'm getting left behind, that no matter what I do, it's failing. That's not true at all, and it's ME that's needed adjusting. When I got a non-musical project to work on back in June, I decided to make a vacation of it, and purposely stay away from all things musical, MIDI, or audio. I can't say that it's something everyone should do; if you don't need to, why would you stay away from music? But it was the right thing for me to do at that time. As HAL 9000 said in 2001, A Space Odyssey, "I'm feeling much better now."
It's just that in 30 years I have never been away from DP for more than maybe a week. I've stayed out of the forum for up to a month in the past 15 years, but I was still doing music. This was a much needed break. So... that's the news, if it's news for anyone but me, and I think I'll be reading the forum again. (though I really HAVE been busy, and it's hard to say if that's going to change much)
Recording a female vocalist with originals. DP9 feels great! The ability to scroll again with the Magic Trackpad makes it feel heavenly! I can never go back to a trackball or mouse again. This is just too good. (Thanks, MOTU!!!)
It's a funny feeling coming back and working on a project after 3 months without so much as looking at the DP splash screen. You forget just exactly where things are, so it takes you a moment to find things. Meanwhile you can hear the seconds tick by as the artist sits all alone in the room with microphones all around her, and you're struggling at the control desk, searching a menu you KNOW is there, but for some reason your brain just refuses to see it. I finally hit the TALK button and say "I'll be just a moment. Don't worry." (and I think to myself, "I really DO know how to work this thing... I think"
) And once again, coming back after a period of time away gives you a new perspective, which in my case is something I used to feel all the time when I was working in Vegas, Phoenix, or Hollywood: it's "WOW! This stuff is AMAZING! I can't believe I'm getting PAID for this!" And it's not about the money, it's about the technology and all that I've learned over a lifetime of doing this stuff. I've got Neumann and AKG mics. Millennia HV-3D preamps. Lots of headphone amps. LOTS and lots of channels of audio. Altiverb. Waves. A zillion other things. And there is a feeling of confidence now, that 15 years ago was more like ambition, as in "I can figure out a way to do that, even if I don't have the best of everything." Now it's just "I can do that." And goodness... it sounds great! This stuff IS amazing.
It truly is.
Shoosh
PS: Buzzy, if you read this: the Reflexion Pro filter is fantastic. I can hear every syllable, consonant, and vowel now. Sucker's worth the money and more. I wish it was a little easier to set up and adjust, but once you DO get it right, it rocks!
), it might be not as necessary.