I used to think the music I listened to came from one machine, mostly a sampler. As the pictures I had seen upon that point mostly consist of producers with one machine, as the technological marvel everything originated from.
A lot of the time this was an Akai S950 or MPC. Then I discovered a book in the library which had interviews in it with all sorts of producers and Dj’s in their studio’s.
This was a real page turner for me and the first time I saw that there was a lot more equipment involved than just one machine. I couldn’t remember the title but some of the artists featured in the book where 808 state, A guy called Gerald and many others.
It was in the very beginning of the acid house explosion in the UK. So it must have been around 1987/88 when the book was released. Searching for it has not been easy and I haven’t found it yet. Tips are very welcome.
Shortly thereafter I found a magazine called Sound on Sound, which was very expensive for me at the time, so I tried reading it in the bookstore and write down as many interesting things as I could.
Another big thing were instrument folders, Which you could read and learn a thing or two about what everything could do. Information was scarce in those days. Some music shops were reluctant to pass out these folders to youngsters like me which obviously couldn’t afford these instruments back then. Others, which had more of an eye for future business, made sure they had enough material to pass out. And indeed my first purchase was with a shop that did.
Important lesson learned, be nice to other people, it’s the best investment you will ever do.
A few years later Future music arrived in the shops. Cheaper than Sound on Sound and more accessible, for me at least. The best thing about Future music where the artist interviews and the pictures. I think I learned a lot from just studying the pictures. A great magazine and one I looked forward to every month. At some point there was even a Dutch version.
Ever since those days I am still reading Future music & sound on sound. This week Future music announced they will stop producing the magazine. Although I had switched to the digital version I always had a subscription and still looked forward to each new issue every month. Just like I did when I was a kid. Call me nostalgic but I like the format, the pictures and the way information comes to you at a slower pace. The online world might suite a lot of people better nowadays and the way information is available is great. But it also has another side, things disappear when people stop hosting them, what if YouTube shuts down and all the tutorials vanish?
The physical form, whether it is a book, a magazine, a record, always ingrains itself differently into the brain. I can’t count the number of times I flipped trough old issues of Future music to find an interview or read something about a technical subject. It’s your personal library which you can organize the way it works for you. With the disappearance of yet another publication this ability to build and maintain my own library is diminished.
Which to me is sad. As it is an invaluable part of how people really learn and internalize things.