I was lucky enough to get a formal
music education at the University of Miami (FL) where I majored in Studio
Music and Jazz. Then I spent 10 years playing in clubs and
learned how to make records with a TASCAM 80-8 1/2" 8-track recorder.
My post graduate education continued when I made my way to New York in 1986
and began working on rap records, R&B and dance projects with drum machines,
samplers and sequencers. It has been an interesting musical odyssey!
The sounds of hiphop are the sound
of music in the 90's. Where these sounds are cross-pollinating with other
styles is where some really cool stuff is happening. Among others, Sheryl
Crow, Beck and Alanis Morrisette would not have been possible without the
influence of rap and hiphop music.
There just isn't much that hasn't already
been done with guitars, drums and bass. I treat these sounds and the new technological
toys I use to get them like another option in my sonic arsenal. They are there
if I need them, like a strat versus a Les Paul or a Fender Twin versus a Vox
AC-30 amp. The song is still the foundation that everything else must be true
to. I simply have more ways to teach an' old rock and roll dog some new tricks!
Most of these Real Audio examples are 1:00
to 1:30 long. All of these require a 28.8 modem. When you click on the title
you want to hear, a RealAudio screen pops up and shows you that it is loading
the .ra file and it's progress. It generally takes about a minute to load
and then the RealAudio player screen pops up starts to play the file. There
are buttons to click to stop, play, rewind and fast forward. You can also
grab the bar that moves as the file plays, and drag it to some other spot
in the song. It's that easy and usually that fast. The MP3 files are 64kbps stereo
files.
Keep
writing and recording. Peace, the Doctor.
