Talent vs. Technology
Too often I hear people brag about the equipment they use while downplaying other artists or producers because they don't have the top of the line gear. I hear studio owners and engineers talking about their new $8,000 microphones, or the number of tracks they can simultaneously record. I hear producers brag on how many MPCs, Keyboards and Sondbanks they have. But what is the benefit of having all the best equipment money can buy if you still produce WACK records?
As independents we've developed this horrible misconception that technology equates to talent. Though technology can help unlock an artist or producer's potential, that potential had to already reside within them. If you don’t understand basic music theory or what it takes to make good music, no amount of plugins will ever fix that problem. Whether you produce tracks on an MPC, a Motif, or Fruityloops, they’re going to sound remarkably similarly. You can upgrade your sounds or buy new processors and effects but a poorly produced track is always going to be a poorly produced track. Autotune may be able to correct pitch but it will never make up for bad writing or arrangement.
I've seen countless independent labels spend ridiculous sums of money putting together recording studios without ever investing a dime on a book or class about engineering. I've watched others purchase a high-end equipment or software because they’ve been convinced that it’s the industry standard only to never learn how to effectively work it or enlist the aid of someone that could. While I feel investing into equippment is one of the most important business decisions you'll make, I strongly encourage you to, invest time into the equipment you already own. People often blow a few hundred dollars on an upgrade for a feature that was readily available to them in a piece of equipment or software they already had. As a producer, the most important upgrade you can make is constantly educating yourself on new production and recording techniques, pushing your equipment and creativity to its limit. As a business man I could care less what you use to make a hit song as long as one gets made. So just remember before there was ever an MPC, Protools or any of these modern marvels of recording technology, many of the classic records from hip hops golden age were churned out using nothing more than a four track recorder and somebody’s drum machine, proving once and for all: “Its not the technology; It’s the talent behind it.”
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