Babe Ruth, Cabbage, The Beatles and the State of Music Production

That's a crazy title, eh? Well, today is Babe Ruth was born on this day in 1895. Did you know that he often wore a cabbage leaf under his baseball cap to keep cool? He changed it every few innings! I saw this little nugget today, and it got me thinking.

It's amazing some of the things that people who accomplished great things years ago, did it with what would seem to us as "unheard of" or impossible. So, back when Babe Ruth was playing, baseball players didn't have near the amount of luxuries that today's players do, like breathable, lightweight ball caps!...and most players had "regular" jobs in the off season. Can you imagine that now?

So what's my point? Well, the Music industry is the same way. As soon as I read that fact about Babe Ruth, I thought of how the Beatles recorded most of their early hits with a 4-track analog recorder. If you've every used a 4-track, you know this is crazy! To put it in perspective, I just finished tracking the Collins Brothers CD at my home studio, and I have At Least 10 tracks on each song....and my debut album "Short and Sweet" easily had over 30 tracks per song. Now, the Beatles certainly had more than 4 tracks per song, but they had to do some serious work to make the records sound as good as they do. Today, everything is digital, and you can almost do anything you want to a track, with the push of a few buttons.

Music is feeling. The Beatles were able to convey a feeling on those records that really connected with a HUGE amount of people. That is really hard to do. Some of the best bands today would find it nearly impossible to re-create the sound that the Beatles came up, and they have technologies at their fingertips that would seem impossible only a few decades ago.

It made me realize how dynamic and subjective music really is. I learned a while back, that it is impossible to please everyone with your music. Some people will like your style and some people will probably hate it. That's the great thing about music! There's no right or wrong. If it sounds good to you, who's to say it's not good? If it's really out there, then you may be one of only a handful of people that like it, but that's ok too!

I thought for a long time that I needed to spend a TON of money to get a great sounding record. With the technology we have today, the home recording studio, and the ability to distribute music across the world almost instantly, it doesn't really have to be that way.

If you've got talent, you can write a good melody, and you are confident in what sounds good to you...go for it! If you're lucky, (and me too!) you can find a "handful" of people that really like what you do, and find a connection to your music. Who knows? Maybe a "handful" can turn into enough to make a career out of music!

So here's to Babe Ruth, The Beatles, and everyone else who inspires us every day to do the best with what we have!

MIXING HAS BEGUN!

The Collins Brothers CD is starting to come together!  This past weekend I trekked down to Gainesville, Fla. to hand off my beloved hard drive to Musician/Producer/Professional Model/Engineer Michael J. On said hard drive are all of the ProTools files of the upcoming Collins Brothers CD.  Michael will be playing some bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboards, and whatever else comes to mind.  Having blossomed into a very talented mixing engineer, Michael will also be mixing the record at his F.I.G. Studios.  

He just sent me two of the first mixes, and I'm getting pretty pumped about it.  So far, so good! For those of you who do not know, The Collins Brothers is just what it sounds like:  Matt Collins and Bo Collins.  We are Brothers.  We grew up singing together, and still try to as often as possible.  We have always wanted to record a CD with our take of some of our favorite songs.  So, we did!  The Collins Brothers CD is an acoustic based Americana-style collection of some of our favorite tunes.  Here are the tracks we recorded...hopefully we like them all enough to include them all on the final CD!

 

in no particular order:

"Winding Wheel" - originally by Ryan Adams

"Tear Stained Eye" - originally by Son Volt

"Bring It On Home To Me" - originally by Sam Cooke

"Long Ride Home" - originally by Patty Griffin

"Jacksonville Skyline" - originally by Whiskeytown

"Americana Motel" - originally by Cast Iron Filter

"This Boy" - originally by The Beatles

"Red Dragon Tattoo" - originally by Fountains of Wayne

"Glory Bound" - originally by Martin Sexton

"Jam" - originally by Toad The Wet Sprocket

"God Said No" - originally by Dan Bern

 

So, keep checking MattCollinsOnline.com and sign up for my free eNewsletter to keep up with our progress!