Blog Post No: 1 (Innovation verses Ambition)

Why is it that we as humans always have the need to expand and explore. We have this constant urge to improve and innovate.  We are constantly finding new ways of doing the same old things better.

I was sat in an old lounge, listening to a Johnny Cash album (America V) and was perched on the sofa in complete awe of the sonic experience that was engulfing me.

The system was pretty straight forward. Tannoy Little Golds, Pioneer SA-9900 and a Maxwell record player. The system was given away due to a sad passing of somebody who clearly loved music and must have been somewhat of an audiophile.

I will now say at this point that this was the first time i had properly heard Vinyl in the manor that it was meant to be heard in. I was astounded at the stereo imagine that was happening in the room. I must have been about three meters away from the speakers, sat in the sweet spot between them. There was no real acoustic treatment in the room. Just me and Johnny. In the two years that i have been a full time producer, I have never sat and listened to an album, then started it again because I did not get enough the first time round. The detail was stunning. The feeling was real. I don’t think that it was better or worse than CD or MP3, but different. The word intentional comes to mind when I think about that experience.

I got to the studio the following Monday. Listened to the same album on my Unity Audio Rocks, and was a little baffled that my main monitors did not excite me at all in relation to what i had heard the day before. Make no mistake, the Rocks are special to me because I have learnt to love them and Mix everything on them, but its hard work. The Tannoy’s had this effortless sensation, like they were not working hard at all, regardless of the amount of volume or the source material.

It made me think of innovation, did they just get it right in the 60’s when these systems were made and tuned by ear, or have we just continued to innovate for the sake of innovation?

Alec