Eric Forbes

My adventure at TED.com continues with inspiring videos of amazing authors, philosophers, scientists, inventors and other “real-smart” people. Today I discovered that my old inspiration, Thomas Dolby, is still very much alive and well as the founder of Beatnik and the TED Music Director. And that makes sense. TED showcases talented people, and when I think of digital innovations across the last 20 years, Thomas Dolby of course emerges as a smart choice.

So what has Mr. Dolby been up to all these years?

He started a Silicon Valley company called Beatnik that develops software code to play ringtones on billions of cell phones today. That’s cool. And since that company is doing well, he doesn’t have to work for the money anymore, or make money with his music. Very cool. That’s exactly what I’ve been excited about doing too.

I have a business that’s doing well and also have a strong desire to pursue writing and playing music. The business side of music has seemed impenetrably complicated even more as it evolves from physical records and CDs to downloadable content. I’ve been learning about Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) including ASCAP and BMI and figuring out the process needed for me to register my songs and music with one of them and how to put my music out there for others to sample, purchase and enjoy. And in the process of learning these discrete facts, I’ve been uncovering and discovering inspirational songwriters and performers that have touched me early in my life, or somehow manage to touch me now, with their words and music.

I wasn’t sure how I’d “get into” music. I never really intended to make it commercially in music. I’d been warned by others early in my life to keep music as a hobby but never expect to make a career out of it. Now that I’ve managed to find another line of work (that makes money) I’m back to music as always with less expectations but greater excitement. The expectations include finding enough people to listen to and enjoy my music enough to pay me a bit for that pleasure. While I still expect that to some degree, my life doesn’t depend on doing it right away, or on a massive scale at any point. My initial motivation to make film music has been derailed just a little after reading a few good books that describe the score composer’s life during the completion of a major motion picture. Insane deadline pressures. Lots of other talent working on various parts of the same project, needing it to shine in a very definite (and way short) period of time. I might still want to do that. But what stops me from recording music (one important step) is fear. I’m getting through fear by recognizing it as it rises, allowing it to flourish for a bit, and then watching it dissipate on its own.

Last night was an interesting example.

I got back home after seeing “Avatar” in Dolby 3D in San Francisco. An amazing movie, with an immersing environment I’d very much like to visit and experience sometime. The movie spoke to me in several ways, and after dinner, my friend and I listened to some music using my iPhone and Rhapsody iPhone app connected to my car stereo. We started with Marianne Faithfull and progressed to Linda Perry, then Fever Ray (my choice) and finally Rainer Scheurenbrand. The lyrics to Marianne’s “Why D’ya Do It” were clear and explicit. I liked that she sang her heart out to a man who shared his cock with another woman. I’d never heard it before. And I took it home with me after dropping my friend back to his place.

I stopped to get a USB microphone (Blue Snowball) from the Apple Store in Corte Madera and was excited to plug it in and hear how it sounded. There was something playful about the shape and size of the mic. It’s a white ball about 4″ in diameter with a large “Blue” badge on the front and a steel mesh screen protruding through the openings of the case. Very solid looking, especially considering it’s entry level price ($99). The sound was good. I made some voice memos with it. Then I started up GarageBand (it’s been awhile) and connected the Blue mic as an input to an empty track. I started recording my voice. No big deal.

Then, something lovely happened.

I playfully created a new project with a podcast template. Doing this caused a few tracks to be inserted along with an open browser window to podcast-specific Apple Loops. These sound files (loops) are arranged into different categories under the Podcast top level menu. I looked in the “Jingles” section and surveyed the loops there. I’d been here a year ago, but I forgot how much fun it was to pretend to rap to a beatbox loop. I settled on one that made me immediately think of a lyric to sing along with it, and before I knew it, I was recording my voice on one track while listening to a repeating beats loop that I just dropped into the project window.

The first pass was OK but I wondered how to get multiple takes with each repeated pass. GarageBand is pretty basic looking (based on it’s menu bar) but a lot is purpose built into the software. I knew this, but I still couldn’t figure out how to get multiple takes turned on. It was a process in Logic Studio — that much I knew.

In GarageBand, multiple takes show up automatically as soon as you define a repeating loop. As soon as I dragged the slider (yellow) across the topmost margin of the project window and turned on the loop playback button (bottom transport bar), I recorded take after take of my lyrics until I had something I liked.

Then I listened to each take and transcribed the best phrases into an OpenOffice.org text document. I had my lyrics on the page in less than 15 minutes from the start of a blank page after selecting the Apple Loop I wanted for the main beat.

The entire time, I was having a great time! It wasn’t scary at all. I had some insecurity hearing my voice after it had been recorded. Recording involves a series of steps: knowing what you’re going to play or sing, practicing it, recording it (repeatedly perhaps), deciding which takes work best, and exporting a final mix that you can share with others. At least that’s my understanding of recording process. There are countless other things that you could (and maybe should) do before preparing a final mix. My voice, while basically in-tune, does not have the benefit of being trained. I’m using what I’ve got, and right now, my voice is my voice. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to sound like.

What is my voice supposed to sound like?

I can pretend to be other people. I can breathe and sing more from my chest than my head. But other than that, my voice quality changes with the time of day. It has yet to be a solid timbre that is recognizable — at least, not to my own ears. I know that I need voice training of some sort. I already have Seth Rigg’s “Singing for the Stars” course on CD but stopped doing it over a year ago. Perhaps it’s time to get back on that train and learn more about singing in the process.

The fear seems to be inversely proportional to my level of play. If I’m having fun doing something, I have no fear. And music is something that has been with me for as long as I can remember. I understand that we each have certain gifts and talents to offer ourselves and each other. I know that expressing myself through music is one of my gifts. And so far, fear has been my constant companion with regards to any public ideas concerning music. But as I have more fun recording my songs instead of letting them fly off into the ether, I feel less fear. And I gain more confidence. Couple that with reading books about songwriting and doing singing lessons makes me more comfortable pursuing this ever-expanding manner of expression.

Taking the money out of the equation from the start makes it easy to have lots of fun with music. As long as I don’t need the money, my intention remains clear and separate from the urge to make millions of fans happy. I’ll meet people that love my music no matter what. I’m already sure of that. And as long as my other business continues to be successful, I can offload the need to make lots of money from music and dismiss the “starving musician” image that struck fear into my mother and other adults who warned me to stay away from music as a career early on.

So it won’t call it a career right way. It will be my little hobby. Of course, I will continue learning all about business side of it while I learn the craft and spend time actually doing it. I like doing business. Giving myself a breather from needing music to make money right away effectively diffuses any fears I have. What do I have to lose? Will people think my voice is too amateur? Well, there’s a reason for that… it is! But not for long. I’m practicing by doing.

The Golden Years of Thomas Dolby

How did I get off on such a long tangent? Thomas Dolby has been a major early influence on me growing up along with Philip Glass and The Art of Noise. I remember setting up my Ensoniq Mirage sampler in the basement of my parents’ house alongside gear belonging to my friend Joe where the two of us recorded electronic music until dawn the next day. I remember thinking how cool Thomas Dolby’s music was and how confident he seemed with his uber-geek persona. I wanted to be just like him. I still do.