Bob Ezrin
inexpensively and remotely.
The “gotcha,” Ezrin cautions, is a
temptation to settle for simulat-
ed experiences over the more
challenging, hard-won variety.
“To me, personal experience
is the most important thing. If
you’re going to represent life
through your art, you need to
have lived.”
Every artist, including those
whose greatest works are made
in relative isolation, stands on
the shoulders of others. “All of
them went through a process of
learning from, working with, and
being influenced by the pres-
ence of others who were also
passionate about that art form.”
People, he adds, “who kicked
their asses just by virtue of their
existence.
“I love technology for the
fact that it extends my imagi-
nation. Technology that’s cre-
ated for editing, sequencing,
sampling, recording, and the
creation of sound is progressing
rapidly and well. That’s coming
out of a marriage of human
intention and great technology,
but we all need a place to start,
and, for me, the best place to
start is in school with friends
and colleagues. If you ask me
what I see for the future, I really
hope we can influence people
to recognize the value of that.”
Mitch Joel
Mitch Joel is many things: au-
thor, speaker, entrepreneur, as
well as a bassist and passionate
student of the history of the
instrument and those who play
it. It’s something he examines in
depth on Groove – The No Tre-
ble Podcast.
One of his wishes for the
future? “I’d love to see the bass
have the same importance
across all genres as it does in
jazz… to take more of a lead
role.” In general, he says, music,
and creativity itself, can be en-
hanced when any instrument’s
or tool’s role is re-examined
and approached in a new way.
The problem with predict-
ing the future is that what we
hope for individually may not
resonate with others. As Joel
said 10 years ago in CM’s 30 th
as someone who’s done a deep
dive into things like VR, if done
well, it feels as real as the real
world, even in current formats.”
Going forward, there’s room
for advancement virtually and
physically in the creation and
use of hardware instruments
and their digital descendants.
Wherever that leads, it’s the
human behind them who deter-
mines whether their use results
in great art, inoffensive back-
ground noise, or total trash.
Joel references a scene
from Davis Guggenheim’s 2008
documentary, It Might Get Loud:
“Jimmy Page stands up and
The Edge and Jack White lean
in and just stand there. Page is
playing the riff from ‘Whole Lot-
ta Love.’ I could play it. A million
guitarists could, but when he
John Scalzi
and discovery of music has
changed dramatically,” he says,
adding that online platforms
“can lead you to places you
wouldn’t have gone before.”
He predicts that in the next 10
years, that’s going to be further
refined like other things involv-
ing machine learning and AI
have been.
Nuela Charles
On How Technology Has Influenced Her Career:
“In high school, I was gifted a refurbished MacBook. A
friend shipped it to the Bahamas because we were always
behind on technology. It had an early version of Garage-
Band and I was starting to play guitar and write songs, so
that was the first time I was able to record myself. That
was the kicking-off point because I didn’t really think that
was something I would ever be able to do.”
anniversary issue: “The answer
is always flying cars. And then
it isn’t.” The past and present,
however, do offer some hints.
Regardless of how our
tools, workflows, and interac-
tions evolve, the “rush of blood”
provided by technology – vin-
tage or cutting edge – pales in
comparison to that prompted
by the act of creation – “where
you feel you nailed it,” Joel
shares. “I think music, at the
macro level, is solving this
problem only you hear inside
your brain.”
No matter the art form or
the response of the audience,
the emotion and satisfaction of
successful creation is unique to
each creator.
Inevitably, as new technolo-
gies like AR, VR, and AI contin-
ue to progress and converge,
real and virtual will mirror each
other almost exactly. “I think it’s
probably many years out, but
plays it… that’s the part of music,
writing, and art you can’t repli-
cate.” We will use AI, and it may
compete with humans, he says:
“But that’s completely unique to
the individual. That’s the finger-
print of what we do.”
Of course, that fingerprint de-
pends on who, and what, we are.
For American science fiction au-
thor John Scalzi (Old Man’s War,
Redshirts), envisioning future
challenges and how we’ll adapt
to meet them is part of the gig.
Beyond his writing, Scalzi
is also a composer. His record,
Music for Headphones, is up on
Bandcamp. And, given his pas-
sion for music and for the unique
worlds he creates as an author,
he has some thoughts on where
music and musicians are now,
and where we’re headed.
First, how music is dissemi-
nated and consumed is of great
interest to him. “The curation
Asked for his opinion on the
impact closer machine/human
interaction might have on mu-
sic – specifically, if the barriers
between creative intention
and the end result diminished
dramatically – he offers: “I think
we’re at the beginning of that
particular revolution,” noting
that generative music plat-
forms and online streaming
services have a degree of that
“baked in.”
Paul Northfield
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 35