One day in the future people will experience nostalgia by listening with their ears instead of an electrical pulse straight into their brain playing variations on Elon Musk's 'Voyage to the Depths of Hell and Darkness' 🤣
Ok. 60 yr old dude here. 3 distinct music eras. As a teen, I had a minimoog, tr808 and tascam portastudio. We wrote music from the heart, rented equipment we didn't know how to use, and made some interesting sounding noise. 20 years later, I'm in a rock band playing bars, weddings - standard rock and roll. 20 years later, I'm at the computer, using a daw and midi controller to make all the sounds I've made in the past and so much more. Now, I'm collaborating with the guy I wrote music with in high school, living in a different country and pushing the limits. This journey is cool as shit. Love your work, Cameron!
@@VenusTheory If I'm ever asked for my opinion on the musician for a game, I know who to put forward now. I've been lucky enough to voice act about 10 video games so far, and as a lifelong gamer and sound lover, they're absolutely the best gigs to work on.
So true! I would love to see a score or something like that between @VenusTheory and @BrunoBizarro . Maybe even with @MidlifeSynthesist. Would be awesome!
or a movie or show. i did so myself by making a soundtrack to something that hadn't been released (an anime, still hasn't come out) and that really lit a fire for my creativity. something to think about. (music is on my channel if you're game).
Really enjoying the “Cameron, the Philosopher of Music Production” turn this channel has made. These videos help me gain some perspective to what I want to do myself with my music production. Can’t wait for the next one. Side note: I’ve started to wonder if our fascination with film cameras and film pictures is because they are a kind of visual hypnagogia. A picture on film is like a snapshot of a daydream of a memory.
My biggest step forward was when I accepted my lack of perfection and leaned into it, making what I was already doing ‘good enough’ to share with everyone. I’ve become proud of my abilities and shortcomings equally.
Your channel went from being a spot for cool synth stuff and gear and software recommendation’s - now I feel like I’ve reread Sculpting in Time or wtvr every time I watch one of these. I love the direction this channel has grown in. Appreciate u g
Great video! I had this conversation with myself, a few years back, which gave me the idea for the album I am currently producing. What I decided, was to lean into the conversation of music from the 90's, rather than attempting to avoid it. Instead of sounding dated, doing this has empowered both my music and TH-cam channel. What I have come to realize, is that it is the right time in history, for Generation X to tell its story. I thought it was just these damn kids and their music, but life in the 90's produced such impactful music that it is difficult to follow. What came afterwards was the boy band era, so there is also a stark contrast. We are talking more than 20 years ago, now... Generation X artists and producers are still going, winning Grammy's, and telling their stories online. Younger generations are now reacting to hearing the music, for the first time, which is a whole thing, on TH-cam. Leaning into this and telling "my side" of the story, has me tapped into something special, creatively. Like others from our generation, I have been making music, since then, and even have some old cassette recordings from that era. Simply existing on TH-cam while making music, and sharing some of these stories is the best I could ever hope for, as an aging male. All TH-cam chaos aside, it does wonders for the self esteem... especially with the profound connections to other creators. It all began with an honest conversation with myself about this very subject. The conclusion has already produced fantastic results, and now the creative evolution is also experiencing a boost. Nostalgia is radical. Anyone who thinks otherwise should take a look at all the lo-fi tape, synthwave, and 808 that is most prevalent in "today's" music. Music is also timeless. That is one of the many reasons why it still works, and why music theory is also still a part of the conversation. Leaning into the nostalgia also revisits a lot of the things that made you creative, in the first place. That said, anybody experiencing a creative block should try tapping into it. It is pretty much a win, all the way around. Great conversation.
I found your channel a few months back while trying to learn more about DAWs and audio production to help my wife out in her rediscovered love of music making. I have to say I absolutely love the rabbit hole you have jumped down with these more thoughtful and thought provoking videos. Your cave dive adventure hit me particularly hard. The drive and passion you have for what you do is great to see. As a burned out, jaded animator in the back end of his 40's, you give me a bit of hope, and a spark to go try some new shit. If you keep at it, I will too. Aloha and Mahalo.
I look forward to you recording a signature intro sound from the snap, crinkle, rustle of opening a new tape, then the clunks of opening the recorder, inserting the tape, and closing the lid. "Morning Lo-fi with Cameron"?
Another EXCELLENT Video. And definitely, from my own unique perspective (and worldview), "nostalgia" is a POWERFUL catalyst, in developing my own creative efforts. Heck, I even watched an episode of "Space 1999" (season 1) yesterday...just to get that awesome 70's soundtrack vibe...
Apart from releasing the DS instrument for free, Cameron has also contributed a thoughtful essay on an important and even profound theme. My immediate response was to have two rather different ideas. One was a historical comparison... at what point was capitalism able to do this draw on nostalgia for profit? I'm guessing that it was sometime in the early 20th century when advertising and particularly photography was able to create a past for the masses to relate to. So in that sense the old joke was right - nostalgia was not what it used to be. The second thought was that as with most musical tropes, the Beatles were the pioneers here. To be crudely superficial, Lennon's scepticism and McCartney's musical facility (and to be fair, his willingness to experiment with the avant garde) meant that their exploitation of old musical forms (music hall, children's song, 20's jazz, hymns...) allowed listeners to have the nostalgia at one remove, so to speak. Extreme innovation but as George (yes, he was crucial too of course) said: "Set me on a silver sun, for I know that I'm free Show me that I'm everywhere, and get me home for tea..."
The Nostalgia aspect is the very reason why 80's themed music, movies, shows are all making a huge impact today. Stranger Things, Drive, Synthwave/RetroSynth music, The Weaknd, Top Gun Maverick....there is a reason why these are all so popular today....the Nostalgia hits you right in "the feels". Lo-Fi is the newest rendition of this trend. What is old is new again, and 20 somethings this day and age are living in the past vicariously through this new medium that is heavily enjoyed by their parents in their 40-50's.
Little off topic: in a sample library context, I really like more of not-so-personal samples, just the raw stuff. That way I can make my own personal touch in there. The glitter and sparkle is just in the way. Sometimes a good sample has to be only potentially musical. It's just material for molding. And almost on topic: lo-fi in audio is really coming strong, I can feel it in my ears, that noise, hiss, crackles and all that gritty lofi has become more acceptable. I welcome it wholeheartedly and wish more noise artists in the top hit lists :D
Each time I watch your videos I feel more connected to you. I see and hear so many things I like. Your advices and tipps pushing me forward. Todays likeful moment was see you playing BF1. Just small elements of your complete work, but touching me inside, besides your calm and kind way of presentation.
Just downloaded the samples into Decent Sampler (Also grabbed your Volitions sounds). You're a GD genius! Thank you so much for doing all that work, they are totally amazing and I will happily lose hours and hours to them.
Nostalgia can be a double edged sword. I lost all my photos and negatives from the 70's and 80's, hundreds of envelopes full of memories in a house fire many years ago. I would give almost anything to see those pictures one more time.
Beneath the creative hack is a beautiful and thoughtful philosophy. I love this content , Cameron. Nostalgia is intrinsically linked to melancholy for me but that’s probably my very own midlife crisis and my own unwritten boomer rant. Seems you’ve touched a nerve. Always inspiring🙏
Love your Videos, they are so much more than just talking over Hardware, Tools and Techniques. They are going deep on the Subject and are both entertaining and educational, with a nice phylosophical touch.
Me and my buddy, had that idea to try to describe a scene through music. Like, scene with a big 18 wheeler going through a dusty desert road, it's scorching heat, the engine is roaring, there are things dangling on the trailer....but just sounds and chords, no FX.
I just finished recording a video for a new dj set I'll upload later today to my channel. At first I was super pissed at my cameras for not being able to give a good quality footage with low light after spending hours preparing everything and recording for two hours. But then I embraced this poor quality footage and even added a full "VHS" feel to my entire video, and it is true the nostalgia made it look 10 times more satisfying just by making it imperfect! Your video topic is so on point! Another really interesting content, thank you so much for what you are doing! :)
Interesting subject. As someone in their mid 60s I offer 2 tangental thoughts. One is that as a 60 year old my nostalgia is different from someone younger. My nostalgia is stuff from the 60s (like Telstar by the Tornadoes?) and the 70s. I don't really have so much nostalgia for anything later than 1982, so stuff like computer noises e.g chiptune is still for me largely annoying having had to listen to data dumps to tape, fax machines and dial up , maybe that will change but I doubt it. 2nd odd experience - I've started to go back to tape stuff. I sort of felt a bit guilty about evoking the whole lofi nostalgia thing that Boards of Canada evoked so perfectly. I felt and still feel a bit of a fraud and lazy doing it. But what I remember from my early 20s was that I thought the sound of my bad guitar playing played back on a cassette machine where the batteries were going was better thn when it was playing back perfectly. I remember and enjoyed the sound of a tape echo just about to go into howling feedback, having too much noise on the tape because I'd messed up the recording or switching a reel to reel speed in playback or record. These were "wrong" at the time, I enjoyed and even remember them when they happened so they must have made a favourable impression at the time. Now these "mistakes" are acceptable and even desirable. So maybe some of the things we label "nostalgia" aren't actually to do with the sounds belonging to the past, maybe there is something fundamentally appealing in those kinds of sounds in the first place, just fashion in audio tried to tell us they were bad.
What you’re talking about seems to connect with the imperfection that Cameron was talking about and the Brian Eno quote. Perhaps what we like about these imperfections is that they’re triggering. To begin they are imperfections, the limitations that we bump against so they rile us like miniature traumas. When they pass, there’s a sense of relief until years later when those imperfections are no longer a problem they become a memory, a bookmark in our lives. They remind us of the struggles that we went through, the things we endured, to get to where we are today. For younger people who didn’t experience those things as imperfections because they weren’t there, these things evoke the zeitgeist of an era that can lead to wonder: what was it like back then?
Hooked me at the Brian Eno, thumbnail. I've been an Eno fan, since about 1985, I've had some interesting Casio keyboards and a Moog/ Realistic (sold through Radio Shack)but having ADHD and hyperactive / hyper kinetic kid, I have bad focus issues, do not much serious music, just some sketches over the years, but nothing kept until I got into computer based music and sound design, about 12 years ago, but still struggled to make anything but sketches. Trying to make improvements day to day. I wish I'd kept my keyboards... As for art, I find inspiration in things like Bosch, Bacon, Mark Ryden....essentially, I want to make music that sounds like a Francis Bacon, Ryden, of even the Voynich Manuscript.
Good commentary, man. I love thinking more about the theory behind audio. What you said about conveying your own unique feeling is something I've thought but never put into words before. Thats why every great artist seems to have such a one-of-a-kind vibe even if they loosely fit into a genre or category
I meet a lot of younger music makers - and I tell them - back in the day it wasnt lo-fi. It was "data management" lol. If you think about it - going back to the mid 90s - BOC was doing Lo-fi. Actually their entire concept was about "lo-fi" - they grew up in Canada - and their aesthetic is based on Canadian Public Broadcasting. When I think about my early childhood - the late 70s - watching the show In Search Of... their entire series was scored by modular synths - or when I think of PBS bumper music from the mid 70s up through the 80s - all lo-fi modular sounds. And yes - it does give me a warm feeling.
Excellent discussion. If that Ebayer had any idea of how much treasure you'd mine from that old cassette recorder, they'd have charged five figures to let you take possession of it.
Oh man, this is the best video I've seen in recent months. It made me stop and think about what I'm doing. Such a well narrated video. Congratulations.
Loved the days when you took photos and had to wait weeks for them to be processed. Images that you couldn't manipulate and were pure and real. Irreplaceable!
The key to meaningful nostalgia in art is that you should be tapping into your own nostalgia, rather than other people's nostalgia, as it were. What was meaningful and important about something to you specifically, and then capture that feeling - in either styles that homage the original thing or in some new way that has that lived emotive space always in view. For me, that is a significant difference between Stranger Things (especially season 1) and the Disney live remakes. While both were popular, I think Stranger Things has more longevity because it was clear how 80's stories and their zeitgeist really meant something unique and personal to the creators - and we were brought into it as well. While Disney's remakes were clearly intended to simply ask "remember that old movie you love?" without conveying much of the connection the creators had with it. The danger of nostalgia is that I think audiences are quickly becoming cynical of it as a form of guerilla marketing, so the danger of feeling like committee room nostalgia becomes all the more prevalent. Cameron's ideas here are important: what makes a memory *your* memory? Capture that, rather than what you think makes a memory someone else's memory.
Nostalgia has been used as a marketing tool since marketing. The only way to avoid what you create being used for capitalist gains is to not make anything.
@@oldguywhodoesnt I honestly don't know how this really responds to my comment - I'm not saying to not make money off nostalgia, rather it was a reflection on how nostalgia can be used meaningfully or not. Which is why I used Stranger Things as a positive example: it was obviously a very successful franchise that heavily relies on its nostalgia, but it does so in a more meaningful way to me than any of the live action Disney remakes that also rely on nostalgia. It wasn't about marketability, it was about how to avoid the sense of "sell out" nostalgia, which I think more and more people are growing cynical of
I think this taps more into the effect than the cause. There are some very smart people working for the biggest corporations in the world. A lot of them aren't necessarily engineers, but marketing people , behavioral scientists and psychologists. Those corporations know that the younger generations are poor(er) and don't represent as much buying power as the children of the 70s and 80s. Everything is dipping into the nostalgia of that generation because that's where the money is right now. It's all done in an attempt to milk them dry before they die out, rather than even the playing field by making our lives better/cheaper. We've forever in Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
Great vid as ever. Embracing the flaws... and working with limits to cut down the options paralysis and focus the mind of moving one or more of the song writing elements forward. A technique i have been playing with thanks to @HTWS channel. taking an existing chord progression and writing your own melody, taking the melody and chords of a well known song and writing your own lyrics to fit the meter and stresses, then make your own melody and chord progressions using the meter and stresses you have just created. looking for ways to start the process in a way that moves us forward.
the problem is not with me, but with stupid listeners who have sawdust in their heads and who prefer minaj with a shaking ass and whose brain is unable to understand what good music is.there are so many studios worth millions of dollars and a Minaj trend that shakes her ass for billions of idiots.that's the whole secret of making music for today's deaf cretins.melodies that you work on for 5 hours trying to choose a cool idea, no one needs it today.and so it is all over the planet.tell me a song from the charts of the last 10 years that can be played with a voice that someone would say:and this is Axel F from Beverly Hill Harold's famous hit of 80!..idiots
i clicked because i thought this was david hilowitz video :) sorry i have to say this. btw i cant say a single thing about your musicianship, it is another level and you are also evolving into more narrative stuff. and it is even more cooler. i am glad to witness you becoming 360 degree artist.
To me, a tape recorder meant that I was no longer at the mercy of my parent's musical taste, or the radio's schedule - I could just listen to what I wanted, when I wanted to (provided that I cut out the DJ talking over the tracks). Mine had a little mic as well, so I could also record myself making music and telling stories. It's not so much the tape thing - it's the sense of autonomy that arrived at such a moment in my development that the music I had on tape made much more of an impact.
The best part about current technology emulating the past is that you can choose by how much you want to "degrade" what you created. It's an awesome creative superpower driven by this nostalgia, but without the limitations from the equipments of yore. I love using my instant camera to take photos, for example, but I definitely wouldn't want to have only that camera to shoot photos with. The same goes for music-making equipment. We have a plethora of things and can pick and choose what to use. And you know what? That's awesome, because then we can recreate _our_ particular feeling of nostalgia, instead of having to relive that time of annoying limitations that weren't truly self-imposed.
Imperfection is beautiful. I find perfection quite ugly. I did a live presentation for Creative Mornings a few years back that included some of those ideas, and resonate deeply with "bringing the flaws forward." LOVE.
Data loss in both analog means and digital happens. Lost or hacked passwords to older accounts or sites that no longer exist. You must get people to care about what you do to actually keep things nearly forever
I love how you have expanded the subject manner! I need to give you more likes, my bad I end up watching you on the TV too much! I have been watching you since your Mixcraft tutorials!
In the late 60s and 70s I used to pore over electronics magazines. Many of the articles were about the astonishing new developments in electronics particularly enabled by “solid state” (ie non-tubes) circuit designs. THD was finally being tamed into inaudibility. You could order a power amplifier that could run a washing machine if you put a 60Hz sine wave through it. Belt and direct DC drive turntables and cassette, 8-track and LP tape decks battled it out for lowest wow and flutter readings. Mixing boards and RIAA corrected phono preamps crosstalked signal into adjacent tracks all over the place. Then came Red Book CD-DA and your snooty AAD, ADD and DAD and DDD - and finally, Armageddon: the loudness wars. Now y’all want this back again? Sigh.
"Embracing the flaws is the best way to hide the flaws, because then the flaws become the signature." There are a lot of quotes woven throughout this video, but this one really stuck out to me. Awesome video, per usual :) (Ironically, I've been searching for a camera in the past month that emulates the look of the 90s, so I can make films that feel nostalgic. Truly a full circle moment lol)
Or creating flaws, tape hiss added in music, flare of lenses in video games. Jexus has a channel and is a bit of a cult in the synth community. His videos has this CRT/VHS look. By using... That 90s look might be poor digital equipement to tape. The 80s and 90s are the pivoting point in film look. Some great true film had a far better image quality than the first batches of "new tech".
I'm actually surprised you didn't already have a tape player/recorder. I think the more interesting phenomenon is selling nostalgia to a demographic that wasn't alive when whatever-band-toy-game-technology was current. That includes movie directors who are super into creating 80s era VHS-aesthetic horror/gore movies and those directors weren't alive (or were like younger than 10) when the VHS boom and straight-to-home-video became a thing. I find this curious. As far as old sonic technology, as soon as CD/Digital became a thing cries of "vinyl is warmer" etc etc started and when vinyl nearly died the cries became louder (and prices went WAY up). Same with film technology. I'm wondering if you literally could've created the effect you wanted with the digital tools you already had but the whole tape thing is just way more fun (I do realize you were creating a library and not just an effect for a track).
I did wonder about this subject too. How does Anemoia factor into this? I suppose it, again, links to a feeling or an experience that person has, and there's still a genuine experience there to be had, regardless of the origin of the reason.
Cool vid thank you, A 909 is known as nostalgic I have one, but I tend to not make it sound entirely as it is, I push it I manipulate through effects etc I take it somewhere it may never had went before
It wasn't until the final form of your Title/Thumbnail did I decide to watch... j/k -- I knew I was going to check it, but I laugh because I saw about 4(?) different thumbnails (silly youtube algo game)
Great episode. I legit had to train myself not to sound like King Crimson (exactly like) when I play my beloved analog keyboards. BTW- our brains sanitize the past, hence nostalgia. Having said that some things really were better- but in all honesty not as many as most people thing. Oh- when I play ocarina at street festivals- millennials get this far away looks (Zelda).
Dedicated gear has a charm, even when (or because) they are of limited use or functionality. Todays tablets, laptops and even phones do many things conveniently but not always fun. The other day I was contemplating buying a chess computer.
By watching your video I thought: "How long will nostalagia last? I mean, how long people will have the sense of nostalgia provided by 70's ou 80's sounds/images imperfections?" Born in the early 70's I've been fed with 70's and 80's sounds/images, but how people born in the 90's or 2000's could feel nostalgia of sounds and images they're not emotionally connected/fed with? I mean, what kind of sound/image imperfections will be "computed" in younger generation's brains/emotions? Probably none in my opinion, I mean in terms of sound/image quality. Well, just wondering. Oh and great video as usual 😉 greetings from France.
Being a almost a half a century old , Back in the day tape is all we had . I don’t buy in to nostalgia coolaid If any 20 year old was put in to the 80s they would loose there mind , No wifi, no smartphones , no internet, no social media in any kind. Nostalgia is a just another gimmick.
Interesting video. I like your content. The only value I find in nostalgia is as a way to manipulate people's emotions, usually to separate them from their money. I particularly have no attachment to objects from the past, like old photos. Our minds left to their own devices, and without reinforcement, forget most of our experiences, and alter the rest significantly each time they are recalled. It's nature programmed self-preservation which we have short circuited in the digital age, giving us perfect recall, but has always existed in some form through photos and and recordings. And I don't think any of these memory aids is helpful. We were designed to live in the present, not ruminate over the past. I'm 73, have been in love with photography since I was 10. Over the years, both personally and professionally, I have shot tens of thousands of photos. I have retained none of those negatives or prints. I have no family photo albums, no snapshots, no negatives filed in sleeves. I have no photos hanging on my walls, preferring geometric abstract art. I continue to create new content. I haven't used any kind analog device since there was a digital device or medium to replace it because of the ease of disposing of digital content. Digital cameras replaced film cameras for me in the year 2000. The ADAT replaced the 1 inch recorder as soon as it came along, and ADAT was replaced with hard drive recorders the day I could buy them. It is likely only a character flaw, but I don't find nostalgia compelling. There is nothing appealing to me about the past. And I've had, in my opinion, an amazing life. Musically, nostalgia just keeps us from exploring new things. Many musical careers have hit dead ends because the musician's fans would not let them move on from their greatest hits of the past. Give me something new and exciting, not another Woodstock retrospective. No memory is the same as having been there. At the event, and in the year 1969.
Very interesting ideas, but I wonder about the (for lack of a better word) fetishizing of imperfection. I see plug ins all the time about "lo-fi tape warble" and things like that, software that has been programmed to perfection to...imitate flaws. And I kind of wonder, if the original flaw was what was interesting, that probably came by accident, due to the limits of the equipment, so why do people use modern up to date software to create flawless flaws? It seems like a strange direction to explore.
Related to this, have you listened to Deru's "1979"?, I'd love to know your thoughts on that album. It's for me (and apparently many others) a huge sound project and concept album around nostalgia and a sort of time capsule from the future and the past simultaneously.
Hey bucko, I looked through the gear list you have & I'm curious as to what desktop synth stands you have there.? Didn't see them on the list of misc studio things, thx.
Hi my friend, just a quick one. Im thinking of purchasing the Waldorf iridium. I know you use one too, how does it compare with Falcon 2.8 as I know that is a vst that you use also. Do you think the iridium is worth the extra money over Falcon 2.8? Either of them would be primerily used for Atomospheric ambiant evolving pads and self generating modulated drones etc.
Nostalgia: gimmick or creative super hack?
Get the instrument library ► bit.ly/thyssia
Inspired again
One day in the future people will experience nostalgia by listening with their ears instead of an electrical pulse straight into their brain playing variations on Elon Musk's 'Voyage to the Depths of Hell and Darkness' 🤣
Ok. 60 yr old dude here. 3 distinct music eras. As a teen, I had a minimoog, tr808 and tascam portastudio. We wrote music from the heart, rented equipment we didn't know how to use, and made some interesting sounding noise. 20 years later, I'm in a rock band playing bars, weddings - standard rock and roll. 20 years later, I'm at the computer, using a daw and midi controller to make all the sounds I've made in the past and so much more. Now, I'm collaborating with the guy I wrote music with in high school, living in a different country and pushing the limits. This journey is cool as shit. Love your work, Cameron!
I’m 60 also. Doing the same.
I'm not 60. Doing the same.
A video game soundtrack by Venus Theory would be outrageous.
I hope so one day. I've scored a few apps but nothing really interesting or of note. Would love to work on a bigger game someday!
@@VenusTheory If I'm ever asked for my opinion on the musician for a game, I know who to put forward now. I've been lucky enough to voice act about 10 video games so far, and as a lifelong gamer and sound lover, they're absolutely the best gigs to work on.
So true!
I would love to see a score or something like that between @VenusTheory and @BrunoBizarro . Maybe even with @MidlifeSynthesist. Would be awesome!
Yes please 😁👍🏻
or a movie or show. i did so myself by making a soundtrack to something that hadn't been released (an anime, still hasn't come out) and that really lit a fire for my creativity. something to think about. (music is on my channel if you're game).
Really enjoying the “Cameron, the Philosopher of Music Production” turn this channel has made.
These videos help me gain some perspective to what I want to do myself with my music production.
Can’t wait for the next one.
Side note: I’ve started to wonder if our fascination with film cameras and film pictures is because they are a kind of visual hypnagogia. A picture on film is like a snapshot of a daydream of a memory.
Same here. I like listening to smart people saying smart things. Especially if we share so many interests.
I’m suddenly struck by the realization that Venus Theory is not a music channel. It’s a philosophy channel.
Always has been.
💯
My biggest step forward was when I accepted my lack of perfection and leaned into it, making what I was already doing ‘good enough’ to share with everyone. I’ve become proud of my abilities and shortcomings equally.
Your channel went from being a spot for cool synth stuff and gear and software recommendation’s - now I feel like I’ve reread Sculpting in Time or wtvr every time I watch one of these.
I love the direction this channel has grown in. Appreciate u g
Venus Theory is a complete artist imho. His narrative, voice acting, visuals, story telling and soundtrack… all top notch! ❤
Great video! I had this conversation with myself, a few years back, which gave me the idea for the album I am currently producing. What I decided, was to lean into the conversation of music from the 90's, rather than attempting to avoid it. Instead of sounding dated, doing this has empowered both my music and TH-cam channel.
What I have come to realize, is that it is the right time in history, for Generation X to tell its story. I thought it was just these damn kids and their music, but life in the 90's produced such impactful music that it is difficult to follow. What came afterwards was the boy band era, so there is also a stark contrast. We are talking more than 20 years ago, now...
Generation X artists and producers are still going, winning Grammy's, and telling their stories online. Younger generations are now reacting to hearing the music, for the first time, which is a whole thing, on TH-cam. Leaning into this and telling "my side" of the story, has me tapped into something special, creatively. Like others from our generation, I have been making music, since then, and even have some old cassette recordings from that era.
Simply existing on TH-cam while making music, and sharing some of these stories is the best I could ever hope for, as an aging male. All TH-cam chaos aside, it does wonders for the self esteem... especially with the profound connections to other creators. It all began with an honest conversation with myself about this very subject. The conclusion has already produced fantastic results, and now the creative evolution is also experiencing a boost.
Nostalgia is radical. Anyone who thinks otherwise should take a look at all the lo-fi tape, synthwave, and 808 that is most prevalent in "today's" music. Music is also timeless. That is one of the many reasons why it still works, and why music theory is also still a part of the conversation.
Leaning into the nostalgia also revisits a lot of the things that made you creative, in the first place. That said, anybody experiencing a creative block should try tapping into it. It is pretty much a win, all the way around.
Great conversation.
I found your channel a few months back while trying to learn more about DAWs and audio production to help my wife out in her rediscovered love of music making. I have to say I absolutely love the rabbit hole you have jumped down with these more thoughtful and thought provoking videos. Your cave dive adventure hit me particularly hard. The drive and passion you have for what you do is great to see. As a burned out, jaded animator in the back end of his 40's, you give me a bit of hope, and a spark to go try some new shit. If you keep at it, I will too. Aloha and Mahalo.
I look forward to you recording a signature intro sound from the snap, crinkle, rustle of opening a new tape, then the clunks of opening the recorder, inserting the tape, and closing the lid. "Morning Lo-fi with Cameron"?
Not sure if you ever did this before but, I rather liked the parallels you drew between video game design and music. Great work as always Cameron.
Another EXCELLENT Video. And definitely, from my own unique perspective (and worldview), "nostalgia" is a POWERFUL catalyst, in developing my own creative efforts. Heck, I even watched an episode of "Space 1999" (season 1) yesterday...just to get that awesome 70's soundtrack vibe...
Apart from releasing the DS instrument for free, Cameron has also contributed a thoughtful essay on an important and even profound theme.
My immediate response was to have two rather different ideas.
One was a historical comparison... at what point was capitalism able to do this draw on nostalgia for profit? I'm guessing that it was sometime in the early 20th century when advertising and particularly photography was able to create a past for the masses to relate to. So in that sense the old joke was right - nostalgia was not what it used to be.
The second thought was that as with most musical tropes, the Beatles were the pioneers here. To be crudely superficial, Lennon's scepticism and McCartney's musical facility (and to be fair, his willingness to experiment with the avant garde) meant that their exploitation of old musical forms (music hall, children's song, 20's jazz, hymns...) allowed listeners to have the nostalgia at one remove, so to speak. Extreme innovation but as George (yes, he was crucial too of course) said:
"Set me on a silver sun, for I know that I'm free
Show me that I'm everywhere, and get me home for tea..."
The Nostalgia aspect is the very reason why 80's themed music, movies, shows are all making a huge impact today. Stranger Things, Drive, Synthwave/RetroSynth music, The Weaknd, Top Gun Maverick....there is a reason why these are all so popular today....the Nostalgia hits you right in "the feels". Lo-Fi is the newest rendition of this trend. What is old is new again, and 20 somethings this day and age are living in the past vicariously through this new medium that is heavily enjoyed by their parents in their 40-50's.
Little off topic: in a sample library context, I really like more of not-so-personal samples, just the raw stuff. That way I can make my own personal touch in there. The glitter and sparkle is just in the way. Sometimes a good sample has to be only potentially musical. It's just material for molding. And almost on topic: lo-fi in audio is really coming strong, I can feel it in my ears, that noise, hiss, crackles and all that gritty lofi has become more acceptable. I welcome it wholeheartedly and wish more noise artists in the top hit lists :D
Each time I watch your videos I feel more connected to you. I see and hear so many things I like. Your advices and tipps pushing me forward. Todays likeful moment was see you playing BF1. Just small elements of your complete work, but touching me inside, besides your calm and kind way of presentation.
Just downloaded the samples into Decent Sampler (Also grabbed your Volitions sounds). You're a GD genius! Thank you so much for doing all that work, they are totally amazing and I will happily
lose hours and hours to them.
I really liked how you tackled this topic. Good stuff
Nostalgia can be a double edged sword. I lost all my photos and negatives from the 70's and 80's, hundreds of envelopes full of memories in a house fire many years ago. I would give almost anything to see those pictures one more time.
Beneath the creative hack is a beautiful and thoughtful philosophy. I love this content , Cameron.
Nostalgia is intrinsically linked to melancholy for me but that’s probably my very own midlife crisis and my own unwritten boomer rant.
Seems you’ve touched a nerve. Always inspiring🙏
Love your Videos, they are so much more than just talking over Hardware, Tools and Techniques. They are going deep on the Subject and are both entertaining and educational, with a nice phylosophical touch.
Me and my buddy, had that idea to try to describe a scene through music. Like, scene with a big 18 wheeler going through a dusty desert road, it's scorching heat, the engine is roaring, there are things dangling on the trailer....but just sounds and chords, no FX.
I just finished recording a video for a new dj set I'll upload later today to my channel.
At first I was super pissed at my cameras for not being able to give a good quality footage with low light after spending hours preparing everything and recording for two hours.
But then I embraced this poor quality footage and even added a full "VHS" feel to my entire video, and it is true the nostalgia made it look 10 times more satisfying just by making it imperfect! Your video topic is so on point!
Another really interesting content, thank you so much for what you are doing! :)
Interesting subject. As someone in their mid 60s I offer 2 tangental thoughts. One is that as a 60 year old my nostalgia is different from someone younger. My nostalgia is stuff from the 60s (like Telstar by the Tornadoes?) and the 70s. I don't really have so much nostalgia for anything later than 1982, so stuff like computer noises e.g chiptune is still for me largely annoying having had to listen to data dumps to tape, fax machines and dial up , maybe that will change but I doubt it. 2nd odd experience - I've started to go back to tape stuff. I sort of felt a bit guilty about evoking the whole lofi nostalgia thing that Boards of Canada evoked so perfectly. I felt and still feel a bit of a fraud and lazy doing it. But what I remember from my early 20s was that I thought the sound of my bad guitar playing played back on a cassette machine where the batteries were going was better thn when it was playing back perfectly. I remember and enjoyed the sound of a tape echo just about to go into howling feedback, having too much noise on the tape because I'd messed up the recording or switching a reel to reel speed in playback or record. These were "wrong" at the time, I enjoyed and even remember them when they happened so they must have made a favourable impression at the time. Now these "mistakes" are acceptable and even desirable. So maybe some of the things we label "nostalgia" aren't actually to do with the sounds belonging to the past, maybe there is something fundamentally appealing in those kinds of sounds in the first place, just fashion in audio tried to tell us they were bad.
What you’re talking about seems to connect with the imperfection that Cameron was talking about and the Brian Eno quote. Perhaps what we like about these imperfections is that they’re triggering. To begin they are imperfections, the limitations that we bump against so they rile us like miniature traumas. When they pass, there’s a sense of relief until years later when those imperfections are no longer a problem they become a memory, a bookmark in our lives. They remind us of the struggles that we went through, the things we endured, to get to where we are today. For younger people who didn’t experience those things as imperfections because they weren’t there, these things evoke the zeitgeist of an era that can lead to wonder: what was it like back then?
Hooked me at the Brian Eno, thumbnail. I've been an Eno fan, since about 1985, I've had some interesting Casio keyboards and a Moog/ Realistic (sold through Radio Shack)but having ADHD and hyperactive / hyper kinetic kid, I have bad focus issues, do not much serious music, just some sketches over the years, but nothing kept until I got into computer based music and sound design, about 12 years ago, but still struggled to make anything but sketches. Trying to make improvements day to day. I wish I'd kept my keyboards... As for art, I find inspiration in things like Bosch, Bacon, Mark Ryden....essentially, I want to make music that sounds like a Francis Bacon, Ryden, of even the Voynich Manuscript.
Good commentary, man. I love thinking more about the theory behind audio. What you said about conveying your own unique feeling is something I've thought but never put into words before. Thats why every great artist seems to have such a one-of-a-kind vibe even if they loosely fit into a genre or category
I meet a lot of younger music makers - and I tell them - back in the day it wasnt lo-fi. It was "data management" lol. If you think about it - going back to the mid 90s - BOC was doing Lo-fi. Actually their entire concept was about "lo-fi" - they grew up in Canada - and their aesthetic is based on Canadian Public Broadcasting. When I think about my early childhood - the late 70s - watching the show In Search Of... their entire series was scored by modular synths - or when I think of PBS bumper music from the mid 70s up through the 80s - all lo-fi modular sounds. And yes - it does give me a warm feeling.
Excellent discussion. If that Ebayer had any idea of how much treasure you'd mine from that old cassette recorder, they'd have charged five figures to let you take possession of it.
Reminds me of people who add cassette whirs and vinyl pops in digital music emulating lo fi in high fidelity platforms.
Oh man, this is the best video I've seen in recent months. It made me stop and think about what I'm doing.
Such a well narrated video. Congratulations.
Only gold content. You are very necessary. No dault after every single video we feel way better to go and produce. TYSM.
The game cube intro😭warms my heart
Loved the days when you took photos and had to wait weeks for them to be processed. Images that you couldn't manipulate and were pure and real. Irreplaceable!
The moment that made me smile was seeing you play video games in the studio.
Beautifully articulated as always. Great chat (as always 🙂)
Easily one of the most interesting channels I peruse
The key to meaningful nostalgia in art is that you should be tapping into your own nostalgia, rather than other people's nostalgia, as it were. What was meaningful and important about something to you specifically, and then capture that feeling - in either styles that homage the original thing or in some new way that has that lived emotive space always in view.
For me, that is a significant difference between Stranger Things (especially season 1) and the Disney live remakes. While both were popular, I think Stranger Things has more longevity because it was clear how 80's stories and their zeitgeist really meant something unique and personal to the creators - and we were brought into it as well. While Disney's remakes were clearly intended to simply ask "remember that old movie you love?" without conveying much of the connection the creators had with it.
The danger of nostalgia is that I think audiences are quickly becoming cynical of it as a form of guerilla marketing, so the danger of feeling like committee room nostalgia becomes all the more prevalent.
Cameron's ideas here are important: what makes a memory *your* memory? Capture that, rather than what you think makes a memory someone else's memory.
Nostalgia has been used as a marketing tool since marketing. The only way to avoid what you create being used for capitalist gains is to not make anything.
@@oldguywhodoesnt I honestly don't know how this really responds to my comment - I'm not saying to not make money off nostalgia, rather it was a reflection on how nostalgia can be used meaningfully or not. Which is why I used Stranger Things as a positive example: it was obviously a very successful franchise that heavily relies on its nostalgia, but it does so in a more meaningful way to me than any of the live action Disney remakes that also rely on nostalgia. It wasn't about marketability, it was about how to avoid the sense of "sell out" nostalgia, which I think more and more people are growing cynical of
Quite right, @@bricelory9534 My reply was a passing thought. I agree with what you were saying and the Stranger Things/Disney analogy.
@@oldguywhodoesnt cool cool, I agreed with the thought, just struggled to see the connection - but that's how passing thoughts work 😅
I think this taps more into the effect than the cause. There are some very smart people working for the biggest corporations in the world. A lot of them aren't necessarily engineers, but marketing people , behavioral scientists and psychologists. Those corporations know that the younger generations are poor(er) and don't represent as much buying power as the children of the 70s and 80s. Everything is dipping into the nostalgia of that generation because that's where the money is right now. It's all done in an attempt to milk them dry before they die out, rather than even the playing field by making our lives better/cheaper. We've forever in Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
Great vid as ever. Embracing the flaws... and working with limits to cut down the options paralysis and focus the mind of moving one or more of the song writing elements forward. A technique i have been playing with thanks to @HTWS channel. taking an existing chord progression and writing your own melody, taking the melody and chords of a well known song and writing your own lyrics to fit the meter and stresses, then make your own melody and chord progressions using the meter and stresses you have just created. looking for ways to start the process in a way that moves us forward.
the problem is not with me, but with stupid listeners who have sawdust in their heads and who prefer minaj with a shaking ass and whose brain is unable to understand what good music is.there are so many studios worth millions of dollars and a Minaj trend that shakes her ass for billions of idiots.that's the whole secret of making music for today's deaf cretins.melodies that you work on for 5 hours trying to choose a cool idea, no one needs it today.and so it is all over the planet.tell me a song from the charts of the last 10 years that can be played with a voice that someone would say:and this is Axel F from Beverly Hill Harold's famous hit of 80!..idiots
i clicked because i thought this was david hilowitz video :) sorry i have to say this.
btw i cant say a single thing about your musicianship, it is another level and you are also evolving into more narrative stuff. and it is even more cooler. i am glad to witness you becoming 360 degree artist.
To me, a tape recorder meant that I was no longer at the mercy of my parent's musical taste, or the radio's schedule - I could just listen to what I wanted, when I wanted to (provided that I cut out the DJ talking over the tracks). Mine had a little mic as well, so I could also record myself making music and telling stories. It's not so much the tape thing - it's the sense of autonomy that arrived at such a moment in my development that the music I had on tape made much more of an impact.
You had me at Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. YES my dude. Yes.
I'll save this video so I can look back on it fondly in years to come.
The best part about current technology emulating the past is that you can choose by how much you want to "degrade" what you created. It's an awesome creative superpower driven by this nostalgia, but without the limitations from the equipments of yore.
I love using my instant camera to take photos, for example, but I definitely wouldn't want to have only that camera to shoot photos with.
The same goes for music-making equipment. We have a plethora of things and can pick and choose what to use. And you know what? That's awesome, because then we can recreate _our_ particular feeling of nostalgia, instead of having to relive that time of annoying limitations that weren't truly self-imposed.
Imperfection is beautiful. I find perfection quite ugly. I did a live presentation for Creative Mornings a few years back that included some of those ideas, and resonate deeply with "bringing the flaws forward." LOVE.
so full with content! thank you!
Data loss in both analog means and digital happens. Lost or hacked passwords to older accounts or sites that no longer exist. You must get people to care about what you do to actually keep things nearly forever
You always present your ideas so beautifully.
I love how you have expanded the subject manner! I need to give you more likes, my bad I end up watching you on the TV too much! I have been watching you since your Mixcraft tutorials!
In the late 60s and 70s I used to pore over electronics magazines. Many of the articles were about the astonishing new developments in electronics particularly enabled by “solid state” (ie non-tubes) circuit designs. THD was finally being tamed into inaudibility. You could order a power amplifier that could run a washing machine if you put a 60Hz sine wave through it. Belt and direct DC drive turntables and cassette, 8-track and LP tape decks battled it out for lowest wow and flutter readings. Mixing boards and RIAA corrected phono preamps crosstalked signal into adjacent tracks all over the place. Then came Red Book CD-DA and your snooty AAD, ADD and DAD and DDD - and finally, Armageddon: the loudness wars. Now y’all want this back again? Sigh.
"Embracing the flaws is the best way to hide the flaws, because then the flaws become the signature."
There are a lot of quotes woven throughout this video, but this one really stuck out to me. Awesome video, per usual :)
(Ironically, I've been searching for a camera in the past month that emulates the look of the 90s, so I can make films that feel nostalgic. Truly a full circle moment lol)
Or creating flaws, tape hiss added in music, flare of lenses in video games.
Jexus has a channel and is a bit of a cult in the synth community. His videos has this CRT/VHS look. By using...
That 90s look might be poor digital equipement to tape. The 80s and 90s are the pivoting point in film look. Some great true film had a far better image quality than the first batches of "new tech".
beautiful video and something I haven't thought about in a long time. thanks for the break
Great video! The Singlex TLS is one of my favorite cameras. I've got a few I'm nursing back to health.
Simply brilliant work. Thank you.
Wow, another great, thought-provoking video. Love the visuals too, really nicely done
Nice well thought out and concise video, and also... DOGGO at the end!
I'm actually surprised you didn't already have a tape player/recorder. I think the more interesting phenomenon is selling nostalgia to a demographic that wasn't alive when whatever-band-toy-game-technology was current. That includes movie directors who are super into creating 80s era VHS-aesthetic horror/gore movies and those directors weren't alive (or were like younger than 10) when the VHS boom and straight-to-home-video became a thing. I find this curious. As far as old sonic technology, as soon as CD/Digital became a thing cries of "vinyl is warmer" etc etc started and when vinyl nearly died the cries became louder (and prices went WAY up). Same with film technology. I'm wondering if you literally could've created the effect you wanted with the digital tools you already had but the whole tape thing is just way more fun (I do realize you were creating a library and not just an effect for a track).
I did wonder about this subject too. How does Anemoia factor into this? I suppose it, again, links to a feeling or an experience that person has, and there's still a genuine experience there to be had, regardless of the origin of the reason.
Cool vid thank you, A 909 is known as nostalgic
I have one, but I tend to not make it sound entirely as it is, I push it I manipulate through effects etc I take it somewhere it may never had went before
“Show me ur” text made me lol 😝 I love you human.
Wasn't expecting that kind of video and the only moment I stopped is to write this comment. Dude your content is great !
It wasn't until the final form of your Title/Thumbnail did I decide to watch...
j/k -- I knew I was going to check it, but I laugh because I saw about 4(?) different thumbnails (silly youtube algo game)
Great episode. I legit had to train myself not to sound like King Crimson (exactly like) when I play my beloved analog keyboards. BTW- our brains sanitize the past, hence nostalgia. Having said that some things really were better- but in all honesty not as many as most people thing. Oh- when I play ocarina at street festivals- millennials get this far away looks (Zelda).
This one had me a “Rayjuh Shack.” 🤓 Your videos are excellent, and your insight into the human condition goes deep. Keep up the great work, man.
One of my favorite plugins is xpand2 because it sounds lofi
Dedicated gear has a charm, even when (or because) they are of limited use or functionality.
Todays tablets, laptops and even phones do many things conveniently but not always fun.
The other day I was contemplating buying a chess computer.
Follows it with "Everything today is infinite" after showing halo there. Nice one
Another beautiful video man!!!
4:15 The Camer[on] doesn't lie.
2:21, May he always watch over us like a great soaring shit-hawk. RIP John Dunsworth.
As usual, great video. That new instrument looks very interesting, will definitely have to check it out.
Beautifully said!
Can we get a similar video concerning modernity / postmodernity / meta / hyper-modernity?
Omg what an amazing video! Thank you!
in a few years we would be nostalgic for real humans if we existed
By watching your video I thought: "How long will nostalagia last? I mean, how long people will have the sense of nostalgia provided by 70's ou 80's sounds/images imperfections?"
Born in the early 70's I've been fed with 70's and 80's sounds/images, but how people born in the 90's or 2000's could feel nostalgia of sounds and images they're not emotionally connected/fed with?
I mean, what kind of sound/image imperfections will be "computed" in younger generation's brains/emotions? Probably none in my opinion, I mean in terms of sound/image quality.
Well, just wondering. Oh and great video as usual 😉 greetings from France.
Being a almost a half a century old , Back in the day tape is all we had .
I don’t buy in to nostalgia coolaid
If any 20 year old was put in to the 80s they would loose there mind , No wifi, no smartphones , no internet, no social media in any kind.
Nostalgia is a just another gimmick.
Interesting video. I like your content.
The only value I find in nostalgia is as a way to manipulate people's emotions, usually to separate them from their money. I particularly have no attachment to objects from the past, like old photos. Our minds left to their own devices, and without reinforcement, forget most of our experiences, and alter the rest significantly each time they are recalled. It's nature programmed self-preservation which we have short circuited in the digital age, giving us perfect recall, but has always existed in some form through photos and and recordings. And I don't think any of these memory aids is helpful. We were designed to live in the present, not ruminate over the past.
I'm 73, have been in love with photography since I was 10. Over the years, both personally and professionally, I have shot tens of thousands of photos. I have retained none of those negatives or prints. I have no family photo albums, no snapshots, no negatives filed in sleeves. I have no photos hanging on my walls, preferring geometric abstract art. I continue to create new content.
I haven't used any kind analog device since there was a digital device or medium to replace it because of the ease of disposing of digital content. Digital cameras replaced film cameras for me in the year 2000. The ADAT replaced the 1 inch recorder as soon as it came along, and ADAT was replaced with hard drive recorders the day I could buy them.
It is likely only a character flaw, but I don't find nostalgia compelling. There is nothing appealing to me about the past. And I've had, in my opinion, an amazing life.
Musically, nostalgia just keeps us from exploring new things. Many musical careers have hit dead ends because the musician's fans would not let them move on from their greatest hits of the past. Give me something new and exciting, not another Woodstock retrospective. No memory is the same as having been there. At the event, and in the year 1969.
Nostalgia is the lack of a concurrent ideal.
Great as always, Cameron. Also, do I spot Reaper there for mixing? :D
I have the same analog Singlex camera and oh boy is it a tank of a camera! CHA-KLUNK
My gosh, you and your wife look adorable together!! 💙💛
Very interesting ideas, but I wonder about the (for lack of a better word) fetishizing of imperfection. I see plug ins all the time about "lo-fi tape warble" and things like that, software that has been programmed to perfection to...imitate flaws. And I kind of wonder, if the original flaw was what was interesting, that probably came by accident, due to the limits of the equipment, so why do people use modern up to date software to create flawless flaws? It seems like a strange direction to explore.
I didn't know Superliminal existed, and now I've seen the trailer I actually want to play it. I'm not even a gamer :-S Thanks!
Related to this, have you listened to Deru's "1979"?, I'd love to know your thoughts on that album. It's for me (and apparently many others) a huge sound project and concept album around nostalgia and a sort of time capsule from the future and the past simultaneously.
My brain on Lofi: "On Crap, My gear is busted again!" 😵😜
as always! THANKS
"Rose colored glasses"
Eyyy, hes a philosophy nerd! Lets go!!
How does this man have 200 k subs everything he puts out is masterfully detailed
A drop in the bucket, a thread in the larger web
Thanks for making me feel all warm n fuzzy inside. I better go take a zofran😂
Fantastic!
Hey bucko, I looked through the gear list you have & I'm curious as to what desktop synth stands you have there.? Didn't see them on the list of misc studio things, thx.
Hi my friend, just a quick one.
Im thinking of purchasing the Waldorf iridium.
I know you use one too, how does it compare with Falcon 2.8 as I know that is a vst that you use also.
Do you think the iridium is worth the extra money over Falcon 2.8?
Either of them would be primerily used for Atomospheric ambiant evolving pads and self generating modulated drones etc.
"show me ur butt"
But Cameron... These are the most carefully chosen words for every situation...
Why do I keep seeing the lofi hiphop homework girl all over my recommendations all of the sudden
❤ thank you for the insight
It seems we confuse sterility for perfection.
No words for home much I enjoyed this video.
This was an incredible video
Nostalgia is poison.
But so is alcohol.