Sometime in the mid 80s I bought one of the first midi sequencers to come out.  It was a marvel of invention at the time and could literally record 160 midi notes in sequence from a synthesizer and then play back the pattern at practically any speed maintaining the pitch of the instrument as the tempo was increased. Remember that tape always moved the pitch up the faster the tape was played, hence the Mickey Mouse effect.  It would only work for one instrument at a time and so we would usually use it for a bass line since it was monophonic, meaning that it could only play one note at a time (no chords).  After 160 notes it ran out of memory and either repeated itself or stopped playing.

It was the size of a large microwave oven and made out of metal with many plastic buttons and little LED lights.  We (my engineers and I) used to program it and then turn all the lights in the studio out and excitedly watch the lights run their sequence as the bass line played.  We were kids with a new toy.

One day we decided to take it apart and see what was inside this marvel of engineering.  We opened the metal case expecting to see it crammed full of gears and widgets and wiring only to find nothing but empty space.  There, at the bottom, sat one computer chip half the size of a vanilla wafer that, of course, ran the entire machine.  We looked at each other in wonder in our first real life experience with digital chip technology.

Today this same basic technology is the basis for my digital recording studio and the incredible software that runs it.  This software is called Logic Studio and it and several other platforms like it have totally changed the face of music recording in these short 25-30 years.  For much of those years I owned Westrax Recording Studios here in NYC and over that time spent over a million dollars on recording equipment – tape recorders, recording consoles, reverb units, digital delays and on and on.

Today, once one owns a good fast computer, one can buy the same studio in software with infinitely better technology and every piece of gear imaginable to go along with it all in a package called Logic Studio for $495.   It is, for a guy like me who has spent a lifetime in the recording business, simply an astounding change in technology.

Five years ago I closed Westrax Recording Studios which had 5-6 major rooms and covered thousands of square feet of space and rebuilt a much better studio in my son’s bedroom when he went off to college.  There I can do all my projects, from film scoring to record producing with full orchestra. At the center of this studio is Logic.

Over the years, as the prices have dramatically dropped and the amount of room required to house this equipment has shrunk to virtually the size of a computer, the ease and functionality has improved tremendously.  I am one fortunate composer/producer to have lived and worked through this time of incredible change.

The digital technology, which at first was clumsy and inexact in its science and ability to capture all the nuance of music, has now evolved into a wonder of pristine clean sound.  The editing technology alone (we used to cut tape with a razor blade and literally hang great lengths of it around our necks, ears and anywhere else to keep track of it) is enough to make me throw my hands up in a shout of “Hallelujahs”.

Even in the best of times one only had 24 tracks on tape to work with, so it was always a sweat and a feat of organization to figure out how to manipulate a project to stay within the 24 track limit.  These 24 tracks were actually a great luxury.  The Beatles recorded their iconic Sergeant Pepper on two 4 tracks!  Geniuses that they were.

Just last week I finished recording a piece of music that took me all over the world recording church congregations.  It’s over 180 tracks and still growing and I have no worries whatsoever about running out of tracks.  By the way, I recorded the whole project on a laptop recorder and carried my entire remote studio in two shoulder bags as I toured the world.  All on Logic.

If you think I’m in love, you’re right.  She’s an amazing dame, this Logic.