(00:02) Hey, Steve. Hey, Chris. Here we are again. Here we are. And we're still doing it. We're still doing it. Or we still like each other. I think we do. So far so good. Anyways, people think we do. That's a fairly common comment. You guys kind of do like each other in real life. It's like I do.
(00:20) We have our breakfast and we hang out and there you go. We discover new things. I one second ago discovered that these arms go up. Okay. And it's always been weird because the arm goes right to the thing and I never know what to do with my body. It's like Ricky Bobby. Remember that movie Ricky Bobby? I don't. Oh, Will Frell.
(00:43) And every time they interview I didn't watch this one. Oh. Every time they interview him, he doesn't know what to do with his hands. So the whole time they hand like put your hands down like this is me. I feel like a new man. Okay. Now for people don't not watching the video version of the podcast. Fair point. Fair point. You're talking about what? I'm talking about how they should go on YouTube right now.
(01:05) Oh, like, subscribe, see what we're talking about. I like that. And then they'll know. Oh, I like that. Yeah. And while you're at it, ask your questions. Leave questions. Leave a comment. It's my favorite. The YouTube questions are my favorite. And I love going on there and just like talking back. It's always some silly comment that I leave back.
(01:25) And it's just it's so ridiculous. It's the best. So, on the ridiculous uh topic, Kyle, who we know in real life, our friend Kyle, we we interviewed him some episodes ago. He was in his car. I remember that. That was pretty cool. That was funny. We were like, "Oh, Kyle fell on hard time.
(01:45) " Was it the episode when we uh there was like a picture of me without the beard and you with a beard and stuff? No, that was one of his questions. What it look like if we swap my hair and your beard or something? Anyway, so Oh, so Kyle and I were chatting at at breakfast the last week and and we were talking about this whole French nonsense you have going on over there. I love French people. No offense. I'm sorry all my French friends. Yeah. Hi.
(02:10) Hi. Um and and and we were talking about, you know, like how you make all kind of like you say parallel and it sounds like a beautiful red wine. Yes. Or or an island somewhere in the south of France or whatever. I should start a wine company or something and call it parallel. Parallel. Parallel. Be good.
(02:27) You got vignibish. Your nonsense. This is the nonsense. Or maybe a cheese. A cheese would fit well with parallel. It's so cool every time you say it. It really is. It's better than Alabama. H. Don't say that anymore either. We got to cut out Alabama. We got to cut out beef tallow. your beard. The beef tallow. Yeah, but it has like Don't talk about the vanilla beef tallow. I'll have you smell it.
(02:57) Don't talk about the vanilla beef tallow. Don't. It's so weird. So weird. Anyway, we were talking about this French thing and he brought up the point which is kind of cool. So, compliment to you. He's like, "It's amazing that that he's doing this in in another language first off." Yes. any of this, which is not my native language, any that anybody would do any of this in a not native language and put yourself out there on the YouTubes with as an ESL person.
(03:27) But the the caveat to that being that you're doing a genres specific thing. So you've almost learned a third language. Yes. But to me, it's a second. And we talk about EQ curves and Q ratios and all that stuff. all the stuff that you normally wouldn't even say in English, but now you are in English as almost a third language. So, that was kind of interesting.
(03:46) It was kind of a cool thought. I was like, good for you. That's good. But thank you. You speak English better than But thank you. You talk English better than me. I'm not sure about that. But, uh, some words, but it's, you know, honestly, it is always a challenge.
(04:03) It's been a challenge since I started my YouTube channel, and it still is, you know, I know I'm getting better and better, but it's, uh, it's still, you know, when it's not your native language. So now um today this is going to be a big one. Um the beginning the beginning of a new era I think an ongoing topic. I think so too. All of us. Totally.
(04:21) So this is going to be the first podcast episode talking about AI. Yeah. And it's not going to be the last. No. No. And and yeah, I think the idea was let's just kind of take an AI thought and make that the episode. Yes. So we're not just talking about the AI all day. So it's today's thought is the velvet sundown. Yeah. which is kind of a thing. It's a new band.
(04:40) Yeah, it's a new band that just came out with their first album like a month ago and they released their second album two weeks later and the third album is on the way for to be released next week. Yeah. So, I think the best stuff is coming up next month and Yeah. And the Chronicles and Yeah.
(05:00) and and I I checked like we start I started this convers we started talking about this so I I started listening to them I don't know 4 days ago or something and they were at 400 something thousand monthly subscri Spotify and you you just realized they're over 500 now over 500 right now it's like the count was at 554,000 monthly plays uh yeah monthly listeners listeners that's the word I'm looking for and they already have like 8,000 followers and the uh the single, one of the top tracks, Dust on the Wind. Yeah.
(05:32) Not Dust in the Wind, but Dust on the Wind on you can copyright it. No. Uh it's 476,000 plays in four weeks. So, the caveat to this conversation being and and this is one of those weird things that I remember when Bill Gates at one point famously said we'd only need a like 128 megabyte hard drive and we'd never need more than that or something. Yeah.
(05:56) And and I I have a feeling in 10 years we're going to watch ourselves, God willing, we're still here and probably doing this. What else are we going to do? Exactly. It's fun. Exactly. It's fun. Uh but we're going to look back at this and go, you guys. Right.
(06:14) There's a bit of that with AI because we're all just in this moment in time when we're like, hey, chat GPT can write an email ha or whatever. And in 10 years, we're going to be like, oh my god. Yeah. Right. So there's that piece. So this being kind of the first for it to my knowledge the first band entire project that's crossed from the tool AI tool into the AI as the product. Exactly. Exactly. Because because this is this is exactly it.
(06:41) You know the um velvet sundown is apparently it's not it's not confirmed 100%. But everything leads to this that it's 100% AI generated. And the reasons are um first you can't find them anywhere. They don't exist as they don't exist as people. They don't have any social media linked to that band. There's no live performances that were recorded in the past or whatever. There's nothing.
(07:07) They came out out of the blue. Yeah. And boom. Yeah. Pushed by Spotify on several playlists. Yeah. And it's an old '7s type of Yeah. kind of music band. And I've been I took the time to listen to the two albums. Okay. And surprisingly enough, I was like that's pretty good. It's not bad. You know, it it's like I've heard worse. Yeah.
(07:37) There's a lot of worse music on Spotify. Yes. Especially the way and and it's the conspiracy theory is that Spotify themselves are pushing promoting this playlisting this as a financial move. Again, no proof about that. Conspiracy theories, but it makes sense. It makes sense.
(08:02) The conspiracy and this isn't the only thing they're playlisting that's AI, right? So, it it it could become a business practice. Could be. That's one conspiracy theory. The other one that that some people had is that this is an actual band that is doing this as a publicity stunt and they will eventually reveal themselves, which is also honestly which is pretty brilliant.
(08:19) If that is the case, if that's the case, we're leaving this episode up cuz they did it. Awesome. Yeah. And that's amazing. And then uh Rick Rick Bato who who is, you know, in in our world a god among uh broadcasters, just did a thing that you were telling me about. Yes, I thought about this one. And yeah, it it popped up on my thing this morning breakfast.
(08:39) No, but your point was he was Yeah, cuz he was like, you know, a bunch of videos out there were just like uh talking about um um yeah, the implication of Spotify and what that means for for us artists and stuff like that. No, he went into the perspective of okay, how can we manage to uh figure out which like what music is AI generated and which ones are not? Yeah.
(09:04) And he kind of uh went into logic and they he split the the song into stems. He did that with the commercial music also um in the same era of the 70s and even modern stuff and just like start to to isolate like the drums, the vocals, the bass, finding a way to quantify. Yeah. So, okay.
(09:24) So, this this is what we hear with uh with with humanmade music and this is what when I isolate all those those same stems with AI music like the velvet, the sundown, this is what we get. and it was like, okay, a bit more blur, a bit more less way less detail, a bit more sounded like a bit like an old MP3. Yeah. Stuff, you know, um kind of sound and character and all that stuff, you know.
(09:47) So, um so yeah, we and that's that's becoming kind of the going concern right now in the industry is, you know, who who gets paid. There's that. Yeah. Who who how do you copyright something created by AI? M and so yeah there's a lot of stuff and I was legislation you were reading about. Yeah, cuz I know that there's some legislations that are supposed to come up anytime soon in the next couple of years, maybe months, I don't know. Uh, in Europe, uh, in the States, maybe Canada.
(10:16) Uh, probably like the the first country that's going to establish some some good rules, maybe other countries will follow hopefully. But at least I think the the main demand is to to have as a minimum to know what music you're listening to.
(10:36) you know, is that generated by AI or is this like, you know, regular old fashioned human music? Yeah. Good old school humans. Old school stuff. Vintage. Yeah. Vintage human. Cuz I I I my theory has always been kind of in my head when I talk about this is that eventually we're just going to certify things human. I do the other way around. Yeah.
(10:55) Where where that becomes the commodity, right? That that we prove it's human and then that thing that becomes worth more. It's like certified organic or whatever. Right. Exactly. And so that becomes worth more. And so musicians might have a a second go at life here financially when people want the certified human stuff and you can actually go see a concert, right? And there's actual people playing an instrument. They've learned an instrument. They've learned a craft. We did it with food like you said. Yeah.
(11:18) And they get they will be rewarded for that. Right. That's kind of my hope in all this. Um so uh the the who gets the copyright is a big one. And there's current some things have already happened where it's like you know they can prove enough human intervention that it's copyrightable. Mhm. If they can't prove that then it's not.
(11:35) And then the other side of the legal piece just to touch on that quick that is the big one for me kind of emotionally is that AI can't create in a vacuum. AI has to be fed. And so what they're feeding AI is the recorded history of music by humans. Yes. And that's how it generates. So, that's and led by a human also cuz there's a guy probably in a cubicle. Yes. Writing the prompts.
(11:58) A marketing guy, right? Some Yeah. 20-year-old marketing kid. That's Yeah. That's got the right set of prompts. But to me, the emotional piece that kind of bums me out is that at some point, you know, Springsteen has been fed into this thing and and now it's being stolen and something new is being created to where Springsteen's entire career and heart and mind and soul and process has been bastardized for one feel of an AI thing, right? And so that's a big one is what happens to these people. So, I know some of the record labels are just suing, blanket
(12:33) suing some of these AI creation apps for stealing their catalog with reason. With reason. So, that's the So, there's kind of the front side of who gets paid and the back side of of what happens to these people who have committed their life to toiling away in rooms with guitars and now it's just being and they're making songs about, you know, onelegged cats or whatever with that all Springsteen. Yeah, exactly.
(12:55) Because now we're not talking about AI tools. We'll talk about that on another another episode, you know, because uh there's amazing uh tools generated by AI can beat that very to have that conversation. Very helpful. Yeah. But now we're talking more about fully product generated AI product. Exactly.
(13:15) Like the velvet sundown where AI is the product. Yeah. And I think what people have a lot of pro problem with more than just having a an artist on Spotify that is totally AI is the fact that Spotify pushes them like big time on specific like hit playlists. Yeah. And just the fact that they have that amount of listeners like monthly listeners a month like this within a month it's just insane. Every minute of that is a minute that isn't going to a person. Exactly.
(13:45) you know, so I think the problem is more there than the AI stuff itself, you know. So this is where I'm a bit worried and this is where I have loss of concern. It's not necessarily the the technology itself, which I do still have some concern, but it's more how the companies like the mainstreaming companies like Spotify, Amazon, and Apple are going to deal with this.
(14:11) You know, who's flagging? I think the only platform is dieser. Dieser is the one that's flagging AI flag. Yeah, they actually flagged them. Dieser flagged the sun. They did. They did. This is generated by AI, you know, but that's the only platform. And that um this is new by Dieser. It's been like that little new thing that they do with flagging AI products.
(14:31) Uh has been out for a month on Dieser, you know, but at least they're doing it, you know. So hopefully the other ones will follow. But then Spotify, uh, right now, like I don't have a Spotify account, you know, I'm on Amazon, but um, a lot of people are pissed at Spotify right now.
(14:51) So, aside from flagging this stuff, is there any other responsibility? Like, because AI is this weird dirty little secret that we're all trying to figure out how what to do with, right? You get the email and it was written by chat GPT, not right.
(15:11) and but it's emotional and it's asking for money or it's whatever and if you dig in deep enough, right? And and it's just kind of this weird little secret that we're all excited about AI helping us in our daily life, but we won't admit it. I said it's like it's like diet medication or something. It's like nobody I'm not on it, right? Like you lost 600 lb this week this week.
(15:28) Like no, I just So it's that and eventually it's all going to come out, right? And people are getting even with the diet you're like, "Yeah, man. I'm trying Ompic and whatever and I love it and I feel healthy and it's making my life better. Right. Exactly. So I think AI will eventually get there over time where we start admitting we're using it.
(15:47) But in the meantime, you know what what is the responsibility of the listener in this? What is the responsibility or the consumer uh the record labels whatever how hard do we demand to have that disclosure in your mind? What do you mean? Do we? So the question I guess is do we just let it go as consumers or do we rise up and fight like we let a lot of stuff go musically. We let quantizing go. We let autotune go. Music was dead.
(16:16) You know what? How long have they been AI people in the Nashville songwriting thing where there are people acting as AI? They're creating songs for radio using algorithms that they're aware of whether written or not. People are producing songs now for Tik Tok. Yes. Right. They know as they write the song, what is the Tik Tok clip in that song as they're before they start producing it. Yeah.
(16:39) Now it's Tik Tok before it was a radio. And so where's that line that we just accept? Well, where's AI? The thing is I think most people don't even care. you know, most people like, you know, jumping on Spotify, going through a playlist, and that velvet uh sundown song plays, you know, they're g just gonna, you know, move to it and go to the next one. Most people won't care.
(17:05) So, some will argue that we already lost the human feel out of music and it's not the fault of AI. That's a fun one to comment on. When did when or has the music industry died and if so, when did it die? Right. So that could be like another another podcast comments at this point. Yeah. Another one is where does human emotion fall in this conversation? So like I had the velvet sundown play and I and I was researching for this and so I had it playing on the the Sonos in the house and I was just banging away on the computer or whatever and Julie walked in. She's like, "Oh, who's this?"
(17:39) Interesting, right? She just was like, "This is cool." And I was like, "Oh, it's this AI thing." And we're talking about it with Chris. And she's like, she just goes, "That's too bad." She goes, she goes, "I would go see them in concert, but you can't, right?" But in her mind, she's like, "Oh, well, this is just sounds like music, right?" And then, and then and then the next day, it was over the weekend, so I had it playing and my friend friends Cory and Pam came down. I was playing it for them because we got on the conversation of AI because he's the studio guy. And you
(18:05) know, that's always my my thing is every conversation on Earth at some point brings up you can bring up Trump and AI. Like every conversation has these two woven into it. Totally. And so we got on the AI thing and I was like, "Oh man, I'm" and I started playing it and then we started talking and it was playing for like 20 minutes. And at one point he just stopped and he goes, "I feel icky.
(18:25) " Cuz he's just like, "It's it's just I'm using it as music emotionally in in my in the background of my life." And it just made him he's just felt kind of icky. Yeah. that he's listening to these robots and kind of feeling some emotion because there's there's some good moments on these albums. There's good moments where you actually your ears perk up and you're like this is a good moment.
(18:44) I'll say one thing about this particular uh like the two albums I've listened to. Um the only thing I can say maybe because I know it's AI but I can't remember a song. I can't sing a melody out of this these two albums. There's nothing that you know nothing. I have nothing because I've I've listened to like it was good production, you know, production u sounds are good, you know, like performances and stuff. Mood is fine.
(19:09) Mood is fine, but nothing that is okay worth staying in my brain. That's interesting. Weird. Yeah, now you say it. I'm the same. I can't It's like the chat GPT marketing email that uses so many cliches and slogans and dopey stuff that you don't remember what they were even selling. versus a really well-written human thing where they're aiming, they're driving towards something and then they sell you on that one moment or a good artist.
(19:36) They finally get to the chorus and you go, "That's the thing. I'll remember this forever." The hero moment or or whatever. Exactly. Yes. I think this always going to be hard. Cliches in a marketing email, you can't remember the product. Even some some pointed out that even lyrically it was some very chattytish type of lyrics, you know.
(19:53) Oh, yeah. The photo the photos. It's just it's so funny. It's It's kind of awesome though. I think I have mixed emotions. Like I just kind of really appreciate it as a product. So So what do you think humans are better at right now in this point in time than AI? Like the full AI generated music thing. Yeah.
(20:19) This this this is going to come back to bite me in 10 years probably because the machines will figure it out. But it is imperfection. Yes. I think that the AI thing heads is trying to create perfect inherently where humans are inherently flawed and it's like even you know we'll we'll spend a lot of time on this in the future but even like the AI mastering tools or whatever to me are too perfect.
(20:46) They're and it's there's some there's some human thing that I listen to and I go, "Man, they boosted this cuz that's what you're supposed to boost." But for for this type of song, I would have cut that or whatever. So the the human piece of lyrics, you know, we were listening to the the it was the David Gay song at breakfast was on. Yes.
(21:05) Like let go of your head, let go of your heart, let go of your head, feel it now. And then he just goes Babylon. That's the next line, right? And you just go came out of the blue. You know, you just go, "Okay, what?" You stop and you think and it's and it's so imperfect. That line, Babylon, right? And then you have to stop and think and diet and and so that imperfection of of beautiful human lyric writing is is in this thing missing. Everything much sense. For sure.
(21:35) Every every saying is perfect, right? Totally. Totally. I agree with you. There's something like I read a quote by Rick Rubin. Yeah. About the use of AI. It was like the reason we go to artist is their point of view. The AI doesn't have a point of view.
(21:55) So this is all part of the human human nature you know and like a bunch of artists that you know you go you listen to the first album then the second album and there's an evolution. There's a story also you know the person goes through different struggles or whatever in life they age they mature ages everything around their music writing and everything like ages sometimes worse but a lot of times like even better you know and uh yeah and this is going to be very hard it is hard right now for AI to replicate to tell a life story yeah totally and we're missing that many years with this project yeah it's just a lot of cliches
(22:28) strung together. Exactly. Yep. So, so that is like the big thing. Now, should we be worried about this type of product for the future? Ah, what do you say? Good question. You know, is that a threat for the future of is it a threat human music? It's it's I would submit that ultimately it may end up being a genre.
(22:55) Like I think there's I think the the interaction between AI and humans is forever. I think it's already happening that people are chat GPT getting help to write the third verse. I think that's just always going to happen. That interaction, we'll talk about the tools, but I think it's allowing people to produce better in their rooms cuz AI is helping do their mixing and their whatever.
(23:19) So that interaction I think is forever and will grow and eventually we're going to become Robocop. I think where it's all just you can't tell what's man and what's machine. Yeah. Yeah. to an extent. Will it for a fully AI product like this be take over? I don't I don't think it'll take over. Yeah. Because the question is, is it going to kill? I don't think it's going to kill. I think it's going to work alongside.
(23:40) That's my hope for humanity is that it works alongside. I think the audience will understand that AI is here to stay and I think I think we'll learn to live together hopefully in our marketing emails and in our music and in our movie watching and whatever.
(23:58) And the one thing I would say that's pretty cool and I'm looking forward to a little bit in a perverse sort of sort of way in the back of my mind is the ability for AI to do things that humans can't. Yes. So like like like an animated thing can fall off a cliff and tumble down the hill and all the way down the hill and he splats the bottom and then the next scene he's totally fine. Right.
(24:23) So I think there's going to be an AI in music component that's similar to that where you know an AI singer can do things a v human vocalist can't do, right? So you've got a you've got a singer that can now do nine octaves doing this amazing rock opera electronic orchestral thing written by some amazing composer using an AI singer and I think that stuff's going to be kind of fun.
(24:40) So I think as a genre did I say that right? Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, you said it right. I I said genre. No, the genre is like perfect. So you still say it better. Yeah. See, it sounds like a wine. It's like a cheese or cheese. Sounds like a wine or a cheese or an island off the south of France. Everything you say everything in French just sounds better. It's so neat. Yeah.
(25:04) So, I think I think ultimately that's going to be kind of fun is when it just becomes a section on Spotify that and that's back to our first point is will it become a section or will it just get shoved in with my friends who are toiling away making music. Yeah, that's hard to say. Well, we don't know. We have hopes.
(25:24) We have hopes. Is it going to take over? I think it's starting to take over on some aspects of music creation. you know, when we're talking about film music or um like there there will never be people composing TV commercials for a living. That that's a that could be a very concern. Yeah. Very concerning. But oh man, that could lead to an completely other thing.
(25:45) But there's so many aspects uh that are we're going to find out on the way, you know, but I'm dreading watching this in 10 years. But but one one last thing I want to I want to talk about briefly is okay. Okay. Now, we know that Spotify from what we've seen so far is pushing this band, fake band. Okay.
(26:05) And that is the part that's concerning. Okay. And we talked about that before. Should artists boycott Spotify. I I don't think to protest or whatever. I don't think there's a hope for artists to boycott Spotify. There's you can't win the fight. Like it's too big and anybody that's tried has come back. Everybody. Yeah. Right. Like like major artists have left and they're all back now.
(26:38) So what hope does anybody have? I think you got to learn to get along. Now one thing that AI is going to have a hard time to take over are live performances. Yeah. For now. For now. This might be a good place to end with hope for humanity. Yeah. You're right. Because there's something on a live with a live performance that is very human.
(26:59) The connection with the audience, the artist, the audience to the each other, the audience with itself, like just being in a room. Yes. Sharing an experience. And there's a need for humans as fans, you know, when listening to albums, to go see the artist, to be like a fan, to be a follower, and just like to attend that show when the artist comes to town and and live an experience. And maybe the the closest thing in our lifetime to really drill this home that occurs to me is co Yes.
(27:27) When we lost all that and we were watching virtual concerts and and the unfulfilled joy like our favorite artist was doing our favorite songs in in in a less fulfilling way. And to me that might be a taste of the AI future. It's just it doesn't it just didn't feel right doing concerts on Zoom or watching a whole bunch of people in boxes doing a we are the world type thing versus when you get into a room and everybody just the the the artist puts the microphone towards the crowd and they just do a thing and
(27:59) those moments that we lost during co and then just were thirsty for and these thing these things can work when you don't have a choice like co you know you don't have a choice you do it like okay it works but the minute you're like you get out of that box and you have the choice.
(28:16) You're not leaning towards the multiple boxes live online events, you know, and and that that could be the great hope in this. At some point, we realize we're we're way down this road and we don't like it and we want to go back. No, I'm not saying that AI is not going to try.
(28:34) You know, you know, even remember the last KISS concert a year and a half ago at the Madison Square Garden, they ended up the concert by promoting what is coming next for Kiss. They're all retired. Okay. And but they each each each of the band members have an avatar and they're building a whole show around these avatars for future Kiss concerts. Why? I don't know. It's supposed to be out like in 2027 or something.
(29:01) Why? Those guys selling coffins. I don't know. Why? I don't know. Maybe that's going to be a thing in the future. I don't know. I don't I it's not a thing I would like to to go check out to be honest with you. Um like for me I want to go just to see who goes and sit down at the front row backwards. I want to watch the concert backwards. Exactly. That's my kind of show. No. No.
(29:26) No. For me, there's something when you go see a live concert, you know, of your favorite artist. There's a connection. There's an experience. We all remember certain shows that we were Oh, yeah. first one or with our parents or whatever. And that's that's the piece that AI can't do. It can't.
(29:45) It can't. It has to be humans in a room. Yep. Yep. Like humans asking questions. Oh, do we have a question for this week? See, uh, your pivots have gotten better. Hey, come on. You have to give me You've done some pivots. I you know that we're not practicing that we're not spec you practice your pivot when you're alone.
(30:10) Are you in the shower the last one? Are you in the shower talking about compressors and you're like hey Steve what's our question today? Jesse's like I need the shower you idiot. Stop talking to Steve in the shower. Five minutes I'm working on my pivot ever since that horribly failed pivot from a few weeks ago. Oh man, that was the worst. I learned the hard way. Oh, and then I love that. That was supposed to get edited out and it didn't.
(30:38) You kept it. It stayed in. You kept it in. I watched it after. You let me edit that one and so I just left it in. It's going to stay. It's like I'm not going to argue this one. It's too fun. Beautiful. Okay. So, so this week's is is kind of a fun question and it's kind of a a an audience participation like more than us just answering. Perfect.
(31:00) Uh, and it's Steinway Goat. And I thought I recognized that name. And it's from your MCC crew. Yes. And it's Jewel. And so she said, uh, we were talking a week or two ago about our first pieces of equipment that we purchased. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And And so she said, I I I relate to that time travel.
(31:25) She said, now what to do with all those old pieces of equipment when you're so emotionally attached to them? And so that was to me it just triggered the thought like me asking you what what things from your early days of recording that do you still drag around when you move to a new house? Oh, okay. There's one piece of gear that I would I will never get rid of is my drummer 1960 dual compressor preamp. Okay.
(31:52) Okay. Uh and the story about you know behind this one is even before I started to do music production. I played in a band uh we recorded some demos some some some stuff and uh we went to that studio that had a uh exactly a drummer 1960 and it was the sound we always used that like these two preamps uh recording guitars vocals and stuff.
(32:15) So I kind of for me back then when I started music production production I was like okay I need that sound. That's great you know. So, I looked for one. I found one on eBay. And that was back in 2002, 2003, you know, and at the time I was renting a bunch of stuff, but I started to to to build my my build my little arsenal, you know, and that was my first buy. I needed a good preamp. I went for this one. I found it in Texas.
(32:39) They shipped it and I kept it like, you know, and for me was the sound just like connecting a uh a microphone, guitar amp, whatever. It was like, "Oh, yeah, that's the sound." You know? So, um, yeah, it has a very nice color. That's funny. And I still use it. That's funny. And I'm never going to get rid of it. It's part of your sound. Yeah, it is. What about you? When you die, can I have it? I'll think about it.
(32:59) Okay. Maybe Juel can have it. Jewel. Chris. Chris's final words were, "Save my drama to Jewel. Send it. Send it over." Uh, I I have a in in my storage thing now this kind of big zip up duffel bag from like you know a million years ago as Eddie Bower or one of those and in this big duffel bag which is now in a big box is uh a few things and they are just the there's no reason to keep them but I do and so yeah one of them was my first four track because I was probably about 10 years before that and I my first Fostex four track the the rewind
(33:43) button is broken off. The little lid is broken off and it's there. It's got a little mixer and little faders and four track and a and a row of cassettes that one day I'm going to see if I might have to bake them at this point and see if I can get get them to play.
(34:01) But a row of I don't know 15 or 20 four tracks that have scribbling on them and and so that for whatever reason Wow. will go to my kids when I die you or maybe me if I go first. I'm going to see if you leave me your drummer first. Okay, I'll leave the drummer down. Okay, then I'll gift you back. I'm going to change my will. And then and then uh there's a couple Yeah. And then there's a my first Elicus.
(34:21) Remember when they were they were like the only company big back then and they had a sequencer and it was like it was like flat and then it curved out. It had buttons on it. You put a floppy drive in it. Had that sequencer. Yeah. Held a ton of data. And then and then next that was the matching drum machine.
(34:39) So they match. And so there and there's a couple other things in there, but yeah, those those are just for whatever reason I drag them around from place to place that I move and they're still taking up space in my physical life. Okay. I have one last thing. Okay. Okay. Which is not studio related, but something I'm emotionally attached to. Okay. Give you're going you're doing props. Oh. Oh.
(35:02) Did you see that? Never do this. Did No. Did you see that? I'm like Spider-Man. You saw that, right? That was awesome. That was amazing. I wasn't even looking. That was awesome. That's a lot of years of catching falling mics, man. That is training. My training kicked in. The reflex. Oh, the reflex of a professional sound engineer. Professional sound engineer. Guy who buys his own mics.
(35:25) Go get your stupid prop. It better be good. Okay. Don't hurt the gear. We're recording this podcast in a very tight space. Okay, so this is my first CD player. No, true story. I had this one. Get out. I promise I did. I promise I had this one. A Pioneer P. It has a slightly different model. Okay.
(35:44) And it was the same. I bought this one. I think it was 1993. My first CD player. Did you buy it from now out of business store? Yeah. Like Lion Electronics or something like that, you know, that doesn't exist. From like Bob's musicium or something. It was on sale for $99 at the time. Crazy. This like even touching the knob like the buttons here. It feels like brings me back in time.
(36:10) Honestly, because when you push that button, something happened. I know. To your to your heart and your mind. Exactly. It's a weird like something changed when you you'd read the CD book. Yeah. Like you get that smell. Exactly. First it was getting the CD out of that stupid plastic. That was always the first the first trick was getting the stupid thing out and cutting the plastic.
(36:31) But yeah, and it and you would listen in order and you would go on a musical journey. That was perfect. This that was my first uh little thing that I'm Even this I'm going to keep for life. This is actually a good way to to end the AI episode, I think. So, with with the buttons that make you feel music, right? Like that's good. Or or with you dying and leaving me a drummer.
