I am not an audiophile like my husband but I do occasionally pick up an issue of his Stereophile or Audio Advisor to read articles about artists, the industry or other non-technical items I am able to comprehend. There was an article in the March issue of Sterophile that described the slow movement of some recording studios that are actually (GASP!) recording artists for a record together again, in one room!
Some people don’t know or maybe don’t care but as the industry has evolved to digital recording, many records are recorded separately by each musician and/or singer. This allows for the producers of the record to actually take each second of a song and contrive a “perfect” sounding song, when in reality musicians and singers make mistakes often but have the ability to usually trick the casual listener into thinking one never existed. David Grohl touted during Foo Fighters’ Grammy acceptance speech that their latest record was made in his garage, with old equipment while they played together. As it should be.
While reading the February issue of Fast Company, there was an article about Moonbot and their digital creation of apps and books, which is quite fascinating but what caught my attention was a caption box about a guy named Oz which read, “This guy is from a story in development, but we’re puppeteering him. Why not? It will save costs, and the audience will sense a level of handmade craftsmanship.”
This got me to thinking that the analog world will and should always have a place in our highly digitized one. I believe it is because only in the analog world can the mistake be celebrated and captured. However, as our world becomes more digital it seems that a mistake is viewed as more detrimental than ever before when in fact, the opposite should be true.
I decided to read a little about the psychology of mistakes. It felt for me, the natural place to start.
We are taught the mistake equals bad.
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My nephew, learning how to handle mistakes.
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Therefore, when we make a mistake, we are supposed to be left with feelings of regret, remorse, or worse fear. That fear then, keeps us from pursuing something anywhere near the thing that caused the mistake. This is truly unfortunate for us all, especially in the uncertainty of our world.
I then came to the conclusion that the analog world tends to be used most by art and artists. Think about it. An example, chefs use a mix of analog (knives) and digital (thermometer) tools. Artists use either or both and tend to lean toward the analog space because they know mistakes are an inevitable part of life. In fact, as artists we tend to celebrate them, laugh about them and learn from them. As we should. I thought Psychology Today captured the right sentiment for what a mistake is:
A mistake is an event, the full benefit of which we have not come to realize.
Here's a music example: I am not a trumpeter but I’ve been told Miles Davis has tons of mistakes in his playing, yet without knowing this, all I hear is brilliantly played music. A trumpeter can pick up on what is versus what isn’t a mistake and learn how to handle mistakes of their own. I cannot. However, I do often watch live musicians and have learned to pick up mistakes made by them and see how they handle them; most often with laughter that keeps them playing and experimenting.
We can and should use mistakes of others when possible as guides for what we would do if put into the same situation. In our own endeavors, we should celebrate the mistake with appreciation instead of shunning it with unkindness. Feel free to live an analog life in this very digital world.
