-OLD SCHOOL-

Referring to the past, the expression is used to refer to an attitude, approach, method or way of doing things "the old-fashioned way!" Without making an apology for it, some people find in it a notion of "added value", while others, considering the posture as an affront to modernity, see in it the "old-fashioned" manifestation of nostalgics from another time.

For my part, without complexes or pride, nor as a form of rejection, even if I claim affiliation, I do not hide a certain attachment to an era that those of my generation will have known before the advent of electronic standards that now make up our daily lives. My modest "background" being what it is, I forged myself, to say the least, by immersing myself in this so-called "old" school... Electronic course initiated in adolescence (shortly before the 90s), it is only thirty years later (already), in 2020, that I come full circle, so to speak. This kind of "gap" is therefore a founding element, one of the pillars of my current approach.

So, for example, although this does not give it any particular value, I have so far not consented to the acquisition of the latest hardware and software solutions. I know, it's a bit "radical! "(LOL) From the very beginning, I have always made do with non-updated versions, trying to express myself with the means at my disposal. I'm not saying that I wouldn't have appreciated other devices and other technologies for my nocturnal electronic deliriums, but in the end, the bare necessities will have sufficed... Of course, one can always dream of more software and hardware alternatives, but the goal is above all to make room for experimentation, inventiveness, originality and resourcefulness without delegating too much to more and more efficient algorithms which, in my opinion, amputate part of the creative process. In any case, without naively clinging to this nevertheless enriching past, I refer to it by recalling the much more "precarious", if not "arduous", conditions in the matter at the time. The release of a title was much more laborious, it was sometimes a detail. For some, the adventure was even a struggle, it was clearly not as "simple" as it is nowadays to compose, produce, broadcast and export music. Only the "old hands" (like me) still remember it! (LOL)

It was another time ("grandpa talking!"), another context, other means... However, this "old school" was formative and the learning process emphasized that the way of making music doesn't matter, only the pleasure you get out of it with the means at hand counts as well as the "result" to the ears of the person who creates it, the music itself! Doing it with kitchen utensils or using the latest software version of a state-of-the-art computerized home studio is worth it! For if the quality of the material is important for the recording, it must not become a pretext for owning the latest products of one or the other well-known brand in terms of digital devices and instruments. For, more important still in my eyes, my modest experience will have in a way allowed me to take the full measure of the "creative" act and the approach that animates it and gives it another dimension as soon as it includes a vision, a line of conduct, concepts, values, operating codes specific to the composer's mind. The meaning of the artistic process is at once ethical, philosophical and instinctive...

An evolutionary process in permanent development, the creative act also includes a certain notion of praiseworthy effort if the drudgery does not become a constraint to achievement and fulfilment. Under the term "old school" is therefore perhaps also hidden a certain amount of effort... Not because effort is the only key to the process, but because faced with difficulty, the brain of the soberly equipped craftsman is obliged to find alternative paths. And that's what it's all about when I evoke a past to which I'm not stupidly attached because I'm out of step with the modern world, but because I don't recognise myself in the contemporary electronic musical world. At my modest level, I like to ask myself what I'm delegating to machines! Rhythmics, instrumental sequences, variations, modulations, effects are more and more pre-programmable and above all pre-programmed ("pre-checked"). Even if the structure of the sequencers has not fundamentally changed since the first drafts, the way of composing, arranging and working the "scores" has changed a lot. However, the functional shortcuts, the various automations, the pre-recorded loops turn out to be as many aids to composition as they are brakes to research, experimentation and also sometimes to "originality!" (Ease is not all good...) Of course, paradoxically to what has just been said, the various composition "aids" are at the same time formidable means of experimenting, researching and creating something new. For this is indeed the very principle of electronic music, which mixes sounds and techniques and takes advantage of technological advances to produce "atypical sound hybridizations..." (It would be too easy to "spit in the soup" when we are all "pure mixed products" of this modernity.) No one can claim to hold the keys to a creative process that would be more virtuous than another, but the digital revolution has changed things on all levels, for better or for worse! The worst does not make me nostalgic for another time, but rather someone who is sensitive to what is going on behind artists and their desire to express themselves. Those of yesterday, as well as those of today...

The content of the subject is also illustrated through the example of the practice of disc jockeys. Those who were already active at the beginning of the movement will confirm that their "working" conditions have changed considerably over the last few decades. Many will remember that the load of flying cases lugging around during endless club marathons has worn out the backbone of many DJs before digital media. The first turntables or mixing desks were relatively "basic" compared to the tools available today. Just as the DJ was restricted in his choice of vinyl records to take with him on his travels, so today's hyper-connected DJ travels, "Mac Book Air" across the shoulder, from airport to airport to play (at indecent rates...) an almost infinite amount of imported music with a single click... Alongside the world of composers and producers, technology has totally redistributed the cards, and the standard conditions of the early days have clearly evolved. Nevertheless, without being resistant, not everyone has totally abdicated! The "OLD SCHOOL" is popular with some people... (Vinyl is making a comeback!) The phenomenon is not new, it affects all musical styles, many artists, even without being aware of it... And in fact, there are and there will always be musicians, composers and arrangers who prefer the sound, texture and warmth of the wood of an old-fashioned violin, rather than those of the same instrument in its modern "composite" version, each parameter being adjustable on demand. The same goes for guitars, drums, brass and other ranges of instruments which now have almost all their digital equivalents... Because technology has not waited to get into them with very pleasant results, it is worth emphasizing! In short, there will always be lovers of vinyl and non-digital turntables. So we always come back to the same debate that has no reason to be. Everyone is free to do as they please! Ancient or modern, the school we went to is not predestined for us. Nevertheless, it helps to forge our roots. There is no competition between artists (at least there shouldn't be), instruments, ways of making music, composing it, recording it, producing it and distributing it. And electronic music is one of the most beautiful illustrations of this, "combined, mixed, blended, hybrid" being the norm... Because, even the "exclusive" (tactile) lovers of hardware (Roland families of TR-..., TB-303, Korg, Yamaha, DX7...) will be looking for adequate IT solutions. The way is less important than the approach or the motivation driving the desire for artistic and musical expression. In this sense I am "old school", but that does not in any way ensure the quality of my work! 😁

nms303