Surprise obsessions are a difficult thing for me.  I started last week on a sudden quest toward a dual purpose.  Like many other inspirations of mine, it’s a race to finish the quest before the desire runs out.

I’m actually not sure where the spark came from, but it’s been something lingering inside me for a very long time.  The end result will be this: to own a complete collection of albums published under the MCA Master Series label and secondly, to create framed artwork of the album covers for my walls (copyrights be damned).

Let me explain the history of my experience with MCA Master Series.  When I was in my impressionable youth, I had acquired a home stereo, which had the new-fangled tech of the day – Digital Compact Disc – and I was building a CD collection of my own.  My stereo was monstrous, like most probably were at that time.  A full component system with receiver, dual tape deck, CD player, and the requisite 4-ft tall, 15”-woofer stereo speakers.

Around that time in my life, I was trying to figure out “who I was” and “who I wanted to be”.  One thing that I thought I wanted to be was “high-class”.  That didn’t necessarily equate to “rich” but more about appreciating art and music beyond the standard radio fare.  Let me quickly find an image that sums up my youthful vision…

…well now.  That was not a quick search at all, and this isn’t even what I think I originally had in mind, but:

That’s more or less what I imagined, reclining on crazy-modern couches and listening to… what?  Something pretentious classy, sure, but what was that?  I hadn’t found it yet.

As luck would have it, around that time, the MCA Master Series was releasing albums, and because I lived in a tiny dump of a city, no one would ever buy that stuff, so it ended up in my music store’s bargain bin – my default shopping section.  The first album I bought was Edgar Meyer – Dreams of Flight.  I was incredibly attracted to the cover art, because it looked as modern and abstract as I imagined my future listening room would be.  The music was clean and clear, jazz/classical, and I grew very fond of it.

Also around that time, I had read some articles mentioning the band Acoustic Alchemy and I noticed they were on the same label as Edgar Meyer.  A nearby pawn shop supplied me with these and many more of the MCA Master Series catalog.  All were enjoyed (except Booker T Jones, which is the only one I now regret throwing away) and are in my current collection.

Fast-forward to recent days and I’m finding a nostalgic desire to have that innocent dream of what my future could be – relaxing in a modern sofa (which I do have, now), listening to New Age/Jazz/Classical on a high-end audio system, maybe reading some e-books.

My adult sense of appreciation enjoys this music label for another reason.  When you put all the albums together, you have a incredibly cohesive marketing design.  There’s really something to be said for that, and it’s something that I feel might be lacking today.  Because I know the MCA Master Series is all high-quality, I can scan a rack of CDs looking for their consistent design and find something in a flash.  Using the same fonts on every album, with a dash of color for uniqueness, was a genius move.  You can see the same marketing technique if you are a Telarc or Rykodisc fan – just scan for their logo in the spine.  Windham Hill is another example, as well.

Back to the story, I’ve been hammering online sources and local sources for these really old, out-of-print CDs (yes, 30 years!).  I don’t want any reissues, if they exist.  I want these albums for the original artwork as much as the music.  Less than a week into my mission, I have purchased six missing albums.  Right now, I have 13 out of out of 43, with 4 en route, leaving 26 left to find and purchase.  I’m estimating at least $150 to finish out this collection.

What will that mean?  I’ve talked about collections again and again in my blog.  And the truth is still there.  This collection will mean nothing to anyone else but me.  But let’s discard that fact and think about phase two of the plan.  Scanning the album covers and getting them printed and framed as artwork.  Granted, some of the covers aren’t really suitable for framing, but many of them are.  Framing 43 covers?  Gah!

I’ll have to post some updates as I progress through this collection growth.

Like the changing of the seasons, it’s time to cycle back into music-making.  It’s been quite a long time since I’ve had any major interest in it.  I guess mostly because I haven’t felt like I’ve had any time.  Everything seems to be experienced in small doses here and there, and when I take a long time to sit down with an idea and try to expand it, I start to feel guilty, like I’m not paying attention to something that needs attention.  This sort of meshes in with prior posts about how fleeting inspiration is and how life gets in the way. 

Sometimes a real inspiration-killer is the effort it takes to set up and manage a recording session.  When your time is limited, you kind of have to have everything planned in advance.  You can find plenty of videos of musicians sitting in a studio, trying out different things until something gels.  I used to have that luxury; I don’t feel I have that now.

Like when you have a good starting riff, then you go searching for the right sound patch to express it.  Half an hour later, you’re midway through one synth’s patches and still have a few more synths to go.  I guess that’s why so many people compose on a piano or acoustic guitar – deal with the sounds later.

So, I’m upgrading my office studio again, adding a third monitor to my computer to be wall-mounted above my keyboards so I can keep the recording software in front of me (Cubase in ma face).  In past setups, I’ve had my computer to my side and to my back.  I hope that being in front will help me be more productive since I don’t have to turn around all the time.

I’ve burnt out two mixers over the last few years, so I’ve been playing through headphones.  That’s also going to be rectified with the upgrade – another mixer.

Yikes.  Looking back at previous blog posts, it looks like I’ve been musically idle for over three years.  That’s really no good.  Oh, no…  Checking my hard drive, the last thing I recorded was back in 2009.  Where does the time go?!  That is nothing like the changing of seasons, that’s more the changing of a generation.

And speaking of generations, it goes without saying that music is “done” differently now, and I have little interest in trying to do it that way or trying to sound similar.  I do wonder if the effort to create modern music is more or less than what it takes me to do it the old way.  For example, I have to write and play multiple tracks for a 4 minute song.  Newer composers have to find to find a bunch of samples that work well together, loop them in some coherent order and then spend who-knows-how-much-time applying effects.  At least that’s how I view modern music.

I listen to old-style music written in the new way and it seems to be the worst of both styles (effort-wise).  Writing and performing everything, then embellishing it with effects and post-processing.  That seems like so much effort, and it seems like so much more than I could devote in my tiny blocks of available time.

Like when you have a complete song, then you go searching for the right effects to apply.  Half an hour later, you’ve run through one effect unit’s settings and still have half a dozen different units to go.  On one track.  It feels like I’ve been there before.