The Music Awakens

The Music Awakens

Let me share with you my dream project: constructing a recording studio that will serve as a hub for the Next Generation of Asian Music, while supporting High Resolution Audio as well as world class live streaming.

Mr. Sakuma

My name is Takuya. I am a guitarist, as well as a sound producer, and a composer. And I was the guitarist for Judy and Mary. Judy and Mary is a band that almost all Japanese people already know.

First, I need to talk about my master, Mr. Masahide Sakuma. Mr. Sakuma was a producer of many famous artists and bands in Japan, and one of his legacy was Judy and Mary. I am his padawan, a Jedi in training.

Unfortunately, Mr. Sakuma passed on in the spring last year. That is when one of his
blog articles caught the attention of the Japanese music industry:

WHEN TO QUIT BEING A MUSICIAN

The quality of the music itself is being sacrificed to lower the cost of creating music.
I can not continue to produce music with low quality sound. And many musicians are just beginning to face this reality.
An excerpt from http://masahidesakuma.net/2012/06/post-5.html

Mr. Sakuma’s blog entry’s title “When a musician stops playing music” rings true, especially for the current Japanese music industry. But at the same time, it also felt like a challenge to me, like he was asking me to see if I can go beyond what he had seen.

One day, I saw that one of my songs was being sold online for two hundred yen, less than the price of a Big Mac. A friend told me that the price was not too cheap, since the online version of the song was much smaller in size than the CD version. Actually, it is just one tenth in size. Of course I knew this. I am a sound producer after all.

It isn’t like I want to sell smaller file sizes. But, the need for ubiquitous network and carrying around more music than you can ever listen to, requires it. This was a wake up call that shook me to my very core. Smaller file size means lower quality, and therefore lower price. There was sanity in this insanity.

MEANING OF DIGITIZATION

With ultra-expensive consoles and tape recorders becoming much more compact and affordable, professional recording at around tens of thousands of dollars was becoming a reality. Lower costs and lower price meant lower margins, which translates to less budget for proper equipment, actual fees for good musicians, and time.

Furthermore, even up and coming young artists who come to Tokyo looking to learn how to create great sound and music are prevented from doing so, not only because the artists are too busy working to cover the high cost of living, but also because there isn’t any music studio that is accessible to them where they can experience great sound. Each year, more and more of the famous studios are going out of business.

What is needed is a place to learn, experience and deliver great sounds. We need to train
both musicians and sound engineers so that they can convey music in its original wonder, just like analog music did, but doing it with digital technology instead.

I remember meeting Mr. Sakuma when he was 41. I am now 43, and perhaps I am close to catching up, because I am also facing the same dilemma. Fortunately for me, I might have found the answer that my master was looking for.

THE AWAKENING

Let’s build it. Let’s make the music. Let’s create the best music production environment in all of Asia.

I first experienced high resolution audio about 13 years ago in New York, at a famous studio called The Hit Factory, which, by the way, is also out of business. Here, the sound was so clear and direct, which while wonderful, also sadly made me hear all the gaps in my guitar playing skills, and made me realize that I had totally over-appreciated my own skills, and under-estimated the true complexity of creating music. That is what great sound can do.

Based on my experience in New York, I started working on constructing my private recording studio, to make sure I understood how to capture great sound.

Almost all recording studios in Tokyo were built before the IT explosion, and do not have the proper structure and layout. While some have tried to retrofit, the high cost of legacy equipment and the budget cuts caused by the drop in sales of CDs made it difficult.

A music studio for great sound requires a high ceiling, uncoated wooden floors and roughly plastered walls to prevent flat surfaces, as well as great electrical supply. It doesn’t make sense to create vibrations just to have it cushioned by floors and walls.

When I finally completed my personal studio, which I call 54it, Mr. Troy Germano, the president of The Hit Factory, came to visit my studio and said “this is a bit better than ours”.

For the past 10 years, this private recording studio has become my main working environment. While I am very lucky to be able to have such a studio, I still need a place where I can teach my padawans what I have learned.

But where should we build the studio?

My answer is IN

FUKUOKA

, where the rent, for both housing and studios, is cheap, on average less than half of Tokyo.

According to my experiences, and to which many other touring artists agree, sound equipment sound better in western Japan. Western Japan, which uses 60Hz electricity, is better than 50Hz eastern Japan. Just FYI, Tokyo’s electricity, which is 100V 50Hz, is the lowest power output among all the major cities of the world.

Also, being able to reach a world class recording studio in just 10 minutes from the airport would be attractive to artists both in-and-out of Japan. Chinese artists could come in the morning, make a recording, and return back in time for dinner, if the location is Fukuoka.

There are plenty of nightspots in Fukuoka as well, which means it’s a great place for late night snacks, important for all artists, young and old. That is simply not possible if you are in the countryside. And besides, all the artists I know are huge ramen fans, and Fukuoka excels there as well.

Fukuoka has always had a rich musical heritage, and many famous artists call this city their home. There is plenty of work for hungry artists, and easy to live. Many of my musician friends, who are tired of living in Tokyo, agree that Fukuoka would be a great place to visit and work in.

Add that to the fact that Fukuoka is close to Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Asian countries, and Fukuoka becomes the obvious choice for the Next Generation of Asian Music hub to me. It will save them many jetlags.

I hope that when this dream project of mine completes, it will serve as a Jedi music temple for all padawans, as well as all masters, future and present, where Asian music businesses will succeed.

May the music be with you.