Why Less Is More


TRACKED, TUNED & BOUNCED using RECHORD.XYZ

Creativity isn’t complicated.

Not a catchphrase – a simple fact.

There are lots of apps, and even more software packages backed by big name plugins to help you record, compose and make music, but how many of them are actually helping?

When Wired Magazine’s Paul Ford set out to begin recording his own music at home, he was quickly overwhelmed by the volume of accessories, add-ons and services that accumulated as he began to learn the process. He had access to a vast universe of electronic kit and digital products, but in the end… it all just got in the way.

He wrote: “The upshot of all this is that I have absolutely no musical talent. I spent hours cutting and pasting, turning tiny expressions into whole songs, spinning that jog wheel like a pro, and when I came back to those tracks the next night, I kept discovering that I did not have a single creative idea … I am not a musician. I am a systems administrator for my digital audio workstation.”

And that’s the point isn’t it?

All of a sudden, it’s really complicated – and increasingly expensive, to be creative. The simplest things have become the hardest things to do… everything is overcomplicated by design. Buy more to be more. Consume to Create.

Digital audio equipment was meant to make recording music easier. It was supposed to take all of the complex kit in recording studios and make it accessible to anybody with the urge to get creative. It was meant to make you quicker and open our minds to limitless possibilities.

Instead, it’s turned musicians into an army of consumers splurging cash on stuff. Lots of stuff. Stuff that needs qualifications in audio engineering to use. Stuff that delivers the illusion of creativity rather than actually getting writing, composing, recording tracks. Machines that occupy your headspace, as opposed to the joy of making music.

The Beatles created iconic demo after iconic demo – using a 4 track tape recorder. They had no digital audio workstations, no plugins, no undo functions and no limitless supply of options with a bottomless pit of cloud storage… they had to get songs written and recorded quickly before they forgot the melodies they dreamt up, they only had a few reels of tape to record their songs…even in studio, they got super creative because they had limitations on time and space and tech…

They managed to turn out tunes that – 60 years later – still make them stand out as one of the greatest bands of all time. They Tracked, they Tuned, they Bounced.

RECHORD.XYZ was built on a clear principle. On the idea that all of the marketing noise, the apps, the machines and the plugins are totally pointless if you can’t create a song in 4 channels – max.

That’s it.

It’s not a challenge, or an accusation, it’s not even an assumption. It’s a way of thinking. Strip away the aspirational selling, and bin the lifestyle marketing… If you can’t work out what to do quickly, how can you free your mind and your hands to simply express yourself?

We’ve developed the most powerful interconnected tools and devices in existence to help us create content, but without the simplest and most important thing… the idea… the demo…and capturing that spark… all that tech is meaningless.

CTRL, ALT, DLT all the confusion, get back to basics.

You don’t need studio grade software. You don’t even need a studio if you don’t want one. You don’t really need a digital metronome. You don’t need a special case to carry everything in. You don’t actually need to be told what to write and how to write… or where to write and how to record it…

You don’t need to be labelled, because you don’t need a label…

What you do need is a simple, easy to use App with no barriers – low cost and no ability level to access… 8-80yr olds welcome – a reset, an opening of closed doors, democratisation of the tools – everyone is invited, something you can carry around in your pocket, something that takes less than 10 minutes to learn so you can create for the next 10 years and more.

So that’s what we’ve built.

A 4-Track Recording Studio in your Pocket.

Creativity isn’t complicated.

Track. Tune. Bounce.

RECHORD.XYZ