Happy Tuesday,

With both parents working full-time — well I guess what I do is close enough ;) — life has been crazy lately. Sometimes I pause and ask myself, is this the way it’s supposed to be? Are we all just ok with crazy, stress filled, rushed lives?

This doesn’t seem like how it’s supposed to be.

I’ve written about how I think we’ll live in the future before — Digital tribes will evolve into physical communes — and I still think there’s something there. Our modern life with both parents working their asses off to pay for childcare, just so they can work... it just seems off.

Hopefully the robots can take over the work soon and we can all just lounge around and play with the kids. One can dream.

Hans Zimmer and computers

A favorite newsletter of mine, Benedict Evans, dropped a link to a clip of Hans Zimmer talking about sampling and making music with computers that was just fascinating, it sent me down a rabbit hole of electronic music, Hans Zimmer, and more.

You should watch the whole amazing, clip

Hans Zimmer's use of computers and samples in orchestral music

Two key lines that stuck out

“I started out as a programmer. I'm definitely a better programmer than I am a player. If you ask me honestly what my instrument is I will tell you it's the computer”

and

“I went to all my favorite musicians in London. I said look here's the experiment I'm going to try. If you let me sample you, I will make it so that directors will want more orchestral music and you will actually get more work out of it. Because I'm going to be able to present something where they go, wow orchestra is cool”

Here’s essentially a godfather of electronic music enabling more analog musicians, it’s a fascinating blend of classic and modern and I think people like Hans Zimmer are a glimpse into the future. He uses the computer to make art that we all get to enjoy in Christopher Nolan movies.

I went deeper into the Hans Zimmer rabbit hole and found this gem:

Hans Zimmer - Making Of INCEPTION Soundtrack

best line is right here

“We took things which were created completely electronically, these ambiences, these atmosphere tracks, and put them in front of the orchestra and said, okay now I want the orchestra to go and imitate, synthesize, electronic sounds”

Just stop for a second and think about that….

Electronic music has been about sampling real music and making something electronically, here Hans Zimmer is flipping the script, he’s taking electronically created sounds and getting an actual orchestra to imitate them, which he in turn manipulates electronically. He’s blending, flipping, mastering sound through technology AND real instruments.
That’s why his tracks have this amazing, unique sound to them, he’s using analog and electronic techniques blended together in new ways to create new sounds.

There will be more Hans Zimmer like artists pushing the techniques and methods of countless other creative pursuits forward through innovative uses and blending of technology with art.

The future of art is bright!

2 crazy things ✌

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🎨 Big brands buying NFTs

Non-fungible tokens — NFTs — are hot right now. Like really hot. So hot that some big brand are getting into it. Just recently Budweiser bought an NFT for 120k and Visa (yes the credit card company) bought one too.

What does this say about NFTs? Well not much except that Budweiser and Visa’s marketing departments have some shrewd people.
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🌐 Internet & Blockchain will kill nation-states

I wrote about this from a completely different angle, but one of my favorite writers just dropped a nice post on how different communication technologies have shaped human history, and how the internet and blockchain technology will kill nation-states.

​Uncharted Territories: Internet & Blockchain Will Kill Nation-States​

Besides music, what’s ripe for an innovative blend of tech and traditional?

I think there’s going to be some interesting applications around art in general, we could see some new artists that rise up that expertly blend digital with real paint / ink.

Let me know. Just hit reply, I read and respond to everyone!
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Have an awesome week and see you next Tuesday!

Daniel
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As the seconds of our lives are ticking away, you have to realize that life needs to be an adventure
Hans Zimmer

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