I find that I have to think back to when I was 14. I was excited about music. The music that I loved then still holds up today. Actually, 12 years later, my favorite record still hasn't changed. So it's important to think about the music we liked when we were still excited about new music coming out. If you hate the music on the radio now, almost by default, you are implying that you did like the music on the radio at one point in your life. So before we move too far into this musical thought process, let's try to take the point of view from a time when we were excited about commercial music because a cynical old bastard (okay, I'm only 25.93 years old) is no person to judge commercial music.

Why Did You Get Into Music Recording or Engineering?

If you've gotten this far through the article, you are probably a recording guy or at least a passionate musician. Those of us who have decided to dedicate our lives to music were effected by music differently than the masses. It was as if our ears had a stronger effect on our brain. What we were hearing had a giant impact on our lives and we hope recreate that same feeling for other people. At least that's the way that I feel about it.

Who Is Your Music Catering To?

I must admit that I don't really write much of my own music these days so the idea of ?your music? or ?my music? is sort of misleading. Well, it turns out that ever project that I record is ?my music?. It has my name on it and I invested many hours in it that could have been invested in something else that could have had a bigger impact on the planet.

Either way, when you sit and write songs, who are you writing for? Many people are writing for themselves and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Of course, this method lacks commercial focus and is a sign that there is little commercial appeal in the music being written.

Personally, I like to think about my favorite records of all time were created with me in mind and intended to cater to me. Of course, many of those records came out when I was 14. In other words, my favorite music was quite possibly written for 14 year old. A lot of girls bought those records that I still respect to this day. If the intended audience for these records would have been 20 year old males, I would have never even heard it.