Doing Your Production Work In An Environmentally Conscious Way
by Jonathan Wyner
Pardon me for jumping outside the technical realm for a moment, but honestly, I am shaken.
Trite as it may sound, we live in trying times. The typical modern person is overburdened and as busy as angry bees. Our country is engaged in an intractable political and military conflict that will burden us for decades. We live with incredible uncertainty in the world of professional music (explain how you can justify years and years of practice on an instrument and a production budget of more than a few thousand dollars in the face of the current electronic-downloading-nonpaying marketplace?), and last—and most—we have this little problem known as global warming.
It has always been difficult to justify careers and travails in the arts, in some eras more than others. There's always been a portion of our culture that deems it indulgent or irrelevant, not an "essential" part of human life. Some think of art as the land of the bourgeoisie. I find those arguments are easily countered with assertions about the things that make life worth living—music is right on top of my list. But it is challenging to hold on to the importance of works of art, given the ever-increasing gravity of issues such as global warming. Recording technology and practice is related to our environmental crisis. It requires technology, and it requires almost constant consumption of the newest technology in order for us to remain current in our studios.
So we need computers, cables, electricity and fossil fuels to do our work. Slowly the question formed in my mind: If one wanted to do production work in the most environmentally conscious way(s), what would you, COULD you, do? Here is the beginning of my list, in no particular order, priority, efficiency or importance. (These are musings—not imperatives, directives, orders or judgments—intended as food for thought.)
1. Get involved in music with a conscience, about issues that are engaged in trying to effect some kind of social change. Offer a discount to those recording "green" music, whatever that might be. Acoustic music? Environmentally topical?
2. Don't use analog gear, especially not analog tape. That's right, no tape—its backing is made of petroleum in part (guess the "warmth" of analog isn't as simple as it seems). Use digital amplifiers to power your speakers. When they play music, amps use more current than anything else in your studio. Digital amps are vastly more efficient.
3. Use LCD screens. They are energy-efficient to run.
4. Use the newest CPU's you can afford. They run cooler and generally consume less power.
5. Use flash/solid state memory and hard disks to move files around. Using CDRs and DVDRs is ultimately going to add to the landfill problems. Does anyone know how long a CDR takes to biodegrade? Anyway, the plastic coating requires more petroleum.
6. Here's an easy one for most musicians: Record at night or on weekends, NOT during peak hours, for energy use.
7. [Fill in the blank.] I would love to hear your thoughts about what else we might do.
Why do any of this? I don't have any illusion that by using one fewer CDR I am going to make a dent in the ozone problem. But apart from the obvious answer that every little bit helps, I think we have a larger responsibility. As artists and those that work with artists, we are responsible in part for the imagination of our culture. Art is sometimes its conscience, and sometimes it's art that inspires the culture's dreamers, and sometimes it's the culture's mirror. So if artists are not going to make some noise about these issues, if artists will not take a stand, who will?
I really don't meant to be heavy-handed in this, but I do take it seriously, and I do struggle with the meaning of our collective work. Ultimately, hopefully, it's toward something better for ourselves and those that come after us. Maybe "warming up" your tracks won't mean the same thing it does now.
Jonathan Wyner (www.m-works.com) has recorded, mixed and mastered more than 5000 CDs during the last 23 years, spanning every musical idiom (and some nonmusical idioms as well). He is a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. His credits range from the extremely well known (James Taylor, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Kiri Te Kanawa) to the idiosyncratic and independent artists/labels. A 2007 Grammy nominee, his most recent production has been appearing on PBS since March 2007.
