You know how you’re always going around complaining to your friends that still listen to you (it’s important to note that many of them simply won’t anymore, because all of their ‘fiancées’ and ‘good jobs’ and ‘new babies’ and ‘home improvement shopping’ make the prospect of listening to their one friend-who’s-still-in-a-band harp on about music trends pretty unpalatable) about how you’re unimpressed with current music’s cold, harsh, digital sound?
Well, you should shut up, because according to Billboard, Moog Music has reported that sales of their all-analog (and all-pricey) synths, guitars, effects pedals, and theremins went up by 35% this past year. For the non-Weezer fan, Robert Moog (who died in 2005) founded what would become Moog Music in 1954 and started selling these crazy analog devices to bored, rich musicians, who immediately got to work nearly ruining their records with them (suck it, Abbey Road). But eventually, Moog’s gear found its place and folks started to prize the equipment’s ‘fat, analog tits’ and ‘warm bass-y ass.’
“If you buy any other keyboard and open the back, you see a chip in there that’s sampling sounds or re-creating sounds using a digitized format,” says Moog Music president Mike Adams. “In the back of our device, there’s a sound board with 897 components. It’s a completely different sound you get. You’re really able to hear the subtleties of the sound […] Kids have grown up with the iPod, but when musicians get introduced to the analog sound, it makes a big difference to them. It may not make a difference when it comes out of the iPod, but it makes a difference to them in the studio from an inspiration standpoint.”
But wait just a filter-sweepin’ second here. Given that the synths go for between $700-$5,000, guitars start at $2,000, theremins go for $375, and effects pedals cost between $275-$700, is it really ‘kids’ that are keeping Moog Music in the black during a recession? I mean, who the hell is buying all these things anyway? Well, according to Adams… yeah, it’s pretty much 99% Lady Gaga (and 1% Rush, White Stripes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Sugarland, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Beyoncé, Alicia Keyes and Billy Joel). But he also mentions that he ” just got a huge order from Metallica.” Oh, cool. Experimental Metallica.
• Moog Music: http://www.moogmusic.com