+ RPM: An Interview with John Van Eaton

John Van Eaton, a.k.a. JHVE, has been on the road, in the studio and around the world as a technician for such acts as Nine Inch Nails, Guns and Roses, Linkin Park, and KMFDM, just to name a few.
Following up on an earlier posting on The Greener Grass, John paid a visit to Kaleidoscope's studio to have a discussion about the state of the music business.

What has been the most significant technical innovation that has the greatest impact on your profession?

JHVE: The biggest step has been the power of the personal computer, the successive improvements in computers from 20 years ago to now. By the time we could all get a Mac G3 laptop, that was the beginning of something amazing. The machines are just getting better, more solid, and faster. Most machines from the past three years are really reliable. I used to not be able to trust that a computer would be able to run an application like Pro Tools or play Logic files over long periods of time without crashing, you could not use them in a live environment. We would use Pro Tools in the studio, but tracks that were used to back up a band, all that data, would be put on a digital tape machine that was more a hardware device that did not have crash issues like an operating system in a computer. But those tape machines were susceptible to environmental conditions such as humidity and condensation. When the computers finally got to the point of being really stable, we were able to use Pro Tools, Logic and Ableton live out on the road. The other thing is the software growing stronger,more robust, supporting creativity. It used to be to that the only way to put an album together was cutting tape, then in Sound Designer - with just two tracks! Then came multi-track Pro Tools and that became such an industry standard. Recently, Apple bought Logic and created Final Cut and they decided that these tools would be their new standard. People can now get a Pro Tools or Final Cut system and computer for under $2,000. In audio and video editing, the minimum systems used to cost hundreds of times more!



What insight do you have on the current and future state of the music industry?

JHVE: In ten weeks Trent Renzor produced 36 songs for the Nine Inch Nails project "Ghosts 1-4" and achieved $1.6 million in gross sales through his own website and Amazon.com in the first week. This came after the end of his 15 year record deal with Interscope. He was a free agent. He moved 800,000+ pieces of product in the first week! On the previous NIN release "With Teeth" the record company moved 200,000+ units in the first week.
Where as Guns and Roses have taken much longer time to produce "Chinese Democracy" than the entire career of the Beatles!
I wonder if the big record companies can continue to exist.
Prince and Madonna may be making money but there are many others who are in debt because they have a record deal.
If you have a record deal you just get more expensive problems. In 2008 the record company thing doesn't seem to make sense anymore.
A painting is it's own hardware key. It really cannot be re-produced. A photograph can be easily re-produced and has less value. It is worth less than a painting. Music seems to have almost no value if it can be copied by millions, how do we make a living now as musicians?
My friends Sean and Juliette Beavan and their band 8mm have enjoyed great success through their MySpace page and their songs being featured on television shows such as Grey's Anatomy. That's what we are all trying to do as artists in this new world, find new types of income streams.

I think that music is an emotional experience rather than a commodity. The live performance seems to be the way to deliver that. With ticket prices what they are now, the payday for the musician now seems to be the show.

JHVE: Nine Inch Nails always puts on an amazing visual live show. U2 always puts on an amazing visual show. As the record sales have gone down, the tour schedules have become more demanding. It is getting tighter and tighter.
Now Radiohead and NIN have given their records away for free, their income has to come from the shows.



You live the life of musician and technician in the studio, on the road, and as an artist. Beyond that, what do you find that influences, stimulates and inspires you?

JHVE: The experience that made a 180 degree turn on my life was seeing the Cirque du Soleil in 1993. I had no idea what it was. I had such a beautiful evening and I remember everything from that night, from the girl who sold the tickets to the people I met at intermission. It has been a life-altering experience. It is always a celebration of the best, most beautiful things that mankind can do. It has none of the profanity, none of the rot, none of the decay. It shows the strength of the human body, mind and spirit.
It's the passionate pageant of humanity.

Check out John's music and more at www.jhve.com

+ Overnight Sensation

We can access and enjoy any type of music now in so many different ways. The business model formerly known as the record industry has been completely changed by digital technology, computer software, and the internet. Myspace, i-Tunes, satellite and internet radio are just a few of the many options listeners have for enjoying music. Artists have creatively adapted to these new opportunities and are driving innovation.
As fast as everything is apparently changing, it is important to consider that what is happening is due to the cumulative effect of many people working very hard for a long time to get to this tipping point.
John Van Eaton has been involved in the world of poplar music as musician, digital audio technician and programmer. On the road and around the world on stage and in the studio, John has almost 20 years of experience with such acts as Nine Inch Nails, Guns and Roses, Linkin Park, KMFDM, The Lords of Acid, Love and Rockets and Bauhaus, just to name a few. A list like that certainly places John in the Electro/Industrial/Goth categories and may not be for a general audience, but to hear some great stories and insights into the state of the art then and now, check out this recent podcast interview at
http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=6448
Later this week The Greener Grass will interview John where we will dig deeper into the subject of technology and music.

+ Anyone Have the Answer to Question Three?

Last year I was enrolled in mechanics and calculus courses as a mechanical engineering student at the local university. I remember sitting in my room several nights, slamming my head against my desk because I just couldn’t figure out several of the assigned problems from the text book. After running a Google search for online homework help, I found an interesting website named cramster.com which offered message boards for users to post homework questions on a variety of math/science subjects while other users gave their own “unprofessional” solution to a problem. While I don’t remember exactly how the site worked at the time, I believe a user could pay a subscription fee to access an “expert” solution to their homework problem while answers posted by other users were free. The site seemed like a great concept, but for one odd reason or another, the site just never stuck with me.

After recently revisiting cramster.com based on the recommendations of a friend, I was surprised to see how much better I thought the site was looking. Students can now sign up for a free account, which entitles them access to odd numbered solutions in about 190 different math/science/engineering textbooks, posted lecture notes and practice exams, and the ability to ask, answer or find questions on the cramster “answer board,” or pay a subscription fee of $9.95/month or $39.95/year to receive additional benefits including solutions to all even numbered problems in textbooks, priority responses to questions on the “answer board” and more.

Overall, I think the cramster website is a great testament against the stereotypical thought that the best educational achievements come through late night solo study sessions but rather by collaborative efforts among students and educators to learn and grow together.

+ Technology and Civic Engagement

“Why don’t we just vote through the ATM’s?”, my friend asked last week while listening to another depressing NPR story about our current state of civic disengagement and low voter turnout. To most of us that have come of age in the internet society this question seems legitimate. Why is it so hard to engage citizens in their government, when we have all of these powerful communication systems at our finger tips?

There are great examples of groups using this technology to engage citizens. In fact, politicians have become incredibly adept at using the internet to raise money and mobilize volunteers. However, it is a rarity to find an organization that attempts to engage citizens simply for the betterment of society in general. That is why the mission of AmericaSpeaks struck us so strongly.

AmericaSpeaks is Washington DC based organization that uses communication technologies to engage citizens in governmental policy making. The technology allows them to reach large numbers of citizens, then collect and disseminate their opinions in real time to lawmakers. This approach enabled them to engage 45,000 Americans in a discussion on Social Security. The discussion had the attention of several senators and had documented impact on the policy that our government created.

It is inspiring to see what the creative application of communication technology can do to engage citizens in communities, and the power of this technology to make our government more democratic. It would be interesting to explore other possibilities for wide spread citizen influence of government; even voting every time you withdrew money from an ATM.