Jim Aikin remains one of my heroes in music technology journalism. As a magazine writer, book author, and editor (including a long stint on staff at Keyboard), he’s contributed an immeasurable amount of the writing about evolving music tech over the past decades. I’ve also gotten to appreciate his craft and insight as a reader having had him as technical editor on my book. But the real reason I respect Jim is that he always speaks his mind, and he thinks beyond the regular stream of writing to the bigger picture — meaning actual music making. So I’m happy to give him a guest spot here on CDM to remind us about the importance of matters that don’t necessarily fit into magazine articles. -PK

Reading Peter Kirn’s articles on mix automation and microphone types in the new Electronic Musician Personal Studio Buyer’s Guide left me feeling a bit sad and tired. Don’t misunderstand: They’re very good articles, and I’m always glad to see younger colleagues getting their byline out there. That wasn’t where the sadness came from.

Part of my reaction, as it turned out, arose from the fact that these pieces are reprinted excerpts from Peter’s Real World Digital Audio, a book project for which I was the editor. So I was subliminally aware that the material was not fresh because I had actually seen it before.

But there’s a bigger issue here: I think I’ve written too many how-to and what-is-it articles over the last 30 years. Been there, done that, bought the coffee mug. A few years back I was looking for technical material on near-field monitors. I found a cover story on this precise topic in an old issue of Keyboard — and then realized I had written the cover story. I had no memory of having done so.

I know there’s still a need for features that introduce musicians to the concepts, because new musicians are always coming along. But at this point in my life, I mainly want to play music. With writers like Peter on the job, there’s no need for me to write another word. (I will make an exception when Reason 4.0 arrives on my doorstep next week. That’s one product review I’m itching to write.)

Most of the technological challenges I deal with today are not the sort that can be turned into magazine articles.