GOOD TIMES
Nile Rodgers on living forever
What was the first music tech you bought?
I bought the first Linn drum machine, the LM-1. This was in 1979 or 1980 and I bought it specifically for Carly Simon’s Why [which Rodgers produced with his Chic partner, Bernard Edwards]. Dancehall reggae was a new art form that had come into my life at that time and I wanted to do our Chic spin on dancehall.
What’s the most expensive tech purchase you’ve made?
Back in the day, when things were insanely overpriced, my keyboard workstation, the Synclavier, cost well over a quarter of a million dollars – and this was in 1983. But it was great and if there was no Synclavier there would be no ‘fleh-fleh-fleh-fleh-flex’ on Duran Duran’s The Reflex.
What’s the most disappointing tech you’ve bought?
There hasn’t been anything disappointing, there’s only my frustration with learning how to use something. I can feel overwhelmed and say, ‘Oh, forget it, it’s too hard!’
What technology has made the biggest difference to you?
Around 1978 to 1980 was when I first started recording digitally, using the Sony PCM-3324. It was one of the earliest professional digital multitrack recorders and I was one of the first people to own one. It allowed me to capture musical phrases within the buffer and move them around. There’s been great progression and anybody can do that now but at the time it was like, ‘Oh my God, can you believe this?’
Is there any danger that virtual reality gigs will kill off the concert industry?
No. People like people. Technically, we might be able to connect to billions now via livestream but there’s incredible satisfaction in seeing people gathering together with a feeling of expectation, hugging, kissing, getting drunk. It’s exciting and real and a one-time-only event.
You used 8K 3D cameras to film your answers for In The Room With Nile Rodgers with the National Portrait Gallery, which allows fans to digitally ‘meet’ and ‘talk’ to you.
It was amazing. I likened it to the beginning of the Christopher Reeve version of Superman, where he pulls out the crystals to talk to his dad, who’s long since died. Superman talks to him in real time and the honesty, agility and seamless way his dead father answered him was exciting as hell to me. I felt, like, wow – long after I’m gone, people will come and ask me, ‘What was the first record you ever bought?’ The person might not even know what a record is!
It’s being billed as making history as the world’s first voice-interactive portrait. Is this the most technologically advanced performance you’ve been involved in?
Yes. I’ve done a lot of video games but this is beyond that. Imagine the processing that has to happen, so quickly, to enable me to have conversations with people in real time. I’m in 3D and you can see that I’m contemplating the answer. That’s the AI saying, ‘Hmm, is this the best response?’ as it comes up with what it believes is the most accurate and appropriate answer [from the prerecorded answers]. It can take a few minutes to think about all the different variations to put together, so it may say, ‘Can you ask me that in five minutes?’ It’s revolutionary.
See hereintheroom.com