by Mark E. Waterbury

After graduating, Ken attended college for a brief period. He dropped out when he realized he was more interested in making a life out of music than his collegiate pursuits. "In college, I tried to find a fall back position in case the music career didn't happen," Ken muses. "I thought, 'that's kind of stupid. If I have a place to fall back I'll end up falling back.' I did end up falling back anyway." During his time in college, Ken worked at various retail jobs to help pay for his education. During that time he discovered that people who worked at music stores received discounts on musical instruments. That helped entice him to work for a series of music stores in the Bay Area, primarily in the keyboard departments. "Working with those stores gained me access to manufacturers reps and clinicians. I garnered references for what I would end up doing later." Ken also developed a passion for writing that began back in school when he wrote for class assignments. Although much of his writing was admittedly for his own amusement, he did do some free-lancework. He even gained employment at a company as a sales manager, where he interacted with many journalists as he wrote press releases and reviews of their products. Writing was mostly a casual aspect of Ken's life and it was in a roundabout way that he would actually fall into a writing career. "I always liked to write and always did well at it, but never really thought of it as a career. But I read Keyboard Magazine since I was a kid and I always thought it would be rewarding to write for them. I had a vague aspiration, but never really did much to pursue that, except for a few abortive attempts when they weren't hiring." Ken finally hit the right connection when he worked at a store called Starving Musicians which specialized in vintage and used equipment. Keyboard Magazine's vintage equipment columnist Mark Vail was a fairly regular visitor to the shop where he searched for rarities or odd equipment. Mark praised Ken to the editors at Keyboard who eventually gave him a freelance writing assignment as part of the application process. Ken had to write an article about a Stanton rack mounted filter device that was primarily used by DJs. "If they like it, they pay you for it. If they don't, it's 'thank you very much'! The article went well, so then the doors were opened and I have been writing ever since. I learned previously when I was writing press releases that you have to write something a bit differently to catch the attention of editors. It has to do with having a creative lead. That first paragraph has to make you want to read more. There has to be a hook and any aspiring writer has to have that."

Ken joined Keyboard as an assistant editor in 2000, right around the time the magazine was celebrating its twenty-fifth birthday. "What we are about is the writing is intended more as analysis. We are not weighed down with technical details or procedural items. It is more about, here is this project, we made music with it and these are our impressions. We tell them our opinion if the equipment isa help or a hindrance to the creative process." Ken worked his way up to the position of associate editor, and then, after being at the magazine for three years, became the technical editor. In spite of the veteran status of the magazine, Ken has not only witnessed growth in Keyboard during his comparatively brief tenure, he has been an intricate part of it. "The entire industry has grown. When Keyboard started, there was no such a thing as Midi. We all turned to Keyboard to make sense of all the technological advances in equipment. Since I have been here, we redesigned the magazine and it is wonderful to look through the magazine and see all of us involved with each page now. It is a collaborative effort and that is tremendously satisfying."

Ken is still a musician, performing and recording with bands and projects primarily in the Bay Area. Being in a band is somewhat of a requirement for writers and editors at Keyboard so they can actually test new equipment in their natural environments - the recording studio and performance space. Ken would love to see some advancement with his career as a musician, but is very happy and satisfied with his work at Keyboard. "I really enjoy artists' interviews. Product reviews are fun, too, but getting to sit down with Marcus Brown and Mike McKnight backstage at their Madonna tour and getting them to tell me about the instrument choices they made and the music choices they make every night and the specific challenges is fascinating because so many of these artists are really articulate individuals. That part of it never gets out there to the masses. Everyone is focused on their music or their personal lives, and to me, it is much more interesting to find out what is involved with their artistic make up."

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Ken Hughes' advice for musicians: "There seems to be so many different avenues people use to get themselves out there. It's not enough to say get your music on the internet because everyone has their music on the internet. You have to convince people to GET your music on the internet. You have to get over whatever reluctance you may have about being a relentless self-promoter. You also need to be a better musician. And one thing I have noticed is that people do not know how to listen to other musicians. That is one of the most important skills: you can play and improve your chops, but you really have to listen to what is going on around you so you can react to it and contribute to it rather than just being an island up on stage."