I rambled on too long and I thought this message
was too big to fit through the chokepoint. Then
I thought that figuring this out might entitle me
to get my WorldGeek membership card back... I
figured maybe it was just all the profanity, so I
edited it for prime-time... Nothing.
Then finally Kent emailed me like the novice that
I am, after reading my two blocked attempts, and
told me it was simply because I wasn't sending in plain text.
Alas, I'll never get back into the club...
At 12:25 PM 8/30/2006, Thomas D. Cox, Jr. wrote:
On 8/30/06, Dale Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
--but I thought you said the tools didn't matter? Which is it? All
the ground is already broken then?
the tools DON'T matter, as long as theyre not being used a substitute
for ideas and good music. which in the case of dylan and kraftwerk,
they werent. in the case of X number of computer musicians, they are.
i prefer people who keep it simple and limited because it makes it
almost ALL about the ideas and music as opposed to some programming
trick or DSP nonsense.
For every hack artist that installs some software
and declares themselves a musician there are
hundreds of individuals in the past who picked up
a guitar and thought they were rock stars.
Dylan knows how to play guitar, etc... Kraftwerk
knows how to work their synthesizers (and they
use a computer as their sequencer--if not having
moved completely over to software synthesis in
their own studio already)... hell, *I* know how
to work synthesizers too... Producing sound in
real-time within the computer is just another
tool. Either you're good at it or you aren't.
Some get the A grade... others get the F... and a whole lot of in between.
Personally, if we're talking about tools, I only
use Live and one plug-in, which is simply a
synthesizer that I like. I've rarely even read a
manual for a piece of gear. I've figured out all
of the synthesis parameters out there myself, and
have usually stayed out of gear discussions
because I already had the tools/gear I wanted and
really didn't care about anything else. I was
never a gear head, I am a music head. There are
so many people out there that are exactly the
same way... many that have strolled in and out of this list over the years.
Do you think people really just press return on their computer?
uh, yes? isnt it obvious?
Yes, every morning I wake up, turn on my
computer, double-click the Live 5.0 icon on my
desktop, and press return. The songs just come
pouring out. Check my page. It's astounding.
I hope nobody else figures out what program I use. I'll be ruined.
Did you receive my point about all the new technologies in music...
or even art in general, such as photography, always receiving
resistance in their infancy?
its not really a new point,
Extraneous insult ignored.
and i understand it. however, im skeptical
You may understand it, but I'm not sure if the point is sinking in.
Is photography art? If so, why? All you have to
do is press a button. Some people make
masterpieces with their Polaroids while others
make trash with their elaborate camera systems.... and vice versa.
I'm also a designer. Should we dismiss all of
the art and design of today that was made with a
computer? I love progressive design, but there
is a lot of garbage out there and I cringe at
something awful I see every single day. Do I blame the tool?
Blame the artist.
Samplers. Some people sample entire loops of
other people's music, add a beat, and sing over
it. Other people use a sampler to record just a
drum kick, the sound of a glass breaking, or
their grandmother belching, then rework it and
use it successfully in a track as an
instrument. Are samplers evil because MC Hammer
and Puff Daddy blatantly misused them?
What if someone had a disease of some sort, like
Parkinson's, where they just couldn't keep their
hands steady, but they had a brilliant mind just
overflowing with creative vision, and the
computer allowed them to finally bring those
visions to reality and share them with us? Are they not keeping it real?
Stephen Hawking doesn't keep it real. He's a hack.
I have sounds in my head that I've never heard in
real life and I've still never been able to get
them out, but with software I'm a little bit
closer. I'm sorry if the sound I want to use in
a song isn't made by an analog synth, korg
wavestation, guitar, ukelele, tribal drum, leaf
blower, car crash, or anything else found in the universe today.
Isn't that striving towards something
groundbreaking? Trying to realize something that
no one has ever heard before? Many people are
trying to achieve this goal using the
computer. Alternately, though, simply making a
sound that no one has heard yet doesn't make it
good. You still need creativity and skill to make it worthy of recognition.
Knives can kill, but they also cut your dinner.
Cars can suck up oil, but they also move you around efficiently.
You can download porn on the internet, but you
can also do an instant search for almost any
piece of information you are looking for.
So many tools at our disposal... and it is up to
the individual to use them in good conscience.
of any technology that makes things more complex for no reason.
More complex for no reason? I find music
production in the PC much simpler, and satisfying.
To set up my old studio I had to first plug in a
network of AC/DC supply, then hook up a network
of patch cables to my mixer, then hook up a
network of midi cables to my sequencer. I could
spend hours and hours trying to get rid of line
noise, unsuccessfully resetting up my synths to
sound just like they did the week before so I can
finish a track I was working on before I was
inspired to work on another idea, etc... etc...
All of the same tools now exist in the
computer. There are synthesizers, samplers,
mixers, and sequencers at my fingertips. It is
the same thing I have been doing for years but
much more stable and intertwined for much better
mix quality. I've spent at least $15,000 over
the years on gear and never came close to a mix
quality that I have in the PC... I would need to
rent an outside studio to do that.... and who
wants to leave their house at 3am to explore
music in someone else's studio?... or spend the money if they don't have to?
with
the power of the modern computer based stuido, it should easily be
possible for people to crank out tunes much better than the original
house and techno tracks, right? well that's just not happening, only a
deluded person would say that the quality of tracks has increased in
direct proportion to the complexity of the equipment being used to
make them.
It's so simple isn't it?
1) Software production has raised the bar
significantly. It is easier for a skilled artist
to make a more well-produced track. I speak from
over 20 years of experience making music with
real gear I can sink my teeth into and working on
a computer makes it so much easier for me to
explore my imagination. If you switch to PC
production and simply plateau at the level you
were at previously with meatspace gear, then you
need to push yourself... unless you already had
access to a top of the line studio and gear,
which I do not. If you were horrible then, you
will most likely be horrible now.
2) There is one huge liability to the development
of making music entirely within the PC, and that
is Bit Torrent. Anyone with an internet
connection can download software to their heart's
content and call themselves a producer. No
longer are aspiring electronic musicians bound to
spending thousands upon thousands of dollars to
get their studio up and running. You speak of
the quality of music not increasing in direct
proportion to the complexity of the equipment,
and you are correct, but there are more factors
involved that you haven't considered and I
believe your skepticism to be
misguided. Further, this does not discount the
accomplishments of truly gifted artists... and
for them the quality of music is progressing rapidly.
There is simply more trash for you to weed
through, as there has been for every other form
of music as the instruments and tools they used
became more readily available... and now
distribution is also at the hands of anyone with
an internet connection. You can download the
same amount of trash from any other genre popular
today. Electronic music is no different.
"All I need is a red guitar, three chords, and
the truth"? What was he talking about
there? Part of it was a complaint about how easy
it is/was for anyone to make it as a
musician-- Pick one of three chords? ie: Press
return? No, there is no comparison there.
Now the truth on the other hand...
History has proven that the antagonists always end up looking like
fools... are you just trolling?
always, eh?
You got me on the technicality of the word
'always'. Of course, there is no absolute. I surrender.
Regardless, the world is much more complex than I
think you want to see it, but that is
reality. There are many things to consider in
any issue that arises. This applies to all facets of life.
As far as music is concerned there have always
been hacks, and as time goes by many of them
become more easily recognized. If they are using
a pre-fab beat programs full of presets, then
people are going to ask why they sound like so
many other artists out there and get bored or dismiss them entirely.
blah blah blah...
