David Bolton wonders: How far has recording come, and where is it going?
When we think of music, what comes to mind? Are we Gaga for the latest pop hit or is music more than a feeling?
Superstars with inflated egos or earnest young men making sounds that capture the mood and emotion of the moment? Do we think iTunes, downloads or MySpace? Or can we still remember vinyl and eight tracks, a time before CDs and Mp3s? Do we ever think of the session musician, seeking not for fame and fortune but a regular paycheck?
Music and technology have enjoyed a very special relationship over the years. The basics of sound reproduction have been known since the 9th Century, but the invention of the phonograph cylinder in 1877 by Thomas Edison, a true East Coaster, allowed for the recordings to be played back aurally at an individuals’ convenience. Groundbreaking experiments in electricity in the 1920’s further enhanced the technology and radio transmissions ensured that mass consumption of recorded and live sound recordings could be heard.
As technology advanced, so did the means for making music. Vinyl gave way to tape and then to CDs, acoustic guitars gave birth to electric, pianos became keyboards and in some cases were combined into hybrid monsters.
Studios, once the preserve of the sound engineer with a mixing desk that resembled the flight deck of a space shuttle, became smaller and more personal as computers began to make their mark and the expense of having to take an entire band “into the studio” became more dependent on utilizing the latest software.
At the time of writing, the industry has become more reliant on using computer technology and digital signal processing (DSP) to ensure that anyone can make music at any time and in any location. Provided, of course, that you can afford the computer and the relevant software. Cambridge-based iZotope has a product line ranging from audio restoration tools to mastering processors, and developed the iDrum for the iPhone, an app that will allow you to indulge every Phil Collins fantasy you have ever had. …On a bus.
The ability to download tracks, reproduce them instantly, copy them and enhance them has the major labels choking on their lattes and trying everything to ensure that their revenue stream doesn’t go the way of the dinosaurs.
At this point, I would like to say that this is not a Neo-Luddite rant about how much better things were in the old days before Pro Tools and Logic Studio. They weren’t. I know because I used to have a record label that couldn’t afford studio time and had to hawk product around the various major record companies searching for the elusive deal. Both of these applications would have made my life significantly easier.
Apple’s Logic Studio (RRP $500) is an awesome piece of technology. I had no idea how it worked until I went to the Apple store and asked a willing assistant to show me how I could record guitars, drums, Tibetan Singing Bowls and Japanese Shakuhachi Flute all at the same time. He gently pointed me in the direction of Garageband, and I was blown away by the versatility and the possibility of recording my own piece of musical mayhem. Logic Studio goes even further; it makes your music sound professional. Throw in a Bluebird custom microphone plus a Key Studio 25 keyboard and you just plug n play. Playing “Stairway to Heaven” is still frowned upon by his peers when a youth performs it publicly, but I was told that “any teenager can make an LP and put it on iTunes.”
Pro-Tools are what the likes of Aerosmith, The Pixies and The Dropkick Murphys use. Even Dream Theater (formed at Berklee College of Music which now runs courses in Music Production and Engineering) have been known to put together progressive harmonies on a laptop with this software. It is a serious piece of music technology and something that stores such as Daddy’s Junky Music on Massachusetts Ave will be happy to sell you along with your real instruments. Unsurprisingly, they think that “technology has made musicians lazier, you can always tell when auto-tune has been pushed,” but they run music clinics that focus on the software and not just the instrumentation.
But as ever, just because we can sit in our bedrooms and make music on our laptops doesn’t mean we should. I am a follower of Sturgeon’s Laws and have long subscribed to the viewpoint that there is actually too much music produced for us to appreciate what is actually worth investing in. The tools that can be used to make below-average music sound as if the singer spent time in Abbey Road are exactly that. They are tools to enhance the performance and create an aural experience.
If there is no talent, then all the tweaking in the world won’t make you sound like U2 or Beyonce. Even guitar heroes play real guitars.
Thanks go out to Barry from Apple and Joel from Daddy’s Junky Music, without whom this foray into the present tense of music production would not have been possible.
Editor’s Note: David Bolton recently relocated to the U.S. from the United Kingdom. He isn’t quite a full-blown Luddite, but he’s certainly a skeptic, so we call him the Neo-Luddite. For more of his work, check out his blog, Limeyview. You can also follow him on Twitter @SandmanDave.
Tags: Apple, Berklee College of Music, Daddy's Junky Music, Dropkick Murphys, Edu, Garageband, iZotope, music, Op-Ed, Pro-Tools
