Is technology paving the way to mediocrity?

J

jjtcorsair

New member
I was poking around the Sonic Foundry site and happened upon this product description:

------------------ACID™ Music 3.0
Express your musical creativity with unprecedented ease and flexibility with ACID Music 3.0. ACID Music is the perfect — and affordable — software solution for creating original, royalty-free music quickly and easily. Create music in any style imaginable with its multi-genre loop library containing over 600 loops. "Paint" your music without messing with complicated sequencers, drum machines or musical instruments. Enhance each individual track with great-sounding effects that are sophisticated yet simple to use. After you're finished with your tune, burn it to CD with ACID Music's Track-at-Once CD burning, export to MP3, or publish online to ACIDplanet.comSM.------------------

I especially like the "without messing with complicated musical instruments" part.

Jon
 
A-ha!! That's my problem. I've been trying to make music with INSTRUMENTS. They're too complicated. Computers are much easier to figure out.
 
Grunge music started paving the way to mediocrity way before technology even had a hand in it.:eek:
 
There's No Danger

I think "good" or "great" music will always be easily distinguished from "mediocre" music, regardless of the technology involved. The same argument arose with the rise of sampling in rap/hip-hop in the mid 80's, but I think we'd all agree that some "great" music has been made using sound samples.

If people can take sound samples, loops, fake instruments, whatever, and move the listener, then more power to them. To me, it's no different than somebody hiring session players to record with, and a kick-ass band to tour with.

Of course, there WILL be more "crap" out there, but really, hasn't there been a pretty steady increase in the crap-factor since the advent of consumer friendly 4-Tracks?

There's my 2 cents,
:D
-Mr. One Penny Short Of Having 2 Cents
 
Here's my tuppence worth.

Quality comes from talent and effort, not technology.

Listen to Erland's stuff - basically just a 4-track (albeit digital) and a crap guitar. And an amazing voice. He could sing a shopping list with his head in a bucket and it would sound better than my best efforts.

Technology helps talented folk express a wider vision.

Listen to macle's stuff - lots of clever technology, excellent songwriting, great singing, amazing production skills. A few years ago, it wasn't possible to make the sound he does without being very wealthy.

A turd squeezed through a BBTTE is still a turd.

That sounded coherent and profound in my head. :)

Cheers

AB
 
I agree with all you guys. I wouldn't go selling instruments yet. First of all, instruments are FAARRRR more fun to play. And I think we've got a way to go before truly quality samples are accessible to us. Just listen to MY drum programming! :eek:

And that bit about not having to mess around with intruments etc....actually all I can think of to say about that is ugh, You know instantly who they're marketing to.

I think machines are a great tool in the right hands and ears. But to rely on them as this ads invites us to is...what's a good way to put this...BULLSHIT.

Alright, nuff ranting. Time to mix....

By the way, this should probably be in a different HR forum. :D
 
I know technology has helped me to create music, since I don't own a drumkit, and even if I'd buy one I couldn't play it at the house. There's a lot of songs nowadays that wouldn't be in existence without the current technology. I first started making music with a thing called tracker. Some of you may know they're pretty useful if you don't know shit about notes or chords or ... anything. It's easy to make music with trackers. Sure, it doesn't sound that real, but at least you can put ideas to use pretty damn fast. The first few tracker songs I did really inspired me to pick up an instrument so that I could use more real instruments and all that.

But there's definitely a downside to all, and in this case it's the fact that there's lots of crap just because pretty much everybody with a computer can make a song and release it on the internet. Of course it's not a bad thing, because somebody's crap is somebody else's diamond (or something deep like that :D ).
 
IMHO tools are tools, that's the bottom line. Some people use tools to do a job, perform a function or replace their own effort. Others use them to help in creating beautiful things. It's all in the user, whether he plays an instrument, uses the computer or both. The crap comes from people, not the tools ;)

And this should probably be in another forum :rolleyes: :cool:
 
Barometer said:
IMHO tools are tools, that's the bottom line. Some people use tools to do a job, perform a function or replace their own effort. Others use them to help in creating beautiful things. It's all in the user, whether he plays an instrument, uses the computer or both. The crap comes from people, not the tools ;)

And this should probably be in another forum :rolleyes: :cool:
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
I was at the local Mars hanging in the recording section and there was some guy in there playing with Acid Pro. I've never laughed so hard on the inside in my life... and a few chuckles still managed to get out... the dude asked the sales guy how many CD's did he think a person could produce out of 4 or 5 Acid sample CD's. And asked how many hits have been made from Acid. And then he proceded to come up with some of the most generic and cliche "tunes" on the demo PC... he was grinning ear to ear... cha-ching cha-ching.... I don't feel threatened to say the least and the sales dude made some easy sales that day.
 
Gotta Fly

I'm writing my latest tune in Acid!

or

Man I have this cool idea................any of you guys have Acid?


I just don't see the feel in writing anything out of "loops"

I am into arrangements, the most satisfying part of this whole thing is creating the tune with REAL instruments.:D :D
 
About this thread not belonging in this forum- Since this is the only forum I really hang out in and I've gotten to know some of you a little bit and blah blah blah...

Jon
 
jjtcorsair said:
About this thread not belonging in this forum- ... blah blah blah...
Click to expand...
Hey man, anything that gets my thread off the front page as quickly as possible before somebody like BLUEBEAR rips me a new one is A-OK with me, Jon.

Post on,
Chris
 
alibish said:

Listen to macle's stuff - lots of clever technology, excellent songwriting, great singing, amazing production skills. A few years ago, it wasn't possible to make the sound he does without being very wealthy.

Cheers

AB
Click to expand...

I think it's a great thread. I especially like this part. Alibish makes very good points and observations, and is obviously very wise. :D

Macle
 
alibish said:
Here's my tuppence worth.


A turd squeezed through a BBTTE is still a turd.
AB
Click to expand...

Ah! But it might be like SOMEBODY ELSES turd! Or perhaps even some other type of animal's. :D

I'm all for all this technology. I agree with alabish. There are certain elements in any art and its the way they are used that determine the outcome and success of the product.

Since the dawn of recording there have been new gadgets, gismos, effects and instruments that have changed the recordings themselves. I find humor in the idea that some latest and greatest piece of gear is a must have. People have been making great music for decades, often with gear that seems laughable by todays standards.

No matter the era, I think I would be generous in saying that the success rate of songwriters and composers, in regard to final product, is maybe 10%. It just proves that you can make crap with Fender guitars or Acid 3.0. Its the intelligence behind the music that makes the difference.

There are two kinds of music, basically. First is the stuff thats played live or mostly live by a group of people. The second is music that is constructed piece by piece. Both are valid. I do everything from country to techno and its all fun. Every music has its tools. The 909 drum box is as important to electronic and techno music as the steel guitar and fiddle is to country.

I would imagine that the most creative users of Acid will construct certain tracks or phrases within that program and use them in conjunction with other programs. Probably with some incredible results.

I embrace change as a good thing. Sure, some lowbrow will buy ACID 3.0 and string together a bunch of crap, but somebody else will come along and creatively push the program into some new form of expression entirely. The difference is in operator skill and knowledge of what makes music interesting and listenable. The mellotron was considered cheating when it fist came out--now who cares?
 
Yeah, this could be a long reply - but... here's the short of it for me.

Yes, whatever it takes to get your ideas out is ok. Yes, technology also "dumbs down" what is considered the artistic. Probably all of the above opinions as well. Stay tuned. :p
 
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