Oh The Moral Implications,..

[GazEcc]

As I sit here writing this post I feel the need to confess a great sin to you all,

Long considering myself a musical purist I've started to venture into territory where my conscience begins to kick in, I'm working on a song at the minute and lately have been experimenting a lot with MIDI and the more I learn the more I love it, but after a stint in a local studio I can see that there are tricks I've been missing out that make professional recordings what they are, and in some cases this I find this to be cheating. Yet I find myself more and more compelled to do it, My friends what I speak of is Slicing and quantizing audio,

I'm no bass player but I can hold a tune when needed and when I recorded a semi-decent take of a line I needed I simply spliced it and quantized all the notes to where they should be, and after getting the bass line to what I needed I quickly looped without even a thought,

Now Prior to this I had always cut my bass lines straight through and hoped for the best at most punching in where I felt it could use a little tidying, Whats getting to me is the fact that when I say I played this song, Did I really? that performance was enhanced, by me, but enhanced nonetheless, I feel like I'm cheating anyone who listens to / buys / downloads / steals etc the song.

Is this going to be a once off or will I continue down this path getting lazier and fixing more and more of my mistakes in search of perfection? And most importantly is my music going to suffer because all of these little mistakes have been omitted making it essentially a perfect song?

I need moral guidance, and my friends,

I turn to you.
____________
Gaz

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I need moral guidance

If you're really looking for moral guidance, I think you already have your answer: if you need to ask if something is moral or not, it's probably not. If it's morally right, there's no doubt that it is.

But I have a feeling that what you're really looking for is someone else to tell you it's OK, to give you permission to do something you internally don't quite feel right about. I'm sure there are plenty of folks here who will be more than happy to do that.

BTW, please put a closing date on the poll. We don't need this creeping up to the top of the list 5 years from now because some newb came across it in a Google search and is too blind to see that you are long gone by then.

G.

 

[c7sus]

Nobody feels any moral twinges when they dl your song for gratis.

Especially the young whippersnappers. They think everything on the interwebs should be free for the taking.

 

[GazEcc]

Yeah I'll add a closing date, sorry about that. And I kinda want to hear from both sides of the divide to help me make up my mind

 

[miroslav]

I'm not a loop/auto-quantize guy...mainly 'cuz it's a bit too "mechanical" sounding....

...but AFA editing out sour notes or glitches, yeah, that happens a lot in recording and is valid IMO, so long as you are not fabricating a total lie...something you could never actually pull off yourself.
If I'm not strong at a given instrument/part or if it's a key element that demands a higher level of perfection...I like to record a few takes of it, and then just comp to the final take. If I can get it pretty close in one take, I will just edit out the small glitches in the DAW...no need to do a bunch of takes.
The things I usually do at least 3 takes of are drums and instrument/vocal leads...but things like bass, rhythm guitars, organ/keys...it's usually a few practice passes, and then one take.

I use to be a MIDI fanatic back in the early '90s...but it quickly became rather boring, especially that whole sequencing/looping/quantizing thing, but it was fun to be able to layer lots of synths and stuff.

 

[c7sus]

You think George Martin played that solo on "In My Life" at full speed???

No way, Jose.

And how many folks realize Clapton played guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"???

If Lennon and McCartney were so great, what did they need Martin and Geoff Emerick for anyways???

It's about what gets the job done, not what somebody else thinks about how it got done.

 

[gcolbert]

there are tricks I've been missing out that make professional recordings what they are

I believe that you really answered your own question here. Just make sure that you can pull off a reasonable performance if you have to do it live.

 

[GazEcc]

I believe that you really answered your own question here. Just make sure that you can pull off a reasonable performance if you have to do it live.

Its a song I do at my gigs, I just wanna record a more, Empowered version because I only play acoustic and sing live, but in the studio I have all my toys around me

 

[c7sus]

Its a song I do at my gigs, I just wanna record a more, Empowered version because I only play acoustic and sing live, but in the studio I have all my toys around me

Nothing wrong with that.

When you do it live you're doing the "unplugged" version.

 

[GazEcc]

Nothing wrong with that.

When you do it live you're doing the "unplugged" version.

... Wow thats insightful You have persuaded me and my conscience

 

[c7sus]

... Wow thats insightful You have persuaded me and my conscience

That's why I get the big bucks.

 

[benherron.rrr]

I use recording for everything, not just to record a song but to improve my performance skills. Im generally on both sides of the fence. If im playing in a drum part, hell yeah! Ill go quantize it and move it where it needs to be, becuase im not a drummer and its easier that way. On the other hand, If its a piano part, Ill play it in start to finish, if my vision of the final piece doesn't involve any overlaps of gaps. Because I am a pianist and I want to prove to my self that I can do it. Im happy to punch in vocals, because in most circumstances you need to. But I try and get it as good as I can. Basically If I play the instrument, I try to play a part start to finish. Because it makes me feel good. but if its an instrument im not acoustomed to, I dont mind editing it. Plus I dont know much about editing audio, Im stuck in the past as a start to finish kinda guy. and im only 21

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Have you ever seen sausage being made?

 

[kcearl]

You think George Martin played that solo on "In My Life" at full speed???

No way, Jose.

And how many folks realize Clapton played guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"???

If Lennon and McCartney were so great, what did they need Martin and Geoff Emerick for anyways???

It's about what gets the job done, not what somebody else thinks about how it got done.

exactly..Ill comp, quantisize, transpose, pitch correct, loop if I feel like it... who cares lol?

Ill use anything if it makes the finished product something I like...no one gets to say whats right or wrong with music..its about creativity and making a product youre happy with, thats what I aim for..couldnt care less how Its achieved..and if it was for others satisfaction then Id be even more critical

morality has absolutely nothing to do with it

speaking of Martin didnt he play a piano part and have it speeded up to sound like a harpsichord on a Beatles track?

damn Id feel cheated if I liked the beatles, which I dont, so Im not

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I feel cheated every time someone uses the Beatles as an example of anything.

G.

 

[c7sus]

How about Jimi Hendrix then???

All those solos on Electric Ladyland were comped. Probably no single artist with more post-mortem engineering done on their work than Jimi.

I don't know if he played Pali Gap all the way through in a single take but I like to think he did.

 

[kcearl]

ooooo cheated I tell thee.....

 

[c7sus]

Say it ain't so.

 

[GazEcc]

I use recording for everything, not just to record a song but to improve my performance skills. Im generally on both sides of the fence. If im playing in a drum part, hell yeah! Ill go quantize it and move it where it needs to be, becuase im not a drummer and its easier that way. On the other hand, If its a piano part, Ill play it in start to finish, if my vision of the final piece doesn't involve any overlaps of gaps. Because I am a pianist and I want to prove to my self that I can do it. Im happy to punch in vocals, because in most circumstances you need to. But I try and get it as good as I can. Basically If I play the instrument, I try to play a part start to finish. Because it makes me feel good. but if its an instrument im not acoustomed to, I dont mind editing it. Plus I dont know much about editing audio, Im stuck in the past as a start to finish kinda guy. and im only 21

I get what you mean, I tend to do guitar lines start to finish but I was wondering if I should try to tighten up my bass since I can barely play or try and try till I get it real

 

[GazEcc]

I use recording for everything, not just to record a song but to improve my performance skills. Im generally on both sides of the fence. If im playing in a drum part, hell yeah! Ill go quantize it and move it where it needs to be, becuase im not a drummer and its easier that way. On the other hand, If its a piano part, Ill play it in start to finish, if my vision of the final piece doesn't involve any overlaps of gaps. Because I am a pianist and I want to prove to my self that I can do it. Im happy to punch in vocals, because in most circumstances you need to. But I try and get it as good as I can. Basically If I play the instrument, I try to play a part start to finish. Because it makes me feel good. but if its an instrument im not acoustomed to, I dont mind editing it. Plus I dont know much about editing audio, Im stuck in the past as a start to finish kinda guy. and im only 21

I get what you mean, I tend to do guitar lines start to finish but I was wondering if I should try to tighten up my bass since I can barely play or try and try till I get it real