Comments on Chckn8ring: Modern Music Making Tools = Increased Suckage Fact...

Great comments Dave and Co! I had several experien...

2009-06-14T20:35:42.984-04:00

Great comments Dave and Co! I had several experiences in the past two weeks which mesh with these comments.

Radio - We have a local station WNKU that still plays some great stuff along the Wilco/Neko Case vein. I turned that station on the other day and it was really refreshing. They played some Nick Lowe, some blues, all very organic stuff. Real music played by real players. Radio has really gone down a bad path. I wish there were more stations like WNKU these days. That was a magical drive in my car I had the other day listening to those tunes. Reminded me of how good radio could be 20 years ago.

Jazz - My jazz band did a little live recording a few years ago and I just played it last week. Just four guys playing down tunes in a room. The simplicity and musicality of people reacting to each other was also very refreshing.

Solo - However, I have written a LOT of music lately because I can do it all solo at home in the wee hours of the night. Being able to piece things together myself has been huge for me. I am writing a lot more music these days because of loops and cutting and pasting saves me a lot of valuable time. That is one bonus of this situation. Ideally, once I have fleshed out a tune in my DAW it would be very nice to go back and record it again more organically with real musicians.

Very thought provoking comments guys!

Dave

So, these days (and in the foreseeable future) ...

2009-06-14T20:04:45.124-04:00
So, these days (and in the foreseeable future) we have to do a LOT more sifting it seems. Honestly, I'm just not feeling up to the task. Although, services like Internet Radio and Pandora really help me a lot.

Sigh - yup, I agree, the signal to noise ratio is really getting bad, those services definitely help out - I've pretty well abandoned terrestrial radio these days unless there's some STOOPID reason I haven't brought my iPod to the car...

Very, VERY true Derek. This also got snagged on m...

2009-06-14T19:56:59.580-04:00
Very, VERY true Derek.

This also got snagged on my profile on Facebook and there's been some good discussion there.

I think when I come full circle on this, it comes down to, yes, the tools we have simplify things and also give those who may not be proficient at instruments a chance to hear the muse that's playing in their head.

The caveat is that some people choose to grow and expand from the simplicity - drawing upon other more complex tools in the package to help them create (or take on creating without the tools) more complex and less formulaic projects. However, there are also some others who are "lazy" or complacent and don't seem to venture out beyond what they're comfortable with - doing the same thing, over and over...

Cool discussions...

"It means that it becomes a process of con...

2009-06-14T19:26:10.545-04:00
"It means that it becomes a process of construction rather than of composition."

Man, I think that is dead on Derek. Best I've heard it phrased I think.

Two other things: 1. Computer-based music recordi...

2009-06-14T19:10:44.547-04:00
Two other things:

1. Computer-based music recording lets people construct tunes without composing, i.e. without figuring out anything in advance. I know I'm guilty of that. It means that it becomes a process of construction rather than of composition. Some great and interesting music can come about that way, but it also prompts further laziness -- just sit down and build a song, rather than trying to write one.

2. How often now do we get a bunch of musicians in a room and into a groove? No matter how much "swing" you add to MIDI quantization, it's not going to sound like that, and music with bands even laying down a rhythm track live in the studio is pretty rare these days, at least in pop, R&B, hip-hop, and rock. Those jazz cats still do it, as do others, but you don't hear much of it.

Hey there ChickDude! Big Al Wagner from PSN here....

2009-06-13T02:00:49.248-04:00
Hey there ChickDude!

Big Al Wagner from PSN here. I'm one of the "company" in "Charles Dye and company" behind http://TurnMeUp.org. :)

I must say that I totally agree with your musings here.

The proliferation of easy-access music tech makes it possible for thousands of new people to create music that never had the option before.

That means we'll hear *some* really good new stuff, and LOT of really kr@ppy stuff. :) The ratio is always weighted to the the kr@p side. Just the law of averages I suppose.

So, these days (and in the foreseeable future) we have to do a LOT more sifting it seems. Honestly, I'm just not feeling up to the task. Although, services like Internet Radio and Pandora really help me a lot.