6 Jul
2004
6 Jul
'04
3:53 p.m.
The technology is interesting, to be sure. But what does it say about the
state of artistry these days ? I recently read an interview with David
Crosby, decrying the rise of autotune plugins and the like. He spent his
energies on learning to sing on pitch. These days performers don't need to
sing at all, they just mouth tracks that were autotuned in the studio. And
another interview has James Brown saying: don't use a drum machine, learn
to play the drums. The best music comes from the mastery of an instrument
or vocal skill, not from editing.
I have watched as I try various tools to bang my playing into shape, and
am finally deciding that this is the wrong way to go. Spitiual death is
around the corner. Live music is best. Music is meant to be PLAYED after
all, not worked. Or worked over.
A minority opinion from a nobody. Given the state of the "industry"
though, it's going to be like Photoshop for audio, where there is no
physical point of reference anymore, and anything can be morphed into
anything.