The new traditionalist

I am the new traditonalist. I only care about digital recording. I only care about things that can be cut, spliced, chopped up, mashed up, repasted, reposted, edited, snapped to a grid, aligned to the right key through some kind of automatic tuning mechanism (“autotune” if you will). I care not for analog. Analog is dead to me.

Well, maybe I’m not that extreme.

But honestly it’s such a tired cliche: artists and musicians talking about the good old days when everything was on 2 inch tape, run through a huge board that breaks down every couple of days. We didn’t have this many overdubs man! We could never fix it in ProTools! We had to get it right. I had to build my own pedals man! From the skin of an old armadillo, copper wire and a 9 volt battery. None of this digital nonsense, none of these amateurs with their home recording sessions. It was real players playing real music that you couldn’t fake. And I was there. And so was Jimi. And so was Janice. And I am authentic. And you are artificial

Blah blah blah. I call bullshit.

I don’t care where or how something is recorded as long as it sounds good and its a reasonable approximation of the artist or creator’s vision. Digital tools are good. They save time. They empower people to focus on the things that matter like the actual songwriting. They give you choices. They create new forms and genres. They bring the process of recording music to a different class of songwriter and musician. ProTools, Garageband, samples, loops, Autotune. My friends, these are good things. They are productivity enhancers.

If my plugin of an old Moog sounds just like an old Moog than I’m sorry I’m not going to go out and buy an old Moog. And if I do it’s because I’m being pretentious not because anyone can tell the difference.

What matters is the song. What matters is the feeling. What matters is the emotion. You can express that emotion in almost any medium. It can be an analog four track. It can be the replication of an analog four track. It can be a field recording. It can be totally digital and constructed from chopped up beats and loops. It can be anything you want.

But let’s devote the worship and the idolatry to the work itself not the tools that create the work.

I never hear people in the film community bitching about the introduction of non-linear digital editing toosl like FinalCut Pro or Avid machines but somehow there’s always someone in the music world bemoaning the incredible revolution that has just taken place. A revolution that has democratized the process of songwriting and music creation to an entirely new class of people.

If you think digital sucks, and everything sucks, and life was so much better back in the day. You know what that means? It means you’re old. It means you don’t matter. It means we’ve passed you by On our laptops, using our sample library as a paddle and our Autotune as the rudder and laughing the whole time.

Tags: music recording

E

Reminds me of the old adage "when I was your age, I walked 5 miles in the snow to school; you don't know how easy you have it" (to which I want to reply "Gee, that's really too bad for you...glad I don't have to do that") - or, even better, the suggestion by our parents that we should eat every last morsel on our plates because people in "Ethiopia are starving" (to which I usually replied "Let's mail them my leftovers, then!")

If technology improves and allows for simpler, quicker and cheaper results, why shouldn't we use it? If there's no reduction in quality, there is no reason that is not purely emotional. Get over it, haters! If you want to keep making music the old way, go right ahead! Just don't fault those who make the choice to change with the times.
sam

the only thing that matters is the song. the rest is fetishization. that's okay but it's a personal thing like collecting stamps, it's what you dig. but in terms of the art that's created - i'm really more concerned with the output.
Derek

I agree that one should not hate on new technology, but at the same time if the only music you are making is using pre-packaged loops and samples that come with the software, you aren't really creating anything either. Yes it is a lot easier to make electronic based music these days, then when you actually had to program drum machines and cut/paste 2 in tape to make loops, and thanks for that. But I do believe that there is something to be said for actually searching for samples, drum hits, and loops yourself rather than using whatever came with Garageband. That way you get to appreciate music in a deeper way and actually create a better song since you have devoted much more energy and thought into what each sound can be. At the end of the day, the producer who creates with his own will probably sound better than the person who only uses pre-packaged beats and loops.
Russ

You said it, man - I wonder if you had the same experience as me...there was a time when I spouted a lot of that analog purist mumbo-jumbo, and if I'm honest it was because I was afraid. It was the classic resistance to change situation - digital was the unknown...it felt really out of my league, and I was around a lot of other people who felt the same way - so it perpetuated itself.

I used to make fun of Depeche Mode when I was in high school and say things like "why would anyone go see them live? There should just be a bunch of computers up on the stage and a vocalist, because that's all they are."

Only when I started playing with digital technology myself did I realize so much of what you're saying above - that it is inspiration and creativity that propels that machinery forward, and without it...well...garbage in, garbage out. Now, I love Depeche Mode.

My transformation has been so complete that I don't even own CDs anymore (sold my 3000+ disc collection and am now purely subscription based), my entire recording suite is digital, and you're right - especially now that I've gone Mac, the creativity can be at the forefront, and the tools are there when I need them. I can do things that were impossible in analog, and things that took me an hour now take me 5 minutes.

Is it cool that the old Motown sides were cut live with all of the musicians in the same room? Absolutely. But life moves around us quickly, and especially for those of us who don't have the luxury to be full-time musicians...time and money are limiting factors. In another era, I very likely would have given up any dreams of recording my music at this stage in the game - but instead, I can create world-class recordings even on my budget. Analog was an odd combination of beauty and tyranny...digital is, once you cross the inital entry hurdles, much more for the masses.