In thinking about what music is today and might be in the future, it drives me to think about what the evolution of music might be over the next few hundred, or even few thousand years; and beyond. We’re taught in school that music started with cavemen beating on rocks, but aren’t we still banging, plucking, and humming almost the same way we were in our ancient civilizations. The only real thing that has “changed” is our technique. The same way we used to pound a key to hammer a string, we now pound a key to impact a simulation of said string. It can be argued that musical sound, as it’s perceived, has not undergone any real evolutionary changes since the documented “beginning” of music. What we consider to be “new” is nothing but a distorted regurgitation of something that already exists. I draw to example the poster that was hanging in our music class when we were in elementary school. It gave us the basic food groups of music: percussion, strings, woodwinds, etc… Anything changed? Nope. One might say, “what about electronic music?” My answer- What about it? It’s STILL just a regurgitation of what we already have. I hardly consider the difference in digital drums vs. physically pounding a stretched animal skin to be substantial enough to consider this “electronic” derivative in its own class. You’re thinking, “Well, the instruments and groups on that chart are not as much about the sound they make as much as how the instruments are played to create the sound.” I will grant you that. So, by that definition most of our electronic instruments are percussion right? You hit something…It makes a sound. Percussion – easy as that.
Ready for the twist?
I’M WRONG….sorta.
It would be impossible to try to make a legitimate argument for why music has made NO changes since its inception. The catch? I am standing by my assertion that music CREATION hasn’t really changed since the first rock beaters of yesteryear, BUT how the music is delivered has dramatically changed over time. Instruments in the beginning had to be listened to in a live setting. A musician would perform acoustically for their audience. The advent of recorded sound is really where music took its turn in a whole new direction. You may be wondering, “How does this apply to the evolution of music creation?” Well, it does, more than you may think. Our phonograph players, stereos, cd players, etc… have all been integral parts of how music is reproduced. In fact, I would go as far as to say that every one of these devices, in their own right, are every bit as much of an instrument as a guitar, drum set, or the beloved clarinet. The proof… It’s in the pudding. Not literally. That would be gross. Anyone can play a radio, right? Well I would argue that the same “anyone” can play any instrument. Now, how well someone can play any of the instruments in the world is a different story (and the topic of other posts). One’s first crack at a drum set might come across as a blanket of out-of-time noise, but you don’t know; that could be the musical style that’s just 100 years too early. Imagine if you had told any musician 100 years ago that singers would be replaced with screamers and the people that were still singing would have this amazing machine to alter their voice to make it sort of “wiggle”. Who knew that Edison's phonograph machine would go so far to sculpt the infamous Hip-Hop era.
Anyway, I'm headed to my rehearsal space to drop mad beats on my light wave music sequencer. You can get your LWMS3K from Musicians Friend(100 years from now).
Holla!
I mean...
Holla!(in a robot voice)
Artist of the day- Forever The Sickest Kids.
They're just good. Period.
Crazy right?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
...but mommy, T-Pain's parents let HIM be a robot...
Ready to join me in beating the proverbial "dead horse"?
Good.
Over the past year or so I have oft been audience to, or involved in, the great debate on "IS AUTOTUNE EVIL?" And, being a vocalist that has worked really hard to sculpt a vocal style that is my own (which hasn't happened and I'm not sure that there is such a thing... I would be glad to debate, shoot me an email), I have always been leading the charge with "how do we let someone capitalize on singing out of tune on purpose and just relying on the magic button to make it all better - and then some?". Granted, from a listeners standpoint that stuff all sounds really cool. "what what. wiggle voice wiggle voice" What's not to like right? Don't get me wrong. I've dabbled in it on my most recent project. It's still something that I feel like makes a really interesting sound. Where I think it has started to bug people is that it's sooooo easy and so with that sooooo many people have jumped on the autotune bandwagon.
That bothered me until I got to thinking about how music has progressed over the years. Let's start with Metal. When it started, it went from the dark muddy gallows of bands like Black Sabbath to arena rock and hair metal; big hair and fast cars. Then at some point it progressed into the Metal music of today where we have shredder riffs and mindless chugging. What used to be super melodic rock with a singer (imagine that) turned in to CHUG CHUG BRIE BRIE GROWL GROWL which is fine. In fact, I happen to like the heavy as hell smash your face in Metal of today. Now, our buddy down the street sporting his Iron Maiden concert Tee and mutton chops will gladly disagree with me.
The same story goes for punk rock. And for this, I won't even go as far back. Let's start later with bands like Fugazi, The Lemonheads, ...dare I say The Ramones. Stemming from that we have an extreme progression through bands like Green Day and Blink 182, and F.O.B.... even up to the powerpop punk bands of today like All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. Ask an Old-School Punk fan what they think of Blink 182. They would caress their Mohawk and tell you stories of the old days, before punk was "cool" and before those high-pitched-singing homos stole their identity. When the "sound" of punk singers progressed, it sort of morphed into a new identity. Who knew that singing like you were pinching your nose and getting kicked in the balls at the same time would ever take off? Well it did, and I'm glad.
A long way around the block to leave you with a thought. If you're a believer that history repeats itself, then we can't help but to step back and accept that this fad might not pass. Just the same as you'll be hard-pressed to find a metal band that's not screaming, or a punk band that doesn't sound like a whiny 13 year old with nose-plugs in, Autotune might just be here to stay. If we don't accept it and move on, then we are the same as the Mohawk'd, Mutton Chop'd, Iron Maiden shirt wearing'd people that are stuck in the past.
Robots are the way of the future.
Duh.
Think about it.
-Mark/TMS
Artist of the day: Angels And Airwaves (AVA)
I really feel like this band is a classic example of a progression of music. With Tom Delonge's musical birth and downfall of Blink 182, he went on to make music that was not completely different, and at the same time, not completely the same. Pulling from his inspiration and the work he had done in Blink, he went on to make music that wasn't necessarily unique to the world, but was the musical growth of an individual all the same.
Good.
Over the past year or so I have oft been audience to, or involved in, the great debate on "IS AUTOTUNE EVIL?" And, being a vocalist that has worked really hard to sculpt a vocal style that is my own (which hasn't happened and I'm not sure that there is such a thing... I would be glad to debate, shoot me an email), I have always been leading the charge with "how do we let someone capitalize on singing out of tune on purpose and just relying on the magic button to make it all better - and then some?". Granted, from a listeners standpoint that stuff all sounds really cool. "what what. wiggle voice wiggle voice" What's not to like right? Don't get me wrong. I've dabbled in it on my most recent project. It's still something that I feel like makes a really interesting sound. Where I think it has started to bug people is that it's sooooo easy and so with that sooooo many people have jumped on the autotune bandwagon.
That bothered me until I got to thinking about how music has progressed over the years. Let's start with Metal. When it started, it went from the dark muddy gallows of bands like Black Sabbath to arena rock and hair metal; big hair and fast cars. Then at some point it progressed into the Metal music of today where we have shredder riffs and mindless chugging. What used to be super melodic rock with a singer (imagine that) turned in to CHUG CHUG BRIE BRIE GROWL GROWL which is fine. In fact, I happen to like the heavy as hell smash your face in Metal of today. Now, our buddy down the street sporting his Iron Maiden concert Tee and mutton chops will gladly disagree with me.
The same story goes for punk rock. And for this, I won't even go as far back. Let's start later with bands like Fugazi, The Lemonheads, ...dare I say The Ramones. Stemming from that we have an extreme progression through bands like Green Day and Blink 182, and F.O.B.... even up to the powerpop punk bands of today like All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. Ask an Old-School Punk fan what they think of Blink 182. They would caress their Mohawk and tell you stories of the old days, before punk was "cool" and before those high-pitched-singing homos stole their identity. When the "sound" of punk singers progressed, it sort of morphed into a new identity. Who knew that singing like you were pinching your nose and getting kicked in the balls at the same time would ever take off? Well it did, and I'm glad.
A long way around the block to leave you with a thought. If you're a believer that history repeats itself, then we can't help but to step back and accept that this fad might not pass. Just the same as you'll be hard-pressed to find a metal band that's not screaming, or a punk band that doesn't sound like a whiny 13 year old with nose-plugs in, Autotune might just be here to stay. If we don't accept it and move on, then we are the same as the Mohawk'd, Mutton Chop'd, Iron Maiden shirt wearing'd people that are stuck in the past.
Robots are the way of the future.
Duh.
Think about it.
-Mark/TMS
Artist of the day: Angels And Airwaves (AVA)
I really feel like this band is a classic example of a progression of music. With Tom Delonge's musical birth and downfall of Blink 182, he went on to make music that was not completely different, and at the same time, not completely the same. Pulling from his inspiration and the work he had done in Blink, he went on to make music that wasn't necessarily unique to the world, but was the musical growth of an individual all the same.
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