Sunday, December 26, 2010

New Technology Shapes Recording Industry

By Lou Camassa


Music has an impact on all parts of our life. Its nature is simple: rhythm, melody, and harmony; and with the rise of technology these elements are capable of great musical depth. A great new outlet to find the latest music and groups is now on internet radio.

"Today's recorded music has computers which really has fine-tuned recording and can make multiple manipulations to perfect the sound and balance," said Pat Pearson, guitar teacher and performer out of Atascadero, California.

Pat performs in the group Cuesta Ridge and also with his wife, flutist Dana Pearson, in the group Pitch & Rhythm. The couple have been engaged in the performing arts for over five years and have spent over thirty hours in recording studios, as well as engaging in their own home recording activities.

"We recently acquired a Mac Book from Apple and discovered some pretty amazing music applications that have been amazing for recording and editing songs," Pearson said. Cellular phones have the capacity to record audio so when a burst of inspiration comes to mind, you can immediately record it for future reference."

Computer software related to music production has skyrocketed creating a new genre of music, electronic music. All this new software has also helped to usher in a new type of musician, the home recording artist. Anyone who has an instrument and a computer is only a few hundred bucks away from being able to record their own music at home.

"Home recordings have enabled a larger number of people to become recording artists, both amateur and professional," Pat Pearson said. "It gives you the ability to improve your track without having the expense of high recording fees."

The advent of music production software has opened up new ways of approaching songwriting and recording. In the old days, writing and recording had to be done in real-time. Musicians need to perform every note on record. Now, software allows for musical parts to be cut up, shifted, and pasted to other sections of the song. This is how electronic music creates those hard-pounding, rhythmic loops that make us want to dance. Computer software with mastering features enables access to the dynamic recording and post production so every portion of the recording to its greatest potential.

"Technology enables the beat to free itself and be more true and complete" said Tim Gladwill, otherwise known as DJ Evasive out of San Luis Obispo, California, who performs on his own and in the band Ashes to Light, along with myself. Music is constantly evolving and breaking new barriers." You can get quick and easy access to all this music via free online music sites everywhere.

But with all this new technology it bears the question: "Are we losing out on anything important in our musical experiences?" There's something to be said about a real, live person being in a room creating art with music. A computer does not have the capacity of heart felt passion and these elements are paramount in extending music into a realm that transcends mere entertainment.

"Modern music lacks a lot of the real rawness and distinctiveness that it once had" Pearson said. "It used to be more about just the music and I think that's one way technology has really hindered music recordings is that you lose a lot of that."

The history of music has shown that the bottom line is expression. If you create from your heart, people will respond. Technology is just another tool of creation. The source of inspiration always comes from within the musician.




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