James Rogers wrote:
>My personal opinion is that at this point improvements in technology have
>very little impact on what is possible musically. I think people are
>extremely hard pressed to do anything "new" in the sound department, and
>what can be aesthetically constructed is a very tiny subset of the space of
>possibilities in any given context. I guess what I am saying is that
>regardless of the construction process, the results are unlikely to be
>"new".
I'm not so sure about that. I think that in the past ten years, the genre
of "Electronica" has branched out from being essentially one style of
music, to being literally hundreds of variations on a style such as we have
today (Ambient, Drum N' Bass, Progressive Electronica, House, Jungle, Goa,
Techno etc.). I would argue that this is a direct by-product of having
more tools available to express one's creative leanings. Newer
technologies in music (as in all fields) lead to more options, and
ultimately more creativity. Some good examples of this are with artists
who have essentially adapted to the times. For some reason, Jeff Beck
seems to stand out in the forefront of my mind: back in the sixties, he
pioneered the use of feedback and distortion before Hendrix came on the
scene. Through the seventies and eighties, his music reflected the latest
in processing and guitar-synthesis. Then finally, in the late nineties and
at the beginning of this year, he released two albums that heavily
incorporate electronica and other "new" genres while still retaining his
familiar style. And Jeff Beck is just the first one who comes to
mind...you can say similar things about a multitude of artists whose music
has become notably different as a direct result of new technologies being
made available.
As for the original question of where music will go next, that is a very
tough question to ponder. Judging by the general trend of the last four
decades, I think it could become a bit more mellow than what we have been
hearing for the last five years. In my opinion, the biggest area that
musical technology has and will continue to affect is in the production
end, as opposed to the writing and performance end. Being able to
digitally smooth out and process any aspect of an analog-initiated
performance is a very valuable tool nowadays. Just try to find any decent
producer or engineer who hasn't used Pro Tools yet. I don't foresee analog
guitars and basses being phased out anytime soon, but the analog drum kit
will soon be a goner, I fear. Most musicians (at least, the ones who are
not drummers...) only want a steady beat to play to. The labor of finding
a drummer (let alone a good one) and hauling around the multitude of
equipment the average drummer has is rather redundant, when you can get
digital equipment that is almost always the equal of an analog (i.e. flesh
and blood) drummer. That isn't to say I don't think there is room for live
drummers --quite the opposite...I play drums, myself-- but their numbers
will steadily decrease in most genres.
Not to be overly obvious, but I also think that the digification of analog
instruments will increase steadily for the next number of years. Look to
see more and more of those old Mellotrons, Hammond and Farfisa organs,
Moogs, Prophets, Jupiters and VCS3s become MIDIfied and used in more
commercial recordings.
As for me, I'm just happy with my Korgs!
________________________________________________________
E. Shaun Russell Operations Officer, Extropy Institute
e_shaun@extropy.org http://www.extropy.org
Director, Kryos Biomedical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hear my music at: http://www.mp3.com/eshaunrussell
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~K i n e t i c i z e Y o u r P o t e n t i a l~
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