----- Original Message ----- From: "Max Duley / ARCart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <313@hyperreal.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 7:45 AM Subject: RE: [313] Fade in techno
> So going back to the title of the post, what is techno to you? Is it a kit > to be put together like something from IKEA, all the bits made the same so > they fit..........neatly...........together? > or what? 'Neat' is what piques the interest. It's the initial carrot that draws people in. > Is criticising a techno artist for fading in a track (or adding an unusually > structured section, or sticking an extra beat/bar in somewhere) not slightly > barbaric? I suspect that people would take more notice of the artistic value of a fade-in techno track if it were included side-by-side with an identical, non-fade-in version of the same track. When the only version of a track is a fade-in version, it's almost like the artist PURPOSE-fully goes out of their way to antagonize the most blatantly obvious portion of their target audience--the DJs, most of whom enjoy the structured interplay of matching kicks and snares. This is somewhat discourteous on the artist's part, unless the only people you want as fans are people so die-hard that they'll take any shit you throw at them and suck it back grinning with glee. My j'accuse is pointed straight at Mills' If. I mean, I don't need much, and this is really just nit-picking, but a quiet snare, hi-hat, or even a muted kick right at the very beginning (even a good 30 seconds before the rest of the track actually becomes audible) is a little thing that goes a long way when I have less than 45 seconds left to mix and I have several tracks to choose from. Sure, it might sound like I'm creating a brand new "kunt-sept"-ual way of mixing or something. Then again, it might sound like I'm a fool. In a pinch, I'll pick a less discourteous track. But that's just me. :) > I mean, is techno not supposed to challenge conventional art > forms? Indeed, is techno not art? Well, as soon as we broaden this discussion to art and the boundaries art is supposed to cross, this discussion gets in over its own head. Last night, on CBC.ca's late-night Brave New Waves, I heard a CD-R from Japan called The Original Instrument. It was certainly novel--it used samples of voices as percussion and as melody--but the execution was so leftfield as to be alienating to my already captive and intrigued ears. They had me at 'hello'! At first, I listened out of sheer principle, but eventually it got too annoying even for me. I had to turn it off and put in a Meek CD to clear the air. Sure, there's artistic value to the fact that smoke and fog combine into smog. Sometimes, I even think the orange horizon is a mighty-splendored thing. But it's still just smog. > Would you refuse to look at a great > painting if you didn't like one particular brushstroke, just because it > challenges the way you need to interact with it? Depends on my expectations of it. Sometimes, if that one particular brushstroke is all that is needed to restore calm and peace in our minds--two arguably desirable states of being. > Or would you take the > challenge and learn to adapt to new or more complex situations because it > can take you and your audience to another level on the techno experience?" I already know I have an open mind. Telling me otherwise (or otherwise insulting me) may be good art, but it's not effective art. Doodles are doodles. Work with me here, Mr. Mills. :) > After all, we are only talking about cueing up to a kick drum aren't we? It's > not that much of a challenge!! No, it's not, and I could technically wait until the track is audible to find my cue-point. But if the artist simply skipped the fade in, took the 2.5 minute actually-audible portion of the track and made THAT the track, well, then I'm still forced to choose between it and another, _slightly_ more "conventional" techno track. I'll choose the latter. Even the unconventional needs the framework of the conventional to base itself upon. Otherwise, it's just an "un", just like Cage's silent piano piece, however valid a form of expression that may be. Tree in the forest and all that. The question here is who is the intended audience, and whether they number more than 10. But that's just me. I am no.ONE. Martin www.lunatechmusic.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
