this should really be in a magazine somewhere... a website essay/bulletin,
something.
Mike
From: Dale Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [313] fuel to the fire : was "hawtin hawtin everywhere"
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 14:15:10 -0400
I have to agree with you. It seems whenever a new
technology is introduced, the status quo immediately
feels threatened by it and does everything in its
power to slag it--methodically. The funny part
is that usually the bigger the stir about something
new, the more you can count on it becoming an
accepted new medium for creation. It happens in
both the audio and visual arts. A simple
example would be the camera. When the camera
first came around the painters of the world
united and screamed "Blashpemy! That 'device' is
doing all the work! All they do is press the
button and the image is recorded!"...
Now how many people on this list believe that
the camera does all of the work in the creative
process of photography?
Those painters were fools...
Back to recent modern times. How many people
here use drum machines? How many of our favorite
songs use drum machines? Would our music not
exist without the drum machine? But when they
were first developed the 'real' musicians, who
had been doing it 'the correct way' since 'back
in the day' screamed "Blashpemy! That 'device' is
doing all the work! Just press the button and the
beats just come pouring out of it!" Where is
the creativity in that?
Is it the device, or what you do with it?
Next on the electronic musical timeline:
The Sampler.
Oh no! Here is a piece of equipment that all
you do is press record, and it allows you to
replay whatever it was that you recorded, spread out across your
keyboard-- including other people's
music. Hell, you don't even have to program beats
anymore. In fact, even the users of the drum
machine, who's rhythm devices had just recently
gained acceptance as a justified creative musical
instrument were screaming, "Blashpemy! That 'device'
is doing all the work! Just press that button
and it plays back whatever they recorded from
somewhere else!"
Now, eventually everyone realized that while
the P.Diddy's chose to capitalize on the misuse
of the technology, the majority of sampler users
were keeping it real, and expanding their
creative realm the old fashioned way, through
inspiration. Except, maybe by now it was
10% inspiration to 90% perspiration, compared to
the old 1%-- terrible odds huh?
After the sampler what happened? A sh|tload of
PC's started appearing in everyone's home and
software based music creation avenues soon
followed. You could get a program that did
almost anything, simulated analog keyboards,
simulated digital keyboards, simulated drum
machines, and *gasp* samplers even. This wave
is very recent over the past few years, but
do you think it was a smooth evolution?
Absolutely not. Who screamed the loudest?
Come on, fill in the blank right here _______.
That's right, the owners of the samplers and
drum machines. After all, they had just invested
all their hard-earned money-- thousands and
thousands of dollars-- into their gear, and now
any kid with a home computer could jump on hotline
and have a complete musical studio set up inside
their PC within hours? They had just recently
--finally-- been recognized as the true innovators
and then the next wave comes along and threatens
their livelihood. "Blashpemy! That 'device'
is doing all the work! Just press that button
and the computer writes the entire arrangement
from start to finish! Where is the creative process
in that!?"
This is a cycle that will never end. It is human
nature. The irony here is that this music was
inspired by technology-- in fact, they called it
"Techno", and for a reason-- yet, when a new
technology is developed to further the music,
the former Techno 'pioneers' seem to be the first
to try and hold it back, but not because it isn't
the future, but more simply, because it is a direct
threat to them, and to their livelihood. It's as
simple as that, and that is how revolutions happen.
That is how the nobody's, who start out with nothing
can step in and rise to the top of their game,
because those who already have, refuse to evolve.
They refuse to push forward and are eventually passed
right by... and left behind...
Because honestly, do you really think the people that
embrace the new tools, are simply trying to recreate
what the people with the old tools were doing 12, to
20 years ago? Absolutely not. If that were the
case, just go buy a drum set, or learn to play the
guitar, or even buy an 808 or 909 drum machine...
A 303 perhaps? No. Those that embrace the new tools
are trying to create what has never been done, they
are trying to make what, until they do, *couldn't*
have been made before.
*That* is the critical difference.
Dale Lawrence
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