How
recording changed
music
Imagine
the world with no vinyl records, cd's, mp3 players, streaming music
etc.. For most of us, living that world would be tough. We got
accustomed to broad availabily of music. While we all know that it
wasn't always like this, I think there's something interesting about
how the possibility of recording music changed the musical world.
In
1906 a music composer John Philip Sousa said that technology would
eventually destroy music. He is known for saying „These talking
machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this
country. When I was a boy in front of every house in the summer
evening you would find young people together singing the songs of the
day or the old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going
night and day. We will not have a vocal cord left”. He's
apocalyptic predictions may sound funny these days, but rapid
development of technology definitely changed how people perceive and
play music. Nowadays we hear music on almost every corner, but almost
none of it is „live”.
 |
| Thomas Edison and his phonograph |
One
of the most positive and obvious outcomes is availability. As audio
technology developed since Edisons invention of phonograph, music has
become more and more available. Now, with mobile internet access, we
can play instantly almost every song we know. With streaming services
like Spotify or Deezer, people around the world can get most of them
with decent quality. You might say that Beethoven's dream of great
music being available to masses ironically has come true.
Mentioned
availability also works well for performers – there's a lot of
musicians, for whom the internet has created the opportunity of
publishing music and selling it (and some of them earn a lot more
that way).
The
development of technology has also drastically changed the way people
perform music. As far as I know, since the invention of electric
guitar, people keep complaining about music being „dehumanized”,
sounds of instruments losing their souls etc. Thanks to inventions of
second half of recent century, music has become easier to compose and
easier to perform. Pro Tools and Autotune are used to re-adjust not
only out of tune singing but also sound of instruments. On the other
hand, performers now can re-listen music they produce and hear their
own mistakes.
Personally,
I don’t feel that technology „spoiled” the music. Nor I think
that it will eventually make people abandon concert halls. There's
something about live performances, about „being the part of the
music”, which cannot be recorded.
Questions:
What
do you think about how technology changed the music?
Do
you like live performances?
Do
you use any music streaming service?
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph
Alex
Ross, Infernal Machines,
Listen to
This, Picardor
2011
Comments
I think technology playes even bigger role in music industry than ever before. Nowadays most of the celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Will.I.Am, Iggy Azalea, etc.. use additional software to create sounds and effects.
Do you like live performances?
I do like it but I prefer it recorded in recording studio. The quality of the sound is much better, on the other hand you cannot see the artist's live performance on stage.
Do you use any music streaming service?
I use youtube all the time. I listen to the latest trends and I enjoy modern music. Here are some links to my favourite tracks:
The Fault In Our Stars - Charli XCX - Boom Clap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOPMlIIg_38
Katy Perry - This Is How We Do (Official)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RMQksXpQSk
Ariana Grande - Break Free ft. Zedd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8eRzOYhLuw
Taylor Swift - Shake It Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM
Calvin Harris - Summer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXbLfLACGM
Those are just first few examples from my list, please contant me if you want additional.
I'm familiar with many streaming services. For long time my favourite one was 8tracks, witch allows user to browse playlists according to tags and moods. I recently started using spotify, because of wider variety of musicians and composers. It has just better sellection of music.
I also recomned you looking at streaming service: https://www.stereodose.com . It's a little bit controversial because, user is chosing music according to presumable "high" feeling.
Live performances for me are very interesting. I often see that artists try to show me something new. New way singing old song what is great.
I don't use any streaming service right now.
I don't really use streaming services apart from youtube. I just mostly download my music from torrents and listen it from my ipod or computer ;)
This might be good or bad thing, depending on our point of view :) it might be good, because in this case almost everybody can sing or somehow do music. You don't need to be an expert anymore, have perfect ear (?), you even don't need to sing nor play an instrument. Now "musicians" are also dj, who are only finding nice music and remix it a little bit – hardly simplifying, I am a big fan of all those remixes and electronic music in general :) But really it is quite hard to compare it to virtuosos who have sacrificed all their life to be infallible and to perform alive as perfect as it is possible :)
So here comes the bad thing - we are flooded by hours of not really valuable music, that we need to weed out :) And as you said, it might somehow losing the soul, you feel way different on a gig (that is good, not one from bad ones :D ) than when you're listening a cd in your home. But in my opinion gigs are even better if you know every single song and lyrics, and you absolutely in love with them! Without recording it would be quite impossible :D
But in general - the possibility of having our beloved music with us everywhere, not only in the concert hall is absolutely amazing, I cannot imagine my life without it, really :D
As for live performances, I like jazz concerts a lot. I can sit at the table, sip my drink and listen to some jazz music all evening :)
I also like latino music playing live.
As for music streaming services, I don't use any.
As for live music, i really enjoy going on jazz/classical perfomances, since this music is less depended on technology and is best to hear live. Just like Paulina mentioned, i highly suggest visiting Jazz Caffee as the expierence is completely outsanding.
In case of streaming services, i must say that i've been waiting for this since i discovered some russian site, which was experimenting with such feature (later to be banned for legal reasons) I used groove shark, bandcamp and souncloud to found new and less mainstream bands or music. Now i am using Spotify because it is so much easy for me to keep track on what i am listening now, since my music tastes are vast. Other than that i am using Youtube.
And even music is a very common thing in our lives, there is always something magical in hearing it live.
Stereodose music sounds "trippy" ;p. Yes, I bet for some it might sound controversial, but on the other hand - psychedelics inspired whole generations of artists in past century.
As for the live music, I believe that there will always be people that appreciate live music more. Sometimes the reason is the imperfection of live music.
"We are flooded by hours of not really valuable music, that we need to weed out " - I agree, but than again - there's a lot of good music to discover, and personally - I find the process of "discovering" very entertaining :P
What do you think about how technology changed the music?
It obviously changed it a lot. Electronic effects give you freedom to create any sound you like. For example let have a look at pedalboard of modern guitarist:
https://jasondeberry.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tumblr_mgha3pq8eo1s0mxs3o1_1280.jpg
Besides that there are few programs that let you create song from nought to song with choirs, with no exterior input.
Do you like live performances?
Yes, I do. It spoils the pleasure if I know that for instance vocalist fakes singing.
Do you use any music streaming service?
None, besides YouTube.
It made music more available.
Do you like live performances?
Yes, especially when music is really loud, that way you can really feel the music.
Do you use any music streaming service?
youtube, spotify, cmd.fm, soundcloud
On the other hand it is sad that because of the technology anyone can become a singer. You don't have to have a great voice. You just have to look nice, have the image. Maybe I am exaggerating but I'm sure you know what I mean...
To be honest I really enjoy live performances, as far as the performer is a good artist. Live performances have this incredible feeling....
For example, imagine hearing this in a concert hall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYM54vhLYTU
There are hundreds of choral singers. The effect of sitting in front of them and hearing them singing is massive. It cannot be obtained in headphones or home sound-systems.
Since Spotify is available in Poland I give up downloading music from torrents, I use it all the time. Before Spotify i used to use youtube.
Krzysiek - I agree with you, discovering music is really cool activity :) Especially finding something brilliant :D And yes, giving some kind of freedom is giving as a result something bad and something very innovative and amazing as well :)
On the other hand technology gives us access to many other artis, etc. We can listen whatever we want whenever we want.
I use youtube and spotify. I love spotify- the quality of the sounds is really good.
There are the good sides and the bad sides of technology changing the music. For once it provided more tools and opened up a whole new spectrum of possibilities. There are new genres of music, new instruments and the availability to the public has increased tremendously.
Do you like live performances?
Live performances are amazing. Mostly. The feeling and the experience that you get during a live performance is completely different than what you get listening to music at home. I love going to concerts because it gives me a new perspective on the music and I can also see if the artists is really as good as I thought.
Do you use any music streaming service?
Yes, I use Spotify on daily basis but I also like to come back to old CDs or vinyls.
Level low with the mp3 era. Now I thing it's going better and better.
I like live performances, you can't compare it to recorded music.