Great Article on the State of Music

Could not have said this better myself. I've maintained for years now that some of the greatest music ever is being made right now, but you won't ever hear it on the radio, and you will have to search it out on streaming platforms.

I saw this same article that Sp8ctre posted myself yesterday, and incidentally just had a long music conversation with a friend Friday night over dinner. He's a little older than me, mid 60s, and maintains that all music being made now is crap compared to the music of his youth. I obviously maintain something quite different. His point seems to be that if he hasn't heard it then it can't be good, so there is something to be said for way we are consuming it and the fact that it seems quite impossible for great new bands to get any airtime on the radio.

And...

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I personally have no problems finding good new music. I go out of my way to search for it.

I still love what I grew up with in the 70's best, but I still crave something new that is not autotuned garbage...
 
When I’m writing or creating an arrangement for a song. I cut and paste like a madman. Once I have it how I like it I re-record each track in a single take. I keep redoing it until I get a good take in one go. I will cheat with double tracking the same take. It sounds more organic in one take.
As a tool for working out parts, it's perfect. Just as a looping pedal, or many other tools. If you're going to put something out for public consumption, and ask people to pay money for it, it should be the absolute best that you can provide. Mailing it in, and the "fixing it in the mix" in Pro-Tools is B.S. to me on every level. Granted, many people do not share my work ethic or love of music.
 
I personally have no problems finding good new music. I go out of my way to search for it.

I still love what I grew up with in the 70's best, but I still crave something new that is not autotuned garbage...

Nor do I, and I try to listen to something new every day - preferably something that was just released. But I think my friend's contention is that if it isn't being played on the radio it must not be good. He just doesn't seem to want to make the effort to search it out and has the assumption that if it really was that good someone would play it. The article explains fairly eloquently exactly what I was saying to him.

As a tool for working out parts, it's perfect. Just as a looping pedal, or many other tools. If you're going to put something out for public consumption, and ask people to pay money for it, it should be the absolute best that you can provide. Mailing it in, and the "fixing it in the mix" in Pro-Tools is B.S. to me on every level. Granted, many people do not share my work ethic or love of music.

Again, agree completely. Not my own story, but a very good friend and his (pretty well known) band went into the studio a couple years ago to record their sophomore release. They only had a limited time between coming off a European tour and starting to prep for a South American tour to and write/record the new album, so when they got to the studio and found out the Neve and tape were down for servicing and they would have to go all-digital they decided to forge ahead despite their reluctance. They tracked 4 of the new songs before they realized the sound was dead/lifeless/just plain awful. They decided to wait it out even if it messed up the tour schedule and when they were able to, re-recorded everything, live in the room together, through an analog desk to tape. Sure there were overdubs, but the stuff wasn't pieced together one chord at a time in Pro Tools, and it actually sounds like human beings in a room together, playing off each other.
 
Nor do I, and I try to listen to something new every day - preferably something that was just released. But I think my friend's contention is that if it isn't being played on the radio it must not be good. He just doesn't seem to want to make the effort to search it out and has the assumption that if it really was that good someone would play it. The article explains fairly eloquently exactly what I was saying to him.



Again, agree completely. Not my own story, but a very good friend and his (pretty well known) band went into the studio a couple years ago to record their sophomore release. They only had a limited time between coming off a European tour and starting to prep for a South American tour to and write/record the new album, so when they got to the studio and found out the Neve and tape were down for servicing and they would have to go all-digital they decided to forge ahead despite their reluctance. They tracked 4 of the new songs before they realized the sound was dead/lifeless/just plain awful. They decided to wait it out even if it messed up the tour schedule and when they were able to, re-recorded everything, live in the room together, through an analog desk to tape. Sure there were overdubs, but the stuff wasn't pieced together one chord at a time in Pro Tools, and it actually sounds like human beings in a room together, playing off each other.

To each their own of course, but we've recorded on the Holy Grail Neve desks and fewer and fewer are drinking the vintage Kool-aid. A few studios still have them, ES in Glendale and Prarie Sun in Cotati are two such places, and they love being able to charge accordingly, but a top producer can give you anything from any medium.

Its more about skill than equipment, but personal preference will always win out.

We collectively chuckle when a band mandates recording on tape. As long as they're paying, why not give them what they want???
 
As a tool for working out parts, it's perfect. Just as a looping pedal, or many other tools. If you're going to put something out for public consumption, and ask people to pay money for it, it should be the absolute best that you can provide. Mailing it in, and the "fixing it in the mix" in Pro-Tools is B.S. to me on every level. Granted, many people do not share my work ethic or love of music.

We record on Cubase Pro 11 via Blue Cat Destructor or Avid Eleven Mk II, and we record everything in one take.

Our engineer is totally against edits of any kind.
 
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