The DAW is just fine.
Musical literacy among the public is what's dead.
Garbage in, garbage out.
The DAW is dead
Re: The DAW is dead
DAWs are responsible for huge leaps in production but they are also responsible for a ton of samey uninspired material being produced.
Beyond painting by numbers I’ve watched some production videos where I’m blown away (and often confused) by the production techniques being used and at the speed at which they are being used but there is no soul in it. Drag around notes on the piano roll. Resample/edit/chop. Reverse. Scroll start and stop points. Resample/edit/chop some more. Apply some randomizing plugin. Chop that into bits and sprinkle around. The end result is musical and full of variety, but again, no soul.
Beyond painting by numbers I’ve watched some production videos where I’m blown away (and often confused) by the production techniques being used and at the speed at which they are being used but there is no soul in it. Drag around notes on the piano roll. Resample/edit/chop. Reverse. Scroll start and stop points. Resample/edit/chop some more. Apply some randomizing plugin. Chop that into bits and sprinkle around. The end result is musical and full of variety, but again, no soul.
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Re: The DAW is dead
Can be a pretentious pr!ck and commend live dub-mixing to y'all as THE PERFECT way to put spontaneous soul into electronic tracks of any genre?
A delay set up in a Return Channel feedback loop with a sweepable EQ mid-boost is all you need. Where you position the Return channel's volume fader, the Return channel's send to itself (the feedback amount) and the frequency of the mid-boost sweepable EQ... if you assign just those 3 parameters to hardware knobs or faders you'll have enough soul and expression to last forever, whatever the tune or the genre.
If you think about it, you're creating the main components of music right there, on the fly:
Rhythm + Pitch/Tone/Melody + Timbre/Tone Colour. You can "compose" the music with whatever methods you like, then you can "play"/add an infinite amount of expression with those three knobs.
The Jamaicans perfected this technique 50+ years ago and it still ain't old!!!
A delay set up in a Return Channel feedback loop with a sweepable EQ mid-boost is all you need. Where you position the Return channel's volume fader, the Return channel's send to itself (the feedback amount) and the frequency of the mid-boost sweepable EQ... if you assign just those 3 parameters to hardware knobs or faders you'll have enough soul and expression to last forever, whatever the tune or the genre.
If you think about it, you're creating the main components of music right there, on the fly:
Rhythm + Pitch/Tone/Melody + Timbre/Tone Colour. You can "compose" the music with whatever methods you like, then you can "play"/add an infinite amount of expression with those three knobs.
The Jamaicans perfected this technique 50+ years ago and it still ain't old!!!
MBP M1Max | MacOS 12.7.2 | Live 11.3.20 | Babyface Pro FS | Push 3 (tethered) | a whole other bunch of controllers
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Re: The DAW is dead
^ ah yeah. the feedback loop of infinite possibilities.
*bookmark* for later
*bookmark* for later
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Re: The DAW is dead
"Synthesizers? That's the nail in the coffin for music."
"Musical notation? It's taking away the spontaneous and social aspects of music! People are just mindlessly reciting from a piece of paper! Instruments can't express our innermost soul - only our god-given voices can!".
"Musical pitches? Hah! What a ridiculous elitist thing! Do you not want to foster unity, enjoyment and raw emotions within the tribe with grunts and rocks anymore?"
Mostly, I don't share the pessimism in this thread. I'm constantly finding young newcomers with awe-inspiring musicality and creative ideas, both in electronic and acoustic music. Of course there's tons of shit around, but when has that -not- been the case? If you just ask around, you'll find something that matches your old favourite artists.
I agree that radio music sucks for the most part, but I only ever have to endure it at social gatherings or at the gym, and there I have more important things to focus on. Most people get a lot of enjoyment from radio music, so I'm not really mad about it. The remaining 95-99% of my week is spent enjoying my readily available selection of fantastic music.
Music production should be as accessible as possible. There will always be lots of people who become incredible at music, and more people than ever will get to have a positive experience with music. I'd much rather have kids mess around with loops and construction kits than being subjected to recorders or painfully boring piano lessons.
"Musical notation? It's taking away the spontaneous and social aspects of music! People are just mindlessly reciting from a piece of paper! Instruments can't express our innermost soul - only our god-given voices can!".
"Musical pitches? Hah! What a ridiculous elitist thing! Do you not want to foster unity, enjoyment and raw emotions within the tribe with grunts and rocks anymore?"
Mostly, I don't share the pessimism in this thread. I'm constantly finding young newcomers with awe-inspiring musicality and creative ideas, both in electronic and acoustic music. Of course there's tons of shit around, but when has that -not- been the case? If you just ask around, you'll find something that matches your old favourite artists.
I agree that radio music sucks for the most part, but I only ever have to endure it at social gatherings or at the gym, and there I have more important things to focus on. Most people get a lot of enjoyment from radio music, so I'm not really mad about it. The remaining 95-99% of my week is spent enjoying my readily available selection of fantastic music.
Music production should be as accessible as possible. There will always be lots of people who become incredible at music, and more people than ever will get to have a positive experience with music. I'd much rather have kids mess around with loops and construction kits than being subjected to recorders or painfully boring piano lessons.