The real threat to music's future: Melodyne

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Conrad

Posts: 533
Joined: Jul. 16 2003
From: Toronto, ON, Canada

The real threat to music's future: M...

http://www.videosift.com/video/Pitch-correction-like-youve-never-seen

Okay, I'm no producer. Maybe it can be used innocently, but you KNOW it will be abused!!

I think this is what will kill real musicianship. But it's been dying already, I guess.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 2:47:23

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: The real threat to music's futur... (in reply to Conrad)

Up late again Conrad! This Melodyne software might be useful in the hands of a talented individual like Jason Becker.

A friend of mine who happened to be a very good guitarist got his hands on a copy of Cakewalk and used a variety of sound clips to create a “song.” As talented as he was on guitar this “song” was totally absurd and made no sense to me. I was completely incapable of convincing him how bad it was—and other people thought it was laughable, too. It was a disjointed mess with a bouncing bass line and was nothing like any of the music he ever played or even preferred. I suspect software will ultimately not be substitute for compositional skills.

As for altering existing music to make it unrecognizable and then creating a song from these new samples--this has been a problem for at least 10 years now. It's been a common practice in house/techno music since their inception.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 3:44:31

Conrad

Posts: 533
Joined: Jul. 16 2003
From: Toronto, ON, Canada

RE: The real threat to music's futur... (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)

Ya, I'm without vocation at the moment, and this time of winter always rearranges my sleep schedule... Sometimes better to see less of the gray days.

...Funny story, I agree! It will not effect music entirely. But maybe what will continue to happen is that the expectations of quality in performance and recordings will raise unnaturally, because even good or great musicians will apply this sort of technology to their own composed music, or somehow take what they've played and render it unplayable in reality, or at least the producers will pressure them to do so. In turn, people will appreciate less the dignity of a not-so-perfect live performance. I think it is already happening. Glenn Gould predicted it for not too dissimilar reasons, although his exact prophecies certainly did not come true. But it's one reason why he quit the concert halls at a young age.

I don't worry because there will always be people who like to hear the squeaks and the vulnerabilities, the human aspect, the social aspect, and just the dynamics of the real thing! Needless to say! But maybe there will be less artist support in the form of concert attendance and then real standards of musicianship will fall. On the other hand, artists in general have always been notoriously poor, so what's the difference, they'll find a way!!

My brother's always saying we live in a soft society. All I'm sayin' is beware of all forms of technology in your life!! I'm 23 and I sound like an old codger!!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 5:40:19

kovachian

Posts: 506
Joined: Jan. 30 2008
From: Americanistan

RE: The real threat to music's futur... (in reply to Conrad)

As if Autotune wasn't enough, this will allow even more Ashley Simpsons, Paris Hiltons and other no-talent hacks to become famous and ridiculously wealthy simply for having big tits and dressing like starving prostitutes.

BUT...

I can see myself using it to break down some very difficult and complex songs for purposes of transcribing and tabbing. As with most facets of modern life, you have to take the bad with the good!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 6:52:33

Pgh_flamenco

Posts: 1506
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: The real threat to music's futur... (in reply to kovachian)

quote:

I can see myself using it to break down some very difficult and complex songs for purposes of transcribing and tabbing. As with most facets of modern life, you have to take the bad with the good!

This is the main advantage to this software as I see it. It could save a lot of time in this regard.

Nothing is going to replace the sensation of actually holding an instrument in your hands and making music with it.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 14:50:16

Mark2

Posts: 1871
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco

RE: The real threat to music's futur... (in reply to Conrad)

That program is awesome, and was before it had the ability to break out chords. Now it's insane. I think it's a producer's dream to be able to consider possiblities in harmony, etc. in addition to simply fixing out of tune notes. It will aid composers in that they will have another tool to hear ideas before putting in the hours to be able to play them. And it will drive engineers further into their art as they will have more possibilities to play with.

Of course, it can be used to produce guitar and other parts that cannot be played live, or perhaps at all, but the recording studio has been used to do that at least since the 60's.

I really don't see it as a negative. I really believe an artist who relies heavily on this technology will be able to be effective live if he is a strong performer, even if he can't reproduce exactly what is on his records. That's been proven by many many artists.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 17:45:08

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: The real threat to music's futur... (in reply to Mark2)

I agree Mark!
This is pure magic...the guy is a genius!!
I used to work in a sound research lab and at that time making a spectrogram of a 3 second sample of the human voice with a spinning drum and a stylus burning paper was considered the lastest thing!
This sort of stuff was considered completely impossible!
I'm totally amazed!

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 22 2008 19:21:04