I stumbled upon this video one night and found it hilarious, but it also proves the point of my argument: it does not take true skill to be an artist these days. If you take a look at the video, even Jimmy Kimmel admits it as well.
There is even an application available for the Ipod touch and Iphone, that allows anyone to utilize the capabilities of auto-tune to modify their voice. It is called "I am T-Pain" and a few months back I had downloaded the demo version from the Itunes store. It actually works. It modifies the users voice to simulate that of T-Pain, the most famous rapper to utilize the voice modifying program that is auto-tune.
So now it's true, anyone can be T-Pain. Anyone can sing the words to their favorite T-Pain song and sound just like T-Pain! Awesome! Not quite in my eyes. Who says T-Pain would be half the star he is today, who even knows if he can truly sing. Auto-tune is the the cheap way to become famous. If you can't sing, become a poet, and if you don't want to be a poet, sell your songs to someone else who can actually hold a harmony. It's technology like this that is taking away the chances for the people who can actually sing, that are struggling musicians barely making ends meet to do what they love in life. They're getting no reward out of following their passion because these people who have access to this technology.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll
Personally, I have always been a true fan of the harmony of a guitar, drums, and bass; the lead singer has always been the least of my focus. I'm a fan of the loud and in your face guitar riffs of the stadium bands of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. My best friend on the other hand, could care less about the beat and more about the lyricism within a piece. Yet, I cannot lie that some lyrics seem like poetry. They seem to captivate and draw attention away from the other parts, but I will admit I used to be somewhat of an instrumental snob.
Guns N' Roses - the late 80's and early 90's band that is known for heavy riffs, an "Appetite for Destruction", and not to mention guitar solo's that would knock your lights out while still soothing your soul with sweet melody. They are the epitome of sex, drugs and rock n' roll better. The instrumentals are what drew me to this band: amazing drums from Steven Adler (classic lineup, later replaced by Matt Sorum), highly rhythmic bass lines (Duff McKagan), the tightest rhythm guitar ever heard (Izzy Stradlin), and one of the most technical lead guitarists of the 90's who has even recently released a new solo record (Slash). The high pitched squealing vocals of Axl Rose are just an added perk to this band. Guns is the band for anyone who loves and needs to just let out a little steam every once in a while.
The two videos (which I do not own) I have posted are from their earliest album "Appetite for Destruction". Sweet Child O' Mine is an up-tempo rock ballad. The song is crisp and clean, but the lyrics are like utter poetry. Axl Rose uses strong metaphors such as "Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place, where as a child I'd hide". As for the other song "Paradise City", it is a surprising song. If you listen closely in the beginning is very smooth, harmonious, and easy going, but suddenly blasts into this insanely powerful rock riff. As for the guitar solos in each song, there have no been many guitarists who can match the technicality and virtuosity of Slash. You cannot help playing the air guitar and banging your head while listening to the guitar solos.
Don't let me be the judge, listen for yourself.
Guns N' Roses - the late 80's and early 90's band that is known for heavy riffs, an "Appetite for Destruction", and not to mention guitar solo's that would knock your lights out while still soothing your soul with sweet melody. They are the epitome of sex, drugs and rock n' roll better. The instrumentals are what drew me to this band: amazing drums from Steven Adler (classic lineup, later replaced by Matt Sorum), highly rhythmic bass lines (Duff McKagan), the tightest rhythm guitar ever heard (Izzy Stradlin), and one of the most technical lead guitarists of the 90's who has even recently released a new solo record (Slash). The high pitched squealing vocals of Axl Rose are just an added perk to this band. Guns is the band for anyone who loves and needs to just let out a little steam every once in a while.The two videos (which I do not own) I have posted are from their earliest album "Appetite for Destruction". Sweet Child O' Mine is an up-tempo rock ballad. The song is crisp and clean, but the lyrics are like utter poetry. Axl Rose uses strong metaphors such as "Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place, where as a child I'd hide". As for the other song "Paradise City", it is a surprising song. If you listen closely in the beginning is very smooth, harmonious, and easy going, but suddenly blasts into this insanely powerful rock riff. As for the guitar solos in each song, there have no been many guitarists who can match the technicality and virtuosity of Slash. You cannot help playing the air guitar and banging your head while listening to the guitar solos.
Don't let me be the judge, listen for yourself.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Autotune Vs. Lyricism
There are many artists that utilize digital recording in a unique way and I bet that you as a reader like at least one song that has gone under this manipulation. That manipulation is auto-tune. Auto-tune alters the singers voice, making it a much more robotic and higher pitched sound. It has become very popular in music today, including many artists utilizing it such as Lil' Wayne and T-Pain.
T-Pain's first hit single, was of course, using auto-tune. It a song called "I'm 'N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", I believe the title is self-explanatory. T-Pain's central focus upon making music is to make songs that people can dance to. There is nothing wrong with that, but the lyrics which are quite rude and obscene shouldn't be something that every single American child hears on the radio. Not to mention him dressing himself in a red leather jumpsuit and a top hat that frankly makes him look ridiculous.
Lil' Wayne has been on the "rap scene" for around a decade, but he doesn't sing solely about partying. The subjects of his songs range from finding his place in the world, becoming strong, and even highly condoning marijuana usage. Lil' Wayne may use Auto-tune in his music, but there is a real sense of lyricism within his music that has created for him a loyal fan base.
These aren't their real voices, but where is the line drawn between auto-tune and lip sync? Many artists believe that auto-tune is like cheating in math class, it allows people who do not have a quality singing voice to become famous.
When does it stop being about the music and more about the lyricism within the music?
Now on the other hand, there are rap artists who are entirely against the use of auto-tune and have made their careers solely with their pure voice and their "flow". A rappers "flow" is the way the pronounce and group words together to create a certain style for themselves or a particular song. Jay-Z is a very well known East Coast/Brooklyn rapper who has not only made his name as a rapper, but as a business man and music producer as well. Jay-Z retired after releasing his world famous "Black Album", but has come out of retirement in recent years with a new stance upon rap. Take a listen to the video which does not use any auto-tune at all, just his pure god given voice. I bet you can easily figure out his stance upon the usage of auto-tune.
T-Pain's first hit single, was of course, using auto-tune. It a song called "I'm 'N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", I believe the title is self-explanatory. T-Pain's central focus upon making music is to make songs that people can dance to. There is nothing wrong with that, but the lyrics which are quite rude and obscene shouldn't be something that every single American child hears on the radio. Not to mention him dressing himself in a red leather jumpsuit and a top hat that frankly makes him look ridiculous.
Lil' Wayne has been on the "rap scene" for around a decade, but he doesn't sing solely about partying. The subjects of his songs range from finding his place in the world, becoming strong, and even highly condoning marijuana usage. Lil' Wayne may use Auto-tune in his music, but there is a real sense of lyricism within his music that has created for him a loyal fan base.
These aren't their real voices, but where is the line drawn between auto-tune and lip sync? Many artists believe that auto-tune is like cheating in math class, it allows people who do not have a quality singing voice to become famous.
When does it stop being about the music and more about the lyricism within the music?
Now on the other hand, there are rap artists who are entirely against the use of auto-tune and have made their careers solely with their pure voice and their "flow". A rappers "flow" is the way the pronounce and group words together to create a certain style for themselves or a particular song. Jay-Z is a very well known East Coast/Brooklyn rapper who has not only made his name as a rapper, but as a business man and music producer as well. Jay-Z retired after releasing his world famous "Black Album", but has come out of retirement in recent years with a new stance upon rap. Take a listen to the video which does not use any auto-tune at all, just his pure god given voice. I bet you can easily figure out his stance upon the usage of auto-tune.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Fake Musicians
There are hundreds of emerging technologies that have been developed to allow more people to become a so called "musician". The sounds of virtually any instrument can be achieved by playing an electric keyboard or even by using a program such as GarageBand. People can create an entire song, an entire album with one of these programs and the most ironic part is that there are bands on the mainstream that have become famous this way such as a recent emerged band called Owl City.
Owl City is Adam Young, it is a one man band that uses synthesizers. Music is not about just recording an album, it's about playing that music for a live audience. A live audience consisted of fans that want to hear and witness the recreation of that music. How can it be considered music when only a single part is played live while the rest is recording? Many other techno artists have been utilizing this technology for over a decade and the majority of the beats that rappers lay vocals over are produced this way as well, but rap is another topic that we will cover in a later blog entry.
The Noise
Firstly, people no longer have to pay studios to record their material to make a demo, they can record it from home on their very own computer. Personally, I do not have a problem with that, but as stated in an earlier post it just makes it that much more difficult for your band to be heard amongst every other band that now has access to this technology.
Secondly, everyone has their own musical taste, but there are so many different genre's that one would get lost just trying to name them all off. From Jazz to blues, country to rock n' roll, from heavy metal to death metal; how can some of these be considered music anyways? Just like the words that were sung by Bob Seger, "I like that old time rock'n' roll...That kind of music just soothes the soul". But how can a person screaming their brains out to the point that every single word is incomprehensible be classified as music?
Finally, can it really be considered musicianship to take another artists music and add one simple beat to make it sound more uptempo? To make it so that people can dance to the song? Or can it be considered musicianship to take two songs from different artists and splice them together on a computer to create one song?
I believe that although many opportunities have been provided for those who desire to be a musician, to those who have a real band, and play actual instruments, but the number of setbacks that have occurred with these developments in technology have actually made it harder to lead the life of a musician. It has also lead to the up rise of wanna-be musicians who cannot play very well, but continue to try. So this one question must be asked, when does it stop being about the music that is being produced and becomes more about the poetry and lyricism?
Owl City is Adam Young, it is a one man band that uses synthesizers. Music is not about just recording an album, it's about playing that music for a live audience. A live audience consisted of fans that want to hear and witness the recreation of that music. How can it be considered music when only a single part is played live while the rest is recording? Many other techno artists have been utilizing this technology for over a decade and the majority of the beats that rappers lay vocals over are produced this way as well, but rap is another topic that we will cover in a later blog entry.
The Noise
Firstly, people no longer have to pay studios to record their material to make a demo, they can record it from home on their very own computer. Personally, I do not have a problem with that, but as stated in an earlier post it just makes it that much more difficult for your band to be heard amongst every other band that now has access to this technology.
Secondly, everyone has their own musical taste, but there are so many different genre's that one would get lost just trying to name them all off. From Jazz to blues, country to rock n' roll, from heavy metal to death metal; how can some of these be considered music anyways? Just like the words that were sung by Bob Seger, "I like that old time rock'n' roll...That kind of music just soothes the soul". But how can a person screaming their brains out to the point that every single word is incomprehensible be classified as music?
Finally, can it really be considered musicianship to take another artists music and add one simple beat to make it sound more uptempo? To make it so that people can dance to the song? Or can it be considered musicianship to take two songs from different artists and splice them together on a computer to create one song?
I believe that although many opportunities have been provided for those who desire to be a musician, to those who have a real band, and play actual instruments, but the number of setbacks that have occurred with these developments in technology have actually made it harder to lead the life of a musician. It has also lead to the up rise of wanna-be musicians who cannot play very well, but continue to try. So this one question must be asked, when does it stop being about the music that is being produced and becomes more about the poetry and lyricism?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Revolution of Music
The digital age of music has brought many innovations to the business, but why pay for music on iTunes when it can be attained for free off of any of the hundreds of file sharing sites, such as Limewire, Frostwire, or even bit torrent. 
As a result, the music industry is in utter chaos, people no longer buy CD's to support their favorite bands. No longer can artists make profits from selling their music, they must turn to other avenues for income. This has been made possible not only because of the rise in technological advancements, but a major change that occurred in the music industry many years ago.
Around the mid 1980's, the music industry took on a completely revolutionary change; the switch from analog recording to digital recording. Many famous artists such as Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, etc. recorded their music via analog recording. As a result, the sound quality that is achieved through analog recording is highly beyond that of digital recording, yet digital recording has a turn-on that highly appeals to the corporate world. Digital recording is much cheaper than recording with analog. Thus, the appeal for the mass production of music was born and it was only a matter of time before this change backed up and led to the decay of the entire industry itself. With the process of recording going digital it seems that it has led to the degradation of musicianship.
(Left: Jerry Garcia performing with the Grateful Dead at Giants Stadium in 1993. Jerry was a musical genius
Right: Jimi Hendrix performing in Honolulu on June 1, 1969. He was the man who put the Rock in Rock N' Roll)
It may seem that it lead to the increased the opportunity of upcoming artists and bands trying to break through, but that is not the case. The more opportunity that is provided means increased competition. That competition causes noise, the noise is the amount of artists that can get in the way of finding "the next popular band". No one pays for music anymore, that is just a simple conclusion to jump to. There is an occasion or two with a particular artist that people will buy their album, but it's rare. So this avenue of revenue is virtually profitless, hence why the emphasis on reducing the cost to produce this recording comes into play. So how can a musician survive and pay their bills if they're struggling to make ends meet, just waiting for their music to be heard.
As a result, the music industry is in utter chaos, people no longer buy CD's to support their favorite bands. No longer can artists make profits from selling their music, they must turn to other avenues for income. This has been made possible not only because of the rise in technological advancements, but a major change that occurred in the music industry many years ago.Around the mid 1980's, the music industry took on a completely revolutionary change; the switch from analog recording to digital recording. Many famous artists such as Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, etc. recorded their music via analog recording. As a result, the sound quality that is achieved through analog recording is highly beyond that of digital recording, yet digital recording has a turn-on that highly appeals to the corporate world. Digital recording is much cheaper than recording with analog. Thus, the appeal for the mass production of music was born and it was only a matter of time before this change backed up and led to the decay of the entire industry itself. With the process of recording going digital it seems that it has led to the degradation of musicianship.
(Left: Jerry Garcia performing with the Grateful Dead at Giants Stadium in 1993. Jerry was a musical genius
Right: Jimi Hendrix performing in Honolulu on June 1, 1969. He was the man who put the Rock in Rock N' Roll)
It may seem that it lead to the increased the opportunity of upcoming artists and bands trying to break through, but that is not the case. The more opportunity that is provided means increased competition. That competition causes noise, the noise is the amount of artists that can get in the way of finding "the next popular band". No one pays for music anymore, that is just a simple conclusion to jump to. There is an occasion or two with a particular artist that people will buy their album, but it's rare. So this avenue of revenue is virtually profitless, hence why the emphasis on reducing the cost to produce this recording comes into play. So how can a musician survive and pay their bills if they're struggling to make ends meet, just waiting for their music to be heard.
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