It seems that in this day and age that anybody with a computer and some cash to spend can create music.
Now i have nothing against Digital, hell i use alot in my own work
But it seems you don't need talent anymore to create music anymore
Musicians like myself spend time and energy touching up on our instrumentation and our playing skills
and we're over done by a Digital Dj's and Musicians...
Drum Machines are one thing
but now thier are programs that simulate Guitar riffs, Bass lines, synth lines
My 12 year old cousin bought a program called Storm
and he's making music just on his computer
its like a damn game!
while i spend most of my own adolecent life mastering the guitar keys, N.A. Flute and drums
For some reason that just really pisses me off

But hey...
I still got song writing...

Ahhh...here's comes the BIG difference.

Anybody can make music today - yes.
How many can make GOOD music?

I agree. Not to be hypocritical either. I listen to a lot of dance music/artists and I know most of their 'beats' and at times complete songs are computer generated. But I love it for what it is. I find it funny though when some people slag those artists off for doing so and call themselves 'musicians' but use computers and programmes to make the majority of their music as well. Or act as if their favourite artists have never done so themselves.
I'm proud of you for actually playing instruments and staying true to the definition of a musician. For me; computers will never replace actual instruments. At least not their live sound anyway. Good 4 u!!!

Heavenly said:

BANG!

well i like dance music, but i take it for what it is dance music
I love kraftwerk, i think thier digital genuises,
but i wouldnt kill to see them live,
BBut F*ck everybodyw ants to call themselves a "Producer"

Chico1 said:

true

but good music is a matter of taste

Luv4oneanotha said:

Well, creating noise is easy, but creating music.....that's the hard part.

How does one define music ?

No, this is not true....the tools are available for anyone to make professional sounding music in the home these days....but it takes A LOT OF HARD WORK to realise those tools to their full potential and THEN get a recording contract.

However, I believe that music has become more of a visual art these days, which seems contradictory to the nature of music itself, but the problem is too many base their liking on music video rather than music itself. I think MTV is squarely to blame for the influx of mediocrity.

mrdespues said:

I understand your point of view and i agree with it...
This is a new age, Home Recording artist such as myself can make better sounding music
then was capable back in the early 80's
But teenagers making lifeless digi beats just by Computer is Superflous,
The hard working artistic musician is being discarded by machines...
Indeed thier are a lot of factors involved, but if your going to create music
you should have an artistic vision or at beats play an instrument...

this involves the sepration between music and "Beats"

Beats are usually 4 bars of music repeating each other with maybe one chorus lead
but its basically the same nonsense over andover again
Pop,Hip Hop, Rap,RNb and sometimes Rock are included in this
results is lifeless music
its a dead version of Music
Music is 4 bars with similar variations and combonations, and it involves more work to be done
Each note does not sound alike
the only loop might be a chorus

Now what these cats do is just loop everything
so it constantly sounds the same
its dead and runned by machines

Now of cours ethe musician has the advantage when performing
but is that it now?

Normal public doesn't know the difference nor cares

Must be cuz we got all this crap out there on the radio and it's easy cheesy crap in the can squeezed out on the radio dial. No thought to it at all. Well not all of it...most of it.

But there still are greats out there making great electronic music. A better question...what is music. really. there are no bounds today with Bjork sampling her body and processing it through computers. Music in general is shifting (rock actually lasted longer that it should have, historically) toward an electronic medium. It has been for about 30 years now. Will music turn toward clicks and beeps, video game music, drones and textures? WIll someone create music that creates itself? Again what is music?

It's not what you use...but how you use it. Yes it's easy to make music on computers...and even sound halfway decent. But sound good? Sound original? I do have to say that the draw back is that now there is now in (has been) an influx of lots of bad electronic music. Very processed and lifeless stuff. I can't tell you how many times I have been disappointed picking up a cd blind. I think we are seeing a happy medium with good artists using computers as an instrument just like they would use a guitar...or for bands to add an electronic flair to their rock and roll style. I see a lot of fusion. What I don't think computers should do in music...is to perfect someones voice or create mindless music filled with processed and used beats. But that's just me.

If you want to hear good electronic music, I suggest pulling away from the beat driven stuff and get a little slower. Stuff like Towa Tei, Boards of Canada, Air, Orb, Banco De Gaia, Plaid etc...each take things a bit more "serious" than dance music and try to give the subject at hand substance. True genius can be found in Shpongle....that's what electronic music was made for
[Edited 9/26/04 11:04am]

People who buy a bunch of samples and arrange and loop them are not creating music. They are producing, mixing and arranging, yes. But they are not coming up with the musical ideas on their own, so I wouldn't call it creating music. I use a computer to record my ideas when I create/compose. It's just the way I learned, and I love synths. Every note you hear in my songs is something I heard in my head and put down.

I'll admit, my beats are pretty lame at times... I just find a pattern that works and loop it. That's why I want to find a collaborator that writes good beats. Like Depeche Mode, they write great beats that are not just 4 measures repeating for the whole track: there are fills, variations, etc. (I'm assuming they write it all.) I'd even like a real drummer and/or percussionist someday. But right now it's just me.

And I would LOVE to replace my baselines with a real bass player, and my string synth parts with a real string section. I've already incorporated real guitar into some of my tracks. I have some friends that did that for me because I don't play guitar.

VinaBlue said:

Have you tried placing an ad for such collaborators? That's how I have found people to work with me. Takes a few to go through but you may end up with that person who just click with ya.

As suggestion to your beat problem is if you don't want to copy someones drum loop but you do like it and may want to make it your own. Is put it thru recycle or a slicing program. You can take out a snare or even rearrange the beat to your likeing. Just an idea.

Seeing videos by Ashlee Simpson and Bowling For Soup make me realize that anyone can get famous these days.

superspaceboy said:

Placing an ad for a collaborator is like placing an ad for a date, imo. I just feel weird about it. Like it's supposed to happen magically when I take a music class or something... I dunno. I've collaborated with people online and that worked out cool. I guess I just have to get out more.. but I'm shy, lol.

Rearraning a beat sounds cool, but I'd rather someone react to my music and create something from scratch. I know what you mean though, since I'm all alone for now I may have to cut corners like that, so that's a good suggestion. I have ACID, but just like you said, I find a beat that is kinda cool, if it wasn't for the damn whistle every 4 counts...

GangstaFam said:

dont hate!

Ashlee's been down since the 70s, CBGB's!

Christopher said:

Got proof of that?

Music can be very easy to make.Cream rises to the top no matter what,though.There has been some incredibly fantastic music made with technology,but there has been more made the old fashioned way.I don't think "real" music should feel threatened by this technology.Desire for the warmth of live instruments will bring people back to the beginning.I used a mixture of both in my own recordings. I use my guitars and my vocal squealings for sound.The time is kept either by my own programming on a machine,me playing "live" on said drum machines,or through the use of drum sample discs. Those drum sample discs are beats laid down on "acoustic" drums by master like Bernie Purdie and Hancock's Mike Clark.Funny,years ago,before hearing "actual proof" by Hancock,I had used Mike's drum track and I played bass along with it-it sounds like the rythm to "actual proof"!!I guess that drum riff begs that style to be played over it.

Anyway,if a creator isn't creating something interesting or enjoyable then it doesn't matter what tools were used. The only thing I hate is cheesy keyboard sounds .Man,I wish Prince woudl re-record some of his '90's songs.Mostly,the Emancipation stuff and soem NPS cuts.I hate that drum sound and the flat keyboard basslines.It all sounds like plastic.

Actually creating music is hard because what they play nowadays I wouldnt necessarily consider it music, specially dirty south hip hop, it's more like random sounds with quirky beats and nauseating lyrics.