Simon Hewitt Jones - The Violin Blog

Oct

25

Genetically Modified Musicians

Filed Under Future of Music | 

The importance of personal and group dynamics and of live recording in the creative process

I did some work recently for a seriously brilliant producer who works regularly with a major band, and we had a couple of conversations that I found very interesting. One of them was about the use, and the future, of using live musicians for commercial studio recordings.

I brought it up with him (tentatively - I wouldn’t want to become superfluous before we’re even established!) because I’m increasingly aware of how easy it is to use technology to create, or should I say ‘fabricate’, an emotionally engaging performance.

I know for a fact that there are forces, for example in Hollywood, who have London Symphony- quality samples at their fingertips, as well as programmers and technicians worthy of the finest Googler-algorithm-crunchers, and who are not afraid to use them. There is no doubt in my mind that at a certain point in the near future, it will be quite possible to fabricate an entire film score with pre-programmed instrumental samples, and be able to fool even the most experienced ear (it is, after all, ultimately a question of sound waves).

[UPDATE: I’m told it has actually already happened, within the last few weeks…]

So where is the value of ‘live’ if ‘live’ can be perfectly recreated in every way? This has been worrying me.

I’m not talking about live performance. Anyone who’s ever been to a concert (of whatever genre) knows the unique place that a live concert holds in the human experience. That won’t die. I’m talking about the fabrication of recorded music as a faux-live performance that creates a genuine emotional response.

The process of artificially manufacturing something genuinely moving and lifelike is all very well, but it is a strangely inhuman process (I would liken it to the genetically modified production of food: you might not notice the difference in the end product, but for a lot of people there’s something disturbing about the underlying process).

But if the end result sounds just as convincing as a genuinely live recording, why should we actually bother with live musicians at all?

The producer’s answer surprised me. "In a strange way," he said, "it’s more about the process than the end result".

What is the value of the creative process for the artists involved? I don’t yet have a brilliant answer, but the ability to learn, to discover things, and mature one’s ideas through interactions with other people must be a big part of it.

That’s not something you get by sitting programming an algorithm to get the same result. Because although you might get the same result that time, the next time you sit down and start to ‘program’ the next ‘live’ recording, your work is devoid of all the development and experience that you would have gained through a truly ‘live’ set of working relationships and recordings.

So let us welcome sample technology with all the possibilities it brings for enhancing mock-ups, amateur work, low-budget work, and emergencies, yet acknowledge that the process inherent in live recording has a lasting set of values that will stand the test of time.

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