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February 15, 2011 - 12:48pm
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Electronic Music
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mixed. I enjoy some techno and electronica and certainly enjoy lots of bands that employ electronic instruments (not counting guitar here.) But when I think of music that moves me, not much electronic music comes to mind. Tomita did some things that are trippy and evocative, and I listen to those on occasion.
New Wave is one of my favorite genres, and there is a more than a smattering of electronics in those bands. So I guess I am open to electronic music and enjoy what I have, but I am not that familiar with it.
I sure do not buy into the whole "if it is not an acoustic instrument I am not interested" blather. My life began after the electric guitar came around, so that is part of the soundtrack of my life.
Trey
thanks for your response trey
the more developed our technology becomes in terms of music programming and manipulation, i believe we get one step closer to actually simulating the real thing.
in addition, though i cannot provide any reason why other than exposure to a digital atmosphere, i think people are responding much stronger to the sounds of electronic music than they used to.
for example, in the early 90s, there were a few large dance hits. this one for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUjQMcYv6Gs
"Rhythm is a Dancer" by Snap
(video is mislabeled on YT - this song came out in 1992).
but these kinds of tracks still held an underground vibe to their popularity, probably due to underground nature of the rave scene that many of the early 90s dance tracks stemmed from. Their use of synthesizers that we learned to listen to during 70s-80s and combining it with the precision of computer programmed music created the next step in pop music.
so we're in the following phase now, where human beings are now much more comfortable reacting to these incredibly precise and programmed musical synthesizer and drum sequences (just as comfortable as they would be hearing the real thing).
see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw
I mean, my experience of sound comes from my ear and brain interacting with sound waves around me. I see little disctinction between the source of the soundwaves or how they were created. Even if I did, unless I am at the source, I am listening to an electronic recreation. So for me, synthesizers are the real thing just as much as a hide drum.
But, I appreciate your ideas about how electronic music is becoming more accepted in our culture. I never considered that, and the ideas hold up well for me.
I am checking out the vid now. Thanks for the link! I had heard this before, not my cup of tea. I like hard funk for my dance music, and this is a bit techno for me. But even with the funk, the synth is at times omnipresent! Bernie Worell is one of my favorites, and his synth lines on classics like Flashlight rock my world.
Trey
Acceptance is a choice -- i'm talking about the evolution of the mental process of listening+emotional reaction as a result of increased exposure to computer made/electronic music. I believe the modern ear is being trained to react more instinctively to music made with 010101 than with physical instruments. Kids and their 8-bit soundtracks to their video games and the incredibly synthy/drum-machined pop music of today, the more accustomed people are growing up with these sounds, the more 'natural' they will start to seem.
The point you raise though is that it's all the real thing. I disagree. The sound of a synthesized snare hit on a drum machine vs. a snare hit on a tightly wound snare will create different emotional reactions out of the listener, by and large as a result of where the sound is coming from. A drummer has emotion and intent in his strike -- a computer does not. How the listener interprets these sounds differently (in an emotional context) is up in the air, but i'm sure there is a difference. This difference is what the new ear is trending towards.
Well, at least I think I do. Through greater exposure, we, especially the younger of us, are being conditioned to be more comfortable with electronically created sounds. They sound natural because they are the soundtrack of our lives.
I completely agree about electronic v real snare, but I dm not at all sure that an electronic snare is that different from different snare set ups, or from a gated snare, or a snare with an animal skin head, or a plastic body.
Do you think a good programmer can work around the lack of inflection with the drums? I do not know that much about drum programming. I think there is a different emotional response to different instruments, but I bet I think it is more idiosyncratic and less cultural than you do.
But let me think more on these things. Thanks for the fun conversation!
Trey
its most definitely a combination of the two, but i would say that conditioning to different sounds or even the idea of liking different sounds would build a greater affinity to "foreign" instruments.
I listen to Trance music daily and find it to be very soothing after a stressful day. Some of bigger names in the industry seem to have finally started to put some real effort into the production and SQ of their tracks.
Alot of the early Trance music certainly isn't the best for SQ and this can be heard fairly easily while listening to tracks from the late 90's to Mid 20xx era. Typically the Bass levels are pushed too far to the max and their is too much repetition of the same arcade game noises over and over again.
One of the best DJ's out there today IMHO is Paul Van Dyk. I have pretty much every CD he has created and each one gets better every year in terms of SQ and musical content.
I highly recommend checking out any one of the albums listed below for an eye opening experience on what "Real" Progressive Trance is supposed to sound like:
1. Paul Van Dyk - In Between
2. Paul Van Dyk - Reflections
3. Volume; The Best of Paul Van Dyk