Recording Music In The Modern Era
Modern music recording technology is crazy good. It provides amazing benefits, but also some problems. An ironic obstacle artists experience when recording music is sifting through all the tools and technology designed to make creating music simple. From a music production perspective, here are some key ways modern recording technology can help and harm your music creation process.
Modern Recording Technology Benefits
- affordability
- sound quality
- ease of collaboration
- ease of editing and fixing
- endless possibilities
Modern Recording Technology Problems
Simplicity
Simplicity has a downside. The process of recording is so easy and accessible, it can lead bands and musicians to a false sense of capability. If you are a band or artist with a specific sound, there is no replacement for the knowledge and experience needed to properly capture and produce music that accurately represents your sound. Without technical knowledge and experience, you can waste lots of time and money to arrive at an end product you are not happy with.
Wasting Time / Are You A Musician or an Engineer
Another pitfall is musicians spending their energy on time-wasting technical tasks, when they would be better off writing new music, playing shows, or engaging with their audience.
Recording and producing are primarily technical tasks. While there is often an artistic component, that's only as useful as the engineer's technical ability to translate the artistic concept into a finished product. That process of translating ideas to sound is purely technical. You can't mix or produce music by simply having feelings about how it should sound.
The key here is that musicians can rely on their engineer or producer to capture their vision.
This allows bands and artists to spend their energy writing new songs and playing shows for their loyal and future fans to discover.
Endless Possibilities
This is a luxury we have in modern times. But herein is also a lesson revealed by a rich history of amazing recordings and amazing performances that were captured before this modern technology existed.
Endless possibilities can lead to wasting time wading through the options and can even be paralyzing. Having a musical vision is the first step to avoiding these pitfalls. The second is working with a competent engineer or producer who can bring your music to life.
Affordability
While beneficial, the pitfall is this: with so many affordable recording tools and softwares, it's easy to buy lots of things instead of the right things. This can get in the way of achieving your musical goals.