This post is primarily written in order to explore the changing process of music making, brought about by the introduction of digital audio workstations (DAW). Secondly this post aims to examine the enormity of said change on the music industry, culture and my own personal experiences in music making.
The change will be examined across the music industry in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s (when DAWs first began to become a mainstream recording studio) and then again in the present; 20 years on from said introduction, in a musical landscape where industry standard DAWs are sold as software packages relatively cheaply.
In order to illustrate the degree and origins of change in varying instances, I intend to draw on evidence and examples taken from a recent music film Sound City (2012), which documents the decline and near closure of one of the most famous recording studios in the world. It was this documentary that sparked my immediate interest in exploring the effect DAWs had on the music industry, and how the components of DAWs eventually shaped today’s music community.
To add to the evidence supplied by the documentary and other sources, I will apply my own personal experiences to comment on the effects and changes DAWs have had on music in the modern day, and what the process of music making might have been without the widespread availability of DAWs.
Firstly, what is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)?
A digital audio workstations today come in many different forms, from Apple’s software standard Garage Band, to recording studio standards in Digidesign’s (now AVID’s) Pro Tools or Apple’s Logic Studio. In short, the best way to describe the function of a Digital Audio Workstation is to use the communal Wikipedia entry:
‘digital audio workstationtape-less, microprocessor-based systems…Modern DAWs are software running on computers with audio interface hardware.’
So in short, following the introduction of the DAW, the previously followed process of manually recording audio onto tape has completely changed. The introduction of DAWs saw huge changes in metaprocesses involved with the recording process; for example there was no need for physically editing sound via chopping and taping back together reels of tape (cutting and pasting), nor was there any need for physically recording instruments with microphones; there were now drum machines sequencers and synthesizers to replace guitars and pianos.
Eventually the need for a recording studio itself would come into question. All of these changes were brought about due to the introduction of the DAW and it attempting to find its place and part within the process of music recording, music production and music culture.
Ctrl X and Ctrl V – the process that changed the process.
In the analogue origins of the music recording industry (any time before and including the 1970s), there was and had been a requirement of musicians to learn their parts to the utmost perfection. In going into a professional studio, a recording artist would arrive heavily practiced, knowing their parts backwards, almost always playing along with a metronome to keep in time.
This practice was to ensure the final audio product would be as close to ‘the perfect take’ as possible. Any mishap in the recording would be highly notable in the final recorded track.
The need for recording artists to focus heavily on the perfection of their instruments (and parts) was primarily due to the time it took to cut and move parts around in order to edit the layers of tracks, all a part of the analogue recording process of the time.
If you watch the following video, an understanding of not only how time consuming the ‘cutting’ and ‘pasting’ of audio tape is, but how skilled the editor needs to be, particularly when considering a recording of complex instruments that need to be kept in exact time with the rest of an ensemble or band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkEfo4IVpjk (on a slightly different tangent, take a moment to think about the time and effort put into this recording – an analogue tape remix, created by cutting and pasting samples of analogue tape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXEBDCX_O6M).
Nowadays, of course, we see the cutting and pasting task done in DAWs almost instantly. The cut, copy and paste functions are integral in today’s DAW platforms, and makes what used to be a lengthy and time consuming process become a quick and easy click of a button.
The introduction of the DAW and its copy and paste abilities eventually saw a decline in the use of the analogue tape recording process and more free time in the studio for recording artists. They were no longer pressuring themselves to “nail the perfect take” (Dave Grohl, Sound City interview). Take a quick look at the Sound City (2012) trailer; at about 1:25 the words couldn’t clearer on this point – “[with regards to the introduction of DAWs to studios in comparison to analogue tape recording] I heard a young band member say, you don’t have to practice any more, you can just slice it up in the computer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQoOfiLz1G4 .
What, then, would be a result of all of this newly discovered free time that the band members had you may ask? One suggestion would be that this free time allowed for the growth of sound experimentation and development of technological influence on the sounds of songs and albums themselves.
Rather than a traditional hierarchy of Drums, Guitar and Bass, records begun to include new sounds in electric drum kits, drum machines and sequencers accompanied by synthesizers and (albeit slightly later in the timeline of DAW usage and development) computer plugins and effects (such as compressors, revers, digital delays and so on; see this video for a highly detailed demonstration of a compressor plugin and its sound altering capabilities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl_T_QymzTc).
Personally, I find that take the cut and paste option for granted, having been what would generally be considered computer literate from a young age. In my experience in using DAWs, I feel the most used part of music creation and indeed writing comes from the ability to move parts around and duplicate entire lines of melody, chords and percussion on my DAW with the click of a button.
As a young(ish) bedroom ‘tinkerer’ DAWs, the idea of remixing a song or producing a musical work solely using audio tape and physically splicing and taping pieces back together not only extremely tedious but seems almost a novelty. My opinion of the analogue recording and editing process suggests that the creation and composition of music would be severely stunted by the laborious task of editing and finalizing takes. I doubt I would even consider trying to create and record music if the process remained as in depth and technical as the analogue recording and editing process once was.
The Cut and Paste option is something that today we take for granted, but in reality it had an enormous effect on the sound and shape of many popular music records. The use of DAWs made the physical process of recording less time consuming and as a result changed the final recorded product that was played to the masses.
MIDI, sequencers and synthesizers – changing the sound (and genres) of music for good.
Accompanying the introduction of DAWs to the world was the electronic instrument. The introduction of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (more commonly known as MIDI) had begun to influence pop tracks of the mid to late eighties, as the process of creating MIDI music began to become much simpler than ‘trying to find THE sound’ (Tom Petty, Sound City interview). Wikipedia describes MIDI as the following (I have edited the definition to include only the most relevant parts for this post):
MIDIMusical Instrument Digital Interfacetechnical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another.
…MIDI carries event messages that specify notation, pitch and velocity, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato, audio panning and cues, and clock signals that set and synchronize tempo between multiple devices…
…This data can also be recorded into a hardware or software device called a sequencer, which can be used to edit the data and to play it back at a later time.
The above definition also makes reference to a ‘Sequencer’. Sequencers (or at least an integrated version of a sequencer) began to be incorporated as a part of a DAW early on in the introduction of DAWs to professional recording studios. Eventually, their introduction saw a change in process of music writing, recording and most importantly, use of studio time. What was once solely a strive to search and find the cleanest amplifier sound, or biggest and best drum sound had suddenly been thrown into a mix of computer instruments, samples and drum machines (See the following video for a quick example of how musical notes are interpreted in a DAW and produced into a musical sounds – note, a piano roll is displayed on the far left to gauge the distance and notes being played on screen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpHziC8hlOc). So, with the introduction of MIDI editing and sequencing, the music industry then begun to leap into uncharted territory. MIDI and Sequencing gave birth to a plethora of musical genres, including the many faces and cults of Electronic Dance Music (EDM). With the evolution of EDM came wide spread cultural change, in the form of fashion, dance and youth culture, for example, over time different EDM genres have developed their own particular dance moves; see the following videos for ‘how to dance at a rave’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np9_VSEH330 and another example of an EDM dance style called ‘gabering’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf4S4oRAF9w in this case shown at one of the many EDM festivals that occur annually around the globe. I suppose the impact had ‘officially’ been made when the highly notable Grammys Award ceremony changed their categories to allow for ‘Best Dance Recording’ in 1996, and ‘Best Electronic/Dance Album’ in 2005.
The simple incorporation of MIDI and sequencers into the widespread use of DAWs has resulted in the evolution of new sounds and essentially an entirely new category of music genre. There is a downside however to the introduction of sequencers and MIDI DAW capabilities. It could be said that the introduction of MIDI instruments combined with DAW editing capabilities outlined in the section above has changed the sound and shape of music for the worse – by taking the human element out of music production.
By ‘taking the human element out of music production’ I don’t mean to suggest that there isn’t a human behind all the button clicking and cut and pasting, but rather the final electronically rendered sound that is produced is without human error. There isn’t really a substitute for a guitarist strumming chords in his own individual way – no computer is able to replicate his style and imperfections that make the sound ‘human’. This is a contentious topic, and is somewhat replicated in the debate surrounding vinyl vs. compact disc; this guy makes a good argument for the analogue side of things –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXIiXZ9beXU . At the end of the day however it was not my aim to establish if the introduction of DAWs have produced a negative or positive change, but rather identify the varying levels of change itself. The opinion of the good vs bad effects of DAWs on music and culture are left to personal choice and decision.
Record company giants to bedroom beats records.
Today, the wide spread availability and numerous kinds of DAW make the process of music making something that can be done in the bedroom – a long way away from the previous limitations of home recording of 20 or so years ago. Today, a budding young producer or music maker can get their hands on the basics needed to create a faux-studio quality record for a little under $500. Open source software, file sharing and the Internet have obviously all contributed to the ease of creating bedroom studio setup, however the main reason for there even to be a bedroom superstar is the DAW.
Most recently the Australian album charts have been topped by indie recording artist by the name of Flume. His most recent album of the same name was almost entirely comprised in his bedroom studio; as was his introduction and up bringing in music production:
“When I first started writing music, I was writing heaps of 140 beats per minute, like euro trance. Really cheesy. And then, it developed into writing a huge range of genres, be it pop music, crazy orchestral pieces with no drums, really experimental stuff, R&B, indie, disco—literally everything. The thing is I like all kinds of music. I think that gave me the flexibility as a producer to understand how all these genres work. And therefore, I could take the best elements of each genre and put [it] into one.” – Harley Streten, A.K.A Flume, TheCreatorsProject Interview
Not only was his award-winning album created in his bedroom via his knowledge and particular set of skills relating to using DAWs, but his entire music collaboration and his evolution into creating music developed from having a DAW present. It’s even been noted that his first experience of creating music came from a grass roots free version of a DAW found in a cereal box.
Flume gained the first of his fame primarily through the sharing of his remixes via internet social networking sites and radio station reviews. The way to the top of the music ladder has dramatically changed in comparison to that of 20 years ago.
In 1993 it was Crowded House that were topping he Australian award charts, winning best group at that year’s ARIA awards. Their rise to success came as a direct result of record company promotion and airplay.
Due to the introduction of DAWs, studios have become a place to write and experiment with music, can appear in many different forms, in thousands of different locations – today, if you have a laptop with a DAW, you have a studio. Long gone are the days where studio time was precious time and only the worlds most notable and highly paid musicians got to spend any lengthy periods writing and recording. The dynamic of the term ‘studio’ has changed in pop culture and this is all too evident in the demise and closure of Sound City, the studio responsible for some of the worlds biggest ever recorded albums.
If a studio as prominent as Sound City can close due to the wide spread distribution of DAWs, what will be the outcome for recording studios in the next 20 years?
Personally, the development of my music creation process has been heavily impacted by the widespread availability of DAWs. Growing up, I was always able to record myself playing various instruments and piece them together to create song structures.
My thought process behind music creation was definitely shaped by my ability to move and replay parts of recordings back to myself, until I had formed a song structure I was pleased with. I think it is because of this subjection to DAWs that I have been able to become a producer of music without the need or knowledge to be able to read sheet music – something that I feel, 20 years ago, would have been a slightly more integral component in music composition.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, the introduction of the DAW to the music industry has induced dramatic changes to the process of music recording and creation, the sounds produced in music over the past 20 years and the structure of my own personal music composition experience. IF it were not for the introduction and development of the DAW, the music industry and culture as we know it today would be a completely different world.
lukethines 