iOs Recording, really?

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of news on iOS recording. If you’re not familiar with any new technology and haven’t seen the internet or TV before, this is recording using iPads or Ipods and software that runs on these and other mobile devices. Many people are talking about how this is the future of home based recording. So is this a step in the right direction?

It’s no secret that professional studios are running scared of all this new technology available to consumer market. Just a decade ago, recording in your home and getting a sound even a tenth of the quality of a pro studio was impossible. The equipment wasn’t available but more importantly the computers weren’t there. Sure the early 2000s saw a huge jump in technology and computers were faster than anything we’d ever seen but they weren’t quite yet comparable. Now the cell phone everyone is carrying around in there pocket is more powerful than half the computers that were used to launch the first space shuttles to the moon. Everyone and their mom can make professional sounding music on a laptop, and the worst part is they do. Horrible recording are made everyday at home and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Now you don’t even need a computer, just an iPhone and minimal amount of equipment.

Now it’s hard for me to bash on the idea that everyone can record and not feel a bit hypocritical. I mean, I record at home, what makes me better? Well for one, I went to school to become an audio engineer and I have enough experience to make claims about my quality that I can live up to. But that aside, just because everyone can afford to buy a paintbrush, does that mean anyone who does is a world-class painter? I’m not knocking the at home musician who makes songs for himself and friends. That’s fine. Have a hobby and enjoy yourself doing. I’m knocking the guy who buys a Macbook Pro, downloads Garageband and tells everyone he’s got a studio and starts charging for recordings. It’s insulting to the education I spent time and money on.

I know that Mac really loves money, and I get that they just want to make more of it. In their position, I would probably do the same. But giving everyone the same tools makes it seem like the line between professional and consumer should be allowed to blur. Recording on tablet and phone devices is the beginning of the end of an era.

Auto-tune, good or bad?

There’s a new trend in music today. Someone goes into the studio, they sing crap, and polished, shiny vocals some how end up on the track. The culprit: Auto-tune. I myself, as a singer, use auto-tune and Melodyne and I will openly admit that I do. But I use it to clean and make sure everything is just how I want it. It’s not a fall back for me and certainly do just let bad takes get recorded because, “Whatever, it’ll get fixed later.” 

For all the good Auto-tune has done, it has done some serious bad as well. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive it for making Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain’s careers possible. 

But what I am really upset about it that for these years, Auto-tune has been tricking me. Making me think everyone who uses it must be a god-awful singer. Now I love to judge, and I certainly love to judge singers, but now I can’t. I listen to radio and everyone sounds perfect, all the time. There’s no dynamics and no emotion. Skills cannot be properly assessed. How would I know if any of these cookie cutter pop singers were good? 

Auto-tune has become so popular that the tone and overuse is a DESIRABLE sound. I cannot even get over how crazy this is. People in studios are actually saying, “I want this singer to sound like they can’t sing at all.” I’m sure not why I get so heated about this because the music it affects isn’t music I even listen to. Maybe it’s that all this overproduced crap is threatening my integrity as a singer. Or maybe it’s just that I hate Katy Perry and anything she endorses just turns into a steaming pile in my eyes (goodbye Pepsi). 

Like my favorite super hero says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” While this seems a bit heavy to be about Auto-tune, I think it fits. Auto-tune is a powerful tool that used subtly and correctly can make a great singer sound incredible. This does not mean it should be used to make horrid rappers talking, sound like they have any musical skills at all.