General Music Chat

I was just reading this thing on how the internet is bound to control everything, especially music. Some bands have even recorded their shows and charged for viewing. Also, the verdict is that hard copies will be done away with for good one day, and everything will be sold via internet. And, because of the internet already, fewer people go out to watch local bands anymore. In fact, it's been said that the conception of arena bands are now over.

What do you people think about this? Is there too much clutter in cyberspace? Has the net made it harder to get your music out there even though the exposure is unlimited? Is collecting memorabillia eventually to become a thing of the past? ETc...etc.?

Well.. It's total BS concerning Vegas. Maybe more married people with families to support during a crisis are staying home, but I'm seeing good crowds on my end. This Saturday will be our first pool-side gig. I'll let you all know how that turns out. But Reggae Fridays, poolside Saturdays, a lot of people are showing up.

As far as CD sales, yea maybe. From Vinyl, to tape, to CD, to Ipod, etc.. It's an evolutionary type thing. But I don't think Live shows of good bands will ever suffer all that much. Right now, it seems to be more of an economy thing with bigger bands. It has always taken special bands to pull off Arena Shows. Nothing has changed as far as that goes. What seems to be happening here is bands are choosing to play 2 nights in a 5,000 cap. venue as opposed to a 10 or 15k venue for one night.

You know, now that I really think about it.. Vegas is a really good place for live music right now. This scene, and the crowds seem to have grown since the economy crisis. More people here just seem to want to get away from their problems for a while. And more bands with laid off unemployed members are practicing more and getting a lot better. Live local gigs are really good here right now.

I think the internet has taken away the need to be an actual band. It's concievable that someone could sell a bunch of copies of a song without ever having played a show before.

Yes.
Yes.
No.

Just like most bands studio productions as opposed to live performances. Almost all of them sound better than they do live. Some even sound great on CD, but SUCK when playing live. When you are driving down the road, I don't think you really care if it is live or "Studio Magic". You just want to hear the music. And if the studio version sounds better than the live version, which version would you prefer to purchase?

Like a lot of the new acts out there. You can pay a small fortune to hear some of these untalented hacks lip sync live, or you can purchase their CD's. If you download their music and put it on a CD, at least you have the pleasure of deleting it or destroying it later.

Or when you purchase their CD's, you have something tangible to throw into the trash when you are through listening to it. You actually get something for your hard earned money.

lol Nothing worse than a good band with good music that sounds like sh*t when they play live.


= epic fail

The great thing about a good number of internet musicians is that lots of them aren't that focused on playing shows, which leaves the floor open to bands who want to get booked.

If you can't pull it off better live, then hide. Pro Tools can only cover up studio suckiness.

Over the years I have found musicians that do not play in any band or on stage that give personal performances that would shame most gigging musicians. These guys have tweaked their craft to very high standards. The only way I have found them is through other musicians who know about them. They just don't have the desire or ego to have to play in public.

So in light of that, I can't dis the guys who sit in front of a computer and put out music on a DAW all by themselves. Some of these untalented musicians lay down completed projects that are nothing short of phenomenal in my opinion. I should be so good, and I gigged 6 nights a week for 15 years, and many times 7 gigs a week. So simply getting up on a bandstand doesn't make anyone a star in my book.

And it doesn't make them play better than someone who scrutinizes every note of their performance until they get it right by listening to their playing on a DAW, where the clunker notes don't fade away in an instant like they do on a bandstand. Their listening audience has the opportunity to hear them over and over and over, finding every mistake. Those clunker notes are etched in stone when recorded, and they learn not to make them through repetition.

Just saying that in defense of those untalented DAW freaks that put out so many great pieces of music but do not play in public. And believe me, they don't either need or use auto tune or pro tools. They are simply good musicians.

Some of them don't play in public simply because they can't find musicians that can keep up with them.

Good one Slack but theres other reasons. Bill, the drummer on the tunes on my profile, hasn't played in public in many years. It's just too much trouble for too little reward for him. But he's a great musician.

please, please, please..be able to play that which you create on your computer..

Just plain weak to record an intricate piece, only to not be able to play it live.

eccchhhhhhh..

please, please, please..be able to play that which you create on your computer..

Just plain weak to record an intricate piece, only to not be able to play it live.

eccchhhhhhh..

Gee capt. You seem to be an intelligent guy. So you are saying better not to have great art if they don't do it the same way on a bandstand? I'm afraid that would pretty much eliminate every great band that ever played live. And most bands just improvise a lot of the time. They do not play exactly as on the record. Speaking for myself, I am exceedingly quick on my feet when it comes to improvisation. You have to be because the band isn't always going to mesh right. sh*t happens. But to play everything exactly the same way when you do get it right is a far cry from off the top of your head playing. It is far more difficult. You have to be very focused.

Personally I do record instrumental stuff that I can't play live. But I can always play the lead and rhythm tracks as is on any recording. What I miss are the harmony parts. I think my videos prove that beyond a doubt. They are always unedited as are all my lead rides in any of my recordings.

I must play a song a fifty times while working out the details before I sit in front of a DAW or a video camera. I add licks I use when jamming and licks I just have to sit down and "invent" to fill the need.
But still I do not do a lot of my songs like I recorded them simply because there aren't more than one of me to come up with the interweaving of the guitar leads.

That does not make me a crappy musician. Neither does it make people who never get on a bandstand hacks. They are musicians free to practice their trade just as you are yours. I know a lot of them could go from club to club and pick apart live performances. But you seldom hear crap like that from them. First and last. They are performing musicians. What they create speaks for them.

But I am not even in the class of musicians that I posted about previously . Some of them are very accomplished. To even imply that a composition should be discarded because it can't be performed live is just plain Beavis. I am sure that a lot of great composers didn't bring along an orchestra when they performed live. Even though they wrote all the parts for a full orchestra.

To throw away great art just because you didn't see the artist paint is a pretty frivolous argument bordering on gross stupidity. Certainly not something that I would have expected to see from you.

Are you a lawyer?

Creating an album is different then playing live - with an album, you have everything including time to generate new sounds, include that 5th instrument line even though it's only a 4 piece band - etc. You're trying to sell a well crafted sound.

Playing live serves a different purpose - showmanship and interaction with an audience. You can double track for an album which you listen to in stereo, but live - it's up to your rig(s) to generate the fullness of the sound.

People like myself have virtually no time to play live given family obligations / responsibility so the ability to collaborate on a song online at odd hours of the night is a good thing. As long as people like live entertainment, there will be live performances.

I have always believed that you shouldn't record anything you personally can't play live. I know some people do it, but not I.

You want to play that game, do what you do but that's not my cup of tea.

Personally, I will never record anything I can't reproduce live and reproduce well.

Q:What is the point of playing something complicated that is merely a giant layer of crap you couldn't possibly play in a reg band setup?

A: no point at all.

Plenty of people can create with technological help, but 1 man is not nor ever a whole band.

Technology to write said songs, ok. Technology to replace band members? bwahahaaahhahahahaaaa faq off newb.

Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix created great works of art in the studio. Live, not always. Should we denigrate the artists for this? I say no. A live performance of a recorded piece of music is just an interpretation of the music. I would say 90% of the audience doesn't care if it's faithful to the recording; the other 10% are nerdy muscians

Personally, I stand with the Capt. on this issue, but I also recognize that it's a matter of OPINION. Hell, I won't even do acoustic solo performances anymore, becauyse I feel that it deletes too much of the essence of my work. I want people to hear the bassline, the keys parts, etc.
I do believe, however, that this is a perfect example of the downfall of the music business. I can't speak for other people (and if I read it correctly, Slacker disagrees with this view), but for me, if I buy an album, and then go to see the band live, I want to hear what was on the album, and, in addition, enjoy the showmanship and presentation that goes along with the sonic end of it. THAT, is what it used to mean to be a professional. Nowadays, it seems like more and more musicians are out to do it "however they feel like doing it"-and screw the audience.
Like it or not, the recorded sound is an advertisement for something MORE. To put it into perspective: If you see an ad for a vehicle that you really like, but when you go to buy it, it's only the frame (or, in other words, not the same vehicle) wouldn't you be dissapointed? Would you still spend your hard earned money-even though it wasn't what was promised in the ad?
On a personal note: Looping, for example, walks the line for me...(sorry, Paul ) I do think that it is an art form, but, even though the parts are actually played on stage, it has elements of karaoke-to a point.
Beyond that, I don't consider anyone who performs to a tape, drum machine, etc. to be an artist. And when the live artist doesn't match their recordings, I think less of them.

Call me an a-hole, it's just my opinion.

A-hole