Got any Techno mate?
Friday, January 25, 2008
As a bit of a music freak, I’ve recently started to think about the role of technology and software in the proliferation of electronic music in the past ten years.
Electronic music has always appealed to me due to the way in which even an ‘unmusical’ individual can make good music. With an understanding of rhythm and the ability to find a good groove, anyone can spend some time learning one of the many programs available and make a track. Some of the top producers out there at the moment wouldn’t be able to play a tune on a piano, but what they can do is manipulate sounds into a way that works in a sweaty club at 4am. This doesn’t mean it’s easy in any way, it just removes the old fashioned, and in some ways classist, system of learning your music theory and spending most of your youth forced into piano or violin lessons (yuk, flash back alert).
Punk may have started this in the 70s, but the tools needed for making techno are in pretty much every home – all you need is a half decent PC and a pair of headphones, and you’re off.
In the past 4 years things have become even more accessible, with intuitive programs being launched that have flattened the learning curve.
Ableton is leading the pack currently, with their Ableton Live software (www.ableton.com). A piece of software designed as much for the bedroom set-up as the high spec pro studio, or even the club. Based around one window, this integrates the production process (be it synthesis, sampling or loops) with the performance - allowing a budding producer to write a track, and then ‘perform’ that track with live edits, without having to use another program.
What this program also includes is probably the best ‘Help’ options I’ve ever seen. It can run through mock-ups of each section, meaning a complete beginner can be guided through any process they wish – even on your first session with the software you can be editing loops and creating synth patterns. Programmers should reference this ‘Help’ service, as it seems that this is often an afterthought, a searchable online manual simply isn’t enough anymore. We as web developers should be including this in large online projects– well planned Information Architecture can aid this – as users should be guided through any complex parts of a site.
Apple is also in the running with the new Logic 8 (www.apple.com/logicstudio/logicpro/). A massively powerful piece of software that is close to an industry standard (along with Pro Tools). This new version is both user friendly, but customisable enough for even the most complex projects. It is used by producers writing techno for sweaty Berlin clubs as much as it is by composers for Hollywood film scores.
Apple have made some enemies with Logic though, locking it as a Mac only program, but with the new iMacs dropping in price their gamble may have paid off, with many Windows fans making the big leap over.
There are a number of alternatives, and much cheaper alternatives at that. These are great for playing around, with many using drag-and-drop as a tool to build loops. You can even write tunes on your PlayStation these days…
Digital technology has become widespread in the DJ world also, with a huge number of performers leaving behind the chore of dragging a massive bag of vinyl to gigs, and instead opting for playing CDs or using on the impressive vinyl emulators – check out www.serato.com to be blown away for some digital/analogue integration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_Emulation_Software).
This technology is also adaptable for mixing videos (‘VJing’ – clever eh?) and allows a number of acts (check Diplo and DJ Yoda for some fine examples) to control the music and the visuals at an event – and who says digital technology is killing the DJ?!
On that note, all this digital talk doesn’t mean performance is dead, far from it. There’s a wealth of control surfaces in production, in small runs, that mean the digital performer is no longer sitting behind their laptop, clicking with a mouse (or checking their email).
This technology is allowing producers to be more creative, edit and add to the bones of a track in response to the crowd. It’s a very exciting time in this arena, just check out some of these links:
www.monome.net or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJwxbTKwONc
http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc (Microsoft Surface anyone?)
And even the big boys are getting involved… http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/
Matt Bachle-Morris, Web Producer
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Electronic music has always appealed to me due to the way in which even an ‘unmusical’ individual can make good music. With an understanding of rhythm and the ability to find a good groove, anyone can spend some time learning one of the many programs available and make a track. Some of the top producers out there at the moment wouldn’t be able to play a tune on a piano, but what they can do is manipulate sounds into a way that works in a sweaty club at 4am. This doesn’t mean it’s easy in any way, it just removes the old fashioned, and in some ways classist, system of learning your music theory and spending most of your youth forced into piano or violin lessons (yuk, flash back alert).
Punk may have started this in the 70s, but the tools needed for making techno are in pretty much every home – all you need is a half decent PC and a pair of headphones, and you’re off.
In the past 4 years things have become even more accessible, with intuitive programs being launched that have flattened the learning curve.
Ableton is leading the pack currently, with their Ableton Live software (www.ableton.com). A piece of software designed as much for the bedroom set-up as the high spec pro studio, or even the club. Based around one window, this integrates the production process (be it synthesis, sampling or loops) with the performance - allowing a budding producer to write a track, and then ‘perform’ that track with live edits, without having to use another program.
What this program also includes is probably the best ‘Help’ options I’ve ever seen. It can run through mock-ups of each section, meaning a complete beginner can be guided through any process they wish – even on your first session with the software you can be editing loops and creating synth patterns. Programmers should reference this ‘Help’ service, as it seems that this is often an afterthought, a searchable online manual simply isn’t enough anymore. We as web developers should be including this in large online projects– well planned Information Architecture can aid this – as users should be guided through any complex parts of a site.
Apple is also in the running with the new Logic 8 (www.apple.com/logicstudio/logicpro/). A massively powerful piece of software that is close to an industry standard (along with Pro Tools). This new version is both user friendly, but customisable enough for even the most complex projects. It is used by producers writing techno for sweaty Berlin clubs as much as it is by composers for Hollywood film scores.
Apple have made some enemies with Logic though, locking it as a Mac only program, but with the new iMacs dropping in price their gamble may have paid off, with many Windows fans making the big leap over.
There are a number of alternatives, and much cheaper alternatives at that. These are great for playing around, with many using drag-and-drop as a tool to build loops. You can even write tunes on your PlayStation these days…
Digital technology has become widespread in the DJ world also, with a huge number of performers leaving behind the chore of dragging a massive bag of vinyl to gigs, and instead opting for playing CDs or using on the impressive vinyl emulators – check out www.serato.com to be blown away for some digital/analogue integration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_Emulation_Software).
This technology is also adaptable for mixing videos (‘VJing’ – clever eh?) and allows a number of acts (check Diplo and DJ Yoda for some fine examples) to control the music and the visuals at an event – and who says digital technology is killing the DJ?!
On that note, all this digital talk doesn’t mean performance is dead, far from it. There’s a wealth of control surfaces in production, in small runs, that mean the digital performer is no longer sitting behind their laptop, clicking with a mouse (or checking their email).
This technology is allowing producers to be more creative, edit and add to the bones of a track in response to the crowd. It’s a very exciting time in this arena, just check out some of these links:
www.monome.net or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJwxbTKwONc
http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc (Microsoft Surface anyone?)
And even the big boys are getting involved… http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/
Matt Bachle-Morris, Web Producer
Labels: Design and Usability, Technology, Web Culture and Trends
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