At 11:43 AM 8/6/01 +1000, Law, Alistair (DEM, North Ryde) wrote:
>Couldn't agree more. I have had these same experiences.
:) I remember a time when every other listmember here was a member of some
sort of acid-jazz-related band...I don't think any of them are around
anymore...
>When you find
>musicians of like mind you'll go out of your way to work with them though.
Oh definitely. It does has to be said though that "like mind" doesn't just
account for musical tastes but like (or compatible) goals and attitudes as
well...
>As the technology gets better and cheaper I feel we are getting to the point
>where just about anybody can put together a track that sounds reasonable (no
>pun intended) - however it may sound exactly like everyone else's track. I
>feel that what will set the good stuff apart (at least to the discerning
>listener) *is* the human element - good vocals, good instrumentalists,
>innovative programming, song writing ability etc that stuff is still hard to
>fake. (I think).
Music is subjective, of course, but I can seem to pick out the difference
between an electronic track made by someone more experienced and someone
who's a newbie. And usually the more experienced person will have a
background of performing music (instrumentally and DJing), and has a more
diverse and open taste in music (it definitely shows) than the
inexperienced producer, who usually has little musical background and in
most cases a narrow taste in music styles.
Going back to the broken-beat/nu jazz, virtually all of the heavy players
in the broken-beat scene had previous backgrounds in acid jazz and drum n
bass, and it needs no explanation here as to the various forms of music
that have fused together to become those genres...
Of course, people have to start from somewhere, so of course I'm not
newbies making music at all, but they should just woodshed for a while, and
make tracks for themselves and their friends before making dubplates or
trying to get that record deal.
So I don't necessarily think the 'human element' per se is the only thing
that separates the good stuff from the crap (though I don't see how you can
be wrong either), but having some sort of background in the human
element can account for that too.
- 30 -
: . elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa
: . elson@westworld.com : www.westworld.com/~elson
: . groove to the futurethnic beats of e:trinity at www.e-trinity.org and
www.mp3.com/etrinity
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