Computers In Rock

Do you think the growth of technology and computers being used in music is killing rock or enhancing it? I think it can be used the wrong way (Linkin Park etc.) but it can also be brilliant (Radiohead, Flaming Lips, etc.). I used to think it was really bad to use electronic stuff in music, like it took away the musicianship of it. But I realized that you still have to write the music and put it in there; it doesn't just make itself. When I watch the Pompeii DVD, and Roger is talking about this, it sounds like people thought the same thing back then. "Give a man a guitar and he doesn't become Eric Clapton. Give a man an amplifier and a synthesizer and he doens't become us". Any thoughts on the subject?

Balance is the key, i think. On one hand without computers couldn't be a lot of stuff we hear today...the posibilities of creating something having a "low budget" equipment are tremendous nowadays....in the past, that very tought was imposible, you needed a lot of costly gear to record ideas...

Musically, like you say, you have to create stuff in your head and then translate it out of it...the quality of your stuff is another matter...

On the other hand, without computers creativity was more explosive, take a look at that DVD of the making of DSOFTM...amazing thinking those guys did there to have the sounds we all know...with computers is more practical, but less fun...you click a button and voilá, backwards guitars...or this and that...

Like i said, balance is the key.

Saludos.

I agree w/ les paul ( who pioneered recording techniques ) when he said the technology has gone as far as it is going to, & artists who focus on quality songwriting will garner the most attention

I have mixed opinions about using new technology in recording. For instance, I despise Linkin Park. They are quite possibly the worst band out there right now, in my opinion. On the other hand, I absolutely love Nine Inch Nails, who use synth sounds abundantly. I guess it all comes down to style and atmosphere of the music and quality of songwriting.

If I remeber from the Dark Side of the Moon classic albums DVD, Alan Parsons said that because of computers, all mixes now sound that same, and before, each mix was like a live performance and always sounded different.
Some bands like Muse are great hard-rocking bands that use technology to their advantage.

I don't mean so much using computers for recording. I'm referring to actual sounds that are generated from computers/synths or whatever.

Well, now you're talking about techno music, if that's the case. I don't care for the majority of techno, but I do like some bands that have incorporated techno into their music (Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, Chroma Key). I think it's fine.

Right when synthesizers became more accessable in the 1980s, I think they were used poorly and too much. Dozens of 80s songs are drenched in cheesy synth sounds and leads and I can barely stand them. Computers provide a new way to alter sound that analog tape techniques had limited ability to do. Sure, working with tape can be unpredictable and sometimes very exciting, but it is easier to produce sounds digitally. In my opinion, give me analog tape and modular synths anyday. Zappa, Reich, Cage and other musicans produced very wild sound collages and experiments using just tape, and with the pristine, precise, clean method using computers today takes away from that flexibility, but you get the more ease of use.

That's what I'm talking about.

What about Flaming Lips, and the Postal Service?

Don't know them...I try to stay away from the modern mainstream scene.

I'd say that it's safe to use technology and stuff in your music as long as your lyrics or actual musical talent overshadows it or blends with it perfectly. When all the music is, is a lead singer and 3 loops going on in the background then i'd have to say it's really weak.
The music has to maintain a certain level of personality

They are not mainstream, and that is one of the most immature, ridiculous things I've ever heard.

Really now? I seriously doubt that.

I will second Tower Of Faith's sentiments. NIN rules, LP drools

Muse incoporates Techno sound with sweet bass and guitar, one of the best bands today.
And of course there's Asia which is known for their 80's synths, Downes really mastered those.