Technology has been an integral part of human
evolution. It has made our lives easier
and has allowed us to go about our days faster by just one click. Personally, I
like technology. I have family abroad and miss them terribly, and thanks to
Skype, distance is of no bearing. Although, it begs the questions, “What
happens to the interpersonal relationship? The connection? The “humanity” of it
all?”
Music, like humankind has evolved through the years. Through the 50’s , the 60’s, 70’s and so on. But more than anything, its how your favorite songs were recorded
and how it was brought to the masses, into the radio, into your homes.
There are different ways of recording music. The first form
of it was Analog, as said by David Miles Huber and Robert E. Runstein in the article "The Analog Tape Recorder: An Intoduction" on prosoundweb.com, Audio is recorded onto a magnetized tape-based medium and is
played back in tape form.
Digital recording, according to Marek Roland-Mieszkowski's article entitled "Intoduction to Digital Recording Techniques" as written on digital-recordings.com, simply put is the conversion of analog
signal into numerical value, to be recognized by a computer. Compared to
analog, digital is easy to manipulate compared to analog recording.
Analog recording vs digital recording in terms of quality
has been an ongoing debate among sound engineers and musicians alike, according to Steve Guttenberg's article entitled "Digital vs. Analog audio: Which sounds better?", on cnet.com. Purists prefer Analog recording because of the warm sound that the tube amp
produces. As for musicians, to record analog, means to play the song live
without cuts. Meaning, the emotion and raw, unfiltered playing is not lost
while recording. The downside of analog these days is it is high-cost and
future-retro which makes it a collectors item. As for digital, it was embraced by the
industry but was frowned upon by engineers and musicians because of how digital
“mass produced” music.
As technology developed, compared to analog, digital gave
musicians a chance to perfect their art by allowing them to cut when they made
a mistake, and just simply record a new part without having to play the whole
song over again. Digital is also more practical for home recording, cheaper and
practical.
A movie called Sound City best explains the whole debacle of
analog vs digital.Famous bands such as Buckingham and Nicks, Foo Fighters
and Rage Against the Machines, all recorded in Sound City, a studio that is
famous for its analog recording and perfect acoustic sound using Rupert Neve's analog board
If my opinion, Analog is an art and Digital is the future
but if we can find a way to bring these two technologies together, imagine the
possibilities for the music we can make. Bottom line, it all really depends on
the artists taste and preference as to which route to take. It is safe to say
though that Analog recording, given its purity and fantastic sound, won’t be
going anywhere.
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