Keeping the "Art" in “State of the Art”

Are you fighting technology, or flowing with it?

By Craig Anderton

Technology can be overwhelming. But does it have to be? Why can some people roll with any technological punch that’s thrown their way, while others struggle to keep up? 

Some musicians and engineers feel that technology “gets in the way” of the recording or music-making process. Conversely, there’s also no denying that technology makes possible music that was never possible before, and can even provide the means to streamline its production. If you feel there’s some kind of dichotomy between technology and music, you’re not imagining things: Your brain’s “firmware” is hardwired to deal with artistic and technological tasks differently. 

In this article, we’ll explore why this division exists, describe how your brain’s firmware works, and provide some tips on how to stay focused on the art when you’re up to your neck in tech.

COOPERATION AND CONFLICT 

Technology and art cooperate in some areas, but conflict in others. Regarding cooperation, think of how technology has always pushed the instrument-making envelope (the piano was quite high-tech in its day). And recording defies time itself: We can not only enjoy music from decades ago, but also sing a harmony with ourselves — essentially, going backward in time to sing simultaneously with our original vocal. Cool. 

Then there’s the love affair between music and mathematics. Frequencies, tempos, rhythms, SMPTE time code — they’re all based on math. 

Music loves Math. When my daughter was getting into fractions, I created a sequence that included half notes, quarter notes, sixteenth notes, etc. She immediately “got” the concept upon hearing fractions expressed as rhythms.

As to conflicts, first there’s the dichotomy of how the brain processes information (as we’ll discuss next); and second, there are a few societally-induced conflicts. For example, some people think that using technology is somehow cheating (e.g., lowering a sequence’s tempo so you can play along more easily, then speeding it back up). Furthermore, the accelerated rate of technological change itself causes conflicts. Which gear should I buy? Which platform is better? And why do the skills I learned just a few years ago no longer matter? 

Let’s look at how physiology influences our perceptions of both technology and art, as this will provide some clues on how best to reconcile the two.

THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS 

Our brain has two hemispheres; each one processes information differently. Consider the following quote from the essay “2044: One Hundred Years of Innovation,” presented by William Roy Kesting (founder of Kesting Ventures) and Kathy Woods (VP and Principal of Woods Creative Services) at a 1994 meeting of the Commercial Development Association: “The right brain is the older of the two hemispheres and functions in an all-at-once mode to produce a complete picture. In contrast, the left hemisphere excels in sequential functions such as words, abstract thinking and numbers.” 

Essentially, the right brain is the “Macintosh GUI” side that handles intuitive, emotional tasks — like being creative. The left brain is more like the “MS-DOS command line interface” side that works in a more linear fashion, and deals with sequential thought processes. 

Use Color to Your Advantage. The right brain parses color rapidly. Many programs let you customize color schemes, and hardware companies are becoming more aware of this too. For example, the Alesis Ion synth changed the transpose LED’s intensity when transposing by different octaves, making it easy to see the transposition range without having to read anything. And, its programs were arranged in four banks by color rather than letters or numbers.

The “breakthrough” in understanding this difference between the hemispheres comes from the work of Drs. Roger W. Sperry, David H. Hubel, and Torsten N. Wiesel, who shared the 1981 Nobel prize in Physiology. Later studies have modified their findings a bit, but some comments in the Nobel Awards presentation speech, by David Ottoson, are well worth noting. 

“The left brain half is . . . superior to the right in abstract thinking, interpretation of symbolic relationships and in carrying out detailed analysis. It can speak, write, carry out mathematical calculations and in its general function is rather reminiscent of a computer. It is with this brain half that we communicate. The right cerebral hemisphere is mute. . . It cannot write, and can only read and understand the meaning of simple words in noun form. It almost entirely lacks the ability to count and can only carry out simple additions up to 20. However . . . is superior to the left in the perception of complex sounds and in the appreciation of music . . . it is, too, absolutely superior to the left hemisphere in perception of nondescript patterns. It is with the right hemisphere we recognize the face of an acquaintance, the topography of a town, or landscape earlier seen. 

“Pavlov . . . that mankind can be divided into thinkers and artists. Pavlov was perhaps not entirely wrong. Today we know from Sperry’s work that the left hemisphere is cool and logical in its thinking, while the right hemisphere is the imaginative, artistically creative half of the brain.” 

As a result, one option is to explain the art/technology dichotomy as the hemispheres being not necessarily in conflict, but working at cross-purposes. Once “stuck” in a hemisphere’s mode of thought, it’s difficult to transition seamlessly into working in the other one, let alone integrate the two. 

The “Unified Interface” and the Brain. A “unified interface,” which avoids opening multiple overlapping windows in favor of a single screen where elements can be shown or hidden as needed, speaks to both hemispheres. The right brain takes in the “big picture,” while the left brain can focus on details if needed. Ableton Live has two unified interfaces — a “right brain” one optimized for live improvisation, and a “left brain” one optimized for “offline” editing.

But if that’s the case, why are so many good programmers musicians? And why have many mathematicians — going back as far as Pythagoras — been fascinated with music, and vice-versa?

THE MUSICIAN’S "FIRMWARE" 

The NAMM campaign “music makes you smarter” is rooted in truth. Recent research shows that many musicians indeed use both halves of the brain to a greater extent than non-musicians. According to Prof. Dr. Lars Heslet (Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Copenhagen State Hospital in Denmark, and a researcher into the effects of music on the body): “The right brain hemisphere is specialized in the perception of spatial musical elements, that is the sense of harmony and pitch, whereas the left hemisphere perceives the progress of the melody, which requires musical memory.” 

In other words, both halves of the brain need to be in play to fully appreciate music. This may explain why musicians, critics, and average listeners have seemingly different tastes in music: The critics listen with the analytical (left) side of their brain, the non-musicians react emotionally with their right brain, and the musicians use both hemispheres. Here’s an interesting quote from Frederick Turner (Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas) and Ernst Pöppel, the distinguished German neuropsychologist: 

“Jerre Levy . . . characterizes the relationship between right and left as a complementarity of cognitive capacities. She has stated in a brilliant aphorism that the left brain maps spatial information into a temporal order, while the right brain maps temporal information onto a spatial order.” 

Does that sound like a sequencer piano roll to you? Indeed, it uses both temporal and spatial placement. The same thing goes for hard disk recording where you can “see” the waveforms. Even though some programs allow turning off waveform drawing, I’d bet very few musicians do: We want to see the relationship between spatial and temporal information. 

We Want Visual Feedback. Which track view do you like better — the one that shows MIDI and audio data, or the blank tracks? Odds are you prefer a relationship between spatial and temporal information.

 Again, from Turner and Pöppel: 

“Experienced musicians use their left brain just as much as their right in listening to music shows that their higher understanding of music is the result of the collaboration of both ‘brains,’ the music having been translated first from temporal sequence to spatial pattern, and then ‘read,’ as it were, back into a temporal movement.”

HEMISPHERIC INTEGRATION: JUST DO IT!

 The ideal bridge between technology and art lies in “hemispheric integration” — the smooth flow of information between the two hemispheres, so that each processes information as appropriate. For example, the right brain may intuitively understand that something doesn’t sound right, while the left brain knows which EQ settings will fix the problem. Or for a more musical example, a songwriter may experience a distinct emotional feeling in the right hemisphere, but the left hemisphere knows how to “map” this onto a melody or chord progression. 

Without hemispheric integration, the brain has to bounce back and forth between the two hemispheres, which (as noted earlier) is difficult. This is why integration may expedite the creative process. Here’s another quote from William Roy Kesting and Kathy Woods: “ . . . just as creative all-at-once activities like art need left-sided sequence, so science and logic depend on right-sided inspiration. Visionary physicists frequently report that their insights occur in a flash of intuition . . . Einstein said: ‘Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure.’” 

Mozart also noted the same phenomenon. He once stated that, when his thoughts flowed best and most abundantly, the music became complete and finished in his mind, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, with all parts visible simultaneously. He was seeing the whole, not just the individual elements.

MEET THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 

The physical connection between the two hemispheres is called the corpus callosum. As Dr. Lars Heslet notes,“To attain a complete musical perception, the connection and integration between the two brain hemispheres (via the corpus callosum) is necessary. This interaction via the corpus callosum can be enhanced by music.” 

Interestingly, according to the article “Music of the Hemispheres” (Discover, 15:15, March 1994), “The corpus callosum — that inter-hemisphere information highway — is 10-15\\% thicker in musicians who began their training while young than it is in non-musicians. Our brain structure is apparently strongly molded by early training.” 

Bingo. Musical training forges connections between the left and right hemispheres, resulting in a measurable, physical change. And that also explains why some musicians are just as much at home reading about some advanced hardware technique in our articles library as they are listening to music: They have the firmware to handle it.

THE RIGHT/LEFT BRAIN “GROOVE” 

Producer/engineer Michael Stewart (who produced Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”), while studying interface design, noticed that someone involved in a mostly left- or right-brain activity often had difficulty switching between the two, and sometimes worked better when able to remain mostly in one hemisphere. (Some of his research was presented in an article in EQ magazine called “Recording and the Conscious Mind.”) 

For example, as a producer, he would often have singers who played guitar or keyboards do so while singing, even if he didn’t record the instruments. He felt this kept the left brain occupied instead of letting it be too self-critical or analytical, thus allowing the right brain to take charge of the vocal. Another one of his more interesting findings was that you could sort of “restart” the right brain by looking at pictures — the right brain likes visual stimulation. 

Stewart was also the person who came up with the “feel factor” concept, quantifying the effects that small timing differences have on the brain’s perception of music, particularly with respect to “grooves.” This is a fine example of using left-brain thinking to quantify more intuitive, right-brain concepts.

Quantization and Feel. Quantization can hinder or help a piece of music, depending on how you use it. For example, set any quantization “strength” parameter to less than 100\\% (e.g., 70\\%) to move a note closer to the rhythmic grid but retain some of the original feel. Also, quantization “windows” can avoid quantizing notes that are already close to the beat, and “groove” quantizing (which quantizes parts to another part’s rhythm, not a fixed rhythmic grid) can give a more realistic feel.

Timing shifts for notes are also important. For example, if in rock music you shift the snare somewhat later than the kick, the sound will be “bigger.” If you move the hi-hat a little bit ahead of the kick, the feel will “push” the beat more.

TECHNOLOGICAL TRAPS 

Technology has created a few traps that meddle with hemispheric integration. When the left hemisphere is processing information, it wants certainty and a logical order. Meanwhile, the right brain craves something else altogether. As mentioned earlier with the examples regarding Michael Stewart, in situations where hemispheric integration isn’t strong — or where you don’t want to stress out the brain to switch hemispheres — trying to stay in one hemisphere is often the answer to a good performance or session. 

Quite a few people believe pre-computer age recordings had more “feel.” But I think they may be looking in the wrong place for an answer as to why. Feel is not found in a particular type of tube preamp or mixer; I believe it was found in the recording process. 

When Buddy Holly was cutting his hits, he didn’t have to worry about defragmenting hard drives. In his day, the engineer handled the left brain activities, the artist lived in the right brain, and the producer integrated the two. The artist didn’t have to be concerned about technology, and could stay in that “right brain groove.” 

Cycle Recording: Let the Computer Be Your Engineer. Cycle (or loop) recording repeats a portion of music over and over, adding a new track with each overdub. You can then sort through the overdubbed tracks and “splice” together the best parts. This lets you slip into a right-brain groove, then keep recording while you’re in that groove without having to worry about arming new tracks, rewinding, etc.

If you record by yourself, you’ve probably experienced a situation where you had some great musical idea and were just about to make it happen, but then you experienced a technical glitch (or ringing phone, or whatever). So you switched back into left brain mode to work on the glitch or answer the phone. But when you tried to get back into that “right brain groove,” you couldn’t . . . it was lost. That’s an example of the difficulty of switching back and forth between hemispheres. In fact, some people will lose that creative impulse just in the process of arming a track and getting it ready to record. 

Now, if you have an Einsteinian level of hemispheric integration, maybe you would see the glitch or phone call as merely a thread in the fabric of the creative process, and never leave that right-brain zone. We’ll always be somewhat beholden to the differences between hemispheres, but at least we know one element to reprogramming your firmware: Get involved with music, early on, in several different facets, and keep fattening up that corpus callosum. And it’s probably not a bad idea to exercise both halves of your brain. For example, given that the left hand controls the right brain and the right hand controls the left brain, try writing with the hand you normally don’t use from time to time and see if that stimulates the other hemisphere.

JUST BECAUSE WE CAN . . . SHOULD WE? 

Technology allows us to do things that were never possible before. And maybe we were better off when they weren’t possible! For example, technology makes it possible to be artist, engineer, and producer. But this goes against our very own physiology, as it forces constant switching between the hemispheres. Would some of our greatest songwriters have written such lasting songs if they’d engineered or produced themselves? Maybe, but then again, maybe not. 

And what about mixing with a mouse? Sure, it’s possible to have a studio without a mixing console, but this reduces the mixing process to a linear, left-brain activity. A hardware mixing console (or control surface) allows seeing “the big picture” where all the channels, EQ, pans, etc. are mapped out in front of you.

AVOIDING OPTION OVERLOAD 

Part of the fix for hemispheric integration is to use gear you know intimately, so you don’t have to drag yourself into left brain mode every time you want to do something. When using gear becomes second nature, you can perform left-brain activities while staying in the right brain. As just one example, if you’re a guitarist and want to play an E chord, when you were first learning you probably had to use your left brain to remember which fingers to place on which frets. Now you can do it instinctively, even while you stay in the right brain. The same principle holds true for using any gear, not just a guitar. 

Ultimately, simplification is a powerful antidote to option overload. When you’re writing in the studio, the point isn’t to record the perfect part, but to get down ideas. Record fast before the inspiration goes away, and worry about fixing any mistakes later. Don’t agonize over level-setting, just be conservative so you don’t end up with distortion. Find a good “workstation” plug-in or synthesizer and master it, then use that one plug-in as a song takes shape. You can always substitute fine-tuned parts later. Also maintain a small number of carefully selected presets for signal processors and instruments; you can always tweak them later. And if you’re a plug-o-holic, remove the ones you don’t use. How much time do you waste scrolling through long lists of plug-ins? 

Use placeholders for parts if needed, and don’t edit as you go along — that’s a left brain activity. With software, templates and shortcuts are powerful simplifying tools that let you stay in right brain mode. Templates mean you don’t have to get bogged down setting up something, and hitting computer keys (particularly function keys) is more precise than mouse movements. Efficiency avoids bogging down the creative process.

MAKING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS MAGICAL 

As Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” says, “If the machine produces tranquility, it’s right.” Reviews and other opinions don’t matter if something feels right to you.

Which Type Of Graphic Interface Works for You? The interface is crucial to making an instrument feel right. Compare the screen shot for one of the earliest software synths, Seer Systems’ Reality, to that of G-Media’s Oddity. Reality has more of a spreadsheet vibe, whereas the Oddity portrays the front panel of the instrument it emulates; this makes the signal flow more obvious.

Companies can supply technology, but only you can supply the magic that makes technology come alive. No instrument includes soul; fortunately, you do. As we’ve seen, though, to let the soul and inspiration come through, you need to allow the creative hemisphere of your right brain full rein, while the left brain makes its seamless contribution toward making everything run smoothly. 

Part of mastering the world of technology is knowing when not to use it. Remember, all that matters in your music is the emotional impact on the listener. They don’t want perfection; they want an emotionally satisfying experience. Be very careful when identifying “mistakes” — they can actually add character to your recording. And finally, remember that no amount of editing can fix a bad musical part . . . yet almost nothing can obscure a good one. 

The bottom line is that you need to master the technology you use so that operating it becomes automatic, then set up a work flow that makes it easier to put your left brain on autopilot. That frees up the right brain to help you keep the “art” in the state of the art. We’ll leave the last word on why you want to do this to Rolf Jensen, director of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies: 

“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place a new value on the one human ability that can’t be automated: Emotion.” 

Craig Anderton is Executive Editor of Electronic Musician magazine. He has played on, mixed, or produced over 20 major label releases (as well as mastered over a hundred tracks for various musicians), and written over a thousand articles for magazines like Guitar Player, Keyboard, Sound on Sound (UK), and Sound + Recording (Germany). He has also lectured on technology and the arts in 38 states, 10 countries, and three languages.