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I have been reading lots of your comments on HC and I get a sense of perplexity and frustration, in terms of how music stands today and your endeavor to keep those qualities that matter. I used to think the same way, in fact I became so frustrated that I abandoned music for 10 years. To put it bluntly, I was angry (not saying you are). I could not understand how Lil Wayne could be the biggest artist in America, how shows like America Idol diminished the focus of music quality. In fact someone on these forum once referred to me as the "most negative person he has ever met." That was a stretch because I have never spoken to or met anyone on these forums. I feel you and I have very similar views, we respect the process and the quality and the power of music. While I use technology to make music, nothing is ever going to change my view that technology has caused more damage to music quality. To me it's like having a McDonalds on every street corner replacing all natural food stores. Given I cannot change where the world is headed, I decided to do my part to preserve the quality of the music making process. To do this, I decided that using computers should not diminish my work or replace my abilities, so in the end, and as I have previously argued, the results should be the same or very close. A friend recently contacted me to recommend a Piano for her son. There was one with BlueTooth. I emphasized the need to keep the focus on the music and all those other features were a distraction, simply put I did not recommend the bluetooth piano. There are still people out there who appreciate good music and the quality of the music making process. And for me, those are the people who matter the most and as long as they are around, I know the demand for quality music will not die.

Spoken like a true minimalist!

Great! You would have been able to simply blame Pitch Correction for the problems.

You make very interesting and compelling points. However, I am more focused on the results of the user or engineer. If I sing the part 200 times until I get it right or I copy and paste the part until it's right will there make a difference if the results are the same? Results as in the production objectives of the project. Personally I would rather never record on computers but I do not have the resources to do things the way I would love to. Because of this, my primary objective when recording a piece of music is to try to get it to sound as if everything was done by a human being. For example I try to play entire parts of a song rather than playing a piece of it and then copying and pasting. I believe if I do this I can get a more human feel by playing the entire part. But in defense of those who rely on technology I think is the same thing if the results are the same. In my opinion it does not matter how something was recorded if the results are the same. Times have changed and most people do not have the luxury of time and we live in a world of immediacy I don't think anybody is going to abandon an easier way and instead doing something repetitively. It's a matter of results at least for me.

This has nothing to do with technology or technicality. This is simply a matter of preference. I'll agree that technology and or DAW makes this process easier and more ubiquitous and very tempting. But assuming someone did the take over, they re-record the guitar a million times, each time they discover an error, they go back and do the take. Will this make a difference if they did not edit in a computer? Your premise is more about people being obsessed with getting it right but to me this is not about technology.

What I do not understand, and someone please correct me here: The Beatles were well known, (Sir George Martin) for experimenting with sound and technique? Were they too obsessed with technology? I mean they used technology at the time but not a DAW. Like Photoshop, I think there is a stigma affiliated with DAW. It's like if you spend time at a computer someone may say, "He loves computers." But You are actually doing something in the computer which would not make a difference if the same process was being done on a different domain. Which is why I believe if computers were not involved, people may have a different opinion. The term technical seemed closely aligned with tools, than the actual process. I see it as the same process being done differently with alternative methods.

Well, I am a perfectionist and a minimalist and so I make music targeting my own critique. It has to sound natural. But there are a few lines I will not cross, I will never use Auto Tune, and have never used it. I also try to stay away from compressing my vocals, except if I am willing targeting a specific result/sound. Or at the Master stage. I used a DAW like a tape machine, I also do not use loops. So I play all the parts from beginning to end, this way I have a natural velocity and feel and I can alternate patterns. My ultimate go is to do less in the box. Please note: Nothing I stated above is indicative of good music or hit music, it my personal preference and to each his own. Given I am not certain how some or all listeners my consume music, I simply target my own taste, hopefully someone will like it. But to answer your question, I think the times have changed and the world has changed, it may appear as if people are obsessed with the technicalities of music production but I see it differently. I think Computers and Music making on computers have proliferated and become so ubiquitous, this can make it seem as if people are obsessed with the technology but I think it's because the technology is simply there.

Why do 13 different football stadiums pack in about 60,000 people every Sunday, who spend umteens of $$$ for tickets, beer, parking, tailgaiting, hookers (err, that's what I hear)? Let's not even begin to talk about all the other sporting events like college ball, hockey, etc. Apparantly we Americans are only broke when it comes to our house payments. One of the reason is: People are more likely to spend money when they have very little income. Think of all the people taking these houses they couldn't afford. Think of all these people signing up for credit cards they cannot pay off. Psychologically - Most people are more likely to spend when they feel depressed. AI