Over the last few decades, we have seen some amazing technological advances in many fields. This has entirely change the way how we interact with the world around us, from ordering pizza through an application to having cars without the need to refuel every few days which could harm the environment as they run on batteries that could last for days without charging. We could also see that humans nowadays could barely survive without the need to check their social media every few minutes, browsing Lazada for discounts on stuff they want or goggling for information they don’t know.
The world is evolving at an amazing speed and the music industry is no exception. Now, let us take a look on some of the few technological advances in the music industry of today.
Auto-Tune
Auto tune might just be an artist’s best friend as you could hide all your vocal imperfections behind the technology. Sometimes, it is quite common for the odd note to be slightly off-pitch during recordings. This will then be tweaked instantly which could result in pitch perfect vocals.
Multitrack Recording
You could say that multitrack recording is a game changer in the music industry when it was first introduced. Before the introduction of this technology, songs would need to be performed by the band live in the studio in one take so that it could be recorded. This would be such a hassle as if a member does a mistake while recording, the whole band would need to repeat the process again until they feel the song is perfect. With the availability of multitrack recording,this can enable them to record separate parts of a song and piece them together. This will also allow tweaks to be made in specific sections of a song while also adding layers to a single instruments such as vocal harmonies or any drum beats which are recorded separately and layered together.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
The days before the invention of MIDI was hard and very cost extensive as you would actually need a drummer in the studio to record its sound if you want a certain kind of drum beat sound in your song. This is no longer a problem as MIDI allows electronics instruments and tools to communicate with each other whilst having the tools to alter a track substantially without having to re-record anything. This helps aspiring artists in a way as it offers more creative freedom and keeps production costs to a minimum.
Digital Streaming Software
Nowadays, we could listen to any music anytime anywhere we wanted. we have websites such as Youtube who was among the earliest to promote streaming which enable musicians to upload their music for free and to have it heard across the world. Recently, we have specific streaming sites such as Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud, JOOX, and GooglePlay which allow listeners to enjoy any music without the need to leave their houses.
Guitar Effect Pedals
Now that music has evolved through the years, guitarist from bands across the world from Kirk Hammett with his signature wah pedal to Eric Clapton’s crossroads effect pedal,these guitar effect pedals are there to help generate new tones to incorporate it into their music. The creation and refinement of new sounds for the electric guitar have often relied on effects pedals, waiting for the musician to stomp on them to add or remove their contribution to the landscape of their amplified sound. Guitarist often use this pedals to create that specific tone which a default guitar cant make. A guitarist would really need to spend a hefty amount of money to collect many types of these guitar effect pedals. but no worries as the advancement of technology has helped in producing multi effect pedals and also an guitar effects app you would just just need to plug your guitar through the phone and to the amp and let the phone application do it all.
We have seen the music industry change right infront of our eyes. I believe it is fair to say that the IT industry has both helped and improve the music industry for the betterment of everyone.
By: Harris Bin Abdul Rahman and Nur Zulfaez Bin Rauzan