Have Computers Ruinied Music?

[kurtzy23]

I was playing Fallout: New Vegas last week and while I was wandering around the wasteland I happend to be listening to Radio New Vegas and some Dean Martin Stated playing. I noticed how good he sounded so I went onto youtube to listen to some of his other songs. I also heard some Frank Sinatra as well. Then I listend to some modern singers then I found some of them Live in Concert.

They sounded way different when they were on stage. So does anyone else think that the best singers were from the 1989 and backwards before they started digitally altering there voices to make them sound better.

 

[NeutralDrow]

No. I don't blame computers for making people unable to sing. There are plenty of people who still can sing wonderfully.

 

[dyre]

There are plenty of people who still can sing wonderfully.

Pretty much this

It's probably just a problem with what music you currently listen to. No one's forcing anyone to listen to T-Pain...

 

[evilneko]

Blame the people who like and buy autotuned songs by people who can't actually sing.

Then again, I also listen to vocaloid. Most of them are crap, but every once in a while you come across one done by someone who knows what "postproduction" means. Something like this:


Or this.


(Why yes, I do like Rin Kagamine, why do you ask?)

But I'm under no illusions that either of those compares with this.

 

[Jadak]

Your argument seems to not be that music has been ruined, but that modern singers suck more. Music is music, if it's great and was only great due to computer improvements, it's still great.

So, ignoring your premise of modern singers sucking more, I don't particularly care what makes music good, so long as it is good.

 

[Erana]

They sounded way different when they were on stage. So does anyone else think that the best singers were from the 1989 and backwards before they started digitally altering there voices to make them sound better.

Do I believe in a generalized superiority of the good old days is true because of a contemporary trend?

No.

I just have two issues with your argument here:

1. So what if people can't sing all that well if they sound good on a polished album version? I mean, the general public does unfairly tend to throw all the credit for a song on the pretty person in the music video, but if great music gets made along the way, what's the problem?

2. The above, of course, leads to my second issue. The world of music is bigger than just the stuff on the radio today. Hell, I haven't willingly listened to a single song with any lyrics other than happening upon an ending Portal theme in over a month because I don't feel like listening to people sing.
And it always bothers me when people constantly insist that the "real thing" is 100% better than anything that could ever come from the computer ever, especially when this goes on to include sounds that simply have no acoustic counterpart. Its pointless elitism getting in the way of simply enjoying music as it was meant to be.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

No. I don't blame computers for making people unable to sing. There are plenty of people who still can sing wonderfully.

That, also the assertion that there aren't as many proficient vocalists these days is most likely an indication that you aren't looking hard enough.

 

[Randvek]

I think singing in general went downhill in the mid-90s. Sure, there are some GREAT singers now, but sometime around the rise of boy bands, we realized that you could be a singer if you looked great and had a good bass line but couldn't sing. Hrm.

 

[infohippie]

No, people without taste ruin music. You know, the sort who claim that Lady Gaga can sing, or that rap is music. The vast majority of modern music is shit because most people are willing to listen to shit and pay for it. Music being a business, like everything these days, the race is then on to find the most easily marketed shit in order to get disproportionate returns on as little investment as possible.

 

[Stall]

Some musicians aren't good live. It's always been like this... it's nothing new really. Computers are saving music, if anything. Hell, 15 years ago, you probably would have to buy a Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra album to experience their music, but now, their greatest songs are a click away! The internet is allowing people to find and enjoy music they probably never knew even existed. I hate it when people think technology ruined whatever. Music is no exception.

No, people without taste ruin music. You know, the sort who claim that Lady Gaga can sing, or that rap is music. The vast majority of modern music is shit because most people are willing to listen to shit and pay for it. Music being a business, like everything these days, the race is then on to find the most easily marketed shit in order to get disproportionate returns on as little investment as possible.

What's even worse is when people dismiss an entire genre of music for some petty or silly reason like "it isn't music" just because they haven't listened to the right group.

 

[distortedreality]

So does anyone else think that the best singers were from the 1989 and backwards before they started digitally altering there voices to make them sound better.

You do know that vocoders were around well before the end of the 80's right?

More OT - I think you need to listen to a more varied range of music, and not what's on the radio.

No, people without taste ruin music. You know, the sort who claim that Lady Gaga can sing, or that rap is music.

Actually, it's quotes like this that have the biggest detrimental effect on music in general over the past 20 years or so. Fanboism and elitism should have no place in any artistic field.

 

[subtlefuge]

I'd say that iTunes ruined music. Further shifted the focus away from albums and towards chart topping. Before, that was just a way to be noticed or recognized. Now, it is directly correlated with $.

Also, whatever caused it, hip hop is the tamest genre out there now. That's just pathetic. When Cee Lo Green releases a pop song that says fuck a few times, but is racier than 99% of the "hardcore" rap genre's efforts in the past 5 years, you know it's just turned into a veritable brothel. Pick it up and start corrupting our youth again so video games don't have to.

 

[BonsaiK]

I was playing Fallout: New Vegas last week and while I was wandering around the wasteland I happend to be listening to Radio New Vegas and some Dean Martin Stated playing. I noticed how good he sounded so I went onto youtube to listen to some of his other songs. I also heard some Frank Sinatra as well. Then I listend to some modern singers then I found some of them Live in Concert.

They sounded way different when they were on stage. So does anyone else think that the best singers were from the 1989 and backwards before they started digitally altering there voices to make them sound better.

1. You wouldn't have been able to discover and access these artists' music so easily without computers.
2. Voice altering has been happening a lot earlier than 1989.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Not at all. First, there are definitely some amazing singers out there these days (Florence Welch and Adele to name just a couple). Second, when used properly, electronics/computers can be used to make some of the best music. Computers have in no way ruined music or made it worse.

 

[silent-treatment]

The issue is that there is a huge push for people to sing in a tenor's range now a days, and frankly not everyone's a tenor (when it comes to men, I am quite ignorant to women's voices). So what we have is people singing in ranges that they have to push to reach, which gets really hard/painful to do live, and it sounds like shitty 90% of the time. Also pitch correction can bump a baritone into a tenor.

 

[octafish]

Fun fact, Sinatra, Martin and Crosby were considered poor singers by the establishment at the time because they needed amplification. They sing very softly with almost no projection. Sinatra himself always had his mike turned all the way up until it was on the threshold of feedback, he barely makes a noise when he sings. They just couldn't cut it compared to opera singers who can fill a concert hall unamplified.

 

[Supertegwyn]

No, computers have not "Ruinied" music. I don't even know what that means.

 

[Aurgelmir]

No. I don't blame computers for making people unable to sing. There are plenty of people who still can sing wonderfully.

True, but computers helped the ones that can't sing but had a pretty face... which we have way to many of.

 

[PleaseDele]

Computers didn't ruin music in itself. However, due to technology we suffer from over exposure. It's so easy to reach all mediocre and downright awful stuff the good artists are harder to find.