few years, I have surely noticed a growing trend in terms of preserving the quality of production, there is more emphasis on recording live instruments and better recording quality and use of best equipment. Also the loudness war( as we audio engineers call it) is slowly coming to terms with loudness normalisation incorporated by YouTube / Soundcloud / iTunes and other popular online platforms. The output levels are eventually going to be consistent across all platforms. We couldn’ t have been more thankful!
How technological innovations has altered the way music is produced
We have come a long way! Our recording gears have become quite powerful and compact. Today we can record more than 200 tracks at the same time! There are numerous ways to edit and correct our performances, lots of interesting music
space created by them. This change has happened ever since music piracy couldn’ t be contained & illegal downloading became easier for people. In the past few years, we have seen an increase in the number of creators. As the technology gets more and more simplified, we are expected to see more creators, music producers are coming into the limelight.
The future of music production
The pace at which the technology is advancing, someone like me could only assume the possible directions in which the music production will take. Artificially intelligent softwares will replace some of the common studio operations like audio noise restoration, cleaning up clicks and pops from a recording, pitch correction etc. before it ' s sent for further processing. Currently in our industry, something similar is already happening in the field of
genres and sub genres that are being discovered as a result of the abundance of the sounds available to us. For the most part producing music has become really easy. One can record & produce an entire song from their bedroom studios. If you are musical( very important), then all you need is a good recording software, a mic, MIDI keyboard and a descent pair of monitors and headphone to convert your musical ideas into a fully produced song. There are numerous plugins available in the market which could be used to replicate the sound of a real instrument, moreover giving the creator a varied choice of sounds / textures to play around with. If one is still not happy then they could record an organic sound & sample them in their production which could add some sonic value to a song. You have access to so many readymade ideas( Apple Loops / Loop Library), pre-sets & tools that an individual is never limited with their options while producing music. Performance can be enhanced too via pitch correction and time quantisation methods-“ so not to worry if it wasn’ t a perfect take!” This wasn’ t so easy 20-30 years ago.
On the downside, a musician can take full advantage of the technological innovations & somewhere musicianship is compromised. Artists are turning into entrepreneurs who also have to sell / promote their music. You’ ll find musicians / artist( including myself) taking up social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc. as means to promote their art. Earlier record labels companies used to discover new talent & nurture them through their career. Now they are mostly dormant & instead artists approach them mostly to get a name association & use the popularity mastering. Landr and Aria mastering are two different online softwares which does mastering in a matter of few mins. It isn ' t perfect yet however in future it will be.
As of now, we are in the transition phase. With more innovations, music as we know may have different definition in the future- sounds / textures will play a more important role than it is now. As more and more researches are happening, music will find a wider role in our society. It’ ll branch out to medical sciences to find cure for an illnesses and many other such fields where music is used at a very fundamental level. We shall see the introduction of newer instruments and experimental music will take a new form. You’ ll see extraordinary musician skills being developed by certain musician. Let’ s hope to make it through all the changes that may occur in the future.( laughs)
About Deepak:
Deepak is a trained, professional music producer, mixing engineer, and teacher. Having taught at a leading music conservatory in India for many years, Deepak has nourished many young music producers and mixing engineers who work professionally in the South and North Film industries. He has studied Sound Engineering from SAE, certified as an Apple Music Production trainer, and has worked across many studios in Chennai as a recording engineer. Besides production and teaching, Deepak has worked extensively on ad jingles, film collaborations, and performs with his project – Indore Gharana.
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