Shifting home studios
As an avid music fan I decided to approach this blog post as an opportunity to shed some insight and light on how technology and information is changing the niche world of music production and sound design.
The Digitization of Assets;
One very interesting alleys of progress in the world of music production is what I like to refer to as the digitization of assets. For the longest time when you think of what a music producer is doing, you think of large studios with a bunch of guitars, synthesizers, amplifiers, mics, etc. This however is no longer a necessity at all, recent technological solutions have found ways to completely recreate the analogue sound of real music equipment on digitized platforms (source). VST technology, and virtual modular soundboards represent the death of the necessity for owning many belongings that were once essential. Although an obvious point, why I find this particularly interesting, is that this shift represents an interesting step for humanity that we often don’t stop to reflect on. Tech solutions represent a large decrease in the immediate need for tangible assets as our phones replace our calculators, our laptops replace our pianos and studios, our kindles replace the books in our librarys and of course our NFTs replace our art.
Blockchain technology represents a big new step where the premise of “owning” something can now be moved from the physical environment to the virtual one (source). I know a lot of the blog posts on this page so far have been quite fact based, but I tend to be quite speculative and enjoy reflecting on what these changes mean for us as humans. “Reality” in the conventional sense will begin to slowly lose its fruits as our new definition of reality not only represents what we have in front of us tangibly, but also the virtual aspect of who we are and what we own. This may be the first big step to a new form of evolution where man is not only a tangible part of the environment, but as we tread into the creation of a new environment.
Call me a romantic but this is a phase in technology that intimidates me as I’ve always found a lot of pleasure and intrigue in a more grounded form of human experience. That being said it completely fascinates me to study and examine these changes and how they impact and manifest themselves in the real world. For the longest time artists would show pictures of their studio setups but now they can just post screenshots of their laptop’s programs. People used to hang paintings on their walls, but now instead can show screenshots of the NFT they acquired. And finally people used to dance and smile at parties, but now they smile while taking pictures to upload online and proceed to dully sit down while they post them.
P.S. This blog post is intentionally a bit dramaticized hopefully to encourage some interesting conversation and comments. Looking forward to reading and responding to some thoughts.
Is VST ‘virtual studio technology’? Had to do a quick google because I wasn’t familiar with the term. I like that you took on a hobby to talk about technological development. To add to that trend – I think a lot of people simply take technology for granted in that area, even though mixing and digitizing things like voices (autotune, vocaloid…) are so complex. But because they’re so wiespread, people have already accepted them as normal. Of course, with autotune, most think of the ‘bad’ ones where it’s obvious, but (fun fact), that technology is even used in live concerts to ‘fix’ the singers’ voice, particularly when it’s about reaching hard notes.
In your exploration of blockchain and tangibility, wouldn’t you say music has already transcended our definition of reality? In any case, I like the personal approach you took in your blog. I think it’s a very real concern you have in terms of becoming somewhat disconnected. Albeit a bit dark, you nail that on the head with you last example about taking pictures… The same way I’m not certain everyone actually laughs or even smiles when they say “lol” or “lmao”.
I was going to ask you if you thought music could get picked up on the NFT marketplace, but was surprised to find out its already a thing. What do you feel about that? Complementary or contradictory?
(side note: I can’t click on your sources. I think you meant to have them as hyperlinks but they don’t appear to have made it through the formatting!)
Interesting read Yazeed! I agree with you that it is a slightly intimidating transition we are witnessing. As you also point out the evolution has already begun, and will most likely not stop. A more “virtual” reality has the opportunity to connect more like-minded people as they seek out similar topics. The new forms of digital assets has simplified this process. For example, finding another Pokemon NFT fanatic in an online forum or discussion. While some people are enthusiastic about the change, I believe the rise of digitalization has made it even more important to stay in touch with our traditional “reality”. Seeing Lebron James’ block on Andre Iguodala in the NBA finals in 2016 brought out a lot more emotions and appreciation of the hustle than the same few seconds as an NFT. Although, having that NFT would be awesome, it is just not the same as witnessing it with your own eyes. The future and evolution of these digital assets will be interesting to follow, creating new opportunities for artists all over the world. I just hope we don’t get lost in the new “virtual” reality and forget about our actual “reality”. The smell, touch, and feeling of seeing something for the first time. There is so much that is beautiful about being human.