(Overlooked) technology in the music business.

Recently I watched the documentary “Back And Forth”. It tells the story of the Foo Fighters. If you are a fan, I highly recommend the documentary. 

At a certain point in the documentary they talk about the recording method of their new album: Wasting Light. Apparently, it’s all recorded on tape, which basically means there is no room for error. If they want to let it sound perfect they need to play absolutely perfect, which is almost impossible.

They can’t use a fancy feature like logic’s flex time or anything like that. And I must say, that’s impressive. You see, technology helped us in numerous ways and it made our life easier. Imagine a life without your iPhone, iPad or laptop. These days, our lives are in these devices. We depend on them, every hour of the day. Technology keeps evolving faster then we can keep track of. As technology keeps evolving, everything gets old pretty fast. This means that older technology can be overlooked. People tend to choose for the newest available technology. The same goes for the technology used in the music industry. The fact that there is unbelievable software available to mix and record music in a relative easy way doesn’t mean they need to use it. The Foo’s are a good example. They recorded in an old school way.

Recording on tape isn’t the easiest method of doing so. Just imagine the hours Taylor Hawkins, the drummer, spend on the intro of Bridge Burning. If you record it on tape and it’s a bit off, you need to record it again. Imagine what time it takes to record the whole song or the whole album! With programs like Logic Studio, it can be fixed quite easily without much effort.  

Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful we are able to use the newest technology and gadgets, but we don’t need to use it to make something great. The Foo Fighters is a million dollar band. This means they have the resources to use the best technology there is available, but they don’t. They prefer recording on tape, which will never be perfect. They don’t mind the fact that their recorded music will never be perfect, which I must say, isn’t a bad thing.

I am not telling people shouldn’t use the newest technology but it’s remarkable that a band like the Foo Fighters, who are selling millions of records, are using an old overlooked technology and deliver a great album! They have million pounds available and they make a record in a garage. It’s incredible. 

On the other hand, I am told that Gorillaz have made their latest album exclusively on the iPad. Technology is an extent of peoples talent. The music made by the Foo Fighters or Gorillaz is not the result of the technology they use. It’s the result of their talent. 

This may be a very confusing post, I am aware of that. All I am trying to achieve is telling you that we don’t need to use the new and finest technology but we can. It’s all about personal preference. 

  1. baeten posted this