Why Music Producers Should Stay Away From Loops and Midi Chord Packs

Obviously, the trials and tribulations of the output of creative work vary with the times, becoming successively trivial with advancements in music production technology and quality... Music, at its core, is an avenue of creative output. It is simply the (often) purposeful rhythm and timbre variation of sound frequency within the audible spectrum. By nature, this exposes music to a few dimensions of creativity. This acoustic embarkation at one time was intrinsically made possible by physical instruments which demonstrated the capacity to excel in these two areas in a subjectively pleasing way, the level of which, was largely determined by the skill of those privy enough to own the instruments. These were the limitations of the time, and quite the cast of characters lent themselves to the task in the likes of the classical composition geniuses we are so familiar with today. By today's standards, they were severely limited in the possible, yet were able to churn out some of the most creative and brilliant works of not only their time, but works which have still persisted to this day... epitomically so.

In yesterday's (yes, yesterday's) pioneering digital age of music, producers and composers were already familiar with what was possible through the advent of analog additive and subtractive synthesis, and were still being introduced to newer techniques such as FM synthesis and sampling, both of which have grown in their sophistication. Perhaps at this time, we were standing before the precipice, and we didn't know it until now. At this time, producers finally had additional choices, yet were "hampered" by limitations... and this led to an explosion in musical genre, growth, and styles. There were still plenty of new things to learn and plenty of limitations to keep artists creative... and this was before the loudness wars, song sampling, and midi chord packs...

While these things have yielded some merits, one could argue that they have held many a new musician back in the vicinity of their respective career launchpads. Indeed, despite these and other additional quick, convenient, and affordable venues of creativity, the music community has experienced the directly proportional and paradoxical relationship of having these additional creative options alongside the proclivity of transgressions on proprietary work they espouse. Since I was in junior high school, I have lived through the birth of the art of "sampling" entire melodic lines and the like from original work without overt attribution to the artist of origin. To this day, it is not uncommon for me to find a musical hook I once thought original present in an older song... Yet, these debatable artistic oversteps have resulted in little but reward for their originators. However, I have no doubt the patrons of the classical days would forgo their attention and hard-earned cash to the concerts or events of such transgressors. Perhaps, this was the precipice... young creators have witnessed this modern success and have no problem using and even paying for the work and samples of others to put unadulterated into their own work.

In today's highly-connected world, these problems have only compounded. Not only that, consumer expectations have evolved to an on-demand culture where new artists' work needs to be fresh and good. What is considered "novel" now moves at the speed of light and spreads with such visceral abundance and ubiquity that now, more than ever, artists and producers struggle to come up with new ideas despite being afforded an array of tools present to create them. In the old days, sampling could still be done, although there wasn't a subindustry dedicated to it... and there certainly weren't all-you-can-eat buffet websites furnished to those seeking inspiration. Has this, combined with the witness of successful works not 100% original led to a rise in a lack of creativity?

Currently, I have just read an article about one of Justin Bieber's songs using the exact same unchanged Splice loop on the song "Running Over"... not only that, but the same loop was purchased and used on two other songs from two other artists. There is also a YouTube video on this here. ...Even professional producers are buying and using these loops.

The interesting question is... is it the pressure of an on-demand culture that is making artists less creative or is it actually the aforementioned, abundant access to tools that is hampering the creative process? In other words, are artists simply becoming less creative because there are too many tools to learn and too few to master? Or is our on-demand culture pressuring our creative results to be instantaneous and unoriginal? I am not entirely sure, but one of the biggest offenders to this is the midi chord packs and loops that are being released by some companies out there.

Well, I should say that it is not the fault of the companies themselves, but it is the fault of the producers who use their products with a faux creative intent. By faux creative intent I mean that they are striving for creativity, but they are forgetting about originality. These two things don't always go hand and hand... but should they? I offer no answers and no criticisms... I am only here to question and wax philosophically... if such a thing as musical philosophy exists!

Perhaps the best advice is to use these devices as a stepping stone... or to use them, but mangle and mash them up to such an extent that they are hardly recognizable and serve as proof of your own creative prowess. For instance, if you just use midi chord packs to string all your chord progressions together, you will never learn much of anything about music theory and will not be able to adaptably switch chords and transpose them on your own. In the beginning, it might be difficult to study and apply the chords by yourself and to learn the ins and outs of note intervals, but it will serve you better in the long run. Perhaps the best advice is to try out some of these tools but think of them as creative instruments one would manipulate... just as one of the classical composers would have their physical instruments done the same.

Just some random thoughts on a Monday night.

Till next time,

SCOPS