[The Corsair]

I've often subscribed to the whole 'not real music' thing when it comes to electronic music, or at least I've felt the bulk of it is talentless 'unce unce unce' crap.

It's been in the last year that I've realised that electronic music is as diverse as rock and the tacky pumping dance remixes you hear on late-night radio are the equivalent of the cliched and indistinguishable pop-rock you'll hear during the daytime.

Given that this, a long with a few other things, has led me to where I am now with my current project I wonder whether anyone else here has found themselves making a point to heavily incorporate electronics into their music where before there was none, or indeed whether members here are heavily opposed to such music...


So I pose the question to you all, what do you think of electronics in your rock/pop/indie/folk/whathaveyou?

[andy5544]

It really is down to taste ,but personally i dont mind a bit it the background but when it features out front i hit the off button pretty quick , but......as with everything there  are a few exceptions
a lot of Donna Summer , brilliant !  some Erasure , and a few more eighties examples but i'm not going to go on and on.

[James Nighthawk]

Anything is valid as a source of sound. It is how you use it.

I don't like it when sounds are emulated. Drums should be drums. Guitars should be guitars. Midi guitar or DI guitar sounds naff.

I record acoustic folk/rock stuff now, but I have writtern house music, Electro, R&B, Chillout....

Whole songs with no real instruments, and vocoded vocals.

Everything is valid, its all about the usage and the artistry involved. I don't write-off any style or sound 

[birdattack]

No sir, I don't like it. Might be my punk elitist mentality kicking in but every band I was in, ever, did the mic everything up and just play like in rehearsal thing and I still love the pfffhhhsssss sound the drums make when the bass kicks in and ''everyone is there'' and we don't touch anything after it's done and recorded. Synth pads are fine as long as someone's actually behind that thingy pressing buttons but fake sounds (yes, I went there) mashed in just to fill up thru a song I don't like. But, as we say in Sweden, personal taste is like the butt. Split.

[tina m]

im a bit split on this i absoluetely love guitar becos the guitarists personality comes thru in the sound he makes becos of the physical way guitars are played
but then i love 80s dance music with all those synths & beats ...theres no personality there....but it just gets you dancing

but then dont forget the biggest thing thats happened to my music in my life is the  recording on computers...the whole digital thing is so incredible that you can have a massive recording studio in your home on a computer for a few quid......thats surely the best of both worlds

[Adam]

There is no such thing as 'real' music. It's all just a bunch of sound flying into your ear. If it moves you then it's good.

[James Nighthawk]

There is no such thing as 'real' music. It's all just a bunch of sound flying into your ear. If it moves you then it's good.

Nice point. Sound is just moving air. All sound can be musical

Perhaps I should drag out some of my "Music concrete" from University and scare the shit out of everyone on here

Those electroacoustic composers KNOW from pretentious twaddle 

[rickd1]

I have come from the other side of things.  My roots are in electronic music and I have come round to incorporating 'real' instrumentation.  I would use the word 'talentless' carefully when describing what artists have been able to acheive with synths and samplers over the years. This opinion suggests that a successful example of this type of music could be acheived in an evening if one was so inclined.. I would challenge that and say that after a couple of years (as long as it would take to become average at playing a 'real' instrument) then you might be some way towards writing something that sounds passable.

Rick

[AKingsMercury]

Electronic music and electronic elements in your music are absolutely awesome. You can make them as subtile as you like and they can be as divers as shit. In my eyes electronics is not only synthesis or adding up sinuses but it is also taking a sample and applying 100 filters to it to make it sound totally amazing.

Electronic elements in your music is not a must but it can really add to your songs.

[montydog]

I think it's largely a matter of using electronic instruments appropiately and tastefully. I write folk,country and Americana material and electronic sounds just don't work in this type of organic setting. Electric piano and organ are about as far as it goes.

Goldfrap is a great example of using electronic music to create something really original and worthwhile that is moving because of how the electronics are used. Paul Young's 80's recordings are a great example of how to make great recordings virtually unlistenable by piling electronics on for the sake of it or because it's what everyone else is doing at the time.

[JackMusic]

Like all musical ideas, when done with care, by someone with good taste and who has spent a lot of time honing their craft, electronic music and the use of electronic instruments can be mind-blowingly amazing. 

There is nothing wrong with simulated instruments to my mind, the fact is that sequenced drums will have a different feel to live drums, and it's the artist's decision making that produces a good or a terrible end product, or something in between. If they want that live feel, but just stick a drum machine under their track, well that's not going to work and they won't have realised their vision properly. But if they think 'I don't have a drummer, what can I do with a drum machine' and spend a decent amount of time coming up with something that fits well, that's great.

I'm a bit of a one man band, writing stuff for computer games and media as well as songwriting from my 2nd bedroom 'studio', and I have to say it's a hell of a learning curve to get 'good' at using electronic instruments/sofware.

[weaver]

 

[Ramshackles]

Like Mr Nighthawk, I don't like it when sounds are emulated.
But I dont mind DI'ing a guitar and reamping it (either through software or an amp) if it calls for it.
But I'll get strings when I can record real ones.

It's mostly down to taste though. I make a decision to use only the instruments available to me for these reasons:
1. I want to be able to actually play it live
5. It forces me to be more creative and pragmatic in my arrangements and songwriting
2. I prefer the sound of an actual instrument
3. I get more enjoyment out of actually e.g. playing a piano, mic'ing it and recording it than using midi sounds
4. I think the kind of music I do calls for an "organic" approach. When I record, I think about wood. Take it as you will


 

But seriously...I think there is something special and ermm "creative juice inducing" about sitting with a nice guitar or piano, with some lovingly placed mics, some gear with lots of lights in a nice wooden rack, hooked up to either a computer, or even better, a GIANT reel-to-reel, that at it's heart is just more FUN and musical that sitting clicking around on a computer.

music is my mojo.

[AlexMo]

Don't use it myself, partly because I don't have any software for it and wouldn't know how to use it anyway. I listen to a fair amount of electronic music though, usually ambient/post-rock type stuff. I'd love to create some music in that genre some day. Most of what I write is folk though, so I have no desire to mix the two.

[Saeed AlSuri]

I used a lot of sampled instruments during the period I was writing music for TV drama show for our National TV .. because getting and renting a full orchestra was out of question so it circumstance which some time dictate how the composer arrangers hes or her instrumentation ..but a van grade stuff is different .. synths was a trend some times ago I think.. but now its not that much or is it ?? I think music is music Electronic or Acoustic ..that's my opinion ..