The Recorded Sound

One thing that's missing in today's music is the producer.. And I don't mean "the guy who makes beats"  :-X

Did it get better? Hard to tell, sort of wading through "the medium IS the message"...recorded "sound" is obviously different in some ways to its origin...and that delta is often the metric we use to measure the value...but is it a fair measurement? I remember hearing Peter Gabriel talk about one of the sounds he used on the "Up" project as a drum played through the JAMMAN (what a tool for discovery, the old Lexicon rack mount version) that was repeated until it distorted and then reversed...he was obviously using a "recorded sound" for something in a different context than we typically think. much like painting with bits of straw and glass the artist is after a context that requires the medium to respond differently.

But therein lies the problem...recorded sound seems to have very little flexibility in its context...Bjork not-withstanding...it is meant to be heard and then interpreted...

We may have gotten better at recording...(some question that premise), others may have developed better abilities to make sound...but has our ability to interpret improved?

I have my doubts...frankly the filters of the digital age leave very little room for interpretation...we have more access to loads more of the same thing that others access...

"mene mene tekel upharsin"...we can see the writing better perhaps but the message still goes over our civilized little heads...