I have to admit that I’m a Pro Tools user myself and in comparison to other DAW software I love it for editing music. It is simple to work with and at school we are forced to become “music murderers” with this powerful weapon. But what can we do to stop this trend of changing music? I think we can’t, it has become as normal as illegal downloading. In this world where mistakes aren’t tolerated anymore, it has become one of the most normal things in the world. The fact that we get one year of intensive Pro Tools editing lessons is a piece of evidence of this lifestyle. Yet, Pro Tools can also be used as a good tool when a band has good ideas for songs, but don’t have the ability to perform them well. In this case Pro Tools can act as a tool that can let the music sound as the musicians want it to sound. On the other hand, it’s not only Pro Tools that is to blame, technology is. As Jack White once said, technology gets you faster from point A to point B, but it doesn’t make you more creative. Technology also implies some invisible rules, it prohibits somehow your own decisions. When the first digital effect units were designed, laziness killed creativity with a word called “preset”. Once something is invented, it is almost impossible to get rid of it, even when it’s harmful. Maybe I’m not the most reliable person to write a blog about this because I never knew the time before Pro Tools got invented, but I can compare it to driving a car. You can call my dad old fashioned, but he’s got a point when he says that modern cars cannot be compared to old-timers. Not only in terms of safety, but also the driving experience. He told me that when you drive a modern car, the car drives you and it also makes you lazy. (My dad forced me into driving a ’66 volvo amazone as a first car) I never believed him until last week when I was BOB at a party. I had to drive Stijn’s car, a modern ford. I never had so many board instruments as a driver. A little arrow told me when I should shift gear, but hey I’m no computer that likes to be told what to do. I really prefer a car that tells you when you need to shift gear by the overruling of the radio’s music by the engine’s sound. It’s like mixing on a good old vintage mixing console without automation, you need to go with the flow and do what you think it’s the right thing to do.

10-03-2013, 22:10 Geschreven door RoelVE