From analog to digital: the future of music

We have been experiencing new technological breakthroughs over the course of our lives.  Digital media is now the main source for communications, entertainment, and information.  We wonder from the old media like photography and sculpting how we ever got to the new media like computers and cellphones.  How does it work?  Well, instead of having a continous signal like analog, we have moved on to digital, which breaks down the continous wavelength into smaller pieces to be transfered into digital.  These smaller pieces are to be given a numeric value, created from a pattern of 1's and 0's.  Articles like "Sample rate and bit depth - an introduction to sampling" have helped educate musicians in the digital realm so they are able to create music through computers and other digital technology.

Now, these enhances in technology do increase the possibities a musician can work with, but they can also make musicians more lazy.  This how we come to the controvery of sampling.  New musicians these days, such as Girl Talk, are taking sections of songs recorded by famous artists and arranging these fragments to create their music.  In otherwords it's like taking your favorite pop song chorus, putting it over your favorite kind of drum beat, and adding anything else that you want.  Now what's wrong with that?  Copyright issues; the musicians who went into the studio to record on manual instruments year are not getting credit for having their music and performance in someone else's own claimed work without their permission.

After viewing the documentary "RIP a Remix Manifesto", I have to say that I would agree with Lars Ulrich, drummer of Metallica: "if the musicians aren't making money on their music, than who is?" (paraphrasing, of course).  Good music takes a long time.  Composers like Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt took months and even years to complete certain pieces. You see, with that much effort in a work, there's a deeper meaning to things.  The composer's life story is within the piece.  You can hear the moods of the music changing from one to another and can just sense the composer's struggles and triumphs.  Art takes discipline.  Art takes work.  Art takes time.  You can't just whip it out in ten minutes on a computer program.  How can you be truly creative in such a small time, with all the various music and melodies out there already written?  Come on, putting a rap beat over a rock song?  Creative?  Not really.  What if the drummer in the original rock band just decided to change the beat?  We do these kind of things when my friends and I goof off at band practice!

You have to understand that there is plenty of music out there but there is MUCH that HAS NOT been written.  The 20th century use of whole tone scales, increased dissonance, jazz, improvisation, and descriptiveness pushed the boundaries forward to the point where you can blend style, genre, and instrumentation til no tomorrow.  Check out all the new instruments coming out these days.  There are many possibilities of combination of sounds.

"If you look at formal art, it requires discipline, it requires tremendous learning and tremendous discipline. It also requires a tremendous respect of the past.  Now when you introduce fake artists who smear painting around little dreck on a canvas and called it art: no discipline, no training... therefore anything goes.   ...they're artists like "my dog's droppings are art"." -  Michael Savage on The Savage Nation Monday, February 2/21/11.  Michael is not the alone on this idea of art taking long amounts of work as opposed to artists "smearing painting on a canvas" or musicians making dissonant noise for an entire album.  This is a statement that is refreshing to hear for the artist who puts in hours of practice and/or composition each day.  Why should our artwork that took so long to make and along with so much education and knowledge be trumped by artists that make a mess and call it work.  Even more frustrating than this is when musicians have to steal the actual recorded performance from another musician and use it has the basis for their song.  How much work does that take?  A download, then some editing, and another download, and some editing, and add a beat, put in some autotuned vocals, and be done in less than an hour. 

This is mostly an emotional issue.  It is harder and harder to become truly creative these days.  Although it is true that artists have been borrowing ideas from as long as art has existed, there is a fine line between borrowing and stealing.  The problem is that now that fine line is becoming blurred.  When an artist like Girl Talk comes out and depends on others' songs to create his own we find ourselves in a strange, new musical age.

The International Gossiper IN VIDEO

Video allows for a familiar combination of images and sounds.  When images and sounds are combined, the viewer is put directly into the world of the video.  It's the similarity to real life that makes video so successful; people want the closest experience to real life.  The closer a medium gets to conveying all five senses, the more popular it will become; as audio involved one sense, hearing, as video involved two senses, seeing and hearing.  Now I think that it would be quite humorous how a new medium would incoporate smell, touch, and taste!  Not sure that would be all too successful.  But the point is that video perfectly blends sounds and images allow for the most amount of information to be sent to the viewer's brain to be processed.

In my video I decided to let the collage of images and audio to tell the story.  In the beginning of my video I thought that I would continue on the theme of gossip and how it relates to Julian Assange and the Wikileaks controversy.  In the 60 Minutes interview with Julian Assange, the interviewer tells Assange that he has "made some of the most powerful people in the world your enemies"  This relates clearly how gossip causes enemies in the way that Assange's exposure of government officials can cause enemies.  From here on the video shows various government leaders who happen to be criticised heavily by the Wikileaks information.  I showed some strong reaction from U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder, the Australian foreign minister, and talk show host, Michael Savage (during the still images of the Iraqi helicopter attack).  I ended the video by having Assange defend his case that the leaked documents from Wikileaks have not harmed anyone in any way. 

The video makes full circle by starting with Assange justifying his point, then by hearing a warning that he's making enemies through his information, followed by showing the international leaders that may become he enemies if they're not already are, and finally closing by having Assange defend his documentation of the leaked information. 

"Julian Assange: The International Gossiper"

The unique thing about audio is that you are forced to use your imagination to create the images.  Not only that, but by eliminating images you are destined to be more tuned into the actual dialogue.  So without destracting images popping up and catching your eye, one can use their mind in the way they would read a book; the images of the characters and places are created by you. 

In my audio I focused around an exchange between Julian Assange, spokesman and editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, and myself; I played soundbits from Assange during his interview with Democracy Now! and followed them up by commentary.  The theme here was how Assange's detailed documentation of the Iraq war is almost similar to gossiping about someone.  If the Iraq war was a person (for sake of argument), Assange would have let the world know all about his (the war's) humiliating secrets.  A notable spot is where I repeat the phrase "the most description of a war to have ever been released").  This shows how, Assange, like a gossiper, spreads information to feel superior.  Now I'm very aware that this truly is the most accurate description of any war up to this point due to the advances in technology along with the leakage of secret documents, but I'm pointing out that Assange may be boasting about his work.  This may have been Assange's motivation in the first place; he states that he releaved this information to depict the horrors of the war, but it can be speculated that Assange got his start by trying to prove that his information was the best and most accurate out of anyone else's.

A few fun things to notice in my audio is how I use a fun, almost vaudeville type instrumental piece in the background.  I just thought it was perfect for the juxtaposition of moods; here we have the controversy of Wikileaks and the horrors of war, over silly music.  This takes the theme off controversy and more on the gossiping part.  Also I had fun in the beginning by using the AT&T Text-to-Speach Tool to have an English voice introducing Assange, followed by a crowd cheering.  I couldn't resist!  And finally I added a short bit of audio of Rush Limbaugh's coverage of the Wikileaks controversy.  I thought by ending my audio with Rush's joke on Assange's physical appearance is representative of how gossipers often times are lacking in physical strength and that's why they use words through computers to express how what they find disturbing in other people instead of going face to face. Would Assange try to confront a U.S. marine whom he suspected killed an Iraqi citizen?  Doubtful. 

My main objective in this audio presentation was to cover an issue like gossip in a fun, humorous way, while blending it with the Wikileaks case.  I feel that audio allowed me to express this well, especially by adding music and other effects to enhance my theme

How gossip works: No Secrets

Check this out.  The theme is how the world easily knows massive amounts of information including secrets.  The largest picture is that of hands on the globe.  I think that really says it all about Julian Assange's objective for the WikiLeaks website:  everyone in the world has their hands on the world as far as information goes; we are very much aware of what's going on in the world.  Also notably is a picture at the top center of one man gossiping into the ear of another.  Now why is this here?  Well, in my text document on the motivation of Julian Assange I speculated that Assange was quite the gossiper.  A man who is telling secrets out to the world must have a talent in gossiping.  He's the international gossiper!  For better or for worse is up to you but he surely knows how to get the information out. 

Another one of these images is the internet troll on the bottom left hand corner.  Now why this little creature is in this collage is because I made a point about how people are more confident in saying things on the internet than they would be face to face to the people whom they are criticizing.  I relate to Assange because he may not have become the person he is today without the aid of a website (WikiLeaks website).  Just saying.  He could easily have the initiative to be out in the streets of London, with newspapers in his hands, yelling "extra! extra! read all about it! government secrets exposed!".  But I think it should be considered that it takes a different type of personality to tell stuff on the internet (while not being seen or even being anonymous) than it is to tell things to people's faces.  Boldness, if you will.

Now turn your attention to the upper left hand corner of my collage.  You see a picture of Julian Assange.  Now look at the ring around his eye.  What is that supposed to be?  Well, that's a peep hole.  And not any peep hole but the peep hole outside my digital media classroom!  Anyway where I found this peep hole is not important.  What's important is that having these peep holes scattered about my collage represents all the various holes that the information WikiLeaks obtained leaked through.  The world has many peep holes and certainly Assange fancies himself to look through these.  And of course with the aid of digital technology, we have exponentially more peep holes to look in.

Blending down the Boundaries

Since the beginning of man's time on Earth, boundaries of communication have been gradually dissolving.  According to the RSA Animate, "The Empathic Civilisation", empathy has become more likely to occur within larger groups of people over time.  This connection of empathy (which is how people can reflect emotions from others, ex. two people are in conversation and one is sad, then the other becomes sad due to the influence and spread of feeling unto the other) has expanded from starting in a bloodline of people (family) to religous groups (whom have similar views with their own members and are likely to bond easily) and finally to countries (people united in a large area of land) due to population growth and advances in technology.  Now the issue today is this:  The boundaries are gone.  Most people in the world are connected through technology one way or the other, whether it be social networks, email, or text messaging.  This creates a world empathic connection.  Digital technology has made this possible.

"The Empathic Civilisation" uses the responce to the Haiti earthquake disaster as an example of this global empathy.  Three steps were taken: first, the initial word of confirming the results of the disaster was spread through status updates on Twitter.  Second, the television news picked up on the incoming information and reported it to those who prefer tv to using the internet social networks.  And then finally, with the world out to all peoples of the world we see a global empathy emerge. The earthquakes in Haiti that resulted in the loss of many Haitian lives and destruction of homes spread of feeling of sadness across the globe.  People were shocked and upset that such a disaster occured and many people and governments rushed to the aid of the Hiatian people.  Without a doubt, recently technological advances have proven to be extremely helpful in a situation like this.  The quicker the word gets out, the sooner a reaction will occur.

No longer do the oceans prolong communications between continents.  No longer do miles prevent having a conversation with your friend.  Everything is instant.  The present is an of-the-moment time.  We all live in the current second.  There is no delay between distances.  Everyone is connected here and now.  Just check this out:  Old Spice Ad Model Isaiah Mustafa was able to respond to almost 200 questions asked to him by fans on Youtube in separtate videos.  Certainly the boundary of Isaiah Mustafa not knowing where the people who asked him question were from, yet alown, knew who they were, was dissolved.

This type of communication between performers and fans is also apparent in music.  What's becoming popular now is how artists are allowing fans to determine their price for their music.  For example Radiohead released their album "In Rainbows" on the internet to be downloaded from any price even including the price of zero.  Also, artist Issa (Jane Siberry) allows her music to be determined in price by her fans.  This in turn creates a "warm feeling between her and her fans" (NPR article: "Issa Reinvents More Than Music Sales).

I've even ran into this situation before, however without the aid of digital technology, that is.  A group of hip hop artists on the Ocean City boardwalk were trying selling their new cd to my friends and I.  They said I could pay them from 3 to 5 dollars for it.  They said the album had the freshest jams that were coming out of Baltimore on it.  These guys were obviously not having a good sale on the album judging on the looks on their faces and the obvious large quanties of cds they had in their hands.  I really didn't want it although something overcame me and I said "Ya know what, I'll give ya 3 bucks for it".  Silence.  I got a stare from one of the hip hop artists.  He looked unimpressed with me for taking the lowest price for it.  As a musician I knew how hard it must be for these guys so I said "Look I'll give you 4 bucks for it".  "Sure here you go, man.  Thanks."  After I got the cd my friends and I shot each other a humerous look since none of us are crazy about hip hop music and proceeded to listen to it in the car.  It was actually an alright cd.  Indeed, we spent the rest of the night listening to beats that used gunshots as the percussion instrument!  Good times, good times.

It's doubtful that cds on shelves in stores would be able to have a ridiculous looking price tag on it that said "$5-20".  This group of hip hop artists used the idea of having their costumers decide the cost from the lead of artists like Radiohead and Issa.  And without the digital technology that makes downloads possible, it can be speculated that giving out more free or any price would not happen.  So everything is connected.  The creation of internet, to music uploaded on the internet, to music being downloaded off the internet, to the boundary of having a set price on music being dissolved.

People just can’t keep their mouths shut: reasoning for motivation to share information

Just about everyone has wondered why people just can’t keep a secret at one point or another.  What exactly motivates people to share information they know that about other people?  Sharing a secret is certainly a perfect way to keep a conversation going if your guest is becoming bored with your small talk about the weather, television shows, and sports. I feel we are all guilty of doing this even though our intentions are good; we are not really focused on who’s secrets we are revealing as much as we are in just wrapping our minds around a conversation topic.  However there are people who have an agenda behind telling secrets.  Certain people are looking for a designated response or opinion on the told secrets.  Wikileaks editor and spokesman Julian Assange is clearly a man looking to either startle or enlighten an audience by sharing secret documents to the world on the activity of governments.  The information that Assange has exposed is not just your usual dinner conversation topic like talking about what you heard through the grapevine that your friends did the other night.

Would it be fair to say that Assange is gossiping at an international level?  Is not gossiping the actual verb for spreading negative facts about people to others?  Say we consider Assange to be a gossiper for sake of argument.  This leads us to a possible motivation for the Wikileaks release of documents.  According to psychological studies, the end result of gossip “is the feeling of superiority that results from such vicious spreading of information” (http://factoidz.com/what-motivates-people-to-gossip/).  From here we can speculate that Assange is releasing documents to raise his ego.  In other words, he wants to be the attention of the public as well as being remembered as the martyr who was brave enough to be an international gossiper.

Also take into consideration that technology does in fact make it easier to spread information and say things you wouldn’t normally say in person.  These would include-people who post personal facebook statuses either telling about themselves or attacking other people they wouldn’t have the nerve to say face to face and kids trolling the Internet; they probably wouldn’t say the hateful slang they spew over the Internet in front of the people they attack, if they did they’re parents would ground them.  The Internet can indeed make people more mischievous for there are no direct consequences to provoking others while online like a confrontational fist fight in response to bullying and harassing.  Could you imagine Julian Assange running down the street with paper documents in his hands yelling out to get peoples’ attention or even confronting politicians face to face about the information he obtained?

Now we must speculate whether or not Assange would have had the guts to post millions of documents containing secret information without the aid of a website (wikileaks website).  It is true that his name is out in the open, and as opposed to internet trollers he is not annonymous but I feel that the act of just sharing info on the internet is much more of a comfortable environment to do so in.