Music Production: 10 Years From Now – Part 1

Posted August 27th, 2009 by Dan

The digital recording revolution has democratized the music production industry. By lowering the cost barriers to entry and offering nearly limitless creative possibilities, a new breed of modern producers/engineers have been born. I think it’s fair to say that this development has permanently changed music forever. It’s also apparent that the internet has had a huge impact, making techniques and esoteric knowledge available to the public that was once only disseminated privately over many years from engineer to engineer.

This fast paced digital revolution has been frustrating to many who came of age in “the good old days” of recording. Back then the titles of “producer” or “engineer” were only earned after years and years thankless studio grunt work. Nowadays, anyone with Pro-Tools and a little cash can call themselves a Producer (or produca’ depending on genre) and whip up professional recordings without ever stepping foot inside a “real” studio or knowing how to operate a 24 track. I tend to sympathize in some regards with the old-schoolers, but unfortunately, complaining about the modern production paradigm is a bit like complaining about email. Like it or not, it’s here to stay…and it’s continuing to change and evolve at an incredible pace.

Recording in the Cloud

In the next ten years I predict another game-changing paradigm shift in music production at least as big as the digital upheaval. We are in the midst of a more general revolution in software, whereby programs that once needed to be installed and hosted on a personal computer are now being offered on websites in the nebulous online “cloud”. In recent years, basic tools such as word processing, organizers, and calendars have become integrated into our daily lives as an internet “service” that we can access remotely rather than a product we buy and own. Now, as broadband internet becomes ubiquitous, more and more types of programs are becoming available online…even ones that perform processor-intensive tasks like video recording and editing can now be done in the cloud.

It is only a matter of time before full featured DAWs are completely online as well. (it’s actually already happening with some new basic startup projects: Indaba, Digimix) Although audio production is one of the most bandwidth and processor intensive tasks we currently use personal computers for, there is no theoretical limit to how much processing can be done in the cloud. Considering that we can already stream high bandwidth HD quality movies, I expect this transition to begin sooner rather than later. However, before we can fully appreciate the power of online cloud production and recording, we first need to understand how current industry trends are inevitably leading us into this brave new world.

The End of Proprietary Hardware

Due to personal computer limitations and lack of standards, DAW makers once had legitimate reasons to design proprietary hardware interfaces and non-native processing units. Those days have long since passed, and today all major recording programs (except Pro Tools) are open to work with any third-party interface and do not require dedicated processing hardware to run.

Digidesign, however, is notoriously stubborn about keeping their industry standard software bundled with their over-priced, under-featured hardware. Pro Tools was once undoubtedly the most robust platform for audio editing, and this past superiority kept users locked into a proprietary hardware upgrade path that continues to this day. But Pro Tools no longer has the clear advantage in audio editing and mixing, and other fully featured DAWs without hardware requirements like Logic and Ableton are quickly eating into Digidesign’s market share. Super high quality interfaces and converters like Apogee’s Symphony System offer better results than a comparable Pro Tools HD system at less than half the cost.

We have seen exactly the same trend in the post-production world, which is roughly on the same path as music production. Simply put, the open DAW alternatives are too good and too cheap to ignore. The consumer is winning the DAW wars.

The Downfall of Commercial Studios

Large multi-million dollar commercial studios were once the only place you could get a real professional recording done. This is not true anymore, and the major studio industry is hurting because of it. Here are three big professional studio “necessities” that are going to be rendered obsolete in the near future:

1. Consoles – Most studio engineers (and recordings artists) still believe in the “magical” power of analog consoles to make a record sound amazing. You can’t say a 128 channel SSL G-Series console doesn’t look impressive, but in most studios, looking impressive is now it’s primary function. Most modern production involves tracking each instrument separately and mixing later, so there is no need for 128 simultaneous inputs and pre-digital processing. There are, of course, still a few minor audible advantages to mixing out to good external hardware, but it is clear that you don’t need a million dollar console requiring constant maintainence in order to get the benefit of analogue processing and summing. Small studios are capable of creating the same quality of mixes on a DAW with only a few pieces of high-end outboard gear.

2. “Live” rooms – Expertly tuned room design, large accommodating spaces, and noise-isolated construction are what once made commercial facilities so important for professional recordings. But these necessities have either been met or made irrelevant by digital production technology. “Musical” sounding rooms and echo chambers can now be faithfully recreated on any recording with convolution reverb and other processing techniques. A relatively dry booth is all that is needed for most current productions, where instruments and vocals are tracked one at a time. This, along with the extremely high headroom of 24 bit digital recording, makes minor ambient noise and signal bleed a non-factor in most circumstances.

3. Instruments – The tracking of live instruments is fast becoming obsolete in light of the steady improvement in virtual instrument technology. Using samples libraries recorded from the highest quality instruments or modeled sounds from advanced synth plug-ins, modern studios can create realistic, professional sounding tracks without the expense or difficulty of actually tracking a live instrument performance. The audible shortcomings of virtual instruments, especially complex ones like drums, are quickly being refined and improved upon. This technology is already being used on major releases without any appreciable difference from true live performances. It is only a matter of time before live recording becomes an expensive novelty. In time, real instrument sounds will become just a sub-set of the sonic pallete used in modern production because of the virtually limitless sound design possibilities within the digital domain.

Part 2 – Radical changes in online computing and the end of native based recording.

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• mafigi
  For reasons related to my age I was born with the analog gear, but I always believed that what you wrote...
• ntc
  oh ... sorry for my huges typing errors , mate
  
  see you
• ntc
  yes !! and we will produce and mix our tracks in flyng studios , with kind , funny violet donkeys who make coffee for the us each half hour :)
  
  note : i almost work ONLY with plugins , so i would really like if your idea will be the reality in the next few years, i never seen in my life a ssl console and i dont' think there's the power of gods , inside there , but i think if they still exist men who are playng guitars and drums instead to sequence averything on battery 3 and kontakt and put effects with guitar rig and spacefantaverb vst , there's some reason :)
  
  peace , kind regards dude
• pimpfresh
  True that. But I really wouldn't mind funny violet donkeys making coffee. Interns are neither reliable nor funny.
• Hallams
  So many assumptions are implied in this article to lead to the final outcome of the future. This is a rant about the tools of the trade, but i would think that the player,the instrument and the performance will always have a significant place in the production of music. Additionally, the amount of information left out of this rather shallow analysis leads me to the conclusion that it is more misleading than informative. Some styles of music will happily follow your prescribed path but the styles that, by their nature will not conform will retain a significant place in the spectrum of music production. The "democratization" of the production of music has allowed this to take place in the "lounge rooms" of talented players. This has been happening throughout the history of modern recording. (Abbey Road and the Motown studios were converted from a residence into a studio). I look forward to a great future in the production of music that is generated by the movement of air rather than the movement of electrons.
• Name
  This obviously was written by someone with no more experience than your average bedroom engineer. Someone who has never set a foot in a pro recording studio, used a well tuned live room. It's safe to say he's probably never mixed on an analog console as well. While I agree those are soon gone, the differences between ITB and OTB on a LFAC are by all means not subtle.
  
  If some good points are made in this article, it feels somehow like a bad attempt to justify the overall lower quality in bedroom recording and the complete lack of experience that comes with the bedroom engineers.
  
  
  
  This mentality
• pimpfresh
  Your accusations about the writer's experience (me) are a bit presumptuous, but I'll forgive that. I've been producing/engineering as a career for about 3 years, and have worked and recorded in multiple "professional" studios. This doesn't really qualify me as an "expert" but I do happen to have a little more experience than the average bedroom engineer. Some of our work (Rob and I) is on the player at the top of this page so you can judge for yourself.
  
  This article contains predictions based on numerous trends that I have seen in the recording industry. Technology is democratizing the barriers to entry that once made running a studio unattainable for most. I believe there is a very unproductive self-righteous attitude that exists in the "old-school" community that is based more on the cost and exclusivity of the gear they own rather than the actual quality of the work they do. I'm not in anyway suggesting that bedroom recording equipment is as good as the equipment in a multi-million dollar studio, and I'm not defending poor quality recordings. What I'm saying is that modern technology is bridging the gap, and we are getting to the point where experienced engineers can create "professional" products without having to use a $500,000 console.
  
  At the end of the day, all that matters is the quality of your product. I know of engineers using a small amount of professional outboard equipment and the vast power and flexibility of modern DAWs to create major label quality work. We're not there yet at our studio, but I attribute the difference to experience, not gear. It may be unfortunate to the "old school" crowd, but like it or not, this is how the recording industry is changing. I'm just choosing to embrace it rather than get left behind.
• Nazz
  In a word, no.
  
  In two, fuck no!
• pimpfresh
  oh yeah. might suck..but it's true.
• Robert Dyson
  I am looking forward to the day when I can work in a DAW other than Pro Tools without feeling like my projects can't be opened in other studios. Even loading sessions between versions of Pro Tools has been an epic battle. That being said, Pro Tools has come a very long way, and I'm hoping they close the gap between the consumer level LE systems and professional HD systems. There just isn't any middle ground.
  
  As for "The Downfall of Commercial Studios", I agree that instruments and good performances are becoming less important, but I don't think they're going away completely. Yes, you can make a professional recording in your bedroom studio with mediocre musicians, but there is still no substitute for real musicianship. The producer/engineer has much more power to make up for poor playing, this is true. But a real singer or drummer will always sound better than an average one whose performance was been heavily tweaked. Even though artificial-sounding music has become acceptable and even preferable in several genres, people still (for the time being) appreciate a good musician when they hear one. I consider a good sounding room to be a key tool in the recording toolbox. Yes you can get the job done with a crappy room, but it'd be similar to a chef working with dull knives. With a great room, you might find that your recordings end up sounding better than you hoped, whereas with a crap room you'll end up working to get it to be passable. Good tools lead to inspired work.
• pimpfresh
  As I responded to Jamsmooth...yes, I hope they develop an HD lite system: A high quality PCI-E full interface with 192 quality converters, good pres, and lots of I/O and digital connection options (like the 003). And the ability to stack them...like an RME interface system.
  
  As far as musicianship goes, I'm wondering whether our concept of what "musician" means is changing. How many more kids nowadays are starting out the gates in logic and other software as opposed to picking up a guitar. Certainly, live instrument based music is still alive and well. There still seems to be a certain mystique based around the guitar/bass/drums rock band. But the lines between musician/songwriter/producer/engineer are blurring. I think that the definition of a "good" musician varies depending on whether you are performing live or recording and composing in the studio in a non-linear manner.
  
  My hope is that virtual instruments develop to the point that they are not "artificial" sounding.....so that performances are as exciting to the listener as the real thing. That leaves the options wide, because we will have captured the sound of the real instruments and added the amazing creative possibilities of the digital environment.
• kevinfucktherobotsidea
  I'll never knowingly listen to music created from samples. Ugh... That's like doing away with painting on canvas because computer programs can recreate the same effect with the push of a button (which unfortunately, they can). Damn Robots!