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Re: [microsound] good flavor means good taste!



Ok, how about an example to try to clarify this whole thing:

You write a piece of music with a cheap out-of-tune piano.  Because some
of the notes on the piano are "bad" and some don't work you work around
these "defects" when writing your piece.  In the end you end up with
something that is considered "good" music, if played on that piano. 

However, the value of the instrument varies depending on whether you
release the music as a recording or as music to be played on another piano; 
if a recording then the piano is a "good" instrument since it was used
to get "good" music, but if released as a score it's now a "bad"
instrument because nobody else will hear the piece in the way it was
intended.

The same thing could be said about having "crappy" monitors...you're
aiming for that very delicate high pitch something-or-other, and you get
it.  But, since you're speakers don't have very good high frequency
response you ended up turning the volume way up...so for anybody
listening to the piece on "good" speakers that delicate thing has become
a bit more edgy than you ever intended...

Of course, if you only perform the piece live with your speakers than
they can be called "good" instruments.  

Does this clarify anything?  My main point here is that we're trying to
make music/sound/sound-art/.microsound here.  Since this form exits in
the sound world the instruments we use and the way we use them have a
major impact on the final artistic result.  

We can't have music without instruments.   Likewise we can't have "good"
instruments without "good" music.  Some tools make it easier to make
"good" music by making it easier to do the things that people have used
in the past to make "good" music; at the same time the "good" music came
first, without the tools....

This seems like a good place to stop...

Soren

* Beni Borja wrote (Wed, Nov 06, 2002 at 02:42:25PM -0200):
> I didn't get it.
> On what end of the horse are you on??
> Are not instruments only a mean to reach an artistic end??
> There is in my mind a very clear hierarchy on that;  music comes first ,
> instruments second.  Obviosly a good reliable instrument can be a great help
> to create good music , but instruments and the ability to play them should
> always be servicing a solid idea  to produce good music, don't you agree?
> 
> I myself am bored to tears by the tech talk that every once in a while takes
> over this list.
> 
> 
> Beni
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kim Cascone" <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "microsound_list" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 3:10 PM
> Subject: [microsound] good flavor means good taste!
> 
> 
> > > i'm happy to announce that "good" music has *nothing* to do with "good"
> > > software.
> > well I'd argue just the opposite: that good tools do not necessarily make
> > good music...while on the surface these two arguments might seem similar
> > they are different:
> >
> > - the first conjecture supposes that a piece of music already judged to be
> > "good" (by some agreed upon criteria) was not necessarily made with "good"
> > (also by some agreed upon criteria) software...
> >
> > - the second supposes that a software tool already deemed "good" will not
> > necessarily yield a "good" piece of music...
> >
> > two ends of the same horse but a different smell altogether...
> >
> > so the task seems to me to examine more closely what determines "good" in
> > music as well as what determines "good" in software...not to arbitrarily
> > create links between the two, but after careful consideration to see if
> any
> > correlation exists...this search for a correlation might reveal other
> > factors involved in the process of creation that have more to do with the
> > quality of the creators ability to select the "proper" tools that play an
> > active role in the organization of musical elements that achieve an
> > appearance of "good"...
> >
> > while on a train ride from Stuttgart to Amsterdam I chatted with a
> > professional violinist in an orchestra who informed me that her violin
> cost
> > around 20,000 euro...when I asked her if there was a big difference
> between
> > a 20000 euro instrument and a 3000 euro instrument she indicated that a
> > orchestral musician was not (tacitly) "allowed" to play a cheap instrument
> > in a professional orchestra...her profession demanded good tools in order
> to
> > play that type of music (classical) in that sociopolitical/cultural
> > context...
> >
> > so while not all music is created the same way (i.e., using "good"
> software)
> > there is something to be said for using a tool that performs tasks
> reliably
> > while offering a wide range of creative possibilities that is not limited
> by
> > the tool itself but only by the imagination of the user...there are so
> many
> > software tools now available that fit this criteria...as Gregory pointed
> > out: one only has to find the one that suits them best...
> >
> >
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> >
> 
> 
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