Man I love their CD, but they just don't measure up in concert!

Concert-goers, how many times has this statement come out of your mouth after leaving a concert for which you had really high hopes? I've been to hundreds of shows, and can claim to have uttered this probably 20-25 times, and to my recollection, the culprit is generally the type of bands you often hear in heavy rotation on top 40 radio. What's the problem here? Not enough practice time? Too much Heineken before the show? Lack of talent? To a certain degree, it is probably a combination of these factors, but I really think it all just boils down to studio production and the resources available to sound engineers. Many of you may be aware of the auto-tune system, used for the first time to perfect the pitching in Cher's 1998 hit, "Believe." It is a widely used effect, giving singers a safety net for their sometimes unreliable voices.

While this software has remained the industry standard in both studio and live production, a man named Peter Neubäcker, founder of the company, Celemony, has taken this tactic to new heights, accomplishing what many of his predecessors and contemporaries have deemed to be impossible. His "Direct Note Access" application, offered as plug-in for his Melodyne voice and instrument tuning software, allows engineers to manipulate groups of notes or chords, instead of the previous benchmark of one singular note. In essence, Neubäcker has developed a way to create entirely new bodies of musical output from exisiting recordings. In thinking about this software from an artist perspective, if they don't like the way a certain chord sounds in a progression and opt to change it for the better, why do they need a digitial manipulation system when they can just re-write the song themselves on a guitar/piano, etc? I'll have to read more about this as the product gets closer to launch, but in the meantime, take a look at this very well produced video on this pioneering technology. It's well worth the watch.


Talk next week,


Graham