Synthesizers, Samples and Loops - Oh My!
Synthesizers, Samples and Loops - Oh My!
by Dave Latchaw
Creating and recording music is constantly getting easier and more affordable by using technology. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is great for artists to be able to record and document their musical growth and use the Internet for their distribution. However, technology gives the hobbyist those opportunities as well. Technology has much average music on-line, with much great and varied music. Finding cool music becomes a lot like panning for gold. One has to search through a fair amount of muck to find that gem of an artist or composition. The music consumer should continue to demand a high-level of craft from all artists in every style. The purist musician should not be all righteous and dismiss the use of electronic technology to create music. Three of my favorite tools to create music are Synthesizers, Samples and Loops.
The synthesizer is a logical extension of using electronic technology to create a different palette of sound for expression. In the right hands, it can make a valid and important contribution to music composition. A keyboardist can approach the synthesizer as a more portable means of bringing their piano or organ playing to a greater range of audiences. Having a portable means to make music is handy, but that isn’t the only reason the synthesizer is cool. For a musician creating their own vision, the keyboard can be a powerful tool for developing their own sounds and approach to playing. Check out these two keyboardists who are always raising the standard of synthesis, Joe Zawinul and Scott Kinsey.
Samples are great because they give an artist the ability to use familiar sounds, and develop unheard-of new sounds from those familiar sounds. Acoustic musicians get defensive when it comes to samples. Nothing is going to compare with a real orchestra playing your music, but as a composer, if you want to write symphonic music, samples are a thrifty way to work with a similar palette. The sounds have gotten good enough for the music to stand alone, but it is not an orchestra, it is something cool but different. Few people enough connections or have enough money to have a full-blown orchestra at their fingertips. The use of samples also makes creating music more accessible to more people. The novice can now make sounds at a sonically accepted level which is wonderful, but this doesn’t mean the novice is making great music just because they are using technology. One still has to develop knowledge and understanding to make the music complete. Nothing can get past the hours of practicing and tweeking sounds and layers. You need that time and study to gather a collection of sounds to be expressive with. Samples are a great tool for making music, but they will only be as interesting as the person using them.
Loops are cool because you can use them to create a sonic collage. Interesting combinations of loops can create a trance-like result. You can create an unheard-of direction in sound, yet keep it grounded like a tribal hypnotic groove. I am surprised by the number of people that dismiss using loops as a basis for composition. To me, these people are narrow in musical scope. I feel that loops are one of many ways to go about being creative and expressive. Computers, synthesizers, samples and loops are just tools for creating music. They are great fun and satisfying in their own way. Remember, just because you put a person in front of a piano, it doesn’t mean he is going to make great music. The same holds true if you put him in front of a computer with synthesizers, samples and loops!
Demand a high-level of artistic craft in all musical endeavors. It is cool if you are an acoustic musician and don’t dig electronic music, but please at least have enough sense to realize that it is just different way of doing music!
