Idol For The Lose.
NOTE: Do not take anything I say in the following entry seriously. This is me venting, and I tend to be somewhat irrational when I vent.
American Idol pisses me off. Canadian Idol pisses me off. Any TV show with Idol tacked on the end pisses me off.
The reason for this is that they hold six to eight weeks of a competition just to see who's a good singer. It's really just a glorified prick-waving contest (or tits-waving, in some cases) and your voice has nothing to do with the outcome; instead, it's purely your looks and your fucking charm.
Which brings me to my point. The voice. It's only going to get you past the auditions. After that, I theorise that the producers can pick any fucking Joe Blow or Jane Soap to pick up the contract, because remember, they're the ones controlling the ratings, and thus, they're the ones controlling your musical output.
Here's what I mean: picture a hawt chick (or guy, I don't care) with not-so-decent singing talent, and an average-looking chick (or guy) with an excellent singing talent. Thanks to the magic of Antares Auto-Tune and realtime pitch correction, the producers can fuck up the voice of the excellent singer and boost their ratings with the hawt chick's synthetic voice. In essence, we're flooding the music industry with mediocre talent and we're wasting the genuine talent.
It's glorified lip-synching. And it pisses me off.
Aside: I said "we're flooding the market with mediocre talent, and we're wasting the genuine talent." It's almost (ALMOST!) the same case as with electronic music production these days; I've seen some tracks made with purely presequenced loops and basic, almost childish, melodic lines. Examples include tracks made within GarageBand and eJay. Now, before you start slicing me apart, note that these programs are good in moderation. If you use presequenced loops for every track, though, that pushes a line somewhere.
The only things that I have borrowed for my music production are a few drum loops (which were then promptly sliced in ReCycle; examples are the Amen break and the break used in Xional) and a generative Max patch (for Cirquitrine). Everything else, I've made with my eyes, my ears, and my hands. I do get some recognition (which I appreciate very much, thanks for those who took the time!) but not as much as those people who use the presequenced shit.
Talent, we'll miss you.
American Idol pisses me off. Canadian Idol pisses me off. Any TV show with Idol tacked on the end pisses me off.
The reason for this is that they hold six to eight weeks of a competition just to see who's a good singer. It's really just a glorified prick-waving contest (or tits-waving, in some cases) and your voice has nothing to do with the outcome; instead, it's purely your looks and your fucking charm.
Which brings me to my point. The voice. It's only going to get you past the auditions. After that, I theorise that the producers can pick any fucking Joe Blow or Jane Soap to pick up the contract, because remember, they're the ones controlling the ratings, and thus, they're the ones controlling your musical output.
Here's what I mean: picture a hawt chick (or guy, I don't care) with not-so-decent singing talent, and an average-looking chick (or guy) with an excellent singing talent. Thanks to the magic of Antares Auto-Tune and realtime pitch correction, the producers can fuck up the voice of the excellent singer and boost their ratings with the hawt chick's synthetic voice. In essence, we're flooding the music industry with mediocre talent and we're wasting the genuine talent.
It's glorified lip-synching. And it pisses me off.
Aside: I said "we're flooding the market with mediocre talent, and we're wasting the genuine talent." It's almost (ALMOST!) the same case as with electronic music production these days; I've seen some tracks made with purely presequenced loops and basic, almost childish, melodic lines. Examples include tracks made within GarageBand and eJay. Now, before you start slicing me apart, note that these programs are good in moderation. If you use presequenced loops for every track, though, that pushes a line somewhere.
The only things that I have borrowed for my music production are a few drum loops (which were then promptly sliced in ReCycle; examples are the Amen break and the break used in Xional) and a generative Max patch (for Cirquitrine). Everything else, I've made with my eyes, my ears, and my hands. I do get some recognition (which I appreciate very much, thanks for those who took the time!) but not as much as those people who use the presequenced shit.
Talent, we'll miss you.