As computer technology rapidly advanced over the last half century, our access to forms of information and function-previously available only to experts in a specific field extended with the same rigor. The development of music software, computer music systems, and personal computers (most recently portable high-speed laptops) provide trained musicians and non-professionals with a means to create, record, and mix music compositions with the click of a button or a turn of a knob. Do electronic musicians create music in the same classical sense as musicians who create music using organic instruments?
An electronic musician using computer technology to compose a song, is able to create fresh music spontaneously with the same creativity as a musician playing an organic instrument. However, an electronic musician is able to take music improvisation even further. On a computer, the musician can take any sound, examine it a number of different ways, and reinvent that sound through effects and recording. Utilizing electronic music production technology (synthesizers, digital mixers, etc.), electronic musicians are able to break away from traditional forms of musical production, doing more musically with fewer resources.
An electronic musician creates music using any sound that can be recorded on, or transferred into a computer through electrical voltages or digital information. While a laptop will never be an organic instrument, such as a cello or a guitar, computer-produced music does not adhere to any preconceived ideals regarding “what it sounds like". Although some traditionalists hold narrower views as to what signifies a musical instrument, electronic musicians approach the computer as a unique instrument that is able to process natural sounds and generate unnatural ones.
“When thinking about the computer you are talking about any sound on the planet being a musical sound. If you think about that and you look at a laptop computer; it’s really the ideal tool for new forms of musical expression,” said Michael Bierylo, an Associate Professor of Music Synthesis at Berklee College of Music.
If we take a look at music that we hear on the radio, television, or the Internet, an overwhelming fraction of that music has been produced on a computer. Since the start of the new millennium, many software-based virtual studios, like the well-received Ableton Live, have become cheaper and easier to use. These virtual studios provide the user with the freedom to utilize audio editing software while creating new music using audio effects and electronic instrumental sounds. As these virtual studios become more accessible, the number of amateur electronic musicians getting their start sitting at home at their desk's continues to grow.
The rising number of electronic musicians worldwide continue to change the way music is being created. “Someone with inherent and advanced musical knowledge & ability coupled with electronic/computer based technology can create incredible sonic landscapes,” said Ben Cullum, a songwriter/programmer/producer/musician currently touring with the British electronic funk band, The Egg. Adopting a progressive attitude and style, these musicians continue to mesh traditional elements of music with computer generated sounds.
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