The New Producers of Digital Music

Digital technology and the internet has had many profound effects on media in recent years. One of the changes that has received the most attention is recent years is the changing definition of media producers. YouTube invites its users to "Broadcast Yourself," millions subscribe to or write their own blogs, and many media organizations, such as CNN, solicit internet users to subit their own videos. It is clear that anybody with a digital video camera and internet access can be a producer of digital content, and with any luck can be quite famous.

However, most of the focus of this shift in media producers has been upon video. New digital recording equipment allows musicians to digitally record their own music. For just a few hundred dollars, musicians and recording artists can buy a fairly high quality multi-track digital recorder. These multi-track recorders are essentially full recording studios and are about the size of a hard-cover novel. Before digital technology, recording studios used reel-to-reel tape, and these studios were the size of entire rooms. Recording time in these studios was expensive, and a band generally had to be signed with a major record label to have any hope of making a quality recording. But like nearly everything that digital technology has been applied to, recording equipment has become smaller, more affordable and more available to the general public. I am a guitar player and the following music clips were recorded in my own home with my own guitars. The first is a cover version of Cream's "White Room" and the second is based on Eric Clapton's unplugged version of "Layla."



The ability to digitally record original music at home, edit that music, and add digital effects such as echos or phase shifting, has the potential to change the music industry. No longer do artists need to book expensive time in a recording studio to produce a CD. With digital equipment available to anybody who can afford it, nearly anybody can become the next true "guitar hero."
For more information about home recording check out this blog: HomeTracked.