Has the Digital Revolution ruined entertainment?

[Futurama]

I bid to you a simple question; digital technology was invented around the mid-twentieth century, but in the past 15 years or so has become the standard for all of us.

 

 

 

Most transmitters in the UK are switching to digital television

 

Digital radio is fast replacing traditional radio

 

Animation is almost always CGI in the modern day

 

Digital printing has replaced traditional printing

 

A lot of our music is bought digitally.

 

 

 

The list goes on.

 

 

 

I am a home music producer and engineer, and one of the largest arguements revolves around digital vs analog. We have fantastic digital sound technology capable of all sorts of advanced crap - but do we really need it? All engineers strive for that extra edge of sound quality, but it's just rubbish. Music, in my opinion, has become way too clean, because it's all digitally processed, perfect signals - where's the grunginess gone?

 

Music is also loudened to the point where it has no dynamics - put in a heavy metal, pop or dance music CD you bought a few weeks ago and watch your system go crazy. Now put in a CD from 30 years ago - different? I thought so. The reason is because, 30 years ago, a thing called DYNAMICS existed, where the music is sometimes, just sometimes, at different volumes. Want it louder? Get better speakers anda turn the knob up. Done.

 

 

 

Anyone can be a musician these days, and that's why music is rubbish. It's free to write, it's free to promote yourself, and thus, you don't really need the talent to do it, you just need the right marketing. Clever marketing has gave us wonders before such as McDonalds and Starbucks - there's no room for the little guy anymore, and it's either overpriced or just crap.

 

 

 

What I feel like is as if because of digital technology, anyone can do anything, and there's no intuition really needed any more - people don't dream, they just do it. We now have hundreds of radio stations and tv channels for everything from soaps to a constant weather channel and foreign channels, but do we really need them? I'd happily settle for maybe, 12 or 15 great quality channels and skip the rubbish.

 

 

 

So I ask you; do you think digital technology, on the whole, is rubbish?