Analog to Digital

Music recording and playback has transformed a lot in the past century. From the Phonograph to the iPod, music has made its alterations and so have the people that create, distribute, and sell it. The industry has moved into a new era recently called the “Digital Age” of music.

In the analog world of music, people had more difficult times with music. To make music, an artist would have to spend a great deal of money to record at a recording studio. For an artist to sell their music, they would have to go through a recording company to make the CDs and demos to then be distributed. Before, as most people will remember, people had to travel across town to purchase music at a vendor. For the consumers of music to listen to their purchased music, people had to play the bought music on the designed player of the product.

In the new age, people can now make, distribute, purchase, and listen to music in new ways. Artists can now record their music to their own laptops and make their own demos. Not only can they record, but they can also mix their own music. Using software such as Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studios, Garageband, etc., people can import their music into the software and mix their music the way they want for much cheaper. Many of these software can utilize plugins to do many different things such as imitate amplifiers, alter vocals, fake reverberation, and so much more. Making a demo is as easy as placing the tracks that were created into software such as Waveburner and clicking burn. Because of the digital music, purchasing music is now digital as well. Consumers can just log onto the Internet and go to the iTunes store, enter their payment method and click purchase. The best part has yet to be mentioned. With new sites and applications such as Spotify, Pandora, Songza, and more, people have new free ways to listen to their favorite music and discover new music they’ll come to love.

Music has come very far from Edison’s original creation. As the industry moves forward with technology, it seems the world may soon be saying goodbye to the analog world and hello to the digital future.

For more information and resources on the history of music follow this link.

For more information and resources on the digital movement follow this link.