Computers changing sound of music

Bela Fleck picks the banjo for a living, an occupation not typically associated with technological revolutions.

But when he decided to abandon traditional recording studios in favor of a computer setup at home, Fleck fell into the vanguard of a trend now transforming the music industry.

"That was the first record we ever won a Grammy for," he said from his home in Nashville, Tenn. "After all the money we spent in studios, I end up having the most success with something I did at home."

Since Fleck first embraced Pro Tools nine years ago, just about every professional studio -- not to mention countless amateurs -- have set up workstations with this type of software.

It works like a word processor for sound. You can cut and paste together snippets of music, either single instruments or entire bands. Sloppy drummers can be rendered mathematically precise. Lousy vocalists can appear to sing in tune. Even distortion from old, discontinued guitar amplifiers can be emulated.

Pro Tools' developer estimates that its products touch up at least 90 percent of all popular music at some point during production. Competitors such as Nuendo, Cubase and others vie for the rest.

Big seller

The Pro Tools line -- which also includes studio hardware -- brought in almost all the $132 million in sales booked last year by Digidesign Inc., the Daly City, Calif., unit of Avid Technology. That's up 20 percent from 2001 and a more than fivefold increase in yearly revenue since Fleck first installed Pro Tools on his Macintosh.

Even more telling, the free, eight-track version -- twice as powerful as the four-track Fleck used in 1994 -- has been downloaded almost 2 million times, mostly for basement and bedroom studios.

Independent musicians can now set up a studio for what it once cost them to spend just a day or two in a tape studio packed with a small fortune in gear.

"Years ago, my band would do anything for studio time," New York musician Bryan Cullen said.

Since Pro Tools, he said, "our band has recorded over 20 songs in the comfort of my apartment."

Lazy musicians

But depending on whom you ask, the ubiquitous technology is either the best musical invention since the gramophone or the digital demon that stole the soul from rock 'n' roll.

"Some people overuse Pro Tools," said Thom Canova, who records rock and hip-hop acts in his San Francisco studio. "A lot of problems start when someone decides they're going to edit everything. If you do that, you take all the life out of the music."

Some critics say computer tricks have created lazy musicians who disappoint fans when performing live because they can't replicate their recordings.

Software has increased the use of "looping," when snippets of music are pasted over and over. A technique celebrated in hip-hop and techno, looping leaves a bad taste in many rock 'n' rollers' mouths.

"They're writing simple, recycling measures of music they play with an almost eerily machinelike precision," said Kevin Dale McCollough, an indie musician who uses the stage name Zed Salt and runs a studio near Bourbon, Ind. "Personally, I'd rather listen to a little sloppiness."

Fabrice Dupont makes a good living editing that sloppiness from major-label records at his Manhattan studio. It can take him weeks or months to edit an album.

But like an attorney who protects client confidentiality, Dupont and others usually keep quiet about who got the royal Pro Tools treatment -- and the acts receiving it rarely brag about it.

Love it or hate it, just about everyone in the industry has accepted that the software is here to stay. Many famous bands now bring Pro Tools "rigs" along on tour to capture live shows and jam sessions.

Little fixes

Fleck is quick to dismiss critics.

"If you're trying to get someone who can't sing to sound in tune, then you've already got a problem," Fleck said. But if a skilled vocalist "missed one note, but he's great, what's the problem with tuning the note?"

Scott Dailey, vice president at Digidesign, makes no apologies amid criticisms that cheap home studios drain business from professional engineers.