In an interview with one half of Daft Punk, Billboard.com had a chance to catch up with Thomas Bangalter. Questions were asked about the album and its production, but more interesting than that were his words on Pop music, EDM, its producers, and why “They aren’t challenging the system themselves.”
When asked to explain a earlier comment on EDM, he answered with this: 
I think it’s mostly the tools; I think they might be missing the tools. The problem with the way to make music today, these are turnkey systems; they come with preset banks and sounds. They’re not inviting you to challenge the systems themselves, or giving you the ability to showcase your personality, individuality. They’re making it as if it’s somehow easier to make the same music you hear on the radio. Then it creates a very vicious cycle: How can you challenge that when the system and the media are not challenging it in the first place?
He isn’t wrong. Most VSTs and producing softwares are loaded with presets that, in a way, do limit your ability to make your own signature sound. Sure you can download sample packs and other synths but the fact remains that all of that is already “pre-made”. Most of the rise of EDM and the hundreds of thousands of producers saturating the market is mostly due to how easy it is to download that software, look up some tutorials, make a little House track, and then suddenly call your music unique. It begs the question if it’s so unique, why was it made with the same process as any other track? With the use of computers, creating EDM seems to be almost too easy. Thomas also spoke on using laptops and computers for the record.
We really felt that the computers are not really music instruments, and we were not able to express ourselves using a laptop. We tried, but were not successful.
Despite being from a previous generation of music making, he has a point. Music seems to have this universal language that can be used to communicate. The problem begins with ‘what happens if your language is already preset’? then you aren’t able to converse or “showcase your personality, individuality.” Creating the same sound with the same process leads to a horrible “Vicious Cycle” because people are too scared to “push the envelope ” and really create something different.
Source: Billboard
It’s not the tools. It’s the artists. and I use the term ‘artists’ very loosely.
The sheer overwhelming abundance of sonic tools available to the artists of today is almost endless, but this creates a paradox of choice. If there is no roadmap or sonic curation process, then choosing sounds and ideas can be almost impossible if an artist does not already have a strong creative vision. I think this is more to the point of what Thomas is talking about. Due to the easy nature of creating electronic music with todays technology, many people (usually younger) who probably do not have strong creative vision or much experience as creators are simply copying each other to death, choosing to imitate, rather than innovate, and feeling very accomplished of the “music” that they have “created”. This is also a natural part of the creative process, and has been so for a very long time. Young artists have always absorbed, copied, and eventually surpassed their influences to forge new sounds and shades of human expression. But with the proliferation of digital interconnectivity, young “artists” in training are able to recreate the sounds of their influences quickly and easily and then share those experiments with large groups of people around the world almost instantaneously, creating a wealth of imitators and knocks offs and flooding the internet with mediocre music. Most individual “artists” languish in obscurity, but collectively create a sea of sameness and bland, copied, lifeless creation.
Although, to play devils advocate, ‘Get Lucky” kinda sounds like a Chic record from the 70’s. And that’s not a bad thing. At least Daft Punk is recycling a sound from 40 years ago rather than 5 years ago.
It’s not the tools. It’s the artists. and I use the term ‘artists’ very loosely.
The sheer overwhelming abundance of sonic tools available to the artists of today is almost endless, but this creates a paradox of choice. If there is no roadmap or sonic curation process, then choosing sounds and ideas can be almost impossible if an artist does not already have a strong creative vision. I think this is more to the point of what Thomas is talking about. Due to the easy nature of creating electronic music with todays technology, many people (usually younger) who probably do not have strong creative vision or much experience as creators are simply copying each other to death, choosing to imitate, rather than innovate, and feeling very accomplished of the “music” that they have “created”. This is also a natural part of the creative process, and has been so for a very long time. Young artists have always absorbed, copied, and eventually surpassed their influences to forge new sounds and shades of human expression. But with the proliferation of digital interconnectivity, young “artists” in training are able to recreate the sounds of their influences quickly and easily and then share those experiments with large groups of people around the world almost instantaneously, creating a wealth of imitators and knocks offs and flooding the internet with mediocre music. Most individual “artists” languish in obscurity, but collectively create a sea of sameness and bland, copied, lifeless creation.
Although, to play devils advocate, ‘Get Lucky” kinda sounds like a Chic record from the 70’s. And that’s not a bad thing. At least Daft Punk is recycling a sound from 40 years ago rather than 5 years ago.
Another downside of the technical and knowledge abundance is the overall demotivating feeling that everything has already been done and that your sound won’t be unique. There are many people trying to figure out how famous artists made their sounds, making them better producers themselves. I did that as well, but I always failed miserably. Why? Because I just couldn’t copy someone else, I always ended up making something completely different, and totally my own.
I found confidence and assurance in the most important lesson I’ve learned at my music production school: I DO NOT want to sound like anybody else!
This sounds super elitist and doesn’t make a shit’s worth of sense to me. No one was like “Hey, Mozart…your shit is good bro, but like…you’re just using a piano. Did you make the fucking piano? So basically everything you’re doing can be replicated by someone else. Weak.” Just because you can create your own “sounds” doesn’t make you a musician. It makes you a sound engineer. And just because you’re a musician doesn’t mean you need to know how to craft your own instrument. No one is asking vocalists to go out and build their own microphones, or cellists to carve their own cellos. As a producer, you are like a composer. Your job is to assemble the music and create an original arrangement. Using computers, using hired musicians. Whatever it takes to get your sound out there. Not every kid in his basement can fly to three different studios to record and hire musical legends to collaborate with. People just use what they have to make the music they want. I’m sick of hearing EDM bigshots shit on people for following their passion. Your problem is with the consumers, not the artists. Stop acting so fucking entitled and let people do what they want, what makes them happy.
Can you post the original article/ interview? Because you guys are really good at leaving out the whole story.
Just another reason why I question most articles posted by this website.
sorry, I see the source now. I’m a fool.
I think you make a very valid argument
It’s all a marketing ploy to catapult Daft Punk back into relevance and they’re doing a fantastic job at it. They’re promising all the nostalgic rave vets that they’re back to reclaim the throne and save edm from the fart bass and rhodes organs…. which I’m excited about. I miss the funky disco vibe in house, but it’s already been making a come back.
They have a point about technological limitations and copying each other’s sounds, but you could say the same thing about any form of music, at any point in time. Yeah, edm used to use more samples and now uses more soft synths, but you could argue that the producers are more skilled now because they actually play their midi controllers instead of ripping if off of someone else.
Pish and tosh, I make every sound from the ground up, give or take the odd 909 kick. From sine wave to song it’s entirely mine. I could care less if the media challenges the establishment or not, I just do what I love and pay the idea of ‘norm’, or ‘what people like’ no heed. “It’s not how you look but how you feel”.
But more to the point, Shouldn’t we be aiming criticism at 3 chord song structure before we aim it at preset style sound design?
But more to the point, Shouldn’t we be aiming criticism at 3 chord song structure before we aim it at preset style sound design?