From Strings to Synths:

Music Evolution and Macao

Kelsey Wilhelm

Acoustic music has been around since we can remember. From deaf legends such as Beethoven to more fiery modern guitarwork as Rodrigo y Gabriela it is a medium which is believed by most will never die.

Electronic music, on the other hand, has only recently made an emergence onto the scene. Electronic instruments, such as the Theremin, an instrument played entirely without touching it, and controlled using magnetic fields, have been around since the late 1920s. Yet only within the last few decades has it achieved a huge surge in popularity. Reasons for this may not only lie in the listeners, but also in those that produce the music. With a steady turn towards internet promotion and dissemination, digital production seems to be finding a home and it’s digging in for a long stay.

Portable and Powerful

Electronic music, as compared to acoustic music, has many advantages.

“It’s portable, you can constantly have your music there to listen, to produce, to compare” says Dj 2ez from Australia “you don’t need to set up in a garage, you just set up in your headphones”.

Portability is one of the essential changes that has come into not only the production, but the appreciation of music: electronic or acoustic.

In terms of the actual production of an electronic track, most producers use a “controller”, a device with various knobs and/or dials, drum pads and a certain number of piano-style keys that allow them to play and manipulate notes, effects, volumes and many other things. This can be linked directly into a music program or routed through a “sound card” which essentially splits various input and output channels. For a travelling music producer, these incredibly light devices, coupled with a pair of headphones and a computer are all you need.

This has allowed for music to spread more rapidly than ever across the globe. All someone needs in order to make a song (acoustic or electronic) and show it to the world is a phone, computer or table with an internet connection. This is made possible by people such as Alexander Ljung & Eric Wahlforss, the german sound designers who founded a website called Soundcloud in 2007.

"We had these people around us involved in really cool tech stuff, and also people making music […] and we wanted to fuse some of that together and create something useful" says Alexander. "Initially we wanted to do something very simple which would make it easy for somebody to send a track and […] receive that track, listen to it and give some feedback".

This has evolved into a music platform that now supports hundreds of thousands of music makers, has its own iPhone application and costs between 29 and 500 euros a year for an account.

Portability and the integration of media allows for not only production but self-promotion of artists through various websites. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the music business upped its digital revenue by 1,000% in a six year period starting in 2004.

Music sharing platforms such as SoundCloud circumvent the former necessity of signing contracts with companies solely in order to be heard, while simultaneously providing the users exposure to the same record companies.

Reverberating Strings

Acoustic music is not going to lay down however. Here in Macau, the Conservatory of Music boasts over 700 students and 80 teachers. The Macau Orchestra, established over 20 years ago, still performs regularly and in November the Macau Music Festival hit its 25th anniversary. Groups such as Solar, the popular Macanese band comprised of two brothers started off playing entirely acoustically. “Hush”, the rock concert, featuring mostly local artists draws full crowds every year to the steps of the Cultural Center.

However, new evolutions straying from the norm are starting to emerge. The Live Music Association, set up by “a group of live music performance enthusiasts” in 2008 is one of such evolutions. With a 6000 square foot area that can fit 150 audience members, this is the ideal place to let local musicians showcase their talent. It is also the first step for the promotion of local artists which, according to a local bass player, is “a too-long awaited change”. Local “Jam Nights”, composed of both career musicians and start-up players have a place on Monday through Thursday. These sport a variety of artists and instruments, some barely recognizable, and are organized at places such as the Russian Bar in New Century, The Lemongrass in Nova Taipa and Roadhouse in Macau, yet none have the same available conditions as LMA.

Music(ian) Makers

Ray Granlund and Victor Garnier are two people who're actively participant in the music scene in Macau. Together they established a company called Solid Sounds in Macau which now is managed by the Panda Artist Management Group out of Barcelona, Spain. The group works with artists from across the world to promote, produce and manage their sounds.

"Solid Sounds historically represented the music production and live music presenting instead of hands on artist management. Because of the occurrences here in Macau, we've been forced to focus more the agency side of things" says Ray.

His background in music all started with the piano at age 5, and after a short dabble in violin which he "got sick of" turned to synthesizers in the 8th grade.

"I fell in love with synths […] then got my first taste of music and computers together, a software for writing sheet music and notes on a computer".

Ray, at the time of this report, was recording a band in the Dom Pedro V theater. His experiences shows how varied are the backgrounds of musicians. After studying linguistics and computer sciences he decided he finally found his niche in music and has since tried to promote that to locals through tutorial programs and workshops. He describes his decision to focus on music fondly.

"I dropped everything else and just did music, had a lot of theoretical education, studied singing, was going to be an opera singer" he says. Opera however ,although not his current occupation, brought him to Macau.

"That's how I met and fell in love with Macau, hanging off a ledge of the Post Office [in Senado Square] by a rope singing opera" he recalls.

Spin It, Mix it, Produce it, Embrace it

Electronic music is on the rise, the nightlife scene, dominated by clubs such as Cubic, D2, DD3, Lotus, Sky21 and recently China Rouge, is all the rage. Cubic, calling itself the “a new world for indulgence and pleasure” is an image of a flashy lifestyle, equipped with alternative lighting, LEDs and laser projection, it’s constantly filled with people dancing to various Djs.

This method of music, being almost purely electronic, is one of the “easiest” says Ray. It requires only one person and their equipment. Plus, being in a club environment is very different to a concert. A certain “vibe” has to be maintained and the crowd is controlled by a “subtle evolution over the course of the night” he continues.

“You have to know when to throw that song in so that the crowd peaks, but you also have to know how to build up to that peak, and how to bring them back down again after” says Dj Devlar, an American. This process continues over the course of the set, he explains, and is the key to making or breaking a night.

Programs specific for DJs have become more popular over the years with the common use of free software such as Virtual Dj to more complex programs such as Traktor Scratch, made by Native Instruments, adding more and more possibilities in terms of effects, recording, triggering, sampling and many more.

Producing software, ranging from the Mac-stock Garageband to Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Fruity Loops, Reason and others are assuming a more and more dominant role in home-producing.

These allow for the integration of both acoustic instruments, using DAW: digital audio workstations and other components, such as plug-ins, mixing the acoustic with various accompanying effects as well as synths, loops of any kind and vocals.

This type of music production, being based on an ever changing musical platform is always able to expand its horizons. Already sounds from real instruments can be almost perfectly replicated and reproduced using synthesizers. The future seems to lie in what is inevitably around the corner. An integration of both mediums. Already electronics are used in virtually every phase of the music production process. Is it time to hold tight to our guitars and embrace the digital wave?