"Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" was in my opinion replaced
years ago by "Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction" by Douglas Davis.
I was born taking reproductions for granted, but not so many of them!
With digital technology, it's possible to make a PERFECT copy of so many
things, making the difference between a copy and an original a moot
question.
Here's an example:
1. Guy in 1970's dub band plays on a bass guitar in a Jamaican
studio. Bassline is recorded onto track 9 of a multitrack.
2. Track 9 is COPIED onto a master tape in a final mix. Reverb
effects double (thus dub) the sound during the recording.
3. Master tape is COPIED onto a master record.
4. Master record is COPIED onto multiple plates for large-scale
manufacturing (embarassingly, I don't know how they make records - are
they engraved or pressed?)
5. Plates are COPIED onto 100,000 records.
6. Master Tapes are all lost in a fire.
7. Resurgence of dub leads to reissue of the record. Digital
restoration begins.
8. Several mint condition records are COPIED onto the Hard Drive
of a really nice computer.
9. Restorer cuts-n-pastes like mad from several vinyl copies of
the song to make a digital master of a fully restored song. Lots of
COPYING going on here.
10. Hard drive is COPIED onto a master DAT.
11. Master DAT is COPIED onto several Gold Master CDs.
12. Gold Master CD is COPIED 100,000 times onto retail disks.
13. Intelligent Dance Musician buys CD and COPIES parts of it
into their sampler.
14. IDM person cuts-n-pastes even more madly than the restorer
did, COPYING the same digital information so many times it's not even
funny.
15. IDM person COPIES the sample onto a master DAT, mixed in
with lots of other sounds - some of which they made themselves, some
sampled.
16. Master DAT is COPIED onto several Gold Master CDs.
17. Gold Master CD is COPIED 100,000 times onto retail disks.
All that's left of the "original" is the bassist's charred guitar pick
in the burnt-out husk of some forgotten recording studio in Kingston.
But the music is everywhere.
-Chris Fahey
quoted 32 lines -----Original Message-----
> -----Original Message-----
> From: idm-owner@hyperreal.com [SMTP:idm-owner@hyperreal.com] On Behalf
> Of Ross Vitale
> Sent: Monday, February 24, 1997 10:33 AM
> To: IDM
> Subject: Re: (idm) Real Autechre
>
> On Sun, 23 Feb 1997, Hillie wrote:
>
> > yep. Coz if it's a re-release (domestic) that means it's a copy and
> not the
> > original, like someone else said it before, I don't remember who,
> even though
> > it was 2 msgs or so before this one :D
> >
> > anyhow, since it's a copy really, you don't have that feeling of
> owning an
> > original.
>
> I think you've lost me, aren't they all copies, that is they were
> copied
> from the original master recording. The only true original is the one
> they
> recorded to the DAT/ADAT or whatever medium when the artist was in
> their
> respective studio.
>
> Just a thought or two.... ;-)
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> Ross
> Volition Inc
> music for the body, mind, and soul