Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What will music sound like 100 years from now?

F

fearoftigers

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 21, 2010
79
0
How do you think music will develop over the next hundred years?

What do you think music will sound like by the end of our lifetime and 100 years from now?

What would happen if Einstein and Steve Jobs (or insert your favourite genius) teamed up with the most pioneering producers and composers dead or alive to invent a new type of music / way of listening to music. What would they come up with?

Note: The aim of the question is to ask about the future of music. I take the assumption that society will continue to progress and evolve.

Of course the world may have ended in 100 years or we may be back to some agrarian type lifestyle but that is something we cannot predict.

So the question is: What will music sound like 100 years from now (assuming that humans continue to evolve upwards and a war or natural disaster doesn't wipe us out/send us back to the dark ages).

----------

Some initial thoughts - - the increasing cultural influence of india and china may influence the western tone system and the adoption of new modes of mircotonal tuning may lead to exciting new possibilities.

- development in speakers and headphones. I can imagine a new all enveloping 3D sound that doesn't require multiple speakers. Binaural recording has already show this is possible, in part, on standard headphones.

- Imagine if Vocaloid was realistic. It's well within the realms of possibility that a natural sounding voice imitator will be available within our lifetime.
 
? futuristic (to us)

If you had told me growing up that autotuning would be a popular sound, I would have laughed in your face. As one 40 years ago could have predicted the musical tastes of today, I can't even begin to project out 100 years.
 
leekohler said:
Actually, it never went away- techno, trance, etc. I usually just call it all "gay disco".
Click to expand...
LOL, sort of....I don't really like techno or trance. I get a headache after a few minutes of it.

leekohler said:
70's Disco at least had actual instruments and some pretty amazing bass lines.
Click to expand...

There are so many classics, even people who didn't like the genre still like some disco songs.
 
ericrwalker said:
LOL, sort of....I don't really like techno or trance. I get a headache after a few minutes of it.
Click to expand...

Drugs are usually required to enjoy it.

ericrwalker said:
There are so many classics, even people who didn't like the genre still like some disco songs.
Click to expand...

Oh definitely- I've been listening to a lot of Chic lately. They did some really cool stuff. KC and the Sunshine Band too.
 
When it comes to development, two camps are already forming

1. Purists who put in years to learn their instrument, how to sing, music theory, etc

2. Musicians who exploit tech to make a name for themselves - IE singers that need autotune, composers who can't create a melody without an arpeggiator, microwave dj's, etc

If you were a DJ in the 90's, you had to know how to beat match. Now Serato will do it for you while you're hanging out at the bar on the other side of the club. If you were a rapper, you had to be able to flow on point. Now Logic 9 will analyze your audio track and correct your sloppiness. If you were a singer, you needed to have an ear for pitch. In 2011 Little Wayne and Drake are singing ballads and they can't sing for ****.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ericrwalker said:
That would explain why everyone has X at raves.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I had a roommate fry himself on X, K and GHB. I have nothing against drugs, but his habits were ridiculous.

Liquorpuki said:
When it comes to development, two camps are already forming

1. Purists who put in years to learn their instrument, how to sing, music theory, etc

2. Musicians who exploit tech to make a name for themselves - IE singers that need autotune, composers who can't create a melody without an arpeggiator, microwave dj's, etc

If you were a DJ in the 90's, you had to know how to beat match. Now Serato will do it for you while you're hanging out at the bar on the other side of the club. If you were a rapper, you had to be able to flow on point. Now Logic 9 will analyze your audio track and correct your sloppiness. If you were a singer, you needed to have an ear for pitch. In 2011 Little Wayne and Drake are singing ballads and they can't sing for ****.
Click to expand...

Camp number 2 is the biggest reason innovation is just not happening with music.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Liquorpuki said:
When it comes to development, two camps are already forming

1. Purists who put in years to learn their instrument, how to sing, music theory, etc

2. Musicians who exploit tech to make a name for themselves - IE singers that need autotune, composers who can't create a melody without an arpeggiator, microwave dj's, etc
Click to expand...

leekohler said:
Camp number 2 is the biggest reason innovation is just not happening with music.
Click to expand...

99% of "innovation" in music nowadays is little more than splintering genres into subgenres. For example, dubstep is not the groundbreaking innovation it's made out to be by today's music pundits; it's a refinement of breakbeat, which stems from techno, which has its origins in house, which in turn has roots in... you guessed it, disco.

Back when Prince left the Warner label and went "indie", he was featured in an interview where he described the market for these two camps. Camp 1 fans are what he called music lovers-- those who will hear an artist on the radio or other source, and then do some research which will usually result in purchase of the album and possibly back catalog sales. They consider music an art form.

He called Camp 2 fans music consumers: those who will hear a song, purchase or otherwise obtain just that song or maybe one more single, then discard it when the next musical flavor of the week comes along. They consider music a commodity.

leekohler said:
Actually, it never went away- techno, trance, etc. I usually just call it all "gay disco".
Click to expand...

It's interesting you should call it that, because that's exactly what the disco scene did in reaction to the Disco Sucks movement-- it went underground, renaming itself "dance music" and/or "Hi-NRG" and surviving in gay clubs (and occasionally other underground venues). To cut down on production costs, producers depended heavily on synthesizers for instrumentation. This led to house and synthpop, and the whole chain started...

leekohler said:
70's Disco at least had actual instruments and some pretty amazing bass lines.
Click to expand...

Which is why I still like some Stock Aitken Waterman material to this day, despite the bubblegum lyrics. SAW's resident mixer/programmer, Phil Harding, had an ear for catchy basslines.
 
Last edited:
leekohler said:
Camp number 2 is the biggest reason innovation is just not happening with music.
Click to expand...

Exactly, if you think it's bad here you should see/hear music in Japan. The actual mainstream music is 5% about the music (auto tune like crazy) 75% how good looking (or girlish the guys look) and the rest is dance and other appeal.
 
ericrwalker said:
You'd have fun in the Harajuku section of Tokyo, on Takeshita Street. It's better than Halloween there every day.
Click to expand...

What, like Ganguro?

20080723204849.jpg


I prefer Visual Kei myself.

visual_kei.jpg
 
Last edited:
ericrwalker said:
LOL There is plenty of weird there, but there is a lot of beauty and fun there.

You'd have fun in the Harajuku section of Tokyo, on Takeshita Street. It's better than Halloween there every day.
Click to expand...

Oh, that could be fun, but I would have to bring my own food. I absolutely despise Japanese food.
 
leekohler said:
Oh, that could be fun, but I would have to bring my own food. I absolutely despise Japanese food.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a lot of it is hard to swallow. I am not too picky anymore, got used to Korean and Japanese food over the years.

----------
dXTC said:
What, like Ganguro?

Image
Click to expand...

Yeah and then some. Harajuku has their own style, they often look like they just came from some Tim Burton movie or something.
 
If the post WWII era of Rock'n Roll continues like it's going, it will de-evolve into a lot of grunting and farting... to a beat. ;)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back