The John Lennon song Working Class Hero features tonal changes at 0:10 and 0:30 sec (within the clip), which indicate the addition of a separate piece of music recorded in John Lennon’s home. In this release of the song the container and method of recording comes through in the poor transition between the two pieces of music due to poor editing and producing choices.
With personal recording becoming so easy and relatively cheap to do that it can be done on an app or an iPad musician and singers are able to produce and disperse music at an exceptionally fast rate, any where, any time. With good quality music production software and the potential for what can be created this method of music production is exploding.
Though new software creates great music quality does it mean the songs being recorded are any better? Without a professional eye it is much easier for amateurs to make production mistakes and a great deal of the art and finesse is lost (Pixelsound, 2016). I would argue that the digitization and ease of personal production of music can be likened to the movement from manuscripts to the industrialization of the printing press. As music production and books are modernized the craftsmanship is lost and with quick creation careless errors increase.
However I would also argue that these mistakes and mishaps are not all negative. From printing mistakes special issues are created and book history is made. Eventually these become sought after rare books for collections and can become apart of reader history. Can the same not be said for this issue of Working Class Hero. Songs can be endlessly re-recorded and released and phones allow for live capturing of a song at concerts. This means a hundred versions of the same song can be found on the internet. The little eccentricities in a song make make it unique and can become apart of the songs history.
Furthermore the format in which a song is held- vinyl, CD or mp3- can impact the users experience with the song and that user may feel differently about the song in each format. The graininess of a song on vinyl may impact the user differently from a clear digital format. In this way the container of the song can make it more or less desirable and influence the listener.
Link to the segment of the song that features the tonal shift and other examples of producing mistakes at:
http://www.hometracked.com/2007/08/23/10-recording-bloopers-that-made-the-album/
Reference:
Pixelsound. (2016). How technology has changed the music recording world…Forever. Retrieved from http://www.pixelsound.com/how-technology-has-changed-the-music-recording-world-forever.html