Don’t be thoughtless: Use tech in music for a reason
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This week we’re quoting…
Stephanie Singer (Creative Director at BitterSuite)
What Stephanie said:?
“Technology can absolutely create disconnection if it’s used thoughtlessly. But tech isn’t just one thing; it’s a palette of colours, a set of tools we can choose from. What matters is how and why we use it.”
Where did this thought come from?
Stephanie is behind BitterSuite – creating experiences that blend music with sensory technologies to create deeper connections.
So we asked her what she’d say to someone who was convinced that layers of technology within a musical experience increase disconnection, rather than connection.?
And she said: “I agree!”?
Because tech used thoughtlessly or unintentionally can distance people from a sensory or emotional experience; but as Stephanie pointed out in the quote at the top of this newsletter, we can’t approach technology as if it’s just one thing that has one kind of impact.?
It’s what we do with tech; how we use it and relate to it and apply it to human experiences; that really matters.?
In the future, will all music be experienced through tech??
The major discussion around the issue of tech and music right now is focused on AI. With AI models capable of creating musical scores, lyrics, and arrangements, human creativity and skill is no longer essential for music-making. We’ve made enough music available in data sets for AI to reproduce it effortlessly, and to amalgamate different musical ideas to create completely new sounds.?
For most of us, listening to music day-to-day is also an experience mediated by tech; through streaming platforms, speakers, headphones; all of which are constantly evolving.?
And tech is present even in live performance. Like when Muse included 16 self-controlled drones that hovered above the audience at every gig in a world tour. Or Four Tet, with producer Kieran Hebden performing amongst a hanging garden of lights strung from ceiling to floor, that mapped a 3D environment for the crowd to experience.?
We can’t not include Aphex Twin here, too – the British music producer who collaborated with Weirdcore to use face-mapping tech to capture audience facial expressions in real time, and superimpose them on the faces of celebrities on huge on-stage screens.?
But not all music needs to be experienced with a technological layer??
“For me, technology should never be an assumed or automatic part of a musical experience,” Stephanie said.?
“It’s the job of creatives to ask: is this essential? Does it help achieve the emotional core of the experience? If the answer is no – if it doesn’t move audiences closer to that connection – then it’s non-essential, and it doesn’t belong.”
Maybe this is the job of the listener sometimes too – to think about whether the tools and products we’re using to experience or make music (not in performance, but at home) are adding to or detracting from it. When we go to a concert or gig we place ourselves in the hands of the creatives and trust them to take us on a journey; but at home, we can also be intentional about the way we listen to and play music.?
“The key is to be intentional. When tech is used purposefully and thoughtfully, it can deepen connection rather than disrupt it. But it has to serve the experience, not define it.”
So here at LEAP, this is one of our (many) intentions for the year to come: to immerse ourselves in the intersection of music and technology, but to do so with care. The goal is to deepen the human experience, not just to use tech for the sake of…using tech.?
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