Not sure I agree with all of this Eddie. Let me explain why. It is a "philosophical issue." I am afraid technology has made everything relative. And if you don't like it, your only recourse is to unplug.

I remember when I got my first BIAB Pak in 2014. I think it had 32 Real Tracks and I was amazed. Hooked immediately. (And I have been in some great bands all my life, starting at age 15.)

"A real bass player and a real drummer on demand!" I cried. "How neat!!"

It never occurred to me that I would stop playing my own guitars, keyboards and such. Just that I had a really cool tool to add another layer to what I was already doing.

To me, music is what you make it, and for the sheer pleasure and joy of it, I am interested in a list of things, including these:

1. What can I do in the chord progression to make this more interesting?

2. Can I think of a wicked cool riff to go with this song that has not been done before?

3. What are the exact notes I will use in the riff and why?? What will make people tingle all over and why??

4. What notes do I use in the melody??? What will be insanely memorable and why?

5. What rhythmical shape should I use and what instruments/style would make a great bed???


As you can see, BIAB can come in basically on point 5, and in very useful ways. But not in the rest. You might say it works in #1--but not really. If you do not create the progression yourself for very solid reasons at every step, then the rest of it will not work. A canned chord progression is a canned chord progression.

To me the real joy in music is learning to play and figuring out why certain notes in certain melodic lines and progressions create a sense of joy and wonder inside of your own soul.

To not do that is not robbing other people, it is robbing yourself.

BUT, there is no law that says you have to.

The thing is, the same logic that says it is perfectly fine to use Real Track drums and bass if you play everything else yourself also says you can just hit render and not do ANYTHING original and call it your "art". Technically speaking, you can't copyright a chord progression, as they say. This would be the farthest end of the spectrum, but still, who gets to arbitrate? Half of the songs in the world right now sound exactly the same, minus the rap.

So where do you draw the line?

Who gets to make the rules?

Who gets to say what is legit and what is not?

In art, I am afraid, the answer is clear: NO ONE.

So, that leaves us all stuck.

The only question at the end of the day is: are YOU proud of what you just put out?

If the answer is Yes, then good for you.

If the answer is no, then--well, do it again. Or--shame on you.

David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
Studio + Fingers

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