etcjoe, thanks for mentioning recording.

There are plenty of songs that cannot be played by a live band, because the recording studio became a musical instrument.

I think this seriously started with the Beatles and George Martin. Devices like throwing snippets of tape in the air, splicing them together, some backwards, in the "Mr Kite" song.

Practices like this opened the door for all types of studio tricks that can't be produced live. Is that cheating?

It escalated from there. It used to be that recordings emulated live performance. As time went by, this concept was abandoned, and reproducing a live performance was no longer a concept. Many songs are assembled now instead of played. Is that cheating?

What is cheating? A digital tuner? Auto-tuned vocals? Harmonizer? Looper? Quantization? Compression? or any of the other wonderful tech toys we have at our disposal?

I guess that's all a matter of opinion.

Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks