So according to Rick, in the early 2000s, labels stopped having money to hire studio musicians, so they started recording the actual band members playing their instruments. That required quantizing the tracks, autotuning and using loops, because band drummers can't drum, and guitarists can't play guitars, and singers can't sing in tune.

Also, people use amp sims, because the tone of the guitar is where the true musicality comes from. It doesn't matter what the player is doing, the fact that it's running through a simulated guitar amp that has the same options as a physical amp means anyone using a sim will choose note to make any creative decisions or play with musicality.

And it's too easy to produce music! It should take months of work in the studio to produce music, like it did back in the day of The Beatles.

Certainly, commercial music is about maximizing revenue and minimizing costs. On the other hand, there is also market pressure to keep producing quality material, in hopes that is what distinguishes it in the marketplace.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?