Digital Vs Analog - WAC

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As seen in the standard of today's music industry, everything is digital. Digital technology has allowed us to exceed all limitations that Analog technology constricted us to. Although, this does comes at a price that I am more than willing to pay as a recording artist. That price, of course, being quality. As you already know, digital signals take the approximation of an analog signal to fit a certain given bitrate. As a recording artist, I want my music to be in a digital format. This mainly is for the abundance of reasons that artists today use digital technology, namely being that its cost efficient, space efficient, modifiable, extremely relevant in today's music streaming based world, and so many more.

The first reason that I want to have my music in a digital format is because of how clean and crisp it makes the sound. When I listen to my digital recordings, there is no background noise, no tape hissing, nothing like that. I get a sound that is very clear and has no static. This can be seen in the video Analog or Digital? quoted by Michael Fremer. He says at 0:57 "Digital has certain perfect things about it, it immediately solved all the problems of analog. Background noise, Hiss, wearing, pitch control, all of those things." this can also be seen later in the video said by the narrator at 2:10 "CD's generally sound better than vinyl on the average turntable and cassette are just dubs made from digital masters. It takes a good stereo with a good turntable to hear the subtleties that CD's seem to miss." As seen in both of these quotes, the subtleties in the difference of quality is pretty hard to hear and you overall get less unnecessary noise. On top of all of this, quality of digital technology has improved drastically over the years, and now it is even harder to tell the difference.

The next reason why I want my music done digitally is because of its space efficiency. With digital media, you can store so much more in a limited amount of space. With analog technology you had to store everything on vinyl or casset tapes that takes up unnecessary amounts of space. Now, with digital technology, you can store so much more just onto one mp3 player, or CD, or not even any physical item. With the recent boom of music streaming platforms (ie. Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud ect.) it is a requirement to have it in a digital format, and can be streamed from anywhere as long as you have your phone. These services have been extremely prevalent in today's music world and if you want your music to be out there, you will need to have it in a digital format. You also don't need nearly as much equipment to do digital music. It takes up far less space and is much more efficient. This can be seen in the quote from the article Analogue Vs Digital: Advantages Vs Disadvantages by user Charman2010 "Digital equipment is far easier to store as it doesn’t take up as much space as with analogue equipment". This is another reason why I want my music to be in a digital format.

My final reason why I want my music in a digital format is because of the freedom you have to edit and change certain things that are unclear or un-concise. This can be seen in the quotes from the article Analogue Vs Digital: Advantages Vs Disadvantages by user Charman2010. "Digital is far easier to edit, you can chop, edit and manipulate audio within a matter of minutes. There is also an undo button with digital meaning if you accidentally delete something or mis edit something that doesn’t work, you can undo without having to start again". This clearly shows that digital audio is superior in flexibility and efficiency. Another example of this can also be seen in the same article. "Digital equipment is also far cheaper when buying outboard gear, software and plug ins needed to record achieve certain processing techniques". This shows that with digital media, it is much cheaper, easier to edit, and overall less of a waste of resources.

I already know what your thinking, and what your main argument for "pro-analog" is. it's that analog recordings are "better quality" and "more human like". This is a popular opinion of those that want to still keep their music in analog technology. This can be seen in the quote from the Recording connection article Analog, Digital, What is the Difference? "to many people, analog sound tends to be warmer, has more texture and is thought to capture a truer representation of the actual sound. Digital is felt to be somewhat cold, technical and perhaps lacking in analog’s nuance". This shows that people only have this as their opinion. You might think that it sounds better analog, and that's fine, but let's look at the facts. Digital audio can not only potentially "sound better" in someone people's opinions, but can also be factually proven to be better and more efficient.  This similar opinion can be seen in the article from before "The idea between digital recording is that our ears and brains technically can’t determine the spaces between the digital values, just like our brains interpret film as continuous motion". This is my counter argument against the main reason people are pro-analog. 

So, in conclusion, as a recording artist, I certainly would like my music to be in a digital format. Not only because the pro's of digital media clearly outweigh clearly outweigh the one disadvantage being sound quality. It is more efficient, cost effective, easier to manage/store, and much more customizable in the way you want to make your song sound like. The reality is that analog technology is ancient and entirely replaced by digital, so doing it in an analog format would be entirely pointless. And with that being said, Those are all of the reasons why I want my music to be in a digital format.