Edit-Edit

I just took a walk down by the lake (Table Rock Lake). Man, this is perfect weather; 69 degrees, sunshine and 51 percent humidity according to weather.com. I probably sound like a real idiot going on about the weather every day but, I’m really enjoying it.

I also just finished listening to the tracks I did last night. I was recording vocals on top of some acoustic guitar tracks I cut earlier. I put these guitar parts down a little over a month ago. It occurs to me that, right now today, I could go in and play them cleaner. I’m going through this period where I feel like I can see improvement in my playing every day. Honestly, when all of this started; this program of self moderated physical therapy specific to guitar playing, I didn’t really think I would get back as much as I already have. It makes me feel good about things and it makes me want to continue.

Anyway, I’ve got these parts laid down and they aren’t bad. There is nothing offensive about them. There are a few ragged edges, that’s all. The ego tells me to go back in and redo them, get ‘em perfect. As I listened this morning though, I like the little ragged edges. They sound honest and human. By the way, If I did go back and fix them, 99 out of 100 people wouldn’t notice what was different. They might be able to sense something different but, not put a finger on it. If you keep the little flaws in there, it may sound better, you know?

Perfection is really boring, I think. This pursuit of endlessly trying to homogenize everything make the whole picture weaker, watered down. It’s part of the whole digital framework. Music, film, literature, visual art all of it is more subject to editing than ever before. Those are all areas where editing has become as important as the actual content. What has happened, as a result is, even when you see something that you presume isn’t edited, it still is in a way. I’m talking about things like when you hear a politician speak. They’ve always used devices to prepare but not like they do now. They know what they are going to say but, more importantly, what they aren’t going to say. If there are questions involved, they have prepared answers designed to avoid the things that will get them in trouble. It’s pre-editing; editing before the fact.

So, part of what’s going on is technology related. The technology allows us to edit any type of presentation endlessly. The other part is, people imitating the technology in a live presentation. We are so used to hearing, seeing things that are presented, with all of the little flaws removed, that now it is what is expected. If someone is speaking in front of an audience or, playing music, or acting in a live production, they are constantly self-editing; not taking chances in other words.

Taking chances can result in sheer brilliant moments. Miles used to say; “Your not really playing if you’re not in over your head”. Taking chances is also where your going to make big mistakes.

Here is how I think about the whole idea of editing. If it’s done properly it is a kind of distillation; cutting out all of the crap and making a stronger statement. Ironically, it can have the opposite result if done poorly. If you cut out all of the things that may be uncomfortable, you have watered it down.

What I wonder about is; have we reached a point of no return on this stuff?

There are a lot of things that are presented to us under the auspice of reality, news, reality TV, documentary films, music, photography, presidential debates, that are really edited; contrived reality.

I wonder sometimes that if we were presented something that was truly un-edited, all of the content and intent intact; would we accept it?

If you took a seven-year-old and fed him Twinkies, Fritos and Mountain Dew for a month and then said; “From now on it’s going to be nothing but wheat germ, broccoli, tofu, and water”, you’d have to force feed the kid while he’s kicking and screaming. He’d probably like it in the long run because he would feel better but, he would throw a tantrum.

So, if we just saw a guy up there singing and playing guitar with no pitch correction, digital delay, compression, equalization, normalization; no make-up, clothes he bought from Wal Mart and digitally enhanced lighting, would we dig it?

There are people that come right out and say that they are editors; content editor, research editor or just, editor! Then, you see people that have words like, advisor, consultant, product development, art direction, expert (that’s a good one), pollster, information gatherer; these are all people that are involved in some form of editing or pre-editing.

What if a politician came out and said what he/she truly believes and feels. If you could get one of these guys with no prepared statement, no polling data, no audience plant, no advisors, no planned responses; what would happen? Could we handle the truth? Or, would we really prefer the contrived version of reality?