Revolution Sacrilege! Examining the Technological Divide among Record Producers in the Late 1980s

The mid to late 1980s was a pivotal time in recording and production technology. As the use of MIDI, samplers, computers and digital tape recording crept into the professional studio, this technology was hailed as revolutionary by some and met with a barrage of technological pessimism by others. This paper examines how technology divided record producers, splitting them essentially into two camps towards the end of the 1980s � the traditionalist and the technophiliac. How did the use of traditional and modern recording and production methods impact on the music of the late 1980s? This paper will consider the influence on record producers of the time of manufacturers and audio industry periodicals and will analyze producers� attitudes towards a changing technological landscape. The presentation will include examples and quotes from figures as varied as Mutt Lange, Daniel Lanois, Steve Albini and Stock, Aitken & Waterman.