vanblah
OK. Having recorded in both 100% analog as well as hybrids and 100% digital studios I think I'll weigh in on this even though it's completely off topic.
Ubiquity of the technology that you revere is what is causing the stagnation and lack of creativity in a lot of modern music.
Your Master's thesis is to determine that a song such as Strawberry Fields can be put together in a DAW? Of course it can. There's no question. Will it sound like the original? It might given enough tweaking and fiddling. Does it need to? Who knows? I think it is a gross understatement and missing the mark entirely to say that because you can RECREATE a song in a DAW proves that the DAW is all you need to CREATE a good song. There's a very big distinction between CREATE and RE-CREATE.
A far more interesting question is: would a song like Strawberry Fields even be written if technology like we have today had been available to the Beatles? The answer to that is: probably not (in my opinion). It's entirely academic because there's no real way to test it. The song has already been written and comparing one song to another is pretty much pointless.
The Beatles were not just John, Paul, George, Ringo, Martin and the multitude of individuals who worked with them (including the orchestra). It was the sum of those individuals that gave us those recordings. All of them, working together, to create these songs. When you work with real musicians in a band or just for hire there is a process of give-and-take. The musician (who hopefully is accomplished at his/her instrument) will have ideas about things that you probably wouldn't have thought of. This takes the piece to a new level ... sometimes.
I had 10 years of classical violin lessons as a child (I also play cello, guitar and piano). However, I do not know everything there is to know about violin (or the other instruments). It has given me an advantage when arranging string parts for songs and using string patches (from GPO or any source). However, when it comes to recording I prefer to use a real person because they will introduce subtle variations to my arrangements that make it come to life. The song has been re-written from a new and fresh perspective, even if it is just a small change. It's not always better but usually it is (especially if I have worked with the person before).
I don't care how sophisticated software like Jamstix gets, it will never be the same as talking to a real drummer and working with that drummer on a song. Although, that has it's own implications. :)
Mistakes and limitations are also a good part of those Beatles recordings. Pushing limits is where some of the most creative and interesting things happens. When you remove those limitations artists tend to stagnate. Tension among artists can be a good thing too. I love working in a band, although I do a lot of my writing at my DAW by myself. When I take those songs to a group of people and they learn parts and bring their own perspective those songs usually become infinitely better. It's cliché but it really is like watching your children grow up.
Now, having said that, I will say that there are many, many artists out there producing excellent music all by themselves on a DAW that is not always 4/4 and autotuned to hell (and even some good songs that are 4/4 and autotuned to hell). I have listened to lots of stuff that blows me away that was produced in Sonar (or similar) without a $1000 sample pack.
TLDR: I don't agree that just because a song can be recreated in a DAW means that the song could have been written in a DAW.
Caveat: I don't have a Master's degree. However, I do work at a small private college at which I am surrounded by people with PhD's in various fields, including music. The one thing I've learned after my decade here is that there are generally two kinds of people with higher academic degrees: those that know the degree is essentially worthless, that they themselves are full of sh*t and then there are those that think they can do no wrong.
http://www.paulhenrysmith.com/why-i-use-a-digital-orchestra/ Sorry Guys here is the link to beethovans first done only with sampled orechestra. Now to answer the above statement.
What i was and am trying to do is to a recreate strawberry fields to see if it's possible. There are some things that are still preatty hard to emulate with a daw things like vari speed tape. Yes of course it is going to be possible to recreate strawberry feilds in a daw but how succsefully will it be. As you have said strawberry fields was made by a team. what i am saying and testing now is can we now put together the track one person and is the digital technology good enough to make the track.
I dont want to replicate the track persa i want to push the limits of the daw to see if i can make a track like strwberry fields. I want to know that when i add a digital flavour to my track what that does. I want to know if i can get away with sampled strings and brass.
This is all about the future and where i believe music is going. The studio is dead and if you need me to post links to prove my point i can. If this is so then we have to invent a new paradigm to work within. This means more and more individuals working within the confines of the daw.
I have now studied strawberry fields a thousand times (maybe a slight over exageration) and i have the score, the compleate beatle recordings and other sources and of course my ears. This track is not easy to put together once we start to do things like back cyms, tape speed alteration on the voice, all the percussion and getting the cello to sound right.
To return fire to the statement about wether a track like strawberry fields would be recorded if it was today and using today's technology. That is the whole point of this exercise. I want to know how to do it so that i can start to do it with my own recordings and i hope other people will start to and of course i understand perfectly that recorded music is about mistakes, a good producer knows when to leave it in or take it out. Of course john lennon could never have put together a track like strawberry fields by himself with a DAW i love lennon he is MY HERO only doctor who comes as close. But this guy was a dunce when it came to technology and most people are when it comes to knowledge about the limits of their machines and creativity.
Finally only the uneducated that teach at those audio schools for which i am a product of complain about the educated. I agree that these places are terrible and teach you nothing but if you go into these schools with a head full of knowledge they help tweak it and give an idea and an edge and the balls to say you know what i can make a track like strawberry fields considered to be the finest example of 4 track tape recording in history. This recording tested the limits of modern music technology of the time and this is what i am trying to acheive. one more thing a masters degree makes sure your opinion is heard, the person listening may not agree but your opinion counts in this world because you are educated. so vanblah and your name says it all blah blah blah. I can imagine the sort of boring and lame music you make and i can imagine the bad attitude that drips from you like sweat and stinks the classroom and is destroying the youth of today. Phew do us all a favour and top yourself musically.