ProTools has a lot to answer for. Once upon a time and not all that long ago, recording music was something of an endeavor. It required a studio and expensive equipment, it required time and very specific knowledge. The ability to plug in and play was a very small part of the process and, as a result, few took recording lightly. Seasoned players and polished acts took that step.

Advertisement

But that was before the digital revolution, before home and professional recording software like ProTools, GarageBand and Audacity put decent recording quality within reach of any guitar slinger with a laptop.

So what is the damage done? Peruse the Internet for an hour or so. The evidence is everywhere.

The problem is not necessarily people without talent foisting their sorry songs off on an unsuspecting public. There’s a little of that, to be sure, but for the most part what you’ll find is acts, be they solo artists or groups, recording before they are ready.

There’s tangential damage to the artistic process, damage that has nothing to do with the recorded product.

An act that records before it is ready will, quite often, also perform before it is ready.

It’s a hard lesson every musician has to learn – usually the hard way.

I bring this up because last week, we ended the voting on this year’s Augusta Chronicle Singer-Songwriter contest. We tallied votes, revisited the entries and have selected six finalists. I’m not going to announce the winners, although it’s usually a pretty poorly kept secret, but I will give my impression of the Super Six. None of them seems unprepared.

In years past, there has always been at least one act that I worried about putting on the big stage at the Arts In the Heart of Augusta festival. For a performer unaccustomed to performing in front of a crowd, it can be a bit of a baptism by fire.

The appeal and purpose of the contest is that it’s designed to give local musicians the opportunity to be heard. But despite my unfamiliarity with a few of the finalists, none of them makes me nervous. The songs they’ve entered seem ready to be performed, and there’s no version of ProTools that can provide that.

CHECK ’EM OUT. For a sneak preview of the six Singer-Songwriter finalists, stop by Sky City, 1157 Broad St., between 8 and 11 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31. We’ll be taping performances by each act and would love to have an audience in the house. Admission is free.