Yesterday we had a semi-'LAN Party' at my house. Four of us gathered and played Dota2 for a couple of hours. During that time, a song came up on my playlist, Razor Sharp. However, it wasn't the original version of the song, it's an edited version, edited by me, where I removed a lot of the dubstepy drop that can be heard from 1:35 to 2:10 and from 3:30 to 4:10. The song is the same for the rest of the track, it just has those parts cut out and the remaining joined together in a way that if you haven't ever heard the song, you don't notice it's been cut.
As I told my friends that I'd cut the song and taken out the parts I didn't like, they stared at me and asked 'Did you really cut out parts of the song?'. It wasn't in disbelief that I could do it, it was in contempt that I'd changed the original song. And I didn't understand their point, I said 'Well, yeah, it sounds much better this way!'. They just waved their heads in a 'this guy is crazy' kind of way and that was it.
After they left, I remembered the discussion and I tried to understand their point of view. Was it that an original song should not be edited, it should be enjoyed as the artist created it? Well, I do see a logic in that, but mixes and remixes and dance versions and radio editions and a bunch of other modifications to original songs plague the music industry, so I don't think my small 'cut out bad parts' edition should be frowned upon.
Was it because I'd actually taken the time and trouble to edit a song just because I didn't like part of it? Well, it's not like the process takes a lot of time (about 10 minutes it took, probably) and it's not like I have a very busy life. It's also not so hard to do, once you have some experience in video editing. And even if it was hard and took time, is it not worth it? I can now listen to 3m:48s of dubstep-less song and enjoy it without cringing half-way through the song.
I find a good analogy in a cooking recipe. Lets say there is this famous cooking recipe, but that you don't like one of the ingredients. Do you still do the recipe exactly as before? Or do you replace or take out that ingredient? I know I don't like anchovies, so if I'm making a pizza whose recipe tells me to top it with anchovies, I'm not going to do it. The song is exactly the same, if I can have it without the parts I don't like, then why shouldn't I do it?
As my good friend Aizen says in the Bleach manga, 'Winners should think about how the world should be, not how it is.' Obviously, a song isn't the world, and what I've done with it will not terribly affect anyone, but still, the concept applies. I think that everyone should think about how things are and how they'd prefer them to be and take action to do so. Start with something simple, like the decoration on your house, a song on your playlist, something. End with something the world will never forget. Just remember, your freedom ends when another man's begins, so don't ruin other people's lives with your actions.
Hoping you enjoyed the song (any of it's versions :P)
David
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