The Synthesizer | A Blessing or a Curse?

Andy Batten-Foster interviews futurist Ray Hammond and former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel about the impact that the synthesizer is having on popular and classical music. What long-term effects will it have on the way music is produced?

Gabriel believes that the convenience and efficiency of synthesizers will enable artists to put greater emphasis on imagination, and less on the more time-consuming technical aspects of music production. He also feels that the synthesizer will make music far more accessible to people of all skill levels.

Hammond, on the other hand, feels that the synthesizer poses a genuine threat to session musicians, and session drummers in particular. 

Clip taken from RPM, originally broadcast on BBC One, 23 May, 1983.