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Enjoy Music Less As We Work With It More?


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I was reading the "I Love Autotune" thread, and Master Zap mentioned that using Autotune has made him more sensitive to pitch problems in recordings. I realized that I sometimes notice problems in recordings more than I did as I was coming up. So the question is: Has the experience of listening to music been diminished by working with it all the time? Sometimes it feels like I have looked behind the Wizard of Oz's curtain and the magic is gone [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] . What do you think?
- Calfee Jones
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Yeah, this is something that catches a lot of musicians unaware and you have to become conscious of it and take steps to make sure it doesn't happen. One thing you really DON'T want is for music to lose the magic it holds over you. It would be devastating for me to listen to some record that I've always loved and not be moved by it anymore, or start nitpicking it to death because I now notice that it's out of tune or whatever. Fortunately this has not been a problem for me, and I think I can attribute it to three things. I think if you can cultivate these three things in your own mind, you can keep the magic alive in your music: 1) (the most obvious one) DON'T WORK TOO MUCH. Take vacations between projects, spend time with loved ones, do whatever it takes to recharge your batteries after an intense project even if you don't think you need it. Usually the process of burnout is a slow and gradual one where you don't notice how bitter you are becoming until it's too late. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] 2) Make sure you exercise your right brain. When you listen to music, develop the ability to shut off the logic, stop picking it to pieces and just listen to it as a whole, like you did when you were a kid. This may take some conscious effort at first but I find it pretty easy now to listen to music and not even think about what the guitar chords are or what key it's in, much less what kind of console the record was mixed on. I have to have a good reason to care about such things, and even if I do care, I set aside a listening session specifically for the purpose of critical listening. Otherwise, I just try to focus on the visceral impact of the music and forget the details. That'd drive me crazy not to be able to listen to music without thinking about it. 3) Learn to appreciate the "imperfect". Not everything that is "less than perfect" in a logical sense is something that needs to be "fixed". In fact, "fixing" some things may actually screw up the magic in the larger sense. If you've got your right brain properly trained, you will learn to recognize the difference between when a "flaw" really interferes with the impact of the music in the big picture, and when you're just nit picking unnecessarily. It takes a lot of active will to keep the magic alive in your life. Ever notice how some people find intense pleasure in the smallest things while others find the same situations "boring" and "commonplace"? Which would you rather be? --Lee
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Well said Lee, No doubt that musicians (the very ones that make the music) are the worst when it comes to just 'enjoying' music. You can always pick the guitarest out of an audience [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] The 'Magic' in life and music often gets lost in the day to day humdrum and shuffling feet of day to day. That sucks, it really does. Music is a savior. Some songs can literally save me, litterally catapult me out of depression or a funk and inspire me to 'get on with it'. You can rest assured that the heated discussions that take place on occasion in these forums have no bearing on the life of the average music lover. My sisters CD collection is enviable... Motown, funk, Pop, Disco, Blues, Rap, Country, Classic Rock, Punk, heavy metal, easy listening, New Age etc. So who is the most musically versatile? I know she gets more pleasure from music than me. As a musician, I am slowly starting to gravitate back towards just enjoying music and not ripping in to it. Cheers.
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Funny, but now that I think about it... The magic has never left music for me. But movies are a different story. As I've been doing more soundtracks, I pay more attention to when there are voiceovers, which digital effects presets are being used for the special effects, which scenes are matted, etc. So why movies and not music? I think it's because I've been doing music for soooooooooo long that I'm mostly interested in picking apart my own stuff, and just enjoy music for what it is. I'm newer to movie technology, so I'm still learning about it and spend a lot of my time analyzing. The other thing is that, paradoxically, all this technology helps keep music fresh for me by giving me different perspectives on sound, arrangements, and so on. I've become a much better guitarist since learning how to play keyboards, and my bass parts improved 100% once I started learning how to program drum machines. Music is always changing, always new, and there are always people pushing the musical envelope. How could it NOT stay fresh under those circumstances?
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I guess I feel like Pop said - I still love music, although there is less of it I love. And like Lee said - I get more pleasure from the subtle things than the obvious things. On the other hand - it is a lot easier now to look past the fluff and evaluate music on the basis of the emotion and attitude a song communicates. But in that way I find less music that I enjoy. I guess that the most enjoyable music (at least for me) if the music that is an expression the artist wants to communicate - not just a demonstration of skills. But since I have lost enjoyment in some music - do I enjoy music less now that I know more about it?
- Calfee Jones
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[quote]Originally posted by Calfee Jones: [b]I guess that the most enjoyable music (at least for me) if the music that is an expression the artist wants to communicate - not just a demonstration of skills. But since I have lost enjoyment in some music - do I enjoy music less now that I know more about it?[/b][/quote] No. Paradoxically, it sounds like you enjoy it more. I think it is RARER for music to accomplish its "goals" emotionally than technically. So if expression/communication is the criteria you use to judge music (as it is mine), there will be LESS of it, quantity-wise, that you will enjoy than if you appreciate it more for technical prowess. But because you've found the level at which you most appreciate music you probably have a deeper enjoyment of that music that you DO love. At least that's how it works for me. --Lee
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[quote]Originally posted by Calfee Jones: [b]But since I have lost enjoyment in some music - do I enjoy music less now that I know more about it?[/b][/quote] If you feel like you truly don't enjoy music -- overall -- as much, then perhaps you need to take a week's vacation from music or you don't have enough new stuff to listen to. I've got a list in my wallet (printed out in an extremely small font) that has about 200 CDs I'm looking to buy. Lately, I stumbled across [url=http://www.hob.com]www.hob.com[/url] -- lots of streaming audio/video concerts by really excellent artists. (Hey Lee -- you might be interested in knowing there are a couple Richard Thompson audio concerts/interviews on that site... [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/cool.gif[/img] ) Combine that with the CDs I already have, new artists I find out about via the web, and visits to mp3.com to listen to the music of some of the folks on this forum, and honestly I don't know where I'm going to find the time to listen to all of the good music that's out there. It's almost overwhelming. Too much good stuff... Those are the kinds of problems I like. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] This message has been edited by popmusic on 08-29-2001 at 02:27 PM
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[quote]Originally posted by Lee Flier: [b] But because you've found the level at which you most appreciate music you probably have a deeper enjoyment of that music that you DO love. At least that's how it works for me. --Lee[/b][/quote] Yea Lee - I think that is probably right. Pop - thanks for the advice.
- Calfee Jones
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It may be you're starving other parts of your psyche that need to express themselves in different ways. Maybe if you consciously tried the exact opposite of what you're doing now, focus on everything else, and ignore music, strengthen the "other" parts of yourself that aren't as well developed. It's an old, tired, and well-worn method, unfortunately easily over looked in today's world. My old Jesuit teachers, were masters at making well rounded individuals. They made us do all the things we really didn't want do, why don't you pick something you would never do and try it out? What would be something you're not even interested in? Pottery? Gardening? Carpentry? Go sign up for a class and be exposed to something outside of your world, it's a great way to get the magic back in the rest of your life.
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BIG FRiGGIn YESS!! What is saddest to me, is that I invariably end up in a cycle like this: 1. I hate all my music, it sucks, I know all the sounds my synths make backwards, I know all their potential, I just hate my crappy shit 2. I hear this WONDERFUL COOL NEW TRACK on the radio/cd/wherever, it has this SHITCOOL sound in it that sounds SOO FREAKIN HIP and I just LOVE it 3. Later, I aqquire some form of gear who causes me to be able to MAKE this cool sound 4. 5. I get used to my new piece of gear. I learn it. I learn its every sound, its potential, and I start recognizing every sound it does, and can do. 6. Bang, I am back at 1, and what is worse, the really cool recording from 2 abocve which I used to love, now sounds as bland and boring to me as my OWN crap [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] This has depressed me to no end. My Kurzweil and Nord Modular, although being wonderful wonderful tools, has "destroyed" so much electronic music by taking the "Oh my how did they do that" OUT of it and replaced it with "yawn thats just sound x with a little y - YAWN". ARGH! And what depresses me even MORE is that it must mean, I guess, that the quality of my own productions are increasing but... [i]I NEVER GET TO HEAR IT [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img][/i] My shit sounds like complete *SHIT* to me. I cant be really objective about it. Please someone listen to [url=http://www.mp3.com/zap]my shit[/url] or the [url=http://www.mp3.com/nina]shit I produce for my wife[/url] and PLEASE tell me at least there is SOME facet of it which doesnt suck completely. Now I depressed myself even further. Sigh. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] /Z
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Hey, I don't think it's a phenomenon that's isolated to musicians, it's a chronic human condition. Here's a short story: My family is in the hotel & restaurant business, 75% of them in fact, then there's a small set that are in the architecture business. And of course everybody knows a little of both businesses. We cannot go anywhere at all in world without everybody immediately making comments on everything, AND! wanting to go back to talk the managers, owners, service staff etc, and tell them exactly what they're doing wrong and what they need to do to fix it, cuz hey we're all experts [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] It's quite a scene at a nice restaurant when half the table is super-analyzing the food, service, and marketing of the restaurant and the other half is critically taking apart the building we're in and assessing it's worthiness to exist while at the same time comparing all of it to every other place in the world we've ever been to or eaten at. Now, I'm cringing now because some of the family is studying to become doctors [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] God forbid somebody actually gets sick, and we all have to go visit and all end up eating in the hospital cafeteria. But in the end you it's all in good fun and you just live with it.
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auto tune is driving me nuts, im hearing it in EVERYTHING!!!! they try to be smooth about it but i always catch the one place where the glide is just too quick for it to handle. and the perfection is starting to question my feelings on stuff that is "out-of-tune". so out of tune. hmmm, drum machines fucked with my head for a while too. i got REALLY picky of drummers, like REALLY PICKY. but i have also seen some drummers [as recently as this past weekend] that blow my mind... things that a drum machine could never pull out their ass. so basically im not enjoying whatever new music is coming out these days due to production techniques which in effect cause me to NOT use said techniques in favor of more out of tune sloppier style music. i have this one song with this chick i record... she's drunk as hell [im drunk as hell] when we record it. so fucking out of tune, but its about getting fucked over by her boyfriend and her sticking a knife into his head... now would her vocals being in tune HELP the song out or HURT it? im willing to bet that it would KILL the song... it makes you cringe when you hear it after becoming so accustomed to "perfectly" tuned songs but it certainly isnt a song for 'shiny happy people' have drum machines neccessitated the use of soundreplacer/drumagog for human drum parts. that or drummers are gettting REALLY consistant with EVERY hit and suddenly decided to take any bit of soul out of the playing.

alphajerk

FATcompilation

"if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" -thomas jefferson

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I've found that the more I work in music, the more I like... For instance, lately I've been recording some Gospel, and a really good Hip Hop group... Now I find myself checking out the rap videos on TV all the time and also trying to catch the gospel programming on the radio, and I'm diggin a lot of what I hear. I also like to listen to a lot of the new R+B stuff lately cause it sounds so good to me production wise. This is stuff I wouldn't be caught dead listening to a few years back. I think the exposure to so many different styles of music has really opened up my mind musically and I find that I can enjoy something from just about all styles of music these days.

Kris

My Band: http://www.fullblackout.com UPDATED!!! Fairly regularly these days...

 

http://www.logcabinmusic.com updated 11/9/04

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I find alot of stuff sounding the same. The same gear. The same endless striving for "hooks" that sound similar in the same format. Endless bandwagon jumping trends. A whole industry driven by fashion and or wierdness and yet sounding ..... 3 chicks that look fantastic=$$$$$$$$$$ Lets get producers X&Y 4 guys that look fantastic=$$$$$$$$$$ Lets get producers X&Y Radio that is excrusiatingly boring. Ho hum.... Boring.... I'm gonna' go check for Jeff Beck and/or Yes, tickets right now.
eightyeightkeys
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[quote]Originally posted by Calfee Jones: [b]So the question is: Has the experience of listening to music been diminished by working with it all the time? [/b][/quote] You know, it's funny. People always ask me what I listen to, and of course I can't give a simple answer. Other people ask me what I *think* about different music - so I tell them. At which point they go "wow, ok... So do you even like music at all???". As if knowing *why* I don't like something means I don't like *everything*. Which is just the contrary - there's a LOT of music I like a LOT - *because* I *do* know why I don't like everything else! It doesn't alter my tastes in what I like. Some people will get mad. They ask me what I think, wanting a critique. So I tell them, analyze it. They don't like that; they don't want to hear specifics. They assume that because I know how the musical concept works, I don't like it. Or that because I can say music A is less complex than Music B that I don't like music B - that's got nothing to do with the visceral perception of it. For a few years there I pretended I didn't hear things or think of things concisely, and got along with a lot more people: "yeah man... that sounds good... The guitar part there? Yeah, that's cool". Empty words, nothing. That's what people want. I can't do that anymore (big surprise based on my flame-inspiring reviews, huh?), it was making me crazy(er), but... ahg.. It's almost like the Vast Unwashed Herd is pressuring critical thought out of the race; leaving brutish dullards behind to fight things out intellectually with each other until the next watershed intellectual renaissance happens. I love music exactly as much now as I did when I was probably born. I just have words to explain and talk about the perception of it now, which is all music theory is (and should be). Signed, Garry Lusloon ------------------ [b]New and Improved Music Soon:[/b] http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald

Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com

Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/

 

/ "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien

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Lee Flier said: "One thing you really DON'T want is for music to lose the magic it holds over you. It would be devastating for me to listen to some record that I've always loved and not be moved by it anymore, or start nitpicking it to death because I now notice that it's out of tune or whatever." Unfortunately, for me, I'm in the throes of just such a situation, and it has so little to do with autotune. It's got more to do with the idea that there doesn't seem to be anything left to say, and if there is, it's muffled under layers of what passes for R&B these days, boy bands, or the newest garage monkey turned songwriter. (I could continue on that, but it's off topic.) The last song I heard that (for me) showed any passion was 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'; there was such a joy, a nervousness, a 'high' that came from that song that I don't hear anymore. There really isn't much that inspires me these days, now that all the radio stations sound the same; things being so 'formula-driven' nowdays, auto-tune being an unfortunate side-effect of the formula-chasing apathy...'here, this thing will cut our studio time'. We seem to be controlled by the technology, not in control of it, and we're missing the deepest satisfaction of achievement through rehearsal; used to be the 'it' that performers had was undefineable, like they had a handle on something you didn't, and you held them in awe. Nowdays, it's the makeup. It basically seems that effort is unrewarded; nobody cares how hard you've worked or how long you've been at it. I'd give just about anything to reverse this feeling.
I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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Well geez, offramp, no wonder you're not finding anything inspiring - apparently you're still looking to mainstream radio and/or MTV for new music! Quick, get thee to an Internet radio station (my favorite is echo.com but there are lots of them) and start hearing some real music! Go out and see your local bands! Check out all the indie releases you can. There ARE people out there making inspired music, they're just not signed to major labels for the most part. It'd be nice if the labels ever got a clue and started signing decent people again, but in the meantime at least we now have the ability to hear all the cool stuff that they pass over. --Lee
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[quote]Originally posted by Lee Flier: [b]Well geez, offramp, no wonder you're not finding anything inspiring - apparently you're still looking to mainstream radio and/or MTV for new music! [/b][/quote] Offramp -- You will find *lots* of new pop music (not all of it is great, but much of it is interesting and some of it is terrific) here: http://members.aol.com/bocad/index.html Another option is to go to http://www.ubl.com and pick a genre of music that you like and browse around... Or look on ubl.com to find an e-zine that covers the style of music you like, and then learn about new artists that way. Possibly the quickest way to discover new artists is to find the web sites of some artists you already like, and then go to their "links" or "what I'm currently listening to" section. If you already like an artist, you'll often dig the same music they listen to.
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[quote]Originally posted by Master Zap: [b]I'm just f-ing depressed. I'm gonna go hang thyself. /Z (Hic, whas this drink too strong? Hic!)[/b][/quote] Hold on there Z! I think your stuff rocks! Listen to it at work all the time. So please put the rope back in the drawer (you'd just wind up breaking the chandelier and pissing off the wife anyway). Just keep making music. BTW: What's that your drinkin'. Did you save any?
- Layne
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Lee, Don't have a television. In fact, I never owned one until my Dad died 5 years ago; I kept it for about two years, then gave to my now ex-girlfriend. So, it sure as hell isn't EmptyVee for me. I'm figuring that, at 38, I'll not be picking up the habit anytime soon. popmusic: great idea, but I'm a bit worried that I already spend to much time in front of this damned computer in the first place. Besides, I've got only a 56k modem in my Powerbook and a 33.6 on the Powermac, so my download times are a little long. Now, we are moving to a larger space in a coupla weeks, so I may splurge for DSL (only a few blocks away from the station). So, these 'hurdles' aside...what about the notion that there's not much left to say? What am I missing?
I've upped my standards; now, up yours.
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[quote]Originally posted by offramp@earthlink.net: [b]So, these 'hurdles' aside...what about the notion that there's not much left to say? What am I missing?[/b][/quote] Do you mean that there's not much left that can be said musically? If so, I have to politely disagree. Do you check out other kinds of music than just pop/rock stuff? There's just so much stuff from around the world and so many styles... Even though I'd like to think I have fairly eclectic tastes in music, I'm always realizing I haven't even scratched the surface of discovering and enjoying everything that's out there. The web is really an amazing tool in that respect... Get the DSL -- if you're willing to do a little digging and you keep an open mind, you'll find *sooooo* much good music out there it'll make your head spin! [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] This message has been edited by popmusic on 08-31-2001 at 12:57 PM
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[quote]Originally posted by offramp@earthlink.net: [b]So, these 'hurdles' aside...what about the notion that there's not much left to say? What am I missing?[/b][/quote] That's a vain notion. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Although, one that most people in our culture have at some time or other. I'm 38 too, and I already went there a few years ago. Particularly being a freak about music of the 60's and not having really been around in its heyday, I had a tendency to walk around thinking that all the great rock records have already been made, that I couldn't possibly contribute anything at this late date, etc. I think the main thing that causes so many of us to think there's nothing left to say is that our culture puts all this emphasis on coming up with something "novel" and "original". We are constantly being bombarded with new inventions and new technologies and information overload to the point where it seems like everything has been said. Yet, lots of other cultures have songs that are thousands of years old and it doesn't occur to people who play these songs that they're not "saying anything new". That's because the emphasis is on the individual's level of skill and passion more so than the notes or the words. That is the process that you have to learn to trust, as you get older and the "novelty" of life itself begins to wear off. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] You have to trust that YOU as a unique individual have something to say just by virtue of it being you saying it, at this particular time. Ask 10 different artists to cover the same song and they WILL all be different, and some will be more inspired than others. Why? It all depends on how deeply each of those 10 artists know THEMSELVES and can infuse the same "tired old" phrases with their own experiences. If I can indulge a total generalization for a minute, I think when you're young you seek breadth of experience (lots of new things) and if you play your cards right, when you get older you seek DEPTH of experience. And damn if that doesn't feel even better, and more surprising, once you start to experience it. Nothing left to say? That sounds like the guy who's never been in love but has gotten laid by every shape, size and color of women, and is burned out on it. Little knowing that once he finds "the one" woman that is right for him, sex will become elevated to a whole other level that he couldn't have imagined. Even though it's going through the same old motions. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] --Lee
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[quote]BTW: What's that your drinkin'. Did you save any? [/quote] Nothing complicated, and no, it ran out. Thanks for your post anyway [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img] Lee: How come you always equate music w. sex? [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] (not that I mind [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img] ) /Z
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[quote]Originally posted by Master Zap: [b]How come you always equate music w. sex? [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] [/b][/quote] Probably because they're very, very similar...? Sounds like this could be a new thread... An X-rated one, but a new thread nonetheless... [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]
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[quote]Originally posted by popmusic: [b] Probably because they're very, very similar...? [/b][/quote] Yep! Of course, some people are more into the more cerebral aspects and genres of music than the primal. I'm not one of those people. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] If I wanna exercise my brain I can read a book or program a computer or debate with people on Internet forums. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] Music serves an entirely different purpose for me than that! --Lee This message has been edited by Lee Flier on 08-31-2001 at 02:28 PM
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