Music too easy to make now?

the problem is it's watered down the scene to the point where people don't even know what good music is.. which is all relative, i realize, but it really leads to some amazing ignorance.

Some people imply you're a real electronic music producer if you purchase hardware. Yeah sure, downloading a DAW and VSTs illegally is easy and free, but I have still heard countless musicians with anybody's dream equipment who make shitty music, even though they have the will and the motivation to spend half of their salary on synthesizers. I don't mind amateurs who know they won't make any money out of their music, so they share it for free with their friends. These days, too many people can release a techno single and become a slightly successful local DJ.

depends how you define "music". it's becoming increasingly easier to make some sort of noise, yeah, but it's still just as hard as it ever was to make a good 'song'. anyone can fiddle about with a syth/ software program and put a bunch of abstract noises together and call it art, but not everyone can make a decent sounding song in the traditional sense of the word. i give you Plaid vs. Autechre, for example. :)

  On 11/22/2010 at 5:31 PM, the anonymous forumite said:

increased software "intelligence" obviously makes some electronic music easier to make (for instance: randomizers, generative music, paulstretch). However, critical intelligence adapts to these new circumstances and makes one's music validity more difficult to obtain ("your record is lazy shit, entirely made on paulstretch"). As a consequence of smarter software, I believe justification of how one's music was made is gonna a big thing in the future.

that would be a silly evolution

inspiration > technical knowledge

and i see many "nerd" producers trying to make up for their lack of creativity by having a crisp clean sound or whatever and calling it "idm"

being a god at both =

boring people are boring

  On 11/22/2010 at 9:05 PM, nsixqatsi said:

boring people are boring

..and make boring music. you're correct.

you do need a certain something to make interesting, good, music. an 'x' factor, maybe.

most people don't have it. young or old doesn't make a difference. you have it or you don't, imo.

it's like some people can naturally draw well. some try, and learn, and imitate.. but ultimately fail.

with abundance of technology and free shit or not.

  On 11/22/2010 at 7:02 AM, azatoth said:

Who gives a shit, no one is forcing you to listen to the shit music.

In a way, we are being forced to listen to shit music though. I don't actively search for good new music because 999 tracks out of a thousand are, frankly, fucking crap. Who's got the time to waste doing that? So, when something new and good does turn up, discovering it happens pretty much by accident. Social networks and peer recommendation/amalgamation/defenestration are no remedy for this - sadly, most people's tastes are fucking crap too.

  On 11/22/2010 at 2:17 AM, jim said:

Any arsehole who can torrent an illegal copy of reason now thinks that they're the next aphex twin.

It's not just these amateur musicians to blame though eh, it's the sycophants who encourage them. OK, making music, however bad, is a fun pastime and should be taken up by all and sundry. But why can't it be socially acceptable for people to be more honest about what they think of people's music? I can heap praise on an artist who clearly possesses a sound musical talent, and that's right and just, and indeed our duty.. But to say to someone who has none:

"Your so-called music hurt my ears and made me want to hang myself by the bollocks from a railway bridge with barbed wire to avoid listening to another second - you have no talent and will never make an interesting noise as long as you live"..

..Well, that would be bad form. I guess that's my point, overall - the idea that most people, no matter what tools or tricks they have nor whatever ambition or determination they can generate, won't ever make good music because they have nothing to say. People spend so much time and money learning how to create music when they just haven't got it. I say, swallow your pride, put your skills to good use and help someone else who does have it to make music. Instead of aiming to be some kind of one-man musical force of nature. And clogging up the internet with feeble generic shite in the process.

  On 11/22/2010 at 2:50 AM, tht tne said:

i think music got too easy to make when sampling became so prevalent

I think wholesale theft is a wonderful way to make music - as long as you're honest about it. After all, at least you've got good material to work with.

  On 11/22/2010 at 5:31 PM, the anonymous forumite said:

As a consequence of smarter software, I believe justification of how one's music was made is gonna a big thing in the future.

Although I vaguely agree with you on that, it doesn't fill me with joy, that we would have to examine things in such a way in order to justify their value. I'm inclined to think a good idea is a good idea. If you thought of it first, well done.

  On 11/22/2010 at 3:36 PM, BCM said:

it's just the internet provides a platform for mass exposure

Mass underexposure?

Despite all of the advances in technology, churning out something like Druqks or Go Plastic is still fucking hard. Glitch plugins won't get you there. If you are concerned about music being too easy to make it's time to become more detail-oriented.

This thread is kinda silly guys.

Technology makes everything easier.

Imagine the computer scientists from the 70's looking at us now typing idiocracy into a forum and saying "computers are too easy these days."

  On 11/22/2010 at 10:07 PM, xy_politics said:

I'm inclined to think a good idea is a good idea.

Yeah, my point is that nowadays softwares are having good ideas.

  On 11/22/2010 at 10:33 PM, acid1 said:

This thread is kinda silly guys.

 

Technology makes everything easier.

 

Imagine the computer scientists from the 70's looking at us now typing idiocracy into a forum and saying "computers are too easy these days."

Exactly.

Also, think about what artificial intelligence could do.

Why should music be hard to make? Is it a virtuous artistic suffering thing or do you not enjoy making music?

here is that journal entry I wrote. was a little scattered, so I edited and added a few things. it's still kind of scattered, but you get my point:

just some rambling thoughts, which I thought might possibly spark some interesting conversations.

So, I've been thinking a lot lately, about the ease of making music in the digital world. garage band on every mac. countless mobile apps that, while limiting, allow you to quickly bang out enjoyable doodles. continuously new features in professional software that makes technical tasks easier, while over time, becoming cheaper and more easily available.

all of this lends itself to the growth of hobbyist musicians, and bedroom producers. There are certainly people that will bemoan the influx of amateur musicians. They claim that the genre they love will be saturated with subpar music full of imitation and lack of true artistic worth. Active musicians may become frustrated with the ease that people can create within the medium, while they struggled with the evolution of the technologies over the years that may have been complex, time consuming, or difficult to comprehend. Suddenly you can spend trivial amounts of money on an app and do everything on your mobile phone, from recording audio, to sequencing and synthesizing sounds, all with decent to excellent results.

But there are two very important things to consider here:

The first is that simply, technology has not ever made good music. Humans have. It is how people use their emotions and imaginations to construct something, and not the tools themselves. People still listen to crackly, poorly recorded music from the 1930s, not because of the quality of the recording, but because of the fundamental idea that the artist was tapping into and releasing to the world. It has nothing to do with the technology of the performance or recording, and everything to do with the soul (for lack of a better word) of the art.

Certainly technology has the potential to inspire, and all art forms exist in the confines of their medium, but when all you can focus on is the medium, you are missing a core part of the artistic experience. You are missing the human element that is passing THROUGH the medium.

I understand peoples frustration with mediocre music saturating a scene, but it seems silly to me to fault the availability of technology. I fault the culture we live in that compels people to prove themselves and gain respect, as the end goal. Many people are too focused on being idolized. So blame the culture for that.

The second thing to consider, is that we are now returning to a previous era (which i believe is a good thing). Since the advent of recorded music, there was a radical shift from active participation (dialogue?) in music, to a dynamic of musician and audience or listener, more so than ever before. And while that is fine, it may have stifled peoples perceptions of what music is, and their relationship to it. Before recorded music, if you wanted to hear music beyond going out to a performance or event, you had to play it yourself. And this simple limitation made for, I believe, more musically inclined societies. With the creation of recorded music, there was an equally beautiful but different shift in how music and sound were perceived. We could now listen to, at any time, truly moving pieces of music, wherever we were (which is still an evolving phenomena, with internet radio subscriptions, or remote libraries that allow you to access your massive collection of music via the web). But the trade off was the decline of peoples incentive to perform or create music, as they were getting their musical fix through solely observing. I believe that our perception and experience of music is quite different, when we are listening, and when we are performing/creating. Creating anything is an empowering experience, and anything that fosters that feeling, the feeling that you are not less than someone else, that everyone in this world are equal participants and contributors to the existence and state of our world, well i cant fault anything for opening those doors of self awareness. Our world can only be a better one, when people do not feel oppressed or ignored. I am not giving any more praise to one or the either (passive observer vs active creator) because certainly not everyone can do everything... we all have our spots in this universe, but I am merely emphasizing their unique perspectives. But I do welcome the return of the interactive musical experience, as I felt like it has been unnecessarily skewed for some time. I would rather live in a world with both possibilities, (to listen or to speak).

I hope that people can see far enough outside themselves to see that any advancement in societies acceptance and interactivity within the realm of art and self expression, is a wonderful wonderful thing for the world.

people clicking on a screen are not people playing instruments

nice article, kcinsu

  On 11/22/2010 at 1:54 AM, Candiru said:

There's definitely more shit to sift through, since the widespread use of internet removes the filter that the media last had in the 90's.But since there's more resources, some voices can be heard that otherwise would not. This can be good or bad.

filters can be bad, and they can be good. when filters are imposed on to others, it is bad, but when chosen as a tool to aid someone in their search, it is good. there will be a reemergence of a new type of record industry, because lots of people WANT that helpful filter that labels provide.

  On 11/22/2010 at 3:22 AM, yek said:

i think it's great. what's the alternative? learn guitar?lots of people have fun making music regardless if they are going to become notorious in a scene or not. it's like creative people picking up a pen or a camera, 's alllll good

it IS all good :)

  On 11/22/2010 at 5:23 AM, TechDiff said:

Domt exactly see why there's a problem, never really thought that making music should be hard.

if anything, it should be easy. telling the truth shouldn't be a challenge. it should be natural. that is why many people don't get into electronic music.. there isn't as much of an immediate connection to the medium, making what they are trying to say, harder to express.

  On 11/22/2010 at 6:53 AM, Sprigg said:

I was just thinking about this the other day-- making music is becoming less of a 'lucky people with money' or 'jobless hippy losers in a garage' kind of thing, and a more mainstream, acceptable and normal thing. Which, as already stated, means more good music as well as bad. But one person's good isn't another's, so it's all good in some form to someone.

yes!

  On 11/22/2010 at 11:14 AM, o00o said:

If its too easy you have to try harder!

certainly that is how evolution of a genre happens. it gets boring and stagnent, and so people break down that model, and find a new way to express themselves. that cant happen if people cant hit that barrier, and be forced to find another way.

  On 11/22/2010 at 3:22 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

it is just as easy as writing bad music in other genres, but it's WAY easier to get it out there. Just bounce a track and upload to soundcloud, where as a band would have record / mix and all that.

I cannot say anything bad about democratizing peoples ability to express themselves.

  On 11/22/2010 at 3:36 PM, BCM said:

it has always been easy to make music. people have been banging shit against other shit for thousands of years and calling it music.it's just the internet provides a platform for mass exposure and every cunt expects to be famous these days due to the hellish rise of celebrity culture and programs like the X Factor et al.

exactly. i have much more of a problem with the culture, than the technology. we even fall victim to this, by idolizing the musicians that this board is focused on. 5/6 dudes that have done amazing things, are not the be all and end all of the human experience... and the less we acknowledge that, the more we become slaves to closed systems.

  On 11/22/2010 at 5:31 PM, the anonymous forumite said:

increased software "intelligence" obviously makes some electronic music easier to make (for instance: randomizers, generative music, paulstretch). However, critical intelligence adapts to these new circumstances and makes one's music validity more difficult to obtain ("your record is lazy shit, entirely made on paulstretch"). As a consequence of smarter software, I believe justification of how one's music was made is gonna a big thing in the future.

i can generally tell when something is randomized. sometimes it fits the context perfectly, but more often than not I am tired of that sound. they are useful tools, but hardly ever are they all encompassing roads to self expression.

  On 11/22/2010 at 7:21 PM, mafted said:

the problem is it's watered down the scene to the point where people don't even know what good music is.. which is all relative, i realize, but it really leads to some amazing ignorance.

but you are merely taking a snapshot of the ever evolving human experience. maybe right now it is true, but perhaps this is needed for more to become enlightened, and aware. I cant appreciate the true beauty of modern physics, if I don't first understand simple physics. but don't look down on me for not getting it yet... or ever. the desire to TRY is a respectable thing on it's own!

  On 11/22/2010 at 10:28 PM, The Face Culler said:

Despite all of the advances in technology, churning out something like Druqks or Go Plastic is still fucking hard. Glitch plugins won't get you there.

yes.

BLAH BLAH SCENE USED TO NOT SUCK BLAH

sounds like what people are bitching about here is the decreased signal-to-noise ratio in the electronic bedroom smartass genre.

  On 11/22/2010 at 6:58 PM, Brian Tregaskin said:

yeah, to sum up, i think we can agree on the fact that making music is easy, but making good music is difficult.

 

making music: easy

making good music: difficult

yea

music: eas

good: diff

ie.

m: e

g: d

"everybody wants to be a DJ, everybody wants to be a DJ"

  On 11/22/2010 at 10:28 PM, The Face Culler said:

Despite all of the advances in technology, churning out something like Druqks or Go Plastic is still fucking hard. Glitch plugins won't get you there. If you are concerned about music being too easy to make it's time to become more detail-oriented.

This.

I also find it quite sad that as a community we fawn over the 7 or so Featured Artists here, and others get moderate attention, but in our own YLC-- where the people we communicate with on a daily basis are posting their own musical creations-- we often entirely overlook or flat out rip apart many aspiring/ learning artists, except for the elite few who have been here for quite a while and established themselves as quality musicians. I haven't posted there in months, or looked in quite some time as I couldn't stand the condescending, seemingly elitist climate there (and it may have changed since?), but I have listened to loads of good stuff in that forum-- it's given me approximately 1.5 gigs of awesome music which I listen to daily, and like as much or more than our holy grail Bocchrephex artists.

  On 11/23/2010 at 9:20 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 11/22/2010 at 10:28 PM, The Face Culler said:

Despite all of the advances in technology, churning out something like Druqks or Go Plastic is still fucking hard. Glitch plugins won't get you there. If you are concerned about music being too easy to make it's time to become more detail-oriented.

 

This.

 

I also find it quite sad that as a community we fawn over the 7 or so Featured Artists here, and others get moderate attention, but in our own YLC-- where the people we communicate with on a daily basis are posting their own musical creations-- we often entirely overlook or flat out rip apart many aspiring/ learning artists, except for the elite few who have been here for quite a while and established themselves as quality musicians. I haven't posted there in months, or looked in quite some time as I couldn't stand the condescending, seemingly elitist climate there (and it may have changed since?), but I have listened to loads of good stuff in that forum-- it's given me approximately 1.5 gigs of awesome music which I listen to daily, and like as much or more than our holy grail Bocchrephex artists.

Well... concentrating on small details won't make quality music if you're just plain ol' lacking in musical ability... which most people who take up making electronic music as a hobby unfortunately are (as, of course are most teens who buy guitars and join a band). Some of the better stuff produced by the featured artists is stylistically not all that difficult to imitate but it's what lies behind the style that makes the music worthwhile or not. Main trouble with a lot of bedroom produced stuff (as well as some "professional" soundalikes) is a balance problem between style and substance i.e. beautifully mixed and nicely mangled breaks paired with some incredibly uninventive and sometimes downright embarrassing melody and/or harmony.

  On 11/23/2010 at 9:42 AM, jim said:

  On 11/23/2010 at 9:20 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 11/22/2010 at 10:28 PM, The Face Culler said:

Despite all of the advances in technology, churning out something like Druqks or Go Plastic is still fucking hard. Glitch plugins won't get you there. If you are concerned about music being too easy to make it's time to become more detail-oriented.

 

This.

 

I also find it quite sad that as a community we fawn over the 7 or so Featured Artists here, and others get moderate attention, but in our own YLC-- where the people we communicate with on a daily basis are posting their own musical creations-- we often entirely overlook or flat out rip apart many aspiring/ learning artists, except for the elite few who have been here for quite a while and established themselves as quality musicians. I haven't posted there in months, or looked in quite some time as I couldn't stand the condescending, seemingly elitist climate there (and it may have changed since?), but I have listened to loads of good stuff in that forum-- it's given me approximately 1.5 gigs of awesome music which I listen to daily, and like as much or more than our holy grail Bocchrephex artists.

 

Well... concentrating on small details won't make quality music if you're just plain ol' lacking in musical ability... which most people who take up making electronic music as a hobby unfortunately are (as, of course are most teens who buy guitars and join a band). Some of the better stuff produced by the featured artists is stylistically not all that difficult to imitate but it's what lies behind the style that makes the music worthwhile or not. Main trouble with a lot of bedroom produced stuff (as well as some "professional" soundalikes) is a balance problem between style and substance i.e. beautifully mixed and nicely mangled breaks paired with some incredibly uninventive and sometimes downright embarrassing melody and/or harmony.

thats the point. Installing a software and knowing how to use it is not making music

Good music comes from a good brain. The tools are almost irrelevant.

It's too easy for Promo to make threads.

  On 11/23/2010 at 5:42 PM, chassis said:

It's too easy for Promo to make threads.

i agree making music is easy and making good music is difficult. but the problem is that the average person cant tell the difference, especially when it comes to electronic music. this is compounded by these same people who have to restraint when it comes to uploading all their work. i think that you should only upload stuff that you have worked hard on and are proud of, not just everything. the problem with that is there is nothing stopping anyone from doing it, and most ppl are just looking for attention not necessarily trying to progress the artform.