Any methods on cleaning the subjectivity palette for your music?

The best way to do this is obviously not to listen to your track for a week or a month (the longer the better) then take notes on ways it needs to be changed, because before long your ears will stop hearing the mistakes. Or at least my ears.

Another way I've found to clean out the subjectivity gunk is to listen to it in another medium. Like if you're mixing in headphones, you can listen to it on stereo, or even mono on your phone. Both are good for spotting the 'mistakes' or parts that could be improved.

By the way I am talking both composition and mixing mistakes. Perhaps different methods work better for different topics?

Any other methods?

My method is to whack it on my phone and go for a walk listening through earbuds. Usually helps me spot anything I became 'blind' to on monitors - usually in terms of trimming out the fat and losing unnecessary bits.

^ seconded.

this might be a different thing but when I read the topic title I thought about composition...

My solution is to externalize part of it by using computer stuff to program the music. It's still subjective of course (what algorithm do you use, when, in what context), but having a machine agent do the micromanagement makes it a bit easier to distance myself from the piece. It then becomes more like curation.

The best thing you can do, at least in my experience, is to play it for someone.

You'll automatically listen to your track through your buddy's ears and you will immediately know what's wrong with it and what needs to be changed. It sounds silly but it fucking works.

  On 4/11/2016 at 2:56 PM, Squee said:

The best thing you can do, at least in my experience, is to play it for someone.

You'll automatically listen to your track through your buddy's ears and you will immediately know what's wrong with it and what needs to be changed. It sounds silly but it fucking works.

I have tried this. All of them (who are into music or make music) are afraid to critique me. I tell them I got over being upset in any way a long time ago, but I never really get anything useful from them. Actually I do have someone I bounce tracks to on the internet though that definitely helps. He is right like 70% of the time about the shortcomings of a track, and after he tells me something that may be wrong, a day or two later I'm hearing it. Sometimes I worry that I am projecting the issue into the track though. Oh well.

it's important to have a number of ways to clean the palette. which is what this threads about.

  On 4/11/2016 at 2:53 PM, phling said:

this might be a different thing but when I read the topic title I thought about composition...

My solution is to externalize part of it by using computer stuff to program the music. It's still subjective of course (what algorithm do you use, when, in what context), but having a machine agent do the micromanagement makes it a bit easier to distance myself from the piece. It then becomes more like curation.

oh yeah, I use randomized composition too, works real well sometimes, especially if you have an ear for picking out the good things. I like the different ways one can make music and like to utilize as many as I can

  On 4/11/2016 at 3:05 PM, Brisbot said:

 

  On 4/11/2016 at 2:56 PM, Squee said:

The best thing you can do, at least in my experience, is to play it for someone.

You'll automatically listen to your track through your buddy's ears and you will immediately know what's wrong with it and what needs to be changed. It sounds silly but it fucking works.

I have tried this. All of them (who are into music or make music) are afraid to critique me. I tell them I got over being upset in any way a long time ago, but I never really get anything useful from them. Actually I do have someone I bounce tracks to on the internet though that definitely helps. He is right like 70% of the time about the shortcomings of a track, and after he tells me something that may be wrong, a day or two later I'm hearing it. Sometimes I worry that I am projecting the issue into the track though. Oh well.

 

it's important to have a number of ways to clean the palette. which is what this threads about.

 

It's not so much the feedback they give you. It's more the situation it puts you in. If you're with a friend and you're actively listening to the track without anyone talking at all you should be able to tell what needs fixing. Also, a healthy amount of cynicism goes a long way.

Yeah I definitely know what you mean, I always go into some super-critical-hearing mode when playing stuff to other people ! Haven't done it for a while but I totally know what you mean...

Well for me it's hard to assume anything from them.

Another issue is that they listen to other types of music so it would be harder for them to tell me what needs fixing. I mean most of them don't like braindance, and my music is at least part braindance.

1) time...put it in a drawer, pull it out in a week or two

2) mix it down, listen to it in a car (or on a friend's system) in the context of other music

If I'm working on a track and I decide to take a break and listen to something, I always listen to a completely different genre. It helps me come up with new composition ideas and I'm not stuck with the same tropes and expectations of the genre I'm working in. I think it's a good way to find inspiration.

creating melodies and arrangements with simple midi default sounds instead of synths really helped me to spot errors in my arrangements as it only sounds nice if the arrangement is working and I can't cheat myself out of a bad arrangement with lush synthesis

Afterwards synthesis is added. Also a mood in the patch does not diffuse the actual mood of the melody that way.

  On 4/12/2016 at 8:51 PM, o00o said:

creating melodies and arrangements with simple midi default sounds instead of synths really helped me to spot errors in my arrangements as it only sounds nice if the arrangement is working and I can't cheat myself out of a bad arrangement with lush synthesis

  On 4/12/2016 at 8:53 PM, o00o said:

Afterwards synthesis is added. Also a mood in the patch does not diffuse the actual mood of the melody that way.

very good! i like this.

Exercise in futility.

im really self hating lately on the composing. i get so down. seriously depressed. hoping i dont suck. i just need a few melodies or something i love. cant give it up.

  On 4/13/2016 at 3:37 AM, marf said:

im really self hating lately on the composing. i get so down. seriously depressed. hoping i dont suck. i just need a few melodies or something i love. cant give it up.

I know that I can't just tell you to feel a certain way about your tracks, that just isn't how it works. The truth is, though, with such a depressed and bad outlook on your work, then you won't make a good track. If you hate your work and you are thinking about how shit the track is while you make it, it will be shit. Coming in with a blank mind and just going with the flow will produce your best tracks.

  On 4/13/2016 at 3:37 AM, marf said:

im really self hating lately on the composing. i get so down. seriously depressed. hoping i dont suck. i just need a few melodies or something i love. cant give it up.

Study study study

  On 4/12/2016 at 8:59 PM, xox said:

 

  On 4/12/2016 at 8:51 PM, o00o said:

creating melodies and arrangements with simple midi default sounds instead of synths really helped me to spot errors in my arrangements as it only sounds nice if the arrangement is working and I can't cheat myself out of a bad arrangement with lush synthesis

 

  On 4/12/2016 at 8:53 PM, o00o said:

Afterwards synthesis is added. Also a mood in the patch does not diffuse the actual mood of the melody that way.

very good! i like this.

 

playing all midi notes with a very dry default midi piano also shows very clear what the arrangement is actually about. I found out this way that many death metal tracks are just really great piano tunes if you play all melodies with a piano instead.

Go to that production tutorial thread and listen to the shite that 'famous' 'successful' people make...then you realise actually it aint that bad...

IMO, focusing over the objective quality of your tracks has a much lower return than the enjoyment of making the tracks. Unless you're making music as a profession, finding objectivity is a tedious endeavor and it shouldn't be a priority. Diving in head first and reveling in the creation is the truest pleasure. It's one of the few areas in life where you can be selfish; to both be in complete control and have little responsibility on the outcome. Listening to your tracks to figure out where things have gone wrong and to try to correct those mistakes takes the fun out of the whole idea of creating art.

Now, the engineer in me says: listen to your tracks when doing dishes or folding laundry or some other menial task. The interesting bits will pop out and might take you on some fun paths the next time you're creating. Focus on the good and build on that.

Well it's more that feeling you get after not having listened to a track you haven't worked on in a month, the first listen around you find all of these things off, or immediately understand what isn't working.


Mesh, I like my music just fine. I don't feel like I'm overly critical at all. I am not constantly stuck and too afraid to move forward or anything like that. Far from it at the moment.

Maybe subjective is the wrong word here, I meant, you know, that clarity you have the first day or two you're working on a track. How you hear all the gears of the track turning. It seems like it works real well for that day or 2 and then after there are only 'moments of clarity' or whatever. Where you're having 'duh' moments.

  On 4/13/2016 at 1:50 PM, Brisbot said:

Well it's more that feeling you get after not having listened to a track you haven't worked on in a month, the first listen around you find all of these things off, or immediately understand what isn't working.

 

 

Mesh, I like my music just fine. I don't feel like I'm overly critical at all. I am not constantly stuck and too afraid to move forward or anything like that. Far from it at the moment.

 

Maybe subjective is the wrong word here, I meant, you know, that clarity you have the first day or two you're working on a track. How you hear all the gears of the track turning. It seems like it works real well for that day or 2 and then after there are only 'moments of clarity' or whatever. Where you're having 'duh' moments.

I got your intentions as I have the same feeling when building tracks by synth jamming. Everything is so blurred into each other that I have to put it aside for a while until I completely forgot about it. When it then feels like a track somebody else has done I am able to judge the track. To avoid this I have the piano first-technique described above. There I can judge a track right away or a day later at max depending on how far I took the track from the initial midi arrangement by jamming with effects and post processing after the initial midi arrangement is done.

I also noticed that these jam tracks I don't get right away after composing have a very direct emotional impact when I listen to them years later. I total feel them instantly when some time has passed after creating them but they also get boring really fast while Midi-piano-first compositions have a timeless impact and I can listen to them forever as moods constructed with melodies never wear off while moods created with synthesis and fx wear off quite fast. Its like a great live acid jam that really gets you vs a deep melodic track that takes longer to digest but stays with you for years.

For me that's not true. Making tracks you are never able to enjoy properly only for diary purposes made me insecure about the quality of my art. Now I am very aware of what I am doing and the quality it has

  On 4/11/2016 at 6:00 PM, Squee said:

 

  On 4/11/2016 at 3:05 PM, Brisbot said:

 

  On 4/11/2016 at 2:56 PM, Squee said:

The best thing you can do, at least in my experience, is to play it for someone.

You'll automatically listen to your track through your buddy's ears and you will immediately know what's wrong with it and what needs to be changed. It sounds silly but it fucking works.

I have tried this. All of them (who are into music or make music) are afraid to critique me. I tell them I got over being upset in any way a long time ago, but I never really get anything useful from them. Actually I do have someone I bounce tracks to on the internet though that definitely helps. He is right like 70% of the time about the shortcomings of a track, and after he tells me something that may be wrong, a day or two later I'm hearing it. Sometimes I worry that I am projecting the issue into the track though. Oh well.

 

it's important to have a number of ways to clean the palette. which is what this threads about.

 

 

It's not so much the feedback they give you. It's more the situation it puts you in. If you're with a friend and you're actively listening to the track without anyone talking at all you should be able to tell what needs fixing. Also, a healthy amount of cynicism goes a long way.

 

Def recommend this. Tough part is getting thick skin! I JUST started learning the musical aspects of things. Surprised it took me so long as the tech aspect can preoccupy.

Playing the piano and sent out a melody i thought was good but a friend critiqued. i didint take it well. i realize practice makes perfect but how much practice did aphex need? melodies were pouring out of his ass when he was 15.