Is there rules in music?

[Any Good Username?]

I saw lots of youtube producers saying that this is the right way to master, that is the right way to master blablabla.

My question is there is no RULES in music, isn't it? everyone has there own techniques to master and even mixing.

like lots of people saying that clipping is super duper bad, but one of the world's famous producer (Armin Van Burren) said some of his track clips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5C3tCu ... LABJ9uIZww



your opinion?

[RunBeerRun]

It's an argument that cannot live. Bottom line is what can sell. If it won't sell well, there has NEVER been anyone anywhere near the mainstream who had gotten that far.

I'll wait for tomorrow's repeat thread, and Friday's.

[ZenPunkHippy]

like lots of people saying that clipping is super duper bad, but one of the world's famous producer (Armin Van Burren) said some of his track clips.

The difference is that he knows exactly why he is clipping the channels.

Sometime it's a useful way to add "colour" to a sound, but if you just slam every channel and don't care about the red zone you'll develop bad habits ... and your music will probably sound terrible.

Peace,
Andy.

[Bobbotov]

There has to be rules otherwise there would be nothing to break.

[Sendy]

No rules per se, just a bunch of expectations (which you could characterize as rules, in a way), that's what makes it interesting.

When it comes to eschewing expectations, an understanding of the expectation, why it's expected, etc, is essential. In this case, clipping is a good example. If you understand what clipping is, what it does to the sound both as a waveform and as an actual sound (i.e. how it'll affect the listener), you can choose to use it to your favour.

[ATS]

My God if you master they way everyone does nowadays you are just ruining your hard mixing work.

[Any Good Username?]

My God if you master they way everyone does nowadays you are just ruining your hard mixing work.

what do you mean?

[ghettosynth]

Regardless, there are rules in the English language.

[V0RT3X]

Sure there are rules. Music theory has a ton.

[JCJR]

What about, "Rent must be paid every month regardless whether people like your original compositions"?

[bailees7irish]

Regardless, there are rules in the English language.

You read my mind and you stole my post.

[ATS]

My God if you master they way everyone does nowadays you are just ruining your hard mixing work.

what do you mean?

people destroy their work with a limiter nowadays (loudness wars). All that hard work down the tubes in seconds.

[bailees7irish]

My God if you master they way everyone does nowadays you are just ruining your hard mixing work.

what do you mean?

people destroy their work with a limiter nowadays (loudness wars). All that hard work down the tubes in seconds.

Yes they do. I'll admit that there are a handful of songs that acually seem to benefit from this type of squashing, but most of the time it's just plain stupid and the "in" thing to do.

[bailees7irish]

like lots of people saying that clipping is super duper bad, but one of the world's famous producer (Armin Van Burren) said some of his track clips.

The difference is that he knows exactly why he is clipping the channels.

Sometime it's a useful way to add "colour" to a sound, but if you just slam every channel and don't care about the red zone you'll develop bad habits ... and your music will probably sound terrible.

Peace,
Andy.

Yep, exactly.

[deastman]

Sure there are rules. Music theory has a ton.

And yet music theory is better at explaining why something sounds the way it does after the fact of creation. I would suggest that rather than rules, there are different phenomena in the way our brains respond to different combinations and sequences of frequencies. Some phenomena are interpreted as pleasing, others not so much. Both can be utilized to create music, while also keeping in mind the cultural expectations of a given style or genre. Rules is too rigid a way of looking at it, IMHO.