Are you a composer or a technoid?

[mayan]

I like to play for hours and hours in the sandbox of sound

[cron]

maybe it's a blessing that a dance track only requires about 10% composition (or less) and the rest is production and sound design

Then how did I write dance music in a tracker all those years ago?

[Jafo]

Do you emphasize on musical composition or pursuing the hottest gears?

Composer. Not a good one, but a composer nonetheless. (Call me the Rincewind of composition if thou wilt.)

Yes, cool sounds are great, and sometimes enough -- but it's all about connection, and the best gear in the world won't let you achieve it alone. Bad composers make bad music even with the best gear; good composers make good music even with the worst gear.

A Beatles melody works just fine with a solo voice (and maybe a single guitar or piano for basic chords), or on your kid's kazoo, or even -- gasp! -- when muzacked. There's a reason you hear the Beatles everywhere. That is the type of purity and quality to which I aspire.

Even the rabid electronica types here know this. They might eschew melody and harmony and other traditional trappings, but they, too, are primarily about their music, not their gear.

It's how they use those cool sounds, that makes the difference.

See, I might not understand most of their music, but at least I understand their intent!

(Hmm, not a bad post for my 200 milestone.)

[Meffy]

I... just play. (*bow* to mayan)

[Jafo]

I... just play. (*bow* to mayan)

Way cool.

[Stupid American Pig]

I like to leave my turds in the litter box of sound

[mooter]

maybe it's a blessing that a dance track only requires about 10% composition (or less) and the rest is production and sound design, which is great fun and does require skill but doesn't require the same kind of creativity and ability of composing an original piece of music - for me anyway. It's easy to get sidetracked with fancy effects, while the 4-bar bassline or melody loops endlessly in the background. I've relied on that in the past.....and ultimately sounds very derivative so I have been trying hard to compose before getting into the production aspect. I think it's a good exercise to write a track only with plain dry synth sounds because the composition will need to be good to keep it interesting. You can add the fancy production afterwards which will only make the track better (though I find that it's often the production ideas that go on to suggest further compositional development so it's hard to isolate the two)

Same here,
need to get off the loop wagon and focus,
so my sparkling turds are nice and lumpy, not just some brown snake.

[mayan]

I like to leave my turds in the litter box of sound

[Whoomph]

maybe it's a blessing that a dance track only requires about 10% composition (or less) and the rest is production and sound design, which is great fun and does require skill but doesn't require the same kind of creativity and ability of composing an original piece of music - for me anyway. It's easy to get sidetracked with fancy effects, while the 4-bar bassline or melody loops endlessly in the background. I've relied on that in the past.....and ultimately sounds very derivative so I have been trying hard to compose before getting into the production aspect. I think it's a good exercise to write a track only with plain dry synth sounds because the composition will need to be good to keep it interesting. You can add the fancy production afterwards which will only make the track better (though I find that it's often the production ideas that go on to suggest further compositional development so it's hard to isolate the two)

Same here,
need to get off the loop wagon and focus,
so my sparkling turds are nice and lumpy, not just some brown snake.

Yeah I'm tryin to work on consistency here too
at the moment it's a bit sloppy and runny
and not quite coming out in one big lump.
Though it does all come back to what you put in
as to what you get out .

--

Go grab yourself some new patches for all of your fav vsts and give to charity at the same time
click below
http://www.lesproductionszvon.com/relief_effort.htm

[Lunch Money]

Not that I'm looking for a fight, but I believe Jens is simply saying that technology should be secondary to melody, which IS something you can debate, WR. However, you DID put a bit of words into his mouth when you extended that to an assumption that he was saying the two are mutually exclusive. He didn't say that.

Now, argue about whether melody is more important than technology, not about whether the two are incompatible. I think we all know that the two ARE compatible.

Greg

[Jace-BeOS]

I've found that I've been focusing on sounds far more than melody or tune, lately. The cause is that I am inspired by sounds. I love sounds. I tend to hear music in my head when a particularly good sound crops up. I've been this way since the start, I think.

I used to work exclusively in tracker format, so I've always been using sounds moreso than instruments. Over the last few years, I've acquired a ton of sound making tools but my musical production has not increased. It has, in fact, decreased. I have come to realize that it is my technique that is flawed. I focus on the sounds rather than the content. I don't know how to break out of this other than forcing myself to go through some traditional music theory classes and such. I have found that when I learn new concepts, I then have a larger "palette" from which to work. I know. DUH.

I have also found, quite to my chagrin, that I am able to quite easily create ambient stuff. I don't really like ambient stuff. Hmmm....

[Jbravo]

maybe it's a blessing that a dance track only requires about 10% composition (or less) and the rest is production and sound design

Then how did I write dance music in a tracker all those years ago?

same way I did probably! Or was your dance music very complex without any repeating sequences? I'd like to hear that

[cron]

maybe it's a blessing that a dance track only requires about 10% composition (or less) and the rest is production and sound design

Then how did I write dance music in a tracker all those years ago?

same way I did probably! Or was your dance music very complex without any repeating sequences? I'd like to hear that

Repeating sequences is still composition. Closest you can get to sound design in a tracker is pitchbending something. Not that it really matters, my dance music was shit anyway.

[jens]

Not that I'm looking for a fight, but I believe Jens is simply saying that technology should be secondary to melody, which IS something you can debate, WR. However, you DID put a bit of words into his mouth when you extended that to an assumption that he was saying the two are mutually exclusive. He didn't say that.

Now, argue about whether melody is more important than technology, not about whether the two are incompatible. I think we all know that the two ARE compatible.

Greg

exactly! Thanks, Greg!



edit: typo

[shamann]

What's strangest of all is this frequent refrain about melody around here, as though that has ever been the most important thing in music. One fundamental part sure, but not the tip of the phalanx. Looking at what has been done in music, it's impossible for me to say that anything ranks above all else.

Also seems to fail to fully grasp what melody is, and that it is not a particularly difficult concept to come by. I am humming a tone. I am now raising my tone by two cents. I give you melody.

And this idea of valuing communication (read: authorial intent) over technique ignores that large swatches of music over the past 2000+ years were developed as an exercise in the technical (whether it is mastery of a lute or an EQ, same thing ultimately). And what of music that simply communicates technique?

I agree with Stefan, people get all caught up on the strangest things. Maybe focus instead on what music can be, even if it does not involve you in the least, rather than what you desire it to be, and we'd all get along much happier.

Like xoxos says: live n let live, eh ;P

Cheers,
Steve