KVR Audio

LimboLoves · Post by **LimboLoves** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:52 pm

Today's popular Electronic music is in one word, awful. A lot of young people come to KVR asking how to make this or that, and I'm sitting in my chair thinking; "You don't respect Electronic music, you just want to be famous and be a party animal". I respect every artist, including Martin Garrix, but I think back to the 90's scene. Rabbit in the Moon, Aphex Twin, Chemical Brothers, Warp Brothers, and Rob Dugan were making some serious complex and beautiful tracks. In 05', electro house was peaking with Soulwax, Digitalism, Tiga, Benassi (again) and a bunch of other up and comers. Yet again, the tracks were new and exciting. But as of 2014, I see a lot of copy cat music that is only meant for drunk frat boys.

Am I just turning into an old cynic?

Anyways, I am asking for serious, or not so serious, advice on how to be mature about it. It really does annoy me to a high level.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:00 pm

LimboLoves wrote:Anyways, I am asking for serious, or not so serious, advice on how to be mature about it. It really does annoy me to a high level.

Listen to Soma FM, no copycats there, only great music! You'll love electronic music again!

http://somafm.com

I'm not affiliated with them but they show me that good music will never end, no need to despair!

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:07 pm

LimboLoves wrote:Anyways, I am asking for serious, or not so serious, advice on how to be mature about it. It really does annoy me to a high level.

Your 'old days' sucked. The stuff 20 years before that was what was actually good.

werp · Post by **werp** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:10 pm

I had my first "the old days were better" moment when I was six.
Be annoyed. Be very annoyed.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:14 pm

To me it seemed there was a point where electronic music as a whole switched from being arrangement-based to mixdown-based. This is of course a massive generalization by design, but a valid one, I believe. The typical cat would try and woo listeners with amazing and unusual buildups, breakdowns, arrangement tricks, unexpected turns. These days it's all about getting that perfect loop, and getting it AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE.

That said, even though the ratio of good to bad is moving ever badwards, there's still a growing vein of gold if you know where to look. Usually away from all the buzzwords, screaming over likes and hitcounts, latest genre template factories and over away in the quiet corners where the artistic and/or genuine people hang out.

There's a general dumbing down of culture in all walks of life. That's just how things are going. To be creative or to enjoy others' creativity is an act of rebellion against that.

Doug1978 · Post by **Doug1978** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:26 pm

The old days were only better because you're not concentrating on what you're making today.
You're a passenger, an observer. Whereas you should be a beast of action instead.

Also you're thinking way too mainstream with your electronic tastes if you're worried about frat boys etc.
Spread your seed wide.

Live the beast dream. Today.

LimboLoves · Post by **LimboLoves** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:32 pm

Sendy wrote:To me it seemed there was a point where electronic music as a whole switched from being arrangement-based to mixdown-based. This is of course a massive generalization by design, but a valid one, I believe. The typical cat would try and woo listeners with amazing and unusual buildups, breakdowns, arrangement tricks, unexpected turns. These days it's all about getting that perfect loop, and getting it AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE.

That said, even though the ratio of good to bad is moving ever badwards, there's still a growing vein of gold if you know where to look. Usually away from all the buzzwords, screaming over likes and hitcounts, latest genre template factories and over away in the quiet corners where the artistic and/or genuine people hang out.

There's a general dumbing down of culture in all walks of life. That's just how things are going. To be creative or to enjoy others' creativity is an act of rebellion against that.

I'd guess technology made it easier for everyone to get every tool they needed on the computer. With sync and the features of today's DAW, it's very easy to make today's music. I agree though that it stopped focusing on originality and switched to loudness and similar styles. Hence all the "How do I make this dubstep sound" I see everyday on reddit.

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:40 pm

Garrix/Aviici are to electronic music what Europe/Def Leppard are were to rock.

But much, much worse.

LimboLoves · Post by **LimboLoves** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:43 pm

tehlord wrote:Garrix/Aviici are to electronic music what Europe/Def Leppard are were to rock.

But much, much worse.

Thank you. Garrix is downright embarassing. Avicii is more pop music imo.

Doug1978 · Post by **Doug1978** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:50 pm

Live like the beast

musical android · Post by **musical android** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:01 pm

I think there is some hope...
There is a lot of copying going on, more that ever I think across all different types of music and copying of all different ages to from country to electronic to punk etc.
And it would have been the same before too but as there was no internet and there was not the cheap tools it was very hard to copy a style or another artist. All you could do was try to get the same equipment and try to record in the same studio as some other artist have recorded in that you like but that was hard and expensive so in the end you end up having your own sound whether you liked it or not.
But there is some originality today even though you have to dig deep.
Two electronic artists that I do think make original and forward thinking music is Emika and Lorn.
(More Emika than Lorn)... and hip hop is moving forward on some fronts.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:02 pm

you asked for advice, so here goes.

enjoy the stuff you do like, let others do the same.

bbaggins · Post by **bbaggins** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:06 pm

For me, the zenith of electronic music was "Snowflakes are Dancing". So yeah, I'd have to agree that synthetic music has not taken the path I would have preferred. We started by extending musicality through novel tonal textures, but it's now all about the novelty and any musicality is incidental.

That, at least, is the cynical view. A more optimistic view: the democratization of music creation hasn't just enabled lowest-common-denominator mediocrity, it's also enabled everyone and anyone to make whatever kind of music floats their individual boats.

So make your own.

Then put on the headphones, turn out the lights and enjoy. There's no excuse not to enjoy it, because if there's the slightest thing you don't like about it, you just fire up the DAW and change it.

nasenmann · Post by **nasenmann** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:08 pm

Sendy wrote:There's a general dumbing down of culture in all walks of life. That's just how things are going.

Or maybe you're just less dumb than you used to be, and that makes everything else seem dumber.

I'm not sure if and how much dumbing down has happened, but i'm pretty sure the largest part of that kind of impression always happens due to yourself recognising more of the dumbness

nasenmann · Post by **nasenmann** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:14 pm

vurt wrote:you asked for advice, so here goes.

enjoy the stuff you do like, let others do the same.

feeling jaded about stuff happens, but cultivating and spreading the jadedness and minimizing other's enjoyment with that sucks. There's no real excuse, but i'm guilty of it as well.

I finally had my first "The old days were better" moment