Over-hyped vs Underrated

[HOTF]

underrated : things I like
overrated : things you like

[martiu]

underrated : things I like
overrated : things you like

. . . .

[billinder33]

99.9% of today's music is overrated and if you need special, expensive plugins to make your bland cookie cutter songs stand out, it's not the plugins. Good musicians who don't need 100 plugins to sound good are underrated.

I started by making music with 4-track cassette recorders. I'd rather not go back.

[cryophonik]

gear is over-hyped, musicianship is underrated. trust me, my aunt had a piano so i'm kind of an expert on this.

I once read on a men’s room wall that your aunt was overrated. Well, to be fair, it didn’t actually specify whose aunt was overrated, but it also didn’t rule out the possibility of it being your aunt.

[ghettosynth]

Over-hyped: every sw ever released

Underrated: the Beatles - according to YouTube, every band anybody never heard of is underrated. Somebody, somewhere won't have heard of the Beatles, it's a certainty.

Overrated: ever sw ever released.

Underhyped: a pair of crisp clean underpants every day, whether you need them or not.

Overrated: Only one pair of crisp clean underpants every day, whether you need them or not.

Underhyped: At least two pairs of crisp clean underpants every day, whether you need them or not.

[Shabdahbriah]

gear is over-hyped, musicianship is underrated. trust me, my aunt had a piano so i'm kind of an expert on this.

I once read on a men’s room wall that your aunt was overrated. Well, to be fair, it didn’t actually specify whose aunt was overrated, but it also didn’t rule out the possibility of it being your aunt.

I read the retort to what you read, which stated rather emphatically with a fat-tipped Sharpie, that "she is better than this plugin".

[DCrown]

Soothe
Wt. do one would need a problem solver?
Just don't produce any problems!

It’s obvious you have never recorded or know anything about recording and only depends on vst’s. Nothing wrong with and that’s what most do. Ever heard the qoute better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt? There are numerous pro producers using sooth. Do you really think they use because they make mistake and don’t know how to record?

Oh yes you are right that's why most recordings at Sunset Sound Studios or Motown sounded splendid back in the day,
they must have used Soothe in 1960 - 1980ies for sure lol
Learn how to track and record properly or use Soothe!

[martinjuenke]

Sunset Sound Studios or Motown sounded splendid back in the day

Sunset Sound Studios or Motown are overrated.

[Lerian]

they must have used Soothe in 1960 - 1980ies for sure lol

80s sounds badass, even for today's standards. And music actually had some dynamic range, compared to today's hotdog top40 tunes. Also, there were some musicians in popular music, not just performers. But there were no focus groups back then, unlike today. And there was no industry/oligopoly, just some healthy competition among artists & labels who actually took real risks.

[Papuzzo]

99.9% of today's music is overrated and if you need special, expensive plugins to make your bland cookie cutter songs stand out, it's not the plugins. Good musicians who don't need 100 plugins to sound good are underrated.

I started by making music with 4-track cassette recorders. I'd rather not go back.

So did I. I still "fondly" remember those Fostex and Tascam 4 track recorders. I now use Reaper and Live. But we should also realize that Mozart recorded music with a pen. My point is when working with good musicians discussions of which specialized compressor is needed aren't necessary. Miles Davis didn't even need a compressor. A lot of his early recordings were done with one microphone in the middle of the room and a three track tape recorder and are still the most listened to recordings of all time.

[billinder33]

99.9% of today's music is overrated and if you need special, expensive plugins to make your bland cookie cutter songs stand out, it's not the plugins. Good musicians who don't need 100 plugins to sound good are underrated.

I started by making music with 4-track cassette recorders. I'd rather not go back.

So did I. I still "fondly" remember those Fostex and Tascam 4 track recorders. I now use Reaper and Live. But we should also realize that Mozart recorded music with a pen. My point is when working with good musicians discussions of which specialized compressor is needed aren't necessary. Miles Davis didn't even need a compressor. A lot of his early recordings were done with one microphone in the middle of the room and a three track tape recorder and are still the most listened to recordings of all time.

That's all fine, but Mozart and Miles aren't exactly tearing up the charts in 2024. When was the last time a one-mic take was a chart topping single or album? There are still people out there with a lot of talent making music, but the skill sets have shifted dramatically. Hard to write an opus when the algorithms expect a bi-weekly drop and most all of the marketing is DIY.

This being the Effects forum, the discussion is obviously going to be slanted toward plugins. These days everything chart-worthy is saturated, clipped, ducked, time-aligned, phase-aligned, autotuned, loudness maximized, etc. You need the proper tools to work at the level of the current aesthetic.

And the issue of "cookie-cutter music" isn't even related to the tech at all, it's the listeners. We now have near-perfect data on what people like, and it's mostly highly-processed, electronically-generated music. For better or worse, it just what the majority of people like listening to. There's certainly better stuff out there, but you have to actively hunt for it - still easier than thumbing through a sea of packaging in a record store.

Honestly, I don't look fondly on those halcyon days of yore - paying big money for studio time, programming a Kurzweil k2000, aligning tape machines, dealing with real drummers, etc. We have to live in the day we're in, not the one we wish we were in, and in terms of producing a high-quality product, this day IMO is as good as it's ever been. Sadly the macro environment sucks (and IMO that's where your ire should be directed), but production capabilities have never been better.

[billinder33]

..

[Agg]

Miles Davis didn't even need a compressor. A lot of his early recordings were done with one microphone in the middle of the room and a three track tape recorder and are still the most listened to recordings of all time.

The irony is that having a microphone + an instrument + a recording room, is genuinely an advantage most people don't have. When the starting point of every project are bland VSTs, the logical course of action is always to over-process it to get something out of that sound that didn't exist in the first place.

[funky lime]

Miles Davis didn't even need a compressor. A lot of his early recordings were done with one microphone in the middle of the room and a three track tape recorder and are still the most listened to recordings of all time.

Tape compresses due to its slow response time. So even if Miles didn't explicitly use a compressor, compression was still an integral part of that sound.

But more importantly, Miles was also one of the most iconic musicians of all time (and was known for assembling god-tier bands). We ain't Miles Davis.

Abebe Bikila set a world record in a marathon while running barefoot. Does this mean runners shouldn't be wearing shoes? Or does it just mean that Abebe Bikila was a total badass?

[Uncle E]

Oh yes you are right that's why most recordings at Sunset Sound Studios or Motown sounded splendid back in the day,
they must have used Soothe in 1960 - 1980ies for sure lol
Learn how to track and record properly or use Soothe!

Soothe went by different brand names back then. Studer, Ampex, etc.