KVR Audio

stonestreet · Post by **stonestreet** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:57 pm

First off, nobody I know is interested in listening to my soundmaking endeavours. Mostly this does not matter to me. The stuff I do is primarily for me it is an embodiment of my emotional state when I recorded it.

I would reckon that 9 out of 10 listeners would say that my stuff is pants when they compare it to the stuff they normally listen to. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

When people listen to a piece say on the radio, on the TV, live in a venue it is only a small segment of their life. Now when I listen to stuff that I have made, that has a history for me, I am structurally coupled to the piece. It is a multidimensional experience that intersects with my bodyhood. Sometimes the awsomeness for me is not contained in the sounds that are recorded.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:09 pm

stonestreet wrote:First off, nobody I know is interested in listening to my soundmaking endeavours. Mostly this does not matter to me. The stuff I do is primarily for me it is an embodiment of my emotional state when I recorded it.

I would reckon that 9 out of 10 listeners would say that my stuff is pants when they compare it to the stuff they normally listen to. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

When people listen to a piece say on the radio, on the TV, live in a venue it is only a small segment of their life. Now when I listen to stuff that I have made, that has a history for me, I am structurally coupled to the piece. It is a multidimensional experience that intersects with my bodyhood. Sometimes the awsomeness for me is not contained in the sounds that are recorded.

I feel you, but, it's that 1 out of 10, or, in my case, 1 out of 1000, that leaves a comment and says something nice that tells you that they picked up on what you were trying to say.

stonestreet · Post by **stonestreet** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:43 pm

ghettosynth wrote:
stonestreet wrote:First off, nobody I know is interested in listening to my soundmaking endeavours. Mostly this does not matter to me. The stuff I do is primarily for me it is an embodiment of my emotional state when I recorded it.

I would reckon that 9 out of 10 listeners would say that my stuff is pants when they compare it to the stuff they normally listen to. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

When people listen to a piece say on the radio, on the TV, live in a venue it is only a small segment of their life. Now when I listen to stuff that I have made, that has a history for me, I am structurally coupled to the piece. It is a multidimensional experience that intersects with my bodyhood. Sometimes the awsomeness for me is not contained in the sounds that are recorded.

I feel you, but, it's that 1 out of 10, or, in my case, 1 out of 1000, that leaves a comment and says something nice that tells you that the picked up on what you were trying to say.

Yeah I am sure that my lungs and heart would go out of sync if that were to happen

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:03 pm

Actually I do listen sometimes to my own old tracks. Not because they are good (they aren't) but because I like to remember the things which have inspired me to write them.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:12 pm

stonestreet wrote:

I feel you, but, it's that 1 out of 10, or, in my case, 1 out of 1000, that leaves a comment and says something nice that tells you that they picked up on what you were trying to say.
Yeah I am sure that my lungs and heart would go out of sync if that were to happen

No man, it's not like that. First, if the people you know don't like your music, that's ok, they probably listen to different kinds of music. You want to find strangers who listen to music that is like yours. Then you like and comment on their tracks, but only honestly. When you do this for a little bit, other people find your stuff.

I guarantee it!

stonestreet · Post by **stonestreet** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:57 pm

ghettosynth wrote:
stonestreet wrote:
....

Yeah I am sure that my lungs and heart would go out of sync if that were to happen
No man, it's not like that. First, if the people you know don't like your music, that's ok, they probably listen to different kinds of music. You want to find strangers who listen to music that is like yours. Then you like and comment on their tracks, but only honestly. When you do this for a little bit, other people find your stuff.

I guarantee it!

Cheers, I guess being wrapped up in my bubble I forget the world is a big place.

stonestreet · Post by **stonestreet** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:58 pm

recursive one wrote:Actually I do listen sometimes to my own old tracks. Not because they are good (they aren't) but because I like to remember the things which have inspired me to write them.

I can relate to this. cheers.

givegetwin · Post by **givegetwin** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:38 pm

For anyone who gets disappointed that their music isn't "good enough" or feels like they're unable to get the sound they want, this vid is interesting:

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:43 pm

^ Great advice. It helps to know how 'normal' the process is. Helps one to persevere. I would add though that it's good to stick to your own plans, and not just have self imposed deadlines for the sake of deadlines because someone else thought it was a good idea.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:54 am

Yes! I have to release to finish. Here's why, if I don't take something to release, I don't actually work on it enough to finish it. If you don't finish it, you skip part of the process and you don't get better at it. By release here, of course, I just mean sticking it up on my almost completely anonymous bandcamp/hearthis.at pages.

Zexila · Post by **Zexila** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:26 am

ghettosynth wrote:I'll tell you this. I didn't like my own stuff until I stopped trying to do stuff that I thought other people would like. This came after I realized that the only stuff of my own that I liked was the stuff that wasn't really interesting to other people.

Can relate to this, finally started making music I actually like and don't even care for opinions on it that much, because I know what the comments are going to be (slow, boring, repetitive, no drums/phat beatz, simple, kinda cheesy 80's alike and all the stuff about production aspect), I really don't care to cater to anyone except me, wish I never cared really.

Zexila · Post by **Zexila** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:41 am

stonestreet wrote:When people listen to a piece say on the radio, on the TV, live in a venue it is only a small segment of their life. Now when I listen to stuff that I have made, that has a history for me, I am structurally coupled to the piece. It is a multidimensional experience that intersects with my bodyhood. Sometimes the awsomeness for me is not contained in the sounds that are recorded.

Exactly.

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:27 pm

It's also worth remembering: nobody is going to care about your music/art/etc. as much as you do. You're invested in it, but other people are just listeners/observers.

I have an artist friend who alternates between thinking that people are mean and sucky, or that she herself is no good -- simply because nobody cares as much about her work as she does. Even with the really good pieces, she spent hours making them and getting emotionally invested, but mostly other people are just going to look at it for a few seconds and maybe think "that's nice". At most they'll like it enough to buy it, and then spend a few minutes of their life looking at it.

Anyway, seeing her repeatedly complain about it helped me get some perspective on my own stuff.

harryupbabble · Post by **harryupbabble** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 3:37 pm

But what about the past greats? I wonder if they thought like that too. It seems to me some or even possibly most of the people that got famous always wanted to be famous and be liked by the masses or at least their creations or songs to be famous and liked. They must have been aware being in a rock band is a vehicle for possible fame.

I mean the rock music genre (and perhaps other music genre as well ) seems to be just built for that. But the thing is some end up making enjoyable stuff even if their primary drive is to be famous and to make lots of money. And some even made masterpieces. And ended up in people's music collections.

I mean it would be hard for me to believe if someone like Roger Waters or even all the Beatles or David Bowie or Robert Smith, etc, said "nope, fame and being liked by the masses was never part of the plan". Is the way I am seeing the rock music world totally warped?

mevla · Post by **mevla** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 3:52 pm

From time to time I get a comment that gets accross as if the listener really enjoyed the piece. Not just a simple nice comment, but more. Or like someone that says that many times he leaves the soundcloud page rolling with my tunes and it creates a good feeling. My sc page will not jump to other people material unless the listener makes the choice.

So from time to time I get the kind of feedback that confirms that yes, there are people out there with which it can be possible to share sounds. This is even more important since I'm not doing any commercial or trendy stuff. Now, if only it was possible to reach from 1000 to 3000 of those people for whom their ears and feelings can like what I do....

I'm still learning at mixing and adopting a more serious approach. Got that sc page since maybe 1.5 years now. I listen to what I do often, in the car, the kitchen, and I try to adjust the stuff I do so that it can feel all right to listen to. Mind you, what I listen to is also far from mainstream, so I'm not trying to jump to/from a trendy thing to one of my tunes. I try to keep it reasonable. I do not get moved by trendiness anyways.

Some pieces makes me wonder if I did them when I listen back. None of the stuff I do at the moment is worked upon for a release-like quality while I'm learning and praticing basics, so the work on them can be short, and that includes composition/arranging. With such a short time it's easier to be surprised when listening again to a piece later on.

I make about 100, 120 sketches a year, not much. Not all of them have potential for expansion but many do since after all you can make anything. And not all of them will raise spontaneous emotions from you as you are playing. And finally not all of them will raise emotions in others. I have the impression that the ones that can raise in yourself a spontaneous wave of emotion can be candidates to do the same in others provided enough care is taken not to spoil it in further composition, arrangements and mixing/mastering. Preserving this is one part of the challenge.

Anything is a spark. A single note is. When the note is heard you drop into a state where other notes start to happen by themselves.

All this process is a highly dynamic one, so I hope it will never rest in piece.

What's not to like about your own Awesome Music?