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General discussion about music production Discussion concerning music production, composing, studio work, sequencing, software, etc.

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  #21  
Old 11.02.2014, 05:18 PM
TweakHead TweakHead is offline
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Interesting thread!

The thing is, despite a lot of us - myself included - don't exactly qualify as fans of this new wave of EDM in which Skrillex is just the most (in)famous example, we should be able to recognize some simple facts: I had the chance to listen to a live act of his long before his carreer exploded and turned him into a name everyone knows of, and the fact remains that it was one of the most impressive live acts I've ever listened to, quality wise.

While most of us are ready to make (bad) jokes about it, we fail to admit this guys usually know their stuff inside out. Be it synthesis, be it being able to costumize their own drum kits to perfection through layering and carefull sound design, they know synthesis inside out to, I mean, Skrillex surely knows more about FM and Wavetable synthesis then most people round here for sure. He also does a pretty impressive job filling up the frequency spectrum with those big farts of his. But regardless of our own taste, even this big snarling sounds are the product of carefull layering that includes some pure form of sub, usually a sine wave whose range (as in octaves or semitones) is set so it doesn't clash with the Kick, then there's the lead sound and possibly some high end stuff where stereo has gone spread, or something interesting is happening stereo wise. The level of DAW skills involded in editting audio in such a way are incredible and surely much more developed then - I dare say it again - almost anyone here.

Claiming he doesn't know music theory and songs are lacking structure is a very old argument that comes up with every new genre. But how come is that true if even those screaming distorted leads of his only sound like that if played on some notes? and if there's chords backing it up? and emotional crescendos crafted with utmost care.

Then, if you praise mixing as an art, you have to take your hat off to someone who can mix an entire tune inside the box and manages to be able to pump it through any sound system - funktion one included - and it sounds good. So there you go: EQ, dynamics, stereo width, depth, so forth and so on, without a single mistake, crafted to a professional level. That takes some reading, tons of experimentation, lots of knownledge and a lot of will and dedication to acomplish. This, dear folks, is just a blatant fact that you just can't ignore!

Even David Gueta, if you will, has earned his place in this maniac world of constantly touring and playing live for big crowds. Not everyone is suited to such a thing, it's certainly demanding, there's certainly a lot of pressure involved, and the level of professionalism is paramount!
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  #22  
Old 11.02.2014, 05:43 PM
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You of course, are correct. I realize that I need to see past a genre of music that that, along with hip/hop and rap simply makes my head hurt...seriously. That was not me being sardonic, it really does.

However, you are correct, and just as my eyes and ears can be opened to Country genre in admiration, can at least give kudos to his technical prowess and clever use of modulation.
I will pass though, definitely not my cup of tea or poison.
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  #23  
Old 11.02.2014, 07:22 PM
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Sure Rob, no one's going to make you listen to things you don't like. I don't either. Was just trying to make the point of them being highly capable people, that get there on their own, not like some girl who gets there for her looks and Auto Tune kind of thing. And it's in our best interest, after all, that EDM is actually praised rather then the opposite.

But yeah, this guys know their shit. I mean, I've been making mostly Electronic Music for some years now, most of it I highly doubt anyone here would enjoy, and to me it's quite obvious that this guys have made their own way into success, it's the product of their own qualities and know how, not based on how they look or who they know, and it takes an awful amount of work to get there in the first place.

I mean, even if you don't enjoy the serious banging stuff (lol) from Skrillex, take a look at how he processes his own voice in the quiet parts. Production wise, that's some serious work. And the energy, dynamics, the arrangement of parts, and frequency placement and everything you can think of, is done to perfection - even though it doesn't appeal to me, because we all have our own taste (thank god) and we're not bound to like stuff just because it's well done.

But that's one thing, saying it's bad is quite another. It's not bad. He's done a massive job for Native Instruments, I mean, they are as surprised with their own products as Roland was seeing how some folks grabbed their toy gadgets like TB 303 and made it into a classic sound that carries the soul of so many genres, when it was seen as a major flop and bad commercial move by its own makers. Not such a drastic thing, with Massive and FM8, but this things have helped shape some new genres and they owe it to the creative usage of folks like Skrillex - no matter how much we like them or not.

besides, they've proven that inside-the-box music production has it's place in the world and can compete hand-in-hand with milion dolar studio productions with pop singers and all of that in the charts, and that's good! it's actually an ongoing revolution and it opens the door for everyone else to...

myself, I do listen to a lot of stuff I don't even like. mainly because of what I do, I sometimes put my own taste on hault and just listen. there's some super talented producers out there these days, even young people, and there's really nothing wrong with bedroom music, super micro editings of audio clips, automation, using the entire daw as an instrument or whatever... it's all part of the game and we all should be happy there's people pushing things to the extremes, 'cause that ultimately means better products, more suitable to musicians and their demands, rather then engineers deciding things and being surprised what usage people gave them (XD), and all of that.

I like hip hop, not all of it, but some guys really know their stuff. like Dj premier never fails to impress me. and I'm not the kind of person you'd expect to be listening to that, by a long run eheh... but he's to good for me to dismiss his work regardless of that. I think it's good that we can see past our own taste sometimes, that's basicly what I mean. most specially when we're interested in music production and synthesis.

every single time people talk about drums I say: just surf some drum n'bass foruns or even dub step, those guys are the best in business when it comes to that. they trully are. no question about it. I mean, just dare to go there and read some tips - lucky you don't have to put up with the sound on foruns XD, right? - and make some sound design experiments with samples based on what you read there and tell me about it.

to a certain extent, being able to make it on EDM world actually requires you get a good grasp on audio theory, being proficient with your daw and controlling everything regarding your own mixes, much of it depends on that. you need to be sure you get there to these couple of thousand watts system, and it sounds good in all the right places and you drive the crowds mad, that's what it's about.

if you think straight about it, some young kids are threatning the kingdom of folks like Tony Maseratti without all the fancy equipment like teletronix C-2A compressors and Pultec EQ and stuff like that. I think that's a good revolution of this market and this young folks agitating crowds all over the place, yeah, just like Doors did back in their day, they're actually pissing off a lot of bigger names and I surely apreciate that and so should all of us. Music technology is also developing fast because of all of this, good times we're living, it's all good.
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  #24  
Old 12.02.2014, 01:32 AM
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And in the interim while everyone is typing out essays presenting their subjective opinion as fact, he's releasing another new track and continues touring the world . Moral of the story, get writing!
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  #25  
Old 12.02.2014, 01:41 AM
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Well I guess maybe that's why there are several different forums, including one for discussing music and another one for posting homebrew tracks. If there's anything wrong here it's that a worthwhile discussion wound up in a thread with an unrelated title. I confess to being a guilty contributor.
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  #26  
Old 12.02.2014, 03:25 AM
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Not having a dig at anyone. Just something to keep in mind when on your musical path - better off doing what you want, working hard and improving your skillsets.
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  #27  
Old 12.02.2014, 07:11 AM
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Think I'm going to change my name to skrasha
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  #28  
Old 12.02.2014, 01:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Berni View Post
Think I'm going to change my name to skrasha
Not to be confused with the less popular skrasshat?
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  #29  
Old 15.02.2014, 03:05 PM
TweakHead TweakHead is offline
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my post was just me trying to make a point. a fairly simple one that I think is connected to what was being said here, rather then the title of the thread - just like everyone else, really.

simple: most people that make it big, need to work hard to get there and are usually several times more competent then credited for.

it kind of puzzles me that someone would even think this isn't so, because granted you have some good monitoring going on and a trained ear, you should be able to listen.

quality is not something connected to your own subjective taste, it's something that comes with time for those that stick at it long enough - then, and only then, there's talent! (and names, yeah)
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  #30  
Old 16.02.2014, 04:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MBTC View Post
Not to be confused with the less popular skrasshat?
THAT was funny!
"Minimalist" *insert noun here* can mean many different things to people:
A glass cube in an art gallery that houses a pile of poo and a feather...that's all, is considered "high art" and accolades given for 'thinking outside the box while putting it literally within the box"...just as art or music or anything goes, it's highly objective. In the end 'for me' I would indeed find it 'high art' if in fact I was extremely high...but even then...just saying all the training and practice in the world can still turn out a box of poo in the end....again, subjective as well as objective.

Been a bit preoccupied with my own 'poo' of late. But it may be genius to the right person or group.
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