Anyone else make music in a genre that they don’t really listen to?

853 · 2022-07-09T18:58:02.980Z

My real love was Hard House. Post Rave it was the only thing I really got into. Early 2000s I got on the Logic bandwagon, attempting, while knowing f*** all about production to produce HH bangers. I soon realised it was well hard to not make something that sounded like the shit you heard at the fun fair.

My ‘sound’ then morphed into something else, prolly minimal techno to my untrained ear. After a few years of this I realised that if I couldn’t faithfully reproduce the thing I loved and had loads of lived experience then how crap would my minimal house tracks be?

I figure it’s easier to avoid your deficiencies in genres you don’t fully ‘get’ than face the true reality in your own genre… At least that’s how I roll.

Flymo · 2022-07-09T19:29:58.602Z

This is mostly about the challenge of fighting back at presets. The preset default sound of a guitar chord is indie rock. The preset default sound of a groovebox is techno. The preset default sound of an analogue synth with arpeggiator is Tangerine Dream. The preset default sound of a piano with naive chord knowledge is a song where you moan about your ex. Making the polished sound of a genre that sits outside those preset defaults is hard. Making a non polished sound that doesn’t sit in any genre takes confidence, especially because often it entails taking presets and misusing them, which makes listeners think you’re trying but failing to deliver the genre your box is designed to make. The only solution is a firm confident glare.

1-2 · 2022-07-09T19:43:05.494Z

I knew a guy who was incredibly skilled at emulating other artists, he would play a track he made and I would say wow that sounds just like (insert band name here) and he said “nice thats exactly what I was going for” pretty impressive skill for sure but I personally found the music to be pretty boring really. I figured if he put that kind of effort into creating something original he would really have something going but maybe that’s just not his style

I love music that takes me off gaurd, maybe with some familiar concepts but really has its own sound to it

Some music I really fell for didn’t hook me in on the first listen but ended up being my favorite stuff to listen to after a few return visits, kind of the opposite of how overplayed pop music washes away quickly and people get tired of it. Give me something to explore

What do all you nauts think on preference or balance of emulation vs originality?

One thing is for sure, a lot of the pioneers of the genres you love were foreward thinking, intentionally or not, and they didn’t have the ability to extensively listen to the genre as these were new fresh ideas

Not all but some artists later catalog feels watered down, maybe they have settled in or things have become too refined, I’ll prefer rough groundbreaking ideas to polished formulaics any day

craig · 2022-07-09T19:56:15.642Z

1-2:

What do all you nauts think on preference or balance of emulation vs originality?

I way prefer originality but still if my brain hears something I know, there’s a natural homebase kind of feeling. Originality is hard to do. After all, “everything’s been done before”

apapaatai · 2022-07-09T20:07:21.964Z

I don’t think in terms of genres, I listen mostly what sounds good to my years and when playing an instrument I like to experiment with sound.

Flymo · 2022-07-09T20:20:01.382Z

If you’re using a scale you’re emulating prior art. It’s all degrees.

Fin25 · 2022-07-09T20:34:47.959Z

I’m a fat bastard, and scales are banned in my house.

Suspect_Frequency · 2022-07-09T20:53:14.049Z

1-2:

emulation vs originality?

I’m so original I won’t even use any of the 12 notes in any octave when I make music.

Fin25 · 2022-07-09T20:59:28.725Z

Suspect_Frequency:

I make music

You make music?

So unoriginal.

Tchu · 2022-07-09T21:01:00.538Z

Fin25:

I’m a fat bastard, and scales are banned in my house.

image720×480 74 KB

Suspect_Frequency · 2022-07-09T21:02:09.005Z

Fin25:

You make music?

Do Euclidean generators and the random button count as ‘making’ music?

Then yes, I’m a musician.

Fin25 · 2022-07-09T21:06:19.103Z

Suspect_Frequency:

Do Euclidean generators and the random button count as ‘making’ music?

Best I keep my opinions on this one to myself.

1-2 · 2022-07-09T21:19:00.718Z

Much had been established, a lot of it because it just works, traditions evolve organically and there is comfort in familiarity, I think a lot of great music rides the edge between what has been known to work naturally and subverting expectations

Yes so much has been done, its become harder to hear something shockingly unique, but theres still got to be some new twists left. I think subtle variations can still go a long way today

craig · 2022-07-09T21:22:54.471Z

Yes, I seem to remember Squarepusher saying he used the Amen and other typical breaks for familiarity so he could do something new and out there over the top. Makes sense!

brisket · 2022-07-09T21:31:02.116Z

fabulously put

pselodux · 2022-07-10T03:46:31.788Z

darenager:

I’m not suggesting to ignore completely the genre you work in, but in some cases it isn’t necessary to know/care what your peers are doing, and sounding too derivative is very boring and unimaginative anyway, not to mention it won’t take you very far artistically.

I actually think the opposite is important. At least in my experience, every time I’ve tried to write in a certain genre without being exposed to a bunch of it, the result has been very derivative of the most stereotypical elements; cf. my alt-country phase, which was embarrassingly cliched. I’m experiencing that as well at the moment with disco; I’m trying to make a disco album but I just don’t know enough about it in order to make something interesting.

When I’ve had a lot of exposure to a genre or other kind of stylistic movement, it’s facilitated a knowledge of how to exploit the tropes, or avoid them. I guess the main one for me has been chipmusic, which isn’t really a genre, but at first I wasn’t very familiar with it as a scene/movement and thought it was all just videogame music. After spending a few years going to gigs and seeing all kinds of people playing anything from avantgarde/noise to black metal with chip instruments, I got more of a sense of what can be done with the gear etc. I think having that kind of experience with a scene or style can really help, even for personal taste outside of making music, e.g. when people say “I hate country music” and they’ve only ever heard radio country music from the past 20 years.

darenager · 2022-07-10T07:51:11.674Z

Yeah for sure its the balance between knowing enough to avoid the cliches, and forging your own sonic identity so that it still reads as the particular genre.

cema · 2022-07-10T08:34:42.947Z

Better to examine into techniques when it’s an electronic music subgenre.
Sound creating and beat creating skills are essentials.
For example once chopping, recreating, tweaking Amen beat takes you further more in beat music than listening to hundreds of times.

gekkonier · 2022-07-10T08:46:06.338Z

I don‘t care. That’s what I do. I don’t know about genres. Perhaps stoner d‘n‘b? Dunno???

sleepside · 2022-07-10T12:19:24.228Z

I think true invention is rare, and when it happens, other artists turn that invention into a new genre and set of conventions, and the cycle begin again.

Most of what is considered innovative in music is actally recontextualization, ime. Bjork smashing together techno, jazz, pop, classical minimalism, etc. Prince fusing new wave and funk. David Bowie’s career. Hell, the whole genre of hip-hop is based on recontextualization.

(It’s still work to make that recontextualization make sense, otherwise you’re just making novelty music or culture vulturing)