When people give you compliments about your music, where in the spectrum do they fall?
Do you get more compliments about sound design than emotional response?
Do you care?
Do you care what it may say about your aims in music?
If your music is very focused on what gear you use, say for example when sharing a new track you are quick to list the gear used and how, do you think you are contributing to how people interact with the track?
My 6 year old asked me to put it on again so he could dance to it in the kitchen.
Mission accomplished.
If I could learn to take a compliment, I could give you an answer.
i had a sort of complement from a friend who is an old school pc and virus user - he said he thought all of my music had been carefully constructed with the envelopes drawn on a graph and all meticulously planned out - when he came round and saw a mess of wires and stuff stuck together with blu tak and i told no its all live takes he laughed so i don’t know if thats a refection on him or on the music or what
and like the dude above when my kid says nice drum sound i feel made up and like the meme lord above i had trouble taking compliments for long time and still sort of feel like i don’t deserve it when it comes
I’m only speaking proverbially but there’s that saying: “don’t talk yourself out of a sale” and I feel like I have to keep that in mind because it’s more insulting to a person giving you a compliment to try and convince them that they’re wrong about their opinion of something which you made than it is to guiltily accept something positive that you don’t feel deserving of.
Alienating potential repeat listeners is a bad thing if you want to make music for anyone other than yourself (not sure that I do these days but who knows!).
The last song I made, I put in a sample of Fred Dibnah saying “d’ ya like that?” My 3 year odd listened to the song and after the sample played she said “daddy I did like it. Play it again!” Best compliment I’ve ever had about my music. A couple of my mates said “it’s a banger”, but yeah “daddy I did like it” can’t be beat.
i dont offer many real world opportunities for people to compliment my music (i dont share it anywhere but here). one time i was bumping a tune of mine while stopped at a stop light and i saw a dad start to dance with the baby he was holding. that was the best compliment so far i think
Yes!
Best advice I got is when someone compliments you say thank you and move on otherwise you are insulting their taste.
When I get complements, they’re mostly about mood, very rarely about something technical. IRL, entirely about mood.
I do care. If I didn’t, I would just let my music disappear into the ether after playing and never record anything. The more strongly a person reacted, the more the complement hits me.
Frontloading which gear you use attracts gearheads. That’s cool, because knowledgeable musicians saying nice things about my music makes me feel like I actually have skills and am not just stumbling blindly into things.
Don’t tell me how much you like it. Show me by buying it.
Seconding that.
Two circumstances where you can get compliments:
When people come to me after a gig and say they liked it, it the second best thing I can think my music can lead to. My best answer is “thank you for saying it, we are glad you liked it” whether I’m satisfiedor not of the performance.
The best compliment I had was “I cried listening to your song, it felt like you were talking about me…”
I guess if I had kids, the “play it again daddy” would be the best one though 
In any case, I care. When I go see live acts, if it inpires me, it’s all good. On my side, I do this for me and the fact it moves anyone or make someone better in any way, is a joyful bonus.
Talk is cheap, so is my music!
People who like what I do and people who don’t seem to use the same ways to describe it. I take that as meaning that that’s what it is. “Really fucking raw” and “fucking brutal drums” or sometimes “dark as fuck” - I don’t know that any of those are especially related to emotional responses so maybe sound design.
Ok ok, I’ll to refocus the theme a bit. When you do get compliments or reviews of any kind, do they lean towards, a) “your song made me feel…”; b) “I like how you played this gear and how you make sounds”, c) a bit of both?
Does it count as A if they say “your song made me feel…” like hitting things?
Absolutely.
Compliments? What are those?
I think people react like that scene in Atlanta, where he says that guys music isn’t music, it’s just sound.
I’m jealous of anyone that gets such specific comments. If I’ve ever received any it’s usually limited to something like “hey, your music’s cool!”. It’s like pulling teeth to get details.
Both I guess, plus technique/ composition analysis stuff sometimes. It really depends. It’s not like I’m getting constantly showered with compliments over here, it’s just that if you play enough shows and release enough junk it’s bound to happen now and then. These days it’s all in person, I haven’t released anything in a few years.
I find that with bands nobody gives a single shit about your gear except people from the other bands but even that’s unusual. With electronic music the gear related comments depend on what I used, some people do tend to come up and look while I’m playing. Back when I’d play sets with a literal pile of unhoused circuit boards and kids toys or whatever I’d always get people wanting to talk about it, when I play with normal gear (drum machines, synths, etc) usually not.
Something that happens a lot is that I get cornered by someone who apparently spent my set writing a music theory term paper about it in their head and is dying to discuss it. Careful what you wish for @Phurniture. It’s cool that someone paid such close attention, sometimes more than I did, but for the sake of not being a dick to someone who appreciated what I did I try to find a polite way to tell them I don’t want to spend the rest of the night discussing enharmonic interdependence. Most common is the generic “cool set” type comment.
The best compliments are just seeing people dancing and having a good time and occasionally shouting something complimentary while doing so. I remember one night a guy in nothing but underwear and suspenders, absolutely drenched in sweat and dancing like he was on fire, shooting me a crazed look and screaming “goddamn that’s fuckin’ funky!” No better compliment than engagement.
This all paints a rosy picture. I’ve had my share of flat out hostility too. Ive had groups of people demand I explain myself after sets or want to fight too. It’s a mixed bag but more positive than not in recent years.
Family loves Octatrack because it’s like a turbo charged karaoke machine.
You can plug in microphones, guitar, have some drum loops and top everything with OT live sampling magic
Better than a play station.