The inevitable conclusion

Speakafreaka

Speakafreaka

Champagne Rouletter
Messages
9,058
Reaction score
336
Location
Fell asleep on Beula's porch
Is it just me, or does anyone else out there have a deep rooted hatred of their own tracks??? After spending goodness knows how long tinkering and fiddling with it, just about the very last thing i ever want to do is listen to it. All I hear is the faults.

I strongly suspect for me at least, this is unsolvable, and the saddest aspect of making music. What I would like to know is, if you suffer from this, have you discovered any ways to put it off, (i.e. allow you to work on a track for longer, without throwing your computer/synth/self out of the nearest window)???
 
Yup.

For me... sometimes I hate a tune so much before its finished I ditch it. Sometimes it stays ditched... sometimes I finish it later. 18 months later is my record so far :D Other times I hate it so much when I finish it I dont listen to it for several months. But when I do I can usually find some sort of liking for it. Other times when I finish I'm kinda totally sick of it on one level, but I'm still totally loving it so I listen to it a lot anyway.

Tactics I use to mitigate this :

- working on lots of tunes at once, in lots of different genres

- writing music which is inherently designed to be tolerable when it bangs on for fucking ages, ie, broadly trancey , progressivey, ambienty stuff

- writing music which is designed to have a long lifespan - ie i aim to make albums which people would want to listen to in 10 years time, not singles which djs wouldnt be seen dead playing 2 months later

- taking regular breaks and cleaning out my head with a winamp jukebox of the most random and different tracks I can find - motown soul, gangster rap, acapella gospel, industrial terrorcore, 80s poodle metal - anything a million miles away from what i'm making and usually electronic music altogether
 
To be honest, the only tactic I've found that keeps me interested in my own tracks for extended periods of time is a moderate to colossal amount of smoked cannabis!
 
I take a slightly different approach to my music making... I spend all of my free time in front of my computer, but I usually play a party every month, so I try to write a new song for each gig that I have... I usually don't get tired of a lot of my stuff, but like any dj, after a while... I do have to retire a track for a little while. If I listen to my stuff and find flaws, I go and try to fix them. However, there are a few songs that I have made that I wouldn't even be caught dead playing... (All of my stuff I made before I started using logic and even a couple of the early ones using logic)

For me each song I write capture a feeling or concept that I was trying to express at the time, usually mimicking things that are happening with my life. I refer to some of those songs to see how I have progressed as a person from that mindset when I wrote that song or what has changed since I wrote that track. I write really hard aggressive stuff to get rid of any negative energy that has been bottled up for a while and for me it feels refreshing to pour that energy into the song and have that energy drawn out of you like a siphon... Not saying that I make music that is meant to cause negative energy, but to help you get rid of it... If that makes any sense... :smokingr:
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Speakafreaka @ Apr 23 2004, 08:06 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Is it just me, or does anyone else out there have a deep rooted hatred of their own tracks??? After spending goodness knows how long tinkering and fiddling with it, just about the very last thing i ever want to do is listen to it. All I hear is the faults.

I strongly suspect for me at least, this is unsolvable, and the saddest aspect of making music. What I would like to know is, if you suffer from this, have you discovered any ways to put it off, (i.e. allow you to work on a track for longer, without throwing your computer/synth/self out of the nearest window)??? [/quote:af66823d30]
Not really produced any music for far too many years so I may be talking out my arse but it sounds like you might benefit from collaborating with someone...what you are doing might piss you off but what they do to it might be just what you need to kick start your interest again
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Reconstructed @ Apr 23 2004, 09:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> To be honest, the only tactic I've found that keeps me interested in my own tracks for extended periods of time is a moderate to colossal amount of smoked cannabis! [/quote:d0b0e77823]
Oh yeah.... that too :smokingrasta:
 
Don't exactly hate them, but I'm never happy with a tune no matter how long I spend on it :no:

I try and get feedback from friends as I think that I'm the worst person to judge my own tunes, trouble is then I think they are just being polite if they say it's good :crazy:
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (soliptic @ Apr 23 2004, 08:22 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Tactics I use to mitigate this :

- working on lots of tunes at once, in lots of different genres

- writing music which is inherently designed to be tolerable when it bangs on for fucking ages, ie, broadly trancey , progressivey, ambienty stuff

- writing music which is designed to have a long lifespan - ie i aim to make albums which people would want to listen to in 10 years time, not singles which djs wouldnt be seen dead playing 2 months later

- taking regular breaks and cleaning out my head with a winamp jukebox of the most random and different tracks I can find - motown soul, gangster rap, acapella gospel, industrial terrorcore, 80s poodle metal - anything a million miles away from what i'm making and usually electronic music altogether [/quote:fa3bf1c72a]
Absolutely. Especially the last bit.

The only thing you'll never hear round my house is contemporary electronic music of any description. Nothing like a blast of Ian Dury and the Blockheads to make you take it all a bit less seriously and rekindle your sense of humour.


I have the same affliction though. You're bound to destest any piece of music if you hear it 2000 times in a row. What gets me through is the knowledge that I *will* finish it and it *will* sound good.

I listen back to a lot of my old "unfinished" tunes from years back and I realise that, actually, they were finished - I just didn't realise it. We all know that a work of art is never finished - merely abandoned. The trick is to know when to abandon it.

Also, I've said it before; finishing a tune takes 90% of the total effort involved. Any dick can start a tune - get some drums going and add a bassline - some funny noises etc. What seperates the finishers from the starters is about 7 days of solid graft and an ability to get by on 3 hours sleep a day.

Oh - and not having a day job. That one is very important.
 
Yep everyone saying very true things, (as per usual)

I think i need to take more of the listening to NON-TRANCE related music advice.....
Internet radio is helping me here.... (Korean pop music? well at least its not trance!)

Collaborations help, (sometimes). Remember how good it felt a few days into a track when you were still really exicited about it. (and nobody in your house could care less). When you have another muppet in on it with you there's always someone to get excited with you. That helps keep the boredom/hatred for the track from raising it's ugly head.

For example...... Imagine everytime you hit a brickwall and can't be bothered with it anymore there's someone to step in and take some of that stress away....
Also when it's going really well you don't feel too bad "having it" in you studio to your own tracks cause there someone else just as "in" to the tune as you are.

More on the collaboration front...... different working environments......
I've recently started working on the odd tune with a friend, we have a set up where i can work (mostly tidying up, mixing, tweaking, adding big "swooooosh" noises) at mine. While in another studio across town my friend is tweaking the synths, twiddling knobs etc.. we meet up when we can for the day to combine our work. It's great cause i get to work in a different studio, and manage to actually leave my house!!!

The other bonus is having someone else to skin up!!!
(although this can often lead to 12 min epics based around cartoon theme tunes :smokingrasta: )

Morgan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top