One of the Greatest Rants EVER!!!!!

[deva]

yes, it's a little disheartening that your or my favorite band is struggling while other seemingly mediocre artists make money.

Pop music is not about music... it is about selling an image... it is advertising for cultural memes (pun intended)

Musical talent is not as important as beauty and being able to put on a show (which is something of its own talent)

[Harmonic Progression]

There are only so many notes in an octave, really only a few modes used in modern music, and only so many ways you can be unique in 4/4, 3/4, or 6/8 time and still adhere to any type of verse-chorus structure in eights.

Music is math, and it does have a massive number of possibilities, but it's not an infinite number of possibilities.

So hurry up and write your song before somebody else does!

There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and only about a 100 000 words in the dictionary and only so many ways you can be uniqe when writing in sentences and still adhere to any type of verse or chapter structure.

Literature has a massive number of possibilities, sure, but it's not unlimited.

So hurry up and write your novel before somebody else does!!!

Nicely done, my good man, nicely done!

[TomViolenz]

There are only so many notes in an octave, really only a few modes used in modern music, and only so many ways you can be unique in 4/4, 3/4, or 6/8 time and still adhere to any type of verse-chorus structure in eights.

Music is math, and it does have a massive number of possibilities, but it's not an infinite number of possibilities.

So hurry up and write your song before somebody else does!

There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and only about a 100 000 words in the dictionary and only so many ways you can be uniqe when writing in sentences and still adhere to any type of verse or chapter structure.

Literature has a massive number of possibilities, sure, but it's not unlimited.

So hurry up and write your novel before somebody else does!!!

Nicely done, my good man, nicely done!

[eyeknow]

I also think that the old model of touring to drive album sales has reversed and has become: free downloads to drive tour attendance.

agree 100%. the business model has adjusted to the technology changes.

Yeah, for some maybe...

Except for I always had a nice truck or car.

[Khazul]

Agree with rant in some ways, but disagree with it in others.

Audiences can be convinced to lap up and enjoy more or less any crap so long as they can feel right in doing so. Most don't know good from bad or even care. The classic one that hits me on a regular basis is people who don't bat an eyelid over a shitty DJ transition that's bad enough to make any DJ cringe terribly or even feel sick - my wife is such a person - somehow she can ignore a complete train wreck of a mix and carry on dancing while I just want to run away screaming or strangle the useless knob on the decks.

The point is we as musicians, writers and producers, engineers, 'real' DJs etc can have a VERY different perception to the masses who just want to feel cool, get wasted and enjoy the moment.

To them auto-tune is just part of the sound and is consumed with no awareness of its presence, perfect timing etc is just part of the polish of a modern pop act to enhance the beat, impact etc and when compared to the same without such perfect timing and pitch for many pop tracks just leaves an audience feeling they suck live, but the light show is good or whatever.

TBH I got sick to death of guitar bands sounding the same towards the end of the 80s (and yet I still like the old rock bands of the late 70s and early 80s). To my mind its was not processing that destroyed them back then (there just wasn't many options then), it was a load of bands jumping on the me-too bandwagon - pretty much the same as destroys a good sounding twist on a dance music genre today and NOT the processing toys or tools and their subjective perceptions of over use etc.

Today I cringe at many of the same things in modern pop and dance music that the guy is ranting about, but its not the processing that bothers me - its yet another fucking band or producer or whatever trying to do the same damn thing and cash in on a short lived trend. Blame the marketing wankers and record company execs who are all screaming 'I want that sound' followed by the wannabes all trying to desperately ride a wave to get noticed.

[eyeknow]

I think it's because of protools. Protools ruined music making. The sooner we give up digital and go back to cassette, the more good music will be made.

My favorite part of that movie is that as good as those records are, 99.9% of it was listened to on digital, which according to some hippie, got the algorithms all wrong.

[memes_33]

yes, it's a little disheartening that your or my favorite band is struggling while other seemingly mediocre artists make money.

Pop music is not about music... it is about selling an image... it is advertising for cultural memes (pun intended)

Musical talent is not as important as beauty and being able to put on a show (which is something of its own talent)

i don't disagree, but i think people underestimate the difficulty in writing a "hit" pop song.

[regretfullySaid]

Yeah but don't forget how much influence looking pretty/handsome and excessive airplay has also.

Pretty sure if John, Paul & George were fugly the world would be different.

[kitekrazy]

Meh....the guy should try sounding intelligent instead of a foul mouth 13 year old. They've altered recordings even in the 60's. If a part couldn't be played, they would have some studio musician record it later. Producers had their own tricks working with reel to reel.

When people get involved in DAWs it's either an awareness or an arrogance that most music sucks. There is this disconnect with an audience. Yes they are dumbed down people who like crappy music. So what? They are also the ones laying down money as well. Ever since the history of music it's been making money in music over "art for art's sake" if you wanted to be wealthy. There is nothing new under the sun. Every big name band knows their preferred playist is much different than an audience playlist. They play the latter. Every amateur wedding band has a top 10 list of songs they hate to play. They play them anyway because it's not about them and they make money. The same goes for any DJ.

Time is money in a studio. The less time the more profit. There's a lot of people involved indirectly making recordings. Then there is money spent on distribution. Next is you hope it sells more than enough to cover the costs.

There are people in bands who say stuff like EDM is not real music. (I bet this guy is one of them) I've read remarks like it has no soul (vaguest word ever in music) and repetitive. Like duh! People dance to it. They aren't looking into a deep meaning of the music. They just want to dance to it. Sometimes I prefer to listen to that girly synth pop by ladies that can't sing is because there's a larger tone pallet compare to angry white man metal. I probably wouldn't have until I got into synths. You have to remember we listen to music much differently than those with no musical involvement.

I thought it was one of the lamest rants ever. Shitty music is here to stay. It's always been that way.

[kitekrazy]

Yeah but don't forget how much influence looking pretty/handsome and excessive airplay has also.

Pretty sure if John, Paul & George were fugly the world would be different.

Music was more aural and less visual. There were few TV appearances and less channels. Back then they would make an effort to appeal to a moral audience. So did MoTown. Now it's just the opposite. I'm still dumbfounded how a Miley Cyrus appeals to people. But apparently she does.

[regretfullySaid]

She already had a Disney foundation as well as her dad, so she has a lot of push for her 'brand', which appeals to what musics biggest demographic has always been.

Anyway, so you think there'd still be a stadium full of girls going batshit crazy if the Beetles were unattractive?

[TomViolenz]

Anyway, so you think there'd still be a stadium full of girls going batshit crazy if the Beetles were unattractive?

Do you consider them to be particularly good looking?!

I find the complaint about OH No, you have to be pretty to get your music heard a little silly.
Maybe if you go for the Boy Group demographic, but besides that, I just see average looking people with a varying amount of styling.

I usually wonder when people say this, if they are just some UGLY Mofos (and even then, a lot of those among popular musicians come to mind), or if they are just looking for an easy excuse for why they are not themselves popular.

[Sage]

My take, it's kinda TNC. With a good dose of truth. Autotune is the worst thing that has ever happened to music. And it's fucking everywhere. Cuntry, poop, rap (I mean, mumbling into microphones) "metal" (loosely applied here) and everything in between.

I'm fine with a "polished" sound. I applaud that. But he has a point......

Autotune/Melodyne is far from the worst thing that has ever happened to music, it all depends on how its used.

Surely if the role of producers and engineers to get the best out of musicians, then we only have ourselves to blame if we're only achieving lacklustre performances fixed in editing?
The beauty of these tools is that an incredible take, full of passion, is not lost because of a few errors. If a singer is struggling, put a take through the software and let them hear what it should sound like, which is usually what they need. If the attitude from the producers/engineers is not giving a shit because it'll be fixed later, singers are not going to care either. As shown by the video, those in the control room need to lose the ego.

[regretfullySaid]

I find the complaint about OH No, you have to be pretty to get your music heard a little silly.

I wasn't making a complaint, I was pointing out a reality in the entertainment industry.
Go back to see why I originally said it and still say I'm complaining.

[TomViolenz]

I find the complaint about OH No, you have to be pretty to get your music heard a little silly.

I wasn't making a complaint, I was pointing out a reality in the entertainment industry.
Go back to see why I originally said it and still say I'm complaining.

Sensitive much?! Where did I state that you are making this complaint? I just said that I find the complaint in general silly. Don't take everything so personal.