they are all the same... or are they?

[ThrowAway]

For 99.99 plus additional fees Ill answer all your questions.

[1nfinitezer0]

between wikipedia entries of sub genres, sytles, etc
and the genrefication and tagging happening in abundance at last.fm,
there seems to be emerging more of a standard etymology for the subtle shades of music.

i've wanted to write a paper on the evolution of electronic music for a while.... (since my undergrad was in evolution, whoo!)
everything is intertwined, no one calling something one thing is necessarily wrong compared to another, it's just a means of communication
i'd recommend to label your musical catalog in a way that makes sense for you, or helps you dig for similar records.
it's all relative.

[eandersonase]

Thank you very much!

I would like to read that paper, if you ever get around to writting please pm it to me

[Rave]

Yes , but is it music?

Post up some of your best music and let's hear if u r in a position to judge

[crofter]

All music is bollocks for the most part including mine.

[UKRuss]

The point is that they all stemmed from the same starting point and have diversified from there.

have a listen to some in each genre and you'll start to hear some defining characterstics.

Look out particularly for BPM for example, trance generally has a higher BPM to it than say Deep House and all Dubstep is at 140bpm with a half time beat.

unfortunately not all genres are that specific but it's a good starting point.

For example you'll hear some similarities in Breaks and Drum n Bass, same drum styles but radically different bpm.

I woouldnt worry too much about your own genre just yet, just listen and try to emulate tracks you like as a good starting point. Whats happening in the riddim section? is the kick 4/4 or folowing a different pattern, are the hi hats and snare rigid or swung feel? is it fast, slow? What is the bass like, synth, hard edged, distorted, smooth, sub?

And what about those lead lines? Saw based or sampled or whathaveyou.

pick summat you like, try and emulate it from the ground up and elarn from the techniques employed.

post questions to clarify your misunderstansdings.

ASt the end of the day Crofter is probably right, but as long as you enjoy what you do don't hold back!

[simonlb]

It's probably helpful to have a basic knowledge of the major genres but when you start getting into sub genres it starts getting a little tricky because one man's funky house is another man's deep house and one man's psy. trance is another man's progressive house.

There's also a lot of times when a producer doesn't stick to a single pure genre in a track. Some producers will even claim they invented a completely new sub genre and then we're all fucked.

True, the lines can get blurred sometimes.

To be honest though, take trance, techno and electro-house as 3 genres, 90% of the time it's pretty easy to distinguish between them. When you get into subgenres it gets annoying but at a high level it's not difficult. It's like comparing punk, heavy metal and rock and roll - they all use the same basic configuration of instruments but they're not exactly hard to tell apart.

The fact that people sometimes use terms like 'electro' (which refers to a specific style and is nothing to do with Boyz Noise etc), and 'techno' (which is a genre) to refer to all dance music is kinda annoying though...

[1nfinitezer0]

The fact that people sometimes use terms like 'electro' (which refers to a specific style and is nothing to do with Boyz Noise etc), and 'techno' (which is a genre) to refer to all dance music is kinda annoying though...

+1!!! I like to tease locals billing themselves as spinning electro by asking them if they're playing any Drexciya or Dopplereffekt and see if they know what they hell I'm talking about. [/old & jaded]

also, some genres are mostly redundant. especially revivals. is it Dance or Hip house that we should call the music of the 90s? Isn't Fidget just Rave all over again? All hoovers point to yes!

[eandersonase]

The point is that they all stemmed from the same starting point and have diversified from there.

have a listen to some in each genre and you'll start to hear some defining characterstics.

Look out particularly for BPM for example, trance generally has a higher BPM to it than say Deep House and all Dubstep is at 140bpm with a half time beat.

unfortunately not all genres are that specific but it's a good starting point.

For example you'll hear some similarities in Breaks and Drum n Bass, same drum styles but radically different bpm.

I woouldnt worry too much about your own genre just yet, just listen and try to emulate tracks you like as a good starting point. Whats happening in the riddim section? is the kick 4/4 or folowing a different pattern, are the hi hats and snare rigid or swung feel? is it fast, slow? What is the bass like, synth, hard edged, distorted, smooth, sub?

And what about those lead lines? Saw based or sampled or whathaveyou.

pick summat you like, try and emulate it from the ground up and elarn from the techniques employed.

post questions to clarify your misunderstansdings.

ASt the end of the day Crofter is probably right, but as long as you enjoy what you do don't hold back!

+1 great points

[anybody human]

Pandora has a podcast that explains some of this.