Making of the new Pretty Lights album doc

[beats me]

Anyway, back to young'uns and their perception of "brilliant" I think is more in terms of technical details and production because they focus on that more because they can empathize with it because they have the same technical tools.
Is Pretty Lights production tight? Yes. Musically interesting? It gets old quick. But it isn't meant to be so uch musical as much as just being tight beats, and he does do that well. Sweet beats that are predictable and too long imo. I give him props as a businessman and living the life, but at the end of the day, yeah, I too, after a few songs, start skimming through hearing the same old thing.

Agreed. Young producers don’t get excited about Pretty Lights because they are interesting songs that really pull you in but because he nailed some production techniques. Mixing it up to them is some well-crafted filter cutoff and resonance automation. Never mind that the rest of the song is stagnating. This also makes the artist think they are a musical genius.

Unfortunately for me Pretty Lights first couple of releases were technically and musically great. So it’s hard for me to completely write them off….like the sports fanatic who sticks by a team that hasn’t done anything of note in decades. There’s always next year/release.

[Donnie]

I heard through the grapevine that Michal Menert had a large influence on the earlier Pretty Lights tracks, which could also account for them being noticeably better then recent releases. Perhaps something he brought to the table musically helped round things out?

Of course, it could just be that the formula got stale over time...but there really is something about those earlier releases that makes me wonder.

[beats me]

I heard through the grapevine that Michal Menert had a large influence on the earlier Pretty Lights tracks, which could also account for them being noticeably better then recent releases. Perhaps something he brought to the table musically helped round things out?

Of course, it could just be that the formula got stale over time...but there really is something about those earlier releases that makes me wonder.

An earlier influence could be true, but now I think that it’s a matter of caring more about the formula than the song. He just quickly slops some samples and melodies together that fit and then commences with the same analog bass sound and drums he tosses at every song.

[beats me]

I also wonder how much Live has a role in writing stale music where electronica producers don’t write music that has actual distinct changes and instead just slight variations of the same theme, a victim of too much time being spent in session view. I see a lot of new producers complaining that they can’t finish a song or it goes nowhere, and introducing a completely different bass line or melody never crosses their mind. It’s like they think they need to come up with a solid 8 bar section and everything needs to be added to or subtracted from that.

[TYLRbass]

I heard through the grapevine that Michal Menert had a large influence on the earlier Pretty Lights tracks, which could also account for them being noticeably better then recent releases. Perhaps something he brought to the table musically helped round things out?

Of course, it could just be that the formula got stale over time...but there really is something about those earlier releases that makes me wonder.

After I heard about this and checked out Menert's tunes I realized the things I liked about the first PL albums were obviously Menert's influence and from there I started following him more than PL.. His tracks are more interesting than PL's, IMO.

[TYLRbass]

Anyone catch the performance on Conan last night?

The live band was cool, the rapping was boring and distracting but I really like that track.

I'm not fooled by the fake sample triggering tho, from what I can tell he was running arrangement view and pretending to trigger samples from his Maschine, what do you guys think?

[regretfullySaid]

Checked it out. The rapping wasn't distracting for me seeing as how without it the song would've just sounded like a long intro to something it wouldn't get to.

Why do you think the sample triggering is fake though? It's not like it's hard to do anyway, and it being in arrangement doesn't mean anything. He could just have it for "timeline insurance" to make sure he's doesn't get out of place; maybe he could be anxious playing a tv performance on Conan which could be a different for him compared to the usual live shows he does. Anyway, arrangement is deceiving, you can still play stuff live that isn't set up in the tracks like triggering samples live from drum racks or sampler....

In the end though it was ok...

It made me want to listen to Kwelis Reflection Eternal album though which I haven't heard in ages; I love that album

[TYLRbass]

You're right about the arrangement thing.. Could have the backing track in there and still have channels armed..

If you focus on which pads he hits and the timing it just seems off. For example, he'll hit 7 out of 8 beats of a pattern but you still hear the one he skipped triggering, or he'll hit one pad and it seems to make one sound and then (without switching banks) he hits the same pad and it appears to be triggering an entirely different sound.. Obviously with some programming you could have the available samples on your pads swapped in and out but I doubt that's what is happening.. and lastly, I don't see what the holding down of certain pads is, he does that a lot and I would imagine if he had sample set to gate he would press and hold for the duration of the sample but it just seems like you can't connect what you see with what you hear the way you can with any other sample triggering performance.

No hate though, dude has paid his dues and he deserves the recognition.. It's not like he claims to be doing everything live and improv.. but I did find it funny that Talib said "all live.. a-a-a-a-analog" or something silly like that haha

[beats me]

One of the times I saw him live a few years ago he was mashing a monome that had absolutely no impact on the music which sounded exactly like the studio recording. And I mean mashing. What he was doing didn’t seem to go with anything that was going on in the song. And it wasn’t trainspotting. He was holding the monome horizontally away from himself and towards the audience so we could marvel at him doing nothing other than spastically mashing buttons.

[TYLRbass]

One of the times I saw him live a few years ago he was mashing a monome that had absolutely no impact on the music which sounded exactly like the studio recording. And I mean mashing. What he was doing didn’t seem to go with anything that was going on in the song. And it wasn’t trainspotting. He was holding the monome horizontally away from himself and towards the audience so we could marvel at him doing nothing other than spastically mashing buttons.

Exactly.. the ONLY thing I've seen him really do is beat repeat and filter sweeps, and that's child's play.

[regretfullySaid]

Lame indeed, but that does get to an interest point I've thought about recently, which is trying to show off some kind of talent by how much you can do all at once, and I think that's lame.

Now, it's cool if you like to keep busy and you're a tech geek like I am but some people just want to be like an octopus going "Hey look how well I can multitask on rhythm and key" and it's gotten to the point of "meh" I suppose it's like how everyone's been staring at their phone though, a lot of it is just being interested and excited in new gear and methods but eventually it'll pass and the more important priorities take the 1st spot. Don't get me wrong I like being at the control center pushing buttons and pulling levers but I don't see that as something cool enough to aim for attention. And nothing will ever compare to playing with other musicians live, which also has a bigger effect when it comes to audience/band energy. So, the mix of the 2 is perfect. I like how Animal Collective have their setup, where the one guy is running the board as an instrument.

[beats me]

I still get a chuckle when the Electronica community got pissed when Deadmau5 said all high profile Electronica performers fake it including himself. I just think Pretty Lights is a little over the top about it. It’s cool he really gets into his music but it would be just as cool if he backed off the gear and just danced around and rocked out. Nobody is going to go “Holy shit, then who is playing the music?!?!?”

I saw BT once and he actually got off the stage and danced around with the people in the front. He got it. It’s about the music. Not just him. I thought that was pretty cool.

[regretfullySaid]

Ditto.

[beats me]

I think frequent overly exaggerated faked performances are about insecurity in not knowing what the fuck they should be doing on stage while also feeling their physical presence in front of people should be justified.

I think it’s also a subconscious fuck you to actual musicianship…as if whatever movements they are doing would have the exact effect they have in their head but they can’t be bothered to actually test that or hook things up to make it work that way. They just know it would work because it looks about right.

[regretfullySaid]

N/m