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FamiTracker
I thought I'd try to start a discussion about this here so...let's go:
Most of the time I'm really not satisfied with my work the way I'm supposed to. Even though I get positive feedback, when I try listening to something I made right after having listened to a song made by someone else, I always find my stuff crap...I even tried listening to horrible things before I listened to my own song, and then that made me like it a bit more... Is this a normal thing to feel? Especially as a self-taught "artist"?
I noticed this too. I think I have a good idea of why this is:
When you make a song, you personally experience the toil and impact of all the time spent making mistakes in it and having to fix it. All the stuff that was hacked into listenable shape. All the places where you wonder what could have been. All the little details and things you put into it that AREN'T audible at all but you wish they were.
The listener does not see any of this. As long as you only give them finished works, they only see the result of the hard work, and they like it. They won't hear ALL the detail of composition, but enough to satisfy them.
When you listen to your song, you think about what isn't there. Other people think about what is.
I don't know what the best way to fix this is, but one way I've been using recently is to make other people listen to my song. If they don't see anything wrong, you have done enough and you can keep going. (Even showing it to another musician works - experienced musicians are pickier, but they can't draw on anything they can't hear! You might find it useful to 'buddy up' with someone else who uses the program.)
In my case, I've always had this attitude regarding everything I've ever done; my mentality is "Great. It's done; what's next?" And when someone tries to praise me for something in real life, I tend to downplay their complements.
And it also boils down to the fact that people can't read each other's minds. If they could, they'd realize the meaning behind each other's works & actions.
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Technology: the one thing that's hated & cursed at by all engineers, technologists, scientists & technicians!
I see, so it's not a weird thing to feel...
Now I can bring something else up, but I'd still be interested in others' opinions...
Yes, I was that entry...#35 I think, I can't even remember, nor do I want to. But it was the one people hated on solely for its name. Some of the songs in the entry, I had already released here under fake names to get some feedback without getting hate and bitching because of what it's connected to and will be used for. When I had the balls and named my entry for FCM9 what it really was, I got hate and flaming and this is clear proof, that most people can't judge and criticize music without taking sides...If I hadn't told them anything, I would've probably ended up in mid-class like with my MediEvil cover. (I don't know where I placed in originals NOR DO I CARE)
I thought of another 'psychology of musicians' question (well, questions):
1) What emotional state are you most likely to compose in?
2) What emotional state is your BEST composing in?
3) Do pressure and deadlines help or hinder quality? Quantity? (Related: How does your composition in a One Hour Compo differ from composition outside of it?)
Yea, I think a lot of people suffer with this. I know I do, basically every time I open audio software. I've been writing music for a bit over a decade and this has never gone away, and I don't think it ever will, sad to say!
Spending a long time obsessing over detail can and will produce excellent results if you stick to it, it is fine art at the end of the day and only you as an artist can decide when it has everything it needs/you want it to have. The downside is it can become very easy to get discouraged, frustrated, impatient and give up, affecting your ability to finish things/your work rate.
I think the problem really is, we see our own behind-the-scenes (warts and all) but we see everyone else's highlights reel. You naturally listen to music you enjoy, so you get the "oh my god everything is amazing how could I possibly" feeling. There's also the fact that when you work on your own music, there's only little element of surprise or excitement, you might get a kick out of writing it and seeing it take shape, but since you know all your own tricks, it'll probably lack that special, exciting, extra "thing" that other peoples music has. It's difficult. Possible to drive yourself stir crazy over not being as good as x or y... I know I have and still do, but I also attribute it to successes as well, so it's a double-edged blade.
All I can really recommend (and I really need to follow this advice myself) is to try and be patient, give yourself a lot of time to work on something, not expect instant results, be playful, explore, and have fun with it if you can. There is no right or wrong answer with this, just what works for you. I'm still on my quest to "write exactly the kind of music I want to listen to", it's incredibly difficult, probably ego-centric, but I feel I get closer all the time.
Oh and a final point... listening to really bad songs is strangely helpful, a confidence booster for sure, might help keep things in perspective (actually, this is a good rule for life, not just music.) I think part of my problem is I've literally got a list of favourite songs in foobar2000 that I listen to regularly, and it's just... so much awesome all the time, great for recreation but I wanna be there with them.
Another thing you'll notice is that your stuff will sound a LOT better after a break, and this applies to any musical thing you do. Fatigue will make you naturally rip your hair out whilst thinking "oh my god this is so shit why am I doing this" or something along those lines. A break - go out for a breath of fresh air, play a game or SOMETHING to take your mind off the music will be so helpful so that when you come back to it it'll sound so much better than before.
Once I discovered this technique I found myself liking my own work a lot more and I could develop riffs I liked at first but then hated.
Also, while listening to bad music can be a confidence booster, what it's not going to do is inspire you. I always go back to the same old songs and genres that influence my roots the most for little techniques to try myself - and while I may think the professionally done stuff is so much better than what I'm doing when I'm working on something, after a week or even a few hours later I could be kicking back and ruining my neck headbanging to it.
Lastly, I write all the time. Rarely do I go a day without opening up FamiTracker or FL Studio and doodling in a few riffs, or at least doing the same on my guitar. If I'm in a shitty mood, I let that influence the music. Likewise, if I'm in an awesome mood, that'll show through the music. What you're writing should convey what you're feeling, and I've noticed that my uplifting songs have been written whilst I fancy someone and my thrash metal ones have been written whilst depressed. Thyroid problems ftw
Back to my original point, take some breaks whilst working on something. It'll overcome a block and it'll sound a lot better after the break as well.
Thanks guys, this really made me more confident in composing...I don't want to make anything extraordinary, I usually think about game music so yeah...
oh, if anyone wants to hear horrible stuff...here's this crazy hag from my country who thinks she can sing so great...It's called "I don't blame you" , well I do blame her for destroying my ears :D
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBdn3-2FPbE]WARNING, SHIT!
That singing was just as bad as [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR43onV7A70]Hungarian Nyan Cat. As for the girl... 2/10 - Would rather sleep with Elizabeth Báthory.
Humor aside, I'm with Dave on this. I haven't written music for a long time, but I was involved in music classes for a good 7 years & can tell you that it's impossible to "create the song we'd truly want to listen to" because it's pretty hard for us to escape the mindset that we all have.
[quote=Patashu]I thought of another 'psychology of musicians' question (well, questions):
1) What emotional state are you most likely to compose in?
2) What emotional state is your BEST composing in?
3) Do pressure and deadlines help or hinder quality? Quantity?[/quote]
In my case, deadlines would hinder what I do because I prefer going at my own pace. As for emotional states, my music, as you've probably heard, carries more melancholy than what others would typically do. I feel that any attempt at a "joyous" tune is futile because I don't feel I'm in my element unless I do some kind of a tune in D minor or the like.
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Technology: the one thing that's hated & cursed at by all engineers, technologists, scientists & technicians!
Do I feel like a hack? I [i]know[/i] I'm a hack! But y'know what? I'm OK with being a hack. I've decided that I'll just make what I want to hear, and for the most part, I can and do, so I'm content. I know I'll never have a career ahead of me as a composer, but that's fine, 'cause I don't particularly want one.
I guess the important thing is: be yourself. Do that and nothing else matters.
The hardest part for me now is to keep $MUSIC_PROGRAM open for any length of time when working on something. It's related to not feeling "inspired", I suppose. I'm usually pretty proud of something once I get to some kind of stopping point, since I think I have the pieces down enough. On the other hand, I've never been really compelled to write original pieces, with the exception of that one night I spent in #botb where I wound up doing two OHCs. I suppose I'm afraid of writing something terribly derivative, so I haven't let myself get through that phase yet.
Something that's helped me out with learning and applying technique is having a huge "listen to when bored" folder of great FamiTracker files I can watch scroll as they play, accumulated from the Music Lobby and from here. That fallback has been holding me back a little when wanting to use Sunvox, though, since that community isn't as share-happy as this.
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[url=http://icesoldier.me]Website (includes FTM's of my covers)
[quote=icesoldier]I suppose I'm afraid of writing something terribly derivative, so I haven't let myself get through that phase yet.[/quote]
You're probably worrying too much. Even though I've been making mostly cover versions of stuff for as long as I've been composing (which has been over a decade, though usually just a little bit here and there), my original music has always sounded original, even when it is derivative (which all music is). Nobody makes music that sounds like my originals. That's not to say that my music is great, but it's definitely "me".
Lately I've been exploring more complex music structures and an odd side effect is that it does dampen my style a bit -- I sound a bit closer to the mainstream. But only a bit. Even a song where I tried to be unoriginal (I call it "A Pop Song" and used the infamous Pachelbel Canon chord progression for the chorus) definitely sounds like me in the verses.
Every composer has his own "fingerprints". Even if you strip away the amazing instrumentation and technique, I bet you could identify a Tim Follin track if you're familiar with his work at all. He's got little patterns that he uses all the time, his own personal toolbox. Everybody develops their own toolbox, and you will too if you haven't already.
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