One man's happy accidents, another man's methodologies, can be.

 

i think @Herr Tony summed it up better than me. for me the happy accident leads to an element of the track rather than the focus of the track. my music is sound design heavy so the smallest little details can have a huge impact.
depending on the accident, most accidental results can be manipulated if you understand why it sounds how it does. i have synths in mind while saying that though, it would be a different story completely if running audio through a bunch of FSU effects and using the result. you could still manipulate it somewhat, but you would be very limited with what you can do in a controlled way.

 

Mate if you ask the question, therefore you are'nt. The Word Random is a paradox, its highly contencious in meaning. It can be argued that nothing is "random" and everything is "random" I've answered the question by posting a bird playing a piano with people transcribing and playing it.. You may randomly look at it as an important metaphor that answers your complex question for which you want a "yes no" answer or you may call someone a "troll" without understanding the subtext.. flip a coin.
Further, you used the word "foster" thats an interesting choice of word. You dont "encorage" opinion, yet you seek it with a yes/no answer.

 

everybody confuses pirates with australian beer around here. that stuff tastes like shit by the way, and you have to drink about 40 gallons to get a buzz because its made from piss. australians do NOT know how to get drunk.

 

You mean playing with sound toys randomly?

 

lol almost

 

I used in this case artistic license and not denotation of the definition to further the story and am surprised that you did did not pick up on that, unless you are ignorant of his history in which case you could be forgiven for your not knowing the back story. I full well understand both metaphor and subtext and use my grap of language in full control within my lane, my eye on the horizon, my immediate surroundings and the destination simultaneously.There's nothing random about it or anything else in the known universe.

 

lol this is not the first time i have seen a debate about what "random" truly means on an audio forum.
the best we can get is radioactive decay. personally i dont believe it is truly random though, i think we just do not know enough yet.
there are a few websites that use radioactive decay to run random number generators. if you want true random, go there!
usually pseudo-random is plenty enough to trick the dumb ol' human brain though.

 

No one has to be allowed to rationalize the randomization in music.

 

Generally, sound is generated to trigger a reaction in a hearing individual. This hearing individual can be someone (something) else but also the sending individual itself. The relationship between the sound generated and the response of the receiver to it depends on a variety of facts.
The more accurate the sound-producing individual is knowing these facts, the better (at least theoretically) it can design its sound event in such a way that the desired reaction is triggered at the receiver. If the transmitter is able to comprehensively record all relevant facts and to produce the required sound event precisely, it has complete control over the response of the receiving individual to it.
In this ideal scenario, each event leads to only one very specific reaction. Any deviation of the event from the required one (intentional or due to inability) inevitably leads to a different reaction.
By using (quasi-)random sound design, the reactions to it will scatter accordingly, i.e. deviate from the intended reaction. This way, reactions arise that will either disappoint the intentions of the sending individual or surpass them.

So much for my general theoretical considerations.
Regarding the subject of randomness in making music, the following questions arise:

1 - Who are my "hearing individuals", my target group, i.e. who do I want to trigger a reaction from? Are they friends, people in the club, drivers, radio listeners, TV viewers, old, young, male, female, etc., my pet, or maybe "just" myself...?
2 - What are the facts of the reception scenario? Are my listeners (am I) excited, relaxed, aggressive, sad, cheerful, tired, what would they (I) like to do right now, is it cold, hot, dark, bright? Is there dancing, drinking, smoking, banging, etc. going on? Everything can matter, the more complete the factual collection for my scenario, the better.
3 - What is the reaction I want to get?
4 - What is the "required sound event", how do I create it best, will I be able to do it? What will I need to do so?
5 - And finally, if I think I have everything under control the best I can:
How far do I want to deviate from my working rules? How much space do I want to give away to the unforeseen,
"The Rrrannndommm"

in my performance? How much risk do I allow myself to take? (remember: deviations will be tops, but flops as well)

I'm aware. Tough questions for those who want to torture themselves with it.

Everyone else: Just make music and enjoy it!
In music, everyone is allowed to do everything!

 

Last edited: May 10, 2020

everything can be rationalised if we look close enough. i love this about life <3

 

great post, and weirdly inspirational! <3

 

One of the things that is almost impossible is inviting people to do the right things. People do anything to avoid doing the right things. Reasoning is one of those things. As long as there is a reason to do inefficient things, it would be useless to give advice.

Love in most cases means ignorance. If a person has complete knowledge of a particular subject, he controls his loves and will not like everything. Taking refuge in doing random things is one of those loves. Random work distracts the human mind from focusing accurately on the subject and does not give him the right view. Why do people choose randomness? Because accidental work is relatively easy and requires no meticulous effort.

 

my first thoguth was "this cat doest even know what the word/label "random" means. rofl"

 

lets just all agree that, you speak for yourself and how YOU view the world and your beliefs. only You!

you got nothing on us bro!

 

Please add "maybe", "not telling" and "don't know" to the ballot sheet. And free dimpled chads for all voters would make a nice incentive.

 

they are just words, and they reflect on only your own experiences.

 

hahah its actuallya fascinating and deep topic :D

 

lol pretty much what i just said

 

i just clicked a random answer anyway