Never understood the platform these folks are standing on with the whole arbitrary tuning thing... What, are they trying to get even with all the monkeys with perfect-pitch? As in trying to drive them batty with out of tune shit Same deal with the flat-earthers... No one can really be that dumb, so they must just be trying to purposely piss off clear thinking mf'ers...

 

Yeah, i have neurosis on my work with music, but not on the same league (for example, i don't care that much about micro attack and release values or fader values as OP said). I'm more neurotic with EQ, since i get pissed eveytime i hear one especific frequency range on an especific element that i think it shouldn't be there. Cutting or boosting that range probably won't make the record any better but i start thinking it's flawed because my brain starts ignoring the good things and focusing on 0.5 dB on 300hz of a cowbell. Sucks.

 

 

Last edited: May 9, 2026 at 9:40 PM

I used to obsess over symmetrical and/or visually coherent setups when building my patches on VCV Rack. How it looked visually was just as important as how it sounded, perhaps even more.

When I realized I was spending hours visually arranging modules without even outputting any audio I decided it was a bit too much and stopped doing it. It was hard at first but eventually I got to a point today where I can start visually arranging stuff only after I get something musically satisfying.

 

It is getting more and more difficult these days to push REC button, isnt it?

 

I like compressor release and reverb pre delay/decay calculators. Especially for setting longer releases and decays it's pretty handy. And you can use a single timebase to calculate all the other values. It works.

 

I am AuDHD (a composite term of autistic and ADHD), so I exhibit many, many "different from the other kids" patterns.

One of which, since you mention numbers, is multiples of 3. So I will cut or boost by 3, or 6, or 3.6 or 9.6 or 12, 15, etc., if I can (and it sounds good).

I didn't really do this, or didn't notice, when I was all analog (tape and console). I don't even think I looked at the values, I just turned the knob until I heard it "right."

It manifests in other ways: when I solo (jazz), I never jump modes on the bar line, or on the beat of the chord - always 'over' the bar line (both the actual bar line and 'imaginary' bar line). I'm always one or three eight notes ahead, depending on tempo and changes.

When I compose, I reverse engineer myself. This likely comes from my Harmony and music analysis courses in school - my teachers would dissect compositions and put all these symbols all over the score, and explain the composers' intent or choices. So when I write, I'm also analyzing myself as they would have, and I play cat and mouse games with this imaginary teacher in my head to make it more difficult for them, and rewarding for their students to analyze and synthesize my composition. Harmonic pleasure booby traps, if you will.

When I orchestrate, or arrange a piece (mine or someone else's composition), I always contrast: dynamics, texture, tempo, pulse, time signature, everything is fair game. If the tempo is fast, I will insert a half time section; if it's a ballad, I'll put in a few bars of double time or imply it (double time). If the tune is balls to the walls, I'll put in an oasis of quiet (have the drummer play on cymbals for instance, or a bit of ethereal solo piano, or other acoustic instrument), etc. And I love contrasting textures: synthetic vs electric vs acoustic. I always make sure there's one playing or soaring against another.

Incidentally, I do the same with food: capers on my pizza, gherkins with my brie, orange juice with my morning omelette, or one scoop of bitter lemon sorbet against my three scoops of extra dark chocolate. I live and die for contrasts - sonic, musical, culinary, olfactory.

I'm also dearly fond of age gaps - in friendships and relationships. I was always with much older or much younger women. About which women, I quite like 'masculine energy' women - not androgynous or buff, but surfer girls (pretty but bad ass), or athletic (swimmers or ballerinas), or women in traditionally masculine roles or jobs (e.g., police officers, army-navy, pilots, drivers, etc).

I only noticed this pattern 5-6 years ago, during the pandemic lockdowns: I enjoy, I seek contrasts in people too. Almost half the time I'm attracted to a woman, she turns out to be gay, so it's not without pitfalls, but, as it turns out, some lesbians have turned out similarly attracted to me.

Bottom line being: whatever our personal quirks or proclivities, it's contrasts (at the restaurant, in the studio, or bedroom) that make up the spice of life. The key for us musicians, is to make sure our music reflects that (spice of life) to a palatable and enjoyable degree.

 

I think we missed the point... 432 was just the universe telling us the future where we don't need pitch, we would only need prompts

 

Just leaving this quote here from my therapist.

"Done is better than perfect".

meaning we can sit here and tweak .1, or back and forth 1 db, when really it's pointless. Learn to accept things are as they are and move on.

 

Turning to drink is not the answer in my opinion.

 

Reading your post had me reflect my own kinks, you kinky bitchastard (just made that one up so thanks for the assist). The lyrics to my songs, and especially true to my poetry...the sections or sentences must for me look a certain way on the page. Each must be tidy with no lines physically sticking out further than the others, and if it does there is a visual relationship that I'm trying to convey for the painterly, compositional component. A very short and representitive example would be the following where the last letter of each level creates a point which plots a straight line. Tweeking a poem such as this to convey imagery in a figuratively and literally visual way as well as emotionally and viscerally is I guess my thing. It's a challenge wrapped up in a great big black hole ball of fun.

Can't eat cookies
'Cause I got
No milk

Although thankfully as of now it hasn't taken over the relationship that I have with guitars (well, almost and maybe soon it just might completely unless I give a normal guitar lesson), I am progressing to a place where standard tuning is not a thing but rather an anomaly. As I write this I realize that none of my acoustic guitars are in standard tuning. Not only that, but the some of the alternate tunings are derived by using partial capos, sometimes multiple 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 string varieties. The guitar part that I'm writing for our Friendly Non-Contest #20 starts out as CGDGA#D, but when I apply a 5 string capo on the treble side at the 5th fret it is transformed to CCGCD#G. How's that for weirdness. I've been doing this and experimenting while writing songs for a number of years now. Unfortunately all the notes I had about these tunings I inadvertently destroyed after foolishly leaving that notebook outside where it was rained on and soaked through. That was not the problem as the ink did not run and blur. I have been using a Frixion pen so that I can erase and endlessly edit (I prefer the written page when writing short form) and sadly discovered that it isn't the motion of wiping away the ink but rather the heat that makes it disappear. We'll, I put the notebook in the oven (it also embodied LOTS of lyrics and poems and random thoughts captured) to quicken the drying time of those wet pages, and when a half hour later took it out every single page was blank, perhaps three years of my inventions as if they never existed. Just imagine the momentary pause of discovery and the gaping black hole in my heart in that in the monumental first momentary beat. It is damn near impossible to re-create any of that. I just zen-like peacably walked away and decided not to look back, to begin anew.

Welcome to my universe.

 

Last edited: May 10, 2026 at 1:25 PM

The best way to get rid of music related neurosis is to make music your fulltime job.

Meeting deadlines and getting paid is a great motivator.

 

Last edited: May 10, 2026 at 7:06 AM

You absolutely must keep track of where specific items are around the house and also where some non specific items are outside the house. How long since you counted how many lightbulbs you have? Are they all working? Do you have spares in case of a power outage? Matches! Are they in a safe place? Do you have drums of kerosene in the living room? You should check. If you smell kerosene you may have drums of kerosene somewhere. Have you ever left food scraps in a bin? Check for camel droppings in or around the bin. Camels come at night for potato peel. If you do find one, it may have its head in the drum of kerosene. Don't make any sudden movements or it will go for the matches. If you see him trying to light a match quickly put on some Frank Sinatra. Anything from the Columbia Years. None of the recent stuff. It'll just make him angrier. If he hears My Way, you're as good as dead. How about the air in your tyres. Does it have that rubbery smell when you let some out? Because it should. If it smells of lavender you may have a brain tumour. Maybe not, but it warrants further investigation. An MRI at least. And before you think about building your own MRI let me tell you it's really hard. I tried wiring some magnets up to my phone and strapped it to my head, but when I powered it on my hair caught fire and I woke up in Shanghai and three years had elapsed. On the positive side I spoke Mandarin fluently.
I hope this has helped. I feel better. But not in a good way, in fact my neuroses have flared up and I think there's a camel outside.