Last edited by a moderator: Jun 16, 2017

hey foster911, a pretty interesting thread you have here. My take on the topic is to spend a lot of time doing what you love, if you loving production or engineering or playing instruments or live sound or singing or composing or artist management what ever the area it is, if you spend a lot of time pretty much many years, you will def create your own sound.
The videos you just posted have some cool concepts like practicing re-creating other music that you really like or reverse engineering, this is extremely valuable. over time you def will realize your own unique perspective and your own sound will shine through working on anything because you will be filtering what your doing through your own lens.
think of say one you fav movie producers or directors. on first glance it seems like they just doing what every director does you might think damn that's hard to create your "own sound" (your own aesthetics)
but actually (especially if you pick from a bunch good directors ) the final product DOES really show each director unique perspective more than what you might think at first. music is no different.

with music before you can have "your own sound" you have to be able to make music or understanding what it is how it works, just like the movie director has to be able to make a movie before they can have their own vision shine through.

 

Last edited: Jun 16, 2017

Let's look at a classic quote that was credited to Picasso: Good artists copy; great artists steal.

It's a powerful statement that even Steve Jobs used to drive his team but it has appeared in many different incantations through the years. One of my favorites has always been, That great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil.

Author T.S. Eliot had a good extension on the thought, If you see a great master, you will always find that he used what was good in his predecessors, and that it was this which made him great.


...and so on. Sorry phone is ringing but this line of thinking is where I always find myself when thoughts like your post title creep in to my mind You know what harmonies and voices speak to you, use them. Harness and collect these, engage and indulge your musical soul <3 :D gotta run

 

Nah you can, you have to design and mix sounds and songwriting in a specific workflow that you hone and refine for a long time which will then result in your actual output sounding specific to you. There are plenty of artists that have a lot of subtle writing and mixing styles that sound very unique/original to me even within genres/subgenres. And anyways, like most things within the realm of music, you are in subjective territory, so good music might sound 'good' to you, but when measuring it against other peoples musical barometer, you might be making what other people consider 'bad' music.

 

My thoughts on this pretty much mirror what's been said. One view you may want to consider looking at: when you are speaking, you are forming words that you learned by copying someone else. But you are forming the sentences and ideas from your own mind. So in essence you are reordering something which has been learned (copied) to make it your own. I see music/songcrafting as essentially the same. You are creating something to express some particular thought or emotion, but the substance of it (chords, sounds, beats, etc.) will usually come from works that were done before, simply reordered by you to express your idea. I suppose it all really depends on your particular definition of "truly original".

 

Originality for the sake of originality is retarded
I say, make what you like. Everybody has influences from other things, it happens today and it happened in the past. We draw inspirations from what we listened as kids, from what we listen now, from what we see, from what we do, etc.

The trick is not only to copy, but to add a bit of your own.
Let's say you and I make a track and we used to and keep listening to the exact same stuff. So it's like

- 20% from Group X
- 50% from Band Y
- 10% from Singer Z
- 20% from ourselves

There's always a small part that is original, in everything we make. That's why both your song and mine will be slightly different, even though they will be very similar since we're drawing inspiration from the same sources. Then all the above, mixed, becomes a "style" itself, and maybe in the future there will be someone drawing 15% from Foster911, which in turn drew inspiration from the people above, which again themselves were inspired by other things, etc. etc.

my 2 c

 

SUPREME COURT OPINION FROM 1845

"[In] truth, in literature, in science and in art, there are, and can be, few, if any, things, which in an abstract sense, are strictly new and original throughout. Every book in literature, science and art, borrows, and must necessarily borrow, and use much which was well known and used before." Emerson v. Davies,8 F.Cas. 615, 619 (No. 4,436) (CCD Mass. 1845)

 

this guy hadn't seen a laptop yet homie.


Just kidding (it would be funny to go back in time, give him a oculus rift and a fresh pair of shorts)

 

Last edited: Jun 17, 2017

Its very hard to be original today. It was easier in the 70s and 80s, even 90s. Now its the recycling era.
Die hard musicians are a dying breed. We are the last Samurais, be prepared to gut yourself with a pocket knife if in danger.

 

here something pretty original haha

 

ah it's you again

 

One of my fav drummers in the metal scene along with matt garska! In Anup's solo projects he solo records snippets of guitars as he cant play long sections of guitars, which give it an almost industrial sampley tinge on djent.

 

Originality? I dont worry about it anymore. I have a funky/jazzy style that will lend itself to whatever genre Im making music in.
And to be completely honest, I like to use tried and true familiar aspects borrowed from popular music throughout history. All those familiar chord progressions. Its part of a certain "view" on songwriting. Although Ill change keys and use a lot of inversions and extended chords, it will still sound familiar to the listener to a degree. This is how you keep them interested from the start of your track and wanting to listen to more. The familiar chord progression aspect and the "whistler" lead line. Im always doing this when I write music.
Where the originality comes in is in your fx processing and your producer chops.

 

Last edited: Jun 19, 2017

we don't worry about originality when we use any other language ( music is literally a language) , how many people stressed out because they using letters that already exists to form words that already exists to form sentences that already exist that they then arrange in a way to express themselves ( with the impossibility that is original)
that being said everytime you write a song you follow a template copying the songs and styles and methods that make your genre , all you have to do, in order to be original is to stop copying all those aspects that exist in genres of music. whether sound of drums or beat structure or instruments of choice , the structures and intros that all exist in genres etc.

my point is,we say we want to be original then on purpose copy everything that exists already in every way.
nobody ever wants to be original ( if they want listeners anyway)
what about originality in the way you steal from everything else?
there always a way to express yourself
what is more important to you?\
making music for yourself?
making music for the audience?
do carpenters build houses for themselves in a original way with sphere walls? or do they build houses for other people following the tried and true method of square rectangle walls?
you could always record dog whistles going through a guitar amp and a trsh can lid that be original for sure

 

Last edited: Jun 19, 2017

It's pretty impossible to be truly original??


Foster I have heard your sound, and believe me buddy there is nobody else on the planet that sounds anything LIKE you! There never has been, and never will be again!