Drum sample vendors that don't map their kontakt/trigger/SSD patches according to GM.

 

The fact that I have more gear available to me than George Martin had 50 years ago but I still can't mix for shit.

 

Autotuned/Melodyned lead vocals that sound like shit no matter what you do to them because of weird phasing effects.

 

Use of a vocoder if it isn't A1ien or Daft Punk.

 

autotune. or anything remotely sounding like donkey bass.

 

The fact that all an awful lot ofsample packs need to have evil connections in their titles and usually a skull or the like for the graphics and the always the same descriptions....soaring leads, absorbent pads etc etc

 

That my expensive monitors are worthless in my room which has no acoustic treatment...

Damn you Physics!!!

 

that after i released my first cd on a label i ran into the biggest writers block ever and haven't released a cd since

 

Reminds me of when I released two albums in close succession, and felt completely burned out afterwards, because for a year I spent all of my free time writing, recording, mixing, researching publishing etc. I barely played for a year after that.

I really really hate this: having to mix songs with like 20 layers of guitars. It's so common in modern Rock, you have power chords, strums, higher octave strums, and leads, all double tracked, all at the same time, and for the entire song. All in various levels of distortion. And of course they blend the occasional acoustic strumming in as well, just to make it really bad. As result you get this disgusting mush of guitars that lack any power or distinction. Basically modern guitarists just want to noodle on their guitars all the time and show off all the cool techniques they know, they have no appreciation for contrast, for quiet parts, for fucking composition. A song with two or three guitar layers at most will always sound better than a song with four or more layers of guitars, unless you're Jerry Cantrell. (Bonus points if they use two/three microphones to record every take.)

Same goes to drums. You don't need 20 fucking microphones to record a basic kit. The more microphones you add, the more phase cancellation you get, and the shittier the drums sound.

 

Crazy stuff. Tops and bottoms, overheads, room, inside abd outside...on the dang beater! It is ridicules to even attempt to use them all. And your right about not thinking about composition which falls not far from the idea that proficiency of your instrument isn't as important as fixing it in the mix. "Everyone wants to be a star but hasn't the light inside to shine". My pickled profundity for the day.

 

20??? Sometimes it's getting even worse:

far room 2, mid room 2, close room 2,
overhead 2, underhead 2,
on axis, off axis, from above, from below with 2 bd, 2 sn, 2 hh, 7 toms, 12 cyms (crash, ride, splash & china)
Sums up in 110! Just for stereo...

 

Having to include a rapper in any song, from bachata to metal to trap, to make a hit record.

 

Lol. All hail the 1990s!

 

You forgot the mono room mic, the mono overheads, the "shitty crush mic", and the mic in the bathroom.

 

You guys aren't recording my dump, are you?

 

Drum sample packs where each hit has been normalized.

When rappers don’t have stems for beats only MP3.

When rappers then send stems as mp3s

“You don’t understand experimental music”
No you’re covering up the fact that your production is shit by calling it experimental. Aphex Twin is experimental and good.

Sampling popular music. You can’t sample Flashing Lights, you just can’t...

 

No but the NSA is. They want to be sure that when they say they have the 'real shit' on people that NOBODY can question their veracity.

 

Every marketing blurb that states that the product will take a production to the next level. Is that the next level up, or the next level down?

 

I'm late to this party, sorry.

And my pet peeve:

Those who declare themselves 'electronic musicians' without the slightest understanding of what they are actually doing. "Gee, I can make sounds (usually presets) on this synth and this drum machine so I'm an electronic musician."

BZZZZZT!!

I'll repeat to being old-school, but I differentiate things. A skilled Pianist can sit down at a pipe organ and play all the right notes. It does not make them an organist who knows all the stops and times it takes for certain pipe registers to 'speak.' Different disciplines. Some can do both. I applaud them. The same goes for electronics. My definition of an electronic musician is one who knows the intricacies of the electronics. One who knows why this is doing that and how to utilize those often intangible and subjective circuitry quirks to create an emotive response from the listener

The most obvious and well known names that come to mind are (in no particular order) Carlos, Tomita, Jarre, Vangelis (and Stockhausen is sort of his own category.)

There are countless others whose names escape me at the moment, but the point being: pressing one key and letting the pre-programmed patch do the work, does not an 'Electronic Musician' make any more than banging on a snare makes you a drummer.

 

I'd like to add Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk to your list.