About 10 years ago i used to post on a forum called Rapnetwork. At the time it was the second biggest Hip Hop forum on the net behind Rapmusic.com, so as I had just started making beats i thought it would be a great place to showcase them and get some feedback.

I posted a couple of beats up and i couldn't believe what i read, i presumed i would receive constructive criticism detailing where i had gone wrong or right for that matter but no, i was basically told my beats suck. Everyone that posted said my beats where shit, lame, weak and a few of them even suggested i go and take my wack shit elsewhere. This obviously really shocked me as id never come across such negativity so went back to my studio and tried again.

As expected when i posted the new beats i got told the same thing, your beats are wack, that aint hip hop, ya beats suck bro! not one constructive comment...this really pissed me of so over the next few years i worked REALLY REALLY hard on my beats. I studied Dilla, Madlib, Premo etc so much i could almost smell the sampler when i closed my eyes at night! i read books on hip hop production, i read ever interview with every producer i could find in the hope that i could find the secret to dope beatmaking!

In the end i got quite good, i posted a load of new beats up and everything changed. Peeps that had basically said i was wack gave big props, i had people messaging me for beats and within a couple of years i was one of the main people on that site which aint bad considering some of the AMAZING talent on that site. I have now been in the business 8+ years and have made a great living from it and visited many dope places and met some real dope people.

My point is this...if when i first posted on the site all the comments i received where the same banal "yeah not bad" or "keep it up yo" comments you hear on here at times then i would never have had the motivation to get better! a lot of beginner musicians are deluded about there talent and sometimes it needs to be said that your wack and you need to do better! sometimes being nice to people isn't always the best option, in fact without friction there can be no spark, i presumed they where calling me wack when in fact me as a person didnt come into it, they where criticizing my beats not me! i just couldn't see it because i felt my music was part of who i was...its not, its just an extension of one part of who i am.

Sorry for the long post but being agreeable ALL the time is dangerous, it helps no one and it stifles talent...for a good forum you need people with different opinions, different personalities otherwise it just becomes dull...

Oh one more thing...its been said im negative or go against the grain, look at my post history, i actually support a lot more than you think...confirmation bias is a bitch at times..

Peace

 

there are plenty of people on this forum that have different opinions and different personalities, the fact that this is a creative music based forum means just that, don't get yourself too bogged down with negative comments from others, make your point and then move on to the next.

 

To try to force your different point of view in a thread called Welcome ZeusGodBcn To The AudioSex Team in which you divert the thread from it's original goal of making someone feel at home into a thread questioning whether this person should be a mod is not any kind of constructive point of view that is beneficial to anyone. There is a BIG difference between constructive and destructive criticism. It's just off-topic and irrelevant because the decision is already made. Had the thread been called Should We Promote Zeus To Moderator then I could see the point. In this case all it serves to do is make someone feel unwelcome and that is not interesting in any good way. You would want the same consideration if I had promoted you to moderator. When you make comments that are negative about a release on AudioZ I never silence you or tell you that you don't have a right to say them because you give reasons why and perhaps it can help someone make a decision as to what they want to download. In this case it was completely unnecessary. People always focus on the freedom of speech angle but miss out on an important distinction: just because you CAN say something, doesn't mean you SHOULD say it. There are plenty of people that have differing points of view here. Pilzy believes in God, I don't. Can't imagine a more diametrically opposed pairing but we're always respectful to each other and get along just fine, in fact I think he's really good people and I always enjoy our chats. And I also actually support A LOT more than you think and don't appreciate being referred to as "some mod" when A) I'm actually a Vice-Administrator here and B) when I have sacrificed at this point 2 years of my life and effort for free working practically 24/7 so that you can get access to the releases and information that might make the difference in your music.

 

Hey remix

That's a cool story about how you progressed with your beat making. And I agree with your points of what you said regarding honest feedback and constructive criticism.

I guess that may depend on what you're discussing and what your definition of 'good' is. If you mean lively or entertaining then I may agree with you.

But speaking for myself I am long past the days of going on to forums where the majority of the dismissive comments sound like they have been written by angry teenagers living in their moms basement and everybody argues a lot and nobody says much of anything. There are a few hip-hop sites that come to mind especially.

Personally I think that Audiosex is an absolute diamond in the rough. I've never been on such a forum where the constructive comment to b*llshit comment ratio is so overwhelmingly in favour of the former and I love the vibe on here and how it's been set up and maintained. For me, I'm not looking for a thread where half of it is members arguing and detracting from the actual point of the thread. That really does my head in and I hate clicking on the refresh button just to see another sh*tty comment.

Cohesion in a certain sense is so much more digestable than friction. For instance, would you want to see friction in every single thread you clicked on? And of course, the other side is what about all of the beat makers who gave up thinking that they didn't have what it took when all they needed was a bit of encouragement. How many Jay Dillas were out there that had sh*tty equipment and were just starting off and got shot down and just left it alone? It's a bit of a double edged sword. Some people get inspired by negative comments. But I don't think it's a great motivator for the majority of people.

Sucks to hear you feel that way but I've seen you put up some cool posts.

That was beautifully put. And I might be feeding into the whole being agreeable thing but that statement from Cat is actually a tenet on how I personally choose to live my life. At the end of the day, as I see it, it all comes down to two things: Positive energy and Negative energy. Why waste time on anything to do with the latter, when so much can be achieved with the former?

 

That was a really great post armyofone. Respect!

 

remix's first question was "who?" personally I think the initial responses were a wee bit OTT, remix is probably not aware of what is going on behind the scenes, perhaps a little bit of background info (ie why?) along with the announcement may have been beneficial for everyone and stopped this silliness from starting in the first place

 

why is there such a big fuss about someone questioning the mod status?
I felt the same way when i saw his/her post count, all it takes is an explanation, not anther thread with you life story!

So the status can be handed down, and where supposed to stand around and shower praise on this guy as if he has just liberated us or as if hes been knighted for aiding humanity..
If thats what you want surely we have the freedom to ask some questions? or does the title you put on the thread rigidly dictate what can be posted in here?

Don't get me wrong i appreciate the work and time put in for this place, only the most naive and immature among us can't, but that doesnt mean we need to be fluffly teletubbies all the time? there is hardly a need for military etiquette and politeness here! it make it feel like the church

 

Constructive criticism shouldn't be just, "Your stuff sucks," but should be more like, "Your stuff sucks - but here's why - and here's how you can do better." People post on sites like this for indications as to how they can improve, not to know whether people think their stuff sucks. The idea is to ultimately encourage, not to discourage.

Compared to other music-production forums, Audiosex is rather congenial, which is a large reason why I joined. I'd not posted on a forum in three years, having been burned on a composers' forum by people ganging-up on me because that's the "canine" quality in humans. On Audiosex, the personalities of the posters are usually apparent, so one can tell where they're coming from and go with that.

One forum I did like, until it was discontinued, was on NIN.COM, where Mr. Reznor seemed to set the tone from the top on downward, encouraging people's being supportive and positive, even in their constructive criticism. I liked logging-on just to read the discussions among musicians about each others' music.

 

New Model
The internet is overrun with places where people can post whatever kind of comments they want so why choose the one place where we actually have a community vibe and make it the same as everywhere else? Surely YouTube has a spot available. This wasn't a debate topic, the guy's promoted and that thread was to welcome him. It's off topic, simple as that. Same as if someone were looking for help that was on Windows and the Mac people come in to talk about how he should get a Mac. First he asked who though he's seen the guy post both here and on AudioZ for a year. Whatever that was fine. Then he gets into why and if it's too soon and this and that, I mean how far does it have to go before it's considered irrelevant? If you want to get into the plethora of reasons I hired him I'll write you guys a behind the scenes novel sometime to read. You might feel like you're in church but I feel like I'm in hell when I read comments like that and if we're going to make a choice on what is actually useful and conducive to a community environment it's a simple choice. As interesting as it is reading people bitch and moan about one thing or other...most sane people find that kind of stuff annoying.

 

remix ... I didnt knew anything about this new mod myself, I just said congrats to the guy because it was a fact - I have no influence on who is being a mod or not anyway ... so what the hell ... just hope he´s a great guy!

Been out here for so long (Im not talking about Audioz/Audiosex) that I know some mods can develop into complete monsters (they pretty well was already when they were "elected") .... I´ll keep from telling about serten forums, where these morons have pested the daily life for many people through the years!

Remember: mods are choosen by other mods .... its not a democracy but more something like anarchy/oligarchy - like it or not! And remember: even among these mods there is a hierarchy where some mods have more power than others!

All you can hope for when you enter a place like this is: Hope there are some good mods that runs the place in a desent way, thats all!

remix I think you have any right to say what you said in that other thread ... I think many people have the same experience as you had: they didnt know him!!! But that´s not that guys mistake, thats just a fact! IMHO you didn´t offend anyone saying what you said there at all!

Cat being offensive: Yeah what the hell, we all are now and then - being a mod isnt really a "piece of cake" always.. remember that! I´ve been there too many years ago myself and I dont envy them at all!

Salute for the free spoken word!!

Cheers all of you - mods and members

 

fair enough, well imo this thread was created for sympathy, and ive given my bit.. admittedly youtube etc is rife with bullshit! i do feel the vibe here is a cut above the rest. im thankful for that. also thanks for such a calm coherent response to often contentious input by myself.
try to turn negative feelings into positive drive! it sounds like you spend alot of time on this place, but look at what you have created! this is the most popular underground audio&synth place on teh netz. magesy is a mess compared. think of all the artists you look up to who must visit

 

Remix as a composer that understand a music as a whole body , drum a perc must be music related and means also Nothing, its Just a part. of the puzzle.
When I build a music , of course, i build the drums too, they are related and I never copy or insert.
I can hear and reproduce any drum, as an exemple in my secound year in university we must write a 3 voice counterpoint.
So I advise ear training because for me is really simple.
There a lot of mates here that like and can help, You must use us

 

Thanks a lot man, I really appreciate the kind words. I think remix is blowing this out of proportion more than I am, I wanted to just drop it because it's not that big a deal. I just thought it was inappropriate when we're just trying to show zeus some love in a thread created for that express purpose. Remix never considered that zeus is actually well known in smaller circles and there might be some information he's not privy to that I don't think is everyone's business. He's fighting for something that in the end isn't beneficial to any of us and that's why I'm not indulging him. I let people speak about anything here, I mean we have topics where you can get detailed help with warez...how many other sites can say that? Having a bad day? Boss or your girlfriend pissed you the fuck off and you just want some release? Open a topic, so long as you're not breaking any rules it's totally cool. Why the hell not? However I really work hard to keep these forums of a different caliber because it's all too easy to slip into another net shithole where people take out their daily frustrations on each other just because they can. I want to strike a good balance between freedom and people don't want to read bitching and moaning all day long especially directed at them. The staff has to read more of those comments than any members because they have to moderate so who would want to have a day where that's all they see? i mean I've got my own dis-satisfactions and believe me my days aren't exactly peachy fucking keen either. My work here and on AudioZ take up a lot of my time and I get to do this and my real job simultaneously with little time for anything else. Anyway I'm really glad that you've been enjoying the sites. We're just getting started with a lot of the changes that I have in mind to implement. None of my projects have even come out yet, we've got an album on the way and an undisclosed project that is going to be amazing and soon enough we will completely rebuild AudioSex. We're also gaining in popularity and pretty soon we will really explode. This is just the beginning. *yes*

I was actually lucky to meet a few artists I dig a lot on the forums, even tried to help them out here and there where I could. Are you one of them? If you're an Industrial artist that I look up to you have to tell me, it's a new rule.

 

Nice post, remix bro. And Armyofone and Stevich.

I don't understand these "mod" comments, I was just focussed on remix' story. I guess this modding issue has escaped me. It's really important for the people who are just starting to read it and understand it. It is also equally important for those who like to criticise to read the Stevich's post and act accordingly.

I mean, what's the use of a post that says "It sucks, man. Go flip burgers, or somtin'" If you criticise or if you praise, you have to elaborate why. You usually have to do both, though!

Cheers !

p.s. hey, yeah - zeusgodbcn is a good guy. Catalyst is a good guy, too. He could mod things around here, also. Just my humble opinion. Catalyst, has he notified you about our IRC channel? That's a great idea!

 

Yeah, VST Club sure has promoted some first class prize TWATS to MOD status. Kinda wounding when you give a great deal of YOU to an on-line community, only to have some "Hitler complex" keyboard warrior, jumped up, homosexually repressed, wannabe, start taking out his jealously due to an absence of any social skills on long time members!

Ooooops! Did I just write all of that? No saying you even meant VST Club Phloopy, however, I`d be EXTREMELY surprised if I were alone in feeling this way.

UP YOURS VST CLUB!

TRUE Audio Freedom is found where I now call home, right HERE!

 

i apologise if i offended anyone...that really wasn't my intention.

Peace

 

"Sorry for the long post but being agreeable ALL the time is dangerous"

The opposite too. Almost each time I read you, you're flaming, insanely negative, or totally offtopic... I don't ever remember anything constructive coming off your keyboard...

So I wonder about the point of this thread.
and I'll just quote you remix :
"no idea...
cheap therapy it seems like... "
(http://audiosex.pro/index.php?/topic/13222-goin-live-as-a-dj/page__p__89200#entry89200)

Just rip what you saw man.

 

Are you still crying about a comment i made on one of your long boring threads that no one cares about?

 

I don't think I ever cried about it. but thanks for asking (wow... you're so caring... much feel... wow)

I just questioned the point your tl;dr whiney-sorry thread, just like you questioned mine earlier.

I don't really care about you bashing anything you can : it's your, the mod's, and your therapist's business. But when you come up pretending : I'm all about being constructive, don't hate on me, I don't get why I'm so misunderstood, let's listen to Radiohead and Lacuna Coil and be super sad about the world... please boy

I never read anything positive or constructive from you, only passive agressive flames. It seems you got quite a backfire to write an >500 words excuse squirt.

Wanna be a rude troll? Go on, it's fine by me, but don't come up whining afterward. Rip what you saw.

 

Yawn...

"rip what you saw" ?

bro learn to write...its like you just throw random words at the screen?

stop jumping on the bandwagon too...baaaa baaaa follow the herd!!!