It's called Music Business because it makes money. If Bach, Beethoven, and Berio were still alive today, they'd be in a supergroup together with Lady Gaga, spending their weekends in the tunnels under the Playboy Mansion.

 

If you don't like modern music on the radio and can't related to a younger generation who appreciate it, that just mean you're getting old.

My parent in the 90s use to say that the music I listen back then was shit (I was into 90s hip hop, detroit techno and Nirvana, a basic 90s cliché but still kind of tasteful I like to think). That music is now see as golden age from those genre.
Same with my grandparent, my grandfather was into jazz, but for him Miles Davis was some degenerate nonsense. The same way punk or disco was trash for older generation in the 70s or Elvis and the Beattle were to scandalous for older people in the 50/60s. Each generation think the music from their time was better, because it related to the past which our memorie tend to remind us mostly the good time. Today's music is the golden age from tomorow's midlife crisis adult.

 

It's not only music. Look at Disney. They managed to even ruin franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
Or have you ever (tried) to find a good "Kindle Unlimited" book? It's absolutely shocking, what total garbage is leading the best sellers.

Literature for women always was total infantile garbage, because women..., but today everything is sh.t, because: the matriarchy.
Dime novels from 30 years ago are like high literature and complex novels with sophisticated plots and characters compared to today's 'literature'.
Then even dime novels had a (male!) publisher who not only understood the business, but had some self esteem and professional knowledge.

A production process without professionals involved: everything over time turns into sh.t, the masses enjoy the sh.t, and demand more sh.t. The bottom drops out, and in the matriarchy, with all men being removed, there is no force left, that can keep up the quality levels.

There is a reason, why there are no matriarchal cultures or nations. They cannot compete and go extinct.

And since most men in the west are still very far away from even recognizing, that giving women power is a sure way to doom and lose everything that worked and was taken for granted, sadly things will have to become much worse until the majority will recognize it.

 

Paper plate music. Here today gone tomorrow. That’s the majority of today’s registered & copyrighted music.

 

I thought is was the current culture of the commectial enviroment was resulting in extream egotistical behavior.

You work in a studio and people around you will hear your work, cast opinions and give advice.
You take it on board because you've hear their work, see them as your peir and accept some of their advice. Even if not admitting it.

Work in a bedroom, see no one, no one listens to your work unless you ask for them to so the result is you're image with no compromise and not commercial.
To make it sell the industry exploits the fact people like what they've heard before.

Think about it, how many somes hit number 1 after the instrumetal version has been used as a background while radio announcements as said?

How much of the dance chart is an amazing old song prostitutionalized, the bit you love given to you again and again without the intro, bridges or unmemorable verses. Just like a Prostitute give you the sex like your last relationship without the boring movie or night out you had during your relationship.

 

You only used an example of who knows what as you didn't define your thesis.

 

Help me.
I heard a fart.

 

You did it again, used the word to define itself. I'm putting you on ignore now and forever in whatever incarnation you choose. You've had far too many chances to redeem yourself. I hope others do the same. This is not a case of mobbing but rather one of psychological survival.

Fare thee well, Foster.

 

Not funny but in all seriousness.

 

Apples and Oranges.

Where something is done should not matter. The person recording, engineering and producing either knows what they want and how to get that result, or they do not. I do not confuse the quality of a composition or song with the quality of music production. A great production on a shit song does not make it a good song and the same in reverse, though a great production can make a great song sound more appealing.

As for music today, that's a debate I am staying well away from. Rock 'n Roll and every form of popular music even well before then, right through to today's music, has always been called garbage by somebody, so it's a dead-end to even debate it.

 

Last edited: Oct 7, 2024

From my perspective only, you've almost got to the root of why some things should sound better but do not.
Here are a couple of examples and they are real life, real world examples I have witnessed.
The first is when the focus is on the music itself and the musical light and shade dynamics, and whoever is producing it, if it is not the artist shares the identical vision, it will turn out musical.
In the identical scenario, if the producer instructs the above music project to be engineered to every modern standard, every audio dynamic standard and raise all the music so it is the identical amplitude in every section and squash the crap out of it with compression, the musical dynamics have been effectively destroyed.

A great producer will know that not every tune requires an 808 kick, a real kick drum and kit should not sound like an 808, not every track requires masses of subsonic frequencies, and tailor the production and engineering around the style and genre, never forgetting the principle of the original intent of the song/composition. This is why music type and production have to compliment each other not hinder or destroy. Knowing principles is great. Knowing when they won't work also matters.

 

Yes, but what about notes?

 

If people keep listening to terrible music, then media outlets will keep serving them for profit.

Spotify started a trend of not paying artists who get less than 1,000 streams per year, likely an attempt to discourage them from publishing. But with YouTube convincing everyone to chase their dreams (really just avoiding life is some way), this will persist. Hopefully we don't run out of carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and architects because engineers are trying to develop robots for that too.

 

Hey I don't think this is Foster, way too lucid.

 

Damn F(tr)O(ll)STER, is that you again?



So we're back with all his utter crap... AGAIN!

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2024

WORKING WITH NOTES, VISUAL REPRESENTATION.

 

hhmm why it becomes now all fusion .there is no invinite number of genres .
drill for example could be so much better but now they sound 99% the same or all that new 4x4 genres wtf is this,also artists which were once good back in the day are now totally vibe less ,everything less ....
i may be dead inside ,i may be bitter but when i hear an outstanding peace of music ,i hear it or can respect the production if its not my cup of tea...
----
pls show me the new absolute ultimate new monsters in their genre comparable to the pre 2015 and far more to to the pre 2005 times ....
lets just talk about that ballad stuff, i throw in adelle and mazzy star , now give me some post 2015 input .
----
and BTW usually in europe they play only the biggest comercial music or old music in the radio
maybe in uk its bit better stationwise and showwise....

 

musicwise i must have been an old fart allready with age of 14 ,before learning bout in this time new wu tang , aphex ,portishead ,nirvanna and what we once called electro and electro house and what not...
man nowadays german rap music became a modern german hitmix ...wtfff

and its not like i dont hear nothing new at all but yeah.....the shit to good to absolute monster ratio is def not like in the past....
and i guess ppl consuming music not like in the past ...or to say better , in the past they listened today they consume...
i for myself never listening whole albums , only the bangers ....one of a few exceptions was the first portishead album ....

steakhouse knifes have a 1-2-3 bangers i have to say but their just nothing against the old monsters in that genre pool

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2024

Those people just sound like amateurs to me and more interested in taking your money than doing any work.

I think a distinction has to be made between "producer" and "engineer". A producer is someone who has a direct influence over the musical content of the work. ie. Suggesting chord, melody or arrangement changes, maybe even writing some complimentary parts when needed. An engineer will take what an artist delivers and make it translate via the recording/mixing process for best sonic results, they shouldn't be interfering in the vision, they should only be complimenting it. I've worked in both areas, always as an engineer but quite often strayed over into the role of producer. Most people that I've worked with are aware of my musical understanding as well as my engineering skills and have worked with me on that basis.

Using your example of phaser level; if an artist says that they want the phaser to be a feature of the track then I would try my best to accommodate that vision. If I thought it was sonically "damaging" in some way, I would explain why and offer suggestions for a different approach. If, after a quick two minute discussion, the artist was insistent on their approach then I'd roll with it, regardless of my opinion, even if I thought it was a mistake. They're paying for a service and that service isn't my ego.

I suspect these "producers" are actually charlatans that have learned how to turn knobs but don't have a real understanding of how music works. "IN YOUR FACE" as you put it, is absolutely what can make a track interesting. A lot of the most memorable moments in modern musical history are OTT techniques that grab the attention of the listener, going right back to the experiments of The Beatles.

An engineer that won't automate, comp, provide stems, or do the autotuning gruntwork, needs to buy themselves a unicyle, a big plastic red nose and get a new job in a circus as far as I'm concerned. It actually makes me angry that these clowns call themselves engineers and producers when they're just dicks. I've come across plenty of them, some of them have took work from under my nose, because they're LOUD, despite their lack of skill and ended up completely butchering the clients work. Even amongst my engineering friends, there are those that despite being highly qualified in the scientific/electrical side of things cannot produce a decent mix. The reason is they have no artistic taste and rely totally on theory to mix. They believe themselves to be good engineers because they understand how electrons flow across a circuit board and how waves propagate through air. That's all part of being a good engineer but it isn't the whole story.

The fact is, if you're paying someone to mix for you, don't just go to any old "producer". The problem is that these days there are thousands of these people all claiming to have the necessary skills because they bought the gear and set up a webpage. There are a lot of amazing engineers out there however that need the work and have no desire to impose their footprint on your back. Try to find one that is sympathetic to your vision and can help you reach your goals. Or, as you're finding out, learn to do it yourself and maybe pay a decent mastering engineer to do a stem master to give the work a final polish.

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2024

Now there's a band name we don't hear quoted that often..