I've dabbled in just about every experimental genre within the confines of electronic music. Everything from Psy to Breakcore and everything in between that I could stand. I also made more commercial electronic stuff before the EDM explosion happened.

All that being said this guy however is one of my absolute favorite producers. You should take the time out and REALLY listen to what he has to say about music, his own inspirations, his creative process.

This interview DRAMATICALLY changed the way I feel about "Pop" music back when I would tune anything I thought of out that would be considered commercial music because I thought I was too good to have such bland taste. Either way, Dr. Luke is a friggin' genius at least in regards to making music.

Also, I'm well aware of the allegations against him. If he did do that to someone, then shame on him and him being a great producer doesn't in anyway absolve him of that and I hope that he gets what's coming but I don't want this thread to be dictated by something we might never really know what really transpired, especially with respect to the victim.

What I want to hear about is, if it changed the way you look at commercial music.

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2016

He stole everybodys hooks though. He has already lost copyright infringement lawsuits and has more pending.

 

I saw that other video too and I had mixed feelings. Some of them were definitely blatant rip offs but many of them were coincidental or licensing/sampling issues.

I mean I know Queen's track We Will Rock You uses that particular drum pattern that everyone recognizes instantly but it's a super standard drum beat, sure it sounded like it was inspired by Queen but they don't own that drum pattern.

Music and it's legalities though are weird. Remember when Baauer's track Harlem Shake blew up and Baauer was getting hit up all of a sudden for licensing shit from that tiny little snippet.

The thing is most A & R companies won't go after copyright suits unless there is really something big to be had.

You could easily, live the rest of your life off of one of those settlements.

 

I watched the entire thing with an open mind and I came away with the feeling of annoyance.

I mean this as no disrespect to you thethirdperson. How did it change the way you looked at pop music though?

 

No disrespect taken, whatsoever! Thanks so much for being so kind as to word things that way.

I mean there were just certain things that really stood out about that video where I was just like, no fucking way!

Like when that first Ke$ha song came out on the radio, I hated it so much! My lover back then bumped that track every time it was on, and in time it grew on me, the way you would a small annoying animal that keeps coming back to you. When I found out that he used that garage sale synth to create that hook, I was floored!

Then when he brought up the Protools session with the vocal harmonies that Katy Perry did sounded so fucking good and then layered them over a random crowd of people singing along for one of the breakdowns. I thought that was really clever.

 

Right on, I gotta admit I was pretty shocked about the little keyboard he used too.

 

not snippets but whole choruses of known songs and a demo sent to him

 

Also when you consider that he's like a protege of Max Martin who like produced for fucking everybody in the late 90s.

The first CD I ever bought was the Backstreet Boys first album (who Max Martin produced much of) and to this very day, I can still sing along to that entire CD. I'm not ashamed of that now. However growing up around other male friends who used the Backstreet Boys as a way to make fun of each other, I would have to pretend to go along with it. Even though like when we weren't all gathered together that way and groupthink no longer applied, I knew many of them liked their music or owned albums that were produced by Max Martin. Then you were either a fan of the Backstreet Boys or N Sync and here's this guy I'd never heard about till my 20s who's responsible for the success of both of them. I just think it's pretty cool that one person can be behind so much talent and most people would never know that, you know?

 

The reason I get so pissed off about this subject, is that in all honesty Music Production is still very much in a traditional sense a "men's club" and that sucks for everyone including many men.

Have you ever been on KVR or Gearslutz? Do those places not wreak of (mostly white) men in their 30s that haven't ever interacted with a woman and seem sexually frustrated in someway? There's a reason for that!

It's because by and large those forums don't really take the time out to make sure that their spaces are inclusive or friendly to new comers. Whether it's by means of go read the manual, to someone who might be dyslexic or the manual doesn't come in their preferred language or just constant use of sexist/racist/homophobic/transphobic slurs to people to whom those insults are very real and violent to and most importantly the many poor people can't afford a DAW or a 300 dollar plugin who ask for advice on how to use k'ed software only to be told to go pay for the plugin like they did.

It insures that those "Men's Clubs" remain those of where either you put up with the insults of people of people above you in class or you find another hobby, which is definitely the choice most sensitive artistic introverted types will do. Ensuring that it remains mostly comprised of upper to middle class,male, white, english as their first language, hetero, cis folks (the list goes on).

On the other hand here we have the ALTERNATIVE to those mainstream sites. Do we really want to end up like them and end up excluding different segments of people out ensuring that Audio Production remains a "Mens Club" or do we try to change that by being welcoming and not making jokes at other peoples expenses. ESPECIALLY, when they are just asking for straight forward opinions of their production skills, not that what if they are making is old news or not.

So what if EDM is old news to you?

What if some kids in some remote village in some country where those types of dance gatherings are expressly forbidden and they have the only functional laptop in town to play synced tracks from Traktor off of and stumbled upon a copy of FL Studio and Nexus and wanted to try their hand at making tracks that sound like the tracks they are DJing? There are still places like that in the world, trust me.

Do you really want to be the person that laughs at them?

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2016

Pardon me, but it's "in regard to," not "in regards to."

So, he's super-successful at making big-selling music that regurgitates conventional diarrhea. "It makes a lot of money, so don't knock it," has always been the lamest excuse for the lamest enterprises.

 

I'm guessing English is your first language? I never made it past the 10th grade, you want to make fun of me for that too?

Please read what I just wrote.

 

I'm not trying to cause any bad blood by beating a dead horse I just want to acknowledge this and move on.

In regards to Dr Luke, I have definitely lost a lot of respect for him since this was originally posted. The proof about stealing arrangements is irrefutable, so that's something to be pretty shameful of.

As for the reason why I posted this in the first place, I definitely don't necessarily feel bad about it. I think there is quite bit of work that needs to be done on this particular forum in regards to trolling new-comers and newbie producers as well as hate speech. There's a huge difference between criticism for criticism sake or just straight up trolling peoples threads and providing new comers to production constructive criticism.

I'm done . . .

 

Btw, We Will Rock You beat is not a drum beat, it's a beat but there's no "drums" per se on that song.

 

The interviewer was very shallow with his subject and got nothing interesting out of him. And the (TV news) package only succeeded in promoting Illuminati tool Britney Spears. The interviewer made the subject appear shy, childish and uninteresting. The topic was nothing new. Anybody who would be interested in how records are mixed would have learnt nothing new. Wake up.

 

we never did a poll.. but I believe most of us have been there yes...
yet most of us do not hang out there...

we hang out at X and Z mostly,

precisely for some of the reasons you mentioned, and that kind of stuffiness
would include a good number of those well over age 30 to boot

This Dr. Luke is also being accused of raping the wonderful "Kesha" , well I shouldn't
say "wonderful" as I haven't the slightest clue who she might be ( I almost said "little minx" but
that would've been sexist of course ) Is that how the "pop" world goes... ?
help their career, then when they aren't satisfied, start screaming rape?

wouldn't bother me if I never heard from either one of them again..

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 26, 2016

dr luke has a lot of help a whole lot of help.

 

You like what you like, no need to apologize for it or explain it. If everybody only liked one type of music, or the type of music that is deemed "acceptable" by the majority, the world would be an incredibly boring place that never evolved. I try to keep an open mind about all kinds of music, because there's something to be learned and appreciated no matter what genre of music it is. Except EDM. I'm afraid you kids lost me on that one.

 

I had a look at the video with no clue who he is. It didn't change my thoughts; I didn't learn something new.
"Stuttering always works"
"Repeat the same thing"
If it is the most simple of all songs, put in 180 tracks to make it sound like it's not that simple.
Don't forget the 4th delay.
Make it full of happiness.

What I mean is, there's no soul, it's not from the heart, it is just a business. And that's why I don't like it much. The video didn't change my view. To me a song isn't qualified through a myriad of tracks to make it somehow work. A song is a song if it works when you play it live on a piano and sing to it, or play on your accoustic guitar. If it works on that level, it has soul, heart, and feelings. And if you don't have a singer, make it less redundant and inspire with new sound constructs and interesting melodies.

Of course, that doesn't mean pop has no meaning (bad sentence, but you know what I mean). It does have and it is ok that it exists, just as every other music genre/style. It's just that I don't like it much.

 

EDM was a simple way to cater to kids out of their minds on ecstasy.... sorry

then they went and got fruityloops, so they could make their own music.. even if they couldn't make their own drugs...

I can feel the heat coming already..