Being a musician and producer, is it a help or hindrance listening to music?

[Rhys Llewellyn]

I'm not sure if ignorance is bliss or not.

From a musician's point of view, I'm definitely quite snobby about what I like to hear guitar solo wise. Back in the day, like a civilian, I'm sure we all thought that Clapton or Santana solo based on one single pentatonic shape was amazing. I'm not necessarily knocking that, each to their own, but as a musician I don't find it very inspiring.

Also, I'm always listening out for the chord progression, think of other songs they sound like, taking riff ideas to possibly "borrow" and things like that.

Now on top of that, I'm also thinking how well the bass sits in the mix, guitar tones etc...

On an additional note... One thing that really gets me are drums panned from an audience perspective. It just really sounds wrong to me.

Basically everything except just "listening" for the sake of listening. I fear I'm too overly critical of the mixes and the construction and am missing the point and perhaps the passion and open mind I once had for music.

How about you?

 

[setyouranchor]

I'm not sure if ignorance is bliss or not.

From a musician's point of view, I'm definitely quite snobby about what I like to hear guitar solo wise. Back in the day, like a civilian, I'm sure we all thought that Clapton or Santana solo based on one single pentatonic shape was amazing. I'm not necessarily knocking that, each to their own, but as a musician I don't find it very inspiring.

Also, I'm always listening out for the chord progression, think of other songs they sound like, taking riff ideas to possibly "borrow" and things like that.

Now on top of that, I'm also thinking how well the bass sits in the mix, guitar tones etc...

On an additional note... One thing that really gets me are drums panned from an audience perspective. It just really sounds wrong to me.

Basically everything except just "listening" for the sake of listening. I fear I'm too overly critical of the mixes and the construction and am missing the point and perhaps the passion and open mind I once had for music.

How about you?

I'm kinda with you on this one. It has its pros and cons.

Cons are I cant fully appreciate music for the art it is anymore without criticizing and analyzing every little aspect of it.

Pros are the same, its good analyzing music as it helps me progress in my mixes.

I dont fully criticize every bit of music I listen to but I do with a lot. I can still enjoy all the music I loved before I start producing and from when I was growing up. Also, even before I got into producing, I could enjoy a band a whole lot more if they were really well produced! Sorta why I got into it all

 

[53Crëw]

I definitely analyze everything I hear. I don't think it's a bad thing, as I still appreciate the music for what it is. But I definitely key in on the production details.

One thing that really gets me are drums panned from an audience perspective. It just really sounds wrong to me.

LOL. This bugs me, too.

 

[updog]

One thing that really gets me are drums panned from an audience perspective. It just really sounds wrong to me.

Count me in... stuff like that should be illegal.

I mean, if you're part of the audience, you don't CARE how the drums are panned. But if you're a drummer or some other person who knows his shit, it's very annoying.

 

[amarshism]

It makes air drumming shit.

 

[Erkan]

As for drum panning, I can work with it both ways. I don't think it's wrong at all to pan the drums from a listener's position (front of drumkit) or a drummer's position (behind drumkit). I most often stick to the drummer's view though I think.

As far as listening to music - I try not to listen too much to the mix. I have actually become quite good at "just" listening but unfortunately a mix helps the music immensely so good music with a good mix is awesome. Good music with a crappy mix makes it frustrating to listen to sometimes but it can work.

The worst thing one can do is think too much - until the point when you can't experience the music as a whole anymore but instead in smaller bits and pieces and that is dangerous. The pieces music is made up of don't really mean much by themselves - it's the whole that counts.

 

[ze kink]

I ALWAYS pan everything from the audience's perspective... I actually really dislike drums being panned from the drummers' perspective, I don't want to feel like I'm the drummer playing along with the band, I want to feel like I'm the only guy in the audience watching the band play.

Doing mixing and things has actually made me listen to far more music than before, so I don't think being analytical bothers me at all. I can sort of bypass the crappiness of "bad" music because I can focus on finding things I think are cool or well executed. I also enjoy noise and weird glitchy electronic stuff I just couldn't get into before.

 

[LeSedna]

I think I'm quite able to forget production sometimes and just feel how awesome a song is. Also, I try to understand other or old types of mixes. Like in the 90's, when everything was less compressed but still sounded good.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Like in the 90's, when everything was less compressed but still sounded good.

less compressed?



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSXIncNMlx8&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Virgil.]

If you want less compressed... go listen to Racer X's "Street Lethal" album. Or any cassette tapes from Shrapnel in the 80's. haha

 

[Mago]

I find it hard to listen to metal only these days, especially when I'm during mixing/recording a project. I'll often focus too much on the mix and can't enjoy the music that much.
That's why I listen to stuff were I don't care that much about the mix, mostly bluesrock or soundtracks.
From a musician perspective I have to say that I don't care that much, as long as the music isn't boring it can also be "simple" for me.

about panning drums: I always go for the drummers perspective, but it doesnt bother me to listen to mixes were it's the other way around...couldnt listen to any sneap mix in that case, ay?

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

To me, it definately killed any enjoyment I could have had in newer bands. I just think they all sound like the same shit, and even if their songs are good, I really can't ignore the "digitalism" of the thing.
The only music I really enjoy listening for the sake of listening, without worrying too much about either the musicianship of the band or the album production, is the older stuff I used to listen to as a kid/before I got obsessively paranoïd about sonic details

 

[Scott Horner]

I have a hard time listening to things with bad production now. Even albums that I used to love are hard to listen to now that I know what a bad mix sounds like. I try to get past it and focus on the music but it's difficult sometimes, haha.

And I've always thought it was backwards to pan the drums from the drummers perspective when you're panning the guitars as you would hear them from in the audience. I try to keep everything relative to the listening position. Not that most people would notice but it's just a nitpicking thing for me.

 

[professorlamp]

A good song is a good song with or without a decent production IMO

 

[drew_drummer]

To me, I'd rather listen to a Clapton or Santana solo than 90% of the shred bollocks you hear these days.

I think it's sad that you're struggling to listen to music without a producers ear. You should train yourself to slip between the two states.

 

[AllanD]

I think it's sad that you're struggling to listen to music without a producers ear. You should train yourself to slip between the two states.

Yep, you need to seperate yourself from audio production and listening.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

man, since I started this shit job that captures you 17 hrs a day and doesn't even pay your overheads I've made it through like 200 audiobooks.....fuck listening to music

 

[nialldoran]

i started a thread similar to this few months ago, but yeah id am critical of music where i know the production methods were really detailed and refined, but with genres or bands that dont focus on it too much i find myself not focusing too much either and just enjoying the tunes, right now im listening to electric wizards Dopethrone, and the production isnt polished or clean it suits the tunes and i focus on the music, another that really gets me is nasums earlier work, its the only stuff i really like by them, but i reall really like it and the production skills are by no means the best, but i dont care cause they wrote some of the best grooves in grindcore,

i think its all enviromental to the music im listening to whether i pay attention to the production or not, its always there definatly, but just far less important in certain circumstances,

i find myself being constantly critical at live shows though, no matter what im watching,

 

[GarethSE]

i never saw the point in analysing the technical aspects of production in the first place, so i never really had much of this problem
how does the mix make you FEEL
a good mix should just fit the music perfectly and you should just be thinking "ah this feels nice" not OOH THAT SNARE NEEDS A BIT LESS 5KH AND A BIT MORE BLAH BLAH BLAH who fucking cares, what does that actually MEAN?!

 

[Jind]

Lately I've been able to listen to music for enjoyment again - I went through a period for a few years while I was learning everything I could about recording that I found myself analyzing the music I listen to perhaps a little too much. For a while I was more interested in the packaging (the mix, the production,...) than the quality of the songs themselves and quite honestly I wrote of some really good music in that time that I now find enjoyment in. Now that I've pretty much decided that I'm only ever really going to record my own music and that this is clearly a "hobby", I've focused more on my musical side than the analytical portion of it all, which is probably good for me as I tend to over analyze most of the aspects of my life already.