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weird question for musicians
i was reading this Big Black article on a website and Steve Albini says this of Atomizer:
"'ATOMIZER' WAS an OK record. Having listened to most of that stuff for the first time in seven years yesterday, most of it is pretty embarrassing. I was sort of trying to figure out a way to weasel out of re-releasing it." now, i suppose Steve Albini is a bit of a perfectionist, but that record is great and i'd definitely be proud if i made something like that. okay, so my question is, when you guys make music, are you a complete perfectionist? do you keep coming back, changing this verse and that, making sure the production of the product is spot on or do you just let it all flow, not really giving a shit if the production is muddy or tame etc.? this probably isn't thread-worthy but i am sort of interested in what you guys think. |
I don't record much, but I write a lot of stuff and I constantly go back to it. Even to the point where I've stopped writing songs--I just write down pieces, riffs, licks, progressions, melodies, etc., and piece them together seperately where (if) I can. That way it's kind of like having a bunch of colors to pick from but never actually having to put the paint down.
I hate committing anything to a final form. |
There's plenty of things I've recorderd that horrify me now - so naive and half-assed. Still, it's by making mistakes that I've learnt what does and doesn't work, so I still maintain a weird sort of pride for my early stuff.
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I'm like my production and sound to be fuzzy and kind of out-of-focus. That said, I can obsess over unexpected fuzz or things not sounding how I want to. Example, when my reverb unit overloads it starts to distort horribly, but this makes me very angry when I have to tweak the input levels to make sure my 3 distortions sound clear running through it. Although, when it comes to straight "guitar" tone, I don't obsess over signal loss or a little effect bleed coloring the clean tone.
Also, lately I've been recording acoustically to a battery-powered tape recorder with an external mic. I really dig the tape warbles it gets because of the batteries dying. I hate it recording electric, though. |
myspace.com/leakyheadboy ...no
i like to bang it out then call it quits then you can listen to it without tearing your hair out at every doink and flomp |
I can entirely sympathise with Albini, in spite of not having put a record out yet. Generally speaking, I'm not happy with anything. It's why I don't have a myspace, or do the last.fm thing. You'll hear an awful lot of shit unsigned bands, and very few bands that are merely 'ok'... and I can only assume that everyone thinks like me, or (you'll like this bit), everyone's capable of thinking like me but falls short.
There's too much music, and too many people recording shit in their bedrooms for no ostensible reason. Having said that, I listened to Canterkerous' stuff recently, and the fact she seems reticent to push it makes me think that, not only can she produce some worthwhile stuff, she's also got the right attitude (i.e., modesty before foisting it on even this small corner of the interworld). |
sorry then
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i actually want to get about an album worth of material by the end of the year, though i'll look back at it and cringe at my horrible teenage voice and my lack of production skills blah blah etc. |
Yeah I think everyone is (or should be) sceptical about their music to an extent. There really is a lot of good stuff out there, and it should be daunting.
I won't record my own stuff, and very rarely play it for other people, because I'm afraid of it turning out horribly (and also having no means of doing it lately, fucking ProToolsnotworkingonmotherfuckingVista). That said, I honestly don't know if my scepticism is valid or not. For all I know my music really is shit and should stay in my room where it belongs. But that's kind of the nature of scepticism, I suppose. |
Glice - I stopped recording/playing for ages because I asked myself, "Does anyone really give a shit about what I do", and I answered, "No", so just gave up.
I treat it purely as a hobby now - I do have a MySpace, as you know, but haven't actually bothered linking my mates etc to it. I guess it just satisfies my ego to have some stuff online, and for one ot two people to say what they think. Porky was honest to me about what I recorded when I met him last week, which I was geniunely grateful for. |
i really have mixed feelings because on the one hand, i can't really see where a song is going if i'm not recording it but once i record it i can hear stuff that sounds guff and it makes me cringe.
a lot of my output i like it being sloppy so it's no biggie but still, i really wish i could reform my old band and re-record the demo we did, only with the improvements we added as time went by. i think some of my more satifying work is when it's largely improvisational. |
I'm fine with my production because I don't record. If I listened to my music recorded I'm sure I would find it boring as that is only half of the experience. Every idea dies and grows cold when committed to paper (or microphone).
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I also have the problem that I genuinely and honestly believe the overwhelming majority of people's opinion on music to be categorically wrong (it's a question of how entertaining people are while they're wrong).
Then again, I thought the Cramps were shit when I first heard them, so what do (/did) (the younger) (')I(') know? |
I prefer Atomizer to Songs About Fucking.
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You either don't really listen to enough music to claim things like that or you're just bored with it and can't find a way out. I read a lot of similar sentiments like yours on here enough to make me think that sort of thing. |
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what he said. |
I personnally record almost everything I play - but I don't release all of it of course. It's not that I enjoy listening what I do, but I like to keep a track of the evolution of my songs, so that I can play it the way I really prefer. That said, I'm not really a perfectionnist. Sometimes I am (like one year ago, I took months to completely write an album, every part of it), sometimes I am not (like I've already "released" albums only made of tracks that I worked five minutes on)...
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I spend forever writing songs, me and Booe spend forever composing and producing them. I live through the songs for a really long time. But the time the album comes out, I'm sick of them. And I don't ever listen to my own music.. because I don't need to. But I will OCCASSIONALLY go back and listen to old stuff and be surprised/embarassed by things I've done.
I guess, I just try to only release things of quality so even if I don't like what I put out before, I am happy I put it out. |
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