Am I the only one who doesn’t write, arrange, produce, mix, master in a specific order?

[Popey]

I think good music was made years ago and is still made today. I hear good music every day on here, the radio, tv etc.

The thing for me is that this is so subjective which is a positive imo. What is good for me can be rubbish for someone else and vice versa.

The only thing I would say is that good music and popular/successful music are not always the same thing (again imo)

[guitfnky]

I think good music was made years ago and is still made today. I hear good music every day on here, the radio, tv etc.

The thing for me is that this is so subjective which is a positive imo. What is good for me can be rubbish for someone else and vice versa.

The only thing I would say is that good music and popular/successful music are not always the same thing (again imo)

yep, couldn’t agree more. I think most pop/radio music these days is awful, but—plot twist—I’ve thought that my entire adult life.

[integerpoet]

Sure, but by that definition mixing pre-dates recording, which is a kind of weird inversion of how people normally think. Like, orchestration is mixing and mastering for an opera house? You could argue that, I suppose, but...

I've long argued the Conductor in an orchestra/ensemble is the "mixer". Can't tell you how many times I've been "turned down" as a percussionist in an orchestra/band!

I tell my choral conductor wife that she "performs" the chorus/choir or that it's her "instrument" and she "plays" it.

She does not agree! But it's plain to me. I might know just enough about conducting at this point to get myself into trouble.

[integerpoet]

I've been writing in a group setting without knowledge of music theory for well over 25 years (good grief). I still can't even tell you the notes on my guitar fretboard without working them out. it would undoubtedly make communication of ideas easier for us, so on that point, I wholeheartedly agree, but there are arguments to be made about the added perceived freedom on the creative side that to us outweigh the occasional hiccup with getting on the same theoretical page. and we still write (IMO) some pretty solid tunes.

I buy all that.

But I also bet your group has developed its own system of theory that a musicologist could write down for you and blow your minds.

And I think you'd agree that you couldn't operate like a member of the Wrecking Crew and walk in to a recording session and play a brilliant solo in one take without even listening to the whole track.

[integerpoet]

There's "good" chart pop music today (e.g. Taylor Swift, an immense talent), it's just that old farts like us don't happen to like it. And why should we? It's not meant for us, just like the music of our youth wasn't meant for our parents

Point taken. And I was very impressed by the new Beyonce record, and not just because she knows her history.

I didn't mean my observation to be an absolute without exceptions.

It merely seems to me that the ratio of merit to dreck has worsened.

That kind of observation would be subject to the same kind of "you kids get off my lawn" counter-argument, I suppose, but…

Even people working for "major" labels today lament this. And they're kids compared to most on this forum.

[Superology]

The vast majority of songs last ~20 years are not music.

now I know you’re trying to rile people up. this is just absurd on its face.

I was tired to continue. And I think you are right. Creative process must be like a flame. Starting with small idea we build it up. After I read so many comments here I realised that I'm not the first who tried that method (meaning straight order) and it simply doesn't work. Very soon a creator gets bored with what he's doing if he can't add some effects here and arrange there etc.. It's a chaotic process. I agree now.

[jam-s]

What I think is interesting is that pop continues to incorporate former sub cultures into the mainstream and thus widens the general acceptance for more extreme forms of music.

As a recent example I noticed that the backing track from P!nk Trustfall is pretty much a 90s techno or tech trance track which is now mainstream pop.