People argue what they think Joe Average knows all the time. Personally I think most JA's CAN hear the difference between poor, decent, good and great quality. I just don't think they necessarily know it themselves. They seem to know when something sounds better but can't really explain what/why its better. Young audiences seem to care more about loudness and less about sound quality because they drive around playing the shit on their 1000watt car stereos. As long as it pounds, they dont really give a fuck. Older cats tend to have a better appreciation for music though.
thats real talk. when someone asks me "have you heard such and suchs new album?" the reply i normally give (9 times out of ten) is no i havent heard it. after that i ask how were the levels from song to song and was the song "clear". i do this with 3 people who constantly talk about music and they are "average joes". they do know what sounds good and what sounds like its been recorded with a pc mic. they just dont know how to explain the terms. loudness or dynamics? iwould take a half way loud cd with a lot of dynamics than a loud cd with little or no dynamics. i also believe that ARTISTS should take MORE TIME with the work. pro tools or logic or cubase can only do so much b4 it sounds mechanical. auto tune can only do so much. where is the CONCERN for QUALITY product? im not saying that you need to record and mix on a giant board with the best mics and all of that. thats GREAT TO HAVE but you can get QUALITY recordings if you take the TIME to LEARN the skill and learn from your mistakes. i can find a messup on EVERY album i have heard. i have never heard a "perfect album" they all have flaws and some are based on personal opinion (most are). "that snare has to much verb" or "those guitars are out of phase" or "i would have notched the bass around here". hell i do that with my own work. and im sure when i finish it in a couple of days i will go back and say DAMN I SHOULD HAVE DID BLAH BLAH BLAH
couldn't agree with you more! That comment is probably one of the most on-point things ever said in this forum as far as I'm concerned.Okay... So your music sounds good...but does it sound good when you put it up against the top-rated work? Do you really deserve to be applauded? Unfortunately people seem to be satisfied with mediocre quality (IF THAT!). To ever truely do what I would consider 'great' work, you HAVE TO look at things the way you do. Every album anyone has ever heard IS your competition. The stuff that is being worked on now IS your competition. Anyone who has a genuine love for their work wants to be proud of it. They understand that their work represents their dedication to the craft (and themselves). The only way to even have a chance of doing a great job is by committing yourself to it.
so why is everyone (ESPECIALLY HERE IN THE BAY AREA) stuck on that SAME sound? why is it that most bay artist are now emulating someone else instead of being originally and breaking the mode?????? why do the majority of producers/composers think that a triton and mpc=A PLATINUM RECORD? yes you might know about how to bang on a triton but can you go in and program the synth? do you know how to run it through filters? after that can YOU take the job from start to finish WITHOUT the help of an engineer? do you WANT to use the fx on your synth or do you want the fx of the lexicon? a lot of cats coming up today have some musical knowledge but no technical skills whatsoever and this is a MAJOR reason why the bay area is saturated with WORTHLESS compilations and albums.
if im not working on an album thats going to have people thinking "DAMN THATS TIGHT,THATS ORIGINAL,THATS CONTROVERSIAL" im not gonna do it. if my ALBUM COVER cant get you im not gonna do it. EVERYTHING has to be TIGHT. HAS TO BE COHESIVE.
how many bay artist actually know about demographics,advertising and the "golden aisle"? not to many especially when it comes to the INDIE artist and labels. how many bay artist study the market for whats NEEDED?? YOU CANT SLANG anything UNLESS its a NEED for the product. if the people have a NEED for broken popsicle sticks and you can market it to the people you can sell it. if you can CREATE the NEED for the product you can sell it. i wish bay rappers can do this. i wish we could take more time with our craft. study the BUSINESS side of things. from contracts to publishing to distribution to advertising and art selection. we have 38060864986 rappers out here with those silly looking cut and pasted graphics...........what teh hell is going on?????? now if the average joe see's that he doesnt know what in the hell to choose.......now if the average joe sees this.........
http://www.siccness.net/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14784
curiosity sets in. questions are asked and the cd is picked up. the person looks at the front,looks at the back and ponders it......they might not even buy it but at least they picked it up. who knows maybe they will go home and ask a friend or family member if they heard of it....
why are the BAY artist not setting themselves apart from everyone else????? we should have MANY platinum artists hitting the charts each week. we should have a DOMINATE record label (or labels) hitting the charts and releasing quality product every month. what the hell happened????? why is it that we support out of towners and aliens but we cant support our own????? im NOT talking about radio play when i say that either. radio is a whole different environment and to REALLY understand radio you need to understand advertising and all of that......
where the hell is the love and skill? im able to touchdown on ALL aspects of the game. from MIXING to PRODUCING to COMPOSING to putting on my BUSINESS FACE to RAPPING i can do it with little or no help. why dont we have more BUSINESS seminars? we live in a DIFFERENT time now. not to many people are getting big $$$$$$$$$ by slanging cd's out the trunk. i believe in my heart that my product needs a big push and that it deserves to be pushed to a certain market.......which reminds me how many bay rappers know WHO their target audience is??????? where in the hell are the BUSINESS minded people???????
Hell no you arn't wrong for that! In my mind, you made the right decision. Maybe "400 Degrees" sold a couple million units, I can deal with that. But will it stand the test of time? Will that album ever be praised as a great piece of work? Will people still be listening to it 10 years from now? Shit...for that matter, how many people are still listening to it now?
to answer your questions....NO and NOT MANY.......
(I had to keep leaving & coming back to this post so if it sounds a little unfocused, thats why! But none-the-less, sounds like we're on the same page.)
no the post sounds on point man and we are on the same page. i just dont get whats going on..i am constantly asking myself why?????? why is the game like this????? especially for bay artist????? we were on top at one time now its like we have nothing. 40 cant do it alone. cbo cant do it alone yuck cant do it alone. when i was in jersey they didnt knwo who the hell spice 1 or e40 was yet we all know who redman is.......why dont we have people thats up on THAT scale? why doesnt the bay have people up like the south? like the east????
to all of you who are reading this i DONT know everything. i consider myself "GREEN". i have a lot of things that i can and will learn. the REAL test for me is what will happen when i drop this cd? the real test for me will always be the question of if i could have made it tighter than what it was.......
if i can READ and APPLY everything i have learned over the past 3-4 years surely most bay area rappers can. especially those who have released 4 or 5 albums but dont have a pot to piss in.
if my album hasnt even dropped yet why is it that i am a full member of ascap yet cats who have 2 3 or 4 or 5 albums dont have publishing???????? why did i get my SR forms BEFORE i even finished the product? not ot mention "other" paper work that im not even gonna speak on (learn for yourself)........
excuse all typos and sorry if this got out of hand.......
:H:
