For those of you who make music...

...how often do you listen to your own material?

Personally, my primary reason for recording music is for my own enjoyment--I basically try to write songs that I wish others would write so I could listen to them--so I end up listening to my own stuff quite a bit. That said, I know a lot of musicians who find listening to their own output to be masturbatory and play exclusively for the pleasure of playing, rather than to enjoy the results.

Thoughts?

I don't really make music right now, but I've been playing drums again consistently. I've listened to myself quite often so I can continue to improve. But another pair of ears is much better. I never really thought it as masturbatory for musicians to listen to themselves..But perhaps Dream Theatre indulge in this..

I always figured that you, as the 'artist,' must strive to make a recording that you'd want someone else to make, which is what you said there, and I always told all the musicians I've ever known this: there's no guarantee that anyone other than you and me and your family will ever hear this record, so you'd damn well better make a record that you're proud of, that you can listen to, because there's a chance that you'll be one of a handful of people who ever hears it.  That's a very pessimistic outlook, of course, and probably why I don't work for a label anymore, because they were always trying to get people to make commercial stuff and I was always telling people to make records that they themselves could be proud of instead of copying someone else and ending up with a bargain-bin cut-out disc that they're embarrassed to show their grandkids, or at the very least, a bunch of "what ifs" and bitter Behind The Music stories about how the label made them record a Diane Warren song when that wasn't really 'them' and stuff...

And now I'm ranting.

A musician who can't enjoy listening to his/her own music is doing something wrong.  It's not masturbatory.  If you don't listen back to what you've done, how can you improve?  And if you can't listen to what you've done, how can you expect someone else to?

JW:

I always figured that you, as the 'artist,' must strive to make a recording that you'd want someone else to make, which is what you said there, and I always told all the musicians I've ever known this: there's no guarantee that anyone other than you and me and your family will ever hear this record, so you'd damn well better make a record that you're proud of, that you can listen to, because there's a chance that you'll be one of a handful of people who ever hears it.  That's a very pessimistic outlook, of course, and probably why I don't work for a label anymore, because they were always trying to get people to make commercial stuff and I was always telling people to make records that they themselves could be proud of instead of copying someone else and ending up with a bargain-bin cut-out disc that they're embarrassed to show their grandkids, or at the very least, a bunch of "what ifs" and bitter Behind The Music stories about how the label made them record a Diane Warren song when that wasn't really 'them' and stuff...

And now I'm ranting.

A musician who can't enjoy listening to his/her own music is doing something wrong.  It's not masturbatory.  If you don't listen back to what you've done, how can you improve?  And if you can't listen to what you've done, how can you expect someone else to?

Any type of artist that doesn't take a step back to look at what they have accomplished will just become sterile and uninspired. If your main aim is to please other people more than yourself, the creativity gets lost. So yeah, JW pessimistic or not, that is the best approach.

Anyone who tours knows better than to try and get enjoyment from listening to their own shit.  After playing something every night for weeks at a time it's downright impossible.

tarblackvomit:

Anyone who tours knows better than to try and get enjoyment from listening to their own shit.  After playing something every night for weeks at a time it's downright impossible.

I don't tour, and I'm sure that if I did I'd agree. I was really referring to people who make music as a hobby.

trezevant:

tarblackvomit:

Anyone who tours knows better than to try and get enjoyment from listening to their own shit.  After playing something every night for weeks at a time it's downright impossible.

 

I don't tour, and I'm sure that if I did I'd agree. I was really referring to people who make music as a hobby.

If you listen to anything too much, you'll burn out.  That's inevitable.  But if you never really care enough to hear your own stuff, then that, to me, is a bit of a problem.

No offense but this seems like an invented problem.  Where is the plague of miscreants creating music all day but never listening to it?

We all listen to our stuff... I can't imagine making anything worthwhile (hobby or no) without picking over every last detail.  Usually, for me, that means by the time it is "finished" I've already listened to it some hundreds of times... at that point you just kind of throw it out into the world because you're beyond being able to enjoy it objectively.

tarblackvomit:

Where is the plague of miscreants creating music all day but never listening to it?

I've heard some records that I'm convinced no one ever listened to, but I know exactly what you mean... 

Where is the plague of miscreants creating music all day but never listening to it?

*slowly backs out of thread*

tarblackvomit:

No offense but this seems like an invented problem.  Where is the plague of miscreants creating music all day but never listening to it?

Problem? What are you talking about?

As an aside, I've heard a number of musicians say they virtually never listen to their own output once it's done. Buzzo from the Melvins is an example off the top of my head.

I'm with Buzzo.  Don't like to listen to my own stuff for enjoyment.  Everything about it feels wrong.

tarblackvomit:

I'm with Buzzo.  Don't like to listen to my own stuff for enjoyment.  Everything about it feels wrong.

So basically what you're saying is that YOU'RE the plague of miscreants who don't listen to their own music.

Yay, we're in Special Ed now.

I just finished vocals on one of our tunes tonight. The song as is still needs literally 3-4 hours of editing/mixing at this point but I still am playing the motherfucker over and over. I suppose my drunkenness may have something to do with it. Point being though is I have no problem playing my own shit with a furious rewind. I/we are proud as shit of our tunes, so why not?

Here's the raw track:

Heal

Again there is a ton of editing to be done!

BTW we are playing Milwaukee MetalFest next week, anyone going?