Trusting your own judgement

S

s.singh

www.mellowdeep.com
Something I was thinking about today...How good are you at following your own gut feeling/instinct? This could apply to mixing or your own compositions.

A big part of developing any skill is being receptive to feedback and taking on board what you can learn from others, but with music tastes (and any artform) being so subjective, how do you decide what advice you're going to take as opposed to what you'll ignore? Not all advice given is good advice!

You could post a track and 1 person may tell you to boost the low end while another might tell you to cut it.

I've produced music for over 10 years and feel I've gotten quite good at following my instinct as to what sounds good - I'd love to know how you guys deal with feedback/critique on your own work, and how much you change things based on comments you receive.
 
I did a jazz performance a few weeks ago where I sat in with one of the finest piano players in my city. Right after we finished the first tune, he looks over at me and told me if I play like that again he will kick me off the bandstand. Bear in mind, I thought my playing was solid-kept good time, had a sick solo, and did not get lost in the changes. I thought I was doing great, but the piano player, who has been playing jazz all over the world since before I was born, was disatisfied. Rather than acting like a ***** about it, I tightened up my act and made it through the set. Did so well that he hired me back for New Year's Eve.
 
I feel I can hear when someone says they simply don't like a specific thing about my song because of their taste, and when someone detects a real issue.
You simply notice it by how they explain and describe things - those who are more annoyed by your style are very specific on what you should do instead and almost want to shape you rather than seeing you improve.
Combine this with what you hear in professional releases, some of the songs made by pros you suddenly hear what the one giving feedback was talking about, and some of the songs you realize that one thing someone pointed out is more aimed for a certain style, as there are many songs that you notice not following that so-called advice - but they sound great because of it.
For instance, a long time ago I asked on various forums on how I should take my music to the next level, and I received answers from both sides.
For example there was this guy who said my bass was too flat, but he were very specific and even linked a specific song, a song that was far from my genre, so I decided not to take his reply too seriously.
On the other hand there were a few people commenting that I should start experimenting with subtle swing in rhythms for my hihats and such , and then I started to realize that some songs that I liked actually had that.

But anyway, isn't our own style and sound shaped by the feedback with get and actually use, along with many other things? Why bother too much wether you should follow a certain feedback or not, and just try it out and see if you like the results from it or not?
I experimented with the swing-feedback that I received, and although many producers seem to use it, I felt it simply didn't match my type of groove that I like in my songs.
 
I think steffeh hit it on the head. The biggest thing that I try to give and look for in feed back is a way to improve towards the sound that I am moving towards. The biggest thing is to try ALMOST anything once, and if it doesn't work for me, I go back to square one and try something else.

I also think there is something to be said for taking advise given and applying it to future or in progress tracks, and not redoing finished tracks. I know a lot of producers, myself included, who will edit a song into oblivion, and it almost never sounds better, just different.
 
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