how much is depended on listening to different genres to really create your music??

dmajor100

dmajor100

Active member
i never really believed that listening to different music actually gave a producer their own sound in way we're they tried to emulate there favorite artist and then make it there own but as i remember i always wanted to be my favorite producers. Back as a teen i used to listen to neptunes,timbalnd,lil jon and three 6 mafia which were pretty much at the top of the music chart and for hours i would try and elmulate them even tho i sucked i still tried. Today is quite the same when i listen to electronic music i try and copy popular songs and yet i like to do it but sometimes i feel unsatisfied cause its not a unique sound of my own but i guess everyone must go threw this cause who is anyone suppost to lead if they can't follow. With this thinking does that mean if i listen to more music even music i hate is it suppost to rub off on my own music abilities or creativity of making music or is it just a luck if people come up with ideas???Id like to know from people who have done their own quest on exploring new music and finding their artistic side threw other peoples music.
 
No 2 people are the same, but personally, I know more about music from simply listening than any other source for learning. I'll take it a step further and say in my experience(just mine, not the same for everyone)when you don't variate what you listen to constantly, your sound can become stagnant. Beyond just production, but the things you do while arranging, writing, mixing/engineering, even recording can all easily be effected by what's going on in the music around you outside of your work environment.

Not even referring to reference material, just what you've been listening to in passing.
 
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The thing with analyzing and listening to a broad field of different genres is that each genre and style has its own strength.
You can't learn everything from analyzing just 1 genre, since its strength is limited.

For example, some genres can give you more knowledge about different types of melodies, scales, and rythms than many other genres have.
Other genres however, may focus a lot on layering and such, and then you'll get a lot of that knowledge.

Also, all music you listen to have an impact on your personal touch to the music you create.
So if you listen to a bunch of different genres, you get a lot of impressions from many directions, which in my opinions can give a more interesting result on the music you produce, since you don't get that tunnelvision you would otherwise have if you only listened to a few genres or styles.
 
you really don't have to listen to other genre's to make music.. but it can help... especially when it comes to sampling..
 
It depends entirely on how interested you are in music.
It depends entirely on how much time you have spent making beats.
It depends on how far you are willing to go to do what you want to do.
It depends on whether or not you remember melodies after listening to them 24/7
 
there is a book called "how to think of an idea".......while that sounds rather ironic its a book about where good ideas.....strong ideas...come from....ideas that make ad campaigns genious.....ideas that make musical wonders.....

the greatest thing I learned from that book is to submerge myself in what I want to learn - read, listen, observe, immerse............then......and this is the important part.....let it simmer within your psyche without thinking of it.....the mind, behind the scenes is working......putting together bits and pieces of what you've taken in.......much can come to you this way - and you will have much of the work done that lends creativity to your workflow....
 
I make music I can vybe to. If I usually light up an L and just vybe. If i find myself not feeling the beat or kinda dancing to it in my chair then I scrap it. It's really on you to decide what you like. Thats the unique thing about music. What I like the next man might hate, there are audiences for every style
 
I remember when people would answer the question "What kind of music do you like?" with 'everything' to be wide and tasteful. I would always judge that by What Music Do You Own? Cause everyone "Listens to Jazz" but how many have any Jazz albums? [beatsmiths usually get a pass cause y'all love cracking that genre for samples]

I also think it's wrong to say someone only listens to.....
Because music is everywhere and impressing us at all times.
TV Commercials
Sports
Other people playing music
radios
TV shows
movie Soundtracks
internet browsing

you can't escape hearing a broad range of sounds and songs.
Even if you load you MP3 player with just one genre.

I say listen to yourself. You'll find reoccurring themes that run through every genre and those are the parts you like about it. That's actually your sound, found in other works. When you create, there are sounds that jump out as immediately useable and sound just right. That's your sound. When you hear a record that uses that sound, you gravitate towards it.

To give a technical example. You may not like a genre, but a few songs are cool that you've heard over the years.
Those songs have something in common, let's say it's a huge transition between loud and quiet or busy and sparse. That could be what you add to your own system and that could become your signature. Your music takes drastic turns and has lots of peaks and valleys. Did you borrow or steal that style or did you always like that and only noticed it in other people's work?
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I say it's like being original.
Make a word sound original.
Hard to do. You have to change its meaning or use it out of context and that would confuse the meaning to many.
Write an original sentence. Still hard to say something that hasn't been said before.
An original paragraph? Now you're getting somewhere...

When you keep going, you realize it takes a BODY of WORK to tap into and establish a signature sound and not a single track.
It's hard to say "You always" when you hardly ever.

Listening to your instincts is the quickest way to unlock your original sound
 
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