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Do you value people's opinions in music promotion section.

I was interested to see how many of you post your tunes in the music promotion section and how many of you value the feedback you get from others.

Obviously when you first start out, it can be a good idea to post your early works in there to get some good suggestions on where you are going wrong (which you inevitably will be in the beginning).

But what about when you are past the noob stage and have developed a degree of experience with producing, but not to the point where you are getting tracks signed.

At this point, there won't be anything blindingly obvious that is wrong with your track. So then peoples opinions will become a little more subjective, with their feedback becoming biased one way or another.

As many people who visit the promotion section are fellow budding producers themselves, they will often feel a need to make technical criticisms, perhaps looking for certain weaknesses, instead of just listening to the tune as an average listener. I must confess that I have done this myself, telling people that their percussion needs more variation, even though i would never focus on the percussion of any normal track and if i did, i'm sure i would find some successful tracks with rather basic percussion.

What if the person giving feedback is less experienced than yourself but states their criticisms with such authority that you then believe they may be right.

Sorry for the length of this post but I would be interested to see how many of you view this topic.

Re: Do you value people's opinions in music promotion section.

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Originally posted by G-Con As many people who visit the promotion section are fellow budding producers themselves, they will often feel a need to make technical criticisms, perhaps looking for certain weaknesses, instead of just listening to the tune as an average listener. I must confess that I have done this myself, telling people that their percussion needs more variation, even though i would never focus on the percussion of any normal track and if i did, i'm sure i would find some successful tracks with rather basic percussion.

I have to admit I do this as well. I think in this situation it becomes easy to "miss the forest for the trees" so to speak. but as a producer you will usually have a more critical ear that the average listener.

I'll tell you that I take my biggest advice on tracks from people who are not producers or not even EDM fans. Usually someone who is totally disconnected from your work and even your music will give a far more objective opinion. My girlfriend is not an EDM fan at all, and she is not afraid to tell me when a track sucks, so I usually know that when she makes an unsolicited comment about a track being good, i think that holds a lot of weight, because she has no preconcieved notions of what things are "supposed" to sound like, she just knows if its good or not in her opinion.

quote:

What if the person giving feedback is less experienced than yourself but states their criticisms with such authority that you then believe they may be right.

I think you have to take all critcism with a grain of salt. Sometimes it can be a lack of experience, but just as often it can be a matter of personal taste. If you think about it, even with so called "big" tracks from "big" artists, there are always varying opinions on how good it really is.

There are very few tracks I can think of that almost all the people I know generally agree that are good. I can think of a lot of tracks that i have heard that people were lauding and I'd listen to them and think "what's the big deal? This track isnt that great."

As an example, personally I'm a big fan of well produced vocal trance, but ONLY with female vocals. I can't stand a male vocal it just sounds cheesy to me. I think I can count on one hand the number of tracks I have heard over the years with a male vocal that I actually liked. So when Alone Tonight came out, people were talking it up saying how great it was, and it was great production, great arrangement, etc, but TO ME, I didn't like it because it had male vocals. Does that mean the track wasn't quality? No. Does it mean that I personally did not like it? Yes.

At the end of the day it all comes down to what you like, and with that said, some people will think your track is greatness and others will think its absolute shit, even if its produced extremely well.

I don't think that will ever change.

I'm interested in reading what people think for sure but I don't really change my tracks according to any suggestions. Ever.

I have a very strong view on how my music should sound like and I'm not going to change it for anyone. Techical/mixing issues are a different matter, of course.

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Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I'm interested in reading what people think for sure but I don't really change my tracks according to any suggestions. Ever. I have a very strong view on how my music should sound like and I'm not going to change it for anyone. Techical/mixing issues are a different matter, of course.

+1. although i havent posted a track on that forum in a long time, even when i get opinions now i dont change it much unless its for the mixing/mastering aspect.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I'm interested in reading what people think for sure but I don't really change my tracks according to any suggestions. Ever.

Same here. I post them here once a track is already done. I don't go back and change it. I take note of the advice though, and apply it to future productions.

i used to but not anymore. i send them off to big name djs and they give me the feedback that i need. never had a negative comment of any dj.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I'm interested in reading what people think for sure but I don't really change my tracks according to any suggestions. Ever. I have a very strong view on how my music should sound like and I'm not going to change it for anyone.

what if someone's life depended on it?

I will take comments into account for future tracks, but usually by the time one of my tracks is ready for "mass consumption", I no longer have the objectivity required to listen critically and make any significant changes.

So yes, I do value technical comments and criticisms, and I think that for many people who post their tracks, it's worth it to post the same kinds of comments whether or not they're willing to act on them.

I don't have the balls to post anything I make. If it even got a reply, I'm sure it would just get torn to shreds.

i take comments on board, even from people who may be less experenced than i. its always good to keep an open mind, but not to change what you are happy with just cos someone else thinks its wrong.

i get the feeling a lot of people who critique a lot on TA have little experience of edm and often dont know how a track will work in its given place.

I used to think the promotion section was for, what else, promoting your tracks. From what I gather, it doesn't much have to do with that. Most of the active members of that section are active members here as well. They should really change the name of that section to "track feedback", or something, as it has little to do with promotion. I wonder how many average music listeners, or non producer DJs visit that section. Their feedback is highly important as well.

If you are an entry level producer, I could see some value in getting opinions from people in the promotion section. You could most likely figure out what you need to do to get your tracks sounding up to snuff. Once you establish yourself though, and are convinced that you know what you are doing, there's really no point in getting feedback from random strangers on a public forum. After that, all the criticism will be highly subjective. At that point, find some producer friends, DJs, and average music lovers to listen to your tracks. People that you know and deal with on a regular basis.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I'm interested in reading what people think for sure but I don't really change my tracks according to any suggestions. .

I do listen to them, but mainly for major errors that I might have missed. For example if something really stands out badly then I can go back and fix it.

I rarely go and make sweeping changes as then it's not really my track anymore.

Re: Re: Do you value people's opinions in music promotion section.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J I have to admit I do this as well. I think in this situation it becomes easy to "miss the forest for the trees" so to speak. but as a producer you will usually have a more critical ear that the average listener. I'll tell you that I take my biggest advice on tracks from people who are not producers or not even EDM fans. Usually someone who is totally disconnected from your work and even your music will give a far more objective opinion. My girlfriend is not an EDM fan at all, and she is not afraid to tell me when a track sucks, so I usually know that when she makes an unsolicited comment about a track being good, i think that holds a lot of weight, because she has no preconcieved notions of what things are "supposed" to sound like, she just knows if its good or not in her opinion.

same here, I go to friends who aren't really into edm. Though some changes I don't make because I feel like "I" myself think it should sound a certain way. But in the end, you can't please everyone. People have different tastes.

quote:

Originally posted by StanVoid what if someone's life depended on it?

What if monkeys were our supreme overlords?

I do take peoples comments on board, but with anything to do with any art, I always finish (pretty much) a track before anyone else sees it, so any advice is really good, but usually goes into the next track rather than the current one...

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Originally posted by zodiac9 I used to think the promotion section was for, what else, promoting your tracks. From what I gather, it doesn't much have to do with that. Most of the active members of that section are active members here as well. They should really change the name of that section to "track feedback", or something, as it has little to do with promotion.

This is a good point. I actually posted a work in progress on here for some good feedback but was told i should be posting it in the promotion section even though it wasn't even finished...

Everyone's comments have been interesting. I started to wonder if I was being arrogant for thinking someone who gave me feedback was just plain wrong and far too subjective (even though I suspect they are more experienced than me).

Reading your comments, it seems once you reach a certain level, receiving feedback from fellow producers becomes less and less worth it. I think I'll still post tracks in there but will be more confident in the future of my own decisions...

ive learned loads of comments other people made about my tunes. and will change if i agree with something.

Comments are sometimes helpful. if I've been working on a track continuously I can become blind to some of it's faults. I may have a feeling that bits need to be changed & that is usually reinforced by people posting a review in the promotional section.

One thing I see happening more often though is this:
New & even existing TA producers come in & post up their track & expect comments without checking out other peoples turns & commenting on them. People then wonder why they get "0" replies. The general rule should be post your track up & then review 4 tracks minimum. Review 2 Un-responded threads & then 2 personal selections. By doing this the review system will work much better & you'll see less of those '0 replies'.

Post 1 track, review 4. It's simple! & the music promotional section will become more active because of it!

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Originally posted by Xenocreator_PG_ Post 1 track, review 4. It's simple! & the music promotional section will become more active because of it!

i havent yet posted a track there as ive not yet completed one to my satisfaction! but i regurlaryly listen to them to compare them to my work, i only leave feedback if i like the the track as i dont feel warrented to give advice if its not up to scratch, but i must admit i almost always disagree with alot of the negative feedback and think people may not even have better tracks to back there judgement up

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Originally posted by chrisspob people may not even have better tracks to back there judgement up

What do you mean by this, exactly?

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Originally posted by Mr.Mystery What do you mean by this, exactly?

Don't you know? If you haven't produced anything better yourself, you do not have the right to give negative feedback!!1

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Originally posted by TOR Don't you know? If you haven't produced anything better yourself, you do not have the right to give negative feedback!!1

I thought that was it but the spelling was so poor I couldn't be sure.

quote:

Originally posted by richg101 i get the feeling a lot of people who critique a lot on TA have little experience of edm and often dont know how a track will work in its given place.

I will second that.

In answer to the main question.
I usually post the tracks here, when I get around to it that is to see what sort of reaction in terms of if other people want to play this out or not rather than technical help.
That said, I am always open to learning and will happilly take on board anything constructive that people have to say. Will often leave it for my next production though as by the time I have finished a track I don't really want to revisit it.

A lot of my stuff can be too hard or outlandish for many including the label I'm with so it kind of stays within my own realm.
I haven't posted here in a long time so for many I guess I would be like a new face to them.

Cheers
Nem

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