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| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
It takes the emphasis off of "sound design" and puts it back on the arrangement and melody. |
Interesting statement and that has a lot to do with the "rant" I had planned for earlier. It's not so much of a rant mind you, in that it's not angry or targeted at anyone, just more of an essay. And being an essay, I think it's simply too long-winded to post wholesale, nobody will read past the first paragraph or two.
So I'm going to give the super-condensed version here:
I think it's completely fine if you consider yourself a "sound designer" or a "sound engineer", as long as you understand that as a professional or aspiring professional, the success of your trade depends upon certain principles of good design, those being:
a) Knowing the theory behind your trade and understanding the role of context;
b) Knowing the field itself - i.e. common practices, important developments, useful techniques, etc., both historical and current;
c) Knowing the constraints and trade-offs inherent in your profession and your designs, and knowing why those constraints exist and how they can be worked around (if at all).
These are accepted, proven principles in any design or engineering field and no honest person would call him/herself a professional without at least some level of adherence to them. As an electronic music producer, your craft actually spans two fields: traditional composition and audio technology. That means in order to be a good music designer, you have to know both sides:
a) The theory - both music theory and sound theory.
b) The field - musical composers and their work, as well as current producers and their techniques. This knowledge can't be limited to one genre or one decade to qualify as in-depth.
c) The art - generally that's playing an instrument because it teaches you what sounds natural based on a real human's limitations. Perhaps you don't actually have to play an instrument, but you should at least have a solid grasp of what the instruments are (both modern and "classical"), what they sound like played by a human, what their pitch registers are, etc. As a bare minimum this means listening to many different genres of music from many different types of instrumentalists or vocalists.
So, are you a designer or a musician? Doesn't matter, either way you have a responsibility to yourself to learn about music in much greater depth than one acquires by hoarding EDM tracks on one's hard drive and going out to the clubs. That may make you an expert on EDM subculture but it doesn't make you a designer.
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My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here
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