Having an Objective View of Your Abilities

Glasshoppper, the journey to the mountain's peak is long and filled with sights, smells and sounds. If we live only for the moment we reach the peak, the joys of the path might be lost to us forever. If we lose sight of the peak, we may nestle upon the nearest green plateux, never to venture out of it's comfort-area. But it depends on our goal. If the wonderful view from the top really justifies the coldness of the peak then we will continue on. If your destination is a warmer, green plateux, then it is not a bad place to live. It's all about being able to enjoy each stage for the fine qualities of each and knowing what you ultimately want.

The journey to the peak is long /
Filled with sights, and smells, and songs /
If you live just to reach the peak /
Your spirit dies, the path is bleak

Neglect to gaze beyond the trail /
And the will to forge ahead may fail /
Upon your goal the path depends /
Never straight, it always bends

The harshest climb is soothed by hope /
If faith endures, you'll scale the slope /
But don't forget the joy of now /
A 'why' is void without a 'how'


FIFY.

Read 'em and weep, Neil Peart.
 
Thank you! I have never heard that song before. Does this mean I am psychically connected with Neil Peart? Someone once told me, I looked like Geddy Lee...

Dr. V
 
Thank you! I have never heard that song before. Does this mean I am psychically connected with Neil Peart? Someone once told me, I looked like Geddy Lee...

Dr. V

Actually, I wrote those lyrics. They were inspired by your lovely post. After I finished, I noticed their stylistic resemblance to Neil Peart's work.

Sorry to disappoint about the Peart psychic connection. :o

:D
 
objective? Hard to be objective on your own work.

IF there's any ONE type of person involved in sound that ISN'T objective, it would be a musician. I've met so many of them over the years who think their body of work is so amazing and artistic and it's just complete garbage to me. It's one of my biggest pet peaves about being a musician myself. For me, I'm my toughest critic and am modest despite what drunk people tell me after a show.
I've heard this one a hundred times: "Dude, you're the best drummer I"ve ever seen in my life!" And I think "wow. get a life, dude!" to myself. Sure, I was polite and appreciative before his spit drenched my ear and face, but I learned many moons ago that if you think you're great then you stop improving. When you stop improving you start to suck. Most people I know who think they're great really have very little talent. Their drinking buddies and girlfriend tell them they're as good as a major-league band like zeppelin or the beatles but they just "haven't been discovered yet". Being modest doesn't mean neccisarily that you're great, but I've discovered that the best players I've met are very modest and always are striving to get better.
So, in summary, I appreciate this thread. It is a very valid point. And it's hard to be objective on your own. Most people don't wanna know the truth about themselves. They would rather stay in their comfort zone where everyone around them loves what they do. That is fine for some people, but you can't improve if everyone around you tells you you're great. For example: I was on the next great american band on fox in 2007 and it was the most humbling experience ever. It really put things in perspective for me as an entertainer. Even if you have the chops and the look or whatever, it doesn't mean your music will be well received (well not by sheila E. anyway. lol)
Sorry this was so long. Lunch is over. gotta go! :spank:
 
IF there's any ONE type of person involved in sound that ISN'T objective, it would be a musician. I've met so many of them over the years who think their body of work is so amazing and artistic and it's just complete garbage to me. It's one of my biggest pet peaves about being a musician myself. For me, I'm my toughest critic and am modest despite what drunk people tell me after a show.
I've heard this one a hundred times: "Dude, you're the best drummer I"ve ever seen in my life!" And I think "wow. get a life, dude!" to myself. Sure, I was polite and appreciative before his spit drenched my ear and face, but I learned many moons ago that if you think you're great then you stop improving. When you stop improving you start to suck. Most people I know who think they're great really have very little talent. Their drinking buddies and girlfriend tell them they're as good as a major-league band like zeppelin or the beatles but they just "haven't been discovered yet". Being modest doesn't mean neccisarily that you're great, but I've discovered that the best players I've met are very modest and always are striving to get better.
So, in summary, I appreciate this thread. It is a very valid point. And it's hard to be objective on your own. Most people don't wanna know the truth about themselves. They would rather stay in their comfort zone where everyone around them loves what they do. That is fine for some people, but you can't improve if everyone around you tells you you're great. For example: I was on the next great american band on fox in 2007 and it was the most humbling experience ever. It really put things in perspective for me as an entertainer. Even if you have the chops and the look or whatever, it doesn't mean your music will be well received (well not by sheila E. anyway. lol)
Sorry this was so long. Lunch is over. gotta go! :spank:

good post.

I can't count the number of times I've had people tell me I've GOT to hear this or that guy/girl 'cause they're SO good and I'd hear them and they'd suck.

Before my Dad died, his new wife (moms was dead and he had remarried) would tell us , "Oh ...... you should have heard Patty in church ..... *gasp* ..... her voice ...... it was so beautiful ..... it just sent chills down our spines ..... oh, she sings so beautifully" .....
So eventually she showed up at a casino where I was giogging with my duo and we invited her up to sing ..... she did 'Summertime' and the result?
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Holy crap ..... it sounded like someone ridiculing and opera singer. The absolute worst thing I've ever heard singing-wise.
We laughed about it for months ...... we'd be setting up and one of us would look at the other and go "Summertime" in a super exxagerated operatic comedic voice and we'd both be rolling on the floor.

But to her family she was the mecca of voice.

:D
 
HIlarious!

good post.

I can't count the number of times I've had people tell me I've GOT to hear this or that guy/girl 'cause they're SO good and I'd hear them and they'd suck.

Before my Dad died, his new wife (moms was dead and he had remarried) would tell us , "Oh ...... you should have heard Patty in church ..... *gasp* ..... her voice ...... it was so beautiful ..... it just sent chills down our spines ..... oh, she sings so beautifully" .....
So eventually she showed up at a casino where I was giogging with my duo and we invited her up to sing ..... she did 'Summertime' and the result?
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Holy crap ..... it sounded like someone ridiculing and opera singer. The absolute worst thing I've ever heard singing-wise.
We laughed about it for months ...... we'd be setting up and one of us would look at the other and go "Summertime" in a super exxagerated operatic comedic voice and we'd both be rolling on the floor.

But to her family she was the mecca of voice.

:D

Yep! And there's always a gray-haired dad there videotaping their son's "spectacular performance" too! A
nd here's another one: "Joe plays on a $17,000 DW drum kit" (as if that makes 'em great.) hell, it's not the equipment that makes a musician. Good equipment is fairly important, but merely a prerequisite. Just like those guys that think the bigger their toolbox is, the better a machinist/toolmaker/mechanic they are. Well, it's like that here in Detroit, anyway... haha :laughings:
Thanks for checking out my post. I'm a newby here and wasn't sure I'd be very well received. ;)
 
what band? simplysick

What band? Me and the wife watched that.



Oh and welcome to the site. New guy buys the beer.:drunk:

"Simplysick". We were one of 62 bands who competed at the lake las vegas auditions. Johnny rzeznik liked us but sheila e voted us off. cool experience. they flew us our 1st class, put us up in a posh resort. very nice. we were the masked band and i was the pumpkin drummer. we were in star magazine in nov 2007 to promote show.

here's a screen capture of a link to our audition on msn. They used a shot of me during the audition for the link pic:
ssick-1.jpg

Here's a shot of our band right after the audition on a helicopter pad in the middle of the desert, wearing masks in 113° heat:
[/IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v322/4/0/1472164919/n1472164919_30017941_5546.jpg[/IMG]

note: the did NOT televise our audition, to my dismay, but the DID show me walking down the dock to the yacht after the audition for about 5 seconds, and they did show a quick clip of our audition in the very beginning of the first episode. Our audition was on msn for a few months but they took it off. I didn't have any way to capture the flash video at the time so it's lost forever. it was the best video of any band i've been in by far. high production! they had this camera on a tram that circled around the set which was pretty darn cool... Glory days... Heck. It sucked bad getting voted off. I was depressed for about a year after that. And you shoulda seen all the documents we had to sign in order to go! about 200 pages of crap, and we were all liable for up to like 5 million dollars if we leaked info to the press about what happened before it was televised. pretty strressful being on a reality show, even if you're not hardly televised!
 
...her voice ...... it was so beautiful...

The whole concept of "having a great voice" is stupid. I have a great Fender bass that I can't play. I don't play bass. Whenever someone tells me that so-and-so has a great voice I always say, "Ya, and I have a great bass".

"American Idol" has perpetuated this myth. The myth that somehow certain people have "great voices" and that it is a requirement for something. :confused:

Maybe the thing to say is "you sing like shit, you smell worse than shit and you look like Quasimodo... but you have a great voice!".

As far as the topic of this thread: Steve Gadd once said that you don't choose a career in music, it choses you.
 
"Simplysick". We were one of 62 bands who competed at the lake las vegas auditions. Johnny rzeznik liked us but sheila e voted us off. cool experience. they flew us our 1st class, put us up in a posh resort. very nice. we were the masked band and i was the pumpkin drummer. we were in star magazine in nov 2007 to promote show.

here's a screen capture of a link to our audition on msn. They used a shot of me during the audition for the link pic:
ssick-1.jpg

Here's a shot of our band right after the audition on a helicopter pad in the middle of the desert, wearing masks in 113° heat:
[/IMG]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v322/4/0/1472164919/n1472164919_30017941_5546.jpg[/IMG]

note: the did NOT televise our audition, to my dismay, but the DID show me walking down the dock to the yacht after the audition for about 5 seconds, and they did show a quick clip of our audition in the very beginning of the first episode. Our audition was on msn for a few months but they took it off. I didn't have any way to capture the flash video at the time so it's lost forever. it was the best video of any band i've been in by far. high production! they had this camera on a tram that circled around the set which was pretty darn cool... Glory days... Heck. It sucked bad getting voted off. I was depressed for about a year after that. And you shoulda seen all the documents we had to sign in order to go! about 200 pages of crap, and we were all liable for up to like 5 million dollars if we leaked info to the press about what happened before it was televised. pretty strressful being on a reality show, even if you're not hardly televised!

Cool Sounds like a great experience. Another user on here was there too I think their username is pony!

I checked out your myspace page killer tunes dude. Is that you on the drums?
 
oops, here's the screen capture from when it was on msn videos:
msn.jpg

obviously, we didn't make it to the top 12 for the competition, but we hung out with the kid's parents from Light Of Doom at the pool at the resort. They were pretty cool. during the auditions, they had our guitarist (14years old) play onstage with them to play flight of icarus and tried to steal him away from our band. It was "Dicko" 's idea. Pretty cheezy, really. made the kid (our guitarist) cry and put a camera crew in his face. it was pretty brutal, but luckily they didn't televise that part either... :(
 
good post.

I can't count the number of times I've had people tell me I've GOT to hear this or that guy/girl 'cause they're SO good and I'd hear them and they'd suck.

Before my Dad died, his new wife (moms was dead and he had remarried) would tell us , "Oh ...... you should have heard Patty in church ..... *gasp* ..... her voice ...... it was so beautiful ..... it just sent chills down our spines ..... oh, she sings so beautifully" .....
So eventually she showed up at a casino where I was giogging with my duo and we invited her up to sing ..... she did 'Summertime' and the result?
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Holy crap ..... it sounded like someone ridiculing and opera singer. The absolute worst thing I've ever heard singing-wise.
We laughed about it for months ...... we'd be setting up and one of us would look at the other and go "Summertime" in a super exxagerated operatic comedic voice and we'd both be rolling on the floor.

But to her family she was the mecca of voice.

:D

How does that happen? Are people deaf? I'm a totally amateur and haven't spent a lot of time around musicians or preforming but even I have seen that same scenario several times.
 
How does that happen? Are people deaf? I'm a totally amateur and haven't spent a lot of time around musicians or preforming but even I have seen that same scenario several times.
some people are, in fact, tone deaf.
I know there are those that say no one is tone deaf .... it's just a matter of training.
But I've seen folks .... mnay of them ....... who just don't seem to be able to tell the difference between really good and really bad.

Then there are those who really do listen ...... they're a great pleasure to play for. But they're certainly not the majority.
 
How does that happen? Are people deaf? I'm a totally amateur and haven't spent a lot of time around musicians or preforming but even I have seen that same scenario several times.

But I've seen folks .... many of them ....... who just don't seem to be able to tell the difference between really good and really bad.
It happens alot in church circles. It's partially born of the fact that in alot of gatherings people want to be encouraging and not judgemental. But it doesn't do the person with the moondrowning voice any good. When I pointed out that certain people couldn't sing, I was often told that God appreciated their efforts, that he heard the intent and the heart, not necesarilly the lousy voice. I used to say, 'it's easy for him to do that ! The rest of us simply don't have that ability !!". Actually, I'd rather hear some peoples' heartbeats than their voices !
some people are, in fact, tone deaf.
I know there are those that say no one is tone deaf .... it's just a matter of training.
I once stood next to my mate while he was singing. He loves music and has a wide appreciation of different genres, wider than most I know. But believe me, he was tone deaf. This was nearly 20 years ago. I'd never heard him sing before. And I never want to again. People talk about trainwrecks, his singing sounded like one. A live one. Love him to bits but he can't sing. Well, he can't sing passably !
 
Cool Sounds like a great experience. Another user on here was there too I think their username is pony!

I checked out your myspace page killer tunes dude. Is that you on the drums?
On the videos its' me, but some of the older audio tracks are another drummer.
Thanks, man. i appreciate that. It's a fun hobby.
 
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I like this thread...it's hearty and honest.

I'm a total newb in home recording land...I've not even started properly, so when buying my first load of gear, I decided to keep it simple and only get what I need to fit my needs right now. One mic, a midi controller, some speakers and a simple interface.

I like the idea of learning everything there is to know about the gear that I have...and THEN adding to it. Right now, all we need is a mic, an jack input and a midi controller. As we progress I imagine we will want to experiment more with other toys.

I'm 24 and have been playing guitar for 10 years now...and my wife is an incredible singer so it's comforting to hear that having capable muscians is half the battle. (I say that with the utmost humility...but loving the music YOU write is the first obstacle isn't it?)

Visit our myspace.com/brohnis page to hear our music (not recorded by us I hasten to add) if you're into acoustic music.

Really looking forward to embarking on the home studio adventure.
 
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