Listening to your own stuff?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Toonsmith
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Toonsmith

Toonsmith

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Just curious. Does anyone here find themselves listening to their own music recordings rather than to other artists you like?

Asking because I've noticed I don't listen to any of my tapes or CDs anymore. Even sitting here, I have the media player playing my tunes. It seems like that's all I listen to anymore.

Is it normal or does it seem weird to you?
 
Your wierd :D


lol..no actually...I think I listen to the songs that I have completed more than other stuff..wich really means..I need a life :o


Smile :)
 
When I listen to my stuff I find myself analysing the mix and finding little faults, which i'm sure 90% of people wouldn't notice.

I tend to listen to whatever is my most recent effort a lot. The move on to the next one. i don't think it's healthy to listen only to your own stuff. Where will the inspiration for your future songs come from? You need input from others to draw inspiration, or at least I do anyway!
 
(Hello glyn - nice to see we haven't totally lost you)

God question. Straight answer is I never listen to my (our) own stuff unless there's a specific reason to, such as I go back to see what could be improved on my next effort or to hear what other people have identified (glynb gave me an excellent critique recently which made me do that). The thing I find with this, which toonsmith you might want to think about, is that if you don't listen to it for quite a long time, you really hear it well when you do.


However I am a hook junkie and catching myself or one of our singers with one of my melodies going round their head is a huge kick.
 
"The thing I find with this, which toonsmith you might want to think about, is that if you don't listen to it for quite a long time, you really hear it well when you do."

Excellent advice. Leave it alone for a few weeks, or months if you can. then come back and listen and it will either be much better than you first thought, or worse and you'll hear the obvious faults.

Hi Gary, no I haven't left the DG for superstardom just yet, but I'll say goodbye when i do!!! LOL
Incidently i hang around on the UK based group you recomended (Soundonsound) more nowadays as they have more local UK advice.
Cheers.
 
I go through phases of being in love with my own music and being sick of it. I remember reading once about an author who said he wrote a certain book because it was a book he wanted to read and nobody had written it yet. That's how I feel about a lot of my music; it's music I wanted to listen to that nobody had recorded.
I just wish I did it better than I do.
 
lykwydchykyn said:
I remember reading once about an author who said he wrote a certain book because it was a book he wanted to read and nobody had written it yet. That's how I feel about a lot of my music; it's music I wanted to listen to that nobody had recorded.
Click to expand...

I had that same thought when I was just starting out, and it's pretty cool to be listening to some of my own CD's instead of the radio and realize that even without gold records, the original reason for getting serious about music hasn't been lost.
 
it's not abnormal to want to listen to your stuff - if you didn't hink it was good, why did you write/record it?

but yeah, glynb is right, it's better not to listen to it ALL the time. otherwise you get so far up your own arse you lose your perspective on what's good and what's not.

it's like if you eat only chocolate for 3 days straight and then get some chicken - that chicken is gonna taste messed up bro . . . weird analogy, sorry
 
When I'm recording my stuff I listen to it way too much (on every system I can get my hands on). By the time I have a finished mix/master I have heard it more than enough.

Candidly, I get much inspiration listening to other music, which improves my writing/recording skills. (I must buy about 10 used CD's every month, just to hear music I've never heard before) Don't we need numerous outside music influences to improve as musicians (as well as writers)?

I would fear that a desire to only listen to my own music would not only border on narcissism, but it would seriously limit my musical growth.
 
mikeh said:
When I'm recording my stuff I listen to it way too much (on every system I can get my hands on). By the time I have a finished mix/master I have heard it more than enough.

Candidly, I get much inspiration listening to other music, which improves my writing/recording skills. (I must buy about 10 used CD's every month, just to hear music I've never heard before) Don't we need numerous outside music influences to improve as musicians (as well as writers)?

I would fear that a desire to only listen to my own music would not only border on narcissism, but it would seriously limit my musical growth.
Click to expand...

agreed, but I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to listen to you own stuff, as long as that's not ALL you listen to . . . be proud of your work, but keep some prespective
 
Yeah, Garry and Glyn, I see your point and I still do listen to some things on the radio when I have the time. But I seem to get inspiration from just playing guitar. You know, just hitting a good phrase or riff and things just seem to fall into place.

As for listening to my own stuff, I like to write stuff on the guitar for guitar to record on guitar, but then I like to also turn that into a symphonic piece. Like having two different versions of the same song. And to be honest with you, I almost prefer these pieces more than just the solo guitar. They seem almost classical in nature.

For the most part the original music I listen to is finished. I refuse to touch the thing after I have committed to the song the way I want it. I don't nitpic and go back and try to make every thing perfect. I feel like you lose some of the spontaneity of the song.
 
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