The Limitations of Electronic Music

ectronic music has no limitations when compared to acoustic music because electronic music can use acoustic instruments too. the only limitations in music are those of the person who creates it.

the other problem is that people think "dance" music is all there is to electronic music. this will ofcourse flaw the arguments of the limitations of electronic music as there are certain rules that dance music has to stick to to make it dance music.

also, a real electronic connoseuir will listen to a diverse range of electronic pieces, so if you sit there playing psy trance to your old man for 2 hours he will definately think that all music electronic is shit since it all sounds the same.

as for sounding the same. all rock sounds the same to. a few drums, a few guitars and a vocal.
 
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i diddnt read all the posts so sorry if im repeating anything allready said...


One of his argument was that because the music is made using machines, any of the sounds can be duplicated by any competant artist, therefore while the original artists' music is well, original... people after him can copy his sounds given that the machines are the same and this is why a lot of electronic music sounds the same. It is simply not as good as the music that is made with string, wood, or brass instruments because the human hand-- apt to make mistakes but also having the ability to put human emotion and skill through the instrument-- is making that music.
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everyone who is unfamilair with electronic music makes this same argument.

they make this argument becasue they are entirely unfamiliar with how electronic music is produced.

first off, only cheese artists, as mentioned in the original posts, would use the exact same synth/sample/effect etc as someone else. Electronic music production is infinetly limitless and to re-use what has allready been created is entirely LAME. It is the equivalent of a rock artist doing a cover song and gaining fame through it.

Electronic music, specifically synths, are composed by mathematical formulas processed through filters, sometimes 1, sometimes thousands, (which are in other mathematical formulas which interact with the original) to form specifically desired sounnds, give or take away depth, add highs-lows (frequencies), crecendo - decrecendo over period of a note - or over period of many notes, slides, slurs, distortions, etc etc etc etc...

with a guitar (or other stringed intstrument) you are entirely limited to the effects produced by a vibrating material - granted there is a degree of electronic component implimentation. I have played guitar for almost 8 years, and I have been creating electronic music/effects for about 2 years. I can assure you that a guitar (or any other classic - non electronic instrument) is FAR more limited than anything produced electronically. Most people, especially those whom dont even listen to EM, dont have a clue how it is produced adn therefore make the fundamental error that humans and physical objects are naturally superior to humans and electronic machines. This is as far from the truth as possible.

The problem is electronic music is very new, and is competing with styles of creating music that have existed for thousands of years. I like to see it as an engineering analogy. With physical instruments, your tools are like a small construction yard - you have a backhoe, a crane, a pleantiful amount of materials to create a building's skeleton and body; you have some blueprints of things tried in the past, and a few basic tools such as hammers, jackhammers, saws, rope, etc. But that is all you are allowed to build your building with. With electronic music, you are given the entire planet and some blueprints of things that have been tried in the past. You have the ability to create literally anything your imagination can dig up - however you must start with very raw materials. It is up to the creator to refine and condition the sound to create something worthwhile. THE ONLY limitation to electronically created music is the creator.

With electronic music, you have the ability create any sound/song your imagination could possibly conjure up.
 
well to list the few guys i enjoy of the dj/electronic crowd.... hmm for some reason fat boy slims shit brings joy to me, i like the chemical bro's and dj shadow is good too, hmm i saw kid koala and liked that

oh and i believe that while electronic instruments make their own sounds the synthetic drums or strings sounds are in my opinion almost always crap in terms of quality, real drums or any instrument for that matter has a different quality (a better one in my opinion) that can in no way be imitated accurately.. this may change in the future...
 
In response to Psilo707:

I've almost pulled out a shotgun and blew my own head one time when coming across some happy hardcore. If a genre doesn't move you like that, I don't know what else will.
 
Theres a killa on the street, 'es moving from house to house, oooh...

you do, of course, know that you can hook a synth up to an acoustic guitar and use any sound you program into it, didn't you?
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i used to do it all the time wiht my electric guitar, and i just assumed it could be done with an acoustic. However, your just playing ELECTRONIC MUSIC but instead of programming the notes you are playing them with your hands. Also you now combine the styleability and versatility of the allmighty axe WITH the uniqueness and limitless boundaries of the electronic world. Beautiful.

yah i diddnt want my post to sound down on stringed instruments (or instruments in general). Guitars are the greatist thing on earth. If you dont think that a guitar is a versatile instrument, you dont listen to enough metal. rock sucks. metal is probably the most diverse and creative musical genere in history, far far far beyond that of popular edm. if you think metal music is a bunch of angry loud noises, you sound like one of those terds that thinks electronic music is a bunch of super mario brothers beepy bleepy beepy noises laid over a non stop 4/4 drum/hi hat sequence.

but i do believe that metal is more limited than electronic music by definition. edm COULD be more diverse than metal, but it isnt.
 
I don't know if metal is the most creative and diverse, but damn there have to be as many genres of metal as there are in EDM. I love black metal, that shiz is crazy.
 
i like happy music, and occasionaly sad music, angry music makes more anger for me.... so i don't like metal
 
Nice thread all.

There was a comment on the first page to the effect that the humans controlling the machines can still put their emotion into the work, and in a way I think this is probably true. But, I still don't think it's the same -- instead of actually creating the music, one is instructing a machine to do it.

Maybe an analogy to this is the difference between manual and automatic transmissions. Sure, you can tell the car what to do with an automatic, but with a manual, you're actually doing it yourself.

In the future, the machines will probably be so good that the difference is hard to spot. But I don't think that's the point -- when I listen to music, be it some nice rock, or classical music or whatever, I like to know that it's real people, really pushing their abilities to the limit to make the best sounds they can.

On the other hand, I guess if those abilities are with a synthesiser instead of a guitar or drum kit or piano, then that's fine. But there's something special about playing a passive, unpowered instrument, as opposed to an active electronic one.
 
Anyone comparing real guitars too electronic sounds needs to check their head. I love all kinds of electronic and a million other things, but go see a good jam band (phish,string cheese etc) and tell me those guys are less or equally talented than any d.j or producer. I spin and play guitar and... real instrruments are a million times harder. Making an electronic song just involves building up layer after layer of sound, If you F it up you can go back and fix it , If youve ever played in a group and nailed a tough section while in the studio youd know the difference.
 
powdakillah said:
Anyone comparing real guitars too electronic sounds needs to check their head. I love all kinds of electronic and a million other things, but go see a good jam band (phish,string cheese etc) and tell me those guys are less or equally talented than any d.j or producer.
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what is your definition of a "real" instrument?

put another way in what sense is, for example, a keyboard (which is a mainstay of electronic music production) not a real instrument?

i think you are missing the point that, among others, THE WOOD made.

alasdair
 
I think a lot of people who are not open-minded to electronic music need to be introduced to it in a different way. I was first introduced by going to my first rave. I had friends who had been in the scene for quite some time that taught me the difference between the different types of music being played, which DJ was on the decks and so forth. I got more knowledgeable by going to more parties, & paying more attention to what was going on. I made more friends that just happened to be DJs-that helped too. It's all in your perception. If you're willing to learn & be open-minded you've made a huge step. I can honestly say I don't know how I would be functioning today without house music. Sounds dumb, but it's my escape from EVERYTHING...it IS my everything. All too often I'll find a track that happens to be saying everything I'm feeling at the time. It makes me feel happy when I'm depressed. It evokes all kinds of emotions. I wish everyone could feel the same way about house the way I do (or anyother genre of electronic/dance music)
I hope I'm not repeating anything already said..don't have the time to read every single post.
 
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