Producers losing hope in a crowded, insular scene

[Dusk]

thanks for your kind words, i've been in need of a little ego boost!

Totally related to Tony here, and wanted to start a new thread about it.

It's tough keeping faith in your abilities when a) there is so much great music by prolific artists and b) there is much more dross surrounding it. Both create a "why I am bothering" feeling. As an additional consequence, our audience (DJs, labels, punters) is also as saturated with house and techno as we are, so I really don't blame them for not spending time checking out new music from artists they don't know.

Just look at the Member's Tracks area here, numerous unanswered threads, and threads with one line replies. Even house and techno producers who've been around a while seem to struggle to find somewhere/someone to bounce their latest ideas off, if they aren't involved with a label or it's social circle. In turn producers can end up with a unfairly critical view of themselves, potentially robbing the "scene" of fresh new ideas.

Compare that with some similar production forums, like those for dnb, dubstep and breakbeat for example, which I visit regularly. You've got "big names" cruising regularly for new talent and new tracks, giving feedback, emailing encouragement etc. That in turn inspires a tone of general feedback and support across the entire forums, which can only help to keep that scene fresh and vibrant.

In house and techno, especially, things are alot more insular and private, despite being by far the more popular and populist forms of electronic music. I guess that's part and parcel of the music we make. Many people consider what they're doing to be more important and more "artistic" than merely making people dance. That's absolutely fine, and correct, but it helps breed a scene of very private, isolated individuals, protective of their techniques and tools, and in some cases some downright neurosis and insecurity.

This isn't directed personally at anyone here or elsewhere, but in general when people separate, scatter, and disappear up their own backsides, things get pretty fucked.

[oblioblioblio]

In some ways this ebb and flow can be a good thing. It can be unhealthy sometimes for a style of music to be very popular. Obvious example is dubstep gradually emerging from the wasteland of the increasingly negative garage scene.

Maybe it can (in the long run) be good for the techno/house scene to be like this for a while too. Maybe it's good for filtering out all the people who aren't in it for the long haul, and it can be good to be a bit questioning of yourself (sometimes), (imo).

As for little ego boost, I really liked the music of yours that I heard on myspace. Really soulful and lots of successful attention on danceableness.

[zarbeat]

As for little ego boost, I really liked the music of yours that I heard on myspace. Really soulful and lots of successful attention on danceableness

hit me up and send me a demo zarbeat@gmail.com







Difusion Records

[pheek]

thanks for your kind words, i've been in need of a little ego boost!

This isn't directed personally at anyone here or elsewhere, but in general when people separate, scatter, and disappear up their own backsides, things get pretty fucked.

I hear you and appreciate your post about this problem our movement has. I think it comes down a lot to many other post where we talked about demos. I feel a site like Soundcloud is very helpful for everyone; you get to see Liebing or Speedy J dropping comments on random people's tracks. I also, am more tempted to give feedback myself.

It's sad to say... but i think IMHO that Myspace is where a lot of problems started: too much spam, too much obnoxious messages sent at large, too many people posting fake appreciation message, too much BS.

All that created a huge bitterness feeling in a lot of people's mind. It really made me feel depressed instead of feeling connected to people who shared same tastes. I met a few nice people and made a few friends but also, started to seriously hate anything related to promo, and feedback.

So yeah, its all comes down to meeting people you connect with, open up to and then, make music for fun and interacting with.

[steevio]

In house and techno, especially, things are alot more insular and private, despite being by far the more popular and populist forms of electronic music.

i dont think things are a lot more insular and private, well at least they dont seem to be from my point of view, but i think you nailed it when you say our music is a more popularist form, that means there's such a wide scope that you can be totally unaware of and disconnected from large parts of it.
i have a very large network of friends in the house and tehcno scene, i dont feel isolated, but i'm also aware that i probably miss 90% of whats going on out there, because its so vast.
i'd also say there's large parts of it that are not to my taste anyway.
the dubstep scene is different, its a smaller, fresher, younger scene, but give it a few years and then re-assess once the initial vibrancy has evaporated.

i'm in no way trying to plug the event i organise, but i came away from this years freerotation festival feeling stimulated and invigorated by the amazing music i heard there, many young producers (and young partygoers) who were pushing the boundaries and reviving my faith in techno and house.
it was a long way from a crowded insular scene of producers losing hope.

i know what you're saying and i'm sure that it applies in certain areas of the scene, but it paints a very pessimistic picture that maybe some other people are not experiencing.
however its good that you should bring it up and express your feelings.

[JonasEdenbrandt]

I've been thinking of writing a similar post myself actually. Mostly in regard to how the members forum seems to be totaly empty from people giving feedback.

I think part of the problem is alot of people don't take time to browse the forum and wright a few posts before posting there tracks. So the members forum becomes kind of a spam bin full of people nobody really knows.

This problem also has an impact on demos and other promotion. Alot of people don't take time to wright a proper letter or check out the label before sending them their demo and when somebody actually has taken time they might just get lost in the flood of spam.

Any way gonna study some for school and listen threw all the people posting in this threads stuff. Just recently realized i havn't heard any of steevios stuff. More or less just listend to tone-deff (keep up the good work man)

[JonasEdenbrandt]

haha guess tone-deff hasn't posted in this thread. must have read one where he posted earlier.

[tone-def]

just popped in to say hi.

dusk is right. i need a little praise from time to time and recently i've only getting feedback from 1 or 2 of my mates. it's hard when you feel your made a big step forward but you don't get the same love you did a year ago. you start to think "am i the only one feeling this?" but the last few days have been pretty good and i've had some nice comments about my art and it seems a few people have started taking notice. that's given me more confidence and drive to get tracks finished.

I'm going to try and give more feedback to others because it can help that person a lot.

I agree with pheek on the myspace thing. when i first got on there it was great, i didn't know anyone in the london scene. i had a couple of mates i went fabric with but that was it. myspace helped me find the underground parties where i met a lot of friends. but then the spamming started and i lost interest. soundcloud is a lot easier to spot spammers and it's more to the point of giving feedback.