Why are netlabel releases so full of pads and reverb?

[adam]

Every (im generalizing here, spare me the 'well, not my label!') damn netlabel i've heard in the alleged 'techno' and 'minimal' and 'dancefloor' classification has been nothing but boring dubby "nice" music... nothing with any balls, so to speak or anything with real funk... with SCARSE exception, the very few things i've heard that were even slightly good eventually destroyed themselves when more pads and garbage came in.

you didn't hear much, did you?

There's some GREAT exceptions around for sure.

But if I were to find a list of netlabels and their releases and maybe have some kind of device/software that would randomly choose ten albums for me to hear, I bet 8 of them would by dubby stuff or simple pads with beats behind them.

[steevio]

My feelings are that this issue goes way beyond just pads and reverbs, it's genre-ism in general which stagnates our music. As soon as someone comes up with a good idea, it is copied till everybody gets sick of it.
Like others have said, software makes it too easy to simply copy already accepted formula.
I use hardware, and every synth I have ever bought is rammed full of cheesey trance sounds and arpeggio's. I always have to start from scratch and completely reprogram them with my own sounds. I feel sorry for people just starting out, because they are coerced into making formula music by the software and hardware designers, so it's not always just laziness, it can also be lack of experience,
I find it very hard to find music which breaks free from the existing genres, and abandons accepted production techniques, it doesnt seem to matter whether i look in the world of vinyl or netlabels.
Unfortunately thats all I'm interested in, true originality, can anyone point me in that direction ? (hey thats the first time ive ever used one of those arrow things, so thats what they are for. )

[steevio]

sorry i was having a bad day when i wrote the above, what i should have said was 'i'm not looking hard enough' and 'how lucky am i to be alive right now'

[isa]

sorry i was having a bad day when i wrote the above, what i should have said was 'i'm not looking hard enough' and 'how lucky am i to be alive right now'

don't worrry man. we are very lucky to have all the things we have (internet access, computer, food, house, etc etc....)
we are talking crap most of the time, just because we live in abundance and we have free time.
off topic i know

[d-rokc]

using reverb is essential in music production. it gives depth to a track, and places sounds in their own space. therefore its not so easy to learn to use it the right way. beginners either tend to 'drown' the tracks, or use no reverb at all, both of the cases are unacceptable (if you want a good sounding track that is).

so the rookie goes through a thousand sounds wondering why his track 'lacks' sth., until he/she comes across a pad. pad presets are chorused/reverbed by default, so he goes - hey, this gives me some depth! it also fills alot of space stereo-wise, which is hard to be filled with just static panning of mono samples (also a rookie technique).

i guess that leads us to the simple answer - most of the netlabel releases are done by amateurs.

ps. - before you crucify me, note that i said 'most' not 'all'

[steevio]

using reverb is essential in music production. it gives depth to a track, and places sounds in their own space. therefore its not so easy to learn to use it the right way. beginners either tend to 'drown' the tracks, or use no reverb at all, both of the cases are unacceptable (if you want a good sounding track that is).

i would agree as a general principal, but we shouldnt limit ourselves with electronic music, because you dont have to play by the rules.
i was a studio engineer before i started making electronic music, and reverb was probably the most important single factor in getting a professionally produced sound. we always put just enough reverb on a sound to bring it to life, but so little that you didnt notice it was there till you took it away.
but now i frequently write tunes that have no reverb on anything. as you say, reverb is essentially placing the sound in a space, but sometimes i dont want to do that. i quite often spend alot of time on modulations within the decay of sounds, and if you put reverb on, it masks the effect.
also sounds are more upfront and raw without reverb, and they grab your attention, especially in the club environment, where the acoustics are so variable that, reverb gets lost in the natural reverb of the room.

sorry this should be in the production section.

[d-rokc]

stevio you are right,

a track can have no reverb at all and still sound good, but that is a master skill and in order to achieve this, one has to have alot of experience. you obviously know all the ways to create a sense of space without using perspective enhancers so i wont name them here. but until you get to that level, you have mastered any possible way to use reverb, right?

as the old saying goes: theres nothing wrong with breaking the rules, but it sure helps to know them first.

[steevio]

as the old saying goes: theres nothing wrong with breaking the rules, but it sure helps to know them first.

good quote !

experience helps with production, but sometimes the freshest music comes from people starting with a blank canvass, and lots of enthusiasm and energy. it's nice that we have such a variety of input into our scene.