past misconceptions about music

I wondered for a while what made that compressed air being released sound… turns out it was just a china cymbal .-------------.

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I hated Nu-Metal for a long time, because I didn’t think chugging chords was heavy. I found some good Nu-Metal bands in Visual Kei, and it made me realize that Nu-Metal actually had a good scene beyond the mainstream crap they force feed us.

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I thought gitarists always play on all strings

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Specifically about mixing, but I used to think the goal of a good mix was to have every element clearly audible in the music.

Then I went to audio school and did some continuing education stuff in the field of audio engineering, and I learned that that’s not at all true. Some elements you don’t want to hear, just feel (like a tambourine playing steady 16th notes SUPER QUIETLY in the background, gently propelling the momentum of a song forward, while the drummer plays quarter notes on the cymbals). Some elements you don’t want to hear CLEARLY, but rather hear how they blend in with other elements and how those things compliment each other (like the relationships between kick drum and bass guitar, and bass guitar and regular guitar).

Audio engineering is basically playing around with a jigsaw puzzle of sound.

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ohhh it’s probably the expectation of talent and skillsmanship that has to define how many octaves your fav frontman has to pull live to be considered legit, or how many dozens of strings they have to screw on their bass etc

real life is kinda different and very no pressure, if u want to spend a day jamming to cross maria who can stop you? if your earussy is lusting for deviloof, why would u suppress those cravings? sukekiyo stans are valid af!! yumeleep fans must be protected.

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What I used to think was pretty anemic-sounding audio just was the fact that I was listening through neutral headphones, and I actually preferred a V-shaped sound signature. I mainly use or EQ to U-shaped, since I tend to like a bit more forward mid-range nowadays.

Some elements you don’t want to hear, just feel (like a tambourine playing steady 16th notes SUPER QUIETLY in the background, gently propelling the momentum of a song forward, while the drummer plays quarter notes on the cymbals). Some elements you don’t want to hear CLEARLY, but rather hear how they blend in with other elements and how those things complement each other (like the relationships between kick drum and bass guitar, and bass guitar and regular guitar).

In a similar vein to that, I used to think that soundstage width and instrument separation (and the type of tuning that facilitates that) = better. While that might benefit something like a live-recording, cohesion is just as, if not more important as an element to the overall sound. I’ve found that really apparent listening to old recordings being Dolby Atmos -ified and sounding absolutely dreadful. Where I used to undervalue imaging accuracy, I find a lot more valuable nowadays (over sheer soundstage width & depth.)


Leaning more music (less audio stuff), I used to write off a lot of songs as “shit” for being really derivative or not being up to whatever “melodic” standards I had. Once I actually researched and traced the cultural roots and the type of “derivations” taking place, it became more apparent that it was just a different way of doing things. For some genres it’s a matter of respect to the greats, a nod to a previous creator. I used to think music that utilized plunderphonics was plagiaristic, but there’s a lot more thought put in than one might think (ex. Dub’s relation to Reggae or Vaporwave’s to 80’s Hits).

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The only thing I can think of atm is the time when I passionately hated rap music in middle school. Now in the present day after actually listening to more than what the mainstream shoves down our throats, I’ve grown to appreciate it as there are some cutthroat lyrics out there performed by those who are actually musically inclined and write their own stuff rather than regurgitating the same garbage written by one producer.

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I used to hate rap too b/c I was more of an R&B guy + constantly inundated with mid-to-late 00’s hip-hop club hits that were always hyper-sexualized and lyrically trash. I liked Nas and Tupac for the samples, but I didn’t get really into the genre lyrically until I listened to Immortal Technique - Dance With The Devil which has absolutely amazing storytelling. Nowadays, I know where to look for artists I actually like lyrically and flow-wise.

To add to that, one misconception I outgrew many years ago was feeling gated out of certain genres b/c I didn’t vibe with their more popular artists. Everything is connected and there’s always a way in, and it’s a wonderful feeling when I find my gateway artist, because I know there’s much ahead (thanks to platforms like last.fm, YouTube, and Spotify w/ their info/algorithms.)

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:point_up_2: this… exactly this :joy:

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When I started actively listening to music I didn’t know about the existence of vocal effects. I thought that the vocalists were doing all the stuff with their voice alone.

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Most of the melodies you listen to aren’t actually that hard to play on the guitar once you learn a few scales and find the first note. I have no type of formal musical training and I can figure out a lot of songs if they’re in E standard.

Also, you can get a pretty heavy sound out of distortion you don’t need to tune your guitar down necessarily.

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I used to believe that the guitar whine was caused by just doing something like a sweep or something, i never knew it was done by the little crank, lever thing. I only learned of this because of TBS Guitarist, Itsuki(currently in Articlear). He’s also the reason i want a PRS. He is also the reason i know of tapping. TBS was honestly the first band i heard that uses tapping and it wasn’t until i payed close attention to how he and Makoto were playing that i learned of tapping. I assumed that kind of sound was achieved through a gentle form of picking.

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I wrote about that once in the random thought thread.

But for long time I thought that its normal for drummer to use their own drumsets during lives.

Which of course they do not. Unless you’re a bigger band and can afford loading a extra car with only equipment/drumset, you are gonna rent the drumset from the event location. (Amps and any other big equipment they could need is usually rented too)

Now i feel kinda stupid that i ever thought like that :thinking:

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I got another misconception that might also double as a hot take, but I actually am coming around to the impressive musicianship behind early SCREW. I say early SCREW because I can only find tabs for that period, but holy shit guys, the guitar parts go in. Look at these tabs for example. The song is 105 BPM but they play in double time so it’s actually 210. Tons of harmonizing chords, hands flying all over the neck. Neither guitar was slouching and neither was the rhythm section. RUIN AND DREAD also happens to be one of my favorite SCREW songs!

Same deal with KAIROS as well. It’s a bit faster than RUIN and DREAD, but it’s a bit simpler in exchange. A bit. It would still be really tough for me to play competently at full speed at my current skill level. Even 幻影の鎖 goes in.

I might seriously have to give X-RAYS another listen…

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Never made any mistakes with music.

I used to think that the genre a guitarist played in determined how skilled they were at guitar. That can be more true for some genres over others, but being able to djent /=/ being a master at guitar lol

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Hahaha, I like this take. Screw was one of my favourite bands when I started getting into visual kei, their indie PSC discography is so approachable and fun to learn as a guitar player. Despite not sounding amazing live, Byou had a lot of great vocal melodies. Some of their major stuff is great too tho, CAVALCADE might be one of my favourite VK songs of all time.

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I hate certain things, death metal, Christian rock. You know cheesy and just plain uninspired smudge, an earache. Bands like three days grace. Would never change my opinion, but if a Christian death metal turned alt rock could take me away I say give it another chance maybe you would like it. Although it’s not really Christian more like, the lyrics are poetic and about love. It’s truly subjective. Only showed 2 people my music taste and they never expected I would have such a mellow taste and they really liked it. You shouldnt judge anything by its cover, maybe of all the heaps of songs there could be one or two that would be just what you were looking for. Until the next one…

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Agree. I used to write off entire genres as cringy and something I was never gonna listen but now I am leaving a certain possibility that I’d find something I like in any genre.
I think you understand that as you grow older though. Because some things may seem boring to you as a teenager and in like 10 or 20 years you’re gonna look back at your past favorites and think WTF. And start liking things you found boring 15 years ago because you’re mature enough and you’re in the right phase etc. Like Russian rock for me - used to think all Russian music was garbage :laughing: cough

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You should listen to marakesh Saint valentina, especially jdat or the self titled track, it’s Ukrainian but ah whatever.

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