How do you feel towards your own music?

[Bejack]

I don't know where to start with this train of thoughts i have right now so i suppose i'll start with my job...

So at work there are these 3 guys to whom i told i make music as a hobby and they asked me to listen to it so i gave them a usb stick with what i considered my better stuff. I wasn't really expecting anything at all but they came back to me the day after and they told me that it was awesome and they liked it a lot (no they were not playing a bad joke on me ). But in my mind i'm like "it's not that great if you would listen to other instrumental music out there you would know". I politely say "thank you i'm glad you appreciate it" even though i don't really share this feeling of my music being awesome.

I like to make music. I know i'm not very good but composing music is something constructive i can do with my time and when i finish a project i have a bit of satisfaction. I don't mind uploading my music on the web for the whole world to listen to but i'm extremely shy and nervous when i show it to people i personally know. Part of that must be from a lack of confidence about my music making skills. Another thing that i have been thinking is maybe because i create the track from scratch i don't like it as much as they do because i'm not discovering anything new. You know like new music is always fun to listen to because you discover something different. Usually i am happy with a new track i have made for a couple of days, sometimes weeks but then i get bored of it and i want to create something new again.

This might come off as "weepy" if i can use that term but let me assure you i am not in that state of mind at all. I just think alot about the things i do. Maybe my fear of rejection from my peers is greater than i think it is. Maybe i'm being too harsh on myself. Maybe i think too much...

So i would like to know how you girls and guys feel about your own music. Do you present your music with a ton of confidence, almost in a cocky way i could say, do you present it like you would any other song or do you not present it at all to people you know and keep your music a private thing? Was there ever a time where you felt something similar than what i have described? If so how did you deal with it?

[Argle]

It's aight. Better than a poke in the eye. I almost never share it with anyone though.

[Yami]

Well, I'm still in a learning process, and if I manage to make something halfway decent I might share it with closer friends (some of them make music themselves), and with the workshop forums. Ok, I have some followers on my soundcloud who might stumble across what I've done as well... But of all maybe 10 things I make I only share 1, so the quota is rather thin, but the ones which I think are decent, I mostly like myself

Edited July 6, 2014 by Yami

[timaeus222]

I used to think my old music was good. Now I know it's not, because these days I have a more objective perspective on my own music, even though I wrote it, since I'm a sound designer. I don't present my music arrogantly, but I don't think it's bad either. If I've worked on something a lot, then I'll mention that with more enthusiasm than something that took a few days to finish. I just polish my music until I'm happy with it. That's pretty much it.

[Nabeel Ansari]

My old music was a lot better.

[Frederic Petitpas]

For some reason I think some of my music is awesome on some aspects yet sucks on other (a good compo with terrible production or the exact inversion). I never share anything either and what I "have on the net" is not what I am musically. Most of my good stuff is incomplete songs or sketches, like way over a thousand. I accept more my music than before as some sort of "discharge system" and melting pot of thoughts/emotions, but whenever I show it to people I'm always shy/uncertain.

[Garrett Williamson]

I've always been really proud of my work, but I've become more and more happy with it over the years, obviously because I've improved dramatically. There are some aspects of my old work that I'm still really proud of but I easily notice how much I've improved since then. But if it's not something I want to hear, I don't release it anywhere.

I finish and release what I think is better than what I'm hearing compared to it. Obviously I'm not going to compare myself to the absolute genius King of Pop Michael Jackson, but if there's something that's slightly bothering me about one of his songs that also plays a part in a track of mine (for instance, the kick or snare) or just something that I'm like "hmm, how can I make this better?" or "hmm, how would I specifically want to hear this to satisfy me?," that's the type of stuff that I work hard on. I try and pull off something that will satisfy me more and additionally make me want to constantly have my music on replay and still love it. That's when I know I've got something good.

Speaking of Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson's motto was "study the greats and become greater" and that's basically become my biggest motto when working on music. Even if I were never to gain any huge success, I would much rather make music that I'll feel really great about. I'm honestly a really hard-to-please guy and I'm not easily impressed so I push my music as far as I can go with it until it's as perfect as I can possibly get it. I'm a huge quality over quantity guy. I won't release anything if I don't feel it's quality enough.

Now, if I'm required to do some music for someone else and I've got a tight deadline and a serious time crunch, I try my absolute hardest to make it the best it can be but since I don't have all the time in the world, I have to just get it done by the deadline and make it as good as I can. I'll obviously request a few extra days if what I've got is not something I'm even relatively ok with, but if that can't happen, you do what you gotta do.

Another pain is being the over-perfectionist I am. I'll think I've got it just right, release it to the world, and by the time it's too late to take it back, there's something I hear that I wanna fix. It's just how it goes. Hahahaha

But yeah, without sounding as arrogant as possible, I feel really great towards my work. Sometimes I don't like what I have so then I'll try and see how I can really improve it or I'll just start over and try something completely different. But I never ever go full throttle with a song that I do not feel really confident about, unless it's something like the whole deadline situation.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Garrett Williamson

[Final Kingdom]

I'm still not very good at making music, but ever since I tried my hand at a few compos here, I improved since when I started. The improvements might not be obvious to some, but the concrit and encouragement from members of the forum put me in a good mindset, which has helped me make better music. I usually don't show people my music unless they're very important to me, but even then that's rare. When I'm more confident in my abilities I might show more people, but otherwise, I'm sticking to SoundCloud. I'd rather be judged by a complete stranger than my dearest of friends.

Right now, my music is 'meh' at best, but I know that if I try hard enough and I continue learning different skills, I'll make music that's good enough for my standards.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

My production sucks.

[Necrox]

My production sucks.

I find this funny for some reason. Making good music is finding a diamond in the rough for me.

[MindWanderer]

Mostly I'm frustrated with my own work. I know it's not very good; I feel like I have a ton of ideas that I don't have the chops to execute the way it sounds in my head. I have no dreams of every becoming pro-quality; I just want to get to a point where I can take my ideas and put them into a form good enough for other people to appreciate. And getting something past the OCR judges' panel seems like a good goal to shoot for on that front.

So at work there are these 3 guys to whom i told i make music as a hobby and they asked me to listen to it so i gave them a usb stick with what i considered my better stuff. I wasn't really expecting anything at all but they came back to me the day after and they told me that it was awesome and they liked it a lot (no they were not playing a bad joke on me ). But in my mind i'm like "it's not that great if you would listen to other instrumental music out there you would know". I politely say "thank you i'm glad you appreciate it" even though i don't really share this feeling of my music being awesome.

Do be aware that:

1) People do often say this kind of thing because they think it's polite. It takes a lot of guts to tell an artist you know as a friend that you don't like their work.

2) These people are looking at your work in a specific context. This is people who you told you dabble in music, so they were looking at in that light. They weren't expecting pro quality. They probably weren't even expecting "people will actually pay me some money if I put this on BandCamp" quality. So by that measure, they'd be impressed by a level of quality you're not pleased at in yourself.

I don't mean to be harsh, just keep in mind what someone's praise actually means.

[Skrypnyk]

My production sucks.

I actually like my production, I just don't think I can write worth a damn.

[HoboKa]

Always second guessing my stuff and am definitely a very harsh critic of my own works; guess I'm still a little insecure about it. Could be because I have 15+ rejections on the panel, yet I still find reasons to continue lmao. There was a time when I couldn't take any criticism at all and thought it was on a personal level, but I've learned to cope with it and even try to learn from my mistakes (mostly). The only thing I regret is that I have a lot of half-finished works that I never completed, because I felt they wouldn't be good enough to finish. I hope one day I can be at peace with myself, but I'm not quite there yet.

Also, I probably need to practise more to begin with - still spend way too much time playing videogames

Edited July 7, 2014 by HoboKa

[Bejack]

I used to think my old music was good. Now I know it's not...

Same here and i suppose that in a few months/years i will have the same thoughts about the music i am making today because hopefully i will keep getting better as i go along. It's kind of a vicious circle though and at some point i will have to be more objective as well and tell myself "well that was not bad at all" or "hey part of that song really rocked" instead of having this weird feeling that something has got to be "automatically" wrong...

I've always been really proud of my work, but I've become more and more happy with it over the years, obviously because I've improved dramatically.

But yeah, without sounding as arrogant as possible, I feel really great towards my work.

Maybe i need another "over the years" and see how that goes. You don't sound arrogant at all. I really liked your post and sounds to me like you are very proud of your music which is a good thing.

Mostly I'm frustrated with my own work. I know it's not very good; I feel like I have a ton of ideas that I don't have the chops to execute the way it sounds in my head. I have no dreams of every becoming pro-quality; I just want to get to a point where I can take my ideas and put them into a form good enough for other people to appreciate. And getting something past the OCR judges' panel seems like a good goal to shoot for on that front.

Do be aware that:

1) People do often say this kind of thing because they think it's polite. It takes a lot of guts to tell an artist you know as a friend that you don't like their work.

2) These people are looking at your work in a specific context. This is people who you told you dabble in music, so they were looking at in that light. They weren't expecting pro quality. They probably weren't even expecting "people will actually pay me some money if I put this on BandCamp" quality. So by that measure, they'd be impressed by a level of quality you're not pleased at in yourself.

I don't mean to be harsh, just keep in mind what someone's praise actually means.

Yeah sometimes things sound awesome in my head as well but it doesn't translate as well to the DAW. I guess this means more practice is and always will be necessary.

About 1), i have seen the difference between people who awkwardly tell me "yeah it's ok" compared to my work buddies that showed more interest and they instigated discussions about my music which was nice but weird for me. I think it is related to your second point as to the way they approached it compared to the way i do.

I don't see you coming as harsh at all and your input can help me see things differently

Always second guessing my stuff and am definitely a very harsh critic of my own works; guess I'm still a little insecure about it. Could be because I have 15+ rejections on the panel, yet I still find reasons to continue lmao. There was a time when I couldn't take any criticism at all and thought it was on a personal level, but I've learned to cope with it and even try to learn from my mistakes (mostly). The only thing I regret is that I have a lot of half-finished works that I never completed, because I felt they wouldn't be good enough to finish. I hope one day I can be at peace with myself, but I'm not quite there yet.

Also, I probably need to practise more to begin with - still spend way too much time playing videogames

Don't give up. I used to take criticism the wrong way when i began uploading my stuff on newgrounds (a long time ago). Even the most constructive criticism.

I on the other hand have very few unfinished projects, i don't like to leave things hanging and i am to stubborn to not finish a project but there are exceptions. Like that chrono trigger thing i tried a few months ago that was very bad. From time to time my brain still sends me "musical information" about that attempted remix and other ways i could do that song.

It's not really my business but i think you should finish those projects you got, they could end up totally different than how you started.

Thanks everyone for your input and if you have more feel free to share

[Esperado]

I definitely think its hard to tell a freind that you dont like the work theyve done, so mindwanderer is spot on with that. Another thing to keep in mind, is that if they dont make music, they probably dont notice all of your mistakes. I can think of plenty of songs that i loved before making my own music, that i realized were pretty amateur AFTER learning how to make music. Perspective plays a definite role in how others view your work.

As for my own music, it depends on the day. Some days i love it, other days i wonder if i should keep making music.

[timaeus222]

I definitely think its hard to tell a freind that you dont like the work theyve done, so mindwanderer is spot on with that. Another thing to keep in mind, is that if they dont make music, they probably dont notice all of your mistakes. I can think of plenty of songs that i loved before making my own music, that i realized were pretty amateur AFTER learning how to make music. Perspective plays a definite role in how others view your work.

Yeah, that's definitely the key here. Your mistakes are much less accessible to people who don't write or mix music (producing is both combined, btw), or even people who just began for a few weeks. Sure, you can put your music up on newgrounds and soundcloud and all that, but just remember that if the person who gave you feedback is someone you don't know, you really can't be sure how objective they actually are, so I wouldn't take feedback on either of those two websites too seriously unless you know the person well enough to have a rough idea of where they are in the music producing process (and even that's hard enough).

If someone says a vague comment, like "that sounds cool", "nice", "sounds neat", and so on, it's almost like cooking feedback that says such things as "this tastes delicious", "this has nice flavors", "I like it", and so on ("This is the best [meal name] I've ever had" is a bit of a step up IMO). Those kinds of comments are merely descriptors of how in awe they are. I found a cool definition of awe a few months back:

When “a person perceives something…conceptually vast…and the vast thing cannot be accommodated by the person’s existing mental structures. …[T]hey feel small, powerless, passive, and receptive.

So when someone says something like that, even if it's not nice, then just thank 'em and move on. Not much depth to think too much about there.

Not to say that you shouldn't consider those people, though. If you satisfy them, then it tends to mean you have an arrangement that's easily likable or memorable.

Edited July 7, 2014 by timaeus222

[theshaggyfreak]

Composing music is a continuous learning process. No one person is able to master every single aspect but I do think it's important to strive towards a well balanced background. With that being said, I never feel unhappy with anything that I write. I try to create the best music that I can at the moment that I'm writing it. If I can do that, then I feel that I've accomplished something. I think that it shows when you write a piece of music that you don't enjoy.

[Hypnotikid]

I am not a musician, or a DJ but I do like to experiment with sounds.

I never show anything I make to my friends or anybody I know irl. I just throw it online, hold my breath, and hope for the best.

As for me about my own music: I don't like to listen to it because it feels a bit boastful. It is an uneasy feeling, and sometimes I even skip it.

I throw it online for others to hear, and criticize as they see fit. I then take it down to find a way to improve it. I do get sidetracked sometimes by another idea and make a new sample but I always come back to what I take down.

But yeah as for the OT:

I do not like to boast or play my own music because it feels weird to me lol.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Yeah, that's definitely the key here. Your mistakes are much less accessible to people who don't write or mix music (producing is both combined, btw), or even people who just began for a few weeks. Sure, you can put your music up on newgrounds and soundcloud and all that, but just remember that if the person who gave you feedback is someone you don't know, you really can't be sure how objective they actually are, so I wouldn't take feedback on either of those two websites too seriously unless you know the person well enough to have a rough idea of where they are in the music producing process (and even that's hard enough).

I don't make music for musicians. I make music for people who like to listen to music.

[Eino Keskitalo]

I like to listen to my own stuff. I have a playlist of my finished VGM rearrangements and it's an album's worth of music. Not only does that give a nice sense of accomplishment, but I like to listen to them in themselves. Turns out I actually make music that I like!

I've also put together a playlist of my unfinished VGM rearrangements. There's so much stuff there that's it's almost not even funny anymore. That pile is kind of fun to listen through since quite a bit of it is pretty close to finished, it gives the illusion that it's easy to make that first playlist bigger. If that makes any sense.

I've been making music since 1996, but I've only reached a level where my music really clicks after working on this stuff around OCR for a couple of years - for one thing, the submission standards have forced me to work on production and that's allowed me to be able to put together fully realized presentable pieces of music. I'm not listening to my older stuff.

It would be nice to put together original music that I could stand to listen to myself. Another goal would be putting together vocals that I could stand to listen to myself.

I'm happy to have at least three friends in real life whose comments are tangibly helpful (they're honest and critical) so I'll try to always play my stuff to them. No-one I personally know is particularly enthusiastic about hearing my stuff, that would be pretty ego-boosting. I sometimes put my stuff on when people are visiting but I don't think I'm forcing it on anyone, I hope..

I really enjoy making music, that's the most important part. It really does help me that OCR provides a framework of sorts, a community and an (idea of) audience, plus a musical and cultural framework to where I can place my work into. I've noticed I need that sort of a context and some kind of an outlet where other people can (theoretically) hear it, I don't seem to make music completely for the sake of it or just for myself. But it doesn't also seem to really matter if lots of people hear or like it or not. I think that to satisfy my ego in that way I would need to get something like dozens of comments every day and that sort of attention would be scary in another way. It's good to get a few valuable comments every now and then that actually help you to become better at making music.

[Esperado]

As for me about my own music: I don't like to listen to it because it feels a bit boastful. It is an uneasy feeling, and sometimes I even skip it.

Personally, that's the best part of asking music . Standing back and really listening to a mix after working on it for hours. There's something special about that

[jnWake]

I like my music. I've been writing music for a decent amount of time so I'm pretty happy with my arranging skills, which doesn't mean I don't try to learn new stuff whenever I can! Almost every time I listen to music I notice stuff that I don't do in my music and then try to incorporate it into my style. I'm not as happy with my mixing though, I don't think it's horrible but there's a noticeable difference between how my songs sound and songs produced by people with more experience do... But I'm working on it and hopefully I'll share my completely original music here sometime!

Edited July 8, 2014 by jnWake

[XPRTNovice]

This question is exactly where my handle came from.

[Flexstyle]

I make music that I like. What's the point of making it, otherwise?

[Nabeel Ansari]

I make music that I like. What's the point of making it, otherwise?

Being a nice guy to your dorm mates for their engineering project.