Off Topic: The Flood
This topic has moved here: Subject: Electronic music is harder to create than acoustic music
  • Subject: Electronic music is harder to create than acoustic music
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • of 4
Subject: Electronic music is harder to create than acoustic music
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

My high-school music teacher despised electronic music, saying anybody could do it and as such, it wasn't worth a damn. To demonstrate he got us all to make some music on computers, and of course, none of us could, because we didn't have prior experience. I think he got a bit confused, electronic music production is far more accessible than others, and as such you can have a bunch of children who aren't educated in music theory making some pretty pleasing sounds, giving the illusion it takes no "skill" to produce, and that anybody can do it.

I think anybody can do anything if they have the honest desire to do it. Anybody can learn any instrument if they put their mind to it, and anybody can learn how to produce electronic music. However, knowing how to play or produce isn't the same as knowing how to do it well. It's why we don't have a million Mozarts, or other highly proclaimed musicians, but we do have millions of musicians.

Whether electronic music is harder to produce than acoustic music is bit of a silly question because we have no scale of "hardness" to measure each activity against, and so there's no definite answer. An expert traditional musician might be a smash making electronica, or he might be dismal at it. What does either scenario really prove?

  • 01.07.2013 9:33 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Posted by: Qbix89
Talking about Sweden is an ultrabannable offense.

Posted by: Achronos
Too bad being completely and utterly wrong isn't a bannable offense.

Posted by: AgentCOP1
I think Recon got it on the nail. Acoustic is in my opinion a lot harder to make and takes tons more talent to make a true masterpiece. For some reason OP, you think that electronic music takes more understanding of musical theory, and I think that's just laughable. Yes, it does take a lot, but to manipulate say a guitar or piano where you can literally have 5-10 things going on at the same time and think of each individual thing AT the same time takes immeasurable talent and hard work. Plus, electronic music takes away the human aspect of music since all of the sound is manifested by a computer. You can't really put your heart, soul and emotion into it as you can acoustic. It's almost superficial and cold. I have experience with both electronic and acoustic song writing, and although I do enjoy electronic music, it just sometimes seems too cold and fake for me to enjoy. Also, in a lot of electronic music, there aren't very many lyrics, and the lyrics that are in it are just simple words or phrases. It's not saying anything.

The best examples of where acoustic does infinitely better in lyrics is "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkle, and "Hotel California" by The Eagles. If you really take the time to dissect what they're saying in those songs, it really hits you deep and makes you think. With electronic, there's hardly any thinking involved. It's just mindless listening. It's not evoking thought.

There are just an infinite number of things I could go over why acoustic is better, but it would take too much time.
I don't find this to be superficial and cold.

There's a lot you have to put into making your electronic music sound good. I've heard many songs that are just off, made by random people on Youtube.

Honestly, I feel like to make good electronic music you need to have a very good feel for it. Getting those good harmonies together is not something anyone can do.


As to those saying that playing it live is not as good, in some cases that's true, but in a lot of cases, it isn't. Madeon is a pretty awesome artist, and I'm fairly sure he's playing all that from memory or just making it up as he goes along. He's gotta coordinate all aspects of the music by himself as well, which takes a lot of multitasking to keep track of. Electronic artists that do it like he does live are truly deserving of respect.

  • 01.07.2013 9:52 PM PDT

  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • of 4