It was hard to tell in all that, but does this mean I'm going to start getting laid more or anything like that?

Definitely old school, eh wot?

John T


Load of old dudes talking about how nothing is quite as good as prog rock, is the main thing I'm seeing here. I have to tell you chaps, it's hysterical.

Hey Dawkin's dude ... when are we going to hear your *inspiring* music?  'Can't wait!  Are you a musician or just a ranting cynic (AKA troll)?   Happy Independence Day Mr. Smart!

A few thoughts from a mere stripling...

Some of the music coming out today sounds wonderful to my ears...Lady GaGa's included. I took my niece and nephew to a few concerts around here including Katy Perry's...and, yes, she can sing quite well. The issue here is that in order to be popular one has to cater to that audience that buys the music. That can take quite a toll on one...example? Amy Winehouse...my gods..what a voice she had!

My own taste in music tends to be pretty broad based...everything from NEU to TD to Amy Winehouse(RIP)..to Tiesto to Brahms concertos to Gong to Doc Watson(RIP) to Johnny Cash. That is just who I am...eclectic...

I think you've all got me confused with someone else.  I've never posted a single note to the songs forum here, nor anywhere else. 

This of course says nothing about the others who for all I know are splendid people. I venture that this trying to pull other people's names into your arguments is a bit out of order. 

John T


As for your list of "top drawer producers", I rate Danny very highly as a musician, engineer and human being. And I'm confident he knows that without your intervention, thanks. 

Of the others, I don't really know anything abut them, apart from Ben, who it's no secret I think is a cretin, talentless, and an all round nasty piece of work who should have took the hint and left these boards after at least his first ban, and defintely by his third or fourth or whatever we're now up to. if he's on your list of people you think I should look up to, then your judgement is unimpressive. 

It is those of us who dare to dream, to step out of the box, to push the envelope and to say there is no barrier who end up being judged as difficult, obnoxious, arrogant and yes even a cretin.
 
I go into bat for Philip because he is truly one of the good guys, you would beware your comments towards him because everyone on this board apart from you agree.
 
I don't care what you describe me as, I know where I sit in terms of my talent and am comfortable in my own skin.
 
I have said some off the wall stuff and said some highly rude and contentious stuff. Some of it was deserved in my opinion, some of it wasn't.  I'm use to being hated, loved, then hated again.
 
It is part and parcel of following your own tune.
 
Hmm isn't this what this thread is all about? How to follow your own tune, march to your own drum!
 
Most ordinary talented people fear and reject those that do march to the beat of their own drum, they try and tear that person down.  But those of us who have been beat up before and don't let it effect them, get up, dust off their pants, wipe the blood from their noses and fight back.
 
Who are you Mr.T??, your avatar say's Star Smart, what does this mean.  It sounds somewhat egotistical to me.  At least I have the balls to show who I am, put my title in user name and stand tall for what I believe in.
 
I am wrong sometimes, wow I can admit that I highly doubt you can!!.
 
Rant over sorry Philip.
 
Ben

BenBut if you go without this knowledge, you end up in the homginsed trap because experimentation is frowned upon and it has to be perfect (this is why Danny and I fight) I don't care if it's perfect I care about feel. Do we have a great song???

Actually Ben, after all this time you STILL don't know why we fight. I frown upon something that is expressed by a creator as "great" when to my ears, there is nothing great about it. Everything you do, you blatantly brag about as being great at it. You substitute the word "unique" for the word "greatness". I simply do not. You and a few others have the same issues that you all need to sort out, although you've been a bit more controlled lately.

That issue is, sometimes you come off so strong that you attack others and when you share your tunes, they are far from "great" to the point where you shouldn't EVER attack another individual the way you have at times. I've heard nothing major label sounding from you to where anyone should listen to what you have to say, yet more controversy comes from you and another member I can think of than any two people on this forum. I've seen it, the forum has seen it.

When I attack someone, it is never about me acting like a high and mighty engineer. I share things that work and have worked in the real world and will show an example in a heart-beat to drive my points home while explaining in full. I never annihilate another person's song in a harsh or unjust way. When I attack on this forum, it's because someone attacked me first or felt the need to speak for the sake of a voice that had no credibility. Just think about the people you've seen me fight with in the past on here. Only one had a little credibility...the other three were and still are trouble makers to this day that can't play or mix their way out of a wet paper bag to be telling me or anyone else anything. FACT. Need I say more? 

I speak from real world experience in the field, not text learned in school. I went to recording school AND music school for a bit....it wasn't all that and it's not a necessity. It can help, but no one should be told they have to do it...period. Some of the greatest artists and engineers have 0 training. FACT.

Another thing to keep in mind. The majority of people telling you "your mix is great" are lying to you because:

1. They don't feel like arguing with you because you just will not see anything other than your own image. FACT.

2. It always starts some sort of confrontation that goes on and on and on and it's easier to just tell you what you want to hear. Otherwise, you're like talking to an AI bot with scripted answers. FACT.

Yeah sometimes you come up with decent stuff...but the way you come off on how you've "mastered" everything is yet to be seen in my opinion. I personally think I'm a bit further along in this audio business than you are and I'd NEVER put out the claims that you have put out. See, to you that's ego talking, but it's not. I don't have an ego dude and could care less who is better than me in anything....I've never made the claims that you have! If I had an ego do you think I would spend the time I spend here trying to help and educate people so they they don't buy into the hype? Get real....I'd keep it all to myself. I don't sell myself, I ain't trying to sell my songs or my services, I sell things that work for the price of an internet connection with no other motives.

It's fact that you aren't as perfect as you think you are or your material would show it to more people than just you. You will disagree with me...you always do...but that's fine. Unlike the others that sugar coat their feelings for your mixes, I have those that bust my stones for stupid things that don't even need to be said.....it's easy for me to read between those lines.

When you get popular in anything in life, people will always put you under a microscope...yet with your stuff, it's easier to just say "yeah, nice job". I'm Danny...the guy that always helps everyone.....surely it puts me on a scale of where people need to nitprick my stuff all the time just to feel important. Yet, all the flaws in your stuff and many others go un-noticed and un-mentioned. That's not opinion, that's fact and what I believe and see on here every day.

I'd be willing to bet I'd get 1000 "you're so right Danny" messages here if people decided to speak up. But they don't want to get involved in the confrontation. That's one thing about Pistol Pete that I have to commend. Though he's definitely way too harsh and could be more compassionate, 6 out of 10 times, the dude is telling you what other people don't want to tell you. I do not agree with all of his comments. But on those where I do, he's spot on.

Here's the most important reason we fight Ben:
 
I don't accept "unique" as being a form of being great just because you or someone else decided to step outside the box. And, I do NOT and WILL not feel sorry for you due to your short comings or communication issues with others. There's a difference between "good sounding and unique", and "unique that is sub-par". You to me, fall in the sub par area...sorry to say it, but John T and I share the same opinion about you. You down people for being poppy or predictable or becuase they aren't different like you. If we don't bow down to The Beatles or how they recorded, we're not in your league. If we didn't go to school for music, we aren't at your level. This is how you make people feel dude...and I think it's wrong. THIS is why I fight with you. If you want to be a leader, you have to lead by examples that make people want to listen to you. I don't believe you are at that point yet, sorry.

I know my music and my advice/opinions are not for everyone and I'm fine with that. I never claimed to be great at anything nor have I claimed to be the master of everything. I do what I do...if some like it cool, if not, that's ok too...but ffs, people shouldn't waste time bashing on me when there are others with blatant errors in their tunes where everyone pats them on the back while I and others sit here and cringe. If I changed my name on here, everything changes. But because I'm Danny, every post I put up here will always be at risk for controversy. I've tried it under another name. It's amazing how my haters change when "Danny Danzi" isn't in the signature. Simply amazing.

I don't want to fight with you or anyone else, Ben. At least now you know why *I* argue with you. You have many times posted information on here that was very misleading to others. I don't think that should go unanswered for the simple fact that there are people on here that really want to learn that sometimes can't read between those lines. How many threads have we seen this happen in? Right..several...to the point of banning after. Your fight shouldn't be with anyone other than with yourself. Accept your short-comings and that you aren't so perfect in anything. You're just an artist experimenting and learning the craft. Your as many years from "perfect" as I am.

The day you accept that and try to learn from those that really know what they are talking about who can also lead by sound example is the day you too learn and may be able to talk about this stuff better. But until that time, I and others that feel as I do will argue with you because you simply don't have a clue at times man. School, degree, whatever the case, if I was a new dude coming to this forum and read your forum posts and then listened to your music, you'd have 0 credibility with me. You should never talk youself up to be bigger than you are and most importantly, never talk bigger than you can perform. Curb that and accept your flaws without always sounding elitist, and no one will argue with you other than those who are jealous or voice for the sake of a voice that get off on the entertainment these forums give them.

-Danny

Grant: That is the John T you were referring to. John T, you posted an incredible piece of music via Youtube video a year or so ago...remember? :) My thoughts are exactly the way you mentioned them in post 72, Grant. I felt John was a bit abrasive when he first hit the scene, but I love the guy now and have for quite a while. There are people on this forum for me that wouldn't need to post any audio examples of their work because I just kinda know they know what they are talking about. Sure it always helps to hear a little something, especially if someone acts like a Richard Cranium and doesn't back any of it up. One person comes to mind there..but he's been trying to at least lose the tude and cry out for help in his mixes...so maybe not all hope is lost. But even there, nothing he's posted matches his elite tude he throws at people sometimes. I'm glad a few top forum members like Jonbuoy and a few others had the bawls to say something about it and I wasn't all alone.

Yeah, not sure what the deal is here with stuff that was said before my post to Ben and here...the only thing I can't seem to get my head around is where the old dudes and prog came into the picture. LOL! Thanks to Philip for defending me, but I didn't think John T was talking about me, (wouldn't care if he was actually, but he and I would never disrespect each other) I've never considered myself an old dude and I don't recall making a mention or seeing anything from anyone else about prog? LOL! So that definitely wasn't for me. Hahahaha!

Getting back to the topic at hand though, the only thing I've seen in this thread are people that are passionate about what they believe in as well as what they may consider bland, fake or stereotypical. No one has the right answers no matter how passionate we are. It's too subjective to really even try to pinpoint. Who are we to tell someone Lady G sucks? People like her, she's found her niche, I think she's quite good in a few areas and can see why people would gravitate to her. It's not my thing, but to each his/her own. I personally cannot pass negative judgement on a person that has found a way to be successful in this business. That deserves props right there in my opinion.
 
I'm not crazy about Ben's music....if he became the next star tomorrow, that would not change my opinion. Respect it I do...accept it I do...call it "great" because it or something else is unique, I will never. But if he becomes a millionaire, I have no problems patting him on the back and sharing in his happiness. Even at that, it still wouldn't make him "great" to everyone....including me.

That's the whole problem with the music business. We have too many "uniques" that substitute for "great" because most that earn the unique title...really aren't "good". T-Pain is good at his delivery and what he does to survive...he has his niche...he is not good at being a musician. Madonna is a mediocre musician/singer...take away the sex she sells....she's gone. She needs that whole sex/on edge thing or she can't and will not survive. Maybe now that she has a name, she could scale things back and still make waves a bit...but coming out of the gate without her image and the whole sex thing, no way in hell she'd make it to the try or die bin. To me, she's a unique singer that doesn't have a great voice...but she sings in key. See, that form of unique I can handle. No one sounds like her vocal timbre...she has her own sound...it may not be great, but it's original and it is in key and has moments of "heck yeah, that's cool!"

We can say that about many other artists. However, the day we stop accepting unique as being the new form of "greatness" is the day music will improve on a much wider scale all across the board. Think about it...mainstream pretty much sets up what gets pushed. If this improves, everything improves to an extent. Settle for less in the main areas that are getting pushed, the rest of it will cut corners. Tighten it up and make it better in mainstream, you see more quality in everything else as well. Didn't the grunge era of rock degrade music quality in a sense of production? I think it did and we are still seeing some of the effects of that today.

Sure we needed a change from what we had at that time, and grunge brought lots of other cool things to the table. Drums and bass played more of a role, lead guitar soloing was out, singers didn't need to be pretty boys with golden voices. All well and good...but some of those bands ruined the scene too. If the "in thing" is sort of sub par, it sets the pace for everything else and makes other people sort of jump on that band-wagon to where they may use some of those elements in their material....even if their material is not the same stuff.

For example, if V-Vocal was not offered in Sonar, I would not buy another vocal tuner and would not use one. I bought Auto-tune because I heard it was a better tool. I do not think it is. V-Vocal is just as good for my use if not better. I bought Melodyne simply because of the DNA capabilities. It's way cool, but I use it more for music than correcting vocals. If it didn't have DNA, I'd not use it nor would I have it. Just my take though. I say do what you do...if people like it, cool...if not, if you like it that's all that matters. I don't sit down and try to write "different for the sake of different". I get an idea, I work on it, it becomes a song. If it sounds 60's, 70's 80's something totally new or done before, so be it....it's a song that came out of me that I enjoyed and I'm perfectly fine with that. :)

-Danny

I remember that posting as well of JohnT's....very clean production....and her voice.....oh my!

John T


Heh, you know, I have no idea what you're all talking about. I think I must have been posting drunk. I wonder what song it was.

LOL!! Honest John, it was you...and the song was top notch mate. You had it posted on Youtube. I don't think it had video to go with it...but the song was well done, very orchestrated and the chic singer was awesome. It actually made me smile because at the time, you were a bit blunt in how you carried yourself to others...yet I always had a feeling you knew what you were talking about. When you posted the song, I remember saying "thank God...he can walk the walk and talk the talk!" Hahahaha! You had mentioned that you couldn't share much due to the artists you were working with not allowing that. As a matter of fact, the song you posted wasn't a full song if I remember correctly. It was like half of it. Whatever it was, it was killer even at the lower Youtube stream rate. That was what really impressed me. The more I think about it...the more it comes back to me....maybe something above jogs your memory? I know for sure it was you though because I was quite relieved you didn't suck as an engineer. LOL! :)
 
-Danny