Who here hates Overproductive Music?

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Here is what Overproductive music means: Wikipedia
I know I do. People today, are using so much Electronic mash-ups, Auto-Tune, and so much nonsense in lyrics, that drives me red hot mad angry . I mean, whatever happened to real music, huh?! Like the 70's, or the 80's, or the 90's, or the early 00's? This kind of Overproductive music and fad (yes, I said "Fad") needs to stop, sooner or later. It is because of that, that I listen to Underground Hip Hop, 90's R&B, and Punk Rock (the best one).

For me, I try to balance things out some. I'll listen to Perry Como and music from the 40s and 50s and even a little tiny bit of classical and a good amount of jazz (mostly jazz fusion, though.) For me, it's more intent than the actual thing itself. Like, I like when Perfume uses autotune, as they do it with intentions of making their voice sound slightly robotic for their music just as part of the imagery of the music they're making. But, I don't like when most American pop uses it, as they do it to cover up deficiencies in their voice.

So yeah, for me, production in music comes down to intent. If it's being used to polish a turd, I don't like it, if it's being used to create gold, then I do like it. For me, it's all just new technology. New technology changes the landscape, think of the acoustic guitar vs the electric guitar. Arguably, an acoustic requires more talent to play well, but they both work out to having different purposes in music for different types of music, you can't do the same things with each guitar. I see people complain about autotune or synthesizers, but they never complain about electric guitars. Electric guitars were complained about in the 50s, though, and now that I listen to some music from before rock and roll, I can see where they got their concerns from about rock and roll. But, life goes on, and now with the internet I can just listen to whatever I want all the time unless I'm in a public place like a store or something. Due to that, the trends of popular music no longer really affect me.

Overproduced. Music that's had too much done to it. Overproductive music would be music that creates too much. It's never bothered me at all.

I don't like overproduced music either. I once listened to a song that was beautiful but made me feel uneasy. I recall it was of the melodic metal genre. It was like walking through a barren landscape. It had no warmth. It was sonically flawless. Where's the fine line between real (as in mistakes, human touch, extraneous sounds, etc) and flawless?

I don't like it either, but to be honest, I can't stand this "return to the 80's" crap either. The 80's was overproduced too, only it wasn't to the same degree as now, plus there's the nostalgia factor. The 90's was SO much better.

80's music was overproduced, but it was AWESOME. We DO need to go back to the 80's in terms of good quality music, and there be tons of totally rad 80s-ish music being made now. I thought the 90s sucked because of so much 70s retro being made. I'm still not crazy about later Madonna because of that 70s synth thing she favored. But songs like "Like a Prayer," Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, and so forth were really nice whether overproduced or not.

I'm a synth player/programmer, and I own a Synclavier PSMT, and I also am using a Yamaha TX7 and TX802 in a project I'm working on at the moment. I also have a Roland alpha Juno that is still recognized for its bass sounds and the "Hoover" sound. Admittedly I'm a bigger fan of 80s metal than synth-pop and dance music, but the beauty of bands like Kraftwerk and the influence they had over more mainstream acts is undeniable. Heavy guitars, FAT synths, inclusion of drum machines/latin percussion, horn sections, close vocal harmonies makes for some good listening IMO.

As for what I DON'T like: Heavy autotune use is fine for musical effect, but it's WAY overdone. What I prefer instead is just using a vocoder. Even less than with autotune, you don't even need singing ability for a vocoder to work. I love music that is 80s influenced, but at the same time I don't like music that is TOO retro. The music business as a whole seems to take a "less-is-more" mentality in recent years, and the few big producers I've talked to all say the same thing: Do NOT send a finished product as a demo. All the record companies want from singer-songwriters is voice-piano, voice-guitar, or if you record your band it needs to be more a trio sound. One thing I really miss is the instrumental break (guitar solo) which hit its zenith in the 80s and has since disappeared. I can understand the reasoning behind it, but I fear it has bred a generation of musicians totally lacking in proficiency on their instruments.

*cough*Britney Spears*cough*

I can't stand listening to her music, because her voice is tampered with and she sings about sex all the time. The world doesn't revolve around getting drunk at a sh***y party and having sex with someone you don't even know. Sure, it was good about 11 years ago, but lets grow up America.

I've never really run into seriously 'overporduced' music; just genuinely crappy music or music I didn't particularly care for. Sure, there's a lot of music out there where the producers and artists made some poor choices and layered on more effects and pointless instrumentation than they needed to, but that was probably to cover up a lack of talent, anyway.

One artist who's admitted to over-producing his music is Klayton, the guy behind the band Celldweller. Though, he knows when to cut stuff out when there's just too much going on in a song, and knows when and where to build it back in if he thinks it'll still work with the rest of the song. He's also a genuinely good singer, on top of that.

I vote this topic is completely subjective and meaningless.

Whatever do you mean?

What gets defined as "overproduced" is a subjective judgement. I like electronic effects if they are used creatively and help set the mood of a piece of music. I don't like otherwise simple pop music where the studio production is only used to make it sound more "perfect".

I also like electronic music and effects. When is separated and original of course. But when electro mashes up with any music genre, is not good to me. Is music fail.

ummmmh. i don't know how to reply to that..

I listen to everything. The only thing I think needs to stop is bands wanting to be like other bands or at least feed on being compared, gangster rap that encourages sexism and violence, very young artists already being exposed to sexual promiscuity and therefore imposing it on their listeners and that's about it. actually yes i am aware that's a lot to expect as an answer to this, but I hope a few people quote on what I say or agree on what I said in their heart of hearts. i am also aware i went off subject but seriously! Just sayin'........

i do agree with you but i have to say this as a compliment 1000Knives; it's funny about your signature below because wouldn't it be great for a 21st century girl to ace playing guitar herself just as good as Jimi Hendrix or Slash? i probably missed a girl who may be out there but hey, where's the originality in females doing alt-rock these days to begin with? if anything, original music could start with something like a guy or all girl band led by a killer female guitar player. Oh, but we live in such a tormented musical culture...

So you would say bands like Radiohead make overproduced music?

My sig is from CS Lewis's The Screwtape Letters it's a book where demons discuss how to tempt a person. Very interesting, and "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" too, bit of a short read, I love that chapter, though. Here it is if you wanna read it.

As far as girls who are really good guitarists. They exist, just it's not seen often for a variety of factors. One example I've seen, if you watched the Michael Jackson "This Is It" rehearsal/movie, his lead guitarist is a girl actually. It happens, girls can do well at it, just it's rare. Same with, say, girl race car drivers and male gymnasts and figure skaters. Much less girls and guys get into those respective sports, so less are known in each. Think of how many male figure skaters and female race car drivers you can name off the top of your head? They exist, and if they try, usually do quite well in their respective sports, but it's just cultural roles influence it. One funny thing with figure skating, figure skating used to be a male dominated sport in the beginning, and women were actually discouraged from doing it, times change, cultural expectations change, etc. But, the adage "The more things change, the more things stay the same."

I love pulling this quote from Ecclesiastes out, too.



and then, also from Solomon, in Ecclesiastes...