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Current score: 0 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

Current score: 3 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

At that point in my life, I reacted very strongly to anything creative that I thought was stale or copycat, so I completely moved away from the trance scene and stopped producing in that style completely.

It was only relatively recently that I came back to producing trance and worked seriously to get my tracks released, because I learned that we have a fantastically flexible musical form here that can embrace an astonishing variety of interesting styles.

You can have electro trance, minimal trance, 8-bit trance, epic trance, pop trance…anything that is around a certain speed, has a 4×4 kick and is melodically driven is fine! It was really through Gareth Emery’s DJing style that I came back to the genre: he’s someone who’s not afraid of playing anything, but yet manages to craft coherent sets which are really genre-hopping. I don’t agree with some of his tastes, but that’s exactly the point: he delivers a big spread of sounds; I’m GLAD I don’t like all of it.

The legendary DJ John Peel went a step further: he would play music of literally any genre on his radio show. Genre didn’t mean anything to him: nobody has even come close to this in the dance scene.

I’m getting bolder with my productions now, and I want to keep pushing myself to do more innovative things. At the same time, I do want my music to “fit in”, in that people can go to a club, see me play and dance, but that’s about it! Beyond that, anything goes.

Now, where I *do* think some imitation is imporant is on the engineering side. It doesn’t matter how innovative your tracks are if they don’t stand up to others in a sound engineering context. I think that the emphasis has gone far too far this way, and there are some very annoying trends in sound engineering around as well, but also that it’s important for those looking to get innovative material out there to learn from the masters. There is *NOTHING* wrong with copying and imitating mixing and effects tricks: all producers and engineers do this. Good engineers amass a mental “library” of such things: any time you’re in the studio with a decent producer they will do something and say, “Oh, X told me about this” or “Y does this kind of thing in his tunes quite a lot”. I think mixing techniques are in the public domain, and the copying of these is actually beneficial to music. One example might be the side-chained reverb effect which is all over every current trance sound: I actually think this technique really improves certain reverbs, and I’ve taken it and used it in other work (soundtrack pieces for example), where it has got a good reaction. That’s something that I simply stole from the tracks where I first heard it – nothing wrong with that.

So, in summary of my utterly rambling comment: celebrate and innovate within this fantastic genre; but use your natural desire to copy in a productive way, by perpetuating strong engineering techniques.

Current score: 6 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

First of all this is nothing personal – its just conversation!
I have to say that speaking about originality and producing tracks on a laptop in a same sentence gets me almost mad!

Being original in my opinion means staying true to your own beliefs and not taking to the shortest route! I find artists being original when they really use analogue synths, effects, record hi hats from kitchen tools etc to create an unique sound! I don’t think the musical education is always the key. I happen to to know several really talented composers that really don’t know the production side at all. Often you hear not musically educated producers really nailing it! its because they have visions. they dont know all the chords etc. but they really try something new..they aren’t stuck into rules or basic melodies (mainly used in trance btw). Its painful, but true.

About the commercial/superstardom issue. If somebody asks Im not afraid to say I’d love to be “commercial”. Making money with my beloved hobby! what would be more handy? If you want to be underground, you should give away your production for free. If you want to be original you would’t use any booking agencies (cos you would do it for free – right?) or labels to distribute your music. If you have your tracks on itunes, it means you are commercial. If you don’t have them there – Im sure you would love to have them!

About the producers who are imitating the big guys. I don’t really hear that a lot.. I just Hear bad mixing, bad sounds and worst of all bad ideas. I think this amount of shit in the stores aren’t because of bad producers. Its because bad labels. But this is business like there has already been conversation about the issue. Business means rivalry – and rivalry often means cutting out costs and trying to get the most out of the material available.

Peace and love! Be an Original and keep on dancing!

yours truly

Current score: 6 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

Mostly I think that the people who sell their own concept and sound by doing very similar things one track after another, are quite smart. Thats how you create a fan base and also keep them satisfied. Labels can also trust your sound to be consistent considering remixes and stuff. I might stop buyin their tracks cause they dont sound distinctive enough but most people arent like that. And thats a fact that just doesnt seem to change.

I agree that endlessly imitating the sound of the pros is boring, but it is also a way to learn the trade. I honestly admit that my “career” in EDM began with trying to make tracks that sound like the superstars. That’s how I gradually became better at producing and that way i collected ideas from which to derive more original material later on. And i also admit that i observe the scene and trends that come and go, and I would be lying if I said it didnt have an effect on what im producing even today.

I really dont know what my point is in this . Well, originality is great, and if people dig it, even better. Still, its the audience that buys the stuff. If nobody bought the boring imitation then this discussion would not exist. So lets not lay the blame too much on the artists that are making a buck even if we dont think the material is original enough.

Current score: 7 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)

It’s cool that there are original composers and producers out there, since I’ve been missing that originality from music as a whole. Beginning in the wild west of electronic music, the Amiga Scene, it’s been quite a drop in originality when we’ve progressed to club circles and taken our tunes to broader audiences, those who don’t have the “approving ear” of sceners when it comes to sounds and technical limitations of tracks.

Producers nowadays compete with the very best in the business from the beginning. If your track stands out from the Tiëstos and other megastars’ productions with inferior sounds, that is how you will be perceived. Result : a LOT of people strive for technical profess and forget about the compositions along the way. Ffwd to J00f’s post once again.

But why are producers so eager to release new stuff so fucking often, when they should really concentrate more on the quality of their releases? Is it because of some of the labels, who just seem to take a 30 sec listen to some of the demos they get, and put it out there in the next mass email? Is it because the neighbouring producer does it ; puts out 10 god damn tracks a year, 20 maybe? Is it because it’s all about keeping the name out there? IDK. But it should be addressed that most producers should really just put out less stuff, more gems.

The result would be that maybe the most talented producers would really stand a chance at being noticed, and not just get trampled by those who have the time or ability to find the right contacts. The scene would benefit in the long run, because all DJ’s wouldn’t have to go through endless shithills of average promos, get bored, and then just find the banging tracks that everyone else are playing by going through the Top 100 @ Beatport.

It’s good that basically everyone has a chance to have a go at producing these days, but I wish that more label bosses would do what John has done : put a fucking cork in it and really just release the 10 / 10 stuff so the rest of us wouldn’t have to marvel at the lack of originality.

Rant over…. for now.

Current score: 6 (to vote for this comment, please visit the site)