How d’ya know you’re not awful at making music?

Do you ever make finish a track, and at the very end you think" man this is trash" and send it to the recycling bin? How do you know whats good and what isnt? Its almost impossible to get decent feed back on music. Ive been a producer for over 10 years. Guys, I still dont know if im any good. I wanna build a brand for myself and start marketing, but am I good enough? What things kind of things happen in order for a producer to know hes a good producer? Ive had feed back, never been told im aweful, but how do you know if your good enough?

I put all my finished tunes in a folder. Then I wait 6 months or so and then listen to them again. If I still like them 6 months later I’ll upload the tune or test it on radio or send it out to djs depending on genre.

P.s I very rarely like them 6 months later

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Even if it’s garbage to you it may be a great tune to others. Half of the tunes I made are shit to me haha

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word, a recent tune i got a lot of good response on was just something i made to test sounds from Kontakt player and i was pretty indifferent to it

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I go through periods of liking my stuff and then hating it, then liking it again, then hating it again etc… I don’t know if that’s significant

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Happens to me aswell

It’s probably best to start making stuff you like yourself first before moving to promoting it. If even you don’t like it then no hope really.

Mind you saying that The Sex Pistols were manufactured apparently and hated what they did lol

1 BigUp

Same.

Im fully certain your stuff, if you enjoy making it, is going to be better than some shit that is released
being professional really doesnt mean anything

just make tunes tunes tunes tunes
finish every project

1 BigUp

all I know is that my attitude towards my own output is entirely dependent on my mood or the opinion of others. if Im ina shit mood and I listen to my own tune all I hear is cheesy melodies and chords, shit mixing and poor sound design. on the other hand an encouraging word from someone can make a tune sound really good to my ears

1 BigUp

If you can’t tell if you’re not awful at making music then I would recommend prioritizing mixdowns. You can rate your mixdowns against other songs by comparing audio waveforms in Serato/spectral analysis, using your song in a DJ mix and listening back, etc. Once you reach diminishing return with your mixdown, then prioritize a different element of your productive process. By that point if it’s still awful it will likely only be due to personal opinion and not a technicality like a poor mixdown. That should help you be more confident with what you’re releasing, I know it did for me.

Disclaimer: One or more elements of a song may be so good that it renders a sub par mixdown as moot. Maybe not so much in electronic music, but this is especially true for genres like Black Metal. Some of my favorite dubstep tunes from the earlier days have pretty bad mixdowns.

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personally i measures my music talent by the average soundcloud bot likes i get per track

im a solid 2

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Just make sure your enjoying what you do fam. The “bangers” will come just keep working. Also if you like it then that’s all that really matters.

1 BigUp

no it isn’t because only reason anyone makes music is to get respect and recognition from other people and if you claim otherwise, cut the bs no-ones buying ya. if you like it but no one else does then it can’t possibly give you any pleasure

That’s your opinion mate. Everyone is diff.

1 BigUp

no one except me hears 95% of the shit I make lol

1 BigUp

It’s still a good sentiment even though duh everyone wants validation

Think u were joking tho lol

1 BigUp

I think so too now that I read it again lol good vibes

I wrote it in a provocative and joking manner but at the core it’s the truth in my opinion. I think most music is driven primarily by the need for validation, and all the talk about “doing what I like” is just empty cliches. no one besides myself hears 99% of the stuff Im working on either but still the main driving force behind why I want to make music is definitely to get some sort of accomplishment at some point of getting tunes released and played by DJs.

this doesn’t devaluate it in any way however, if a person is creative and skilled enough the results can still be amazing regardless what motivates them.

either this or I’m just a really shallow simpleton lol

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I would disagree.
I think creativity can exist for it’s own sake, for the pure pleasure it brings the creator.
Not everything is a capitalist exercise in validation.

Recognition and financial boon is a fantastic plus, but I don’t think it’s always a (subconcious) motivator.
I suppose it depends more on the cynicism of the observer.

Interesting point tho.

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