People in bands - how often do you listen to your own music?

[LunaVC]

...cos I know people who are in bands who never listen to the music they make as they hate hearing it back. But then they say they are producing their idea of what good music is so I was quite surprised by how many people do this.

[Alchemy]

I listen to my music every day. It might sound good the first 20 times, but when I hear it the 21st time, I might find something that needs to be fixed.

[bug on your lip]

i remember reading once that David Byrne never listened to any Talking Heads album..

that always disturbed me...

[pancakespancakes]

I never listen to it except for above reason stated by Alchemy. Only for constructive purposes. My music just sounds weird to me.

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

I listen to the demos a lot, mainly to take notes on things I want to change or improve.

[Tylerdurden31]

i still listen to my old band's music every once in a while

[psycobetabuckdown]

Kid Rock has said he bumps his music in his car.
Sean Kingston played a concert at my school and afterwards I saw him with some buddies in his limo, bumping his music.
If I recorded music I think I would listen to it for constructive purposes, but maybe if I felt in the mood for it I could stand it. If I was the singer I wouldn't sing along.

[wmgaretjax]

I listen to my music constantly until I have deemed it done. And then I never play it again. At some point you have to move on...

[sonofhal]

Once i'm out of the studio, I hardly ever listen to finished versions of tracks. I've normally already played them around 100 times by then at gigs and rehersals.

[LunaVC]

It's kinder weird, cos like I hate seeing myself on film so if I was an actor I would never watch my own films.

I suppose the same is kinder like a lot of bands. But then surely if you are in band, the music you make is the best music you've heard because it's your ideal of 'perfect music'? So why would you not listen to it? Why make music you didn't dig? Unless you were just a pop star reeling out loads of pop shit for cash?

[sonofhal]

You can make music you like without deeming it perfect.

[Memorial_07]

I only listen to it when we play it. Honest.

[slurpee]

When I was DJing and making mixes I would listen to them.

It was the hot tracks I was enjoying at the time.......

[bballarl]

The amount varies. I listen a lot before songs are finished, sometimes because I think we are awesome and sometimes because I am trying to figure out how to finish a song. Once things are done, I only revisit occasionally, whether for memories or to see where certain things have come from or whatever.

[Alchemy]

It's kinder weird, cos like I hate seeing myself on film so if I was an actor I would never watch my own films.

I suppose the same is kinder like a lot of bands. But then surely if you are in band, the music you make is the best music you've heard because it's your ideal of 'perfect music'? So why would you not listen to it? Why make music you didn't dig? Unless you were just a pop star reeling out loads of pop shit for cash?

It's at least on the road to my idea of "perfection," but my production value isn't as great as I'd like it to be, my voice doesn't always hit the right notes, and sometimes I'll hear a song and then think of something that would make it more "perfect", and so it stops being a "perfect" song all together until I change that.

Also, bumping your music in the car is the best place to bump it. That's how I test my recordings... I think that's how everybody tests their recordings.

[sonofhal]

The car stereo test is essential. Any old crap will sound quite dynamic in an expensive recording studio, but will it hold up on a rather decrepid old sound system in a rusty old shitebucket.

[pancakespancakes]

It's at least on the road to my idea of "perfection," but my production value isn't as great as I'd like it to be, my voice doesn't always hit the right notes, and sometimes I'll hear a song and then think of something that would make it more "perfect", and so it stops being a "perfect" song all together until I change that.

Well said, I completely agree. My music is stylistically my idea of perfect, or moreover, it would be if I had money & time to record it the way I hear it in my head... but in terms of the songs I write, the way I sing, and the way I play my instruments, it's obviously pretty far from "perfect." If it was then I'd probably be a pretty famous musician right now, haha. But in terms of style, it's definitely. Because it's coming from me, it's my own style.

But it's hard for me to just listen to the songs I write as if it was simply a song - it's artistic expression, so that coming from the creator, it's not something that is really enjoyed nor analyzed. If anything, it sounds too weird, because it just sounds too "me." Too personal. Does that make any sense?

I'd never really thought of all this until just now. So thank you for asking such an interesting question...

[Mr.Nipples]

often

[Mr.Nipples]

The car stereo test is essential. Any old crap will sound quite dynamic in an expensive recording studio, but will it hold up on a rather decrepid old sound system in a rusty old shitebucket.

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