How do you judge music?

[travbrad1001]

I don't usually put numbers or grades to music. I just describe.

 

Utter shite vomit crap avoid at all costs up to an almost perfect masterpiece!

 

Isn't "shit" or "masterpiece" basically a grade? It just uses words instead of numbers

 

Anyway, I don't really use any certain "rules" to judge music. I simply listen to it. Some stuff just sounds good to me, some sounds bad. It varies over time though, and even from day to day. I might not like a song at all, then I'll hear it a few months later and love it.

 

There's not really any certain criteria I look for. I like some very complex music, some very simple, or anywhere in-between. I like music using all sorts of different scales (or even ignoring scales/music theory).

[Otto Matta]

Mainly from the feeling it gives me, and I especially love being transported by music. If it's not taking me anywhere - if my feet are still firmly planted - then it's no good for me. Escapist music FTW. And if I can obsess about it for weeks, where it shapes and colors my existence, then it's a solid winner. Meanwhile I'll listen to it analytically, but that usually doesn't factor into liking it or not.

[abasio]

What makes the difference between shit and masterpeice?! There must be a criteria.

Most important is feeling, then creativity, arrangement then production! But an album must have feeling, if there is no feeling then there is nothing the rest can do to make up for it.

[RAH]

Taste aside, we can find a number of qualities that permeate general judgement and transpire genders. For many of us, these qualities are present yet the importance of each is very different. When you hear music that takes all these qualities and holds them sufficiently high as to please everyone, we find the 'good stuff.'

 

for me, a few things are paramount:

 

- head-rocking factor: If my neck makes involuntary movements front to back we got promising things... can't really make it stop not matter how ridiculous it look, but is a like a personal compass.

 

- quality/production: Make sure those three years of sound engineering school are felt in frequency spectrum, i want my speaker's worth. It's true you can have perfectly shit music with huge quality standards, but you can also ruin a great track by not really backing it up with the proper 'bandwidth' - so to speak.

 

- Innovation: I assume you are expressing yourself with music because you have something original and interesting to say. Otherwise, no point preaching to choir.

 

- Cinematic: Really good music usually makes you forget you are there listening to something, it evokes memories, feelings, it moves you... and not only for its sweetness.

 

- timelessness: Every now and again I encounter such great music it is best not to hear it over and over and over again, only every now and again because i want the feeling to last, almost as if i'm controlling the dopamine levels with it. I don't really grow bored of it, because there's enough complexity and love in the production to keep discovering new things, maybe it just simply rings a bell inside which I don't tire. It's a really ethereal quality, but most important to distinguish the good from great. Sometimes, a specific track carries through memories or feelings of past times and it might not be great, but for on a personal level it is difficult not sigh when you hear it.

 

Last time this happened with 'new' material was probably few months ago with Sonar Kollektiv Orchester (Âme) - Rej ... what an amazing remix ... damn... you know that one is made to last.

[Otto Matta]

Taste aside, we can find a number of qualities that permeate general judgement and transpire genders. For many of us, these qualities are present yet the importance of each is very different. When you hear music that takes all these qualities and holds them sufficiently high as to please everyone, we find the 'good stuff.'

 

for me, a few things are paramount:

 

- head-rocking factor: If my neck makes involuntary movements front to back we got promising things... can't really make it stop not matter how ridiculous it look, but is a like a personal compass.

 

- quality/production: Make sure those three years of sound engineering school are felt in frequency spectrum, i want my speaker's worth. It's true you can have perfectly shit music with huge quality standards, but you can also ruin a great track by not really backing it up with the proper 'bandwidth' - so to speak.

 

- Innovation: I assume you are expressing yourself with music because you have something original and interesting to say. Otherwise, no point preaching to choir.

 

- Cinematic: Really good music usually makes you forget you are there listening to something, it evokes memories, feelings, it moves you... and not only for its sweetness.

 

- timelessness: Every now and again I encounter such great music it is best not to hear it over and over and over again, only every now and again because i want the feeling to last, almost as if i'm controlling the dopamine levels with it. I don't really grow bored of it, because there's enough complexity and love in the production to keep discovering new things, maybe it just simply rings a bell inside which I don't tire. It's a really ethereal quality, but most important to distinguish the good from great. Sometimes, a specific track carries through memories or feelings of past times and it might not be great, but for on a personal level it is difficult not sigh when you hear it.

 

Last time this happened with 'new' material was probably few months ago with Sonar Kollektiv Orchester (Âme) - Rej ... what an amazing remix ... damn... you know that one is made to last.

Wow, man, great list! I relate to these points. Yeah, music seems to have cycles to it, some short, some veeeeery long. And yeah, there's definitely something to music that gets the body moving somehow against its will. Good points.

[Redington]

How do I judge music?

 

"Ugh!" *turns off song*

 

"This is gay."

 

"This is annoying."

 

"what the heck?"

 

"Meh."

 

"Not Bad."

 

"Awesome."

 

"omg I'm gonna die this is too good."

[Bahamut]

by everything that matters, depending on the type of music, but most of all how it makes me feel