Does your music have a message?

This isn't a forum for specifically talking about production or posting your own music, but it is a place to talk about the music you are listening to.

Does your music have a message?

Postby FLAOFEI » 14 May 2014 09:46

Simple question. Is there anythin in particular you as an artist want to convey. It can be something like a world peace if you're miss America, or maybe love and tolerance... or stick it to the man, or maybe that everyone stresses to much and should calm down... or maybe you want to say you da beeeest... just any overhanging theme in most of your tracks. Doesn't have to apply to all tracks tho, since I guess theres a lot f diversity in your repertoires. Write a bit about it, and maybe a bit about why it's important to you.

Spoiler Rambling about pants and polka:
I my self love the idea of what I like to call "the aesthetics of functionality" and using things in ways they where not intended. A real life example is how I have my speakers without those silly grills cause I want to see the speaker cones. The cones are the active part of the speaker, so I want them showing. That doesn't show much in my music maybe... but it connects to my love of using things in unintended ways. I use hiking pants as everyday pants cause they are more functional and more comfortable, and just cause nobody else does it doesn't mean I can't look good doing so :3

So how does that tie into my music? I want mix and match things that at first glance don't mix. I want people to have an open mind to what will mix and what won't mix. I've done it in several ways. There's what I did in "Oh God No..." which had samples from all over youtube and beyond. I have samples of feedback between my speakers and microphone (amongst other things) which I use for leads and or pads sometimes. There's my genre mixing, I love breakcore and polka, and they don't seem to mix... so let's mix those! I have percussive samples used for melody, and the list goes on.

What I want to want to do is challenge the norms. I want to show how the message is more important than it's medium, song can sad with the most violent of sounds. I also want to show the raw materials don't matter, it's what you do with them. There's no rule saying Street Sharks and MLP G3 songs be in the same track, and there's no reason why breakcore can't be deep, and there's nothing inherently bad about guys watching MLP.

What it boils down to though is open-mindedness. We have a bunch of predetermined ideas of good and bad, and if you never question them and try new things you miss out on an entire world of opportunities. You should do what you want to do, and since you never know what you might enjoy you should try it all! oh god... I'm a cutiemark crusader :O

In a way it's kinda anti racism, your background doesn't matter, it's who you are that counts. It wasn't my intention, but still. Then again it can also be interpreted as I'm trying to say "GOSH DARN IT!!! PERMANENT MARKERS SMELL GOOD!!!"... It all depends on how you see it.

Anyway... Now I wrote a bunch about how I want make the world a more better place. Now you!
For the record I didn't think of this until recently, but I recognise it in both my personality and it's reflected in some way in pretty much everything I do
)>-<)))^*> Sharkpon4srs
https://soundcloud.com/flaofei/brothel-king
Rainbow Dash lives on SOUNDCLOUD; Big Mac posts on Eeyyuptube; Twilight is a BOOKfACE; Octavia went to BandCamp! And Derpy has bad balance, you could say she TUMBLrING
ImageOMG POLKA PLOT!!! BEST ALBUM IN THE HISTORY OF POLKACORE!!!
User avatar
FLAOFEI
 
Posts: 2536
Joined: 15 Aug 2012 14:46
Location: Behind yah (nah, Sweden)
OS: Windows Licker 7
Primary: Fruit Loops 10
Cutie Mark: POLKA PLOT

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Freewave » 14 May 2014 10:28

Well the short answer is yes. Absolutely. I'd find it hard to make music (yes, even about ponies) that doesn't indirectly say something about myself. Whether that's opinions on something, finding a similar viewpoint between a character and myself, opinions on the community, an interest in a genre, thoughts about aging, being an outsider, or just painting an emotion that i also feel....it all comes back to conveying something within the music from myself and also through the show. I often put way long descriptions for my tracks just to explain all that thought behind it, so even if it's a "hey cool track" response back, i hope people can see the deeper meaning behind a track i made if they bother to look. Of course sometimes it's a song designed around a pun so it's ok to throw some humor in the mix if you use a songs theme or show samples in a way that they weren't initally intended. :wink:

If there is an overall theme for my music its that its pony focused, that i like the freedom to try many genres (jack of all trades even if master to none) and sometimes mix them together, the freedom to examine the fandom within all angles (from artwork, the community itself, to fimfiction, to ponified covers), to express that thru pmv's a lot of the time, to use samples, and to not censor myself. So the free in freewave is not just not charging money but also freedom to make it how i want to. There's people who aim to fit in and not try anything new from the community (the herd instinct) and i find it important to make sure to avoid that and take some chances and use broader and more mature themes (even if that narrows the audience somewhat).
Links for my music: YouTube, Bandcamp, and Tumblr
Check out the Brony Music Directory and FimMusic. A portal for all pony music
Image
Support the 20+ Musician Maressey Project currently underway.
User avatar
Freewave
 
Posts: 3193
Joined: 29 Nov 2011 12:33
Location: Denver
OS: Windows 7
Primary: Fl Studio 10
Cutie Mark: X$X

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby itroitnyah » 14 May 2014 19:47

I think that I want to, but I need to learn more about composition and practice more. So that it feels less like I'm throwing down something that sounds catchy in an 8-bar loop but doesn't mean anything otherwise.
Image Image I am no longer an active member. here
My studio: [List of equipment]
User avatar
itroitnyah
 
Posts: 2482
Joined: 02 Mar 2012 20:27
OS: Windows 7
Primary: FL Studio 11
Cutie Mark: Blank flank

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby CitricAcid » 14 May 2014 21:23

My music doesn't have a message either. Sure I'll tell a story with it when I can, but I'm not trying to communicate anything personal or insightful. I would rather my audience associate their own message with it.
Image Image Image
User avatar
CitricAcid
 
Posts: 286
Joined: 20 Sep 2013 09:35
Location: Detroit, MI
OS: Windows
Primary: Cubase
Cutie Mark: Music scroll

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby ExoBassTix » 14 May 2014 22:50

Most of my Warmonger O and Xalpheon music is based on a message. I find that to be especially my Harsh Noise.
It is, after all, usually a straightforward pour of my emotions at the time.

Though more often, I just want to show my listener something through my music, something that crossed my mind, or happened to me, that I want y'all to know.

EDIT - I wanted to put an example out here that is very important to me.
My track Brainbleed is by far my most intense story so far. At least, considering all that happened to me before, during and after recording it. Just before Brainbleed happened, my head was a warzone of emptiness, induced by my first, and huge sudden depression attack. With this recording I emptied part of that emptiness (which is scary, considering it's a small bit and already so ... destructive), to enable the natural workings of my body to expel the rest, which it otherwise would have taken much, much longer to do.
Brainbleed is a very powerful statement which speaks of the power of music and, more personally, of how much impact depression has on me. I didn't even realize it was as bad as it was, until I listened Brainbleed back after having gotten rid of all traces of the attack.
It's without doubt my most personal track so far.
Last edited by ExoBassTix on 15 May 2014 08:30, edited 1 time in total.
Image
Collecting dust...

Dieselminded drifter dodging delirium in daunting dreamscapes.
User avatar
ExoBassTix
 
Posts: 3579
Joined: 28 Mar 2013 13:01
Location: The Dutch white waters
OS: Windows 7 x64
Primary: FL Studio 20
Cutie Mark: a crystal waterphone

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby CaptainFluffatun » 15 May 2014 07:15

I just kinda make what I think sounds cool
Image
User avatar
CaptainFluffatun
 
Posts: 956
Joined: 18 Nov 2011 23:48
Location: Washington
OS: Windows 7
Primary: Cubase 5
Cutie Mark: Orchestral

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Blitz-13 » 16 May 2014 16:06

Yes. I'm always trying to get a good idea for a song and play to it as how a musician score's a movie, or a story.
DAW: FL Studio 10
Genres: Electronic (learning), Rock, Metal, anything else along those lines.
New discovery: Mandopony's Vinyl Scratch Battle Theme on guitar... if I can upload it, I just may be the first!
User avatar
Blitz-13
 
Posts: 41
Joined: 15 Aug 2012 18:21
Location: Here, there, wherever
OS: Windows 7
Primary: FL Studio 10
Cutie Mark: Metallic eighth note

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Stuntddude » 17 May 2014 22:31

No, and I hate myself for it. I constantly feel like there are stories missing from my music, that I put too much focus into the composition and production and not enough into the emotion and storytelling. My music is, much to my own disdain, almost completely void of any real story or implied context. But I can never figure how to actually work genuine stories into my music-making process. I think that's part of why I've been drawn so strongly to doing soundtracks - it's a way to work real context and meaning into my music that's very difficult for me to find otherwise.
Notebook Memories, the debut album from yours truly, is currently up on my bandcamp for free. Any feedback, encouragement, hate mail, etc. is highly appreciated! Even just listening is pretty cool of you tbh.
eery wrote:Next gen gaming: Just fucking get a dog.
User avatar
Stuntddude
 
Posts: 267
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 03:59
Location: Columbia, MO, US
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
Primary: FL Studio
Cutie Mark: { }

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Injustrial » 18 May 2014 19:14

Perhaps not a message as much as I try to tell a story with mine. I usually use the lyrics for the actual storytelling, with the music providing the scene. Usually this centers around the villains of the show, since they provide the conflict I'm looking for.

My thought process revolves around setting myself in the villain's role and imagining the world through his or her eyes. Then I find ways to sympathize with the villain in question and making it into a story. Either trying to condense the essence of the character (Electronic Devastation, The Faceless Scourge) or providing motivation and justification for his or her actions (Resist Refuse Rebel Arise, Obey, The Devil in me)

Sometimes, I go for a specific conflict, be it fanon or specific, as in Stand Your Ground (Brony Hate) and The Day We Die (Equestria Wars)

I guess I could have gone the "easy" path and just made music which is music in itself, and not centering it around anything in particular. But I felt that I had an obligation to provide reasonable justification for calling myself a Brony musician and not just a hobbyist who coincidentally enjoy MLP:FIM.

A common thread in my music is anger, frustration, rage and general emotional instability, since A, it fits the genre nicely. B, it makes for some compelling drama and C, I've always found it easier to write about. I want to make music which brings out all your aggressive feelings and lets you revel in them for a little while, so the anger can drive your dancing and let you mosh out. I'm not looking to MAKE you a more aggressive person, I just feel the aggressive genres of the world allow for exploration of a more faceted psyche. And I find it fascinating.
Image
User avatar
Injustrial
 
Posts: 673
Joined: 27 Oct 2013 19:09
Location: Norway
OS: Windows
Primary: FL Studio
Cutie Mark: Sh*t on Fire

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Mr. Bigglesworth » 25 May 2014 17:01

I used to try to do that but honestly I find it just muddies the process for me. I'm not sending a message as much as I'm just creating something. Maybe if I had lyrics in my music it'd be a different matter, but it's hard to convey a message instrumentally. Even with how Kyoga does it instrumentally it's pretty open to interpretation.
I'm not here anymore, but if you want you can still just call me Mr. BigBagelBoggle!

Sound
Face
You
User avatar
Mr. Bigglesworth
 
Posts: 1869
Joined: 19 Apr 2012 03:17
Location: Toowoomba, Australia
OS: Windows 7
Primary: FL Studio
Cutie Mark: My own ass

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby TWILICORN » 25 May 2014 17:16

As a general rule, no. I would like to make albums that tell a story though, but not individual tracks.
I release horrific mash-ups on a year-by-year basis

Soundcloud | Tweeter Ramblings | Wolfpuncher
User avatar
TWILICORN
 
Posts: 116
Joined: 30 Jun 2013 11:29
Location: That place with the tea
OS: Windows 7
Primary: Renoise
Cutie Mark: ♛PRINCESS♛

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Arkane » 29 May 2014 21:49

I've been influenced by Rhapsody of fire alot that it sort of got inculcated in me to make songs that tell stories. Short Answer: Yes. But the stories I try to write are either epic bloody battles, good vs evil, typical noblebright cheesy stuff.

It NEEDS to have lots of strings, bells, loud choirs, and lots and lots of cheese.

Like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnoUu23f4BA
Image
Click on my signature to listen to Act 2!!
~~~~~
Youtube | Soundcloud
DAW - FL Studio 10
Stuff - Edirol, EWQLSOGE, EWQLColossus, EWQLRA, Miroslav Philharmonik Orchestra, TheoK Guitar Lib, A bunch of drum samples.
User avatar
Arkane
 
Posts: 41
Joined: 19 Feb 2012 05:42
Location: Philippines
OS: o 3o
Primary: FL Studio
Cutie Mark: A Wooden Beer Mug

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Ischi Vezon » 05 Jul 2014 18:26

FLAOFEI wrote:Simple question. Is there anythin in particular you as an artist want to convey. It can be something like a world peace if you're miss America, or maybe love and tolerance... or stick it to the man, or maybe that everyone stresses to much and should calm down... or maybe you want to say you da beeeest... just any overhanging theme in most of your tracks. Doesn't have to apply to all tracks tho, since I guess theres a lot f diversity in your repertoires. Write a bit about it, and maybe a bit about why it's important to you.

Spoiler Rambling about pants and polka:
I my self love the idea of what I like to call "the aesthetics of functionality" and using things in ways they where not intended. A real life example is how I have my speakers without those silly grills cause I want to see the speaker cones. The cones are the active part of the speaker, so I want them showing. That doesn't show much in my music maybe... but it connects to my love of using things in unintended ways. I use hiking pants as everyday pants cause they are more functional and more comfortable, and just cause nobody else does it doesn't mean I can't look good doing so :3

So how does that tie into my music? I want mix and match things that at first glance don't mix. I want people to have an open mind to what will mix and what won't mix. I've done it in several ways. There's what I did in "Oh God No..." which had samples from all over youtube and beyond. I have samples of feedback between my speakers and microphone (amongst other things) which I use for leads and or pads sometimes. There's my genre mixing, I love breakcore and polka, and they don't seem to mix... so let's mix those! I have percussive samples used for melody, and the list goes on.

What I want to want to do is challenge the norms. I want to show how the message is more important than it's medium, song can sad with the most violent of sounds. I also want to show the raw materials don't matter, it's what you do with them. There's no rule saying Street Sharks and MLP G3 songs be in the same track, and there's no reason why breakcore can't be deep, and there's nothing inherently bad about guys watching MLP.

What it boils down to though is open-mindedness. We have a bunch of predetermined ideas of good and bad, and if you never question them and try new things you miss out on an entire world of opportunities. You should do what you want to do, and since you never know what you might enjoy you should try it all! oh god... I'm a cutiemark crusader :O

In a way it's kinda anti racism, your background doesn't matter, it's who you are that counts. It wasn't my intention, but still. Then again it can also be interpreted as I'm trying to say "GOSH DARN IT!!! PERMANENT MARKERS SMELL GOOD!!!"... It all depends on how you see it.

Anyway... Now I wrote a bunch about how I want make the world a more better place. Now you!
For the record I didn't think of this until recently, but I recognise it in both my personality and it's reflected in some way in pretty much everything I do


I try to make my music emotional and coherent in tone, but not have a single message. I want the message to be subjective, in laymen's terms: I want the listener to feel what I feel, but have it apply to any situation they are in or thinking about.

Some of the songs I'm working on have a depressing emotion to them, but depression isn't the message I want to stay in their heads. The imagination is it's own world and I can't force that, but I can set the tone for the thoughts to occur.
User avatar
Ischi Vezon
 
Posts: 10
Joined: 03 Jul 2014 23:54
OS: Windows
Primary: FL Studio
Cutie Mark: Experimenting.

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby PinkieGuy » 28 Jul 2014 05:17

My music tends to tell a story, and so in a sense the message is whatever the moral/emotion of that story entails. I think this is why when I used to put up some of my tunes people though that I must be a sad kind of person, because I was compelled to write songs that brought expressed emotion, and I find it much easier to tell a story about loss or change than I do about happiness.

That being said, some songs (and Eyes To See comes to mind here) had a positive message sitting under a lyrical story. That song for example was about both my views on parenting as well as on disabled members of the community. It was a chance to take something that another artist had created and express the resounding truth in it :D
User avatar
PinkieGuy
 
Posts: 257
Joined: 10 Jul 2011 06:29
Cutie Mark: Blank flank

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby itroitnyah » 28 Jul 2014 11:01

Welcome back after 10 months of being gone.

About your Eyes To See and about your views on parenting and disabled, I'm under the impression that you have brothers or sisters that are disabled?
Image Image I am no longer an active member. here
My studio: [List of equipment]
User avatar
itroitnyah
 
Posts: 2482
Joined: 02 Mar 2012 20:27
OS: Windows 7
Primary: FL Studio 11
Cutie Mark: Blank flank

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Toothpaste » 28 Jul 2014 11:07

Umm... Yes and no. Considering that most of my music is instrumental, I can't really say that they have much story to them. There is an exception however: I made a series of three instrumental songs inspired by a 'fanficion' idea that takes place mostly after A Canterlot Wedding which follows the story of the changelings and how after their defeat they returned to Equestria and turned it into a loveless wasteland. Or something like that~

Then there is my music that has lyrics/voice clips. Definitely have story to them, no doubt (except maybe Horses As Hoarse As Horses). And while those songs are few in numbers, I hope to change that in the future. Wait... That means I only have one real song with lyrics .3.
...
Excuse me while I attempt to fix that~
Minty Fresh Productions!:
Toothpaste / PinkE_PartE / 18 Offence / Meyer / Thy60
PLEASE MESSAGE ME 4 DA COLLAB AND STUFFS owo
Check out my 'music' on YouTube and feel free to add me on Skype! --> thy.60
<insert wisdom>
User avatar
Toothpaste
 
Posts: 108
Joined: 27 Jun 2014 02:07
Location: Saskatchewan
OS: (The primitive) Gen 1 iPad
Primary: FL Studio Mobile
Cutie Mark: I'll figure it out someday.

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Yelling At Cats » 09 Sep 2014 18:11

I've been trying to work on imagery in my lyrics; idioms and the like are also finding their way into my lyrics. Colloquial language is essential in lyricism if you're trying to convey a message, but the message you are trying to give may be interpreted by others differently than you would have anticipated. It's a very subjective matter.
#EverfreeNW2012
User avatar
Yelling At Cats
 
Posts: 16
Joined: 15 Dec 2011 16:44
Location: Texas

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby ExoBassTix » 10 Sep 2014 02:32

I agree that it's very subjective. For me, personally, this is a beautiful thing. It would allow my potential listeners to experience their own things when listening to my music. To me, that is beauty.
Image
Collecting dust...

Dieselminded drifter dodging delirium in daunting dreamscapes.
User avatar
ExoBassTix
 
Posts: 3579
Joined: 28 Mar 2013 13:01
Location: The Dutch white waters
OS: Windows 7 x64
Primary: FL Studio 20
Cutie Mark: a crystal waterphone

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby Ricky Denzel » 11 Sep 2014 12:23

My music got a message. It says "Fuck you, ya fool"
Never Validating My Bastardizing Remedy
[SC] [BC] [Tw]
User avatar
Ricky Denzel
 
Posts: 1487
Joined: 12 Mar 2012 15:15
Location: Valdosta, GA
OS: Anything
Primary: Ableton Live 8
Cutie Mark: Triangle with an eye

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby caprix snare » 14 Sep 2014 07:45

my music says "I like robutts"
space pirates from mars.
User avatar
caprix snare
 
Posts: 172
Joined: 18 Jan 2013 07:46
Location: dat D.m.v
OS: dat os
Primary: reason 6.5
Cutie Mark: al bout da booty

Re: Does your music have a message?

Postby NightmareRare » 07 Jan 2015 05:37

I love this topic! It one of my favoite subjects, probably because it's so importat yet so vague.
I've been experiment for some time trying to find how I express my emotion best in my music, I like to think my message is more or less the journey towards emotion. I usealy take a feeling from a memory and translate it to the best of my ability, what my story says to you I unique to you.
Hayden Wired
Twitter Time!
Facebook Friend Machine!
---
" I never fell apart because I guess I never really fell together."
- Andy Warhol
User avatar
NightmareRare
 
Posts: 68
Joined: 29 Oct 2014 19:10
Location: Calgary, AB
OS: Mac Mavrick OS
Primary: Ableton
Cutie Mark: Cup of Coffee


Return to Music Discussion



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests

cron