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I am an extremely active listener when it comes to music. Even if it's a shitty song, when music is playing I can't do anything else but listen to it. I feel like this helps me be more perceptive when I produce. But a lot of people play music 24/7 no matter what they are doing, reading, studying, watching TV etc. and are passive listeners who can listen through a song and not be able to tell you a thing about it afterwards.

So my question is, are most producers people with this same kind of active listening or can you guys put music in the background no problem and not worry about it?

A hell of a lot of the time, say, in a film, if the Score is good, I'm paying more attention to that then what is actually on the screen

JemGrover wrote:A hell of a lot of the time, say, in a film, if the Score is good, I'm paying more attention to that then what is actually on the screen

same man, love a movie with a good score.

And to answer OP, I can't ignore music, I pretty much phase everything that isn't music out in my day to day life lol.

too active

sometimes i cant even enjoy a tune because i start picking it apart

Took a class on film scores and ever since then I only listen to the music in movies ha. Kinda sucks actually...

One of my favorite uses of electronic music in a film is in Requiem for a Dream. Good ass film regardless but Clint Mansell's score is brilliant.

@Phigure Yea man I know how ya feel.

Both, its important not to analyze music all the time, remember to enjoy it

Generally passive. I listened to electronic music years before I started producing but I remember thinking when I did that I had never really analyzed the core components of specific genres/tunes. Weird thinking now that I used to listen to music purely for the vibe and how it made me feel and never thought about snares, pads, what the bassline was doing. I just seem to zone out when listening to music.

kaiori breathe wrote:

JemGrover wrote:A hell of a lot of the time, say, in a film, if the Score is good, I'm paying more attention to that then what is actually on the screen

same man, love a movie with a good score.

And to answer OP, I can't ignore music, I pretty much phase everything that isn't music out in my day to day life lol.

Indeed. Scores are often more impressive than the film!

Not sure if anyone over in the UK just saw 30 Days of Night? That was a surprisingly good one.
Also, uh.... I cam across a piece from the Twilight Score on Youtube. Possibly the only redeeming aspect

I'm so bad that i'll bounce out my track and open it up in I-tunes purely for the purpose of just listening to it back and studying how it sounds. Then it'll get to the end of the song and i realise i need to play it again, as i spent the whole time thinking about radiators or something.

marshy wrote:I'm so bad that i'll bounce out my track and open it up in I-tunes purely for the purpose of just listening to it back and studying how it sounds. Then it'll get to the end of the song and i realise i need to play it again, as i spent the whole time thinking about radiators or something.

LOL,same here but not often radiators

i've been a (semi-)professional dj for 12 years. i don't pick music apart necessarily, but every song i hear gets analysed for (a) is it any good? (b) do/ would people like it? (c) would i ever play it?

mostly passive, I've always got music on in the background at least

i honestly think some of you people are broken.

I think production makes you go from passive to active, it did in my case and alot of my mates.

To quote my music tech teacher:"Producing music was my biggest mistake ever, no longer can i sit back and just vibe to a tune and not even be able to explain the magic it possesed"

Bipolar wrote:I think production makes you go from passive to active, it did in my case and alot of my mates.

To quote my music tech teacher:"Producing music was my biggest mistake ever, no longer can i sit back and just vibe to a tune and not even be able to explain the magic it possesed"

me too. Now after having produced for a while, when I listen to dubstep and hear a synth I'm like, that's sounds like he made that in Massive, or I try think of which waveforms it is etc., not so much when I listen to Mount Kimbie though, which I've heard use a lot of found sounds that seem to give their music a certain magic imo since it sounds so natural and non-computery.

I wouldn't see it as a 'mistake' though now that I analyze music more ... I find that I'm so much interested in the music that I listen to more than ever, even music that I don't particularly enjoy like top 40, I pick it apart, I pay so much more attention to the drum beats etc, and think about how I would improve it -- before if I heard some shitty song I'd just switch the channel or sumthin. Producing has turned 'listening to music' into so much more than just listening, I love it Except sometimes when a friend shows me a song that he likes, and I"m like "I don't like the way this sounds etc. etc. " I feel like a dick haha

if im doing something like walking with my mp3 player, passive.

but sitting at home listening to music, active.

Phigure wrote:too active

sometimes i cant even enjoy a tune because i start picking it apart

That does seem to be the paradox almost if you're a musician; From speaking to people who've spent the best part of 40 years as sound engineers/musicians they all break down song structures, etc... and reduce it to the sum of it's parts, which has got to on some level take away from your listening experience.

That said, I couldn't imagine any of us would want to quit making music because of it..?!

I am an active listener for the most part. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy what I'm listening to though, I love music. I think being active I appreciate a lot of different aspects of it that I never used to, but still love the whole too.

Phigure wrote:too active

sometimes i cant even enjoy a tune because i start picking it apart

this, especially when i go to a dubstep night I start thinking more about about how good/bad the dj's mix is and how bad the songs are than actually just enjoying myself