Yes, mindset is a huge thing. The fixed and growth example is great, though I’d imagine all of us are a mixture of both when taking into account the full range of human experience. It would certainly be helpful, though, to be aware and mindful of which mindset we’re in (“the glass is half full vs half empty”?) and know whether we’re choosing it … or it’s a subconscious pattern.
I think the “I’ll show you” can be internal and healthy, if it’s not trying to make the other person wrong (i.e. an inner dialogue of “challenge accepted”). If you proceed and achieve success and let the results speak for themselves, there’s no need to rub their face in it with “I told you so” (or “Can!” ). At that point it’s just poetic justice.
This is the challenge with our forum BTR section. It can be very helpful in many cases, but if the person reviewing doesn’t know or understand why you did a particular thing (and there can be dozens of elements in a mix), their opinion can open up a debate or get you to doubt yourself - unless you have a full understanding of all your mix decisions and have justified them to yourself. Still, part of that process that can work wonderfully is to get us outside our own fixed mindset at times.
It is a tough thing to work through. I’ve been in a couple writer workshops. Most of them have you write something, and then everyone reads it. There are two approaches that stand out to me.
One is where you get together with your peers in the workshop, and you listen to each person, one by one, tell you what they thought about your work. They’re given guidance on how to give feedback (try to include both good and bad, don’t talk about what they should do - only about what didn’t work for you, etc…), and you’re told that while you’re listening to the feedback, you should take notes, and you’re not allowed to say anything while you’re getting your feedback.
In the other workshop, the people running the workshop (both professional writers), said everyone reads, but you’re not allowed to talk about the stories at all. Instead, each person in the workshop would make a list of the stories they would buy for a magazine, and they could only pick a certain number of stories. The only people that would discuss them would be the two writers running the workshop because everybody else is there to learn, and may not know a damned thing about writing, other than that they either liked the story or not.
One thing I learned from both of those exercises is that everyone has an opinion, and everyone knows what they like, but the only real things that matters are these two things - did someone care enough about your work to say things about it, and did they buy it. Everything else is up to debate.
Wow Mark, you and I are going to get a long just fine!
I am well aware of Scene of Action. I host a sporadic podcast interviewing bands I have discovered on Bandcamp.com and I already own a Scene of Action album - very much would like to interview him.
Whilst I have a fairly eclectic taste,my bandcamp profile is here, in case you want to check out some bands I listen to. I almost exclusively listen to bandcamp now and have done for many years. Soooo much good stuff on there if you are willing to wade through the copious crap or use their fan system. I do both regularly.
I see you’ve posted some stuff re Twitch so I’ll go check it out now…
I’ve bought a few things on Bandcamp, and I love supporting people that way when I can. [My EP is up there] if you’re curious. I’ve never really used it as a place to discover music, though. I usually end up there when I see artists talking about where to get their stuff. It’s a great place, though.
It could, perhaps, but it might also be too limited. I know that when I eventually put something up what I really want to know is if something is completely broken (sounds awful) for some reason. By the time I’ve reached the point where I’m willing to share, I already think I’m close to what I’m trying to achieve, and I’m just looking for that little bit extra. But then, I’ve published seven novels, and I have a lot of experience asking for feedback. People with less experience who want more information might come away not learning what they really wanted to learn.
And not everyone here is necessarily looking to sell their music, so the “would you buy it” criteria might not be as meaningful, except as a stamp of approval. I was just thinking along the lines of what market research might tell you about a product, which many companies see as gold. Some simple questions like: “Would this sound good on the radio? Would you be willing to buy this song? Would you tell a friend about this song? If not, what - if done differently - would get you to say ‘yes’?”
I’ve spent some time today trying to figure out what genre my stuff really is. It’s not really doom, as far as I can tell, just has some of those elements. It’s not quite sludge, either. Someone will figure it out and tell me, eventually
I shall be checking this out tonight. Gotta day, excited to check it out.
Besides my band stuff, you can hear a song of an ep I am finishing up in the BTR section - Like an Omen. Perhaps the kind of riffage you like. Maybe…
All those questions would be interesting questions to have answered, but it’s a challenge when you’re in an environment like this where the genres people listen to and enjoy are probably quite a bit different. There are songs I can listen to and appreciate and say, “yeah, that’s a good song”, but I would never ever buy it in a million years.
It’s tough, I think, in a public forum where the members aren’t curated by genre to ask general “would you buy this” questions, because really, you only need one person to say yes. But if you get nine nos to that one yes, it can be really tough to not feel deflated, even though ten percent of the population said yes. Ten percent times 7 billion people on the planet is a pretty high percentage (I know - statistics don’t really work that well on a small sample size, but it’s nice to dream).
While the tempo seems quite slow (what bpm?) I can really relate to it. Listening to the BTR you posted too. So I have a suggestion, but I’ll tell a story too. When I got a Fostex X-15 personal multitrack (4-track tape) machine in the early 80’s and started writing and recording songs, the first ones that came out were really my basic attempts, but a certain style did seem to emerge. I was collaborating with another guitarist on song lyrics he brought me, and he was fascinated with my new technology. I came up with music for his lyrics and we recorded the song on my machine. When I played him my first compositions, he dubbed it “Thick Metal” because it sounded heavy, but the tempo was fairly slow and the sound was kind of sludgy. It wasn’t anywhere near Thrash or Speed Metal, which I like, but for whatever reason I like that sound. Maybe because Black Sabbath was a very strong influence.
I have only found the term Thick Metal one other place, and I think it was just some remarks in comments somewhere. We should make it a genre!
Yes, maybe so. I like the idea of being able to give someone the feedback you described though. Yours was in regard to writing, so maybe that’s just not applicable as much to music, though writing seems to have gone the way of music in terms of getting paid - there’s a lot of people out there writing at least semi-professionally for free, just as we see with music.
Ahhh yes. Sorry. Was sort of checking and responding when out.
Following you on Bandcamp now.
Are you familiar with fellow Seattle based band Ten Miles Wide? They were formally “The Mothership” but changed due to another bigger band with the same name.
I loooove ten miles wide!!! Wish they’d come to aus!
Yeah - with the introduction of ebooks, writing fell down the same rabbit hole that music has, just a few years later, though, in some ways, it’s easier to make money off writing than music, as there really are still only a couple outlets you have to be in.
I hadn’t heard of them. I don’t get out much Listening now, and at first listen, I’m liking what I’m hearing.
Thanks, @BigAlRocks. I didn’t really expect the conversation to become what it’s become, but it’s been a lot of fun.
). At that point it’s just poetic justice.
Listening now, and at first listen, I’m liking what I’m hearing.