 One of the most interesting aspects about music is no one cares how it happened outside of those who want to imitate it. They just care that it feels good. But it's funny since so many musicians think that if they do something cool while making music they could all of a sudden bribe listeners into liking their music. In this video we're going to discuss how the end justifies the means of music but context does not rule all. Hi, I'm Jesse Cannon and this is Muse Formation. The first Rage Against the Machine record had a disclaimer that read, No samples, keyboards, or synthesizers used in the making of this record, it didn't take knowing that to have an emotional impact. But for those who cared it developed a great admiration for the players. Many musicians will want to give every listener a caveat before someone hears their music like, it was all done live. We only had one week to make the record. This is just the demo. We didn't use any pitch correction or callous other qualifications that don't ever make a listener enjoy a song. Listeners cannot be bribed by context to delay a song but it can make them respect the artist more and get more deeply involved in their appreciation of their music. Making music that takes context to appreciate ignores that we want to hear music that inspires an emotional reaction. If you have to make caveats and qualifications to anyone who hears your music for them to appreciate it, odds are no one will appreciate it since it lacks emotional resonance. It needs to be good enough that they enjoy it from emotionally reacting to what they hear, not what you've told them. But this cuts a different way. Sadly, the facts of how records get made are filled with an accurate half truce. Look no further than the widespread acceptance of producer Jobarisi, punking listeners into believing he recorded tools, drums in a helium-filled room or a whole Queens of the Stone Age record was recorded with one single microphone. Even though the behind-the-scenes videos showed them using tons of different microphones. If that weren't enough, there's a long lineage of musicians assuming that what a musician uses live is what they use in the studio despite the two rarely being the same. Today, musicians see a synth at a producer's rack and assume that's the reason a song sounds great, but it's actually been broken for five years, but looks great sitting there. I might have a whole studio filled with stuff like that. Musicians fall into the trap of trying to emulate inaccurate accounts instead of trusting their instincts by reacting to what they hear when trying to find the sounds that'll give them the emotional response they're looking for. They neglect that the way their idols find the gear they use is utilizing the same imitation with an added check to make sure the tool can get them the sound they will paint their emotional picture with that they want to make. There's nothing wrong with reading interviews. Trust me, I do it all day long. But far too many musicians follow myths they hear about the music they love instead of analyzing the techniques they hear and see if they help further their emotional intent. The head tries to solve problems to save us the process of reacting, but the reaction is the most essential part of making emotionally resonant music. Since when the head does this shortcut, it turns off our reactions, causing us to forego checking to make sure we're getting the result we think we're getting in music. We have to remember that reacting to music and getting better at finding the reactions we have to sounds is what makes us a great player. There's a great story of a tabla player whose instructor wouldn't allow the student to watch him play. Instead, he'd sit back to back with them during lessons. Having the student explore the tabla until he found the proper techniques to emulate the tones the teacher was playing. This led the student to find the many nuances of the instrument, allowing a greater understanding of the instrument, instead of just a stupid imitation that allows them a very small vocabulary. This allows the player to develop their own techniques instead of imitating and conforming. Ignoring what your eyes see in order to hear the nuances of performance strengthens your standards, as well as proficiency to diagnose flaws and to fix them. The more vocabulary you have for what your instruments can do and the more ways you do it, the more you can explore them and know how to get the sounds you want to explore the emotions and music you're trying to convey. Getting to know what you're hearing and then using meters or grids to confirm what you hear is the only way to become proficient in zooming in on the nuances of musical performance. The reverse order of this, of imitating things all the time and not exploring, leads to poor decisions that perfect music for the sake of perfecting it instead of feeling music and making it more resonant. That's it, am I missing anything? Is there any way you would have done this? I need to know your questions and what no one else is telling you since I want to answer them, so leave them in the comments. I hope you liked this video and if you did, please like and subscribe and get notified for my future videos since I'm going to be breaking down the concepts in this video along with tons of others on promoting your music and how to make music you're more happy with. As well, I have a Facebook group that's linked below that has only helpful information. No one tried to sell you anything, playlist or con artists, only helpful information for musicians looking to be better themselves. If you want to learn more about me, make a record with me or check out any of my books, podcasts or anything else I do, head to jessecanon.com or at jessecanon.com on any of the socials. Thanks for watching. One last thing, if you liked this video, there's two playlists here with tons more videos that you'll probably enjoy. One's about how you promote your music and the other's about how you make songs you're happy with. Otherwise, you can hit the subscribe button here to see the rest of my videos. Thanks so much for watching.