15 Feb 2011, 12:21 pm
15 Feb 2011, 3:45 pm
15 Feb 2011, 4:54 pm
15 Feb 2011, 5:06 pm
LibertiORDeth wrote:
Janissy wrote:
LibertiORDeth wrote:
Although there are certain similarities in the music I like, and I particularly like a few genres, for the most part whether or not I like a song will be seemingly (especially to others) extremely random, so nearly any time when someone says "since you like ____ you may also like ___" they are dead wrong.
I can see how individual people could get it wrong. They are probably doing a guess based on how people group music socially (people who like "A" are into the "A" scene and will like other artists representative of that scene). But what about Pandora, which does its guess based on musical elements (tonal/atonal, harmonic/dissonant, vocal focused/instrument focused) rather than on what other people also listened to? Maybe it isn't quite as random as it seems. Or maybe a particular song speaks to you regardless of its genre because it musically illustrates something going on in your life, which would make genre-based guesses about what else you like wrong. It would be a fun experiment to see if there is any commonality between the seemingly random songs you like.
I've found that Pandora does a better job of guessing what I like than either itunes or actual people. I think that's because it analyzes music in a diferent way.
Pandora and last.fm are useful to me in finding music that I like, but not nearly as useful as for most other people that I know. The vast majority of songs it reccomends I ban/downvote/delete and slowly but surely build up a library.
I give it
to a lot of songs too. I think the are helpful to it because it lets it use process of elimination to figure out what the commonalities are. That's how it learns. I don't like genres of music. Instead, I like the elements within music, many of which are found across genres. What the heck am I talking about? I like:
3 part harmony
arpeggios
jangly guitar that goes back and forth between a few chords
songs that tell a story
mens voices that are rough and craggy
None of those are specific to a genre and and it's hard for humans (unless they are musicians) to know across genres what I'll like based on liking a particular song. It took Pandora quite a while and many thumbs up and down to figure out that I liked both Tom Waits and Rod Stewart (mens voices that are rough and craggy) and Eminem and Bob Dylan (songs that tell a story) but it eventually did. That's something that can only be figured out by dissecting songs rather than paying attention to genres.
Have you dissected your choices to see if there are common musical elements (independent of genre) that would let you come up with a list like mine?
15 Feb 2011, 5:15 pm
15 Feb 2011, 5:31 pm
Janissy wrote:
LibertiORDeth wrote:
Janissy wrote:
LibertiORDeth wrote:
Although there are certain similarities in the music I like, and I particularly like a few genres, for the most part whether or not I like a song will be seemingly (especially to others) extremely random, so nearly any time when someone says "since you like ____ you may also like ___" they are dead wrong.
I can see how individual people could get it wrong. They are probably doing a guess based on how people group music socially (people who like "A" are into the "A" scene and will like other artists representative of that scene). But what about Pandora, which does its guess based on musical elements (tonal/atonal, harmonic/dissonant, vocal focused/instrument focused) rather than on what other people also listened to? Maybe it isn't quite as random as it seems. Or maybe a particular song speaks to you regardless of its genre because it musically illustrates something going on in your life, which would make genre-based guesses about what else you like wrong. It would be a fun experiment to see if there is any commonality between the seemingly random songs you like.
I've found that Pandora does a better job of guessing what I like than either itunes or actual people. I think that's because it analyzes music in a diferent way.
Pandora and last.fm are useful to me in finding music that I like, but not nearly as useful as for most other people that I know. The vast majority of songs it reccomends I ban/downvote/delete and slowly but surely build up a library.
I give it
to a lot of songs too. I think the are helpful to it because it lets it use process of elimination to figure out what the commonalities are. That's how it learns. I don't like genres of music. Instead, I like the elements within music, many of which are found across genres. What the heck am I talking about? I like:3 part harmony
arpeggios
jangly guitar that goes back and forth between a few chords
songs that tell a story
mens voices that are rough and craggy
None of those are specific to a genre and and it's hard for humans (unless they are musicians) to know across genres what I'll like based on liking a particular song. It took Pandora quite a while and many thumbs up and down to figure out that I liked both Tom Waits and Rod Stewart (mens voices that are rough and craggy) and Eminem and Bob Dylan (songs that tell a story) but it eventually did. That's something that can only be figured out by dissecting songs rather than paying attention to genres.
Have you dissected your choices to see if there are common musical elements (independent of genre) that would let you come up with a list like mine?
I completely understand where you're coming from. Here's my list (sort of prioritized):
Strings
Heavy, deep rhythm
Electronic elements (particularly due to the extensive melodies)
Lots of consistent, fast, creative lyrics (that I can actually relate to and understand, which I can't say for most genres in general)
Clean guitar (especially used for a lot of melody)
Male voices that are whiny and emotional, generally the kind girls like more than guys, such as The Killers, The Bravery, H.I.M.
These are just a few of the elements and styles in music that I like, and what I listen to generally consists of one or more of these elements.
15 Feb 2011, 6:18 pm
