How do you learn?

Well if you are serious about learning, you have to be willing to ask for and receive criticism.

When I first started in digital recording wow, talk about bungled stuff...lets just leave it at that. I posted my amateurish tunes in the forum for songs and asked others to listen and discuss what was going on. I never took offense no matter how harsh the crits were. When I send songs to outside reviews, I ALWAYS ask for the strictest, most brutally honest reviews they offer. How else will I learn? And yeah, some of it stings.... but hey, it's all about getting better. Today, I find that the lessons learned and applied have given me the skills to jump into the arena with the big boys and girls... the pros, and to do it successfully.

So if I am asked to critique someone who is "less than stellar" I will offer honest advice. If you don't want to hear the truth, don't ask. I'm not going to tell them it sounds good if it doesn't sound good. There's no need to be a buzzkill but I'm not going to lie to them either. there are tactful ways to tell someone they need more work or that perhaps they are in the wrong line of work, and I have really tried to work on being a bit more diplomatic. Most often that comes down to.... did they ask for my opinion? If not.... I keep my diplomatic mouth closed.

If they did ask for thoughts, opinions, critiques..... OK.. they asked....What I will do first, is try to find something in the song, it might be the guitar playing or perhaps the tone of the guitar, or the singer's voice characteristics, something that they ARE doing right and start with that. I tell them what I like about that and then go from there.

If it's recording & production, same deal. I don't comment as often now on songs here, or in other forums where I used to be really active and reviewing every single song. Frankly, I don't have the time to listen to everything let alone write an honest critique of every song. I mostly comment on the songs that really stand out and capture my attention or that are really good and perhaps are lacking one thing to make them nearly perfect.

I've been taken to task here, publicly as well as through PM over some of my comments. I guess I was a bit too outspoken in those instances. I tend to call it like I see it and not everyone is looking for or wanting advice. They just want to be told "good job" and sometimes I will simply say that too.

hope that helps.....

If not.. I can tell you what I really think!!

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.