Would techno benefit from greater diversity...

[SlavikSvensk]

...in its influences? I'm asking because it seems as if many records coming out are just rehashes of older records. maybe techno producers need to start drawing on new sources for samples, rhythmic ideas, sound textures...

[MARKEG]

my input: be +ve cauuse this realy needs to be different from the old techno forum...

[The Overfiend]

I agree with the need for new and original sources for samples maybe.
Instead of people sharing sample cd's maybe we should get back on the grind and get a lil collection going of those personal to self samples.

[MARKEG]

i think finding a good record shop with a listening booth is the way to go ;)

[Evil G]

this is an interesting question.

compare to breaks. if techno's claim to fame is that it is forward thinking, breaks' claim to fame is diversity in sound. but diversity in sound is a double edged sword. it makes the individual tracks more interesting, but it makes smooth mixing much more difficult. a more diverse sound lends itself more to drops and cuts. in breaks this has lead to very formulaic structures beneath those diverse sounds (to make the records easier to mix).

i like the idea of techno that jumps out and gets your attention with original sounds, but i also really enjoy the smooth, hypnotic flow that a good dj can develop in a techno set, and i think that finding a balance between the two would be difficult.

so in conclusion, i don't know.

[Joseph Isaac]

i like the idea of techno that jumps out and gets your attention with original sounds, but i also really enjoy the smooth, hypnotic flow that a good dj can develop in a techno set, and i think that finding a balance between the two would be difficult.

so in conclusion, i don't know.

Excellent Point.

[Anonymous]

you know, i made a collection of tracks last summer...sort of techno, sort of idm, sort of whatever...loosely based on ideas from old school chicago and 8-bit video game music...it struck me that i have absolutely no idea what labels might be interested in stuff like that...it's not hard enough for had techno labels, not noodley enough for IDM labels, glitchy enough for microhaus labels, detroity eough for detroit labels, etc.

that's when it hit me that techno, this music i've loved for over a decade, has become worryingly insular, too inbred, and shattered into dozens of small and precise subgenres.

there are some great records out there, for sure, but most are refinements of what's already been establised as standard. not that my stuff is so great or anything (that's not up to me to decide), it's just that there seem to be fewer and fewer forums for trying out something new.

[SlavikSvensk]

last post is me, btw...

[SlavikSvensk]

my input: be +ve cauuse this realy needs to be different from the old techno forum...

none of this qualifies as the negativity you're looking to avoid, does it?

[stjohn]

whoever wins, loses!

[stjohn]

I agree with the need for new and original sources for samples maybe.
.

tru, the reason why all these sub categories are born is because a few people coin a sound/style and those who like repeat it and call it a sub-genre. this is not wrong but techno can be a very narrow road too .....and alot of that road is taken up by alot of top producers with their individual styles, leaving the next generation alot to live up to with not that much 'road'.

CYCLE PATH TECHNO on its way.

but for me, i have to take my hat off to grovskopa, hes really gettin new sounds going with his dark, classique strings all comin into a bangin set.
bang on! and to anyone with their own sound too! :clap:

[MARKEG]

my input: be +ve cauuse this realy needs to be different from the old techno forum...

none of this qualifies as the negativity you're looking to avoid, does it?

nope, this is all fantastic!

[Florence]

Maybe it is that producers that hang out in the same musical corner of techno (for instance the funky Italians or the Drumcode-styled producers) use the same sounds and samples over and over again... but all in all I think that techno in itself represents a great variety in sound and texture.

You've got the loop-based tracks and you've got the story-telling records.
Both very different in style.

But I guess, if all producers would be more enthousiastic in their search for new sounds, it would evolve more.

Although I think everyone is very busy doing that... I don't think techno-producers are lazy bums. Some are just somewhat more talented, and have ideas how to innovate.
And me, as a DJ, must choose to use those innovative sounds.

[tioneb]

hmm well actually this is because people tend to make techno a sample based music that we come to the conclusion "people are re-using the same samples"

in the same way, with the growth of vstis, now u can recognize really easily FM7, absynth etc presets in many recent tracks.. i dont even talk about reason.

this is just blatant laziness !!!

with these high quality synths, with the amount of cheap or even free sotwares, now everybody can make his OWN sounds quite easily, with no presets, with no samples, or at least uncommon ones (take Akufen as an example).

the creative process in techno has to be renewed to make the music sound newer.

the early techno tracks sound nowadays badly produced etc, but they are still lengendary. WHY ? just because the founders of techno (whoeveru think they are) used some drum machines, some synths in a total different way : they just throwed to the bin the manual and started programming un-probable combinations of paramaters, creating one of the most innovative and influential music in the last decades.

since that time, techno producers have just copied the same formula, trying to make people they have the "distinctive" sound becasue of some mastering skill or some philosophic background erm erm

now with the new synths and all the free vstis / vst, its just time to create new combinations and push them over their limits, and im sure techno, though staying some patterned music, will sound a lot newer !

[dirty_bass]

I think that people just got too "in" to, and too focused on techno.
MAking it and listening to it as a producer is a dangerous place to be because you lose a point of reference, and just end up being self referential.

The task (for producers) is to educate each other, and to push each other beyond our normal musical spheres. And also to tell each other when we are repeating ourselves or just treading water, rather than crawling up each others arses. I think of it like a artists community, coming round to each others studios, and giving each other critique.

The task for DJ`s should be, to educate the masses. Get out of your safe zone, and take some risks, diversify the music played within your set. There`s a lot of technically accomplished DJ`s out there, and being a technical wizard with the loops, won`t make you stand out against any other technical wizard. It`s the quality and diversity of the music that will make you stand out against the endless sea of loop jockeys.

[Anonymous]

the early techno tracks sound nowadays badly produced etc, but they are still lengendary. WHY ? just because the founders of techno (whoeveru think they are) used some drum machines, some synths in a total different way : they just throwed to the bin the manual and started programming un-probable combinations of paramaters, creating one of the most innovative and influential music in the last decades.

since that time, techno producers have just copied the same formula, trying to make people they have the "distinctive" sound becasue of some mastering skill or some philosophic background erm erm

now with the new synths and all the free vstis / vst, its just time to create new combinations and push them over their limits, and im sure techno, though staying some patterned music, will sound a lot newer !

well, you probably know by now that i'm a HUGE fan of the old chicago and detroit stuff, but to be fair, you hear a lot of the same juno and dx7 sounds in those old tracks. almost all tracks had 808 and 909 drums, etc. so i really don;t think, from a purely sonic perspective, that sounds were more diverse back then.

what i do think is that techno in its infancy was more open, less defined. since no one knew what techno was--aside from that it was futurist, electronic dance music--artists just made what came to them, and people played it in clubs. i think there are artists out there who still do that, but maybe fewer than before.

the other problem i see is that when a new sound comes out, it's almost instantly institutionalized...case in point, ghostly/spectral. i've been close to those guys for years, and watched the label grow from an out-of-the-living-room operation into what it is now, but also seen the parameters of what music they put out shrink at the same rate that the label has grown in popularity...

[SlavikSvensk]

again...guest=me. not sure why this keeps happening...must be because i haven't had my coffee yet...

[scienceofuse]

I think that people just got too "in" to, and too focused on techno.
MAking it and listening to it as a producer is a dangerous place to be because you lose a point of reference, and just end up being self referential.

:clap:

There is a cure though, namely sitting down in the studio and doing something in a different style, like a hip-hop / reggae / whatever track. By trying a different approach to making music, you gain experience and get new ideas from it. If you sit there thinking "I'm gonna make a techno track" it's not going to sound new, it's going to sound generic. But if you free yourself from this thinking, there is a much greater chance that you'll wind up with something original that hasn't been heard anywhere before... Listening to a wide array of music also broadens your music-making imagination and gives you ideas for your techno tracks ;)