Giving someone else feedback

The Studio
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Made this thread so that people can give better feedback on tracks.

In the past ive made mistakes when giving someone else feedback.

  1. I inadvertently gave feedback according to my own personal subjective music preferences.

  2. Not having proper equipment to gage someone elses mixing…but nowadays when mixing you have to account for how your music mix will translate across different mediums.

What i should of did…

Instead of giving feedback according to my own creative biases…i should of kept in mind the other persons own creative vision. And should of gave ideas on how they can better execute their own creative vision.

So feel free to share what you think is proper and constructive feedback…

:slightly_smiling_face:

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Constructive feedback is letting them know all of the bad points with their current work, and telling them what to keep doing. A lot of people don’t take it well, but the bad news should always come first.
You are right though, If I went up to a verdomde house producer and told them that they needed to use more reverb on their leads they’d probably be a little confused.
I dunno, I always try to tell people general production feedback, or what I like/don’t about the overall sound, e.g. too many mids.

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Great points and thread @bfk ! I’m not giving much feedback these days if not asked directly for it in conversation or a PM. The points you mention def contributed to that (even though time in general and sticking to genres I like are other aspects).

I think understanding the artistic vision of someone is a really important point. But it can be hard to see what aspects of a production are important parts of an artistic vision and what could be changed to fully bring the vision to life and/or make it more accessible.

Very interesting topic in any case, gonna think about it more and looking forward to other comments.

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I think there’s several elements that people don’t consider when receiving feedback, not just the obvious this works, this doesn’t. I’m talking about the actual person behind the feedback.
Is that person experienced in what they are saying ie label/content manager, artist with releases under their belt, forum admin and general backgrounds.
Also maturity in what the artists is going to accept.

I think there should be some initial requirements when asking for feedback just for example I’m just looking for general comments, I’m looking to release this, I’m looking to submit to a label or the forums label.

Then in turn not everyone is familiar with who’s who on the boards. Ie I know several artists here and subjectively who they are, this forum for me is home but I know a lot of my content doesn’t fit the labels profile, I’ve been here for 8 years and respect a lot of posters some in this thread.

Overall it is always subjective for both parties.

Personally I’ve had great input on tracks and still have several pages of to do notes from tracks 3 or 4 years old.

This for me is a passion and hobby, I’m old school, neuro divergent, fa iky man and working whereas some peeps are 20 30 or 40 years my youth. Doesn’t change a think about what I’m doing, each track is a new lesson and from that the confidence to post knowing how it may or may not be perceived.

The great 2018 board reset was a damming closure on some well established posters and I do miss some. But on the whole the key people have stayed and in turn I’m always happy to help people out of and where I can.

The forums about music and it’s community without feedback and acknowledging our own chenge in what people determine should sit well with the material, it’s almist the famous definition of madness “do the same over and over expecting different outcomes” :v:

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Peer critique is so important in what we do. Can’t stress that enough.

When I was in college, we learned to thrive on it. Man sometimes though, it was so nerve-wracking. Whether is was performing a couple of memorized classical pieces in front of a seasoned jury of instructors, or playing my new production in front of a classroom of other composers… I had to learn to suck up my pride, be humble, and take the “bad” criticism as even more important than the good sometimes. There’s not much help in someone just saying, “cool track”. Though it’s nice of them, I’d rather them be like, “the intro needs work.”

Also I’ve learned to relish the feedback of my circle of friends who don’t know anything about making music, or music in general, other than what music they like to listen to. I love getting “first listen” impressions from my wife and our friends – their feedback is vital to me! That’s part of my audience.

Can’t stress enough how much I love this place. I’ll take feedback from anyone on IDMforums, good or bad, to a much higher degree of importance, compared to anywhere else. The Listening Booth over the last 2 decades basically helped shape me as a producer. The reason why probably is because this place is a goldmine of people who share my interests & goals, plus they’ll actually give feedback.

Constructive feedback in my mind is this:

  1. Start positive - point out the things in the creator’s music that you like. Make it clear you listened. If you didn’t find anything positive at all, probably better to just not say anything? Tbh though, if you think my music sucks, that’s ok, I would just really want to hear why you think so.
  2. Be specific - down to the seconds. Is the kick too hot? does this section between 1:00-1:33 not work? does the melody get lost in the textures?
  3. Suggest improvements - if you were making this music, what would you do to help it? put yourself in their shoes, and try to explain how you might add or subtract to the work.
  4. Pinpoint goals - keep the artist’s intentions in mind, try not to be like “you should speed this up 30 bpm and make it drum n bass instead” because that’s not what they intended. again, put yourself in their shoes.
  5. Don’t be an asshole - you can be direct, but there’s no need to cut people down!

Offering your perspective thoughtfully is such a valuable gift! At least to me. It means you took the time to absorb my work and offer your thoughts on it.

Great thread.

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Don’t quote my comments to tell people what they shouldn’t do :laughing:

Seriously, lots of good advice here!

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ok I won’t :stuck_out_tongue:

haha I have this bad habit of only reading the OP before wordjaculating

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I also feel like it’d be interesting if we made it so people could only post new threads in the LB if they’ve commented on, say, 2 other members’ posts in that room… with a response that has more than, hmm how about, 20 words?

also reward systems for people who are active in there might be a cool idea too. the LB is the golden nugget of this forum.

fuck man, I need to use it more…

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Unfortunately, this forums’ usually pretty dead…
Hmm, not sure why?

I feel like everybody’s treating internet forums more like reddit than anything. And I’m not any different-
I don’t even have a reddit account…

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Yeah the internet has changed. Lots of reasons why.

That’s a big reason I returned though, after a long hiatus. There’s so much noise elsewhere. And ads. And clickbait. And doom. So that’s why I like it here… it’s like the digital equivalent of a dive bar, where all the regulars and bartenders are friends, and they only take cash payments, and the jukebox is an old mechanical machine that plays CDs or records.

A forum is only as active as its members make it I guess. And tbh lately it’s been much more vibrant than other lulls. ebbs n flows. :slight_smile:

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Yeah, I’ve always preferred using forums. Even if people do get confused or say “You’re have no sense of social media/That’s old and weird stuff”
That also means that more intelligent people flock to forums… We’re so much better than tik tok kids :smiley:

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Interesting thread. I’m a little late and not sure that I have much to add to this conversation that hasn’t already been said, but what the hell, I’ll participate.

I always pick my feedback based on what was requested. I don’t give specific feedback about sound design or arrangement, unless there is something particularly jarring about one or the other. I also don’t leave feedback aside from positive remarks unless I am being asked for feedback.

I think it was said earlier that good feedback should take into account what the goal of the artist is, as well as what their sonic preferences are and what stage they are in with a track, which can be very hard to know unless you know the person and their preferences/goals well.

Places such as mixing are a place where I am more likely to jump in, as that is a bit less subjective (not always), but still I always try to tread with caution and not overdo things. Usually i try to pick one or two things only to focus on, and leave a small, manageable bit of feedback. I’m not a music critique and I’m likely not the artists producer either, my goal is only to be helpful and provide what is asked.

Also, I always try to find things that i like about a piece of music, and leave something positive with the artist, even if it’s as simple as “I really dig X thing”.

There is rarely an instance where i like nothing about a track, and sometimes it can be just as helpful to tell someone what IS working instead of just what isn’t working. Then they may know what to lean into, and what to back off of. Additionally, I think it’s also important to lift people up, we’re a small group of enthusiasts here, I want everyone I interact with to feel encouraged and inspired to keep going and keep pushing. Sometimes all it takes is one person to say something nice, even if it’s small.

As a bonus, I make it a point not to critique the person behind the track with virtue-signal bullshit, or make intentional jabs or veiled accusations about a persons character or intentions, and would encourages others to do the same. Just leave it to feedback about the music. If this sounds weird and out of left field… well, it kind of is, But it has happened here.

Just don’t be a dick, by nice and respectful.

I haven’t been on in a bit (except for one time when I removed a spammy ass bot account), looking forward to seeing what everyone’s been up to.

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