Nilkad_Naqadah

Ayo, welcome to the herd. Always nice to have new members to talk to. Anyway, feel free to drop me a line anytime. I hope I get a chance to see some of your art.

Ayo, welcome. You're gonna like this forum, I've had some awesome conversations here.

Wow, that's hilarious. Two different people completely misconstruing what you said in directly opposite directions. Only on the internet.

What you're saying in that statement is that definitively good or definitively bad music doesn't exist. In the context of what I was originally correcting Lowline on (application of talent), your statement implies that talent is subjective as well. That simply isn't true. If it were, music theory wouldn't even be a thing, nor production standards. The perfect fifth, well-rounded soundscapes, time signatures, key, dynamic compression, stereo implementation... the list goes on almost forever, but what you're saying is that it's impossible to implement any of those aspects properly in music, while also claiming that all music is guaranteed to implement all of those aspects properly in music.

 

Music being entirely subjective is just something passive listeners or bad musicians unwilling to grow say. There are definitely objective factors that go into music, especially in recorded music, and those are what I was talking about. When you're an active listener, especially one that's experienced in its creation to the extent that someone like me is, the objective aspects of music become more obvious, and you fully understand that most aspects of music can be rationally defined objectively. There is an overlap in terms of personal taste, sure, but the objectivity remains.

 

And this isn't just true with music; it's true with all art. A crayon drawing and a rendition by a trained artist of an image based on the same subject matter are going to have objective, identifiable differences in quality and the talent it took to create each piece. A story lacking in proper grammar and many of the aspects that define good creative writing will be objectively worse than the same story told by a writer who's more well-versed and educated in creative writing and has a firm grasp on proper grammar. Music is the same way; it all depends on the artist and his ability to compose and produce, with no genre requiring more actual talent than another.

 

Like I said, if Lowline had stuck to "I don't like it", that would have constituted an opinion. That would have been the end of it. But he didn't stop there, and instead attempted to make a claim that the ability to play live instruments takes more talent that electronica composition because he holds a narrow-minded (albeit common, at least among passive listeners) definition of what can and can't constitute talent. In his mind, he has redefined talent to a definition that differs from reality's. Also not uncommon; in fact, most listeners do this, because the vast majority of listeners are passive listeners. But it doesn't make it correct, and if he ever intends to go anywhere in music production, he'll re-teach himself about these things so that he's not incorrect in the future while he's working on his music.

 

Look, it's cool that you're so attached to the tight scope of music that you enjoy, but by no means is anything that falls outside of that actually inferior. I don't like blues, I actually really dislike it, but you're not about to see me jumping into blues threads calling it "nothing more than a musical joke" simply because it lacks some particular aspect of it that defines the kind of music I enjoy to the point where it ends up redefining "talent" in my mind. If I came in here and said blues is bad simply because it lacks a systematic, structured, non-improvisational foundation and is missing a distinct element of high energy, and also proceeded to claim that because of their ability to maintain their ability to play an instrument while simultaneously going absolutely nuts on-stage means that metal guitarists have more talent than most blues artists, I would be wrong.

 

Actually, on that note, I actually dislike electronica quite a bit as well, at least most contemporary versions of it. Try reading that sentence, and put it into perspective in terms of how it would relate to the other posts I've made in this thread regarding how much talent it requires to make. The ability to separate personal taste from objective analysis is the #1 factor that makes a good judge of music.

 

As it pertains to this thread, the inability to separate subjectivity from objectivity in music that I just spent a few posts describing contributes probably the most to the rampant Skrillex hate.

 

TL;DR: Skrillex is good, dubstep as a genre is good and like all genres its effectiveness as music depends entirely on the abilities of the musician, and if you don't get that, you lack the ability to separate what makes music objectively good from your own individual subjective tastes.

Marry me. That speech was amazing. Never have I read a more masterfully objective treatise with the exception of the works of Rand herself.

Personally I haven't studied music theory in any way, but I try to avoid letting that stop me from objectively viewing songs. 

I sincerely hope I'm not translating this incorrectly, but it seems to me that what you're saying is that I need to state, in plain text, that every opinion I state is...well, an opinion? Because if everyone who ever expressed an opinion on these forums needed to put a disclaimer in their posts, e.g. "The following statements are the poster's own opinion and are not to be taken as a presentment of fact," then I know a LOT of posts that need to be edited...and that's not just counting this thread.

 

And as for subjectivity vs. objectivity, I do not think these words mean what you think they mean, sir. In fact - not opinion - you seem to have the definitions totally reversed, if I am correctly interpreting your posts:

 

Subjectivity dictates a biased, necessarily opinionated look at something based on personal suppositions and anecdotal evidence, thus making my thoughts on the matter purely subjective. And although you are free to argue against my claims (I don't necessarily disagree with your arguments, by the way), I'll not necessarily heed them as fact either, unless you can present valid evidence to debunk them.

 

Objectivity, on the other hand, calls for a purely logical, scientific approach to a topic based on empirical observation. Although you are free to take a calculated, scientific approach as to why you think people do/should/shouldn't hate Skrillex (or, in my case, electronica in general), that's not what exactly what I was going for, in case I may have said something in my post to make you think otherwise. Was it the conviction in my tone? I may have conviction in my belief that electronica takes less time and effort to produce than traditional music - a view that I freely admit is unfounded - but that does not necessarily mean that I hold it as completely infallible. Post a video detailing the process of producing an electronica song, and you might just sway me.

Actually, I think you're misunderstanding. What he's saying is that disliking electro is subjective, and cannot be considered incorrect. However, you chose to also tell the basis for that opinion, and the basis was objective and incorrect.This is something that seems to happen a lot on the internet. I've seen many cases where a person tries to claim that the entirety of their statement is subjective, including the facts that they base their opinion on, and that is simply not true. If you simply state your opinion, nobody can claim that it is invalid or incorrect, but when you tell about what facts you base it on, it's completely reasonable for a person to say that those facts are flawed or incorrect, if that is the case.

Plus, she's like, 13, according to her profile, and from what I've seen, 13-year-olds on the web say stupid things and actually mean them.

Could be a troll, but maybe not.

Eeyup. When I was 13 I said massively retarded things online and was being completely genuine.

Actually, just recently I went and looked over posts on certain sites from a few years ago. Everyone must have thought I was just such a massive douche.

I doubt the OP really encourages you to do this, I think she's just joking.

Well, in regards to text communication as can be found on this site, there aren't many ways to denote sarcasm, so I assume any given post is serious unless given sufficient reason to think otherwise. The original post did not give me sufficient reason.

You are taking this FAR too seriously. So serious it's actually funny.

I don't understand. How am I taking it too seriously?

You have a point there, you can't compare Skrillex's music with something completely different, but why do people still call his music Dubstep then? Also, neither Knife Party or Deadmau5 plays either Dubstep or Brostep, mostly Electrohouse (Although Knife Party does have some Brostep songs)

 

Because it is dubstep. It's a very different style of dubstep, but it's still part of the same genre. Again, it's like how Foo Fighters, AC/DC, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are all completely different styles and not really comparable, but they're still all rock.

In this pony's personal opinion, listenin to Skrill-excrement is much akin to watching spongebob. in either case, if your not careful, you will lose what braincells you have and never get them back. His "music" shouldn't even be called music, as the term music applies to songs that have a meaning, a melody, a deepness to them. none of the things i just listed apply to Skrillex. but its ok, a couple more months and people will forget about him.

That is a misinformed statement. Music is defined as a medium of art which expresses emotion through sound, specifically through the interactions of seperate sounds, (paraphrased) which is exactly what Skrillex's songs do. For example, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites uses a melodic and peaceful sounding tune to contrast with the raw, aggressive, chaotic rhythm to be found after the drop, and alternates between the two. It results in two seperate, powerful emotions conveyed, without having to resort to lyrics to convey them. Admittedly Skrillex is not as good at conveying emotion as, say, Knife Party, and a lot of his songs are conveying similar things, but you really can't claim that his songs aren't conveying anything, or that they're not music.

I don't like Skrillex, either. Not because I'm jumping on a mindless hate bandwagon, but because dubstep (or whatever subgenre of electronica he's actually a part of, according to some o' you purists) is nothing more than a musical joke to me.

 

Let me explain. Make no mistake that I DO understand why people like it, and this is not to be taken as a criticism of the musical tastes of those who do enjoy it.

 

But the elitist in me cannot respect electronica artists as actual "musicians" since almost nothing they make contains actual recordings, only prerendered samples and beat loops that are arranged and manipulated with the click of a mouse. I'm sorry, but any way you look at it, even the most trite of poppy soft rock bands have more talent in them than most electronica composers, if for no other reason than the fact that they actually record live acoustics (let alone have the skill to learn how to play an instrument or sing in the first place).

 

I'm not saying they don't have to go through a grueling mixing and mastering process of their own; that does take some skill, at least...assuming they don't just have a producer do all that for them. But the fact that every beat, every pitch, everything is so perfect and devoid of any human error...well, it removes the distinctly human aspect of the music almost entirely.

 

And the fact that people like Skrillex go on "tours" is another total joke. What, so he can sit behind a DJ station and occasionally throw a hand gesture of minimal acknowledgement to a fan? Motherbucker, REAL performers talk to their audiences, toss 'em beers, get them pumped up, high-five fans, throw picks and drumsticks and miscellaneous merch out into the crowd.

 

So, you asked why people hate Skrillex, and got a rant from a hater of all dubstep/brostep/whatever music. But what can ya do but enjoy what you enjoy, right? Isn't the bottom line - the 'low line' if you will - that at the end of the day, who really cares if someone hates what you love? All that matters is you like it. Hell, the fact that we're all on a brony forum means that's a message we can all agree with...

I feel this needs a response, as it's a pretty well-put-together post from someone who clearly knows what they're talking about, and whom I must say I disagree with.

While it is true that electronica musicians don't need to actually learn to play instruments (although a lot of the rookie electro artists I personally know started making electro after already having learned instruments) that doesn't mean there isn't any talent involved. You somewhat addressed that when you mentioned the "grueling mixing and mastering process" (a good way to describe it) there's the simple fact that even coming up with rhythms that sound good requires a colossal amount of talent, let alone multiple rhythms that all have to interact in a way that works and doesn't sound awful. I myself have tried to make songs, and have failed miserably. I've been working on one for the past couple months and am nowhere near anything decent. 

Beyond that, there's the fact that a lot of time electro artists use the fact that they don't need to actually play the songs to leap past what other genres are able to do. The (in my opinion) best artists create rhythms that are so complex, nuanced, or just plain fast and ridiculous that it's not even physically possible for a single person or in some cases a group of people to play them on instruments. This means that they're dealing with things that no other genre had to deal with, because there was no way to make such things even applicable. It requires a colossal amount of skill, and it's a skill that can't be taught the way one can teach guitar or drums. Now, don't misunderstand me. I love rock, jazz, and certain other genres played on actual instruments. There are amazing songs in those genres, and there are amazingly talented individuals who are performing in them or have in the past. But, as a listener who sees myself as a connosieur of music in general, I frankly can't not appreciate what has been done by electro artists.

On the subject of the lack of imperfections, there are musicians whose music sounds somewhat stiff and off because of this, but a great many artists have enough variety within each song that this doesn't become an issue for me. 

Lastly, I have to agree that a lot of electro musicians' idea of a tour is stilted and awful. That's one thing that's always somewhat bothered me about the genre. Not every artist has that problem, but the majority do, and I really feel something needs to be done about that.

God, I really need to just stop reading through this thread. This post is getting a bit ridiculous. It's just, I see certain replies, and I feel compelled to respond.

I agree with ToxicNinja. When it comes right down to it, the mods will always figure it out, and in the long run it's just not really all that worth it. There is a reason that the limit exists, after all. It's to try to ensure that each post made is actually worthwhile. No, it's not perfect, but frankly I'd rather deal with that than have the forum clogged with losers typing out miniscule posts just to annoy people.

Skrillex is also the musician that got me into dubstep. (The specific song was Bangarang.) I agree that he gets way too much hate. He's a very competent musician, and while a majority of his songs do have the same feel, there is still a fair amount of variety. (particularly with the juxtaposition between melodic and chaotic in Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, as well as the more horror feel of Equinox (First of the Year)) As for comparing all dubstep to him, that's just impractical. Just because two artists are in the same genre does not make them comparable. Is AC/DC comparable to Radiohead? Are the Red Hot Chili Peppers comparable to Volbeat? Is Metallica comparable to the Foo Fighters? They're all rock, right? But they all have distinct styles, as is the case with all worthwhile genres. Likewise, there's a lot of diversity in dubstep. Modestep is not comparable to Knife Party, who isn't comparable to Nero, who isn't comparable to Skrillex, who isn't comparable to Deadmau5, because they all have distinct styles. Certainly there are similarities, but that doesn't mean that any of them can be benchmarks for any others. Yes, it's fair to say you like one more than another (for example, I prefer Knife Party over Modestep, Modestep over Skrillex, Skrillex over Nero, and just don't like Deadmau5,) but don't try to compare everything to one of them, or claim that a song is "better" or "worse" than Skrillex if it's not a comparable style.

My default response to trolls is rational responses. Essentially, most trolls are basing whatever they're saying on either intentionally flawed premises or just flat-out assumptions. Which means it's easy for someone like me to respond with a reasoned argument and utterly tear their statements or assertions apart, without resorting to insults and other such methods of arguing. The result is that the troll sees not only that I'm not giving him an emotional response, rather a logical, but also sees that I'm making an absolute fool of him. Hence, he becomes angry, starts throwing petty insults designed more to fire everywhere and hope something sticks, I continue my rational responses, it continues escalating on his end, and suddenly the person who started the conversation with the sole purpose of making me upset is the one who is being made upset, and I didn't even need to insult him in any way. It's quite effective.

Heh, pretty good. Well-drawn, clever reference. And, as Jokuc said, friggin' Jason Vorhees, lol. I'm not a huge fan of the Friday the 13th series, (Not that I don't like horror or slasher films) but Jason is a badass, plain and simple.

Ayo, welcome to the herd. I, too, enjoy all types of games. Maybe we could play whenever I get my online gaming situation sorted out 

As for da musics, I also like rock, although my favorite genres are various forms of electro; dubstep, hard glitch, trap, etc. Any bands you particularly like? 

Anyway, always glad to have new members on the forum. I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here.

Frankly, such conduct is never acceptable. I've seen numerous examples of similar situations, and every single one was disgusting and unjustified. The worst scenario I've seen is an instance of a person receiving threats from people in the real world over something harmless he shared on the internet, but the other examples are equally wrong.

Less importantly, not to be rude or anything, but you really should pay more attention to spelling and grammar, especially if you're starting a topic. It just helps make the whole site easier to use when people make sure that posts are easily readable, and I'm sure it makes it easier on mods as well.

Words.

Words, which I hold in such great respect.

Words, which at one time I considered near omnipotent.

Words, which are powerless to describe my fangasm for these plushies, my hnnnnnggg at their accuracy, my desire for one of my very own.

Words.

I definitely like Vinyl Scratch better than the Derpster, which isn't to say that I don't like Derpy. She's just more of a joke than anything else for me, whereas Scratchie is a badass DJ who specializes in my favorite genre of music, dubstep. That's hard to compete with. Oh, and I like her mane.

Personally, I like both, but I guess I'm more of a cat person. Cats fit me better, since they're so independent, and besides that, there's just something I like about them that I can't explain.

Well, I've got a few things to mention.

Firstly, the fandom is how I met a lot of my best friends. In fact, had I not joined this fandom, I would probably have never met my current boyfriend, Dustin, and it would likely have taken me much longer to even realize I'm bisexual, as it was while talking with Dustin a few months ago that I came to this realization.

Secondly, I ended up first talking to a new student at school a few weeks ago because he noticed, among other pieces of themed apparel, my Rainbow Dash headphones and Luna T-Shirt.

Lastly, my favorite memory tied to the fandom and quite possibly my fondest memory ever. Last September I went to the Canterlot Gardens convention in Srongsville, Ohio, and during the Voice Actors Panel, a young girl asked Tara Strong if she could sing BBBFF for her, not realizing someone else sang it in the show. Despite this fact, Ms. Strong agreed to do so, on the condition that the whole room join her. So, everyone in the room began singing along with her, including myself, and in that moment, I truly felt that I belonged, in a way I had never done so before. Later on, I joined a few cosplayers I hadn't met before in singing other songs from the show outside the building, and while it wasn't on the same level as the earlier event, it was quite wonderful, especially for someone like myself, who rarely sings in public or talks to people I don't know. I socialized a lot more than usual in general that day, even asking cosplayers if I could get pictures to post on a facebook page I admin. That day was honestly the best of my life.

Banned because *turns around* OH. OH. OH DEAR.

Banned for evading arrest/banning

1. Play video games

    Surf the net

2. Strategy

3. 2-11 times a year

4. Whichever one is the equivalent of about 30 U.S. dollars \

5. Orange, I guess

6. Chess

7. 11-30 mins

8. Large learning curve, lots of depth

9. Steampunk (I adore steampunk

10. Little People/characters

11. Different levels to the board

I'm sorry, I can't draw bionic ponies :/ Let me know if you'd like me to just draw him regularly. Until I get a reply, your request will be postponed so that the thread doesn't become clogged.

Sure, that'd be great. The character he's based on ends up getting his normal limbs back eventually, so that'll totally work. Thanks 

P.S. The ones you've made so far look great! Keep up the good work 

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day.

I'm so ridiculously okay with this, you have no idea. Probably my favorite Green Day song, which is saying something.

Dat limey 

... Wow. The only problem that I really see is that their shoes come up to their knees... looks kinda awkward, I think. I don't really see an issue with their hair, though... I've seen much more plastic-looking hair in other pictures, this hair actually looks pretty natural to me. And I've also seen lots of people wearing shorts under skirts... It's generally done to avoid showing underwear if the person might do something active, like running, or say, flying. The action Dash is known for. So, yeah, I would think she would almost definitely wear shorts under her skirt, if she were to wear a skirt.

Beyond all that, the fact that the new character designs aren't amazing doesn't mean it'll be crap. I'm still gonna give it a shot.