Why so much electronic music from the fandom?

[ManaMinori 4,149]

I browse EqD on a daily basis, and seems like a majority of the music featured from the fandom is electronic. Why is that? Why does it seem like no one is willing to make music with good ol instruments (preferably rock, metal, things with nice electric guitars, bass, drums....)

 

This is more pop rock, but uses actual instruments nicely, along with not too shabby vocals.

 

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of anything resembling a Japanese Equestria Daily, or site where Jap. Music from the fandom is featured?

Edited October 12, 2015 by Nightmare Muffin

[J. Brony 313]

Probably because electronic music can be produced by a single person while most anything else requires a band of some sort.  

[Alphys Hedge 671]

I guess alot of people just like Electronic music :L

Probably because electronic music can be produced by a single person while most anything else requires a band of some sort.  

HD Soundfonts doe

[GuyNamedEarl 1,332]

The fan base is mostly young people from the internet, so naturally that would be a popular genre for bronies.

[Envy 6,406]

I take it as you're dealing with individuals, and it's just naturally the easiest way for individuals to make music without spending lots of money.

 

I have enough instruments for almost a full wind ensemble... But that's just me... Lol. Most people do not have the tools in front of them that I do. I've always understood this, and have thus been pretty disappointed with any Brony music I have listened to. Ska with synthesized trumpet, trombone, saxophone is just wrong, wrong, wrong!

 

Still it raises valid points, because I can EASILY find live instrument recordings/arrangements of video game music - even the more obscure franchises I enjoy.

[Hero 63]

Maybe because that's the musical preference by each artist that makes a tune? That, or because dubstep/electronic music is kind of unique. I personally love it, so no problems here.

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

It's definitely a generational thing. Dubstep, nightcore remixes, and techno-ish genres are extrememely popular both in mainstream and underground music scenes at the moment (the RWBY fandom is having the same problem). That and the aformentioned ease of making said music for a 1 person creator.

 

Those genres may rule the top pages, but the thing is it's not entirely those things. If you do some searching or asking you can find some decent pieces in other genres of music.

[zombienixon 333]

Because they don't know any better.

[IronM17 5,855]

I think the first reason is that electronic music is easier to produce as metal or rock music and you don't need to sing or rap. For metal or rock, you need either a band or you must can play a lot of instruments (and sing of course). It's also easier to get a program for your PC which you can make electronic music. Ok, really good programs like FL Studio or Ableton Live are not really cheap, but you can download/buy cheaper programs. Another reason is, that a lot of people prefer dance music for a party/disco and also a lot of bronies like electronic dance music.

[J. Brony 313]

It's definitely a generational thing. 

 

Also a cultural thing I would say.  Electronica and remixes have become as much a part of brony culture as fanfiction and artwork based on the characters in the show.

 

 

I think the first reason is that electronic music is easier to produce as metal or rock music and you don't need to sing or rap. For metal or rock, you need either a band or you must can play a lot of instruments (and sing of course).

 

And this makes it easier for musically-inclined bronies to express themselves.  Putting a band together usually comes with some sort of commitment that someone working with audio software wouldn't be burdened with.  

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

The 1980s had Breakdance and Electric Boogie, 1990s MTV Europe techno and now this.

[Mez 245]

Because they don't know any better.

That sounded a little bias, Zom. It's their choice, not ours. If they want to make electronic, let them. I rather enjoy a good electronic beat.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Mezcass

[zombienixon 333]

That sounded a little bias, Zom. It's their choice, not ours. If they want to make electronic, let them. I rather enjoy a good electronic beat.

 

That was sarcasm, like half of the posts I've made here.

[Mez 245]

That was sarcasm, like half of the posts I've made here.

I didn't know it was, sometimes with AS, I take things literally.

[Prince Golden Lotus 166]

'Cuz it's easy.  (Easier than most stuff at least) And totally customizable to make whatever sound possible.

[NeonCobalt 256]

Probably because it's easy to make and very popular with the current generation. Personally, I find electronic music to be a mixed bag. By that I mean that there is as much good electronic music as there is bad. I find most of the MLP related electronic music to be decent, and there are a few excellent songs.

[cider float 2,539]

It seems to have been inspired by video game music and lot of cartoons has it once or twice like Steven Universe and Gravity Falls.

[Pulse Wave 44]

Simple: It's easy to make when you start out at zero which many many brony musicians do.

 

Electronic music can be made with no budget and no previous experience in music making. All you need is the Windows machine that you have anyway, FL Studio, maybe Native Instruments Massive and the pair of speakers or headphones that you have anyway. The software can theoretically be pirated, and several famous brony musicians have already admitted that they've started out on an illegal copy of FL Studio. Voilà, you have everything you need for making modern electronic music.

 

Now you need to know how to do it. Dubstep tutorial on YouTube, and you're ready to go. Takes you a few minutes and exactly no money.

 

Compare that to an acoustic instrument. First of all, you need the instrument. We're talking about several hundred €s here — at least. Then you need lessons and years of practice. Then you need a decent microphone to pick it up. Then you need a good audio interface to plug your mic in. Then you need a room in which you can mic your instrument with as few disturbances as possible. (For electric instruments, you can strike the mic and the room unless you want to mic your amp which you'll need as well.)

 

And then you're still hardly capable of making an entire song — unless you're a multi-instrumentalist like Prince, Steve Winwood or Mike Oldfield.

 

If you're none, you'll need a band. Since people who are both bronies and musicians are few and far between, it's difficult to gather together a band in one place. We do have bands (Przewalski's Ponies, for instance), but only very very few ones. It's difficult enough to get a duo like AcousticBrony. So your only chance is the collaboration with people whom you only know online, and whom you'll most likely never meet in real life, let alone all of them together. So what seems like a band at a convention (as rare as this happens) is often actually a motley bunch of musicians who have only ever sent each other audio files so far. Remember when Forest Rain, Tarby, Poni1Kenobi etc. performed at conventions? It was clear that they had never rehearsed together because they had never met before the conventions.

 

Add to this the popularity of current electronic genres among the generation which most bronies belong to. When pony music started out, dubstep was all the rage and remained so for several years. Also, stuff like EDM, trap... Many of the pioneers of pony music made those kinds of popular electronic music. It is popular, it made bronies #HorseFamous, and it is cheap, quick and easy to make. Thus, many start making music believing that although they know nothing about making music, they can become the next SimGretina or Alex S. within half an afternoon and with a budget of zero.

 

In comparison, it takes you years upon years of practice and an automobile's worth of professional studio equipment to even hope to become the next BlackGryph0n.

 

The result is that some 95% of all pony music are electronic and piano-rolled on a computer with no outboard equipment except for a mouse and a pair of speakers or headphones. Most of those few bronies who don't start into that direction while they're bronies are metalheads who dislike anything electronic (unless it's a background string pad that's mandatory for melodic death metal) and choose the guitar and to go harder, louder, faster, darker.

 

Makes me wonder what the bronydom and its music scene would look like if the ponies appealed to more and older experienced musicians.

[cider float 2,539]

Dubstep is still the rage and it's pretty electronic in a way.

[Dr. Frasier Crane 319]

I suppose if you're on you're own then electronic is the best way to go. And you get pretty good results, one of my favourite things about the fandom is the fanmusic. Like it or not it's at least 1000 times better then throwing notes together in something like Sibelius and ending up with a mess of midi sounds.

[Lucky Shot 232]

I browse EqD on a daily basis, and seems like a majority of the music featured from the fandom is electronic. Why is that?

 

Far and away the easiest music genre to make. Also, we have very few dedicated musician characters in the show, and one is Vinyl Scratch.

[Makazi 317]

It's less of a fandom thing and more of just an all-around "this is what people are making these days" thing.

[BPCannon 193]

It's been the easiest starting point for a long time now. I'm currently 37, and used to make music in the late 90's and very early 2000's. Even though it was a whole generation ago, it was still electronic - Trance, and Hard Trance mainly on the Music and Music 2000 software on the PS1. If you want to go even further back I made some old school rave tracks on an Atari 1040ST - also did my first ever game modding on that one (custom maps for the original worms game, and levels for Lemmings )

 

Currently (free time permitting) I do Trap, Trapstep/Hybrid, and EDM mixes, and a few years back I was doing hybrid Dubstep/Uk Grime mixes. Don't really have time or patience to create my own stuff any more, just mix other peoples, but I would if did.

 

Anyways, having gone from electronic to electronic and more electronic, I can say that in my experience a fair portion of people who are into animation are also into computers and electronic music, and since a vast amount of the fandom grew and exists through Youtube, it consists of a large number of animation fans who spend a lot of time in front of their PC/Laptop

[cmarston1 5,964]

Because it is currently popular and an easy genre of music to make compared to others.

[Eipeiknip15 12]

Easier to make than other genres and also it's a popular genre this decade.