Ateno
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Memphis, TN

So whenever I'm bored I sometimes play my songs backwards. Minus the percussion ( because it just sounds like air being sucked or something), it still sounds O.K. ( I'm not saying good, because that depends on whether you liked my music in the first place or not.) But it still is pleasing to the ear in general. So I guess what I'm getting at is, is there any reason that the song still has musical appeal even backwards or just my familiarity with the songs causing me to enjoy it since I made it?

And also have you had the same experience? As far as songs your songs still sounding decent backwards.

ShintarouMusic
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Boise, ID

Yes! Sometimes I pull inspiration for new songs from reversing my old ones. I think it's a great way to find interesting progressions and melodies you wouldn't normally have thought of.

Last edited by ShintarouMusic (Oct 11, 2013 8:27 pm)

herr_prof
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Sometimes I play songs at half speed, and you catch timing, pitch issues really easy that way

defPREMIUM
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it's bad because satan can talk to you that way thats why u like it because satan stop b4 too late

ShintarouMusic
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Boise, ID
defPREMIUM wrote:

it's bad because satan can talk to you that way thats why u like it because satan stop b4 too late

no man its ok like the beatles they hide xtra words n secret messages from them u can here

Last edited by ShintarouMusic (Oct 11, 2013 8:39 pm)

defPREMIUM
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shintarou r u tryna lead me astray

sandneil
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i think that backwards its the same thing. like looking at some visual art reflected L/R. not much is lost

in the music it can be disconcerting if you use a lot of volume envelopes but otherwise its just a reflection of the original. every atemporal element of the song is identical and some things temporal don't change much either. 4/4 is still 4/4, interval movements are the same but opposite direction, tempo doesn't change.

the song will lose a lot of your intentions depending on how you wrote it - tensions come after resolutions and so on.

if you think of your song in a more abstract organisation of information than just (a sequence of bytes) nothing actually changed apart from the piece of information which says "listen to this forwards". which likely you didn't even encode into your song, everyone just assumed that forwards would be the best direction to listen

so i think that's why it still sounds good backwards. depending on the software you use you may be able to reverse the notes without reversing the sounds - which can be really cool

Alpine
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UK, Leicester
herr_prof wrote:

Sometimes I play songs at half speed, and you catch timing, pitch issues really easy that way

Yeah, I do this as well, it's hella helpful sometimes.

SketchMan3
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NC in the US of America

I've done a few reversies in my day. It's really nice to be able to create two songs out of one.

sandneil wrote:

i think that backwards its the same thing. like looking at some visual art reflected L/R. not much is lost

in the music it can be disconcerting if you use a lot of volume envelopes but otherwise its just a reflection of the original. every atemporal element of the song is identical and some things temporal don't change much either. 4/4 is still 4/4, interval movements are the same but opposite direction, tempo doesn't change.

the song will lose a lot of your intentions depending on how you wrote it - tensions come after resolutions and so on.

if you think of your song in a more abstract organisation of information than just (a sequence of bytes) nothing actually changed apart from the piece of information which says "listen to this forwards". which likely you didn't even encode into your song, everyone just assumed that forwards would be the best direction to listen

so i think that's why it still sounds good backwards. depending on the software you use you may be able to reverse the notes without reversing the sounds - which can be really cool

^ Said it way better than I could have. All of this.

seatrash
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seattle

whenever i get to a feeling of being somewhat finished with a song in lsdj, i slow down the tempo to 40 BPM and listen to the whole track to see if there's any unintentional chord tension.

i think i've tried playing one of my songs backwards before, but i never really got anything out of it

ilkae
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montreal, qc

forwards: http://ilkae.bandcamp.com/track/rodomontade-b
backwards and markov'd: https://soundcloud.com/ilkae/rodo2r3

sometimes i end up with better songs than how i wrote them; usually i don't but it's funny anyway.

Invisible Robot Hands
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Playboy Man-Baby

I buried Sabrepulse

Victory Road
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Gosford, Australia

i did a song like this about 5 years ago http://www.soundcloud.com/midimachine/infinite-illusion

needless to say, it sounds the same in reverse.

sleepytimejesse
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Youngstown, OH
sandneil wrote:

i think that backwards its the same thing. like looking at some visual art reflected L/R. not much is lost

Well, a fundamental difference occurs between visual art and music. Our medium happens across time. A picture mirrored is much different than a sequence of musical events reversed, in my opinion.

but anyway, pretentious theoretical stuff aside, a lot of music sounds great reversed. Some composers use complex planning to actually use subject matter which can be reflected upon itself. Lots of canons and fugues do this.

SketchMan3
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NC in the US of America
sleepytimejesse wrote:

Well, a fundamental difference occurs between visual art and music. Our medium happens across time. A picture mirrored is much different than a sequence of musical events reversed, in my opinion.

but anyway, pretentious theoretical stuff aside, a lot of music sounds great reversed. Some composers use complex planning to actually use subject matter which can be reflected upon itself. Lots of canons and fugues do this.

FWIW, I think that this:

sandneil wrote:

i think that backwards its the same thing. like looking at some visual art reflected L/R. not much is lost

was said in respose to this:

Ateno wrote:

is there any reason that the song still has musical appeal even backwards or just my familiarity with the songs causing me to enjoy it since I made it?

which is pretty spot-on, I'd say.

Also: heart J. S. Bach! big_smile

Ateno
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Memphis, TN

Wow, lots of great insights!