when i started producing music, the early techno and hardcore productions were despised by many people of the newer generation of producers. was the sound not cheesy? weak? technically inferior?
i too had such a mindset, and was at first not much interested in this sound. after all, i had lived through the first "techno explosion" and even then it did not catch much of my interest.
over the years, this changed. i felt a certain attraction to the earliest techno and hardcore productions. there seemed to be something intriguing, special about it. i felt i was about to grow an obsession for this music. a lot of my friends were shocked. why was i going back in the past when seemingly others moved on?
it took me a while - years - to be finally to realise what is so special about early techno.
the cheesy stabs, the dancy vocals in a lot of those tracks put many people down - especially those who come from the rock field. isn't this cheesy dance music? for the last remaining candy ravers?
the point is. no it's not. the earliest techno, at the end of the 80s, and the beginning of the 90s, was simply made, produced in a different way, than most other music at that point, and later. it's all about the effect. the melody, the sound, the samples, in itself are not so important, if they don't reach a certain effect. to get wild on the dancefloor. to trip out. to move. to groove. to drift off. and, most importantly, to feel that energy rush. yes, some melodies might be cheesy, but this is missing the point completely. if the melody can make you rush to the adrenaline, then the effect was succesful, and wether this was done by cheesy methods is not so important at all. this is what makes early techno different from pop music or most other forms of music.
the various elements, structures, the keys, melodies, tunings, harmonics, rhythms, are only secondary. the tunes are made with the effect, the impact they can have, in mind. the impact on the body, and mental.
you have to see through the apparent sounds to realise this.
this also why techno producers easily switched elements over the years, from the 808 to sampled drums to breakbeats and more.
if it makes you dance, it is correct. don't question anything else.
the interesting thing here, is, again, that this is something that is not found in most other genres. it *can* be found; jazz, blues, 60s rock, had a similiar approach. where the elements and structure used is not so important as the effect induced by the music. and, in the last years, i see that this approach is also heavily speeding into other forms of music, even pop.
the other thing, techno, hardcore, the early stuff, is simply some of the best produced music ever. what makes it special, to write it down, could fill a whole book. it is not so much the complexity - early techno was often simplistic - as how they used the limitations of the early equipment, and of the techno method itself. and what they stuffed into the tracks, as ideas, creativity, vision. techno tracks feels so much as a whole, and packed with action. also, they have a quality what i call "seamless" producing. in the best tunes, every basshit, every drum, every stab just fits absolutely perfect and you can find no flaw in the production. again, this is rare in most genres, and again, compares with equally seamless music as the best jazz or blues productions.
i will stop here for now; it is too much to explain and maybe can't be explained. if you are a producer yourself or interested in techno, just listen to the early techno productions over and over, and maybe you can find the genius in these tracks and their productions.
these two things are what make early techno and hardcore stand out, and a lot more. maybe you can find enjoyment in these genres too.
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