LinuxMusicians

I do listen to my music. Actually, I started writing ambient because I couldn't find much myself or I found tunes which I did not like entirely. A lot of ambient music composing is indeed like composing, taking different bits and pieces and working with them and what happens is that the composer himself becomes only a small part of the process. And so the resulting tunes are as interesting to the composer himself as to other listeners.

Of course, I write melodic music too, but not much these days. Sometimes its fun to listen to what you did years ago.

Yes, definitely. If you can call what I built as music

But seriously, I think it's important to critically review all parts of a piece you're working on, and that can only be achieved by listening to it.

I think this question really means "Do you ENJOY listening to your own music?"

Indeed. Nice point.

Whenever I listen to my music all I can think aboutis that tiny quirk that only I would notice. So no.

I have two types of "works." The stuff I come up with spontaneously, which I don't like until I've listened to it for a while, and then it starts to make sense.

Then there are times when an actual "melody" of specific line comes through, usually in the space of about 20 minutes or so. These are just as mysterious to me, just in a different way.


brian

Yep, I always listen to my songs because it helps me get a better idea of how to make it better Sometimes, I truly enjoy my songs but only in case it's made perfectly (which is usually not the case). However, I don't listen to my old songs because I know that they are way worse than the new ones

I listen to my own music a lot. I'm inspired by the bands I like to make music, so I make music that I like. I'm not always in control of it, it can takes turns I didn't expect when I set out, but it never goes places I don't want to go.

Much as I enjoy the music-making process, for me, there'd be no point in making music I didn't like and didn't want to listen to.

I do have very narrow musical tastes (if you can call a genre as vast as prog narrow), so I wouldn't know how to make any other sort of music.

Yes absolutely. I love what I do and am doing. Recently I'm trying to made a song for my favourite game. Now I'm listen to it and to modify it.

Yeah, I don't see the point in making music that you don't in some sense enjoy. If you don't like it why would you expect other people to? Still, the music I make is not my favourite style of music but it has a place in my collection for sure, and there's a right time and place for my own music.

I listen to my music quite intensively shortly after it's completed (whatever 'completed' means), then leave it for some time. Eventually it goes on my iRiver H300 (still going strong) mixed with all the stuff I like from other artists. I have this playing when out driving.

The amusing thing is that sometimes it takes me a while to recognise the older ones as mine

Great question!

I agree that listening critically is the only way to improve your skills. This goes for writing, playing, singing, recording, and mixing. Equally important is listening to other stuff you admire. Not to copy or emulate, but for ideas and challenges.

But it is quite an experience, isn't it? Sometimes you can be so proud of a lyric or a sound, and a minute later something else can make you wince in TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT. That's actually good, because you approach the next thing armed with a little more information about how to make something you feel good about.

I was recently listening to some recordings by a rock band I played bass in 20 years ago and digging the bass lines I had contributed, but then feeling I had matured as a player a lot since then and I wish I could go back and re-record my parts...

There's not a lot of music I enjoy so I don't really have too much to listen to. So I really enjoy my music.

I am appalled to see that quite a few people think that enjoying one's own music can be labeled as "pretentious."

How can that be so? If you do it, it's because you like it! If you don't like it, well, then stop doing that music you don't like and do the one you like, damn it!

Unless you're a real pro who gets paid to make music for other people, say, soundtracks or commercials or something like that, so maybe you don't really enjoy listening to everything you do because you never did it for yourself to begin with, but that still leaves no room for saying it's "pretentious."

I love my own music. It scratches very specific itches that other music won't.

due to improvisational nature of my music, i mostly „listen“ to imaginary tracks in my head, and later try to play something more or less similar to what i remember )
my brain generates those imaginary tracks quite often, when everyone else's music in my collection seems boring.

Listening to my own tracks is like eating my own cooking, it's got everything I like in it.