Do you listen to/enjoy your own music regularly?

[modusjonens]

After a few years of consistent recording and writing, I'm starting to realize I make music mostly for, well, myself. I post plenty of material online and share here obviously. But at the end of the day, it's my own feelings about the piece that matter the most to me.

I feel that if I'm able to craft something that can help brighten my mood or otherwise help me emotionally, I must have succeeded artistically. I suppose I wish the things I created had a similar effect on other folks, but I'm not sure I'll ever know.

Do you enjoy listening back? Do you avoid it? Somewhere in between?

Thanks for sharing

[Impostor]

Too often I listen to my own music; mostly to try to convince myself it's not that bad after all. Of course, that's bound to fail, since I've heard it all before hundreds of times, and it gets more bland with each listening session.

So, do I listen to my own tracks regularly? Yes. Do I enjoy it? Only if I haven't heard it for a couple of months at least.

[Rainmak3r]

I must admit I'm one of those that listen to their own tracks way too much I hope there's no narcissism involved...

I think it's because very often my tracks were born out of music I heard so much in my head that I very much wanted to listen to it, and so I recorded it: when it eventually comes out, it then may become something I want to listen to even more. Some of them I really love and am proud of. That said, there's tracks I listen to a lot, and others I now mostly skip, since for one reason or another they're painful to listen to: maybe because they sound awful, or my voice sucks, or I recognize many mistakes I learned how to solve in the meanwhile but that are unfixable in that specific "finished product".

Overall, I do agree though that I do have emotional responses to some tracks, just as @modusjones said, and possibly exactly because I remember what I felt or wanted to convey when I first wrote or recorded them. That feeling alone is definitely worth it, even if nobody else listens to them.

[flappix]

While I produce/record my tracks I play and listen them so much that I really become annoyed of them when the track is finished.
Mainly because I have to practice my own compositions very hard until I'm satisfied with the result.

When some time is gone I can come back to them and then also enjoy listen. But it's not the same motivation when I listen to music of others. It's more to review them. I often find myself listen to songs I made 1-2 years ago I think: The composition is not too bad but the technical execution has definitely room for improvement.

[Impostor]

He doesnt hear any music in general - he is so fucking serious about music that he can not enjoy music anymore.

Knowing some tricks of the trade can indeed rob certain songs of their magic.

Especially when you discover some kind of sound effect/arpeggio or whatever occurring in a track by your favorite electronic producer, with arbitrarily pushing some buttons and turning some knobs on a synth. Makes the track and the artist suddenly much less impressive...

[Rainmak3r]

it is still sad, when my life is focused on a thing I do not really like...thats pretty sad.
I am glad that I still can enjoy music

It is indeed the problem of mastering any art: the moment you learn "how the sausage is made", you often end up thinking more about the process than the result when consuming a product someone else made. I remember thinking about this specifically when studying literature at school: I realized I enjoyed reading books on my own vastly more than reading those I had to read (no matter how good they were), mostly because we ended up analyzing them, which basically took away the magic. It's like looking at a live person and dissecting a dead body: with the latter you learn more about how we "work", but the sparkle is gone (macabre analogy, I know).

I've noticed the same with adventure games, now that I started writing my own engine for fun, and that was a bit of a bummer since it took away some of the fun. Luckily I haven't encountered the same for music yet, possibly because there's so many different ways of working on music that it's hard to pinpoint specific processes (or more likely I'm simply still dumb enough when it comes to music production that my level of sophistication is too low to be ruined )

[RyanH]

I hope there's no narcissism involved...

Haha, I don't think it's (necessarily) narcissistic. I remember many years ago, the singer of the band Helmet was asked what his favourite band was, and he said "Helmet." He made the point that he writes the songs that he wants to hear, so of course he likes his music.

I used to listen to my songs regularly, when I actually finished songs. Now I spend months tangling myself up trying to master different techniques and adjusting to/overcoming software/distro issues, with the result that I'm always working on songs and never finishing them

[folderol]

Yes. I will play my own music from time to time, and enjoy it just as much as any other music from other sources I've kept.
The difference is that if I find something in my stuff that doesn't seem right I can correct it. Probably about 20% of my work has benefited from this - some tracks more than once.

[glowrak guy]

I hope there's no narcissism involved...

Since I didn't create the instruments, sounds, effects, or tools I use, I don't worry
much about the vanity of enjoying my own music. I know it's those other creatives who make what I do possible.
I'm glad to be able express myself musically, and ever grateful for the genious and craftmanship others share
to keep me supplied with wonderful raw materials. Hopefully put to good and improving use.
Cheers

[jdfight]

I tend to listen to my music a lot for about a week after creating it. I am usually very proud of a track right after completing it. Unfortunately, I tend to be overly self-critical too. So, after that first week, every weakness or mistake becomes all I remember of the track. So, I kinda have a love/hate relationship with my muse.

[glowrak guy]

I've got 5 songs (and counting ) where I noticed an error that made it through pre-release scrutiny. Fortunately it's not hard to have songs removed, and replace them later with repaired versions. Hopefully with something extra added in the interim. That was not the case in the days of physical media.
Cheers

[onefang]

I've just started my third music life this year (see my self intro for more details). Two things I noticed.

Now when I listen to music from others, I often think - how could I play / produce that?

Creating music takes a long time, so I'm easily in danger of the music I'm working on turning into a big old ear worm. So taking lengthy breaks is good.

The ear worm thing has already made me cross off my TODO list making a cover of some commercial thing that was designed for ear worming. Not putting THAT in my head. lol

I'm beginning to think that my talent lies in creating covers with mutilated lyrics. I'm old enough that any "original" music I might think of is just some ancient ear worm I have half forgotten. Reminds me of a drummer friend that thought he had come up with this great bass line, until I pointed out it was from a Pink Floyd track.

[glowrak guy]

I had to tighten up my naming convention, as I discovered something I liked in my experiments folder, spent some long hours getting it ready for release, only to discover I had already finished the project but under a different name, and a couple years earlier
The 'new' version wasn't different enough from the original, to be considered a 'cover'.

...now, where did I put my memory pills?

[Gps]

I do listen to my self made music and like most of it, but its also frustrating.

Often get ideas on what I should have done better, which is not surprising because I learned so much since my first track.
Also my musical hearing has improving a lot.

Should I start over on soundcloud, and at least remix all my track now I have studio monitors?

[glowrak guy]

Maybe try the one you think you can improve the most, and when finished, you'll have a frame of reference for the others?
Then choose what brings you peace and satisfaction. Be happy!