[aaf evo]

Folks, there is something that I have been very curious about for a long time.. so I thought that I would ask (with the utmost respect and goodwill) for thoughts from those who understand..

I see that there are quite a few audiophiles (young and old) who listen mainly to EDM, House, Trance and Psychedelic music.. even review and evaluate equipments using said music..

I will try to illustrate my question using my own experience with various genres and sub-genres that I normally listen to and can actually understand (know what to look for, what to enjoy, and what to be critical about in the music)..

To put it simply, I can understand the story and complexities in jazz, pop, R&B/hip hop, opera, rock, heavy metal, classical, and many more.. the most complex of them all, as expected, is classical of course.. but even with heavy metal, I get what the band is trying to convey with their music.. pop music (such as Taylor Swift, Adele, etc) is even simpler where you just listen to the story that they are singing..

But with EDM, House, Trance, Psychedelic, etc.. what is it that I am supposed to look for and receive from the music? What is the story that the musicians are telling me?

Once again I ask this in good spirit and the highest respect to the genres..

Cheers and best of health to us all!

I think it's one of those things that you might either vibe with it or you don't? I am massively into trance music, but even more so vocal trance. I find the way some of these tracks are produced between the rhythm, bass lines, treble detailing, and intricate layers of synths and how it all forms together to fill out your head space and build a track quite fascinating. If you ever come across how some electronic tracks are produced it's quite interesting to see how it starts off with one synth line and ends up being transformed into something that is full of sound.

These tracks don't all have vocals nor are all of them trance but here are a few of my favorite electronic tracks from various sub-genres:

Spoiler

I could provide a crap ton of material but I think this will do.

 

[Simpeler]

That is a very foreign concept for me as an avid music listener but nevertheless very interesting!

So what do you look for or pay attention to in said music?

Well I dont want to generalize, and probably a lot of EDM was made to convey a story.

But rhythm (and things like ambience) in music could bring in “trance”. Which probably the word comes from when used in context of EDM.

Take techno for example, to me this is almost designed to have a trance effect on people (that is why its also associated with drugs at parties, it multiplies each other).

I also agree with the previous post about music you can “feel”.

But there are many reasons besides a story for music to be there.

 

[Deezel177]

I'm with @o0genesis0o and @aaf evo on the tuning bit. Although I'm far from a treblehead (some might even call me the opposite), the treble is the region I prioritize most in an IEM. To me, you can manipulate the bass a good amount before it sounds unnatural. The same goes for the mids. Say, if the low-mids are a bit recessed, my brain can easily assume, "Oh, perhaps the singer had a slightly dry throat that day, or they were singing in a deader room, etc." If it's the high-mids, perhaps I just happen to be sitting a bit further away from the singer. But, if an IEM has a rollercoaster-y treble with random peaks and dips, it's an automatic dealbreaker. There's no world where a brash, spashy hi-hat sounds natural, nor where a singer's sibilants are all-peaky or all-diffuse. Treble's like salt in food. It helps bring out, lift up and separate all the other flavors, and a dish can easily taste like nothing without it. Obviously, salt shouldn't be all I'm tasting either, so overall quantity is crucial too. But, when it comes to what makes or breaks an FR for me, it's definitely the treble, especially its linearity.

Folks, there is something that I have been very curious about for a long time.. so I thought that I would ask (with the utmost respect and goodwill) for thoughts from those who understand..

I see that there are quite a few audiophiles (young and old) who listen mainly to EDM, House, Trance and Psychedelic music.. even review and evaluate equipments using said music..

I will try to illustrate my question using my own experience with various genres and sub-genres that I normally listen to and can actually understand (know what to look for, what to enjoy, and what to be critical about in the music)..

To put it simply, I can understand the story and complexities in jazz, pop, R&B/hip hop, opera, rock, heavy metal, classical, and many more.. the most complex of them all, as expected, is classical of course.. but even with heavy metal, I get what the band is trying to convey with their music.. pop music (such as Taylor Swift, Adele, etc) is even simpler where you just listen to the story that they are singing..

But with EDM, House, Trance, Psychedelic, etc.. what is it that I am supposed to look for and receive from the music? What is the story that the musicians are telling me?

Once again I ask this in good spirit and the highest respect to the genres..

Cheers and best of health to us all!

That genre (or umbrella of genres) is probably the one I listen to least. But, for me, when I listen to EDM or trance or house, I wanna be taken to a world of the producer's making. I wanna be transported and immersed in an almost-foreign landscape, and I wanna see colors and feel textures that are uniquely made by said producer's manipulation of real-world instruments. It's almost like watching a David Lynch or Paul Verhoeven movie where everything's a little bit off-kilter sonically, and that departure from the real, analog world is what makes that genre interesting.

 

[maegnificant]

Folks, there is something that I have been very curious about for a long time.. so I thought that I would ask (with the utmost respect and goodwill) for thoughts from those who understand..

I see that there are quite a few audiophiles (young and old) who listen mainly to EDM, House, Trance and Psychedelic music.. even review and evaluate equipments using said music..

I will try to illustrate my question using my own experience with various genres and sub-genres that I normally listen to and can actually understand (know what to look for, what to enjoy, and what to be critical about in the music)..

To put it simply, I can understand the story and complexities in jazz, pop, R&B/hip hop, opera, rock, heavy metal, classical, and many more.. the most complex of them all, as expected, is classical of course.. but even with heavy metal, I get what the band is trying to convey with their music.. pop music (such as Taylor Swift, Adele, etc) is even simpler where you just listen to the story that they are singing..

But with EDM, House, Trance, Psychedelic, etc.. what is it that I am supposed to look for and receive from the music? What is the story that the musicians are telling me?

Once again I ask this in good spirit and the highest respect to the genres..

Cheers and best of health to us all!

I totally get your question, as there was a time in my life where I didn't "get" it either. I still do not listen to "EDM-like" music a lot, BUT I certainly have experienced the trance-like euphorian mind-state of dancing to a constant rhythm with a large group of people. This music is about letting go and experiencing the moment. (to me) Being able to do that without enhancing substances is a little harder to do, but certainly very possible. Being able to do that alone is almost impossible for me, but it might not be for others.

To say it simply, and I mean that in a positive way, this music helps me to get back into (non-violent) ape-mode.

I can also imagine that music with a steady beat like that helps to keep energy up for running, lifting weights, keeping a workflow going etc.

Maybe that helps as an explanation of a concept, that actually should not have to be explained. It certainly shows how far many people (including me) are removed from their instincts.

If you listen to tribal music, you will see it bears a very striking resemblance to club music of today. This music is made to build and hold a community together.

 

[raibeli]

Firstly, I would separate "Psychedelic" from the others, as to me Psych is much more in line with Indie Rock, and is often made (intentionally) with much lower production value than the other Electronic genres.

Otherwise, especially with EDM, House, Trance and the many, many other Dance/Electronic variants, its much more of a feel of the music, typically from the 4x4 bass synths and percussion inherent to those genres, layered with synths and other effects all up and down the FR curve. A wispy female vocal often does not go astray either.

One thing that elevates most electronic music in the hobby for me is that it is made with at least above average, and more typically top-quality recording & production, which translates extremely well to listening with top-quality gear. If you want to hear how technical a given IEM or headphone is, then electronic music will often allow you to really push those limits.

Off the top of my head, or playlist, here's something I've really enjoyed recently:


I'm sure @Scubadevils will have plenty of other examples to share.

Personally for me, it doesn't make sense to assess technical performance of a transducer with electronic music. It's often too clean and every sound is where it's programmed. I feel like high quality recordings of acoustic instruments and vocals are more nuanced and not as "obvious".

I do enjoy electronic music casually tho.

 

[bukumurah]

That genre (or umbrella of genres) is probably the one I listen to least. But, for me, when I listen to EDM or trance or house, I wanna be taken to a world of the producer's making. I wanna be transported and immersed in an almost-foreign landscape, and I wanna see colors and feel textures that are uniquely made by said producer's manipulation of real-world instruments. It's almost like watching a David Lynch or Paul Verhoeven movie where everything's a little bit off-kilter sonically, and that departure from the real, analog world is what makes that genre interesting.

LOL no wonder.. I have been listening to Electronic music the wrong way all my life

Everytime I just went "Huh, what..??"

But I totally get you Bro.. it's a similar reason why I watch absolutely weird Japanese indie movies (Tokyo Gore Police, anyone?) that everybody else just could not understand..

 

[Kerouac]

1. Electronic is the umbrella genre that I am looking for and should cover everything that I mentioned earlier

2. With the specific music example that you recommended, what do you pay attention to in the music?

I listen to lots of genres myself and often in 'play all songs / shuffle mode' on my daps to keep it as varied as possible. So a soft pop song by London Grammar or Damien Rice can easily be followed by a rock song from Opeth or Nine Inch Nails for instance...

For me there's only one golden rule for the music that I listen to: there has to be some sort of melody (or else I would probably get bloody nervous, while listening) in the music!

Now, I also have some EDM albums on my daps and these are some of my personal favorites.

James Holden...


Joris Voorn...


But also some imo legendary 'classic' albums from Underworld...


Anyway, maybe there's something for your taste (or for anybody else out here) as well, to try...
Good luck with your search and happy listening!

 

[vaporsynthwave]

James Holden...

I've been waiting to find those cd's for a reasonable price. along with this

 

[Pelilin]

Folks, there is something that I have been very curious about for a long time.. so I thought that I would ask (with the utmost respect and goodwill) for thoughts from those who understand..

I see that there are quite a few audiophiles (young and old) who listen mainly to EDM, House, Trance and Psychedelic music.. even review and evaluate equipments using said music..

I will try to illustrate my question using my own experience with various genres and sub-genres that I normally listen to and can actually understand (know what to look for, what to enjoy, and what to be critical about in the music)..

To put it simply, I can understand the story and complexities in jazz, pop, R&B/hip hop, opera, rock, heavy metal, classical, and many more.. the most complex of them all, as expected, is classical of course.. but even with heavy metal, I get what the band is trying to convey with their music.. pop music (such as Taylor Swift, Adele, etc) is even simpler where you just listen to the story that they are singing..

But with EDM, House, Trance, Psychedelic, etc.. what is it that I am supposed to look for and receive from the music? What is the story that the musicians are telling me?

Once again I ask this in good spirit and the highest respect to the genres..

Cheers and best of health to us all!

I am not japanese or korean and i dont understand anything what the singer trying to say, still i enjoy listening to them. Recently this past years i was also wondering why do i like listening to people sing without even i understand what they are singing about. I think this also work the same way with techno or EDM which only depend on beat - rythm- pattern. I can conclude only one thing from myself, is that maybe i see music as a random things happening all at once and i see pattern in them. These pattern can be beautiful or maybe not beautiful and i find it intriguing. I think it also symbolize life itself different chaotic things happening all at once creating patterns and somehow it all work out in the end. Also maybe there is something in the past when i was a kid when i hear my mother sang a song i didnt understand what it mean but still i enjoy it. There are people who listen to music and trying to understand what the song mean i find a lot of people are like that, but there are also some people i find that is like me , we listen to pattern some are energetic uplifting, some are sad, some are fun, etc. Hmmm this question make me wonder more i need to look up why in war certain culture use drums or music. Interesting indeed.

 

[RTodd]

Not sure whether you're referring to my question or not, but that wasn't about FR graphs at all. It was simply the question what is most important for you in an IEM: bass, mids, or treble. Perhaps you don't give a sh!t about bass. Perhaps it's the only thing you care about. Or perhaps you find bass, mids, and treble equally important. Some do, most don't.

drftr

Late I am sure, I am a W guy at heart.
All three equal.

 

[maegnificant]

Late I am sure, I am a W guy at heart.
All three equal.

Participating in that poll felt the same as getting a tattoo to me: I could never stick to a choice like that. I might be too fickle for that kind of decision. A well done W is the best of all worlds/best compromise I could settle on for the longest time so far.

 

[Neweymatt]

2. With the specific music example that you recommended, what do you pay attention to in the music? And consequently how would you use those things to assess gears?

tbh, I hadn't really thought about "assessing" gear with the music per se, rather this is something I find quite enjoyable in it's own right.

However, with this type of thing, I'd be listening for sub-bass extension depth along with quality and texture of bass. You can also get a good sense of stage size in all 3 dimensions; a better IEM will give you a lot more depth to something like this. And with all the percussive elements, treble gets a good workout as well.

Now I've been exploring a little more, here's another Electronic track that again I think is fantastic to just get lost in, but could well be used to test out your gear, especially down low:



You mentioned Psychedelic earlier, and I couldn't help myself but to wander on to this..


Now this is definitely not anything that could be considered traditional "Audiophile" type music, but idc about any of that. Here what I'm after is gear that has enough technical ability to let me hear deeply into the surprisingly intricate layers that would otherwise be buried behind that wall of glorious distortion.

 

[theveterans]

I for one adore the Bonneville, easily became my faovorite IEM that I really cant live without. When I reviewed Bonneville I give it a subjective score of 5 star on head-fi, this was easy for me to decide on as almost no other IEMs have given me the same amount pure joy.

Already had a talk about @thaslaya in PM about Bonneville, very different than how I perceive the Bonneville. But that is okay, we are sensitive to different things and IEMs is dependent of how our ears are (none are the same)

There is also the bias for what one is used to, most IEMs coming out are tuned very different than Bonneville.

I often hear the arguments about muddy/bleed bass into the mids, then I hear the IEMs myself and think this is sounding good and how it should be. The bass tuck style that I guess is very normal from Moondrop that also many other brands tune with, this sound unnatural to me and not as fun and full sounding. Bonneville is not following the tuck style at all, and since the bass is quite agile it doesn't sound to thick or slow. There is some coloration and more in amount, but that's what makes it so fun and lively.

I hear no sibilance at all when listening to the upper mids and treble, there is good bite on the treble so stuff like cymbals have good sizzle. But never harsh, some music that has a lot of treble emphasis can get tiresome to me. Often it occur more on electronic music and never with acoustic instruments.

If there is one thing, brighter females do lack some bite and energy and this also goes for some instruments. But I dont see it as a downside, more of tuning choice. In return music like death metal have good body and clarity without being to shouty or energetic.

I also love the fun and bold color design, and for others it's the safe black.

We perceive the same indeed!

If I’m referencing Susvara with its flat FR from subbass to upper-bass/lower mids, those that adhere closer to Harman IE curve (tucked away mid-bass), I perceive them to sound less rich in texture and less full in the immediacy as well. Bonneville’s bass quality sounds closer to Susvara but with the obvious emphasis on amount as shown by Bonneville’s FR curve

 

[bukumurah]

Lots of music for me to try.. from a somewhat unfamiliar genre group too, and also to be listened in a totally different way to how I normally listen to music.. I can't wait to 'escape' to a different dimension

This is a great way to keep the hobby fun and alive without having to spend on newer and newer gears.. LOL

 

[warrenpchi]

I am not japanese or korean and i dont understand anything what the singer trying to say, still i enjoy listening to them.

I'm not Korean, but I once listened to this endlessly, so that I could learn how to sing it impeccably, and yes it was to impress a girl:


I wish I could say something noble about the appreciation of music and all that, but honestly, sometimes it's just a biological imperative at work.