EM Composer´s Thoughts on Ambient Music

[rofilm]

Part 1: Let´s set the stage
Does Ambient Music even exist? Is Ambient Music real? … or is it just another of these marketing terms?
What do a 19 year old table dancer and my grandma (born long before World War I) in common? Well, they both are women.

This riddle and its solution leads us to the question: “What at all is ambient music?”.

Let´s start at the "beginning" (= when the term got a public one).

When we look at– well, listen to – Eno´s first ambient productions mounting in the famous “Music for Airports” album, and then follow its work until today, then we see, that there´s a lot of thought going into the work, partly rather abstract and theory based (not music theory in its classic meaning though), up to real coding (e.g. in Ableton and MAX).

We discover principles of minimal music combined with approaches which we use when producing generative music.
And looking at, and listening to, the jungle of different productions of today´s, which either call themselves “ambient music”, or are called that way by music journalists and “experts”, we won´t find it surprising that Eno ones said he wouldn´t even recognise ambient music any more.

Some other aspects which are attributed to ambient music are “unobtrusive”, “peaceful”, “without distinct rhythms”, “adapted to a specific environment”.

But we find “classic” four-on-the-flour beats in productions running under the label “Ambient House”. We find harsh industrial sounds and noises in so called “Ambient Industrial”. We find intimidating sonic incidents in “Drone Ambient” and “Dark Ambient”.

And I ask myself, to what specific environment “Acid Ambient” is adapted in an unobtrusive way.

Ahh, I´ll probably have to emphasise something:

I LOVE ALL OF THESE SUB-GENRES OF AMBIENT MUSIC.

But, once again, with all of these different music productions which are running under the “ambient” label: has the term “ambient” become meaningless?
... to be continued
more and practical parts are to follow. And If you want to dive real deep or want it all at once, here´s source:
[Link removed; promoting your own site in this manner is in breach of the SOS forum rules --ED.]
Cheers and peace! Rolf

[Drew Stephenson]

Good to see you back Rolf.
It's a question that could be asked of many genres I think, 'what is pop?' for example.
Looking forward to part 2.

[Bob Bickerton]

I'm reminded of the time I set up a contemporary music course and was amazed at how each student basically wanted to invent their own genre/sub-genre.

I suppose this makes 'marketing' sense, if you can convince consumers you have created the latest, greatest music genre since a 'Sliced Bread' equivalent, it could no doubt result in sales.

Often it's the reviewers and media writers who attach these labels and the artists may be thrilled or embarrassed with the association.

Quite frankly, I've never taken them very seriously and would like people to judge my music for what it is (rubbish?), not how it relates to the genre people perceive it to be (almost rubbish?).

My view is that I regard music genre, sub-genre, pico-genre (maybe I should copyright that one) descriptors in much the same way as I regard baked beans labels - they may or may not give you an idea of what's inside the tin.

Bob

[tacitus]

I'm reminded of the time I set up a contemporary music course and was amazed at how each student basically wanted to invent their own genre/sub-genre.

I suppose this makes 'marketing' sense, if you can convince consumers you have created the latest, greatest music genre since a 'Sliced Bread' equivalent, it could no doubt result in sales.

Often it's the reviewers and media writers who attach these labels and the artists may be thrilled or embarrassed with the association.

Quite frankly, I've never taken them very seriously and would like people to judge my music for what it is (rubbish?), not how it relates to the genre people perceive it to be (almost rubbish?).

My view is that I regard music genre, sub-genre, pico-genre (maybe I should copyright that one) descriptors in much the same way as I regard baked beans labels - they may or may not give you an idea of what's inside the tin.

Bob

I’m with Bob on this. Genres need to cover enough to be useful, and specific enough to be able to give you an idea of what they’re about. Classical as a genre used to be focused on music by dead white male European composers which is sad but true, whereas now it tends to encompass wider time, gender, and geographical boundaries altogether. Which is not intrinsically bad, far from it, but to take an example that I bump into occasionally, now that BBC Radio 3’s remit covers World Music, too, we occasionally get blasts of what sounds like, say, Algerian pop music, satisfying only the geographical requirement of the World Music genre. Totally “unpoliceable”, of course, but if we get a new genre every time we record something, where are we going to end up? (Yes, I know, in the same mess as supposedly organised religion).

I guess we just have to accept there’ll be overlap, confusion and a good deal of personal interpretation of exactly what any genre covers …

[BigRedX]

On the other hand putting an existing label on the music you make can be extremely useful for helping you find your audience and for your audience to find you.

Since I stopped trying so hard to insist that my music something different to whatever had gone before and embraced the labels other were putting on it, my bands have been a lot more popular and successful even though the music itself has only changed a little bit.

And if you think you are an amalgam of lots of different styles, don't try and create a new micro-genre, because you'll most likely be unsuccessful. Instead market your music to each of those styles individually. It's a much bigger potential audience.

I once spent a frustrating hour or so in the Rough Trade shop some time in the early 2000s trying to work out which of micro genres the CDs I wanted to buy would be filed under. In the end it turned out to be quicker just to give the person behind the counter the list of albums I was looking for and get him to find them.

[Arpangel]

Ambient music doesn’t exist for me, all music has to be listened to, whatever it is, ambient sound is the sound of whatever environment we happen to be in at the time, and that environment "may" included some sort of music.
It’s not a musical genre, it's way too varied and difficult to pin down.
Erik Satie had ideas about so called ambient music, he called it Furniture Music.
Eno's contributions were far too interesting to ignore, in any environment, airports or not.
Anything that is calm, soft, no sharp rhythms, is automatically labelled as "ambient" a lot of music has those qualities from all ages and it can be sad, disturbing, and thought provoking, music not to blend in or be ignored.
If someone says my music is "ambient" I actually find that quite offensive "music for background use" worse is "that would make great film music" I'd actually rather them just be honest and say sorry mate but your music is crap rather than hear that.
They either don’t understand my music or the true meaning of the word ambient.

[Martin Walker]

I once spent a frustrating hour or so in the Rough Trade shop some time in the early 2000s trying to work out which of micro genres the CDs I wanted to buy would be filed under. In the end it turned out to be quicker just to give the person behind the counter the list of albums I was looking for and get him to find them.

I sympathise with your frustration!

I've bought loads of albums via Bandcamp, and typically I'll decide what music genre they belong to during my first listen. However I invariably get a surprise when I scroll down to the very bottom of the album page and read the cornucopia of genres that the release claims to encompass - a recent album I bought claims to be electronic, ambient, electro, electronic music, electronica, industrial, and techno!

Having said that, if the musician/label has included in that comprehensive genre list a novel-sounding or indeed unique genre that I've not come across before then I will be tempted to look for more examples of that in Bandcamp. A few recent genre examples of this ilk include adventure rock, kankyo, fluxwork, and heavencore.

[OneWorld]

It's slow music in general. So take some instrumental music that was meant to be played at the past been a 45RPM and play it at 33 1/3, or some EDM at 135BPM, play it at 68BPM and there yiou are, you've got your ambient music. It is usually instrumental, but you could throw in some throat sing, or yodelling for good measure, for added ambience add a light show, so light some scented candles, and lay on a yoga mat' I don't think you'd get bagpipes or washboard in Ambience Music, so like any type of music, choose your weapons carefully. Some musis you have a shimmy to, and other music you get that ommmmnified
feeling come all over you. So I hear.

It's all a matter of perception - just like a crowded lift smells different to a midget

[Arpangel]

Music is sound, and I love all of it.

[Bob Bickerton]

Music is sound, and I love all of it.

Agreed......... often even sound that many people wouldn't consider to be music!

Bob

[ManFromGlass]

Except some people organize those sounds in ways I’m not interested in anymore and give a pass to as life, especially now, is short. Back in my middle years I would say bring it all on!

[The Coastal Path]

Many years ago (early 80s?) I ventured to an art exhibition at London's Olympia to see a Brian Eno sound and video installation. As soon as I entered the huge hall I could hear the distinctive sound of Eno's ambient music: a beautiful, gentle wave of sound gradually evolving and fading away, layered with all manner of subtle overtones.

I tried to follow the source of the music to locate the installation which featured some of his early 'light painting' videos. But when I eventually located the artwork, I was somewhat underwhelmed. The beautiful sounds I had been enjoying were in fact the huge ventilation fans high in the venue's roof.

Ambient music.

[Arpangel]

Except some people organize those sounds in ways I’m not interested in anymore and give a pass to as life, especially now, is short. Back in my middle years I would say bring it all on!

People like to organise things, create order out of chaos, like an ornamental formal garden, that once was a forest.
I'm the exact opposite, I like to bring back the chaos, let things have a life of their own, that's how Intreat my modular, and a lot of my music.

Many years ago (early 80s?) I ventured to an art exhibition at London's Olympia to see a Brian Eno sound and video installation. As soon as I entered the huge hall I could hear the distinctive sound of Eno's ambient music: a beautiful, gentle wave of sound gradually evolving and fading away, layered with all manner of subtle overtones.

I tried to follow the source of the music to locate the installation which featured some of his early 'light painting' videos. But when I eventually located the artwork, I was somewhat underwhelmed. The beautiful sounds I had been enjoying were in fact the huge ventilation fans high in the venue's roof.

Ambient music.

Did you go to "Self Storage"? I got a job on that, it changed my life.

[The Coastal Path]

Yes indeed I did. One of a handful of events that changed the trajectory of my life.

[Arpangel]

Yes indeed I did. One of a handful of events that changed the trajectory of my life.

That building was alive with magic.

[justinroberts22]

This seems very intresting. Some songs are a brief history of my life in good and in my hard times. My emotions come in a strange way.