That's Not Real Music

For some reason, I get into this debate quite often on the infamous Youtube Comments Section. It seems lots of people don't believe that a genre of music I enjoy immensely, EDM, is true artistry (i.e. not "real" music.) I disagree. Here's why.


People make a lot of statements and generalizations about Electronic Dance Music. One of the biggest ones:

'It's not "real" music because it all sounds the same.'

EDM (Electronic Dance Music) covers a huge range of genres, including Ambient, Ambient dub ,Ambient industrial, Ambient house, Dark ambient, Drone music, Illbient, Isolationism, Breakbeat, Acid breaks, Baltimore Club, Big beat, Broken beat, Nu skool breaks, Florida breaks, Nu-funk, Miami bass, Chiptune/Video game music, Bitpop, Bleep techno, Game Boy music, Nintendocore, Skweee, Disco, Cosmic disco, Disco polo, Euro disco, Italo disco, Nu-disco, Space disco, Spacesynth, Downtempo, Acid jazz, Chill out, Ethnic electronica, New age music, Nu jazz, Trip hop, Drum and bass, Darkstep, Drumfunk, Drumstep, Hardstep, Jump-Up, Jazzstep, Liquid funk, Neurofunk, Sambass, Techstep, Dub fusion genres, Afro-dub, Dubstep, Brostep, Post-dubstep, Trap, Wonky, Dubtronica, Electro music, Freestyle music, Electroacoustic music, Acousmatic music, Electroacoustic improvisation, Musique concrète, Electronica, Berlin school, Chillwave, Folktronica, Funktronica, Laptronica, Livetronica, Electronic rock, Alternative dance, Coldwave, Dance-punk, Dark Wave, Electronicore, Ethereal Wave, Indietronica, Krautrock, New rave, Nu-gaze, Space rock, Synthpop, Synthpunk, Hardcore, 4-beat, Breakbeat hardcore, Bouncy techno, Breakcore, Digital hardcore, Darkcore, Freeform hardcore, Gabber, Happy hardcore, Hardcore breaks, Makina, Rave, Speedcore, Trancecore, UK hardcore, Hard dance, Hard house, Hardstyle, Dubstyle, Jumpstyle, Lento violento, Eurobeat, Eurodance, Italo dance, House music, Acid house, Balearic beat, Chicago house, Deep house, Detroit house, Disco house, Diva house/Handbag house, Hardbag, Electroclash, Electro house, Complextro, Dutch house, Fidget house, Moombahton, Moombahcore, Euro house, Freestyle house, French house, Funky house, Garage house, Ghetto house, Hip house, Italo house, Kwaito, Latin house, Microhouse/Minimal house, New beat, Progressive house, Swing house, Electro swing, Tech house, Tribal house, Vocal house, Industrial music, Aggrotech, Cybergrind, Electro-industrial, Dark electro, Electronic body music, Futurepop, Industrial metal, Industrial rock, Neue Deutsche Härte, Japanoise, Power electronics, Death industrial, Power noise, IDM, Glitch, Jungle, Darkcore jungle, Hardcore jungle, Raggacore, Ragga-jungle, Post-disco, Boogie, Dance-pop, Dance-rock, Techno, Acid techno, Detroit techno, Free tekno, Ghettotech, Hardtechno, Minimal techno, Nortec, Rotterdam techno, Schranz, Symphonic techno, Tecno brega, Trance music, Acid trance, Dark trance, Dream trance, Electrance, Euro trance, Goa trance, Hard trance, Ibiza Trance, Full on, Progressive psytrance, Psybreaks, Suomisaundi, Progressive trance, Tech trance, Uplifting trance, Vocal trance, UK garage, 2-step garage, Breakstep, Future garage, Grime, Grindie, Speed garage, Bassline/4x4 garage, UK funky, and I've only stopped listing them because I think you get the point.

I can assure you that while some of these styles may sound similar to each other, each is different, with its own set of characteristics. Once you listen to a lot of EDM, you start to realize the vast range of sounds that are out there.

Another argument I hear quite often:

'EDM takes no talent or skill to produce. It's just a bunch of noises made with computers.'

That's a tougher one to address, if only because I don't even know where to begin. As someone who's dabbled in EDM production, even though I have only scratched the surface of the skills and practice necessary to create a compelling track, I can say with confidence that it's extremely difficult to just sit down at a computer with FL Studio or Ableton Live and churn out a track without at least some idea of what you're doing.

Take a look at this:

That's a view of FL Studio. This image doesn't even show most of the hundreds, if not thousands of parameters that must be adjusted and tweaked to create a unique sound. Many critics of EDM that I've encountered have never even used software like this, and if I were to plunk them down in front of it and tell them to create a track, they'd probably end up with something like this:

I doubt that's going to be topping any charts any time soon. I whipped it together in about 90 seconds. 

Creating a great track can take months. Each synth must be fine tuned to give the exact sound you're aiming for. Every effect must be programed. And I haven't even gotten to the complex art of mastering, the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to an exported track.

I'm not claiming to be great at all of these things, in fact I only know the basics when it comes to FL Studio.

One of my favorite genres is Electro House music (or Progressive House), one of the characteristics of which is a steady, four-to-the-floor beat, usually at 125-130 BPM. Take a listen to this track by one of my favorite producers, Deadmau5 (pronounced Deadmouse.)

At the surface, it may not seem all that creative to some, because of the repetitive structure within the main hook of the song. But there is so much variation and complex structure within that pattern. It's a really tough thing to get right, but Deadmau5 seems to have nailed it to some extent, considering the track's massive popularity on the charts.

Here's another example. I produced the track below, called "There." It took somewhere around two months from start to finish. It's a reasonably decent track (in my opinion at least), and I'm pretty proud of it. However, if you hand me a guitar, and tell me to create a really driving riff for a rock song, followed by a screaming solo, I'm not going to be able to make much of anything. Is it easier to use software to create music? Not exactly. That's just what I'm better at. For a guitar player, it's easier for them to create great music with a guitar than it is for them to use FL Studio.




So shut up and enjoy the music.

UPDATE: Here's a great video of a guy performing EDM live. Yes, it requires skill.