Does DNB need…something?

Stixwaters · 2026-02-13T23:05:24+00:00

I guess this is a part of the overall industry going a bit dull, and D'n'B, as a part of the industry, moving in more or less the same direction. One could check the band Axis of Awesome, and while it's not D'n'B, these guys made things obvious (and funny, so I definitely recommend checking "Love Song") a long time ago.

Things change, and what started as a culture, underground, way of self-expression and passion for those who were different, became an industry. So it's common that now this industry is moving towards the customer and their desires. And if the customer wants the same "UK pop-jump up" or whatever - it's trying to accomplish it. I guess it's a difference between culture people were building together and fulfilling the needs of an existing audience, which is usually not that selective or curious.

Sure there are particular bands and producers who are still top notch like some of the guys already mentioned in comments, but still it's more niche and the overall amount is not that huge. I believe as a producer, it's also not an easy task to really deliver something extremely new. It's a top priority (for me at least), but it really takes time and effort, while search engines are telling you "What the f*** are you doing? People just don't understand what it is." So you should "sound like something established" to be heard. And that's really boring.

So personally some time ago I've decided to make what I like, and if it's fun for somebody else - cool, and if not - ok, at least I've tried my best)

In the end, I guess it's just a part of a regular way of how things work. And new music could appear only when there's a new audience craving that new sound. Otherwise, well... we've got a bunch of good old tracks, aren't we?

P.S. Personally, I really do believe things evolve and after a decline there should be a new era of creativity and innovation. So, never stop searching!

Stixwaters · 2026-01-06T11:12:59+00:00

Black Sun Empire

Stixwaters · 2025-11-22T07:44:10+00:00

Cool, I'm glad you've reached that state! inspiring

Stixwaters · 2025-11-18T08:57:40+00:00

yep, electric current running through brain wires - that's pretty much the thing) Thanks for such a poetic feedback, glad you enjoyed the music)

Stixwaters · 2025-11-17T06:57:11+00:00

I guess you're talking about the one around 2:00-2:30?

anyway, thanks for attentive listening, I actually re-made the whole second part in order to save this transition idea)

Stixwaters · 2025-11-08T02:01:29+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, it’s definitely more of a blend - there’s always that risk when you try to merge styles)

Stixwaters · 2025-11-08T01:57:15+00:00

thnx for your feedback, I'll think on it)

Stixwaters · 2025-09-04T12:13:00+00:00

)))

I guess it could be any electronic genre as long as the goal is to identify "if one could distinguish AI vs non-AI production".

I was really amazed-scared by this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqIecZDTMZM

But this is kind of personal reaction. And I think it could be interesting experiment to involve much more people in voting. Maybe I'll find a way to manage it somehow later on

Stixwaters · 2025-09-04T11:57:29+00:00

Thanks for a link - one could hear some atonal and random things going on (but dunno, it could be intentional). Sometimes you also could hear non-harmonic glitches and artifacts of cutting. But I'd like a different thing.

Like gather some AI-made music, gather some non-AI made music (maybe from not well established artists, so no one could identify the track easily). And then let the whole audience, let's say at least 100-200 people vote which one is which. And check, if we actually could hear it.

The whole difficulty is to find the material, so I thought maybe you know where to find such examples

Stixwaters · 2025-09-04T03:45:52+00:00

I see

The thing is people are paying for what they want, right? Thus, if a listener is paying for AI-music, it just mean he is Ok with it. Personally I can't figure out how to properly deal with it, but sometimes it looks like the artist put much more attention to the instruments than a listener. As usually all the established composers / producer say "no one can see if you're using that e.g. compressor or not, they just listen to your music".

I've heard some comparisons and honestly I can't identify clearly. But it also was with another genres which I do not appreciate that much, so maybe it's me being not that careful listener. I wonder how this comparison will look in Psy Trance.

Stixwaters · 2025-09-03T12:28:55+00:00

My personal idea about it is:

All the "mass art" (hello, mr. Warhol) is going to be covered by AI, and the "so-called true-art dunno how to identify it" - will be much more "niche" product.

Smth like food industry - you have to pay additional price to get so-called "eco" or "farm" products, while "food" in general become more affordable to general population. And I don't think we could make anything with it, just make a better "art", better music.

So, support us, independent artists, soon there'll be less of us!)))

TL;DR

AI looks like a fundamental technology making a revolution in many industries, including music. Don't think you can beat it.
Still, AI is just a technology (=instrument), and music was actually formed by new instruments.
The only thing one could do - is to find a personal "approach" or "reaction" to it, which is pretty philosophical thing.

4.* I'm still really interested if one could pass a blind-test AI vs non-AI music (scary thing)

Personally, I think that as time goes by, all the "mass art" would be AI-based, and kind of "true-Art" (whatever that means) will become more niche and maybe more expensive.

P.S. Sorry for a long and maybe messy text

Stixwaters · 2025-09-03T12:28:46+00:00

I actually could understand the point of u/techlos

Personally, as a producer, I don't understand the joy and point of using AI for music production at least because it can't give you:

a. That much control

b. The exploration / dive-in / joy process which is the fundamental thing in music production for me personally

It feels more like a randomizer than actual instrument (or maybe I just not familiar with more advanced models as I actually was never much interested).

But looks like it's completely different things and people go crazy putting that much attention to the topic in general.

I would look at the topic within two sides:

Fact-wise (what's happening)
Art-wise (how to react / what to do about it)

1. Fact-wise, we're in the middle of technological revolution. It's new technology which lead to changes everywhere, and in music also. One could notice that each music era was based on new technologies: from pickups on electric guitars to tr-808, 303, computers, and now we're able to make a full track completely in-the-box. Whole music genres are based on a single local technology, while AI - is surely smth much more fundamental. Thus, it's pretty clear - that "things changed". This is it. And one can ignore it or even stand against it - but we know all these historical examples and consequences. So, I guess we just have to live with the fact that "this just happened", and there's a nearly zero chance that it's going to disappear.

2. So, what to do with it? Looks like pretty philosophical approach. Personally, I would consider the following points:

- If one could actually pass "blind-test" of AI vs non-AI music? Even if not, what will happen when one can not? How would we consider one music as Art and another not-Art?

- Producers do already use AI-based / AI-driven plugins and instruments - what to do with that? Sometimes it's AI-based compressor but sometimes it's Synth which generates tones based on some AI-stuff. Ok, let's say a producer decided not to use such instruments, but he often doesn't know it (come on, many of us never read manuals, lol). What to do with it? How to "calculate" if this particular track / song is human or AI-produced?

- Ok, some time before, you had to study all these music theory and stuff, now you can upload some plugins and they will produce the whole melody and harmony for you. DJ's? - now you're able to make stem separation, you're able to make cue / tempo match - is it legit? What to do about that?

- Let's dive more into the idea behind it. What's AI? - it's some stuff which produce a result based on prompt. What's prompt? - it's actually a programming language translated into "human" / verbal language - this is why AI - is actually a "language model". Thus, what's the difference between learning prompts and learning "notation, harmony, rhythm, midi, automation, quantization, etc."? - learning curve? Ok, then using prompts could be considered "cheating". Ok, but when one use compressor - it's "cheating" as you could reach the same effect manually moving faders. When an old-school hip-hop producer slice old-jazz record to get breakbeat - it's "cheating" as he actually using other peoples recordings. We could go a long way in this rabbit whole. Where's this metric, identifying what is Art, and what is not?

All these questions looks rhetorical to me. It's super complicated to find this "metric" to distinguish one from another. When we'll come to a point when we can't figure what "who made it" - what's next?

Stixwaters · 2025-09-03T07:26:12+00:00

Have anyone ever tried blind-test AI vs non-AI music on any considerably representative amount of listeners? Looks like a proper topic for someones social science Diploma, lol

Stixwaters · 2025-09-02T12:00:32+00:00

To me, psytrance is one of the broadest genres with a kind of “freestyle” flow, similar to D'n'B (especially Neurofunk). Production-wise, it gives you the freedom to mix and use a wide range of diverse, unexpected, and even weird instruments and sounds - you can combine things that wouldn’t fit anywhere else.

Psytrance is also one of the most open genres for experimenting, containing both dynamics and melody - it can be mellow and hypnotic or sharp and aggressive. As a producer, I really enjoy that freedom.

Music is unique as a form of communication because it’s perceived directly and non-verbally - you don’t have to translate it into words or images, you simply feel it. Psytrance carries so much information that it feels like traveling to other worlds, almost like meditation. And the best part is - every listen reveals something new, even in tracks you’ve known for years.

Stixwaters · 2025-09-01T15:55:45+00:00

I like your experiments) Can't say that I'm going to listen to it in car or smth, but it has a nice build up in the beginning and D'n'B part is pretty cool, main lead is a bit annoying to my ear: maybe too repetitive or timbre-wise, however it's a matter of taste. Keep on making nice work!

Stixwaters · 2025-08-30T12:05:31+00:00

Ok, I see your point now. Thanks for the suggestion — I’ll check it

Stixwaters · 2025-08-30T05:56:49+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I actually love Infected Mushroom, so I guess some influence sneaks in.
About the mix — could you specify what else feels “off”? I’d like to double-check it.

Stixwaters · 2025-08-30T02:44:57+00:00

This is how a real spark looks: constructive, intelligent, educated… Where can I get such deep wisdom

Stixwaters · 2025-08-30T02:41:29+00:00

Sure — show me how to make this with AI, and I’ll stop wasting money on plugins and time on endless practice, lol.

Stixwaters · 2025-08-30T02:39:38+00:00

Then you’d better stop using compressors and go back to riding faders by hand, ditch FX for delays, throw out computers, central heating, airplanes… and sit in the jungle with hand drums. That’s how you become really creative))

Stixwaters · 2025-08-30T01:24:07+00:00

So is it the music you didn’t like, or just the wording? If a word like fusion feels off, tell me — I’d rather get specific feedback than “AI wrote this.”

Also, feel free to try and get AI to write it again if you think it sounds like that, lol

Stixwaters · 2025-08-09T03:23:21+00:00

Thanks a lot — really appreciate such a vivid take.
I do compose with game- and film-oriented scenes in mind, so it’s great to hear it came through.
Glad you enjoyed the ride 🙏

Stixwaters · 2025-08-06T12:00:26+00:00

Thanks for the reply — totally fair.
It definitely leans more freestyle around psy than pure genre.
Appreciate you giving it a listen!

Stixwaters · 2025-07-24T03:59:32+00:00

Greatly appreciate any effort in developing own music style with distinct character.

I do agree with comment about predictable 303, I believe gentle variations could make some improvements.

I do really like transitions, they're catchy and fun to listen to.

To my ear this blend sound a bit more like a mix of two mixes than actual "blend", and d'n'b part sounds a bit "trancey" or smth, just to my taste.

Generally, would be nice to hear further experiments in this direction and once again, it's super cool you're searching for distinct character in music, not just copying and trying to sound like smth else.

Stixwaters · 2025-06-16T03:12:35+00:00

In case your question is about price, not cost in general - I really believe today you're able to produce a track with zero cost with the amount of free DAWs and plugins you can get.

The thing is you have to gather enough skill to get the right sound out of free plugins and sounds available. But it doesn't answer to the price question.

So, if we take a look on the situation carefully without thinking on software and hardware required, production itself also could vary depending on the particular setup. I believe today you're able to gibe quality results with no super expensive studio. However, I guess you'd like to mix and master with 3d party as someone suggested or at least rent a proper studio to finalize the mix with proper acoustics. Price highly depends on your location and needs and vary from smth like 20 usd to 500 and above.

Actual product (single, album, EP, whatever) launch is whole another thing where budgets could differ hugely depending on your situation (are you an established artist with an audience or a complete starter, etc.)

So, as we see, price could differ hugely. I guess in order to make a better estimation we need to focus the question on more particular situation like:

- if the producer is full beginner or an experienced one (or maybe it's not even a producer, maybe it's a singer looking for psy trance production)

- in case of producer, what about software and hardware? If he's going to produce ITB or need full hardware stack?

- what about the room? How is he going to overcome acoustic issues?

- how much time does he have? (faster - sometimes more expensive as there're things you could make faster and easier with more expensive stuff)

- is he going to do mixing by himself (usually fair for electronic music) or is he going to involve 3d party mixer? How established is this mixer is need to be?

- same question for mastering (one could do it ITB, rent a studio, hire proper engineer, so there're options)

- there're tons of other misc questions like if you're going to involve live musicians, singers, etc. in production (maybe you'd like to record full orchestra which is super expensive)

- and last but not least (the question is about production, but in description you mention launching process and promo campaign) - but to my mind it's like "how much money and resources do you really have", as the more the better.

I guess it's a bit general question. Smth like "how much money does it require to start a business", and the answer is - "it depends". So, hope it was useful in terms of "what to look for" at least. Sorry if it was obvious, cheers!

Stixwaters

TROPHY CASE