What counts is the music, David! I'm with you. My criteria for music is, "How long does it hold my attention?" I don't care if it's recorded on limestone and looped with WIll Rogers lasso. If it keeps me there then hallelujah! If not, it's on to the next. It's only music and the rest is for the 'academics'. So even though I've been doing music for a very long time, I still see myself as a listener who happens to play & record music. For a living. The tool thing can be a real trap - that equipment makers LOVE... and in the world of studios it can be a corn maze that you never get out of.
Once you hear an audience go wild and have folks come up to you afterward and tell you how much meaning you've brought to their lives you know what it's all about. The rest is for pundits, professors and Consumer's Reports.
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