Katita Eclipse Buckingham - a CD review is very hard to do correctly. I recently spent a few hours with a friend who writes them for a living discussing it. He said they had to be about 50% subjective and 50% objective. The subjective part is easy for most writers - it's just how they reacted to the music. But it can't be things like " I really liked it." There is no detail there except an opinion. It has to be things like "I enjoyed the song "Mother" because it reminded me of a trip to California I took with my mother in 1997."
The objective part is much harder. It requires an extensive knowledge of music. You say things like "Her voice reminded me of the early Janis Joplin" and "The string arraignment seemed like a modern Mozart." Then you have to present some facts to back your statements. You also need to have enough musical training to make informed comments on the abilities of the musicians, and the quality of the songwriting.
My friend said the mistake new writers make is their reviews are almost always subjective. Nothing objective. And if it is written and technical analysis is meaningless. Saying "Johnny really shreded the guitar" means nothing. A good CD reviewer will write something like "Johnny's repeated use of the four-fingered 3-4 overhand jumpback, one of the hardest chord progressions to learn, was impressive."
I don't know know nearly enough about it, so I avoid them
The objective part is much harder. It requires an extensive knowledge of music. You say things like "Her voice reminded me of the early Janis Joplin" and "The string arraignment seemed like a modern Mozart." Then you have to present some facts to back your statements. You also need to have enough musical training to make informed comments on the abilities of the musicians, and the quality of the songwriting.
My friend said the mistake new writers make is their reviews are almost always subjective. Nothing objective. And if it is written and technical analysis is meaningless. Saying "Johnny really shreded the guitar" means nothing. A good CD reviewer will write something like "Johnny's repeated use of the four-fingered 3-4 overhand jumpback, one of the hardest chord progressions to learn, was impressive."
I don't know know nearly enough about it, so I avoid them
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