Re: my first bad review

[sine@zerocrossing.net]

It's like my mom used to say, "If you don't have anything nice to say
about someone, wait until they leave the room."

On the other hand, at least you have something to work with.  What I
find is worse is when you put some music out there and you get NO
response.  That always feels the worst to me.  With good honest
(although sometimes bad) critisism you can go back and look at what
you've done and try to figure out how the reviewer came to that
conclusion.  My wife often will be critical of my music, then I hear her
having the same opinions about a Boards of Canada track that I love and
I think, "Oh, OK.  She just doesn't dig *that* sort of thing."  Other
times she's got real nuts and bolts complaints that are SPOT ON.  It's
often hard to realize these imprefections when you're so close to the
project.  After I correct them I think, "How could I have missed that?"
Sometimes it's annoying, when it's something I'm awear of and know I've
got to fix during mixdown, or rerecord a track, but it's better to have
it all the time than none of the time.  My favorite crit from my wife
is, "Isn't the guitar a bit loud in the mix?"  HA!  (it always is!)

Here's my review policy:  If it's free: it's GOOD.  Anyone trying to do
their thing is a *good* thing.  Open mic nights are great examples of
where anyone can go to hone their craft.  I've heard that Beck can still
be caught playing at an open mic night at a bowling alley somewhere
every now and then.

However if you're charging, it's open season.  Were you charging for
your CD?  If so, I think the reviewer has a right and a duty to say what
he feels.  That's their job, no?  A good reviewer will pass on a review
if it's a genera that they don't like, but that's not the case here, so
as bad as the review is, I'd take it as constructive and keep on going.

Mark Sottilaro

ArsOcarina@aol.com wrote:

> Ouch!
>
> Speaking as one who has been on the receiving end of
> similar reviews -- you have my sympathy. Don't take it
> too hard. I am not familiar with your music. But it's
> difficult to imagine that if the guy thought it was really
> THAT bad why he'd waste the labor over words and
> bandwidth? Seems kinda mean-spirited (IMOHO).
>
> tEd ® kiLLiAn
>
> http://www.mp3s.com/tedkillian
> http://www.pfmentum.com/flux.htm
> http://www.mp3.com/Ophelia_Pancake