anybody else edit songs?

[behndy]

i mean. like. stuff that you dump onto your phone/music player to listen to. there's a ton of amazing stuff out there with just... parts i can't stand. most often it's just paring down the 2 and a half minute intro buildup that works way better as just the last 10 seconds or truncating out the (to me) silly meandering and or spoken word collage at the end of a song.

part of me realizes it's kind of a dick move, especially when i go so far as to cut chunks out and throw effects over it for a transition between two parts of a song i REALLY like that has some... not... enjoyable... bits in between them. like, it's the artist's intent and their song and i'm kinda pissing on that.

on the other hand, i just don't like sitting through parts that don't feel necessary to me to listen to parts i adore.

especially since almost all my listening time lately is either at the gym, in the car, or at work. at work and at home, i can zone out to more paced stuff. elsewhere... it just takes me out of what i'm focusing on?

asshat move? no bigs? if i ever hang with someone i like their music doooooooooooooon't mention that?

[backwardsvoyager]

back when i was ripping CDs i used to cut out those long-ass chunks of silence that people would put at the end of the last track before some little blooper or outro thinger (still don't like that trend, stuffs up playlists and eats up disk space unless you convert to VBR.)
also adjusting the playback speed/pitch of entire albums is lots of fun.

you definitely can and should do whatever you want, not an asshat move at all. the only important thing is to support artists.
given it's a lot easier to just listen to something else instead, personally i would be stoked to hear someone was going to the effort to chop up my songs for their own enjoyment

[behndy]

fuck yeah support. Bandcamp is such a beautiful way to find people i never would any other way and actually PAY THEM FOR THEIR MUSIC. what a weird concept.

i don't get streaming. i really want to have all my media saved locally, backed up a few times, then on my phone and tablet.

[K2000]

DJs do edits all the time...

I think it's also acceptable to remove entire songs from an LP rip ("Changes" on Black Sabbath Volume 4, etc). (I'm not saying Changes is a bad song, but a lot of people have done that.) (I like parenthesis).

[dubkitty]

when i tried removing tracks from some 60s-70s albums i often found that without that one less-than-grand track the vibe of the whole 2d LP was harmed.

[behndy]

thaaaaat's something i've been thinking about a lot since i've been bingeing Anthiny Fantano reviews. he's always of the mindset that a collection of good to great songs isn't a good review if it's not a well placed ALBUM to listen. which. i get.

but i haven't listened to an album straight through except when i'm tagging which songs i like after i buy an album in like... three decades? must just not how i enjoy music.

i am pretty in depth in how i tag music files, so i can easily make smart lists that grab from different genres/artists/feels then randomly bump through said collection.

[Doctor X]

I listen to music as albums and take out the songs that I'm always going to skip, and a lot of the time that's a lot of tracks so I'll put the remaining fragments of albums together chronologically [of course] and add in any extra b-sides & non-album tracks etc. If it adds up to a lot of music I tend to split into chunks of an hour or so, or as a block that fits together as their style/sound has changed over the years. For example I have Smashing Pumpkins as 2 albums: 1991-1995 (1hour15) & 2000-2024 (1hour35).
I'll have to tidy up the ending or beginning of a track with a quick fade if it was blending into another track that I've removed.

Back to the original question, yes, on a few songs I've chopped off the intro or outro if it's ends up being annoying and I always want to skip it, (and nearly always on live tracks where I don't need to be hearing extended periods of cheering and clapping, or inter song chitchat).
I try not to but sometimes it's for the best. For example Russ Ballard - I'm A Scorpio, I chopped off the 1:45 intro. Sorry Russ.
And Temple Of The Dog - Reach Down, I fade the song out at 4:45 and chopped off the last 6+ minutes of noodling.

As for internal edits within a song, yes a few times when it's a long track and there's part of it that I don't like that goes on too long. If it was a short passage I could let it pass but when it's minutes long I've had to cut it out then splice the before & after parts togther. For example Underworld - Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream Of Love I cut out the middle section, so that's a 16:35 track I cut down to 12:08.

[Blackened Soul]

This is a mix-tape, playlist type thing… I get it.. I’m that way with live albums on the talking to the audience thing… after a few times it messes with you liking the album… wish on digital they would separate them to their own tracks….course I’m not big on bands that talk about lot at shows anyway… funnily on my tapes/cds I use to add funny comedy clips….

[behndy]

lol. oof. LIVE albums. that... that is something that doesn't interest me at ALL. not talking shits about them, i just don't get the appeal. but i've never loved hearing slightly different versions of songs? when it's a remix by someone i dig it can be interesting, but only if it goes pretty far afield from the original?

[Blackened Soul]

depends on the artist, the era, etc.. like the who, live at Leeds or island of white is better than any of their albums up to at least quadrophenia or who’s next, Motörhead’s live recordings of anything post ace of spades until bastards is better as all their mid 80s to 90s albums have horrible production… and some musicians just don’t like the recording process.. they only feel it when playing live.. sadly there are very few really great live albums due to recording conditions and whatnot..

[behndy]

yurrrrr. the few i've listened to, the recording quality was flappy at best.

i mostly dig on synth/computer/electronic stuff, maybe that doesn't lend itself to Fancy Improv Action times live as well as traditional instrument playing does?

[Blackened Soul]

Interesting, I thought there would be a bit of that with electric music.. like djs live mixing and modular peeps tweaking maybe you are right or maybe no one talks it seriously enough to do a good live recording or maybe it’s hard to capture…. I’ve given thought to trying to mix live drums/electicdrums/percussion and bass with peeps I know that computer and synth stuff… we talked a bit but so far it’s always finding time and a long drive… and them trying to work on their rigs.. that said.. a few years ago we did do one tune with the dj as a transition between their set and ours… it was cool.. but no one recorded it… or.. I haven’t come across one… it was fun and went over..

[behndy]

i mean, i am NOT the greatest source for Live Music Shenanigans. rarely go to shows anymore, when i do it's someone my wife wants to see, which is usually a band more based around traditional instrumentation.

i coulllllld be making assumptions? false, silly assumptions?

[dubkitty]

i entirely disagree that there are no great live albums. perhaps that’s true for modern metal bands who have little to offer beyond rehearsed moves. but certainly not in rock as a whole or in music generally.

[dubkitty]

bands have been working with DJs for DECADES. ever heard of (eurgh) Slipknot? the Beta Band? Gorillaz? DJ Logic toured with Dead guy Bob Weir’s band! you aren’t looking in the right places at all.