grading system in the reviews

On 2005-07-04 22:55, full_on wrote:
I think it's subjective, but I expect to find the justification for the score the reviewer gave to a release in the review itself.

My scores take in consideration:

- Tracks that IMO are good for home listening;
- Tracks I would possible play at a party;
- Overall aspects of the release (mastering, good concept, track order/track mixing, etc);
- Cover art and Booklet;
- Total music time of the Release (please, at least 75 minutes);
- Extras (sticks, DJ sleeve, BPMs and track times on CD/Booklet, etc);

But it is subjective, for example I don't like some tracks most people usually think to be Killarg.
Respect!

On 2005-07-04 22:41, Rah wrote:


What benchmarks are being used to determine if one release is better than the other? If I’m talking about progressive (i.e. Antic, or Yotopia, something like that) and for me a 10 is say… Dronebixie (just as an example) do you think that’s an accurate grading system?

On 2005-07-04 23:11, *Karma Cola* wrote:

Quote:

On 2005-07-04 22:41, Rah wrote: What benchmarks are being used to determine if one release is better than the other? If I’m talking about progressive (i.e. Antic, or Yotopia, something like that) and for me a 10 is say… Dronebixie (just as an example) do you think that’s an accurate grading system?

Good Question.. but generally if i was a fan of a particular style i wud probably only purchase stuff like that or somethn i'm familiar with. Or soemthn 'I'm' looking fwd to keeping and my opinion and grading wud then be appropriate.

At the end of the day its not abt the sub-sub-sub genres we personally like, its whether ist 'good' music to you. I might review the Lish album and then the Para Halu one, regardless of style, but coz it sounds good to me. And my grading wud be personal again.

Do you agree with anybody’s grading system every single time, to find it reliable in any way?

hell no... BUT the rating is basically your whole review concentrated into one number... if you're not in the mood for reading long reviews then you can always take a quick look at the rating. If you're not convinced with that then you can read the whole review... if you're still not convinced you can listen to the samples... and if you're still not convinced you can dload the whole damn album in MP3 format and give it a few listens. To each their own. That said, if you read a thread with 5-6 reviewers giving it a 10/10 and you utterly dislike it, it will probably make you listen to it some more before dissing it. So yes, it's all subjective in the end of the day but there is some use IMO...

if you are taking the trouble of review something, it just seemd a little uncesary...

On 2005-07-05 00:02, basilisk wrote:
Right. I like wading into this discussion. I happen to have a very rigourously developed sense of taste for the music I'm passionate about. Not only that, but I feel like I make a great reviewer because I enjoy quite a few different styles. I figure it isn't so common for someone to be excited about stuff ranging from Kindzadza to Kruger & Coyle, ya know?

So, what good is grading a release out of 10? It is simply a guideline, a quick reference. Just as there are countless releases out there and no one has the time to check them all (unless they're me, haha), there are so many reviews out there that flashing by and seeing a name you trust and a rating that impresses a reader can cause 'em to hold up and give it a read. It's not the definitive factor - why else would one WRITE a review? If it were all about the ratings we'd just be spitting out numbers left and right.

I stand by my grades (though they do sometimes change as time goes by)... I have an exact system, and I make the claim that it stays consistent. I think this provides a valuable resource for people who follow my reviews and trust my taste. People aren't going to have exactly the same thoughts about music all the time, but a consistent reviewer is useful precisely to help one find more new music to cherish. It can be helpful to find a reviewer whose opinions strike you the right way, and take their words as a guide to finding quality music. Ratings, well why not. They can be of some assistance as well.

All this talk of 'art' leaves me unsure. The vast majority of psytrance releases are disposable DJ fodder, in today and gone tomorrow. I don't believe a lot of reviewers consider that... I find it helps to write reviews for the ages... that's one reason I am sometimes reviewing releases that are several years old (cuz I'm not fishing for promos) or revising reviews as time passes. I almost never review something that is freshly released nowadays - it's just too little time to give a deeper examination to a piece of music, DJ fodder or no.

I could probably talk about reviews endlessly. Blah blah blah. Due to how analytical I get I seldom share the reviews I write... might change that sometime by putting together a subscriber service - not sure about that yet. Anyway... come to think of it, I find grading a release very useful for my own piece of mind, but there isn't anyone out there who provides a rating I do more than glance at. If that isn't an indication of the subjective nature of reviews I just don't know what is...

May as well stop here!

On 2005-07-05 00:05, kabooki_cat wrote:
who cares Rah, you give all bad albumes good marks always.

On 2005-07-05 00:10, moondancer wrote:

Quote:

if you are taking the trouble of review something, it just seemd a little uncesary...

I'm not talking about the reviewer taking the trouble of reviewing something... I'm talking about the people who read the reviews taking the trouble. Let's face it: sometimes you just don't feel like reading a whole page of text with "this song has a wosshing sound at 0:50 and then an acid line at 0:55 and then a strong bassline at 0:57 etc. etc.". That's when having the possibility of taking a look at a rating comes in handy.

BTW ratings can be different. Personally I've been considering changing my /10 scale system to this one "Complete waste of money
Disposable DJ material
Recomended
Classic!"

On 2005-07-05 00:17, Rah wrote:

Quote:

On 2005-07-05 00:05, kabooki_cat wrote: who cares Rah, you give all bad albumes good marks always.

thats cause i review albums i like

thats the point you see??

p.s: if you don't care nobody forced you to be a part of this discussion