The Split Enz and Crowded House singer was the keynote speaker at the start of Big Sound, QMusic's three-day industry conference at the Judith Wright Centre.

During a reflective Q&A about his nearly 40 years in the business, Finn said he was impressed by many modern production techniques.

"I am in awe of some of the things they put together, but it's so bolted together, everything is just slapped together," he said.

"It's like a Transformer, like those movies, where the special effects morph effortlessly into real action and it has a heightened sense of 'in your face'. There's not one crack."

The 56-year-old said many tracks were scrubbed clean of any personal experience.

"I love the element of struggle, I love a few warts," he said.

"I know within myself that I have a tendency to polish too much, and I've done that in the past on records and I don't like that about myself."

Finn also admitted to being confused by the antics of self-proclaimed young female pop stars such as Miley Cyrus and Nicky Minaj.

"I'm all for the feminisation of the world, I think it's long overdue that there is true equality between the sexes," he said.

"But I'm just not sure that those people are ambassadors for the kind of feminism that's going to resonate for a 13-year-old girl."

A longtime collaborator with his brother Tim, Finn said he was thrilled to have worked with his wife Sharon and sons Liam and Elroy on his most recent album Dizzy Heights.

"It's not without its sensitivities and prickly moments where you've got family all of a sudden to deal with when you're trying to tell them you don't like what they're playing in the second verse, you get that look," he said.

"But I love it, I hope we do more of it … an enlarged Finn family band might be one of the coolest things you could ever see."

Former Killing Heidi frontwoman Ella Hooper said the battle between disposable and meaningful pop music was unlikely to ever end.

"I think there'll always be oscillating trends between the shine factor and the depth," she said.

"They often co-exist as well, but I think people who are here at Big Sound tend to be more of the depth variety."

Hooper is at Big Sound as the host of the Telstra Road to Discovery Songwriting program, alongside previous winner Dave Garnham.

She said there was a renewed focus on the importance of the songwriter when it came to making music that resonates.

"There's a saying, you know, you can't polish a turd, and the song really is king," she said.

"If you have a great song, it lets all the musicians shine."