To anyone that produces music...

hello - :Smile3:

'you are where you are meant to be' - a universally applicable phillosophy

in this context - the amount of work you have put in to studying your sequencer manuals, or reading forums websites on music tech, sound construction etc, or asking the advice of more knowledgeable friends (and taking notes if your memory is like mine) and basically being humble and earnest, this is what affects your level of production skills.

I've been banging away on logic audio for about 3 years and am now getting results i'm really satisfied with - I'm a computer programmer by trade and have dje'd for 8 years but logic is a complex program, and you have to understand the concepts behind it that are common across all sequencers, plus learn a little sound synthesis and much more... basically it's hard work but very rewarding when you're dancing around your bedroom/studio to a tune you've written yourself!!! my advice is to be patient with yourself, and try to learn a little every day, probably while writing a tune... keep writing tunes is what experienced producers have told me - each one gets better... also if you have the chance to write a tune with someone else more experienced definitely take it - you learn a heap!!

all the best!!!

Andrew
www.organicrecords.net
www.andrewsden.net
 
Hi Andrew,

I've been trying to write music for a couple of years now and Im at the stage, wheer each project I start seems to be, in some way an improvement on the the last one, which I suppose is good. Im starting to get things sounding phatter, but my overall structure is my area of weakness at the moment.

I keep telling myself that the music I write in 10 years time will be worthy of someone listening to it though, which is a thought thats keeping me motivated to learn more. One day...... :Wink3:
 
hey mate - if you'd like an opinion with some constructive criticism, put some mp3's on da web and pm me where i can listen - will honestly let u know what i think

always interested in hearing new artists music :Smile3:

Andrew
Organic
 
i'm never happy, really.

i'm *relatively* happy - i think my stuff these days just about passes muster at last - but it certainly could be much better.

taken me about 5-6 years so far.
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (andrew @ Jan 13 2004, 01:08 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> hey mate - if you'd like an opinion with some constructive criticism, put some mp3's on da web and pm me where i can listen - will honestly let u know what i think

always interested in hearing new artists music :Smile3:

Andrew
Organic [/quote:f64ff182d2]
hahah..I would If could actually say I'd ever finished a project!
 
u got some nice goa stuff on there soliptic - most of my stuff has come out on organic - collaborations or by mesself as 'mr biscuit' - think it's safe to say now we've got one on the new transient comp as well as 'voice of cod'.

cheers

Andrew
 
phono - if you're unsure how to finish a tune, perhaps get some ideas from what other artists are doing?

Andrew
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (andrew @ Jan 13 2004, 01:34 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> phono - if you're unsure how to finish a tune, perhaps get some ideas from what other artists are doing?

Andrew [/quote:9001db748b]
Yeah, I think Im gonna have to do something like that.
 
I can't finish very many track either. My production QUALITY is always getting better. Thses days I'm definately producing a sound (even if it's only a 32 measure clip) which sounds as good as a CD playing back on the same system without any EQ/level adjustment.

I'm always adjusting the levels of the channels in my project to keep it sounding sweet - every time I create a new part I have to make the space for it in the project by re-EQ'ing everything else...

Also, about actually finishing a track...I find it's best to just lay everything out across the project as quick as you can (the arrangement). Work on an intro first (ideally), or as soon as you've designed the first short section of full-on, then spread it out to a full arrangement, then add more, edit other bits etc.
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Kudos @ Jan 13 2004, 01:59 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
I'm always adjusting the levels of the channels in my project to keep it sounding sweet - every time I create a new part I have to make the space for it in the project by re-EQ'ing everything else...
[/quote:2fa0cdecad]
i know what you mean... i am also prone to endlessly tweaking the mix , eq , fx sends, etc, making the most apparently minor adjustments, in search of the perfect mixdown

however do u not think that as a general principle, it is better to 'picture the hole' in the track, and choose/design/sculpt an appropriate noise to fit, rather than choosing a noise which doesnt fit, and having to reverse engineer the whole tune around that every time u add?

whenever i add new noises i tend to have a pretty clear idea what sort of noise it needs to be, i will brutalise it until it fits, and if it simply doesnt fit, or else cant be made to fit without losing its own essence, i throw it away (if its really good, i might save it to use another time, but to be honest i'm not even that organised usually) and make another one.

btw, for a tutorial on eq/mixing/etc, check http://www.dnbscene.com/articles.php?mode=...e=display&id=79
 
</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (The_Phonographist)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>hahah..I would If could actually say I'd ever finished a project! [/quote:be691473f6]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Kudos)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> can't finish very many track either.[/quote:be691473f6]

Ah...so glad I'm not alone.

I am constantly frustrated that I am unable to get my ideas from where they are to where I want them, either through lack of knowledge on the sequencer front, or because I just can't dial up the sounds that are in my head.

I actually only ever *nearly* finished one tune all by myself, well over a year ago. It was like pulling teeth - the state of the arrange window would make your eyes water and the end result, I'll admit, wasn't very good at all. In fact, I can't bear to listen to it anymore. Since then, I've just been capturing ideas as best I can, with the hope that one day I'll have the skills to finish them off. Or get help. I've had help (that's an understatement ) with a couple, but I didn't learn much in the process.

But lately I have started to read the manuals, and Logic is starting to make some more sense now. It's gonna take time and having a full-time job doesn't help, but I suppose there's no rush...you're never too old to create stuff, are you?
 
not finished tracks happens to all of us :Smile3:
i guess i'm happy with my music, this is my 4 year of production. when i hear my imulse tracker or other odies i always getting a smile :Smile3: but when i just finished them i remember i was so serious about it :Smile3:
anyway there is always new levels for me to reach!
 
I never finish any tracks. I write out the percussion parts, basslines and a few melodies and then start a new one instead of arranging it into a track. It is my curse!
 
Interesting thread...
If anyone is interested, Izotope have a really REALLY useful guide to mastering on their site (http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/guides.html)
This is geared towards their own Ozone processor, but the techniques and aims of mastering remain the same regardless of the software used and this doc explains it all really well....
 
Some people say that when it comes to mastering, crap in = crap out. If your unmastered track doesn't sound fantastic, don't think that just by mastering it 'professionally' you'll make it sound like release-worthy material.

Maybe some folks have trouble making good synth melodies, basslines or percussion, and then there are those who find processing, eq and effects a nightmare. Others may find arranging, intros, lead-ins/outs difficult to do.

My main problem is just finding enough time and inspiration to come up with anything at all - sometimes I feel like one of those mad/schitzo classical composers throwing a tantrum over one part of a movement which just seems to lead to nowhere.

Then again, once or twice a week I do have the enrgy to be productively creative, and when I do get that chance to work on music some evening I often end up staying up 'til 6am.

Time for a big fat splif methinks... :smoke:

K
 
about 6 years after starting, im starting to understand whats going on in my brain

i was given a little confidence booster by DMT of dj fame the other day who said 'why ar'nt you signed' when i played him some tracks, but i really dont think ive got there yet, need another year to fiddle until i find 'my sound'

im so lazy to, i never finish my mixdowns, i NEVER EVER use EQ (as far as im concerned, if it needs eqing to fit, its not the right sound, find the right sound) and i always have some mess going on in the track

i'm thinking i should eventually find a 'partner' to produce, think i'd get more into the production with someone lese there to tell me that its wrong

?
 
i've often thought i need a producin partner as well. unfortunately i'm the only person i know who actually writes this stuff and doesnt just dj.

anyone wanna collaborate? i'll happily swap some tunes with someone to see if i'm at the same sort of level as them, then we can do some shit. B)
 
I've been sequencing music for 19 years now (FUCK!!!!!!!!!!) and while I can say that at the time I've always been happy with the quality of my productions, most of the time that happiness is the result of ignorance and looking back on my tracks from a couple of years vantage I usually find them lacking compared to whatever I was working on at the time. Every so often I discover or develop a technique that takes the whole level of my productions up a step; the last time this happened was a few months ago - I suddenly seemed to learn the speakers I've been using for the last eight years and the room I've been using them in for the last two (as well as a couple of other things!) and at the moment I really feel like I'm capable of producing some decent sounding music.

Just not on my own!

I really need a collaborator to produce anything within any reasonable timeframe... having someone to bounce ideas off is important to me at the moment as without it I'm like so many here - I get a few brilliant ideas but find it takes me an unreasonable amount of time to turn it into a full track on my own. I've been lucky in that I've always been able to finish stuff though; for me that comes from the days when it was all MIDI and CV'd analog synths, and you couldn't start another track without clearing the mixer and destroying all your patches... so you bloody well got on and finished that track... good discipline.
 
Me too...looking for folk to team up with!

I don't care whether you're a novice or a total expert, or if our solo styles are totally different - any two people working together can learn from eachother, with our ears combined we'd have a better sense of what REALLLY sounds good! Combining our creative energies will result in more material being created for a single track - when we come to a point where we need to think of a new sound or rhytm to add, two brains are better than one to come up with something quicker!

Most of the live sets I've seen have been AT LEAST two-man bands...the only one-man-band I can think of is Cosmosis...!

I've had a good couple of nights working on a project I returned to after starting it a few months ago. So you can get a snippet of what my music is like, I've got a sample of it here (it's the latest and freshest example of my work):

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/k_u_d_o_s/AllMix3.mp3

Any comments on the track itself are welcome - but best put them here:

http://www.psy-trance.co.uk/psyforum2003/i...?showtopic=5465

K
 
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