O
Ott^
Guest
I just gave up smoking weed again cos I realised I was never going to get my record finished if i don't.
Feels great.
:smokingr:
Feels great.
:smokingr:
Writing tunes
- Thread starter Continuum
- Start date
Reconstructed
Member
Ott^ said:
Goddamn am I with you on that one. If I ever smoke pot and then try to make some tunes I wake up 3 hours later with my cheek in a puddle of drool, a load of pretentious garbage spewed into the sequencer and some notes written backwards and upside down on the back of my hand that the musical revolution I just started is going to solve world hunger. I tend to press play, wonder what the hell I was thinking and promptly delete it.
I learned a while back to make a backup copy of my current tracks before working on them stoned. I guess the notion of transposing a 16 bar piano loop into entirely hi-hats and detuned timpani, then deleting the original, sounded like a better idea when I was high.
O
Ott^
Guest
Its not so much a question of judgement with me than of efficiency.
I find that when working with music software I need a reasonable short-term memory - a kind of mental clipboard if you like - in which to store the thousands of little bits of data I need close to hand. Stuff like which effect is on which send and which samples belong in which keygroup.
One spliff and I find myself staring at the screen "listening" to a 16 bar loop going round and round, wondering what I was just about to do and why it was so important.
For nine hours.
I find that when working with music software I need a reasonable short-term memory - a kind of mental clipboard if you like - in which to store the thousands of little bits of data I need close to hand. Stuff like which effect is on which send and which samples belong in which keygroup.
One spliff and I find myself staring at the screen "listening" to a 16 bar loop going round and round, wondering what I was just about to do and why it was so important.
For nine hours.
Continuum
Throb Farmer
:excessiv:Reconstructed said:
you heard my track then
JPsychodelicacy
Studio Elf
Ott^ said:
Aye - that's the point at which you need to be at your most sane and sober. Once that's done and the basic structure's down, however, I don't have a problem with skinning up (especially as my music time's very much still part of my leisure time).
I've got a basic routing setup that I start all my tunes with - so I know roughly where everything's going to go.
There's a time when that's useful though - for me, anyway... the period after the main structure's down and I'm trying out different effects and making small tweaks to the arrangement. Normally, I get sick of a song on loop after about 15 minutes, but stoned I can deal with it for a lot longer.
Also, I find that when I'm sober and I've got something that sounds *quite* good, I think I could make it better, but I'm afraid to tweak things a lot, lest I end up with what sounds like a pile of gash (no offence, luv
). Stoned, I'm a lot less afraid to experiment, as long as I know I've got the pre-stoned backups to go back to. 
J.
M
makdaddy
Guest
Ott^ said:
exactly this coupled with the fact that i only have a few hrs a week to really get on with it means if i do get stoned = zero productivity for what can be weeks on end.
imak x
The Phonographist
www.lucidoxford.com
I cant smoke and write music on my own. Its just seems counter productive.
However, when I write music with my buddy Steve, I can because he's one of these people that smokes a joint every 20 minutes and maintains a clear head somehow. God knows how. Experience I guess.
Its works quite well cause it means I can be caned and he can be caned and together we're still be productive. There are the occasional "where am I/who am I/what's my name again" type moments of course....
:smokingr:
However, when I write music with my buddy Steve, I can because he's one of these people that smokes a joint every 20 minutes and maintains a clear head somehow. God knows how. Experience I guess.
Its works quite well cause it means I can be caned and he can be caned and together we're still be productive. There are the occasional "where am I/who am I/what's my name again" type moments of course....
:smokingr:
:goodthre: really encouragin, thanks everyone.
has anyone gone and recorded themselves makin noises with their mouth.... :unsure: when im walkin home after missin the bus, i sorta beatbox the tunes in my head, and get some pretty good ideas once i get into it. obviously there would still be the problem of gettin what you'de recorded down onto the screen, might not work at all...
anyone tried it?
also, if you haven't already, try gettin together with some of your fellow producer mates and makin a tune with them, always makes you realise new ways of workin. would any of you be interested on postin some stagnant tunes up as cubase/reason files for a remix?
big love
dan
has anyone gone and recorded themselves makin noises with their mouth.... :unsure: when im walkin home after missin the bus, i sorta beatbox the tunes in my head, and get some pretty good ideas once i get into it. obviously there would still be the problem of gettin what you'de recorded down onto the screen, might not work at all...
anyone tried it?
also, if you haven't already, try gettin together with some of your fellow producer mates and makin a tune with them, always makes you realise new ways of workin. would any of you be interested on postin some stagnant tunes up as cubase/reason files for a remix?
big love
dan
yeah i have!
but with three provisos:
1) i SUCK at beatboxing - having literally only tried it once before recording
2) i was using a £10 mic, and a slightly knackered old marshall valve state with reverb up full and a touch of distortion to make it less horrible sounding
3) i wasn't aiming to actually capture a groove or percussive element which would then be translated into patterns, but actually just whacked the beatbox samples straight into the track... very, very, sparingly.
it was fun though. it's getting back to that creative impetus thang - it can come from anything. which is why i sometimes just record jam jars being hit with different wooden spoons, or muck about with an ancient keyboard's preset brass sounds, or whatever.
as for stonerdom, i find it difficult to accurately judge because i'm pretty much always stoned... i believe i play intuitive / improv guitar better stoned. i know i play other composer's violin works better sober, if only because of the intense technical concentration needed. generally i find being stoned fairly conducive to creativity... but again, there's practically no 'control' experience for me to compare it to
but with three provisos:
1) i SUCK at beatboxing - having literally only tried it once before recording
2) i was using a £10 mic, and a slightly knackered old marshall valve state with reverb up full and a touch of distortion to make it less horrible sounding
3) i wasn't aiming to actually capture a groove or percussive element which would then be translated into patterns, but actually just whacked the beatbox samples straight into the track... very, very, sparingly.
it was fun though. it's getting back to that creative impetus thang - it can come from anything. which is why i sometimes just record jam jars being hit with different wooden spoons, or muck about with an ancient keyboard's preset brass sounds, or whatever.
as for stonerdom, i find it difficult to accurately judge because i'm pretty much always stoned... i believe i play intuitive / improv guitar better stoned. i know i play other composer's violin works better sober, if only because of the intense technical concentration needed. generally i find being stoned fairly conducive to creativity... but again, there's practically no 'control' experience for me to compare it to
Marc
Scratchadelica
ott^ said:
thats interesting to hear... having recently started studying sound design Ive been doing my first load of recording and Ive found that just by having a load of crazy-ass sounds sitting around its a real motivator to start doing things with them.
Out of interest, in writing music how much of the song concept would you say is in your head initially and how much comes about from just playing around with stuff etc. Is it more ususal to have an entire song concept in ur head to start with or just an inkling or maybe nothing ? Any insights into peeps conpositional processes would be appreciated ...
peace,
m