True facts of music making

I wouldn't trust some fancy mastestudent over my best buddies to be honest.

  On 2/29/2012 at 12:31 PM, ZoeB said:

• Strive for very little equipment, and learn it inside out
  
• Break complex tasks down into simple ones
  

I need new equipment. I wanted to get into music and my grandparents decided to buy me this thing about 6 years ago now.

I fucking hate it. It's near impossible to get anything done on it. I've watched so many tutorials and it's just too complicated. Only thing I do with it is play in real time. It's such a burden because I feel like I should be able to make music on it, but I just can't. After so many years with it, I finally packed it up (2 weeks ago) and it's now sitting in my closet.

Should've gotten a drum machine. I don't know what I was thinking or how I will ever sell it.

Edit: Picture isn't right, mines an X8.

  On 3/2/2012 at 6:45 PM, Murveman said:

  On 2/29/2012 at 12:31 PM, ZoeB said:

• Strive for very little equipment, and learn it inside out
  
• Break complex tasks down into simple ones
  

I need new equipment. I wanted to get into music and my grandparents decided to buy me this thing about 6 years ago now.

I fucking hate it. It's near impossible to get anything done on it. I've watched so many tutorials and it's just too complicated. Only thing I do with it is play in real time. It's such a burden because I feel like I should be able to make music on it, but I just can't. After so many years with it, I finally packed it up (2 weeks ago) and it's now sitting in my closet.

 

Should've gotten a drum machine. I don't know what I was thinking or how I will ever sell it.

 

Edit: Picture isn't right, mines an X8.

Sell it if you don't like it, you can still get quite a decent hunk of cash for it. Ebay, and make it cheaper than any one on there and it will sell, trust me, someone will pick it up and resell it or use it. I did this with my Micron after being incredibly frustrated with programming the fucking thing.

Don't get discouraged because you cannot use a piece of gear very well, all gear takes time, even learning how to use my old EMX-1 took a year or two to get total control over it.

  On 3/2/2012 at 6:00 PM, o00o said:

One really important thing:

 

Ask people who are successful or very skilled in music on a business level

 

I have learned 10x more from masterstudents in music and successful artists than from random people doing some music. People who are successful in their craft will give you completely different tips than random people that happen to make music.

Welp, do we have any of these on this forum who are willing to deposit their two cents, or should those of us that don't know any just feel insecure about being out of the loop?

I think this is good advice but it's not practical for those of us who don't know any professional musicians of an ilk we can aspire to.

  On 3/2/2012 at 6:45 PM, Murveman said:

  On 2/29/2012 at 12:31 PM, ZoeB said:

• Strive for very little equipment, and learn it inside out
  
• Break complex tasks down into simple ones
  

I need new equipment. I wanted to get into music and my grandparents decided to buy me this thing about 6 years ago now.

I fucking hate it. It's near impossible to get anything done on it. I've watched so many tutorials and it's just too complicated. Only thing I do with it is play in real time. It's such a burden because I feel like I should be able to make music on it, but I just can't. After so many years with it, I finally packed it up (2 weeks ago) and it's now sitting in my closet.

 

Should've gotten a drum machine. I don't know what I was thinking or how I will ever sell it.

 

Edit: Picture isn't right, mines an X8.

shit like this is designed to woo you in the shop or look good spec wise

shoulda bought an Elektron

As far as hardware goes, pretty much anything can make good music. If it can do notes in tune, & it can make some blippy sounds that kinda sound like drums, then what's stopping you? the sounds themselves may be poor, but I find if you roll with it & aren't self-concious there develops this certain feeling of "rightness", & you start that those sounds were bad sounds in the first place. It's all perception.

hey cocopipe!

I like your tunes mon!

and yes thats fucking great advice! its all about the emotion innit? no matter how shitty the result comes out, in time one will really appreciate those moments, how much you learned...

  On 3/4/2012 at 6:01 PM, Cryptowen said:

As far as hardware goes, pretty much anything can make good music. If it can do notes in tune, & it can make some blippy sounds that kinda sound like drums, then what's stopping you? the sounds themselves may be poor, but I find if you roll with it & aren't self-concious there develops this certain feeling of "rightness", & you start that those sounds were bad sounds in the first place. It's all perception.

This is true. I really want to start writing stuff using general midi sound modules, and see if I can come up with some interesting tracks.

^That's how I started my current album project. I wrote all the songs using really basic MIDIish blips & no effects, with the idea being that if I could get them sounding good like that then I could get them sounding real good when done proper.

• you can always use more hands to twiddle knobs
  
• synthesizers are cool
  
• snare rushes
  

- Listen to your own song drafts again, and again, and again. Make small steps building you track so you don't overthink things or get saturated, render it then go do something else for the rest of the day. The following day, have it on your mp3 reader and listen to it repeatedly to see what else you can do to it.

- Don't get disappointed if you're not getting loads of gigs, people commenting on your music or liking you on facebook. It can take ages of consistently putting out EP's and doing gigs before you start attracting a solid base of people to your music. It's especially easy to get downhearted if you're working solo.

- Never stop trying to improve your music. Don't let your standards drop.

- Don't try to make music when you're angry or frustrated (or, don't let your music anger and frustrate you).

- Study what someone good is doing; don't ape other people, but learn about their approach so you can enrich your own. It also keeps you on your toes.

Buy loads of synths and drum machines. They also make good household decorations.

jam out and edit later

If you are using a DAW, try to print out a paper version(Waveform and spectrum mapping lined up) of the song you're working on. It helps give you a spatial impression of the project and might give you some cool ideas.

and it will make you feel really fucking cool and idm

that's actually a good idea. as is "jam out and edit later" This is my main hanging point these days. Too much sound design not enough structural ideas.

Here's another: If you never end up with a following or fame, does making music still interest you? If not then you'll likely burn out after the initial honeymoon..

  On 3/16/2012 at 8:47 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

If you never end up with a following or fame, does making music still interest you? If not then you'll likely burn out after the initial honeymoon..

Indeed. You don't make music in order to become rich and famous. You become rich and famous as a side effect of making good music that people want to hear. This is also why the notion of "selling out" is pretty silly, as it merely means the person in question is making music that lots of other people like, which is surely a good thing.

  On 3/6/2012 at 1:18 PM, soundwave said:

jam out and edit later

i try to do this all the time but i end up only jamming and never doing a proper mix

i also think this one of the main problems in electronic music making: the need to get everything in the sequencer. when you jam out, lots of crazy and brilliant stuff happens. but when you are going to do a mix-down, all the creativity goes away.

  On 3/6/2012 at 12:45 PM, Rbrmyofr said:

Buy loads of synths and drum machines. They also make good household decorations.

I don't think this is right, as having many machines without knowing what to do with is totally dull.

Same goes with VSTs orgies : why having 329 compressors/reverbs/wassever if you don't know how one works ?

You have to wear a hat thats kinda pointed up.

Nobody will care unless you sing.

smoke dmt.

give yourself limits until you start to get comfortable, then smash them.

most important of all for me:

never think too much about somebody else's advice until you find yourself coming to similar conclusions on your own time.

One of the things that gets people in ruts is they overthink things. Anyone whose does music for a while & makes tracks they like (which is really the only metric you got), becomes familiar with certain tools they like. Certain beats, chord progressions, patches, etc. Real simple stuff. Stuff that, if you were so inclined, you could use to make a really killer track with no hesitation, because deep down you know what you wanna hear & if you've been doing this long enough & learning you'll know how to make it.

But people get these mental blocks. "nah, it can't be that simple". "nah, it'll just end up sounding like stuff I made before. I wanna sound NEW". And yeah, it may sound simple & not particularly fresh at first, but if you persist at it for hours or days or weeks it slowly turns into this huge intricate robot thing made up of simple parts that dance together, & it won't be a copy of your old stuff because if you spend time on a track your state of mind soaks into it.

Making a big detailed track is like sculpting a block of clay into a statue. You can't just punch the thing once or twice & get David. You gotta pick away at it with your tools yo

Well said, Crypty.

Amen to giving away your music. Best publicity ever. YOU REALLY THINK YOU'RE GONNA BE SELLING YOUR SHIT TOMORROW? (assuming you're a newbie.)

Oh, another thing I've found that works for myself. Though, it makes me paranoid as all hell after I finish the track since I always make something really barebones/ simple, is finishing my stuff in one sitting as much as I can. People seem to like it more and I've found that I can really have one coherent idea if I start and finish in one shot.