Chikka chikka wa waah! It's the music production thread.

[souljacker]

I dabble, and have done for a number of years, mainly using a hooky copy of ableton and a hooky copy of massive..... I'm not into the sound design side of things, but I do enjoy arrangements....

I'd never say I'm proficient, but I seem to get better with each try, although I am still using sample packs quite a lot. I tend to stare at stuff until I get bored of things, these are the last 2 things I flung up on soundcloud



The best stuff is always the stuff that kind of comes together itself, this was one of those and still one of the things I'm most happy with


I've got a couple of WIP's at the moment which sound like they might be alright too

Just spent 20mins on YouTube trying to remember what tune you were bootlegging on the second track. Didn't occur to me to search for Planet Dust

 

[rutabowa]

Could not disagree more. You will know when you have become a proficient producer when you can create the sound in your head. Until that point everything is a happy accident.... which is more art than production .

A proficient (electronic music) producer knows their equipment inside out and can make any sound their equipment is capable of making... but that is very different to recreating "the sound in your head" though.

Someone beatboxing an idea isn't reproducing "the sound in your head" either, it might be a very rough approximation but it isn't the actual thing.

The "sound in your head" isn't restricted to what sounds certain pieces of equipment or instruments can make, or notes in a musical scale, or even sounds that ears are able to here or soundwaves transmit; it is divine, infinite and unknowable. You can only try to channel it into the real world.

IMO

 

[bmd]

A proficient (electronic music) producer knows their equipment inside out and can make any sound their equipment is capable of making... but that is very different to recreating "the sound in your head" though.

Someone beatboxing an idea isn't reproducing "the sound in your head" either, it might be a very rough approximation but it isn't the actual thing.

The "sound in your head" isn't restricted to what sounds certain pieces of equipment or instruments can make, or notes in a musical scale, or even sounds that ears are able to here or soundwaves transmit; it is divine, infinite and unknowable. You can only try to channel it into the real world.

IMO

You're talking about something that I can't even begin to understand. A bit like describing why having eyes that don't breathe on planet Parp is necessary.

 

[existentialist]

You're talking about something that I can't even begin to understand. A bit like describing why having eyes that don't breathe on planet Parp is necessary.

Keep experimenting and making music. You'll suddenly realise what rutabowa is on about...

 

[danski]

Yeah, part, if not most, of the fun for me is experimenting, fucking about and happy accidents. All adds the the palette/ repertoire

 

[bmd]

Keep experimenting and making music. You'll suddenly realise what rutabowa is on about...

I was thinking about this and I hope you're right but, perhaps, not in the way you mean. I would like the divine, infinite and unknowable to flow through my mind, at least once in my lifetime.

Although I do hope we aren't going to have a 'proper' instrument debate here. Pick up Samplr on the iPad and tell me that it is not an instrument that you could spend a lifetime learning. Touchscaper, I'm looking at you too. Or just AUM with it's infinite possibilities and that's just a DAW. The future is in the iPad, I truly believe that. Well, one of them.

Anyway, I am continuing to learn all about what I don't know. Today's humbling experience will be with music theory. Melody, in particular. Thoughts etc would be gratefully received. Even ones like "don't bother."

 

[existentialist]

I was thinking about this and I hope you're right but, perhaps, not in the way you mean. I would like the divine, infinite and unknowable to flow through my mind, at least once in my lifetime.

Although I do hope we aren't going to have a 'proper' instrument debate here. Pick up Samplr on the iPad and tell me that it is not an instrument that you could spend a lifetime learning. Touchscaper, I'm looking at you too. Or just AUM with it's infinite possibilities and that's just a DAW. The future is in the iPad, I truly believe that. Well, one of them.

Anyway, I am continuing to learn all about what I don't know. Today's humbling experience will be with music theory. Melody, in particular. Thoughts etc would be gratefully received. Even ones like "don't bother."

No, nothing to do with "proper" instruments - you have no idea how much I enjoy baiting my fellow classically-trained snobs over that bullshit

And don't worry if the music theory seems incomprehensible - keep it in the back of your mind, and you'll start noticing stuff that fits with it. I've been studying music for 50 years, and I still wouldn't recognise a myxolydian mode it it came into my living room and jumped all over the furniture.

Don't get me going on enharmonic equivalents, though

 

[klang]

IMO:
If a producer strives to recreate whatever they hear in their head, then proficiency is achieved by learning how to do just that. If a producer seeks to create music by cobbling together happy accidents, proficiency is achieved by being guided by those accidents.
A proficient producer is one who follows their own path and perfects their own unique style. They may be bossy, laid back, efficient or slow. Musical knowledge and technical know how play into it but are not essential.
If an artist is (even if the artist is the producer themselves) is happy with the end product and the working method of getting to the end product, proficiency is achieved.

 

[bmd]

Don't worry, existentialist, I won't.

In the spirit of killer b's very true observation, I will be uploading something today. I may even upload it with zero provisos, you never know.

 

[bmd]

IMO:
If a producer strives to recreate whatever they hear in their head, then proficiency is achieved by learning how to do just that. If a producer seeks to create music by cobbling together happy accidents, proficiency is achieved by being guided by those accidents.
A proficient producer is one who follows their own path and perfects their own unique style. They may be bossy, laid back, efficient or slow. Musical knowledge and technical know how play into it but are not essential.
If an artist is (even if the artist is the producer themselves) is happy with the end product and the working method of getting to the end product, proficiency is achieved.

This chimes with me. I just want to make music, really and the learning is getting in the way to a certain extent but I have to acknowledge that I get so far and then I'm stopped by a lack of knowledge. I don't even know what it is that I need to know to progress and so I am trying all sorts of things. Those drips of experience are running together to make a tiny pool of knowledge and I hope, one day, to be able to dip a toe in it.

 

[bmd]

So, no provisos!

When I closed 'erban this morning I turned to my new, secondhand, Beatstep Pro, with a glint in my eye and a beat in my step. I've wanted one for ages, well, since I began this thing and chose a Keystep instead because that was more realistic. Anyway, here it was, finally. I opened the parcel and there were no cables included. Checked the listing. Cables included. Shook the box. No cables. The BP uses those 3.5mm to 5 pin DIN things. I have loads of 3.5mm, stereo jack to jack cables but my synth only takes 5 pin MIDI cables. I messaged the dude, he apologised. I looked online and the whole shebang was 18 Euros from Arturia, which is the only place that still sells them. Cool! I think and put them in my cart, wheel it round to the check out and they ask me for 20 Euros to send it to me. I message the dude and we agree a return. I open a return. It is about 10.30am.

I then look for one of the cables I'm missing. I need 2 really. £13 each. Nope. I then look for a jack to put on the end of the 3.5mm to turn it into a 2.5mm one. £1.99. Result! I message the dude. I close the return and fire up the BP. It's broken. Trust me, I really tried with it but it's broken. I message the dude. I attempt to re-open the return but it will not reopen because the old one is open. No, it isn't. I call ebay. I've already had my one return for that item, there's only one per item. I call PayPal. They tell me they're busy and put the phone down. I message them instead. It's 11.30am.

I open my ipad and decide to use 3 files I've prepared earlier. I transfer them from the app they're in. No I don't. The ipad won't let me. I remove all my drives from their hub, take all their contents off, reformat, rename and restart. Nope. I speak to Apple. The man can't fix it but his mate will call me back on Monday and see if he can. It's 12.30pm.

I've just taken delivery of my laptop stand so I've taken it out of the box, unplugged all the wires, sorted the 'desktop' out and placed it where I want it. I am really pleased with it. I do not have any music yet. It is now o'clock.

I think I'll have a go on my laptop, see if I can get a beat together. Something small and achievable.

 

[klang]

So, no provisos!

When I closed 'erban this morning I turned to my new, secondhand, Beatstep Pro, with a glint in my eye and a beat in my step. I've wanted one for ages, well, since I began this thing and chose a Keystep instead because that was more realistic. Anyway, here it was, finally. I opened the parcel and there were no cables included. Checked the listing. Cables included. Shook the box. No cables. The BP uses those 3.5mm to 5 pin DIN things. I have loads of 3.5mm, stereo jack to jack cables but my synth only takes 5 pin MIDI cables. I messaged the dude, he apologised. I looked online and the whole shebang was 18 Euros from Arturia, which is the only place that still sells them. Cool! I think and put them in my cart, wheel it round to the check out and they ask me for 20 Euros to send it to me. I message the dude and we agree a return. I open a return. It is about 10.30am.

I then look for one of the cables I'm missing. I need 2 really. £13 each. Nope. I then look for a jack to put on the end of the 3.5mm to turn it into a 2.5mm one. £1.99. Result! I message the dude. I close the return and fire up the BP. It's broken. Trust me, I really tried with it but it's broken. I message the dude. I attempt to re-open the return but it will not reopen because the old one is open. No, it isn't. I call ebay. I've already had my one return for that item, there's only one per item. I call PayPal. They tell me they're busy and put the phone down. I message them instead. It's 11.30am.

I open my ipad and decide to use 3 files I've prepared earlier. I transfer them from the app they're in. No I don't. The ipad won't let me. I remove all my drives from their hub, take all their contents off, reformat, rename and restart. Nope. I speak to Apple. The man can't fix it but his mate will call me back on Monday and see if he can. It's 12.30pm.

I've just taken delivery of my laptop stand so I've taken it out of the box, unplugged all the wires, sorted the 'desktop' out and placed it where I want it. I am really pleased with it. I do not have any music yet. It is now o'clock.

I think I'll have a go on my laptop, see if I can get a beat together. Something small and achievable.

cables and the lack of them is the story of my life x

 

[Saul Goodman]

cables and the lack of them is the story of my life x

Why is it you always find 10 of the cables you're not looking for?

 

[bmd]

Best bit of the day was when I got an email from someone about a synth and I emailed them back to say please remember to include the cables. They emailed to say it never came with them new so I emailed back with a bit of text from the maker's website that was titled "what's in the box?" followed by a list of stuff. He emailed me back, rather irate, saying that no, that wasn't what was in the box, he'd already told me that.

 

[bmd]

I learnt a lot today. It was even about music. There will not be an upload today.

 

[bmd]

Yesterday I learnt that learning happens when I do the thing I want to learn. Who knew!? I mean, rather than reading or watching or whatever. I like learning without doing, I win every time when I do that. I lost yesterday but I also won. Ah, the paradoxes of life.

From now on I will be doing the thing and also learning the thing in a traditional sense. I have taken to emailing the developer of whatever I'm using, if, say, I spend an hour or so MIDI mapping the controls of their software synth to my controller, only for the map to disappear when I change the preset. Yes, I had saved it, yes it came back when I changed the preset back to the mapped one. Weird. Rubbish weird. Or am I being stupid? It's not unknown. I am going on past experience, where I map a software synth and it stays mapped. That's why they can be saved, isn't it?

I found that the iPad OS Files app is, um, peculiar. It has decided that it will not show my Samples folder on an external drive, any more. I have copied it to my laptop and I will be copying it back today. I hope Files decides to be friends with it again. Mac Rumours is not impressed with it. The Files app, not my Samples folder. That would not fail to impress, with it's majestic splendour.

 

[xenon]

Thread needs more actual music.

No synths on this one. The lead bit is a bit rubbish, it's not finished etc. May contain shred...

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

 

[xenon]

Yesterday I learnt that learning happens when I do the thing I want to learn. Who knew!? I mean, rather than reading or watching or whatever. I like learning without doing, I win every time when I do that. I lost yesterday but I also won. Ah, the paradoxes of life.

From now on I will be doing the thing and also learning the thing in a traditional sense. I have taken to emailing the developer of whatever I'm using, if, say, I spend an hour or so MIDI mapping the controls of their software synth to my controller, only for the map to disappear when I change the preset. Yes, I had saved it, yes it came back when I changed the preset back to the mapped one. Weird. Rubbish weird. Or am I being stupid? It's not unknown. I am going on past experience, where I map a software synth and it stays mapped. That's why they can be saved, isn't it?

I found that the iPad OS Files app is, um, peculiar. It has decided that it will not show my Samples folder on an external drive, any more. I have copied it to my laptop and I will be copying it back today. I hope Files decides to be friends with it again. Mac Rumours is not impressed with it. The Files app, not my Samples folder. That would not fail to impress, with it's majestic splendour.

Yeah unless the plugin developer implements some global settings, everything is just stored in the individual presets. Finally got round to mapping the controllers on my battered x-station to track and eq controls in Reaper. I say battered, more like senile. It spits out random midi data now and then, which is not ideal. Can't afford to replace it ATM and I'd miss it, which is a bit sad I know.

 

[bmd]

Yeah unless the plugin developer implements some global settings, everything is just stored in the individual presets. Finally got round to mapping the controllers on my battered x-station to track and eq controls in Reaper. I say battered, more like senile. It spits out random midi data now and then, which is not ideal. Can't afford to replace it ATM and I'd miss it, which is a bit sad I know.

X-Station? Is that a synth?

I spoke to the dev and they pointed me towards the setting that turns off the individual mapping setting. Not sure why I'd want to just map one preset when all of the knobs stay the same for the hundreds of presets. I'm sure there's a good reason.

 

[xenon]

X-Station? Is that a synth?

I spoke to the dev and they pointed me towards the setting that turns off the individual mapping setting. Not sure why I'd want to just map one preset when all of the knobs stay the same for the hundreds of presets. I'm sure there's a good reason.

Yeah Novation X-station. Shame they don't make something like this any more as it's a combined controller, audio interface and a synth based on their Key Station. I still like the sounds but the random midi thing makes the synth pretty unusable for recording.

 

[existentialist]

Yeah Novation X-station. Shame they don't make something like this any more as it's a combined controller, audio interface and a synth based on their Key Station. I still like the sounds but the random midi thing makes the synth pretty unusable for recording.

That's got to be something silly like a dry joint on the board...

 

[bmd]

So I have a tune that I want to throw on the thread. The mix is ho renn duss but it's in the ballpark of what I want to make. killer b can I send it to you please?

 

[bmd]

Thread needs more actual music.

No synths on this one. The lead bit is a bit rubbish, it's not finished etc. May contain shred...

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

That's mad! Is that you on guitar?! I needed one of those School of Rock evil eye hand, pointer things. 1 in each hand and a long blonde wig and some spandex trousers showing off my knackers for that one. Exceptional.

 

[killer b]

So I have a tune that I want to throw on the thread. The mix is ho renn duss but it's in the ballpark of what I want to make. killer b can I send it to you please?

Sure - email it to concretepreston@gmail.com

 

[bmd]

Chewn

 

[bmd]

Sure - email it to concretepreston@gmail.com

Thanks mate. If that doesn't work, the Dropbox link, I'll do that.

It's a terrible mix as I have no idea what I'm doing and the effect I put on one of the instruments has not enhanced it etc. Anyway, it's the first tune I've ever made all on my own so, well, there's that lol.

 

[xenon]

That's got to be something silly like a dry joint on the board...

TBH it might be partially my fault. I knocked it off the stand a few years ago. Although I have heard of other users having similar problem. It's a bit plasticy. But works well enough as a controller as long as I remember it's qwerks.

That's mad! Is that you on guitar?! I needed one of those School of Rock evil eye hand, pointer things. 1 in each hand and a long blonde wig and some spandex trousers showing off my knackers for that one. Exceptional.

Ha, yeah. No spandex and not much hair now, here. Is all me though. Drums done with Superior Drummer 2.

 

[bmd]

TBH it might be partially my fault. I knocked it off the stand a few years ago. Although I have heard of other users having similar problem. It's a bit plasticy. But works well enough as a controller as long as I remember it's qwerks.


Ha, yeah. No spandex and not much hair now, here. Is all me though. Drums done with Superior Drummer 2.

Love the guitar, so good. I am just looking at effects pedals for using with a synth. I really want a Styrmon Big Sky. Any recommendations for lots less than that?

 

[xenon]

Love the guitar, so good. I am just looking at effects pedals for using with a synth. I really want a Styrmon Big Sky. Any recommendations for lots less than that?

Cheers.
Strangely or not, I called that track Demonizer cos I did a version a while ago using the Demonizer pedal by Damage Control, who are Stryman now. I haven't seen their new stuff but as the price indicates they're solidly built. There's also the Boss SY-1000 which is aimed at guitarists and keys. Multi ffx, modelling and stuff but again, not cheap. I do love synths as well as guitars, I reckon if I were in the market, I'd want some kind of stereo analogue delay. For that nice breaking up lowfi delay. Maybe a stereo Electro Harmonix Memory Man.

 

[bmd]

Nice one! I think it was Electro Harmonix that I was looking at the other day. Really cheap but very popular. I so much want to learn Superior Drummer, even if it's just for the 808 and 909, never mind the proper kits. It sounds amazing.