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

[sim667]

A scale chart will be a start:

It is way more complicated than that of course (and there are loads of scale not shown on that link), but that should help a bit.

I’ve seen these, but the keys on ableton piano roll are marked as c1, c2, c3, b2, a1 etc etc

 

[rutabowa]

I’ve seen these, but the keys on ableton piano roll are marked as c1, c2, c3, b2, a1 etc etc

What's the issue?

 

[existentialist]

I’ve seen these, but the keys on ableton piano roll are marked as c1, c2, c3, b2, a1 etc etc

The numbers just refer to the octave in which each note is. Middle C is C4, the bottom string on the viola, an octave lower, is C3, etc. The chords (in terms of the relation between pitches - something weird happens acoustically when you get down much below C1) will work the same regardless of octave.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

T-Racks compressors and mastering tools are extremely good value in my opinion, and simple to use.
I would feel really stuck without them. I don't have this latest lot, but if I update to the latest version of Logic these are the ones I would immediately buy. Don't need any of the fancy deluxe stuff. Their clipper, limiter and compresser set is very simple and very effective.

T-RackS 6

T-Racks 6 mixing and mastering workstation and plug-in with 8 new modules offering a 3-space working environment.

www.ikmultimedia.com

. . . but maybe bide your time. They quite often suddenly switch to half price deals for certain periods.

Holy shit just had a look today and their total studio bundle (which includes absolutely everything) is about £250 Down from a grand. It's cheaper to buy the lot rather than buying just one of the other separate smaller packages. Wow.

I have bought products in the past on CD so I wanted to see what the download process was. You have to sign up at this point but I thought I would see if I was already registered. I was! Even better, for whatever reason I am now being shown a substantial discount of another £100 off the total studio bundle.
When I look in my registered products section, it shows the stuff I paid £80 for in 2012, but apparently I am able to download for free all the versions of the same product and all the extra bundles they included on top of that for free!!! I also got a free (on promotion) bundle of reverbs with that Compressor bundle and I now have free access to all their new reverbs. I'm not going to buy the studio bundle now, even at £150, because I now have more than I actually want/need.

Still got to download and pay (this time) for the new Logic Pro X.

 

[sim667]

What's the issue?

I just didn’t understand it but existentialist has explained a bit

 

[xenon]

Valhalla DSP are giving this away. I really like their stuff and will buy Shimmer at some point. The guy knows what he's doing, x engineer at Lexicon apparently.

Valhalla Super Massive - Valhalla DSP

Make some space. ValhallaSupermassive has been designed from the ground up for MASSIVE delays and reverbs. Get ready for luscious clouds of reverb, otherworldly delays, and swelling waves of feedback unlike any you’ve heard before. Supermassive has 20 out-of-this-world reverb/delay modes...

valhalladsp.com

 

[bmd]

I have just begun to produce electronic music. I am doing this for me, with a view to playing out eventually. Say, 2 years time. I want to be able to get the tunes in my head laid out, as quickly as possible and then to take them right through to mixing and mastering. I'm not bothered about releasing anything but I will if it makes my goal of playing out more likely.

Goals:

• learn electronic music production.
• Sketch out ideas for individual tracks without losing the initial feeling of what I'm trying to say (play? Sound like?).
• Understand my workflow.
• Understand it well enough to quickly evaluate new tools for incorporation into it.
• Stop buying stuff and start making music.
• List what I need to learn in order of importance to my goal of learning electronic music production.
• Stop posting on Urban instead of learning stuff.

I'll update my list as I go.

I would love it if there were others on here to talk about this stuff with, learn from, bounce ideas off etc. Obviously you post whatever you want, no need for lists or goals or whatever.

• forget playing out.
• still learning.
• Good luck with that.
• See above.
• LOL.
• Good one.
• You are a card.
• Ok.

So! How did you know what you wanted to make? I seem to be blown by the winds of my current musical taste. Right now I'd love to make a banging drum and bass track. Or even a terribly shit one. I sold all my gear to fund my van but I still have my ipad and laptop, so I'm Abletoning it. I quite like Ableton. It's just that I put too much into a track and as I have skipped Arranging Day at the gym I just keep adding shit without actually making it into anything. Let's talk about our process of making a track. I start with the drums or sometimes the bass line. Kick, maybe snare and hats and haway the lads. As it were. You?

 

[mojo pixy]

I'm trying to learn how to use Ardour on Ubuntu. Only for fun really but I'm having trouble patching in the various soft-synths and soft-drummachines, which stops it being fun!

Has anyone used Ardour / have any setup tips for it?

 

[mojo pixy]

• forget playing out.
• still learning.
• Good luck with that.
• See above.
• LOL.
• Good one.
• You are a card.
• Ok.

So! How did you know what you wanted to make? I seem to be blown by the winds of my current musical taste. Right now I'd love to make a banging drum and bass track. Or even a terribly shit one. I sold all my gear to fund my van but I still have my ipad and laptop, so I'm Abletoning it. I quite like Ableton. It's just that I put too much into a track and as I have skipped Arranging Day at the gym I just keep adding shit without actually making it into anything. Let's talk about our process of making a track. I start with the drums or sometimes the bass line. Kick, maybe snare and hats and haway the lads. As it were. You?

I used to make a lot of electronic music but I have no rule of thumb, personally. Usually the tune comes together in my head and whatever the most hook-y part is, is the bit I start with, whether that's drums, bass, or a lead line. If I can find/make a basic drum loop to work with at first, I often start there, but it really varies according to the catchiest bit in my head...

For D'n'B maybe start with a basic rhythm and add the bass, see where it goes? I think it was Derrick May who once said, if you get the drums and bass down and you're not already dancing, scrap it and start again

 

[bmd]

I used to make a lot of electronic music but I have no rule of thumb, personally. Usually the tune comes together in my head and whatever the most hook-y part is, is the bit I start with, whether that's drums, bass, or a lead line. If I can find/make a basic drum loop to work with at first, I often start there, but it really varies according to the catchiest bit in my head...

For D'n'B maybe start with a basic rhythm and add the bass, see where it goes? I think it was Derrick May who once said, if you get the drums and bass down and you're not already dancing, scrap it and start again

That was also a tip from the bloke who does the Bad Gear channel. If it makes you dance then you're onto a winner. I'm starting to get onto the "if you can't play it just hum it' school of music making. I'm also starting to get that thing about using more than one track to create a beat. Like using the hats and then, say, make them bounce with a synth or whatever.

 

[danski]

• forget playing out.
• still learning.
• Good luck with that.
• See above.
• LOL.
• Good one.
• You are a card.
• Ok.

So! How did you know what you wanted to make? I seem to be blown by the winds of my current musical taste. Right now I'd love to make a banging drum and bass track. Or even a terribly shit one. I sold all my gear to fund my van but I still have my ipad and laptop, so I'm Abletoning it. I quite like Ableton. It's just that I put too much into a track and as I have skipped Arranging Day at the gym I just keep adding shit without actually making it into anything. Let's talk about our process of making a track. I start with the drums or sometimes the bass line. Kick, maybe snare and hats and haway the lads. As it were. You?

Not sure how you’re using ableton but I start off in clip view, get some ideas, play about launching clips/scenes to get a rough idea then hit record and jam the arrangement.
Always needs editing but you always get some nice changes and stuff you wouldn’t necessarily program.
A decent controller is very helpful; Push or Launchpad etc
Also knobs.

 

[bmd]

Not sure how you’re using ableton but I start off in clip view, get some ideas, play about launching clips/scenes to get a rough idea then hit record and jam the arrangement.
Always needs editing but you always get some nice changes and stuff you wouldn’t necessarily program.
A decent controller is very helpful; Push or Launchpad etc
Also knobs.

That's a good idea. I had a pro launchpad but a bit like buying a spaceship when you're about to take your first flying lesson, I just looked at all the pretty lights whilst pressing shit. I got an Akai LPD 8 after that.

 

[danski]

A lot of people advise the ‘ghost track’ method, where you rip a favourite track and mark out the changes to give you a template to follow.
It’s not for me but then I never finish anything so perhaps I ought to try it again