I am new to making music, and so i was just wondering a few things.
How long would you say it took you till you were actually making listenable stuff? How long till you were making stuff you were actually happy with?
Would you say it just takes learning the gear/software... and then your music comes out the way you imagine it? Or is there more to it than that?
I know there is more to making music than just knowing the gear... so i am not trying to get lectured on song structure, and music theory and all... i just wanna know how long it took till what you heard in your head got transferred to what you hear on your projects?
Also... how did you start to hear stuff in your head? and what inspires you to do projects now? do you just hear something? or do you sit down and make something? just play a few keys and something clicks?
a few questions for those who are content with the music the
Those are big questions!
You will get a different answer from everyone you ask. Here's mine.
I had someone ask me the other day how I learned to write songs. My answer: "By writing a lot of bad songs!".
Define listenable...I done things I thought were great only to have other poeple look at me like I'm crazy (tough call).
I have been doing this (writing and recording) for almost 25 years. I am learning something new about sound and sogwriting all the time. The learning curve for gear never ends...I am always reading about and trying new techniques.
Sometimes a song ends up sounding like I thought it would and sometimes it turns into something completely different.
As far as creating goes, I always felt a need to create music, even when I was little kid I knew that I wanted to make my own music...I also enjoy writing (non-musical)and used to (as a teenager) really be into acting as well, so I always felt comfortable in front of a crowd.
Where do ideas come from? I think they are a reflection of your life. You need input to have output! The more emotional states you experience the more ideas you will have: love, loss, drugs, alcohol, you name it, it all adds up.
I am not advocating the use of drugs for music writing, being wrecked just makes you think that what you are doing is great, the "next morning" listen usually confirms that you were, in fact, all messed up! My best stuff always comes with a clear head, often in the early morning.
Sometimes I sit down at the keyboard or pick up the guitar and wham! there's a song. Those are the best!
I've always heard music in my head...at least when all the voices stop...won't somebody please make them stop! (just kidding around)
you have opened the box and now there is no putting back what you have let out!
Good luck!
R
You will get a different answer from everyone you ask. Here's mine.
I had someone ask me the other day how I learned to write songs. My answer: "By writing a lot of bad songs!".
Define listenable...I done things I thought were great only to have other poeple look at me like I'm crazy (tough call).
I have been doing this (writing and recording) for almost 25 years. I am learning something new about sound and sogwriting all the time. The learning curve for gear never ends...I am always reading about and trying new techniques.
Sometimes a song ends up sounding like I thought it would and sometimes it turns into something completely different.
As far as creating goes, I always felt a need to create music, even when I was little kid I knew that I wanted to make my own music...I also enjoy writing (non-musical)and used to (as a teenager) really be into acting as well, so I always felt comfortable in front of a crowd.
Where do ideas come from? I think they are a reflection of your life. You need input to have output! The more emotional states you experience the more ideas you will have: love, loss, drugs, alcohol, you name it, it all adds up.
I am not advocating the use of drugs for music writing, being wrecked just makes you think that what you are doing is great, the "next morning" listen usually confirms that you were, in fact, all messed up! My best stuff always comes with a clear head, often in the early morning.
Sometimes I sit down at the keyboard or pick up the guitar and wham! there's a song. Those are the best!
I've always heard music in my head...at least when all the voices stop...won't somebody please make them stop! (just kidding around)
you have opened the box and now there is no putting back what you have let out!
Good luck!
R
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___crisis___1
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:00 pm
Very good reply. Thank you.
I was just wondering about how people come up with music because i am not very good at all with melodies... in fact... i'm horrible. i am more of a drum person. i can sight down and pump out drum loops all day long. i sometimes will hear a song in my head at night when i am trying to fall asleep. it sounds like a song i have heard before... with the bass and drums and melody, vocals, everything. but it's a song i have never heard before... the next morning it's gone, without a trace... and i need to learn how to open that path which these songs come from. otherwise... i think i will never make a decent song.
any ideas about getting better with melodies? songs can sound quite boring without them... even if they aren't very complex, they still add something that fills in the song as a whole.
I was just wondering about how people come up with music because i am not very good at all with melodies... in fact... i'm horrible. i am more of a drum person. i can sight down and pump out drum loops all day long. i sometimes will hear a song in my head at night when i am trying to fall asleep. it sounds like a song i have heard before... with the bass and drums and melody, vocals, everything. but it's a song i have never heard before... the next morning it's gone, without a trace... and i need to learn how to open that path which these songs come from. otherwise... i think i will never make a decent song.
any ideas about getting better with melodies? songs can sound quite boring without them... even if they aren't very complex, they still add something that fills in the song as a whole.
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hubird
Putting those questions is the start 
And they never stop, in my case
what type of music would you like to make anyway?
Electronic? Rock? Latin? Folk? Ringtones?
It would help you enormously if you would narrow down those questions to a smaller bandwidth
cheerz.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2004-09-04 17:23 ]</font>
And they never stop, in my case
what type of music would you like to make anyway?
Electronic? Rock? Latin? Folk? Ringtones?
It would help you enormously if you would narrow down those questions to a smaller bandwidth
cheerz.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2004-09-04 17:23 ]</font>
Well, first the bad news... some people are never happy with how their music sounds. That's more of a psychological, emotional issue often times, than it is a musical one. Not always though. 
Seriously though, gear is in many ways a distraction. Mastering your gear is necessary in the long run, but unknown gear usually leads to new ideas and inpires new tracks. Either way, what you're looking for is more personal than any intellectual understanding of an object or instrument.
The thing you should be most concerned with (imho) is what you can get down immediately. One of the most difficult issues with music is that ideas that bring you to the gear (as opposed to the ideas that come out of tinkering with the gear) are usually ripe for only a few hours (if that).
If you think your melodies aren't very good, or not what you want, remember that most music we listen to is orchestrated layers of sound. Even strumming a guitar is several layers (up to 6 don't ya know) of individual notes. Unless what you're putting down is a well practiced performance, things will generally not sound 'good' but 'raw' or 'dull sounding.'
But if it's not down you can't do anything with it. It's what you have down that is your clay. So if we're talking synths in SFP, make a new save of your project or preset every time you've got a cool tone. Then when you've gone astray you can pull it back to a good reference point to launch off again. There's always a way to have a new melody intersect in unexpected ways with something that's otherwise generic.
An example that I always go back to is Radiohead's OK Computer. If you really take apart each song to the acoustic (or primary electic) guitar melody, the whole song is usually one chord progressing with the other parts being only a minor variation of the core theme. But what makes the choruses and bridges feel like isolated parts, and new part of the song is how the other instruments change course on top of the guitar. I bet if you can pick an album you like (assuming rock here) you'll be able to parse the tracks down in a similar way.
If you train yourself as a good listener, you will be much more fluent in getting started with new ideas and actually get some good work done before its overripe. At the very least you will be left with enough of the original intent to dive back in and keep trying new ideas out.
I guess this is all to say that learning how to critically analyse your own work is just as much of a process as the tools you are using. You will undoubtably hate, or be frustrated with everything you do if you cannot figure out what it needs or where it should go from it's present state.
There's no specific tricks that will ever help all the time, just confidence that your experience will give you a launching pad and your inexperience will lead to exploration, and a few initial failures. Get used to it.
But having ideas fail or not sound right is not an endpoint. I often redo well thought out ideas 4 times before I pick one of them, because I'll never know what will work until I've spent, both some time with each idea, and time away from my previous ones.
In the immediate future, I highly recommend getting an eSubscription to Sound On Sound magazine. You'll have access to the archives of the last several years. Go through all the various tips and tricks that apply to you (there will be more than you can fathom so don't just start grinding through them blindly) and whenever you are stuck, or feeling uninspired, just go to the archives, pick a tutorial and walk through it. You'll be surprised at how deep your understanding of why things sound the way they do (for better or worse) gets in a short time.
Confidence in one's music/sound is knowing that whatever isn't right can be made right with enough understanding and patience. If you can remember that, and one other thing, you'll be set:
The best song will be built from your instincts and intuitions. Don't get caught up in sounding like "that sound" or "that song." Those should just be launching pads, references. You inevitably carry those influences with you anyway so why not try and synthesize (if you'll pardon the pun) those influences into something genuine and personal, not borrowed and recognizable. At least this way, it can never be truly 'wrong'.
But enough of my carrying on. Time to play with flexor.
Sam
Seriously though, gear is in many ways a distraction. Mastering your gear is necessary in the long run, but unknown gear usually leads to new ideas and inpires new tracks. Either way, what you're looking for is more personal than any intellectual understanding of an object or instrument.
The thing you should be most concerned with (imho) is what you can get down immediately. One of the most difficult issues with music is that ideas that bring you to the gear (as opposed to the ideas that come out of tinkering with the gear) are usually ripe for only a few hours (if that).
If you think your melodies aren't very good, or not what you want, remember that most music we listen to is orchestrated layers of sound. Even strumming a guitar is several layers (up to 6 don't ya know) of individual notes. Unless what you're putting down is a well practiced performance, things will generally not sound 'good' but 'raw' or 'dull sounding.'
But if it's not down you can't do anything with it. It's what you have down that is your clay. So if we're talking synths in SFP, make a new save of your project or preset every time you've got a cool tone. Then when you've gone astray you can pull it back to a good reference point to launch off again. There's always a way to have a new melody intersect in unexpected ways with something that's otherwise generic.
An example that I always go back to is Radiohead's OK Computer. If you really take apart each song to the acoustic (or primary electic) guitar melody, the whole song is usually one chord progressing with the other parts being only a minor variation of the core theme. But what makes the choruses and bridges feel like isolated parts, and new part of the song is how the other instruments change course on top of the guitar. I bet if you can pick an album you like (assuming rock here) you'll be able to parse the tracks down in a similar way.
If you train yourself as a good listener, you will be much more fluent in getting started with new ideas and actually get some good work done before its overripe. At the very least you will be left with enough of the original intent to dive back in and keep trying new ideas out.
I guess this is all to say that learning how to critically analyse your own work is just as much of a process as the tools you are using. You will undoubtably hate, or be frustrated with everything you do if you cannot figure out what it needs or where it should go from it's present state.
There's no specific tricks that will ever help all the time, just confidence that your experience will give you a launching pad and your inexperience will lead to exploration, and a few initial failures. Get used to it.
But having ideas fail or not sound right is not an endpoint. I often redo well thought out ideas 4 times before I pick one of them, because I'll never know what will work until I've spent, both some time with each idea, and time away from my previous ones.
In the immediate future, I highly recommend getting an eSubscription to Sound On Sound magazine. You'll have access to the archives of the last several years. Go through all the various tips and tricks that apply to you (there will be more than you can fathom so don't just start grinding through them blindly) and whenever you are stuck, or feeling uninspired, just go to the archives, pick a tutorial and walk through it. You'll be surprised at how deep your understanding of why things sound the way they do (for better or worse) gets in a short time.
Confidence in one's music/sound is knowing that whatever isn't right can be made right with enough understanding and patience. If you can remember that, and one other thing, you'll be set:
The best song will be built from your instincts and intuitions. Don't get caught up in sounding like "that sound" or "that song." Those should just be launching pads, references. You inevitably carry those influences with you anyway so why not try and synthesize (if you'll pardon the pun) those influences into something genuine and personal, not borrowed and recognizable. At least this way, it can never be truly 'wrong'.
But enough of my carrying on. Time to play with flexor.
Sam
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___crisis___1
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:00 pm
thank you sam. that was very inspirational. i totally understand what you mean by bieng able to critique your own sound... i am a dj of 2 1/2 years. and to this day... i still go on and on mixing the same 2 tracks together... thinking to myself that something in there can sound better. my girlfriend will tell me, "that sounded really good!" and i know it does... but there is still something i can do to make it sound better. i can't seem to find "good enough", and this causes me to overplay the songs and get bored and then i have to take a break. and i can totally see this rolling over to producing.
i am wanting to produce mainly electronic music... hardcore, dnb, and breaks. but i also have a friend who wants me to make him some hip hop/rnb songs because he does christian rap.
i am wanting to produce mainly electronic music... hardcore, dnb, and breaks. but i also have a friend who wants me to make him some hip hop/rnb songs because he does christian rap.
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Shayne White
- Posts: 1454
- Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: California
- Contact:
I think it was about five years before I could get anything decent-sounding out of my computer. Of course I'm still improving (hopefully we all are), but it was some time before I finally felt like I was on the right track.
Shayne
Shayne
Melodious Synth Radio
http://www.melodious-synth.com
Melodious synth music by Binary Sea
http://www.binary-sea.com
http://www.melodious-synth.com
Melodious synth music by Binary Sea
http://www.binary-sea.com
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kensuguro
- Posts: 4434
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2001 4:00 pm
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wow, interesting thread. These are all good questions that all musicians have asked themselves at one point or the other.
Learning your gear and getting in control. I think it took me about 5 years of serious mixing untill my mixes started to sound remotely "good". (what a coincidence) And that was mainly with only comp and eq. It took lots of research time, comparing my mixes to my favorite mixes, learning about the human ear, psychoacoustics and all. Another 3 years, and my mixes got "better", mainly in terms of effects. (like stereo definition and high end "sheen")
I think it's a very good idea to study about the way we hear and the natural tendencies of the human ear. Reading about it is one thing, but it's even easier to concentrate on being objective about how you hear yourself. What sounds do you like? Why do yo like it? What's THAT sound made of? (and the answers better keep on changing)
About melodies and arrangements. RESEARCH! Pump material in your head. DJing is very good for this. I think it's not an over generalization to say that what you write will sound somewhat like what you listen to. (you are what you eat) Then, after 10 years, when you've pretty much nailed down all the material you want to cover, or just about all the material you have the ability to remember, then go out and enjoy life like mad. Let your experiences inspire you. Music coming from other music is very limited, but music coming from life is limitless.
Most important thing is to find your interests. Dnb? Rnb? Eltronic? You'll probably go through a cycle. You may write DnB for a while, then do a bit of Rnb, then maybe back to DnB, then spend some time fine tuning your mixing skills. Learn your cycle. Learn when you want to create, and when you want to just learn and do experimental projects. You'll learn that your cycles are very fast at first, and then it gets longer and longer.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2004-09-04 21:49 ]</font>
Learning your gear and getting in control. I think it took me about 5 years of serious mixing untill my mixes started to sound remotely "good". (what a coincidence) And that was mainly with only comp and eq. It took lots of research time, comparing my mixes to my favorite mixes, learning about the human ear, psychoacoustics and all. Another 3 years, and my mixes got "better", mainly in terms of effects. (like stereo definition and high end "sheen")
I think it's a very good idea to study about the way we hear and the natural tendencies of the human ear. Reading about it is one thing, but it's even easier to concentrate on being objective about how you hear yourself. What sounds do you like? Why do yo like it? What's THAT sound made of? (and the answers better keep on changing)
About melodies and arrangements. RESEARCH! Pump material in your head. DJing is very good for this. I think it's not an over generalization to say that what you write will sound somewhat like what you listen to. (you are what you eat) Then, after 10 years, when you've pretty much nailed down all the material you want to cover, or just about all the material you have the ability to remember, then go out and enjoy life like mad. Let your experiences inspire you. Music coming from other music is very limited, but music coming from life is limitless.
Most important thing is to find your interests. Dnb? Rnb? Eltronic? You'll probably go through a cycle. You may write DnB for a while, then do a bit of Rnb, then maybe back to DnB, then spend some time fine tuning your mixing skills. Learn your cycle. Learn when you want to create, and when you want to just learn and do experimental projects. You'll learn that your cycles are very fast at first, and then it gets longer and longer.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kensuguro on 2004-09-04 21:49 ]</font>
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___crisis___1
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:00 pm
great stuff! i just love reading your posts... all of you. it's very inspiring. it's great to have finally found a place where ppl love thier music and creation so much... that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or why they think it... you like your music because it's yours. the town i live in (reno nevada) is so shallow and empty... everybody is so caught up in "bieng cool" and all that garbage... it's hard to focus on what is important to me. even though i know we all have a choice of who to hang out with, what to do with our spare time... etc... and nobody has control over anyone else... the over all feel of your atmosphere can and will bring you down and distract you from what really matters... so... in a sense... i sometimes feel as though my environment and those in it are suffocating my creativity. i know i can just stop hanging around these ppl... but then i become a hermit and that isn't fun either. i have done it before... for about 8 months. towards the end(which is right now... i moved from my home town to backwoods of texas with mom. no car, no bus... i have literally not left my house in 8 months. but i am getting ready to leave in 2 weeks back home.) i am feeling insanity creep in... so i need to get back out there and join the world.
have any of you ever felt trapped by your surroundings? and this effects your music? maybe disables you to make music?
did you ever get over/through/out of it? how and what happened as a result?
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ___crisis___1 on 2004-09-04 23:35 ]</font>
have any of you ever felt trapped by your surroundings? and this effects your music? maybe disables you to make music?
did you ever get over/through/out of it? how and what happened as a result?
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ___crisis___1 on 2004-09-04 23:35 ]</font>
my problem with being cool is that by the time the rest of the world gets hip to what i think is cool, i'm over it.......
*edit* i can't just leave that comment, it's too pretentious.....
so i'll give advice, more pretentious, still.
don't be so hard on yourself or your freinds. what you describe is more common than not. music is a natural function of the human. i can't be "killed". much happens in life that you don't expect, but it always seems like "same ol', same ol'". relax, much is yet to come.....
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2004-09-05 00:01 ]</font>
*edit* i can't just leave that comment, it's too pretentious.....
so i'll give advice, more pretentious, still.
don't be so hard on yourself or your freinds. what you describe is more common than not. music is a natural function of the human. i can't be "killed". much happens in life that you don't expect, but it always seems like "same ol', same ol'". relax, much is yet to come.....
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2004-09-05 00:01 ]</font>
man, you keep asking these big questions...might I be so personal as to ask how old you are?
I ask because you sound like me in my early twenties.
You have all the makings of a fine artist: dis-satisfaction with the way things are, a feeling of being misunderstood, a realization that people are shallow and empty, a feeling of being suffocated by your environment...Yep, it's all there!
The best thing about being a hermit is that you don't have to deal with anyone who pisses you off!
The creeping insanity? Get used to it! Mine's still creeping, I'm just moving slightly faster than it is.
As I said before, everything affects your music, that's the point. So you either learn to use that...or the insanity will stop creeping and start to speed walk.
I could tell you a life story that would make you cry. But so what? Everyone's got a story worth fifteen cents.
I have learned that you have to choose to be happy. I'll be damned if I'll go through life with a scowl on my face! No matter how bad it gets it's not worth moping about. You can't let life get you down. After all, the worse it gets the more likely it is to get better! You can only see the top from the bottom.
Being "cool" isn't cool. I think garyb nails it down rather well. Or, as Groucho Marx so eloquently put it, "I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have people like me as a member".
Yes you are different than most everyone else, you are an artist and see the world in a different light, celebrate that, wallow in your uniqueness, be glad you are the only one like you.
Put all your fears and thoughts and questions into the music, that's were the best stuff comes from.
Yes, you will look back at what you wrote in twenty years and laugh, but you will also read it and fell the pain or the joy again. Maybe the songs themselves will ultimately turn out to be not that good, but that's not the point.
I'm not the first person to say this, but "It's all about the journey, not reaching the destination" or something like that.
Just be!
R
I ask because you sound like me in my early twenties.
You have all the makings of a fine artist: dis-satisfaction with the way things are, a feeling of being misunderstood, a realization that people are shallow and empty, a feeling of being suffocated by your environment...Yep, it's all there!
The best thing about being a hermit is that you don't have to deal with anyone who pisses you off!
The creeping insanity? Get used to it! Mine's still creeping, I'm just moving slightly faster than it is.
As I said before, everything affects your music, that's the point. So you either learn to use that...or the insanity will stop creeping and start to speed walk.
I could tell you a life story that would make you cry. But so what? Everyone's got a story worth fifteen cents.
I have learned that you have to choose to be happy. I'll be damned if I'll go through life with a scowl on my face! No matter how bad it gets it's not worth moping about. You can't let life get you down. After all, the worse it gets the more likely it is to get better! You can only see the top from the bottom.
Being "cool" isn't cool. I think garyb nails it down rather well. Or, as Groucho Marx so eloquently put it, "I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have people like me as a member".
Yes you are different than most everyone else, you are an artist and see the world in a different light, celebrate that, wallow in your uniqueness, be glad you are the only one like you.
Put all your fears and thoughts and questions into the music, that's were the best stuff comes from.
Yes, you will look back at what you wrote in twenty years and laugh, but you will also read it and fell the pain or the joy again. Maybe the songs themselves will ultimately turn out to be not that good, but that's not the point.
I'm not the first person to say this, but "It's all about the journey, not reaching the destination" or something like that.
Just be!
R
Oh sure, that's just great, change your mind after I use you as an example!On 2004-09-04 23:45, garyb wrote:
my problem with being cool is that by the time the rest of the world gets hip to what i think is cool, i'm over it.......
*edit* i can't just leave that comment, it's too pretentious.....
so i'll give advice, more pretentious, still.
don't be so hard on yourself or your freinds. what you describe is more common than not. music is a natural function of the human. i can't be "killed". much happens in life that you don't expect, but it always seems like "same ol', same ol'". relax, much is yet to come.....
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2004-09-05 00:01 ]</font>
Pretentious? what are you pretending about? I know I've felt that way lots! I had a pierced ear way before anyone else I knew, and I felt superior to the other tame people. Five years later everyone had one and I haven't worn an earring since.
No pretention! Confidence!
R
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MikeRaphone
- Posts: 181
- Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2003 4:00 pm
- Location: slovenia
I am sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, it*s just my view and you have to! come to your own conclusions so don*t be a sheep. Nevertheless, if you are serious about making music you have to kick this lonely, wounded, misunderestimated(by the way please vote and get George out of there, otherwise the whole world will get really fucked up) attitude of yours in the butt and start sweating. The only thing that will ever get you out of the place you*re in right now, is HARD work. You have to master whatever you need to in order to be able to express(freely) yourself. Practice instrument for five hours a day, study music theory, LISTEN- train your ears, meditate- improve your concentration, read classic literature, philosophy, listen a lot to great music of the past(ever heard of Bach?) get a good Teacher(maybe the most important one), don*t be self complacent, but don*t be a follower either!
And then maybe after some ten years(you know- Ten years after maybe you will start putting down some serious tracks. Read biographies of Great jazz musicians(say Charlie Parker- the Bird) and you will see what I mean. But please don*t turn into one of them wannabees who pile up crap, sell it to people and expect us to praise their ignorant display of shallownes(talkin* *bout most of contemporary pop and rock music, talkin* *bout Hollywood). Stupidity is eating up World. So what you gonna do, stand up against it or stay in your cosy little bed?
By the way be warned not to take all this too seriously- life should be fun too...
And then maybe after some ten years(you know- Ten years after
maybe you will start putting down some serious tracks. Read biographies of Great jazz musicians(say Charlie Parker- the Bird) and you will see what I mean. But please don*t turn into one of them wannabees who pile up crap, sell it to people and expect us to praise their ignorant display of shallownes(talkin* *bout most of contemporary pop and rock music, talkin* *bout Hollywood). Stupidity is eating up World. So what you gonna do, stand up against it or stay in your cosy little bed? By the way be warned not to take all this too seriously- life should be fun too...May all sentient beings achieve liberation from suffering
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___crisis___1
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King of Snake
- Posts: 1544
- Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: the Netherlands
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Getting back to the original question(s)
I've worked for a long time without any knowledge of keyboard playing, just hitting notes at random to create music. Because I have a musical ear (like most musicians I guess) I could still hear when it sounded good or when it didn't but it's really not an ideal way of working.
As for the "how long" question. This differs from person to person, but I've been making music for about 5 years now. It took me about two years to get comfortable with the techniques (how a synth works, how to mix, how to use fx etc) and then start refining them. Currently I'd say I can make my mix sound pretty good, but I still have a lot to learn.
Keep in mind that I don't really spend a lot of time making music, sometimes a few hours a week, sometimes a few hours a month, so if you've good really good discipline and work on it every day you're bound to make progress a bit faster.
The basic drive behind it is wanting to get better, striving for improvement of your sound, your originality, your musical content, and trying to make a track that you are happy with, that you can pop it in your cd player and say to yourself "hey, this is pretty cool, good work dude!"
listenable...well I'd say it pretty much has to be listenable for yourself from the start. I mean, you have to enjoy making it even though you know it's not perhaps really good in the beginning. I recently listened to some of my really old tracks (ie. about 5 years ago) and they were pretty bad when I hear it now. But at that time I was happy with them.How long would you say it took you till you were actually making listenable stuff? How long till you were making stuff you were actually happy with?
Hmmm, I guess it could work for some people like that. Not for me, or at least not yet. I do have a reasonable understanding of technical aspects now but I'm not able to take a musical idea from my head and translate it directly into music and have it sound the same. Of course, these attempts are often the starting points of tracks anyway. You start out with an idea, and after a while the idea has transformed and sparked new ideas (hopefully). My final track will never sound even remotely like the thing in my head that I started out with, but to me that's perfectly ok. It's just another way of working.Would you say it just takes learning the gear/software... and then your music comes out the way you imagine it? Or is there more to it than that?
see previous answer, but I would recommend delving into basic music theory. Perhaps even get yourself a guitar which you can easily pick up and practice stuff like chords and scales, because if you know the basic theory behind that, it's easier to come up with melodies or song structures.I know there is more to making music than just knowing the gear... so i am not trying to get lectured on song structure, and music theory and all... i just wanna know how long it took till what you heard in your head got transferred to what you hear on your projects?
I've worked for a long time without any knowledge of keyboard playing, just hitting notes at random to create music. Because I have a musical ear (like most musicians I guess) I could still hear when it sounded good or when it didn't but it's really not an ideal way of working.
As for the "how long" question. This differs from person to person, but I've been making music for about 5 years now. It took me about two years to get comfortable with the techniques (how a synth works, how to mix, how to use fx etc) and then start refining them. Currently I'd say I can make my mix sound pretty good, but I still have a lot to learn.
Keep in mind that I don't really spend a lot of time making music, sometimes a few hours a week, sometimes a few hours a month, so if you've good really good discipline and work on it every day you're bound to make progress a bit faster.
It can be those things, or listening to other music. Playing around with a synth, trying to come up with a cool sound. Play a few notes, add some beats and perhaps it's the beginning of a song. I have lots of 2 bar loops that never got the "song" treatment thoughAlso... how did you start to hear stuff in your head? and what inspires you to do projects now? do you just hear something? or do you sit down and make something? just play a few keys and something clicks?
The basic drive behind it is wanting to get better, striving for improvement of your sound, your originality, your musical content, and trying to make a track that you are happy with, that you can pop it in your cd player and say to yourself "hey, this is pretty cool, good work dude!"
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___crisis___1
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:00 pm
well... i guess i probably differ from alot of you on here. because i am making my music not to listen to for pleasure. although that is what i would like to do with it for now... my main goal is to produce my own music to play at raves. instead of having to play others records. i have a freind who owns a label, and he/it are waiting for whenever i do get good enough to start pressing.
i suppose i might be wrong in my first statement... as i don't really know anyones purpose of their production. but i do think i differ as far as the dj/rave aspect.
and no i didn't mean that i am not producing for pleasure... because playing my own music at a rave is the utmost pleasure i could ever get... besides other people playing my music at raves... but that is too far away too even daydream about...
i suppose i might be wrong in my first statement... as i don't really know anyones purpose of their production. but i do think i differ as far as the dj/rave aspect.
and no i didn't mean that i am not producing for pleasure... because playing my own music at a rave is the utmost pleasure i could ever get... besides other people playing my music at raves... but that is too far away too even daydream about...
Mate, just rock on regardless with it the way you see fit
the way i see it, any other music and musical learning you can do, besides your main passion, can only feed that thing.
good music transcends, and in my experience takes metric s**tloads of trial & error to achieve
branch out, it's all happening out there
also, check out the music forum here, great music there.
good onya for your open inquisitive posts
the way i see it, any other music and musical learning you can do, besides your main passion, can only feed that thing.
good music transcends, and in my experience takes metric s**tloads of trial & error to achieve
branch out, it's all happening out there
also, check out the music forum here, great music there.
good onya for your open inquisitive posts
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kensuguro
- Posts: 4434
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: BPM 60 to somewhere around 150
- Contact:
great thing is that you're probably on the right track, a very good one. You work your butt off at times, and then take a breath and ask yourself some of these big questions. (or wonder about them all the time) These questions keep you on track. They may never be answered, but keeps you motivated to continue the adventure.
PlanetZ is an awesome place to be asking these types of questions as we have quite some experienced members. I think all musicians go through similar mental growing phases (in a general sense) so many people can directly relate to how you feel.
Anyhow, I don't think I said this in your first thread, but welcome on board!
PlanetZ is an awesome place to be asking these types of questions as we have quite some experienced members. I think all musicians go through similar mental growing phases (in a general sense) so many people can directly relate to how you feel.
Anyhow, I don't think I said this in your first thread, but welcome on board!
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King of Snake
- Posts: 1544
- Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: the Netherlands
- Contact:
Not that different from me really. I want to get records pressed and played either by a dj or by myself as a liveset too.On 2004-09-05 08:55, ___crisis___1 wrote:
well... i guess i probably differ from alot of you on here. because i am making my music not to listen to for pleasure. although that is what i would like to do with it for now... my main goal is to produce my own music to play at raves. instead of having to play others records. i have a freind who owns a label, and he/it are waiting for whenever i do get good enough to start pressing.
i suppose i might be wrong in my first statement... as i don't really know anyones purpose of their production. but i do think i differ as far as the dj/rave aspect.
and no i didn't mean that i am not producing for pleasure... because playing my own music at a rave is the utmost pleasure i could ever get... besides other people playing my music at raves... but that is too far away too even daydream about...
But in the end the music I make has got to be music I enjoy listening to. "To play at raves" is not a goal in itself for me. The goal is to make great music and then hopefully present it to other people to enjoy.