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Plunging into my first project - need advice
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Apr 11, 2010 00:28:03
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...sorry if this has been discussed already – I haven’t found it so far...
I’ve been following some tutorials off the Web, created a couple of simple kicks and very cheesy “super-saw” leads. But it feels like I keep on saying “ay-bee-cee” instead of learning to speak. I’d like to take on a real project and learn by doing. But I am afraid that the technical details will be overwhelming. So, here is my question:
What would be the best way of doing the very first project:
- try and create your own original track?
- take a simple schlager off the radio and re-create it in Ableton?
- take one of the Able-Ten live packs and tweak them into your own remix?
- something else?
If you were a complete ignoramus in electronic music and wanted to start today – which way would you go?
Thanks.
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willsanquil
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
93
Posts :
2822
Posted : Apr 11, 2010 01:08
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Speaking from the POV of someone who was in that exact same spot 6 months ago, my advice is to mix and match between your listed methods.
Write your own stuff. Save stuff that you like in instrument/audio effect racks, and build up a library of presets.
(try to) recreate stuff that you like - chuck a track into arrangement view in ableton, mark off the arrangement if you can and arrange your own track alongside it to get the jist of it. One thing I find particularly helpful is putting an auto-filter on a complete track, isolating the frequency spectrum I'm interested in, then freeze that track and copy it to another track to see what the waveform looks like, then bounce your own imitation and see what the difference is.
'Steal' as much as you can that gives you inspiration - Able-Ten packs, random packs you find across the net, anything that sounds cool -
Try to absorb as many techniques as you can from instructional videos - this is especially important for when you're lacking inspiration and are sick of the stuff you're making.
There are many pitfalls that can snare you for hours like....
tweaking kick/bass for hours only to realize it sounds like shit and you've not written any music...
...listening to the same lead looped over and over, or trying to recreate your favorite artists' track only to be eternally frustrated when yours sounds nothing like it
...endlessly preset browsing and not understanding why you like what you like
...downloading a million and one VSTis without sitting down and actually learning one of them well - Operator/Analog and the Ableton native effects are amazingly diverse tools and I wish I'd spent more time learning them instead of pirating the shit out of everything I could find and wasting time :\
One of the best pieces of advice I see floating around occasionally is to finish your tracks, even if you think they're horrible. Set yourself a goal, complete it then move on, as opposed to starting 10 tracks and only half-finishing them.
read everything you can get your mitts on - *especially* anything written here or on Psymusic.co.uk by Colin OOOD or Speakafreaka.
's all I can think of right now, good luck!
 If you want to make an apple pie from scratch...you must first invent the universe
www.soundcloud.com/tasp
www.soundcloud.com/kinematic-records |
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Kryten
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
11
Posts :
333
Posted : Apr 12, 2010 11:39
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Heh, you just mentioned nearly every pitfall i regular fall into.
Im into this now for about 6 months aswell, and I always get stuck at one of the mentioned things.
I often get lost in tweaking knobs until everything starts to sound like shit.
Also I did download a lot of stuff I really don't need...Although Recently I started to only use some plugins until I know them (Operator,Z3ta,Simpler/Sampler and Abletons built in effects).
The main problem I have wasnt mentioned here tho. Its that I'm always stuck at the same point in my tracks.
- I build a kick...sounds good so far.
- I build the drums next...together with the kick it starts to groove.
- I build a bass and most times it sounds good with the rest.
So now I have my drums and a bassline but then it stops...I start to search for SFX or Leadsounds(I don't like preset-lotto btw), but while searching I loose the idea I had for that sounds and eventually everything starts to sound boring, no matter what I try.
I dont know what I'm doing wrong, but I guess I'm also missing something in the way I approach a track/project. |
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supergroover
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
39
Posts :
1505
Posted : Apr 12, 2010 12:13
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Try to keep building. Even if the sounds aren't always as you had in mind. You can find new sounds that you do like. Often sounds alone aren't really that interesting but the sequence and combination with others make it sound good. Don't expect your first tracks to be dancefloor bombs. Just try to finish it and with every track you'll see progress!
soundcloud.com/supergroover |
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Apr 13, 2010 05:32
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Thank you, guys, for your suggestions.
Funny about those pitfalls - I've done those things already (except for downloading plugins).
At some point I even wanted to delete all the factory presets - just to prevent myself from senseless browsing. That thought still crosses my mind once in while...
Well, I think I will get armed with your suggestions and just start hacking at it a bit every day. Still don't know whether it's better to do original work or parrot/remix somebody else's. What do you think? |
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MeditationProfonde
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
15
Posts :
131
Posted : Apr 13, 2010 11:50
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Don't delete presets. A very good way to learn synthesis is to reverse engineer presets. Just study how they are made and try to rebuild them. |
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öland
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
7
Posted : Apr 13, 2010 19:39
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I also thank you willsanquil, good tips.
I have also fallen into these often traps.
I will spend more time to learn the software, then I can start be creative =) |
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GyPsynate
GyPsy
Started Topics :
29
Posts :
687
Posted : Apr 13, 2010 20:21
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A great way to learn and get the feel for a song rather than sounds is to collab with another producer. 1st of all start with an idea...what is the story of the song where do you want to take it? Take turns on working on the track remember dont stay on the 1st 2 minutes all night work on the intro for a bit then move on even if you dont feel like its ready just move on and come back later and fix what you dont like. Have'ing someone to bounce ideas off of and trade methods to do something will boost your inspiration by truck loads. It dosent hurt to work with someone who might have a better grasp of music than you also.
Video Tutorials even if you dont care what they are showing you, learn it and you may use that info to do something els later youd be amazed at how much is the same. I learned and still learn alot from You tube, or all the other spots that are come'in out that are helping. Magnus just put out a serries of tutorials that seem done well.
My personal experience was I had a bunch of friends that knew what thay were doing so I could ask and have them show me, trial and error, and Video tutorials. It took me over 2 years before I could reproduce the sounds in my head on my DAW but at that point everything will start to be way more of a flow rather than the feeling of swiming up stream. Oh ya Late night sessions ending with me dreaming about producing...I have learned alot in my sleep, I know it sounds stupid but I swear sometimes I would wake up feeling so tired but in my sleep I figured out a section of a track or a perfect sound to pull it all together things like that.
Anyone els have this happen to them?
\\\"Invoking the inner dancing buddha with future frequencies from beyond\\\" ~GyPsy
D-A-R-K Rec, Anomalistic Rec.
Cerebral Theater
http://www.molecular.cc/GyPsy/ |
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Apr 13, 2010 20:44
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Thanks a lot to everybody for suggestions. I think I have a plan for the next few days now:
- turn yet another year older,
- spend a few days in Chicago (my personal version of the Holy Land),
- come up with ideas on my way back this weekend,
- start working on two tracks on Monday: an original and a cover or remix.
Then, I guess, it's just a matter of doing it every day...
GyPsy, I noticed the same thing about tutorials. A couple of months ago I would not do it, because I did not know an oscilator from a compressor. But now I started watching tutorials for programs other than Ableton. Because a saw is a saw and a 1/16th is a 1/16th etc. So, I would see how people create a sound in their favorite VSTi and then try to repeat it in Operator. I am sure some day it will all come handy.
About arranging in your sleep - that's exactly how the Periodic Table was created. 
Mendeleyev could not figure it out for days, fell asleep and saw the table in his dream.
If only we could charge wages for the work we "do" in our sleep... |
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danfoss
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
62
Posted : Apr 14, 2010 00:52
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Quote:
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On 2010-04-13 20:21, GyPsynate wrote:
Oh ya Late night sessions ending with me dreaming about producing...I have learned alot in my sleep, I know it sounds stupid but I swear sometimes I would wake up feeling so tired but in my sleep I figured out a section of a track or a perfect sound to pull it all together things like that.
Anyone els have this happen to them?
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hehehehheeh same thing happens to me quite regularly... 90% of my tracks are beeing produced after midnight, so often I get tired and frustrated ... after a good sleep everything falls in its place. Also i dream of a perfect track. In my dream it is the most perfect track in the world! But 5 min after waking up i forget it, and every month i dream it again |
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GyPsynate
GyPsy
Started Topics :
29
Posts :
687
Posted : Apr 14, 2010 01:42
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We need to figure out how to record from our sleep.
Come'on techies lets get working on THAT!
Im glad that I am not the only freak who produces in his sleep.
\\\"Invoking the inner dancing buddha with future frequencies from beyond\\\" ~GyPsy
D-A-R-K Rec, Anomalistic Rec.
Cerebral Theater
http://www.molecular.cc/GyPsy/ |
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