Music Making Storiez

[Otto Matta]

I've been thinking it would be nice to have a thread where music people can talk about the whole music making thing in general. Other topics can be so specific. Let's see where it goes.

 

DJs welcome.

 

I'll start. When I'm making music I generally go in bursts of between 10 minutes and a few hours, averaging maybe 30 minutes or so, in between which I like to have an interesting movie going or something else that's fun to distract my attention. And then, oddly, if someone starts playing an instrument in the movie, or maybe puts on a record or CD, I absolutely have to get back to my project for a little while. I don't know, I suppose it's nice to have some alternative media going in my bubble zone, but that doesn't interfere with the process (I don't incorporate any of it).

 

I also find that drinking a bit while doing it helps my process, and I think that's because it lubricates my inhibitions. It can be a tad scary to experiment sometimes when I think I might destroy what I've accomplished. I absolutely can't create while high, though, at least nothing important - tweaking, maybe. I almost always regret it if I do.

[Amygdala]

When writing music, I am mostly into groove and bass arrangement. All the on-top stuff is getting more and more difficult for me. I think this is because I am getting better at listening, and therefore more critical of my own work. On rare occasions I get a good idea though, and hit a certain vibe or atmosphere, that brings certain associations when listening. At this point I go from working title of the track to the actual title - and the rest of the track kind of writes itself...

 

Another thing is, that I am on the verge of getting into Dubstep. It is a completely different genre, but with ideas spilling over from Psytrance. I think it is a good and constructive challenge to do stuff different from Psytrance once in a while, and I think the spillover will eventually go both ways. I hope

 

-A

[devious]

Another thing is, that I am on the verge of getting into Dubstep

Get a good tape echo :-P

 

On any note, I don't think this applies to me since I'm not a master sequencer yet [or arranger if preferred term is such]. I am really busy studying general music theory and learning to play keys "live" but it's always good having a beat flying at 140bpm and keeping up with the hands, it's just like typing 120-140words per minute....although, not as easy to hit that many keys on a keyboard properly in a minute, yet except on some very simple major and minor scales.

 

*will respond 5 years from now when i hopefully am much more trained on this subject matter heehee*

[Malevol3nt]

Random talk eh?

 

Well I'm just about making a list of every hand-tools and small machinery that I have, and get them ready for sale, as I need the money right now. If all goes well I should be able to buy the fireface400 soon, and continue with my music. I've been absent in music making for almost 2 years now, altho I do open my projects daily and just play along with the synths, but I can't really do much as my pc freezes whenever I've got a project opened for a while, due to my current soundcard.

 

Hopefully I'll be back to track soon

[Symphoid]

Everytime I'm inspired to write some music it's at night. I don't think I've ever had daytime inspiration. Things always get in the way during the day - phonecalls, work, neighbors, eating . I'm sure this is the same for a lot of musicians here.

 

I can generally remember where I was and what I was feeling for all of my finished tracks.

 

My happiness often coincides with the completion of a track. This really sucks.

 

It's become a lot more difficult to write music I'm happy with plus it takes a million times longer than it used to. In the first 5 years of music making, I could stay up until the mid-morning, which would often be 10+ hours and finish a 7-10 min piece. Now, it can take me months to complete 1 min intro.

[needle ninja]

Everytime I'm inspired to write some music it's at night. I don't think I've ever had daytime inspiration. Things always get in the way during the day - phonecalls, work, neighbors, eating . I'm sure this is the same for a lot of musicians here.

 

I can generally remember where I was and what I was feeling for all of my finished tracks.

 

My happiness often coincides with the completion of a track. This really sucks.

 

It's become a lot more difficult to write music I'm happy with plus it takes a million times longer than it used to. In the first 5 years of music making, I could stay up until the mid-morning, which would often be 10+ hours and finish a 7-10 min piece. Now, it can take me months to complete 1 min intro.

When I'm into it I can 'lose' 8 hours.

When I'm not I can't get anything done and am vary easily distracted.

I go in phazes, games then music and back where that will be all I do on my computer.

 

I keep meaning to start a thread on loudness vs dynamic range but it is a big discussion and I haven't got the time.

[TRohr]

I absolutely can't create while high, though, at least nothing important - tweaking, maybe. I almost always regret it if I do.

Same here. I usually spend the majority of my day listening to classical music, rock.... Anything but Psytrance or electronic music in general, sometimes no music at all. I stay relaxed, maybe go for a walk, then come back, have a nice big breakfast/lunch/dinner with a large glass of juice and then get to producing or recording mixes. I also find, that if possible, producing outside on a nice sunny day is great. Sometimes I even go to the park with my Axiom49 and laptop to throw some beats together. I only have a smoke after I think my track is complete and while listening to it I brainstorm samples or effects that could be thrown in, but even then I don't touch the track. As far as having a smoke and mixing.... It's just not possible; I usually just throw together compilations.

[phobium]

It's become a lot more difficult to write music I'm happy with plus it takes a million times longer than it used to. In the first 5 years of music making, I could stay up until the mid-morning, which would often be 10+ hours and finish a 7-10 min piece. Now, it can take me months to complete 1 min intro.

You and me both

I had periods where I made three tracks during a weekend etc.

[Otto Matta]

Another thing is, that I am on the verge of getting into Dubstep. It is a completely different genre, but with ideas spilling over from Psytrance. I think it is a good and constructive challenge to do stuff different from Psytrance once in a while, and I think the spillover will eventually go both ways. I hope

I think it's generally a good idea not to tie oneself down to one genre when a combination of genres can be so interesting. But I suppose that is always based on the passions of the writer. If someone is completely obsessed with Psytrance, for example, then that person wants only to work within that genre. Which I suppose is fine too, but I'm probably not going to like the music as much as, say, some PsyDubstep or something.

 

Random talk eh?

Well, not entirely random, just a place for us all to chat casually about all that other stuff that isn't worth a full topic.

 

Everytime I'm inspired to write some music it's at night. I don't think I've ever had daytime inspiration. Things always get in the way during the day - phonecalls, work, neighbors, eating . I'm sure this is the same for a lot of musicians here.

Yep, me too. Although it's not so much that I'm distracted during the day, but more that I'm simply not inspired during the day. I suppose if I had a dark, cave-like studio with no windows, with cool lamps and stuff, I figure I could work during the day.

I can generally remember where I was and what I was feeling for all of my finished tracks.

Me too. They're our babies, right? Lots of emotion involved. Not quite up there with Kennedy assassination, moon landing, 9/11 type stuff, but up there nonetheless.

My happiness often coincides with the completion of a track. This really sucks.

I tend to be happy from the moment a track starts taking form and I realize it will be my next completed track (I can only focus on one at a time, unlike many people). And although I'm happy when it's done, I immediately descend into post-partem depression that lasts for a few weeks until I can get a new one going. What sucks about this is that I know my happiness is based on creativity, yet I also know I require long breaks in between projects to recharge. Double-edged sword.

 

I also find, that if possible, producing outside on a nice sunny day is great. Sometimes I even go to the park with my Axiom49 and laptop to throw some beats together.

That sounds like fun. I got really excited a year ago about the idea of getting a PDA and a full sequencer for it (I forget the name of the good one - it's shareware) so that one can create anywhere in nature relatively easily.

 

I've been getting in the habit of acquiring some MJ only after a project is complete, to celebrate. If I have it, I smoke it, no matter how much it is, which means that if I have it I'm not creating. It's not a bad system: three weeks creating, three weeks escaping, three weeks creating, three weeks escaping...

[Veracohr]

Funny thing, when I write while I'm drunk, I make the best music evargh. But sometime during the night, malicious aliens come into my house and change the music, so that it's lackluster in the morning.

 

 

Actually, I tend to get really excited with a new song, especially early on, when I've had a burst of creativity. Then I'll play what I have for someone, and usually get a lukewarm response, and then I hear it how it really is. When I get really into making a song, and lose myself in the process, my objective judgement goes out the window.

[Otto Matta]

Actually, I tend to get really excited with a new song, especially early on, when I've had a burst of creativity. Then I'll play what I have for someone, and usually get a lukewarm response, and then I hear it how it really is. When I get really into making a song, and lose myself in the process, my objective judgement goes out the window.

Yeah, man, there's something so weird that happens when music is shared for the first time. On the bright side it helps me hear the flaws I'd been overlooking. On the dark side I often question the music itself, and will even go back in and change things around to suit what I think are the reactions of the listener. I'm getting better at it, though, at not changing my initial work. It's a confidence issue, it seems.

[Malevol3nt]

I think if we were all drunk all the time we would enjoy life so much more. I mean the music sounds so fantastic, you don't care about the single thing in the world, and all you want to share is love & light. But even when I'm sobered up, my music sounds to me as the best on out there, it's simply because I want to make the best out of me, even at a situation I'm in right now, where I can hardly make anything because of these damn little things that don't allow me to continue with my music work. But I still think I have that potential to make some absolutely stunning music, and I'm not giving on the thought. I will realize it, one day I will, even if it takes me a long while, I will realize it. It's the thing that keeps me going on in life.

 

Just my 2 cents while im under heavy alcohol influence..

[Malevol3nt]

Why does alcohol make our brain cells go free, loosen up and make the world see from a tottaly different perspective, I'll never know. But I wish it was like that allways, not that I have to feel totally different the next day. I can't help it, but I allways see things differently when sober, everything feels different. I don't feel that "free" no more, I don't feel the impact of music, everything gets so dull so quickly. I wish it could change, but I have no clue how to change it.

 

another worthless 2 cents i guess... just had to let it go out i guess

[needle ninja]

When I lived in Naples FL there was a radio show called 'The Hollywood Spotlight' it was a mix of house music you have never heard.

It was awesome weird stuff that I have never heard since.

I was so inspired at the new sounds I was hearing (house was wierd then) that I used my Emerson boombox to record the sound of scratching a peice of plastic with really small ridges on it (it sorta sounded like a 303 with the rez up).

That was the first recording I ever made.

[Mike A]

I am really busy studying general music theory and learning to play keys "live" but it's always good having a beat flying at 140bpm and keeping up with the hands, it's just like typing 120-140words per minute

You don't have to be a perfect keyboardist. I can't properly play what I'm writing. Lately I've been trying to record by MIDI my own melodies, but it sucks so much, even after quantizing. I end up deleting it and just putting it in with the mouse.

Everytime I'm inspired to write some music it's at night. I don't think I've ever had daytime inspiration. Things always get in the way during the day - phonecalls, work, neighbors, eating . I'm sure this is the same for a lot of musicians here.

I'm the opposite. Can't write during the night. I can't write with headphones so it severly limits my volume levels, and at night I'm tired after a long day. Who can write music? During the day I'm fresh, both mind and ears. Maybe that's because I was just released from army and I have way too much free time.

Sometimes I even go to the park with my Axiom49 and laptop to throw some beats together.

Sounds like fun. I should try that when I get my own laptop as well. Too bad my control keyboard is 5 octaves and quite heavy

You and me both

I had periods where I made three tracks during a weekend etc.

And I thought the last track I wrote in 5 days was quick.

[Anakoluth]

i like to write music in the very morning. i am an early bird, and after waking up my mind is so fresh and unused. at night it's cool too, with a couple of glasses of wine, but in the morning afterwards i'm usually disenchanted by what i've made the night before.

[devious]

You don't have to be a perfect keyboardist. I can't properly play what I'm writing. Lately I've been trying to record by MIDI my own melodies, but it sucks so much, even after quantizing. I end up deleting it and just putting it in with the mouse.

Hi Mike,

 

I know, I just prefer to know how to play because right now, I haven't spent much time doing arrangements and instead have been playing with my friends [guitarist and bassist, we just need a drummer now ].

 

I'm into shit like Sun Ra who was a most desirable excellent performer. I love watching the youtube videos of that guy. He makes the most crazy psychedelic sounds in his performances and does a well rounded presentation when playing. Love it!

 

It helps quite a bit, I find, for me. Some things I have arranged actually were done so from some of the improvising we've done together.

 

Happy Monday

 

-d

[Guest antic]

Since 1998, I wasn't able to finish single track. I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to music-making. But I'm also too picky and critical. Often I hear in other people's music stuff I'm 100% positive I'd delete in my own stuff, which is strange because I tend to really like those bits - I just don't like them in MY music. Besides, originally I'm a tracker, which means I'm used to 4 tracks (4 sounds at a time), with basic effects (glides, tremolo, volume & panning). The whole lot of possibilities that are available today, starting from multi-track editing, through all those FX and VSTi-s with countless parameters simply scare me off. I don't even want to get into mastering /EQ-ing of my work - up until 5 years ago I didn't even know there are things like that!

 

Not much of a 'music MAKING' story, but that's all I can share at the moment

[devious]

Since 1998, I wasn't able to finish single track. I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to music-making. But I'm also too picky and critical. Often I hear in other people's music stuff I'm 100% positive I'd delete in my own stuff, which is strange because I tend to really like those bits - I just don't like them in MY music. Besides, originally I'm a tracker, which means I'm used to 4 tracks (4 sounds at a time), with basic effects (glides, tremolo, volume & panning). The whole lot of possibilities that are available today, starting from multi-track editing, through all those FX and VSTi-s with countless parameters simply scare me off. I don't even want to get into mastering /EQ-ing of my work - up until 5 years ago I didn't even know there are things like that!

 

Not much of a 'music MAKING' story, but that's all I can share at the moment

And it was funny, that one you shared with us not too long ago just blew me away, bwahaha. KID, YOU'VE GOT TALENT, WORK WITH IT, and YOU'LL BE AN ALLSTAR!

 

That way when I come visit Poland, I can see you do a live set :-P when Damon moves back =[[[[[[[[[[

 

-d

[Guest antic]

And it was funny, that one you shared with us not too long ago just blew me away, bwahaha. KID, YOU'VE GOT TALENT, WORK WITH IT, and YOU'LL BE AN ALLSTAR!

 

That way when I come visit Poland, I can see you do a live set :-P when Damon moves back =[[[[[[[[[[

 

-d

Thanks for your kind words, but I know I won't be a star.

 

Firstly, as I said I lack time & dedication - 'killarghh' combination, if you ask me. Furthermore, I lack talent - when I listen to my old music (1994-98) I can't stop being impressed with the ideas I had back then (I can send you the tunes, if you like), the sheer creativity and the effects I was able to achieve with such simple means etc. Now I know too much, which in turns makes me so restricted and my music too formulaic. It's not a conscious thing, but somewhere deep inside I lost the sense of fun in music making - it was experimenting all the way back then, now it turned to 'producing'. Therefore nothing really interesting ever comes out of it...

 

And the chronical lack of time kills the flow - I could open that track you mentioned today, but I can't completely say what to do with it, where should I go with the arrangement etc. I fear it will remain in that state till the infinity, amongst dozens of other 'noname_XXX' tracks...

 

Sorry for being that pessimistic, but that is how I see it at the moment

[Otto Matta]

Since 1998, I wasn't able to finish single track. I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to music-making. But I'm also too picky and critical. Often I hear in other people's music stuff I'm 100% positive I'd delete in my own stuff, which is strange because I tend to really like those bits - I just don't like them in MY music. Besides, originally I'm a tracker, which means I'm used to 4 tracks (4 sounds at a time), with basic effects (glides, tremolo, volume & panning). The whole lot of possibilities that are available today, starting from multi-track editing, through all those FX and VSTi-s with countless parameters simply scare me off. I don't even want to get into mastering /EQ-ing of my work - up until 5 years ago I didn't even know there are things like that!

 

Not much of a 'music MAKING' story, but that's all I can share at the moment

I know how you feel. From about 1998 to 2005 I only finished one or two things myself (I started writing in 1988). Because at some point it stopped going well I actually gave up on music and took on painting instead. I finished lots of paintings and even made significant chunks of money from them. All my paintings were based on and inspired by music. I did a whole series inspired largely by tech trance that took almost a year to finish, if you can believe it, and when they were exhibited they changed people's views on their own art (in a good way). Once in a while, maybe two or three times a year, I'd dig out my music equipment, set it up, and hope to make something. After a few hours of struggle it was always the same thing: "Why the fuck did I just do that to myself again?"

 

And then at the end of 2005, through a mix of accident, boredom and curiosity, I discovered Fruity Loops, and it changed my whole world. All of a sudden I was able to express, with relative ease, what I'd been trying to express for the last 15+ years with both music and painting. I didn't know diddly about VSTi or production or mastering or EQ, but it sounded okay to me at the time (it doesn't now). And it also helped me realize that what I'd been telling myself for so many years - that I simply wasn't musically talented and that one's equipment shouldn't make any difference to the thrust of one's creativity, and that a real artist should be able to make something great with a paperclip and a rubber band like MacGyver - was dead wrong. The simple fact of the matter was that I was dreadfully limited by my equipment (basically a Korg workstation with 16-track sequencer and two on-board effects). The bedroom in my one-bedroom apartment is still set up as a painting studio, and I never use it, sadly.

 

So in early 2006 I saved up, got myself a fast computer and Reason, and started the long hike up the mountain. Learning all that technical stuff is a process that doesn't occur in one day. I personally despise having to know all that stuff when all I want to do is make pretty music, but I've been absorbing and incorporating it over time. By allowing oneself a bit of patience with it (and forgiving oneself the billion mistakes), I find the process is less painful, and before you know it you're doing some highly - and properly - technical things that simply wouldn't have occurred a year before. Making the leap from Reason to Cubase recently was also a huge milestone, because it's simply more professional and broadly-based software. But again, it's a process that requires time, patience, at least moderate effort, and especially interest. I feel like I've still only begun climbing the mountain, but what's cool is that once in a while you reach a new level from which the view is decidedly more awesome than the last.

 

Anyway, no one can convince you that making music is necessarily something you should be doing, but it seems like you have some desire. It's definitely a one-step-at-a-time sort of dealio.

[pixxxan]

im loving the midi generator program hyperciclix is like an arpeggiator but on Lsd.. great

also getting into something called generative music, which is something that isnt recorded neither live music is really cool concept,, imagine u could have ur favorite music, lets say ur favorite halluciogen trackm, but each time u listen to it on ur player from the future , the main mellodies always be different, but not that different... ur kids would go..

dad u used to listen to the same exact track every time????

im learning the program noatikl for this stuff,... i think is great or maybe i am too lazy to learn how to play..

well wateva

i do play some melodies with one finger on each hand.. :drama:

 

 

Ahhh and drugs are great for making music., crack makes great leads and heroin induces the best atmospheric pads ever,...

[devious]

Ahhh and drugs are great for making music., crack makes great leads and heroin induces the best atmospheric pads ever,...

And Acid just makes everything sound like it's inside your head and makes it more real than real itself could inject unto a human being, tehe.

 

What do I know? I have never used drugs. *ducks from all the oncoming BULLSHIT comments bwahaha*

 

 

-d

 

p.s. I recommend buying a Mochika synthesizer if you're too lazy to play. I just picked one up, waiting for it to come. It's made in Peru. I love Alpaca's so why not support the local dudes who kill them and eat them, er wait, nevermind... stupid movies! Really, Look it up on youtube, they're pretty neat devices!

[Guest antic]

I know how you feel....

Yeah, man. I totally understand what you're saying, but in my case the inability to make the music comes from two things:

 

1. Having family. It's great and all, but it consumes a lot of time. I get back from work around 6-7PM, then some fun with the kids and/or shopping, then a dinner, bathing and we have to put them asleep. If we're lucky, they both sleep at 10PM. Which is when we get a little time for ourselves - now, what to do? Sex, watch TV, read a book, listen to music, browse the Internet, read some work papers?!? I end up sitting up to 2-3AM to be able to do more than just one, then I have to get up at 7AM and go to work. It is really hard to be creative in such environment, when every other day your eyes close themselves at 8PM

 

2. Complexity of today's software. I'm not dumb, I can learn everything about programming synths and mastering, but it all distracts me from composing. In the old days I would just uploading the samples, cut and chop them and make the song - in most cases it was ready within couple of hours. Nowadays, it takes me 2-3 hours to get the bassline & kick working. I feel so exhausted and tired after all this fiddling with filters, eq's, delays, reverbs and compressors, then I simply can't force myself to come up with good melody, progression or arrangement. And if I leave the track half way through for a couple of days, I totally loose the flow... Now I know how this minimal/progressive wave became so popular

 

Anyway, the combination of little time I can spend on music-making and the time consuming nature of today's production make me unable to finish a tune. That is why I always appreciate people who dedicate their time & sometimes they lives to the music-making. They deserve all the money from CD sales & gigs, because you can not be a good musician in your spare time.

[Otto Matta]

Yeah, man. I totally understand what you're saying, but...

Yes, I agree, it is true that in most cases a person can't be seriously involved with other things if one wants to make serious music. A small minority of people can do it, but as far as I'm concerned the average person is like a pie-chart of achievement. The bigger the slice (amount of focus), the higher will be the quality of that slice. A relationship or school or a high-impact job will cut the music slice dramatically.