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-- Finding that "feel"
Finding that "feel"
Curious as to how some of you went about finding the sound you like most to produce. I'm currently just messing around with as much variety as I can and having some fun before I lock myself into something serious.
Do you typically find yourself producing the same type of sound that you listen to the most? I find that my favorite sub-genre is the most difficult for me to try and reproduce.
For example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqEHDUDHzRA
I love the feel of this track, but that "feel" is something I'm not sure I could recreate given my current skill-set.
I try to find tracks with similar feels and compile them into a "mix" on my ipod. From there I listen to it for a few days, hear what's going on, look for inspiration, then have a stab at creating something similar.
What about you guys?
When I first started out, I heard alphazone and wanted to produce everything like them. My tracks were going in that same direction for a bunch of tracks, then something happened and it all switched on me. I'm now producing what I feel at the current mood and just creating that feeling in the track. Good luck on your journey :P
Yeah I try to make what I like, however because I never do it my tracks always have a unique kind of me feel to them. Someone said recently when I showed them something that is has me written all over it so I must have a style of my own somewhere. I do try to make it sound like what I hear though, just never turns out that way.
On the very subject of hoaring other peoples styles, what is that bass just a big siney/triangley thing ?
i either sit in front of my computer and play around with some sounds and then build the song around it so it always turns out different.
or
i hear a song i really like and make a song similar.
either way ive made lots of dif tracks lately from tech to prog to uplifting 
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Sonic_c Yeah I try to make what I like, however because I never do it my tracks always have a unique kind of me feel to them. Someone said recently when I showed them something that is has me written all over it so I must have a style of my own somewhere. I do try to make it sound like what I hear though, just never turns out that way. |
When I first started I tried uplifting trance and housey stuff but have since decided I like producing psychedelic trance. It just seems like finishing a psy track is so much more gratifying that finishing a run-of-the-mill uplifting track. Plus, I was never very good at happy music. Even my most exuberant track is pretty boring, imo.
A good place to start is this thread:
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...069&forumid=48&
A lot of producers on here all listed their inspirational tracks, the tracks that get them to try (or in some cases admit defeat).
I generally find that if I'm gravitating towards a particular sound, feel, drive even rhythm, then I really listen to those tracks until I figure out what it is that I'm drawn to. Often if you find the common link between several tracks it's much easier to poinpoint what it is you're truly aiming for.
I actually did peruse that thread. And it kinda sparked this one.
I had a feeling that the obvious inspiration would come from the tracks that make us shiver and get all goosebumpy.
However, I'm sort of an enginerd so I'm all about the process and what's behind it.
I know a few folks who produce music they can't even stand to listen to when it's done, in fact, some are not really fond of the genre at all and are just really good at producing it. It's incredibly bizarre.
So I wanted to see how the fellow trance monkeys here went about things and gather a bit of insight on the matter.
Sometimes I feel like I actually get most inspired when I take breaks from listening to the sort of music I want to make, and spend my time with completely different kinds that I have no interest in making, like classical music or rock.
It's almost like doing this lets me get out from under the influence of electronic artists and just "be me" in my own productions, instead of trying too hard to emulate certain styles or constantly comparing myself to my electronic music heroes. I can just create rather than worrying about how I measure up or whether I'm doing things "right."
Anyone else experience anything like that?
It just takes time, 1 year ago I knew nothing about prodution, I think I'm doing OK now, but no where near where i want to be
+1 with BoJingles, variety of influence is always good to broaden the scope of what sounds "good." If youre a Riff lover, rock music is founded on riffs. You can catch some really epic hip hop beats on the radio too, it all inspires me to a "Music" focus, and inspires me to start hammering at some trance.
The only problem that I'm now running into now is the complete lack of input on my tracks altogether, so I'm not sure where to go from here. (The exception for now is Eddie <3)
I actually half expected this though, so I'm only half surprised. I've also tried looking around on a few otheer boards to the same effect.
C'est la vie.
I'm also with you Mr. Bojigles. If you were to look in my project list, you'd see a myriad of different sub-genres that I've started on. (Sometimes different genres altogether, or sometimes shit that isn't even in a genre lol Sometimes, I need a break from one tune, so I'll go get into something completely different to clear my head if I'm stuck.
It's still fun learning how others go about it, so thanks for the feedback thus far.
The fact that we need to have a cohesive and thorough understanding of all the aspects of production means that we will have to spend time learning them. So, I think it's the traits and individual characteristics you develop during the process of getting a solid grip on all the things involved in a real production (arrangement, composition, sound design, percussion, etc). Ultimately you will need to have a firm understanding of all these things, so since it takes so much time and practice, your groove and your rituals you developed over time getting good at these elements will ring out in your overall cohesive sound you manage to get.
You will perhaps become "good" at setting a compressor or designing reverb after a class. That's possible. What is also possible is that you can spend a few years learning how to set and design these, and become good at that way, but in doing so you also have your own tweaks and graces you use to give it your own sound, and since you probably weren't just learning how to set reverb or just set a compressor, your compelling use of chorus or something similar while also considering what I mentioned above will add to your over all cohesiveness.
Just for me anyway, 2 cents, and that's how I feel after about 7-8 years of "production". I only consider myself an actual producer for the last 1-2 years
| quote: |
| Originally posted by theterran So I wanted to see how the fellow trance monkeys here went about things and gather a bit of insight on the matter. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Richard Butler I think I'm at last finding 'my sound', and hoping I'm confident enough to stick with it. I try now to go with what one might call thier inner chee - go with what feels natural. For me it all starts with the groove now. I'll play about with say a tom tom sound and manipulate until I feel it has something original. The add with a decent kick (that takes me forever - I'm very bad at chosing kicks) then try many types of quantise and live playing until a groove seems to rise out of nowhere. I want to get away from what some people refer to as TV advert trance - almost too melodic at the expense of the groove. My personal taste is all. |
Everyone has their own style, whether they even realize it or not. I certainly never set out to do same sounding tracks but when going through my back catalogue it's quite obvious that they all share some common elements, even when they are completely different stylewise. I can't quite even pinpoint what it is, I guess it's just the overall mood of the tracks and/or the mixdown or something. Having a style/sound doesn't mean repeating yourself (even though many seem to think so).
As for influences, I haven't really listened to any EDM in the last two years so I can safely say I'm not really influenced by other people's music.
Something that I wanted to get down...
I've noticed that I actually seem to already have a method. It's almost that of a sculptor. I'll pick out my block of marble or whatever material I'm working with. (Typically this is my beat or something that has caught my fancy)
I then search out the tools I need to make this piece of marble into something. I'll stare at it awhile...Formulate my ideas, sketch them on paper (My template beats/tracks) and then start chipping away.
Sometimes I'll really have a go and get that nice rough shape in an hour or so. Then I go back and refine, and refine and refine. I refine until I feel I can't refine anymore with my given toolset, and then I move onto the next piece of marble.
Sometimes I get to a point where everything is still rough, but don't have the tools to refine any further. I'll set this aside and come back to it later. (I've had 2 tracks that started as small templates, were abandoned after I got stuck, but after coming back to them in a week or so, was re-inspired and they grew into much better things)
Kind of interesting insight into myself I guess...Thought I'd share regardless ^^.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Sometimes I feel like I actually get most inspired when I take breaks from listening to the sort of music I want to make, and spend my time with completely different kinds that I have no interest in making, like classical music or rock. It's almost like doing this lets me get out from under the influence of electronic artists and just "be me" in my own productions, instead of trying too hard to emulate certain styles or constantly comparing myself to my electronic music heroes. I can just create rather than worrying about how I measure up or whether I'm doing things "right." Anyone else experience anything like that? |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Sometimes I feel like I actually get most inspired when I take breaks from listening to the sort of music I want to make, and spend my time with completely different kinds that I have no interest in making, like classical music or rock. It's almost like doing this lets me get out from under the influence of electronic artists and just "be me" in my own productions, instead of trying too hard to emulate certain styles or constantly comparing myself to my electronic music heroes. I can just create rather than worrying about how I measure up or whether I'm doing things "right." Anyone else experience anything like that? |
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