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Not knowing how to make music. (pg. 2)
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| Rodri Santos |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJBrixX
I'm finding no pleasure in creating music anymore, given that I really am not creating anything past interesting sounds. |
If this is absolutely true give up, however. EVERYBODY has been or is on the same stage as you, creating a song it's not only having a good melody, or a good bassline, everything must be perfect , a good melody and bassline without proper mastering = sucks.
All in all this leads to the point that making a good track takes years possibly, your first track can be a 5/10 which is very good but don't expect to sound 8+/10 soon.
I'm leaving the step you are on but i'm still there, some advice i can give you:
- Recognize which presets are good, i recommend you to write the melody and start trying with different presets, the same melody can sound awful or brilliant depending on this , to the point that i think there is no bad melody if you can find a fitting sound. Even an A + A + B +B + A + A melody can sound brilliant with a good sound with effects etc...
- Learn how to create good basslines, basslines are probably the most important part of the track since everything will be done over this, get a good kick and snare and a bassline that fits perfectly the melody, you don't really have to know how chord progression works just try with your melody until bass and melody flow together.
- Watch tutorials, one of my errors was "i will learn everything on my own" this is good as you develope a particular style but you're probably doing things wrong so learn how to exploit your DAW to the best level.
- Listen carefully to good produced tracks, this gives you a lot of ideas, try to listen only to the basslines, how they mixed the track, how they build it... i'm not telling you to do it exactly like they did (you can do it at the start 90% of the tracks have a similar mixing and nobody will tell you "the track it's mixed like XXX by YYY !!!" but adding some original flavour it's always good.
And that remix of let you know sounds brilliant , maybe the mixing it's what you've to improve but seems ok on that short fragment , practice practice practice it's all about it in my case some tracks have a good melody others have a good bassline others have a good mixing but the 3 things aren't in any of my tracks together at the time, but i know some day will. |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mad for Brad
stop. Do something else. Unless you have a project due at a certain time, forcing creativity will make your hair grey. |
+1 (WTF? Aren't you supposed to be trolling negativistic invective instead of contributing relevance to any discussion you participate in? ;) )
| quote: | Originally posted by Rodri Santos
... creating a song it's not only having a good melody, or a good bassline, everything must be perfect , a good melody and bassline without proper mastering = sucks.
- Recognize which presets are good, i recommend you to write the melody and start trying with different presets, the same melody can sound awful or brilliant depending on this , to the point that i think there is no bad melody if you can find a fitting sound. Even an A + A + B +B + A + A melody can sound brilliant with a good sound with effects etc... |
Out of the fairly generic advice you've contributed to this thread, these two are quite possibly the most incorrect. Mastering is meant to correct for flaws in a mix-down - not to improve a song which is already well mixed. Granted that there are a lot of things a mastering engineer can do to enhance an already good mix (or rather correct in a mix mostly free of errors) but your thinking wrongly places emphasis on the mastering process being a keystone for making good music.
Any monkey can find and discern which is best suited for a particular song, between a choice of presets. Unfortunately, the key to otherwise untapped potential in any electronic instrument, whether it's a software plug-in or a physical synthesizer, is being able to program it, yourself. What happens, too often, is that producers/musicians aren't getting the sound they desire from a synth and wind up purchasing more new equipment without ever taking the time to learn how to fully use their old gear; from which they may have otherwise been able to obtain a desired sound. Presets in synthesizers are included, first and foremost, in order to sell synthesizers and many of the show-room floor presets, while impressively designed and capable of demonstrating a synth's potential, are musically useless. |
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| Rodri Santos |
i don't mean to use the preset as it comes, but modulate it to achieve the sound you want. Ie if you want a metalic sound you can find a similar preset of what is on your mind, see how it works with your melody and from this start tweaking with it until you reach the adequate reverb, delay etc... that makes your sound of the daw sound exactly like the sound in your mind.
And about the mastering i'm not talking about the posproduction mastering by a professional but the equalization, filtering etc... you add when you're doing your track. A bad equalization is to music what blur is to films , if you start watching a good film and you see the image quality it's awful you'll probably stop watching it , generates fatigue. Same for music assuming they are analogue at some point. |
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| Richard Butler |
I cant crystalise in my mind exactly what you (the OP) are malcontent with?
That clip sounds damned good, so what specifically is the beef for you?
You seem to be saying that your'e melodies and chords dont flow but from the clip they seem to.
One thing you might be interested in; A guy has been on various news and sofa shos about the new American research into sucess. He was on BBC1 mrning show and Radio 4 and 5 last week.
The reasearch looked at people in many fields from sport to violinists to find out how the top people got there.
They claim it's ALL about practice and time. They go through many examples, such as the UK golfer that was an ok amateur that one day made up his mind to get to the top. He then spent thousands of hours until he is now a top golfer.
The study revealed many compentant young classcal musicians entering music school, and that in EVERY case those that became top of ther game were simply those that practices the most.
They gave the example of the 2 year old Williams sisters from Harlem knocking balls around in the park at the insistance of Dad. Of course they had no latent talent - no more than any other
kids, but through sheer time in practice became great.
They looked at the guy who wrote JAVA script and found he had one advantage over his equaly skilled contemporaries - he had access to the college mainframe (through pure luck) and so was able to spend more time in practise so gained an advantage.
Now I myself do not know if this theory is correct, but I did agree with this part;
"Those that make it see any failure as an opportunity to learn, merely part of the journey and do not see thier talent in terms of a set limited value, but merely thier talent is 100% determined by the amount the practice". |
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| Morvan |
| Try your hand with more dynamic music without that much compression for a more natural flow and less headaches while mixing. |
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| Beatflux |
| quote: | Originally posted by Rodri Santos
If this is absolutely true give up, however. EVERYBODY has been or is on the same stage as you, creating a song it's not only having a good melody, or a good bassline, everything must be perfect , a good melody and bassline without proper mastering = sucks.
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Mastering is the last 1%.
Mastering won't save a crap track from poor writing or mixing. |
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| Rodri Santos |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beatflux
Mastering is the last 1%.
Mastering won't save a crap track from poor writing or mixing. |
but will make a well writed/mixed track an average track , it's the last part to raise to perfection or to raise to nowhere but it's important.
Doesn't make a difference if the track is poor thats absolutely true. |
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| studiobob |
| quote: | Originally posted by Rodri Santos
Same for music assuming they are analogue at some point. |
what??? |
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| studiobob |
the OP is struggling with melodies and riffs... why are you all talking about production techniques and mastering?? and Mastering cant fix a bad mix!!! it can cover it up a bit...but its far far better to correct the mixdown if somethings wrong, then mastering can make it shine. I will send bad mixdowns back to people before i even start doing some work...!! Mastering enhances audio to make it sound better and to make it translate better across different systems be it mp3 or clubs.
seriously - music theory. If your passionate about making music then pick up an instrument, get piano or guitar lessons or learn to sing or something. You wont learn much musical theory on a piano roll drawing in notes... get stuck in with something!
about the clip - not heard it but there is the possibility that seeing as its a remix... it came with MIDI files... ive certainly done tracks like that. which might be why the OP is concerned!
just my thoughts anyway :) |
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| DJ Robby Rox |
"last couple of years"?
The original poster said hes been working hard for **2 years** its no wonder he doesn't like his music.
Look guy, I hate to break it to you. But 2 years is NOTHING if you don't have any prior musical knowledge. Is that the ONLY time in your life you've exhausted any effort making music? Maybe you had piano lessons when you were younger? Got a music degree?
No? Because you didn't mention any past experience besides the 2 years. If thats the case, you better wait another 3 or 4 years before you start making threads like this.
I'm on my 7th year producing, and have a hard enough time myself completing a track, you have 5 years less experience, so you shouldn't have a single expectation at all right now. You need to be focusing on the fundamentals, and you need MUCH MORE practice before you can even contemplate giving up.
You may not be realizing how much there actually is to music. Sure some people are quick learners, but most people aren't from what I see around here. After 2 years gzzus christ my tracks sounded like they were made by a deaf man. Start being a bit more realistic, take it more casually, and if you need a break take a break.
But its far too early imo to be complaining about anything, as 2 years is nothing. My guess is it takes around 10 years just to get decent at production, if you have no prior experience with it. So my simple answer would be BE PATIENT, it will come with time. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| people progress at different rates. Years mean nothing. The fact that you suck and you have been doing it for 7 years is your deal and has little to do with the poster and his issue. |
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| Existo22 |
| Oh boy here we go again... |
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