Stephen has spent his entire life being creative. It’s not just
personality that makes him creative, it’s deliberate practice, process
and often straight-up discipline. Come inside the mind of a Creative
Director and find how you can be more creative in your life and where
the world needs your ideas.
I like that Rhythm Masters have that Eli Fatso and Culture Vulture right
within reach from mixing position. Probably slap that on every tune.
No original 670 comp though 
That was actually really inspiring to me. I listened to his set with the modular while reading the muff wiggler forum and another interview with him. I think it is inevitable that I am going to explore modulars some more. I have know this for awhile.
1 BigUp
DOA PRODUCER Q&A SESSIONS
Q&A Session 1: Noisia AKA Drifter
Q&A Session 2: Paradox AKA Alaska
Q&A Session 3: Exile
Q&A Session 4: Black Sun Empire
Q&A Session 5: Juju
Q&A Session 6: Fracture & Neptune
Q&A Session 7: Electrosoul System
Q&A Session 8: Hochi
Q&A Session 9: Psidream
Q&A Session 10: Craggz & Parallel Forces
Q&A Session 11: Breakage
Q&A Session 12: ASC AKA Intex Systems
Q&A Session 13: Dom & Roland
Q&A Session 14: Kryptic Minds & Leon Switch
Q&A Session 15: Polar AKA K
Q&A Session 16: Nu:Tone
Q&A Session 17: Danny Byrd / Utah Jazz
Q&A Session 18: Macc
Q&A Session 19: Cause 4 Concern
Q&A Session 20: Skynet
Q&A Session 21: Alix Perez / Sabre
Q&A Session 22: Teebee
Q&A Session 23: Phace / Misanthrop
Q&A Session 24: Survival
Q&A Session 25: Fresh
Q&A Session 26: Billain
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GLITCH HOPE FORUM PRODUCER Q&A SESSIONS
Producer Q&A Part 1: Bil Bless
Producer Q&A Part 2: Kraddy
Producer Q&A Part 3: ill-esha
Producer Q&A Part 4: Samples
Producer Q&A Part 5: Heyoka (now Andreilien)
Producer Q&A Part 6: Freddy Todd
Producer Q&A Part 7: heRobust
Producer Q&A Part 8: Mr. Bill
Producer Q&A Part 9: NastyNasty
Producer Q&A Part 10: 2NUTZ
Producer Q&A Part 11: Dubvirus
We visit producer, composer and sound designer Ema Jolly in her Berlin
studio to watch how she created tracks from her latest LP, DREI.
Watch as Nu:Tone explains how he produced his track Tides using Cubase.
The first question I ask is “Analog or Digital?”. Lucky for us, Unown is
one of the most experienced and well rounded Analog producers that can
easily create a masterpiece from guano. Using an Akai MPC 1000 he
navigates us through his exquisitely clairvoyant vibrations. In this
segment he breaks down an original beat and then plays a couple beats
that best represent him as a producer.
Despite it being easier than ever to assemble a studio full of gear (a few clicks online and you’re done), as a member of the Class of 2015 you will have to work harder than your predecessors to get the experience needed to make a good living throughout your life. Fortunately, the work
is out there. Those who are the most engaged in their craft will go the furthest.
And because the jobs are increasingly being done in a freelance capacity, it helps to be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of something. Very often that mastery is the reward for putting in countless hours on a gig that you probably fall into accidentally—a common payoff in a career that is, at best, non-linear. Look for those opportunities to stretch yourself and revel in them.
Consequently, tomorrow’s audio professional must be nimble (to use tech-industry jargon) if he or she wants to be working 20 years from now. The volatility of the freelance biz means you have to be ready for anything. When students ask me where the gigs are, I tell them everywhere—sound
for picture, game audio, and concert sound, in addition to basic recording, mixing, and mastering. The fundamentals are the same no matter where you go. Find that niche if you can, but be ready for change because it’s the only constant.
[size=30]Tips for aspiring producers (and advanced ones, too)[/size]
very once in a while, I get asked a few quick and/or
important general tips for making music. I’ve been making music for a
little over two decades, and made a few tunes every now and then, so
maybe that’s why. Or, at least that’s an indication that I manage to
finish my feeble efforts.
I’m planning to update this blog a bit more often with production-related material (there already is some), and this time I wanted to get busy with some of the basics.
I started keeping a notepad so that I’d write a blog post on the “useful
tips for beginners” topic, and this is it. It’s definitely more of a
general one than a technique-specific one.
I’m definitely not a “master” of making music, but these topics are
something I can look back on and say at least I’ve learned something
valuable regarding them and all of this is based on experience.
These are in no particular order.
1) DO YOUR OWN THING.
Yes, yes, this is what everybody says, and you’ve probably figured it
out yourself. But we mean it. It’s absolutely fine to start by copying
others’ styles as well as sounds* to get going, but in the end, to make
it “worth it” and keep it interesting for you, there’s no better “point”
in making music than making it yours, for yourself, because it’s only
that way that truly unique voices are born. And you probably won’t stick
out of the crowd if you’re not unique to an extent.
Besides, you know we can’t listen to any more of Skrillex clones,
another Noisia clone or another boring two-pence neuro artist at this
point anyways (did you know that “onion burger” is anagram for “boring neuro”? Now you do. Thanks to Trisector for pointing that out).
(* = you’ll probably find out that most of those sounds were actually
pretty easy to make, anyways, so now make/find your own or mangle them
so that they become yours)
2) DON’T ALWAYS WORK FOR SONGS – WORK FOR FUN AND IDEAS.
This is quite crucial, and I’ve read so many times something along the lines of “I’ve been making music for two years but I’m failing to finish songs, and I’ve only made six so far…but I try really hard.” I
know all about the frustration when it happens: you fail to finish a
song. Shit, man, you spent your valuable time on it…and it didn’t end up
becoming a song even though that’s what you had in mind when you
started working. That sucks. And trying hard, now that IS hard.
The “I must write a song” mindstate isn’t always very encouraging, for
it demands results from the get-go, and strictly aims at results – now
that’s pressure, and pressure kills fun….and what should making music
be, for the most part? Yes: fun. Not “hard work”.
So, work for fun and ideas, and quite often you’ll feel
quite liberated and hey, the chances are that soon you’ll actually be
working towards a song. And, if it starts feeling like this idea
isn’t going to be a song, it’s OK. Just keep the good idea you created
so you can use it in a future project. Maybe save those with a uniform
prefix in the filename (idea_SoulPrideBreak, idea_ReeseBass10) or
something like that. This way, there are no failures.
3) LISTEN TO MUSIC.
Pretty simple, huh? This is to inspire you – both on a conscious level but also subconsciously. Your productivity needs fuel.
On a conscious level, listen to sounds you’ll sample (either sample it
right away or keep a notepad about them), listen to inspiring ideas or
structures in songs (I do that every time I hear a song on a bus, at a
restaurant, etc, and especially if it’s a really bad song, it’s a great
idea to try and pick something useful out of it instead of dreaming of
napalming the band…try it next time!), listen to how some producers use
some effects in a creative way, etc…as those little ideas often inspire
you to try that yourself, and hey, you’ll be working towards a song
again.
Subconscious level…now that takes care of itself without you having to take part in it.
Listening to music that’s from outside your main genre IS important. I do a lot of drum and bass, always have, and let me be honest and say (even though I sound old and grumpy…hey, I am
old and grumpy and I’m proud of it) I miss those days of D&B when
producers in general were way more inspired by just music in general
rather their main genre. It’s so ridiculously easy to hear. So, get inspired by music, not just your “main genre music”. And that may well be subconscious.
4) 20 LESS-THAN-PERFECT SONGS IN A YEAR GETS YOU WAY FURTHER THAN 5 ÜBER-PERFECT ONES.
How is that? Isn’t perfection what everybody wants. Well, there are no
perfect songs. Also, “perfect” is a bit of a crappy word anyways, but
what I’m trying to say is that it makes no sense working on a song
forever in the hopes that it’ll be so great that it’ll get you signed,
results in label interest etc…whereas making more songs teaches you way
more about your own production techniques, workflow, shortcomings…so in
short, it’ll teach you to make better songs. In a way, quantity can be better than “quality”…but don’t quote me on this without context!
Trust me, I’ve had plenty of experience in working on songs so damn long
that you think you’re going to vomit if you hear it one more time. And I
don’t think those songs ever come out that good anyways. The good ones
finish way quicker, and the problematic just take time. My last album
was the last time I spent a ridiculous amount of time on some songs,
and I swear that was the last time. It can be so liberating to just move
on, because, after all, you create the “pulp”, the interesting part of
the song quite quickly, and later sessions are mostly just a
continuation of that same vibe. I don’t think you’re going to impress
labels by having ultra-tight mixdowns, if you ask me, but what gets
their attention is just good, solid songs. And if you’re working on a
song for two months, you’re probably not working on the part of it that
matters that much.
And how much electronic music with “perfect” mixdowns and with no soul is there, anyways? A LOT.
Remember: potential>perfection
5) DON’T GET TOO CONFUSED BY MILLIONS OF DAWS OR PRODUCTION METHODS AND WAYS OF WORKING – FIND YOURS.
Everybody has to come up with their own workflow, and nobody
can teach you how you should work. One man’s preferred ideal workflow
(+DAW) might be another’s hell. I’ve seen people switch DAWs just
because an artist they like said it’s their choice, and let me tell you:
that will not help you make better music, and the chance that it’ll
result in you making music as good as his or similar to it is very,
very, slim…it’ll only slow you down.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t find out about others’ ways of working, for
there is often a lot to learn from how others work, and I’ve learned a
lot just by talking to others about production or watching them work,
and that’s a great tip anyways.
My point is that the web is so full of tutorials and masterclass videos
etc., which are great, but they may not help you in making music…often
they’ll just eat your time. I bet there are always methods out there
that might be a bit faster/better or even more fun than yours, but as a
general rule, it’s highly important to use what you have and make music with that because, in the end, only that will bring you results.
I get lots of Qs about my preferred DAW, what I think about DAW X, etc.,
and I’m always trying to say they’re all somewhat equal, and you just
gotta find one that looks appealing, then get deep with it, and the
results will come. This relates to the next point…
6) MAKING MUSIC IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOING AFTER “THE BEST-SOUNDING” PLUG-INS AND/OR GEAR.
Seriously. You can make great music with a laptop. Period.
There are so many plug-ins of any kind out there (take EQs, for example)
that finding out what sounds “the best” may be equal to chasing
rainbows. I’m not saying it’s bad per se, but probably won’t help you a
whole lot to make better music. Maybe some plug-in may make that snare
slightly more crispy (or dope-ass or crusty-ass)
than some other, but just don’t get lost in the vast sea of plug-ins
before you know how to make music from start to finish and write decent
songs. A lot of the revered gear, for example, is more about that “5–10%
betterness” than “50% better”, so you’ll have to reach a certain level
before it makes much sense.
Music first, gear/plug-in lust second.
7) DONT THINK ABOUT “MAKING IT”.
What is that anyways? I’ve heard/read ”I’ve been making music for 3 years and still haven’t got picked up by a label…should I quit?” way too many times as well. It
takes time to get anywhere in anything, so you have to be loving what
you do, and love it for the right reasons. If you’re looking for results
too soon – or ”results” in general – it may get heavy for you.
Instead, work on having fun and maybe just creating a great back catalog
of music that some lucky people will be able to hear one day. Don’t
think too much about getting there now.
To
me, ”making it” at this stage just means being able to make songs, keep
up a steady flow of music (quality before quantity!), keeping it
consistent etc…just keeping it up in general. That’s ”making it” for me.
Anything that may come after that (money for music sales, gigs,
connections, deals, etc.) is an added bonus.
Music is a journey and there is no goal. Keep in that mind.
I
had been making music for 10 years when I first sent out my first demo
(which may or may not have to do with the fact that I started making
music when internet didn’t really even exist, i couldn’t share songs by
any means other than on floppies etc), which leads us to the next
thing….
8) A FEW BASIC THINGS RELATING TO SENDING TUNES OUT.
I know some of these probably are ridiculously basic to many,
but still, it’s crazy how much unprofessional approaches I get to see
on the regular.
A) Do not send out tunes for the sake of sending out tunes. Only
send tunes that you know are solid. You won’t be doing yourself any
favors by sending to labels some tunes that don’t represent your best
abilities.
I’m
not a big artist by any means, but even I receive loads of tunes, and
often it takes me ages to check them out, and, sadly enough, I don’t get
to check them all out in the end anyways. So if I get sent tunes by
someone that are poor, I may not check his tunes the next time (just
because there’s 70 other promos waiting in my promo inbox the next time I
decide to check for promos). And all the listening I finally get to do
is after all the music production of my own as well as mastering tunes for others, so it can be a bit demanding sometimes. And this relates to the next one…
B) Do not send out a zip file of 14 tunes.
Just don’t. It is intimidating. Personally, I much rather peep two
songs than 14 (yes, I’ve had many of those). It also looks like you’re
not really sure of what’s good and what’s not so you’ll send out an
album worth of tunes and ask for the receiver to pick out what’s good.
No – it’s your job. Send out 2–3 strong tunes, and that’s it. And…
C) …if you don’t hear back, don’t get discouraged.
That does not mean in any way that your music is crap. Most DJs and get
so much music, they barely ever have the time to comment back unless it
really blew up their world.
D) For the love of God, do not go for “Yo, check my song” + link. That is the lowest.
Your song will not get heard. It’s ridiculous how much of these I get.
It means instant deletion in my book, and I bet I am not alone. If you
don’t show any sort of faith or a bit of healthy pride in what you do,
it does not look appealing to anyone – and you appear a spammer. Do you
want to be remembered as a spammer the next time that person sees your
email with a tune link? No. Write a few words of what you do, why you
happened to send it to the DJ/label, so it doesn’t look like spam you’re
randomly sending out to 100+ people – oh, and yeah, never go for THAT.
Social media may give you the tools for that, but posting plain links or
“Cool page! Hey, check out my page” on people’s FB pages /
Instagram pages in hopes of attention will NOT make anyone check out
your music. Again, you’ll be seen as a spammer. You have to do a little
more than that. I’ve even seen some well-established artists post “Hey,
check out my album – link is in my profile” on others’ pages, and that’s
just sad.
Well, that’s a few thoughts. If you happened to find this useful, you could do worse than sharing it.
[size=20]Filters in parallel with volume automation[/size]
[size=20]FM Basses with intense filter chains[/size]
ALAN BISHOP (Sun City Girls, Abduction Records)
Unfortunately, due to overwhelming odds, I will assume this eager young
musician is male. Specific musical details would be discussed depending
on the circumstances but they are not important. What follows are the
important issues:
-
Lose the fear, get the confidence. Be a leader, not a follower.
-
Forget about “thinking outside the box”, crush and completely destroy the box.
-
Get interested in everything and do it now.
-
Find another way other than music to make money and never depend on
music to make you a living. Don’t become dependent upon others. Pull
your own fucking weight. Don’t go into debt. -
Question everyone and everything and never allow anyone to push you away from your direction.
-
You know little of the way the world works so get fucking busy and
find out what you don’t know instead of thinking you already know it.
There’s nothing more pathetic than a 20-something “know it all.” You’ve
been fundamentally lied to since birth, so wake up. -
To attain any form of greatness, you must be able to risk all
relationships you may encounter and place them immediately behind your
work as a priority. So tell that pretty little girl that you are busy
24/7 and when you have time for her, you’ll call her. Repeat the last
sentence twenty times every morning when you wake up for a year. On
second thought, do it for the rest of your life. -
Speaking of risks, take them as much as possible until it becomes
extremely comfortable to take them. That way, you’ll never have to take a
risk again. -
Don’t give in to your peers. Most of your peers don’t know jack fuck
about anything. Create your peers instead of settling for the peers
you’ve been dealt. There are rarely more than a dozen people in any city
who have a clue, therefore there are 12 people you need to know, so go
find them. Most of the rest around you have been socially engineered to
be fucking morons who will compete for your attention and energy, and
how you handle these cretins will be key in determining your future. -
Never trust anyone in the music business, EVER.
-
Forget about becoming “famous.” If you actually do something
interesting and do it well and for long enough, then someday you’ll wake
up and be infamous which is superior to becoming “famous.” -
Compose/write your own material, record everything you do and become organized.
-
Be aggressive but not overtly aggressive.
-
Don’t be an asshole, a thief or a junkie.
-
Buy your own fucking cigarettes and don’t be a fucking leach.
-
Become a master of drugs and alcohol; do not let them master you.
-
Don’t be a flake. Show up on time, every time.
-
Start traveling as soon as possible.
-
When you think your plate is full, move to a bigger fucking kitchen
and learn how to manage 100 plates simultaneously. The more you push
yourself, the more you’ll be able to deal with, and when those around
you begin more and more to resemble infants, you’ll have unlimited
options.
And then the world will become your kitchen.
Now get to work.
1 BigUp
2 Likes
Might have to right click and view image on this one, auto embed is screwing up the size.
1 BigUp
Yeah, I remember reading this a few years ago. Awesome!
“Now tell that pretty little girl that you are busy 24/7 and that you will call her when you are ready”. (Or whatever it said). What an awful thing to do to someone who is interested in having a relationship with u.
Also why does making music mean u throw the rest of your life away?
1 BigUp
Paul Godfrey from Morcheeba answers questions;
1 BigUp
Some production advice from some pros…
mate thats a rabithole of expense
btw this is a terrific thread, have bookmarked multiple posts so cheers
1 BigUp
[quote]"What does a stone sound like?"
A film portrait of Melodyne inventor Peter Neubäcker
The man primarily behind such Celemony innovations as Melodyne, DNA Direct
Note Access and Capstan is Peter Neubäcker – a passionate musician,
researcher and inventor, who sets unusual goals for himself and manages
even on occasion to realize in practice things that in theory can’t be
achieved. It was the question “What does a stone sound like?” that led
Peter Neubäcker to the invention of Melodyne around 15 years ago.
In this interview with Maximilian Schönherr, he airs some of the secrets
of Melodyne and offers insights into his thoughts and personal history.
He talks about his passion for philosophy, music and mathematics as well
as how guitar-making, Johannes Kepler and the science of Harmonics have
influenced him. From the conversation, a fascinating 30-minute film
portrait has emerged that not only shows one of the most resourceful and
multi-facetted personalities in the audio industry but also the
background to Celemony innovations.[/quote]