Overcoming first obstacles in music making

Discussion in 'Education' started by maverickvd, Oct 12, 2017.

  1. T3NR@

    T3NR@ Producer

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    It seems to me that you direct your focus in the wrong place. I'm not in the habit of associating music with any words, concepts or ideas, however it is much more about feeling and intent than knowledge to me. Also I think you place it on a huge pedestal and fear it because of that. Relax (somehow) and allow yourself to do it, the way you talk about it makes me think that you almost worship something that just needs to be done and experienced. Think of basketball players who can spin a basketball on their finger, you can ask them how they do it but even if they tell you, it is absolutely useless for you to hear it if you won't do it yourself, experience and experience that is relayed to those without such an experience is like looking at the menu and not eating the actual food. So I would suggest that you delete all the material you have collected, or put it on an external hard drive and have your little siblings hide it from you (kids are very inventive in such matters :D) or something, until such time that you know your way around and THEN those materials will be of use to you because then you can relate to them with your own experience.
     
  2. MMJ2017

    MMJ2017 Audiosexual

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    when you start from a blank screen you cannot just begin to make music.
    you have to have in your head a image of passion a concept that is meaningful to you what is it all about? what is the purpose? next you have to know what to do what your options are.
    1. pick a tempo at what speed are you going to bob your head to it?
    2. pick a density for the music is it going to be really sparse open with few things going on with space in between or is many things happening right after another?
    3. what feeling does it need to create a soft gentle feeling? a hard angry feeling? is the music need to be dreamy ambient or aggressive and dirty?
    4.how much change does it need to have over time? does it quickly change to new idea new parts or does it stay on one part the whole time repetition?
    5. which group of listeners is the music for? young people of a underground type? all ages with no exclusions?

    these are just a few concepts that you would need to know the answers to with confidence before you can start from scratch and just make music all before even getting into the music as a language itself without even getting into the language of music how it actually wworks to do any of these things.
    you have to fight for that passion to make music to come alive don't lose it , don't give up!
     
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  3. peghead

    peghead Producer

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    Once upon a time there were so called musicians.
    A musician would, well... make music.
    Now there is producers.
    Producers (the new meaning, not those who helped musicians to release an album) produce music.
    What the hell does that mean?
     
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  4. Backtired

    Backtired Audiosexual

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    How is this relevant to the subject of the discussion?
    besides it's clear that "producer" refers to someone who works mostly with electronic equipment or a computer, while musicians make a heavier use of real instruments. this doesn't exclude one from doing the other and of course it's just a matter of words, as long as someone is making music one way or another what's the deal
     
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  5. spyfx

    spyfx Guest

    hi my friend,participate to @Andrew 's
    AudioSEX Christmas Album Project
    and show everyone your musicianship. :wink::bow:
    link : https://audiosex.pro/threads/audiosex-christmas-album-project-audiosexed-christmas-special.31956/
     
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  6. fraifikmushi

    fraifikmushi Guest

    Thanks :)
    I think this is generally considered spam.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 16, 2017
  7. MMJ2017

    MMJ2017 Audiosexual

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    try some loop based stuff first maybe see what kind of fire that lights under you my friend!
    also do some piano lessons on youtube and then use your daw to punch some notes and chords in on some sounds draw in some drum kits
    here is a some structure for you to work with at first. start with C major and G major keys.
    C major is CDEFGAB chords are C maj D min E min F maj G dominant A min B min7flat5
    G major is GABCDEF# chords are G maj Amin Bmin Cmaj D dominant Emin F# min7flat5
    that gives you bunch of structure here are your chord progressions.
    I, IV, V,I
    I, ii, V,I
    IV,vii%,iii,vi,ii,V,I
    use the other key for substitutions of V of V, ii of V etc. then when on a chord use the notes of that mode to create melody on top of your harmony.

    here is example of I,IV,V,I in jey of C major.
    first you have your notes , instead of using all 12 notes you break it down to 7 of them. they are
    C major C,D<E<F<G<A<B
    then your chords 1.ceg 2.dfa 3.egb 4.fac. 5 gbd. 6. ace. 7 bdf.
    then anytime your on a chord say 5. gbdf or dominant (away from home) when your on a chord you play that "mode" which means your notes , but starting from that one so 5.gbdf chord you play gabcdefg, forwards and backwards, then skip every other note so gbdfaceg forwards and backwards.

    a I, IV,V,I means play ceg, fac, gbdf, ceg

    in a key you have the concept of "home" and "away from home" (AKA tonic, dominant)
    home is a feeling of standing still, away is a sense of distance traveled.
    in key of C major 1.ceg is home. 3. egb. is home 6. ace is home.
    2.dfa is little bit from home. 4. fac is halfway from home. 5. gbd is farthest from home. 7. bdf is farthest from home.
    here is simple example.
    think 1234,(2)234,(3)234.(4)234
    1.ceg for 2 measures, then 4.fac for a measure. then 5.gbd for a measure,

    that is your foundation , like a basement of a house next add detail or framing the house structure. so 1.ceg 3.egb. 6.ace can be swapped out for each other. and 4.fac and 2.dfa can be swapped each other and finally. 5.gbd and 7.bdf can be swapped each other this is way to add detail to your foundation.
    example of chord detail

    1.ceg 3.egb 6.ace,(all as I),then 4.fac 2.dfa(all as one,) then last, 5.gbd 7.bdf)all as one) then go back to beggining again. ( this creates a bass line and everything too)

    so
    cegceg,egbegb,aceaceaceace,fac,fac,dfa,dfa,gbd,gbd,bdf,bdf. then repeat

    last as those chord changes going by add in melodies from each mode.
    mode 1. CDEFGABC mode 4. FGABCDEFG mode 5. GABCDEFG. ( includes everyother note CEGBDFA, FACEGBD, GBDFACE
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2017
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  8. EddieXx

    EddieXx Audiosexual

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    nice tip MMJ. at the same time ive come to realize that many people need to go that long run for their brains to process it all, you could pinpoint the exact solution and answer to this kind of stuff and they will still not get it.
    its a process, ive been there and hearing a perfect explanation almost never really solved anything in the beginning. that's why they say that about investing the 10.000 hours i guess..

    this is specially when the solutions are just been said to you or watched on a tut.

    now, having someone by your side personally talking and explaining things repetitively, that can really revolutionize your learning curve

    .
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2017
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  9. MMJ2017

    MMJ2017 Audiosexual

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    I feel that.

    i remember way back when i was having trouble in the beginning one the things i didn't even know what to look for or what to learn about that can also be a issue
     
  10. EddieXx

    EddieXx Audiosexual

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    sure, all guidance is positive and to be grateful for. its just a reflection on behavior.
    me for instance, i knew limitation was important but i still went out and tried to cover everything.

    its like i somehow had to go that long round and see the whole picture before been able to focus on one thing.

    My girl is the total opposite, she will follow an instruction on how to solve a problem and doesn't need to see the whole picture, i cant. many times its a character issue i think.

    .
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2017
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  11. fraifikmushi

    fraifikmushi Guest

    ? I just wonder why and what was edited because afaik that post is the exact same way I posted it...
     
  12. You've got Pirate's Tourette's and keep saying 'throttle of bum' in your posts without conciously knowing it, mate. We love you just the same tho.
     
  13. Satai

    Satai Rock Star

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    It's a pretty strong sign that music (or something similar) is part of your destiny that you need to manifest. The stronger the resistance, the more something terrifies you, the more likely it is that you'll find your life's absolute treasure in that same area.
     
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  14. jhn

    jhn Ultrasonic

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    i don't agree with others here saying you "need" to have something in your head 1st, what if it never comes? think of the hardest video game you ever played, did you quit when died or hit retry? that's music production.Also find you nice looking plugins(that sound good too) that inspired you to play around
     
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  15. Moogerfooger

    Moogerfooger Audiosexual

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    I believe the first obstacles are meant to be tripped over and plowed through. The more you do that, then you start to see how to start hopping over the hurdles. The biggest thing is just finish. No matter how bad it is.... It’s ok to take breaks. But just finish the damn thing. Listen. Then do it again. And again and again...
     
  16. MMJ2017

    MMJ2017 Audiosexual

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    don't be afraid of making music when you new to it jump right in, try easier things like working with loops and stems to do remixs and mixtapes have fun!
     
  17. robotboy

    robotboy Producer

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    You might possibly find some inspiration in the fact that music and academics aren't mutually exclusive.:wink:
     
  18. jayxflash

    jayxflash Guest

    You only trained the technological technical part (daw, plugins).

    There are three more technical aspects to train by simply doing crappy songs - song you can finish in 8 hours that has intro, bridge, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, outro - electronic music has the same elements. They will sound awful, first one hundred of tryouts, don’t stop.

    In this process you will train the next technical aspects: ear training (to properly hear transients, groove, effect of mild eq cuts and compression’s), creativity training (every time a blank slate will lead to a form of finished song), resilience training (how to overcome obstacles, think outside the box, find your own techniques and workflow). Yes, creativity is very much a matter of technique rather than “inspiration”.

    There is one more thing: the ability (power)to decide when a song is finished. This one is in it’s own league as is a very personal decision. Don’t be harsh on yourself, though.

    Lastly, put your finished song in a dj minimix made by you, with one similar song before yours and one similar song after yours. Listen the minimix and see if your song ruins the vibe imprinted by the first one, or maintains the vibe or is lifting upeven further. This is the easyest way to objectively decide if your sing is on par with competition.
     
  19. How about instead of trying to pull something from the air, instead pick a song that you like and do your own version of it. This might be a softer way of jumping over and getting to the other side of your freshman hurdle. Pick one that isn't too complicated. In this way you can learn about structure and not stress about making something up from scratch.
     
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