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Blinn posted:What's up peoples, just want some opinions on a catchy little chromatic bass track I started this morning. Sounds pretty drat cool, seems to be a bit 303-ish too. Though it doesn't feel like the instrumentals are headed anywhere, so it'd sound good with vocals.
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Sep 14, 2008 22:39
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IanTheM posted:Sounds pretty drat cool, seems to be a bit 303-ish too. Though it doesn't feel like the instrumentals are headed anywhere, so it'd sound good with vocals. Good idea, yeah. I can sort of hear in my head that some sort of gated vocoder vocals would work well on it, just a case of figuring out how to make that sound sweet with Reason.
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Sep 15, 2008 00:21
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So I've been experimenting with modulation and funky chords (introducing 7th, 9th, and 11ths into my chord structures) recently because my songs are way too bland, and I'm stuck wondering if I'm doing a decent job figuring out how to smoothly transition from key to key since I'm so unfamiliar with the concept. Am I getting the general idea with this experiment, or is there something I should be doing to make the change smoother? For reference, I'm going from A min to C maj.
nah thanks fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Sep 15, 2008 |
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Sep 15, 2008 02:20
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squidgee posted:So I've been experimenting with modulation and funky chords (introducing 7th, 9th, and 11ths into my chord structures) recently because my songs are way too bland, and I'm stuck wondering if I'm doing a decent job figuring out how to smoothly transition from key to key since I'm so unfamiliar with the concept. Am I getting the general idea with this experiment, or is there something I should be doing to make the change smoother? For reference, I'm going from A min to C maj. try using chord inversions that use notes from the previous chord when going through chord progressions.
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Sep 15, 2008 03:42
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I'm going to complain about the way you are applying theory to your music because it is all arseways.  Theory isn't like pick & mix. You do not and should not feel like you have to throw some fizzy cola bottles in with the liquorice all sorts. You don't pick chords and throw in some minors or 7ths or inversions just for the hell of it or because you feel like you need some variety.Theory has only one useful and practical purpose for me and that is to learn how to play an instrument properly. Piano/keyboard is the easiest to apply theory to. You drill your scales to develop muscle memory. You have to do it regularly and consistantly so the fingering is broadly the same and you have to keep your palms fairly flat and keep hand movement slight. After a while and with constant practise it becomes second nature and you no longer really think about what chords/scales/whatever you are playing because you sort of do it on feel and instinct. Your fingers just automatically find the right places. The theory also helps you to sort of make a written record of what you play on feel and you will at some point want to learn how to read and write sheet music and keep some written record of the music you make. If your songs are bland it is more than likely to do with the problem I had in the beginning which was improvising with very little knowledge of what I wanted to play and how to achieve it. You get a terrible deer in the headlights moment where you freeze and don't know where to go next, so you fall back on what you know. Or you become very hesitant to try out new things because its not familiar and it doesn't work because you don't understand it and haven't developed a feel for it yet. An example: for ages the only scale I ever knew was like an e minor pentatonic and that was only because years ago I tried for ages to play Voodoo Chile. I more or less failed because even though I could eventually play all of the notes my fingering was inconsistant and the whole thing felt mechanical and stiff when it should feel natural and comfortable. Whenever I was song writing back then I would get these terrible moments where I wouldn't know where to go next so I would wank out an uninspired e minor pent and it would sound like I didn't know where I was going. Because I didn't. Listening to other people play is a good way of getting out of your own head and seeing different methods of writing and playing music which you can adapt to help your own if you so wish. I got out of this when I started to learn fingerstyle peices on guitar that required a level of technique that I didn't have so I had to learn how to play guitar properly before I could play them (Aerial Boundaries was probably the first time I realised my finger picking and rhythm were totally inadequate). I had to go back and drill scales, finger exercises, finger picking (you *have* to use your pinky) and try to keep hand movements small and very slight whereas before I would often play with my hands splayed. I had to play the song at half speed and then build up to the tempo of the actual record because I just couldn't do it. For the most part I still can't. There are alot of people over at tranceaddict that used to get into theory without ever playing an instrument and I found that astonishing because they never developed the theory into a technique that you feel when you play. It remained abstract. I cannot write/play music like that and I hope you save yourself the time and effort and not do what they are doing because it will hurt you in the end. When you can begin to hit the right notes without really thinking about it, it frees you up to think about where to go next and again its about the feel of it. Not so much about what notes you should play next. You can think about that in retrospect once you have written down a great improv. I hope this wasn't too longwinded and I hope it describes what I'm trying to get at because I'm not very good at articulating it. WanderingKid fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Sep 15, 2008 |
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Sep 15, 2008 13:35
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My latest tune, uplifting progressive house. Would love some feedback. Been playing it out a bit and getting a good response so it's working on one level! http://www.speedyshare.com/578226404.html Thanks!
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Sep 17, 2008 15:29
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skrath posted:My latest tune, uplifting progressive house. Would love some feedback. Been playing it out a bit and getting a good response so it's working on one level! uhm.. wow? First of all, BITCHING KICK DUDE! Seriously, as good as FLAWLESS production, in terms of mixing and overall level of OOOMPH. The synth sequences feel pretty old at the end of it, so you may want to invest some time in creating a few more parts and replace the current sequence that seems to run almost unchanged texturewise all through? I do feel also, that your track would benefit from some sort of alternate synth part in the break, something that contrasts all the nice soft sounds you have allready. Something that will REALLY kick the dancefloors rear end, that demands the punters attention. You dont even need to run it after the beat kicks in, just drop it in the break after the initial cooldown, that builds up TO the beat, and then the rest of the stuff takes over. Hope that makes sense! (I'll try and dig a few examples up) Oh yeah, mess around with those filter envelope amount sliders abit in the breaks and such, abit more, along with more amp release and resonance. Theres alot of soft, not enough sharp. Balance! Okay, I didnt plan on whining this much, but I just need to stress that this is loving awesome, and you should be proud. edit: why do you hate snares/claps so much what did they ever do to you, turn them up distort them whatever MAKE THEIR PRESENCE FELT Quincy Smallvoice fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Sep 17, 2008 |
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Sep 17, 2008 22:32
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Quincy Smallvoice posted:edit: why do you hate snares/claps so much what did they ever do to you, turn them up distort them whatever MAKE THEIR PRESENCE FELT Thanks so much for listening and the feedback, I really appreciate it. The snare probably needs to come up, you're right. Thanks. My usual habits are to increase filters and bring them alllll up way too much, so I tried to pair it back a little this time. Looks like I went too far  I'll play around with the automation.As for an additional synth, I'll see what I can find. Any examples you can give would be fantastic (particularly in this genre). Thanks again.
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Sep 17, 2008 23:47
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WanderingKid posted:Fair enough. I don't fully disagree with you -- ultimately you can't be chained to theory. I also agree that theory is more about learning to play correctly rather than using it as musical legos. I played bass (and more recently piano) for the longest time without knowing a lick of theory, and generally speaking I'm finding that the theory makes things much more interesting for me since I can now look back on stuff and say, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense." It also really helps me when I'm writing new stuff because I can think, "Ok, this worked like this before, therefore..." That having been said, yeah, I was applying the theory a bit bass ackwards there, but I've been trying to explore the concepts via experimentation rather than write songs by picking and choosing them.
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Sep 18, 2008 10:01
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skrath posted:Thanks so much for listening and the feedback, I really appreciate it.
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Sep 18, 2008 19:39
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quick question: Is there a guide anywhere for using Ableton Live for people already experienced with some other DAW? I think I've gotten fairly good at Reason, but I want to move into Live so I can more easily work with samples. I've bought the program, and I went through the tutorials, but the workflow is so different I've been kinda unable to adapt. Is there something like this out there or should I just figure it out on my own?
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Sep 19, 2008 00:06
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Altoidss posted:quick question: Youtube is full of videos and the tutorials already in Live are pretty good.
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Sep 19, 2008 00:13
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Altoidss posted:but the workflow is so different I've been kinda unable to adapt. - use the Arrangement view. - you can put effects in an Effects Rack which acts as a Combinator for only effects - you can put plugins in an Instrument Rack. You don't need a mixer - it's already built in there. - you're not getting ReDrum back (which is too bad, I'd love a ReDrum like interface in Live) - Sorry about Thor, too - forget submixers, except for what you see in the Instrument/Effects Rack - no more need to Combinate stuff because you're running out of room. - no more need to look at the back to see where the wires are going. - the default reverb is not cheap like the RV-7, the Delay kicks a lot more rear end. - turn your tracks to audio immediately with freeze, drag the result in Simpler and use it as a sample. 4 clicks in Live, a lot more work in Reason.  Just make sure the little buttons on the left are orange. Start dragging plugins in there. The highlighted row with "Synth1" shows which instruments and effects are present in the rack. Going over the buttons shows the help/description in the bottom left for all of Live's devices. quote:Is there something like this out there or should I just figure it out on my own?
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Sep 19, 2008 00:51
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Yoozer posted:- you're not getting ReDrum back (which is too bad, I'd love a ReDrum like interface in Live) Yeah, these two are affecting me the most. I miss the hardware theme of reason but I can cope. The one thing that's really annoying me: You use Impulse for drums, right? Is there a way to have the sample play while you're browsing samples before you load it? Reason did it right there but it looks like with Ableton you have to load the sample into Impulse with no preview.
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Sep 19, 2008 01:55
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Altoidss posted:Yeah, these two are affecting me the most. I miss the hardware theme of reason but I can cope. Turn on the preview function of live's browser, hey presto!
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Sep 19, 2008 01:57
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Altoidss posted:quick question: RTFM RTFM RTFM READ THE loving MANUAL!! ableton has the greatest manual of any manual i have ever read. just read the manual. also, you can rewire reason into ableton so you can sample thor/redrum and still use all your favorite patches. so basically its like you still have reason, but its alot better and more useful.
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Sep 19, 2008 04:31
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http://www.grandfunkdynasty.com/web/chromatic.mp3 Would like some C&C on this, particularly the arrangement. Thanks!
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Sep 19, 2008 04:48
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oredun posted:RTFM RTFM RTFM READ THE loving MANUAL!! Alright, wow. I admit I could have found that out myself easily. I can't believe I couldn't see it. I won't ask any more stupid questions till I make a few songs in Ableton to get the hang of it.
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Sep 19, 2008 06:05
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It took me a while to get used to Impulse, after Redrum, but it's actually pretty dope. It's not super powerful but once you get familiar with it you will probably like it.
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Sep 19, 2008 07:24
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I don't like impulse or even drum rack. I think it SEVERELY cuts into your creative right-sided brain power. Not in the terms of how you manipulate samples, but in terms of patterns. I use a simpler for every single drum sound I have. Sure, that means I have a billion tracks for just drums.. but that also means I can change that hi hat pattern without going into that massive grid of notes Drum Rack or Impulse gives you.. finding the right note.. painfully manipulating it while weaving my mouse around the other four hundred notes.. maybe I'm exaggerating but I don't like it! PLUS, I can have different length loops for every drum element. My cowbells can have a 32 bar loop while my hi hats can have an 8 bar loop. If I have one pattern, one grid for all of my drums not only is it a bit more painful to do that, it's hard to keep track of as well. I can PHYSICALLY see where the loops to EVERY drum element come into play while using simpler. I color code them all so it's super obvious. And to top all of it off, I can route specific drum parts to specific aux tracks. For example, I usually put a light saturator with a spring reverb and a high pass filter on everything but the snare and kick. So I just route everything but the snare and the kick. If something needs more reverb I just turn up the send channel. Simple and powerful. I love it. I'm just a firm believer that you have to see the song as a whole, not as a collection of a bunch of loops. It forces you to be more creative, with very little effort added.
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Sep 19, 2008 08:32
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I Dig Gardening posted:I use a simpler for every single drum sound I have. Sure, that means I have a billion tracks for just drums.. I really like this idea for drums in Live. Might give it a go.
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Sep 19, 2008 09:13
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I Dig Gardening posted:I don't like impulse or even drum rack. quote:maybe I'm exaggerating but I don't like it!
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Sep 19, 2008 09:27
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Yoozer posted:But Drum Rack is Simpler for every drum sound! I understand that, that's not really my point. The point is when I'm in arrangement view it's clear as day where the cowbells come in and where the kick drum stops for the break. I can see all of the individual drum tracks and how they interact with each other. If I use drum racks it's just one big blob on one track. At a glimpse, that gives me cy information as to what's going on in the drums. Plus, the whole routing thing like I mentioned. I like to route poo poo .I've tried Guru.. and iDrum.. and I don't like them. I like to keep my production stupidly simple and organized because I am stupidly stupid and very unorganized.
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Sep 19, 2008 09:36
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Vanmani posted:I really like this idea for drums in Live. Might give it a go. I tried this on the last track I made but my cpu really couldnt handle the extra tracks. If youve got a baller computer though, its great because you can easily take the hats out for a bar or whatever then bring them back in without messing with the MIDI
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Sep 20, 2008 00:14
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Terrible Horse posted:I tried this on the last track I made but my cpu really couldnt handle the extra tracks. If youve got a baller computer though, its great because you can easily take the hats out for a bar or whatever then bring them back in without messing with the MIDI When I switched over from impulse/drum rack to my simpler method now I didn't notice ANY increase in CPU usage, are you sure it's not anything else? I could be totally wrong but I don't think that would up your CPU. Plus I use a Macbook that's more than 2 years old and only has a bit extra ram. I got it the day Macbooks came out.. Runs Live like a champ at the moment. I have thirty STACKED tracks for my latest remix and it's running at 40%. Edit: oh yeah! And you're dead on with the muting thing. I guess you could do that with Drum Rack too or even impulse, but it's so much smoother to just click the big yellow speaker on/off button to do it. Sometimes when I find my kick/snare to be too clicky or high pitched, I mute the hi hats to see if they're the problem, then push them back a few milliseconds.
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Sep 20, 2008 01:53
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ahh, so much ableton love! I use a combination of impulse, drum rack and simpler. Simpler for the hats/high end rynthmic, impulse for my bass drum patterns and the drum rack for one shots with effects that I hardly use so I keep keep them all together without having 15+ tracks for a few different sounds and effects being turned on/off. The main thing I love about ableton is that while it seems weird at first, when you get into the mentality of thinking 'ok, this a computer, it can do stuff hardware cant do', ableton really starts to make sense. It doesnt even consider copying the hardware/old school way of doing things.
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Sep 20, 2008 04:41
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I'm starting to really love Ableton. Here's a loop I've been working on, getting used to the program:  Tell me what you think of it! Especially the drums. My taste in music is fidget so I'm trying to go into that style, but it's really hard to make a good, jackin drum pattern. At least to me.
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Sep 20, 2008 08:48
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I Dig Gardening posted:I understand that, that's not really my point. The point is when I'm in arrangement view it's clear as day where the cowbells come in and where the kick drum stops for the break. I can see all of the individual drum tracks and how they interact with each other. If I use drum racks it's just one big blob on one track. At a glimpse, that gives me cy information as to what's going on in the drums. Plus, the whole routing thing like I mentioned. I like to route poo poo Also I'd like to point out this method is awesome for making idm/jungle/hosed up breakbeats. Lets you have the whole piano grid of pitch for each drum sound.
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Sep 20, 2008 09:26
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It also makes your channel window cluttered as all hell. But whether you want to do that or not depends on the emphasis you put on drums and how you work. I sometimes keep all my drums in a sampler, sometimes, nearly all on a drum machine. Sometimes I do it in one shots and use a channel per sample. Sometimes a mix of some or all 3. Theres no right or wrong way to do it and I can see the downsides of all the them.
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Sep 20, 2008 19:40
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So I'm teaching myself Max/MSP in preparation for my Multimedia Arts minor senior project and for a class I'll be taking next semester on alternative controllers, and I've run into a weird snag with the second patch I've made while going through the tutorials. Can someone explain to me exactly why my patch's velocity sequencer (the first one with bars) is treating the last bar as step 1, while the note sequencer (the second one with lines) is acting like expected (i.e. treating the first bar as step 1)? It's driving me absolutely nuts. As an aside, the slider to the left controls tempo, so you may need to up that to get notes playing. Patch: http://dancinginthedarkroom.com/Simple%20Sequencer.maxpat
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Sep 22, 2008 01:45
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This is a tip that I picked up for compression A/B. You compress a sound. It sounds better, right? Maybe. It sounds louder, and loudness is perceived as better (for all intents and purposes, just making a point). So, to check if compression is actually making it sound better, or just sound louder (and not better), dupe the track. Compress the duped track, then bring it's level down so it's matching the level of the original track. A/B them. This way, you'll be able to hear the compressed and uncompressed tracks at the same volume, and one being louder on the meters won't skew your idea of compression.
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Sep 23, 2008 23:02
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This is something that I feel I should be able to figure out but for some reason just can't. Alot of electronic songs (or at least the ones I listen to) sometimes utilize a ever increasing tone in the back round to intensify a buildup. Essentially just a tone that increases chromatically at a certain rate. (Example can be seen here at ~3:12 : http://www.last.fm/music/M83/_/Highway+of+endless+dreams). Can anyone tell me either how to do that specifically in Ablteon or Reason, or just tell me how to do it conceptually?
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Sep 23, 2008 23:33
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Anacostia posted:This is something that I feel I should be able to figure out but for some reason just can't. Alot of electronic songs (or at least the ones I listen to) sometimes utilize a ever increasing tone in the back round to intensify a buildup. Essentially just a tone that increases chromatically at a certain rate. (Example can be seen here at ~3:12 : http://www.last.fm/music/M83/_/Highway+of+endless+dreams). Can anyone tell me either how to do that specifically in Ablteon or Reason, or just tell me how to do it conceptually? Get a synth, play a really long note. Then have the pitch bend go up for the effect. Also works with samplers and stuff (in Logic at least, should be similar in Live).
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Sep 24, 2008 00:00
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IanTheM posted:Get a synth, play a really long note. Then have the pitch bend go up for the effect. Also works with samplers and stuff (in Logic at least, should be similar in Live). Oh you're so smart. That should have been obvious. Thanks a ton.
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Sep 24, 2008 00:31
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Kai was taken posted:This is a tip that I picked up for compression A/B. I learned this trick on my own, when one day I plain asked myself "does this even do poo poo?" and now I do it on EVERY track I compress. Well what I actually do is lower the "output" of the compressor until the meter peaks at the same spot as it would have without the compressor. Turn the compressor on, hit reset on the peaking meter and note the level, turn it off and do the same. Do that until it's the same number, ya dig? Honestly, I rarely find it to be useful to compress nearly anything if it's software born (which is all I use). But of course if you record anything externally (vocals are the only thing in my case) it's beneficial. It's not a "rule" I have per se.. but I almost always avoid compressors as a whole. None of my tracks have any compressors on them pre mastering. None.
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Sep 24, 2008 01:58
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I Dig Gardening posted:I learned this trick on my own, when one day I plain asked myself "does this even do poo poo?" and now I do it on EVERY track I compress. Well what I actually do is lower the "output" of the compressor until the meter peaks at the same spot as it would have without the compressor. Turn the compressor on, hit reset on the peaking meter and note the level, turn it off and do the same. Do that until it's the same number, ya dig? The only reason I mention the two-track trick is because it can be easier to eye it by looking at both the meters side-by-side. As long as you have the same levels overall, that's what matters.
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Sep 24, 2008 03:03
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Anacostia posted:Oh you're so smart. That should have been obvious. Thanks a ton. Instead of pitch bend, see if the synth has a portamento option and set the time to the maximum. Easier to control (you can precisely determine which note you're going to end up on), can span multiple octaves without the drawbacks of the bender (which has a lower resolution), and has a smooth result.
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Sep 24, 2008 07:04
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I Dig Gardening posted:I learned this trick on my own, when one day I plain asked myself "does this even do poo poo?" and now I do it on EVERY track I compress. Well what I actually do is lower the "output" of the compressor until the meter peaks at the same spot as it would have without the compressor.
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Sep 24, 2008 07:14
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Kai was taken posted:This is a tip that I picked up for compression A/B. Im not so sure anyone going to this much trouble to validate the effects of compression should be using it in the first place, personally. I was wrong in 84 once though so...
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Sep 24, 2008 07:41
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Does anyone here have a Novation Nocturn and use Logic 8? If so, how the hell do I get Logic to record the modulation from the Nocturn? I've written a synth line using an automapped instance of V-Station and when I play it back it will respond to changes (e.g. opening the filter) from the Nocturn. Then I arm the track and record whilst moving the Nocturn's knobs....again, i can hear the changes, but when i play it back none of the modulation has been recorded. Logic must be receiving some sort of data because, when recording, it'll start drawing a box on the event window as a twiddle the knobs....but this just vanishes after I press stop. Any ideas? The Nocturn seems like a great piece of kit, but it's completely useless to me unless I can record modulation from it. an actual cat irl fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Sep 24, 2008 |
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Sep 24, 2008 08:04
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