maybe you guys should try a group hug, let some tears out. You cant knock it until you try it man. I think group hugs are simply vital to the production process of drum and bass.
Originally posted by Digital Cause
maybe you guys should try a group hug, let some tears out. You cant knock it until you try it man. I think group hugs are simply vital to the production process of drum and bass.
Originally posted by Digital Cause
I dont understand...
HaHa
Krisch was referring to www.alternatingfrequencies.com which isn't genre specific, we have all sorts of music uploaded from drum'n'bass, dubstep, industrial, glitchcore to trance, hip hop, down-tempo etc.
He was referring to our community and not drumnbass.be -
I'm always suffering from writters block....Erm, don't know what to write now...
Seriously, what I do is listen to some sort of music that is not what your trying to create. I have a real passion for hardcore at the moment, not what used to be called gabba, but stuff like Production house, reinforced, shadow, Ibiza and also some old UK garage also. I think I'm trying to recapture my youth again! I love the synthetic sounds back then and the breaks and it just gives me new ideas.
Also, load a track that your making and just exeriment with it. I use Reason, what I do is change the wave form in my synths and see what happens, or destroy my drum patterns and add effects to them.
As much as I like big dirty Reece dnb, I find that it is being used so much now days that it has lost effect. Not that I'm saying that it shouldn't be used, there are some fantastic tracks out there, but it is time to find new sounds and create something original.
listen to a song, and try to make that exact same song. not note for note, but everything else, you'll never get it the same, it'll be your own style, it's like doing a cover song. still sounds unique, but it's still good for practice.
limp bizkit - faith
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Originally posted by Krisch
I also think that making different style of music can help you out from writers block. It can give you a lot of inspiration to making dnb again.
quote:
Originally posted by collective
the site needs a section for us to up things other than the genres that are on here as it would be intresting to see what other people make.when they aint doing DnB
Yeah maybe, but until that come over to http://alternatingfrequencies.com there you can upload any style of music. And we have a pretty nice community over there as well
Lmao @ Krisch !!!
I'm not really the group hug pansy type mate but ok whatever.
There is however a really good thread on writers/artist block compiled by one of our moderators (PLaGuE CeLL)
i thought it's be too cheeky to rep AF on here but aye
i spent a while puttin that guide together, go check it out if you're havin a hard time makin tunes
ive had writers block for about 6 months now. but the other day i found that getting an accapella and try to build a track around really help me too create somthing. i think its because i followed the melody of the accapela instead of trying to think of my own. after that just drop the accapella and you have you track. also i did things completly opposite to what i noramlly do.
for example, i started writing the bass first instead of the drums. when it came to the drums i d/l all new samples and wrote the drums to flow with the bass and melody instead of the other way round. that helped me.
i seem to be experiencing writters block more and more often the longer i'm into this wild n whacky world of producing - it becomes more and more of a challenge the more tunes u write imo, always tryin to better urself with each track (and tryin not to sound the same as ur last track - toughey!)
First of all EXPERIENCE NEW THINGS. Ever wondered why getting that a new vst-synth with those fancy new factory presets spurs the creativity into bloom for a track or two..? Experiencing new things makes you creative and It doesn´t always have to be a fancy new vst synth... Go hiking, climbing, into opera, visit new places, go into the new amusement park that´s just opened couple of blocks away... Experience life both physically and spiritually, feed you mind and your soul and you´ll be more creative than ever before.
SET TIME LIMITS TO YOUR WORKS. Thats right, do It today, not tomorrow. Do a list of things you need to do in order to get the track ready and done. Percs today, leads tomorrow, bouncy bassline the day after, arrangement the the next day and final mixdown the day after, then two weeks off and the final polishing to make it extra crispy. Ever wondered how come professional producers get so musical material done..? Because they have to!
LIMIT YOURSELF. Thats right, as crazy as it sounds, most often the innovation is spurred from limitations and restrictions, not the 100+ vst-synths you have. Ever done a track with single vst synth? With just one reverb and delay? The idea of whole thing is to break the way you make music, with limitations you do things differently therefore widen your horizon of music making skills. Get back to basics and make better music.
MAKE AN IMAGINARY TRACKS. Making music IS all about imagination..? Thats right.. But it can quide you to totally new kinds of musica. Take a clip from a movie, remove all audio from it and score it. Read a good book and try to get the tensions, emotions and highlights and the structure of it on a one track. Ever felt angry? Sad? What has been the most embarrasing moment of your life? Make a track out of it.
WRITE THE IDEAS DOWN WHEN YOU HAVE THEM. Thats right, always keep a pen and paper with you.. Or at least a mobilephone where you can put your ideas if you don´t happen to be in a studio at the same time (which seldom happens). When you get good ideas you def. dont want to forget it, do you? Remember that the reminder can be for example just one word or a few note melody. You can write notes down with letters ie. 8C would be an middle c with duration of an 8th note. Again this may sound crazy, but it helps you get back to the grand idea you had in the bus stop yesterday.
WRITE ALL STYLES OF ELECTRONICA. The thing that really annoys me is the fact the people producing music are so narrow minded. The purists of what ever style of music praise the music they do and listen, but they fail to knowledge the fact how much different music styles would give to their music style. Ok so you´re into freeform? trance? experimental music? Why not try to make a mellow progressive trance or breaks track and see what new things you learn on the way of doing it?
SAVE EVERYTHING YOU DO. Save your project every now and then, the more saves, the better. Each time give it a new number, so that your final version of a new track will be something like mynewtrack_79. This way you can always recall that one sound that did not fit in 45 minutes ago and if you´re feeling uninspired you can always check back those unused ideas that might flowerish a new track. Not to mention the headaches you lack get when your seq. computer crashes.
TAKE BREAKS. Not just every once and them but ONCE AN HOUR. Unless your totally in flames, take a break, go outside for couple of minutes and get some fresh air for your brains (since they propably need it after that brainstorm you just had) and rest your ears. If the track starts to sound dull, take time of from it or change the key of it to keep it interesting for your ears, you can always change it back when it´s time to mix the track. Taking time of few months of music making is also a good way to get that beginners enthusiasm back that you once had.... You know when it´s time to get back to the studio.
LISTEN TO MUSIC YOU LOVE. In lack of inspiration get back to the music that really makes you tic, it won´t take long till you have that right mood and inspiration to create your next big hit.
Last but not least, music making SHOULD BE FUN. Enjoy discovering new things, don´t be afraid to be out of your debth, cause that is the only way to become skilled producer, meet friends that might teach you new tricks of the trade, hang out and co-op with other producers, arrange "learning rings" meet up with fellow producers and SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH THEM, listen to music that innovates you and most importently ENJOY MAKING MUSIC.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by DJ_Rx: 07-05-2009 19:12.
- Don´t be afraid of things because they are too hard (... or easy) to do
- Look closely at the most embarrasing details and amplify them
- Shut the door and listen from outside
- Fill every beat with something
- Pan musical elements in unusual way
- Emphasize flaws
- Combine different music styles
- Steal and DO NOT feel bad about it
- Chop, reverse, time strech, pitchbend and effect samples you never use and use them on your track
- Automate random parameters on the synth you are using
- Knock that lead melody or beat of yours 1/8(or any other value) forward or backward to make more interesting rythms
- Change the mode, ever tried to make a "Mixolydian" track?
- Go outside and record everyday life audio into you track
- Use instruments you never use, such as harp violin or perhaps a didgeridoo
- Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable way action; incorporate
- Abandon normal Instruments
- Make a ridiculously long effect chain on your synth channel
- Give way for your worst impulse
- Use real-time recording to make grooves and melodies
- Use your DAWs random function
- Smack your distortion and bit reducer units to the extreme
- Swap you lead and you bass synth so they play each others notes
- Make reckless holes your track, with deleting parts, filtering, eq or compressor
- Make a sudden tempo change in your track to keep the listeners on their toes
- Go extreme in simplicity
- Use odd time signatures
- Break your track into pieces and re-arrange it.
- Destroy the most important thing
- Make some music that you hate
- Try to do music in a different state of mind
- Review your track to your friends, they might have some new ideas for you
- Review your track to a person who doesn´t know anything about the music style you produce
- Break your usual way you compose a track, the order you usually use
- Rewrite the words to a song that exists, change the subject, meaning and everything else as you do it. Now you got whole set of lyrics, rythm and structure to work as a starting point of a new track.
- Make a track on a foundation on excisting track
- Break the rules
- Work in groups, in music making 1 + 1 = 11
- Clean and organize your project and sample library, get rid of those you def. wont be needing so that you can more easily find what you are looking for. If you don´t want to trash your samples, make a dedicated folder for the files that are not arranged.
- Avoid using new software when working on your song. Save it for the learning, exploring for designated "play time" when you don´t expect to get finished results
- Get proper monitors and I really mean the most expensive you really can afford. You can get cheap on many of things but not monitoring. In order to sound professional, you need get the best posible monitors to achive that "pro mixdown".
- Pay attention of the accoustics on the enviroment you use to make music, if effects just as much to your sound as monitors
- You should invest more cash in your work space than your computer and sequencer.
- Learn keyboard shortcuts
- Think positive, there´s nothing you can not do, if you focus your thoughts on it.
- "Don´t fix it, if it´s not broken"
- Arrange few hours in morning for the music production when your brains are rested and ready for some creative action. You´ll be amazed how much you´ll get done in just mere few hours before going to work.
- Dedicate some of your studio time on making solely beats or presets for future use
- Make a template, where you have all the synths lined up, coloured and arranged that you most often use armed and ready for you to recall every time you start a new track. This way you´ll save loads of time.
- Make a to-do-list before you begin and stick to it.
- Start working right away, msn, social networks and other websites can be dealt later on when you are finished with your work.
- Lose some synths. Thats right, more often less is more. Knowing your few trusty synths will eventually give you freedom to do anything you want, instead of going through those factory presets time and a time again.
- Set learning tasks for yourself. Explore your synths and daw, the buttons and sub-menus you never ever use, this way you´ll learn more about your software and tools work that you use. If there´s something you don´t understand, check it out from the web.
- Challenge yourself mentally, this is a crucial part of the whole learning process. Try to focus on solving the tasks each time bit differently, this way you expand your skills to an unpredictable paths and widen your innovative horizon. Is short, visualize your actions.
- Make a small diary that has few key words of your latest innovative discoveries. You do not have to write a whole book, just few keywords that help you recall the things afterwards.
- If you still want to favour the factory presets, why not make a list of the more useful ones and ducktape it to your monitor. You´ll save a lot of time just by checking what you need on your list.
- Don´t overload yourself, making a good track isn´t easy after long hard day at work, so remember to "reset" yourself before you go to your studio
- Make notes for your next session before you pull out the plug, It might take a while when you have the time to get back to your project so these notes will help you get right into it next time.
- Make a frame work for your new track before hand, this guides you on the way and helps you to focus on doing what needs to be done to finish the song.
- Knock that monitor screen of your off when you listen to your tracks, this way you´ll be able to concentrate more easily what´s happening on your track.
- Your music will never be finished, Don´t worry, accept it.
