Making music on a computer sucked for me until I understood this
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 เม.ย. 2024
- Do you dislike the music you make on the computer compared to your DAWless setup? Well in this video I am sharing my thoughts on why this happens and how to overcome it.
Like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more upcoming. I post weekly electronic music jams and tutorials on both hardware gears and softwares :)
Check out my brand new website:
randomnoisemusic.com
Follow me here ⬇️
TH-cam: / randomnoisemusic
Twitter: / rnd_noise
Instagram: / random.noize
Thank you so much for watching! 🙌❤️
⚡️Random Noise⚡️
Current favorite gear that I use:
Korg Electribe 2: amzn.to/3yLeOah
Korg Volca Nubass: amzn.to/3jPJ7Ir
Arturia Drumbrute Impact: amzn.to/3DWgEZJ
Native Instruments Machine MK3 amzn.to/3jRWcAU
Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A25: amzn.to/3jNDP0c
Novation Launchpad Pro MK3: amzn.to/3haTDZ1
Focusrite Scralett 18i8: amzn.to/3zRhKUb
Focusrite Scralett 2i2 3rd Gen: amzn.to/3jPCN3A
Audio-Technica M70x: amzn.to/3n9QLPX
Apple MacBook Pro 2019 16': amzn.to/3kYsvxK
* Please note that some of the above links are affiliate links, which give me a commission (there is no extra cost for you!) when you use them to buy something. This helps me support this channel 🙏 - เพลง
Never delete anythng. Especially if you're new to producing. The more you learn the better you get. I went back two years and listened to some tracks I made that sucked, but they had good bones so I polished them and made them better.
100% agree, disk space is dirt cheap these days but those kernels of inspiration are priceless, no matter how rough they are. I recently rediscovered some project files dating back to my high school days that were just abysmal; stuff I was far too inexperienced to take any further and had probably meant to delete. But listening to them again was like looking 15 years into the past, and they ended up being the framework for an entire album that would otherwise never have existed.
THIS. Those aren't failures. They are stepping stones.
After 25 years of producing I'm now struggling with this because it feels like I have so much knowledge that it gives me endless possibilities and it kills my creativity.
you have just occupied the analyzer mind identity with your life energy and stopped your being in the creative playful identity mind
So true, with too many choices there is sometimes paralysis analysis happening
I absolutely feel this sentiment.
I hear you It’s the little kid at the cereal Isle ..20 versions of the same one cereal to choose from or the endless choice of movie channels to pick from syndrome. Don’t fall into this endless yes creativity killer trap. Forget about all the bells and whistles at the beginning , lay your track two to four instruments “tops” including drums make sure it’s clean and “tight” before you even attempt adding any type of plugging or embellishment. Chances are that once you are happy with the consistency of the steak 🥩 you will find the it might just need a little peeper and that’s it , if you cooked it correctly. A good musical idea should sound great with the piano or guitar on its own.
@@RandomNoiseMusic Ive also found that creating a maximim of 15 patches or presets of your sound and limit yourself to only use them gives you a unique sound. Force yourself to create tracks not using anything else.
Funny isn't it, when people first started talking about making music on a computer they would say the possibility is endless and now people are saying limit yourself.
I know, the irony, right? 😄
Limitations keep you sane.
True that!
"the only limit is YOUR imagination" - please go away marketers
The difference I think is that now you're in control of the limitations
I’ve always felt the danger of the daw is your more likely to compose with your eyes than your ears.
True
@@RandomNoiseMusic im also saying that because im much more adept with hardware than daws!
Reckon the trick is to record a jam, select a bit with some soul. Then use that as a building block in your daw. Can see the benefits been able to see your composition.
You should use both, when playing music in a band eye contact is key.
@@b00ts4ndc4ts true. Im not dismissing daws just used to recording to tape so battling with the transition! Plenty of great albums were recorded before computers.
Hahh good onee 😅
I cant believe you accurately described my music hell for the past 12 or so years. Thank you
😅
There's a formula I use now to do all sorts of things with computers - not just music, but art, writing, programming, everything: I have to keep a journal nearby and some pens. I have a whole supply of those things, different formats, sizes, colors. As soon as I feel stuck or have trouble continuing, I rely on the process of transcribing, simplifying, and commenting on my work by hand, turning those notes into a little art project by using the different colors to mark things up. It doesn't *have* to be the paper medium, it could be, in the case of music, having an instrument nearby and trying to perform it. But it has to get me away from just choosing options from a menu, and towards making the work move through my hands.
If I'm still stuck, the big guns that I bring out next are more philosophical - figuring out what the Venn diagram I want to end up with is, and then making work that fits into that diagram. Sometimes stepping back and looking at the high concept and saying "am I doing something contradictory" is all that's needed to break through a creative block: a lot of projects fail because there are some fundamental contradictions, and we avoid acknowledging those contradictions by adding technical scope to the project. When I do the Venn diagram the aim is to eliminate that and get to a nice overlapping space where all the elements work well with each other.
I love this!! Such a wonderful way not just to fight creative block, but to grow as an artist. thanks for sharing! 🙏
That has very probably been extremely helpful to many people, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Can you make a video on this? Thanks.
Duplicate your 8 bar loop x 20 . Now Mute all parts. Hit play and unmute clips on the fly. Pausing not allowed. limitation and constraints are key. I actually bounce to audio asap to commit and move forward. You will get totally different and usually better results.
That is some good advice right here!
loving this idea!!
Bounce to audio and move on!
Yep i cook on bandlab and do this with treble midi patterns i make, convert it to audio then turn unmute and remute it as i please. My problem in this area is making a nice run but then when i try to actually create that by removing the clips where i muted it i usually find myself first landing on whole new options before i can track down the exact spots i was hearing it
Exactly what I was thinking... it was either the repetition or the mix was changed
Guys the best advice I can give u is don’t do full beats/tracks. For 2 days maybe do only drum loop ideas the other day only melodic. Then one day you can mix those ideas. The output with this method is immense and the good part is you can send those ideas to other producers for a nice collabo. Win win
Great video. Honestly I think a lot of it is that with the DAW it’s easier for us to make unfair judgements about the arrangement with our eyes. To us, seeing all the blocks in a formation might make us think something is “boring” or “lifeless” when our eyes are unfairly telling us “Hey, there’s the 16 bar intro, then an 8 bar break…” etc.
It’s almost like giving us the ability to see the future. We think DAW is boring but maybe only because we are seeing when the changes are going to happen. With hardware or the electribe in your case, you often don’t see when exactly those changes are going to happen. So you do it by feel. But I’m willing to bet that if you multi-tracked out that performance and saw the blocks on a timeline again, you might be more harsh on the track then what’s really fair.
What has helped me in the past was this: when listening back to a track, *DO NOT* follow along with your eyes. Minimize the DAW, look somewhere else, do anything. But the second you start following the playhead with your eyes you kind of take the magic and mystery out of your own creations that way.
You got a point! Music is more about listening and feeling it than seeing it as blocks of information
absolutely and wholeheartedly believe this theory of yours is true!
BRO!! That's so completely true! Audiowise I'm meltin on a stack of flap Jacks but visually I feel like I'm playing with the two year old version of lego's
Great comment and totally true, some of my most basic beats that i almost can get sick of within the daw over a few hours actually end up becoming my favorite later when i remove myself from the visuals and all memory of the work creating it and simply listen then ill realise i like the audio more than i did the visuals of the beat compared to some beats im crazy about and can listen to in the daw for hours, those seem to be the ones that arent always as timeless.
A good test for me is have a beat buddy u can send ur progress to along the way, just the act of sending it to them and listening there in the inbox will let me hear lile TEN mistakes i couldnt hear while watching the videos that mislead me to seeing "well everything looks alright"
Def send your stuff to a trusted friend they aint even got to listen but it will help you hear it from a new perspective
Thanks for the tip, gonna give this a shot
This is why I practically never work in the arrangement view. I lay out everything in session view, map the most relevant parameters on the midi controller and play it in live with automation. I might tweak from there, shorten certain bits or or replace single clips, but the bones and automation stay for the most part. It just feels more organic that way and like I'm actually playing music. Keyboard and mouse just feels so ... removed? Another thing that really helps for me is to work on a laptop on the sofa when I'm working on the arrangement. When I'm at a desk it feels like I'm at the office, even if it's a fancy desk with outboard equipment.
So true about the desk feeling like being in the office lol
Can’t agree more. I WFH and have to consciously limit working in the room with my music gear or I never want to write anything in the evening.
Thanks for this tip LillyS...As an Ableton noob, I don't know how to use Session view to compose, yet. Currently, I'm seeing if using Looper as my composition tool, works.
Never quit though! If it gets stale, save exit open another and start fresh. Come back to old idea later with new perspective/mood
One downside of getting to know more and more about production/mixing overall is the fact that it will slowly kill your creativity.. you will end up not producing exactly how you envisioned in your head ... another thing that I´ve noticed my dudes is the fact that having a lot of different plugins DOES NOT help aswell because by the time you pick 1 of the 50 compressors or 1 of the 25 limiters you have, you already forgot what you were doing, it really is a massive distraction... So in conclusion, keep it up boys, if it sounds good, RELEASE IT
You nailed it with the working in limitations, that was how all the old school greats did it. It is surprising how effective it is, being spoiled with too much abundance and choices can be oddly crippling I find.
Turning vst synths directly into audio as fast as possible helps me a lot! Whether that's bouncing the midi data or playing it directly into a bus that's recording, it helps me move along and keep focus
This is so true! I've experience that myself too many times, once I commit to wave, I have less reason to try to "perfect" the sound and just move on with ideas
Exactly my method
The best way to stifle creativity? Too many choices.
So true.
Exactly!!!! I created more music on my Tascam Porta One and 688 MKII than I do using Cubase Pro 13…… That is why I now use dice/s to make my decisions now…… creating more music now…
The world is full of infinite possibilities .. but you are able to shut them out and just start.
There are NO limitations in reality - it is entirely a matter of your own thinking.
Personally, I find it very easy to keep things simple and to not be thinking of every possibility at once.. it is entirely under your control.
But, whatever works for the individual - if one has to pretend there are limitations to feel free, that's fine too.
omg thank you... that is exactly what I do with the mouse and keyboard - make a ton of lifeless and forgotten tracks and just fills up the hard drive. I dots were there - just never connected them. Thank you for this video.
Reason is the only DAW that has that harware feeling for me. It has the healthy speed.
So true, agree to that!
I used to use Reason and abandoned it in favour of Live which, with Live Looping and Push is unbelievable for creating fluid beautiful music. Session view for live looping is killer for creating electronic music. I agree with @RandomNoise though, limitations are the source of creativity. I try to stick to the rule of only having three sounds playing at any point in the track and that also makes for a lot of creative limitations that add clarity to my tracks.
Using the cardinal plugin in ableton is the move. Reason is also a great but imo it’s better as a plug-in. Reasons sequencer is a bit of a headache
Reason is my favorite DAW by far. It’s the easiest in my opinion for working on the fly. It’s also incredibly stable.
All I've ever used. Downloaded a cracked reason 5 in ~2007 and never looked back.
(I did eventually pay for it [2 years ago 😂])
Take any track by any band or producer and repeat sections of it hours and hours again and it is quaranteed that at some point you start to notice mistakes, and besides that, your ears get so tired of repeating digital audio that your brain literally sends pain signals and stress hormones around your body to stop you doing that.
Your ears getting tired is the main issue when working with music on computers, since evolution has not yet cached on how to properly handle digital audio.
Best practises I've learned is to take breaks every 30min, and make tracks with very low volume.
Also detaching yourself from your own productions help tremendously.
So true, also many times when I take a break from a piece I am working on I come back to it much more fresh and with more creative energy
That's why it is important to have a certain speed and make quick decisions while producing. The longer you just listen to your loop and keep changing unimportant things the more tired and annoyed you will become, which will eventually lead you to change the important parts/ main ideas of your track, because you got bored by it.
Nothing technical But I think is important for a TH-camr (TH-cam business):
Add some smiles or different mimics (mostly smiles and little bit of energy), I believe that doubles your views at least.
You are putting time into this btw. Let's try to increase the results of that time and energy. ;)
Goodluck mate!
At first I thought this is about "dollars".. until I realized it is more about "daw-less"..
On a more serious note, I fully agree.. too many options paralyze me straight away.. on multiple levels, but putting artificial limits are a very good strategy to get out of this situation.
Really nice inspirational video. Was here for the first time, will be back soon ;)
Option paralysis is very real.
Absolutely agree. Limitations creates inovation/inspiration on another level. Too many possibilities/choices limits the creativity in some strange way.
Yes so true !
I write heavy prog rock tracks, and I play bass and drums. For a while I was fully programming the tracks but they were just soooooooo perfect. I’m going to record a performance for the rhythm section and program the guitars keys and strings to make a hybrid, fortunately I’m writing a story with the music with that exact overarching theme
just finding out that I am not alone after seeing your video helped with my block...been doing it since 1985...thank you.Really.Thank you...
Glad it was helpful, and thanks for watcing! You are definetly not alone in that!
Totally agree with you. I've walked the same path.
It's about having fun while creating!
💯
You are absolutely right. It takes centuries to process the instant bursts of energy or emotion we experience into machine language with a mouse. *But inspiration and emotion can come and go very quickly. While we are trying to enter logical data into the computer, we may even forget what we are working on.* If you don't understand this, record a crazy cutoff session with the real knob first, then draw the same excitement and ups and downs with the mouse.
It's nice to see lineer rises, perfect curves, beautiful geometry and symmetry in the automation line, but in reality it robotizes the dynamics of the music. Real recordings, which put hundreds of nodes on the automation line and create ugly shapes, make the real music. Thanks dude. _(I'm Turkish bro sorry my bad english)_
Thanks for watching! and exactly, working on the computer can make the process much less human if we try to makes thing "prefect"
@@RandomNoiseMusic Totally agree 👌
Nothing wrong with your English mate, and I understand exactly what you mean.
@@b00ts4ndc4ts Thank you very much my friend, you are very kind.
This topic called to this idea of mine. That idea is that I think it’s just psychological. We have this irritatingly embarrassing knack for psyching ourselves out with nearly everything. Every couple of months, I do this same silly thing going mental over the “quality” of my sound and forming ideas like: “Aw man, back in 2001 when I was on my pentium 4 with 2MBs (joke) of RAM and FL Studio 3, it just sounded SO much better. I was so much more creative”. It is you against your mind.
If a DAW/Computer has given you endless possibilities of creation, that’s awesome. Thank you, DAW. And yet we turn around and blame it for the stifling of our creativity because it gave us a good thing, lol. How? It’s not forcing us to embrace those possibilities. It’s not making the choices for us - WE are. It’s like when you discover there was a button combination to advance in a video game. The game gave you the possibility, but it was your choice to activate and play with it. Did the game stifle your imagination or enjoyment of it because you decided to play it with the possibility it gave?
If it’s that important, use your DAW like you don’t have certain abilities. If it really gave you “endless possibilities” then surely one possibility is functioning as if you don’t have them. I switch my working methods all the time. Sometimes it’s heavily sample based. Sometimes it’s constructing all melodic and percussive material from scratch. Sometimes it’s hitting record in ableton and playing my synths like ableton doesn’t even exist. Making music with a human brain sucks. Sometimes it doesn’t correctly render the perception of things in a manner that you want, and that’s okay. It’s ever evolving. Learning, blocking and unlearning. Try again.
Shrodinger's music. Sometimes it's better not to define
Keep going each of us has had our down falls
This is the video i absolutely needed now. Levaving DAW for a few days to only focus on my hardware gear for new inspirations
I usually compose first using generic MIDI resources such as the default cakewalk one, recording most of the stuff using a keyboard controller, which is really helpful to have a live and groovy sound. After I get most of the track completed, this is the moment I start working with more complex Virtual Instruments and then try to "elevate" the composition.
It's not a perfect process nor I'm good at it, but it's definitely more enjoyable for me
I found this helpful. I made a few tracks DAWless, now I'm trying to learn the DAW...still trying to find the right balance between both strategies. No idea what to do about drums, before I was just recording a live performance on my analog rytm, and that worked alright, although it does have limitations...but I guess I should come to view those as more of a good thing in this realm.
A subscribe and a like I shall give.
I think you really have a point!
I usually play piano inbetween to get back to the musical side of producing.
We need that balance in between the modes, don't we?
it probly helps if u play an instrument.. rather than everythin being digital.
The best way to write is away from a computer and letting what is in your heart be recorded. Now it’s your soul talking, it’s a million miles away from any technical preset. I get ideas at night and record on my iPad filming my slippers whilst singing or beat boxing or a sung bass line. After that inspiration, other riffs will come. All natural from within. Then it stops. NOW you are in a position to approach the computer, although sleeping first and waking up with energy is recommended. GL everyone, may all your beats be sweet.
This is a tough but important topic, im strugling a lot with it. You clerifiyed it very well for us so thank you friend:)
Tough and imporatnt indeed, thanks watching!
Great insight, I think this is very true.
Very balanced take, inspiring, thank you!
♥️
Well said, sir
Excellent video, thanks for sharing
Thank you! and thanks for watching 😊
😄 First thing i did when i bought Logic Pro four years ago and started to make music more seriously : DELETE ALL THE LOOPS! I've never used any loops of any kind… I make pop and electro-pop music, and i just program and play everything… This keeps my brain from feeling too secure or over-confident. I keeps me "on the edge"…
That's a good tip and strategy!
I often remove factory presets in synthesizers. I prefer to sit longer and create my own sounds.
I never deleted a single Cubase project. When I Begin, I pull it through and it sounds great. I also often begin with the intro and have a clear idea of my music.
I’ve been making music on computers for 32 years. Started with mod trackers and then midi to VSTs. It’s been great.
Wise words ❤
yae right
i like the energy in reason...even in arranged tracks were the loopenergy changes, there is alway this energy by this daw i like
Reason is great!
I agree completly. And I work this way, with only a few synths (only real ones and actual emulations of existing synths, not inspired by, but from the same manufactures.
And I blend in hardware sound modules to be able to bring those sounds anywhere.
Time to put this in practice, thx you so much!
Glad this is useful, thanks for watching!
Doing music according to the best practices: this is your issue
Exactly! Music lost their feels and it is just counting bars and on the beat.
70-80s synths music so much more musical than today.
I personally get so inpired by a tracks, that I most of the times finish a track release ready. DAWs have served me well for more than 20 years by now. Usually I do not have any precomoposed idea of a tracks other than perhaps genre, but that might also change during the writing process. It all just happens like magic if you will. All the techniques of sognal processing and so forth play a basic role, but with a certain level of experience you do not have to think about those things, you just listen to the track as it evolves and step by step you will instinctively know what is to be done for the track to become complete.
This is why the majority of music today is so painfully boring. We need more melody driven tunes.
I think the 8 track challenge is a great idea! That is my personal “go to” for starting a track these days. 4 percussion + 4 midi tracks. It makes starting a new idea feel a lot less pressure, and a lot more simple and fun. Great video mate 😊
Exactly, it takes out the pressure from the process and focus it on what matter most. Thank you!
I think a lot about this when away from the studio , every once in a while I get an idea. Sounds good on the groove box, make up some tracks to go with it. Export to daw and then it loses the vibe and energy . Unlike when your jamming out and feeling the music. I have been thinking about this lately ,now after watching this video it resonates well. Thanks for the chat bud, good luck with this channel. One of the best videos for music producers right here .
Thanks for watching and the kind words!
Having been in bands I find that the playing live mentality helps - drums, bass, guitars, keys/ second guitar, vocal - you only have what you have so you have to use texture, ebb and flow, groove and performance to make a song work for an audience.
I have worked "DAWless" for 40 years. I love gear and tactile experience. Yes, I will record to Soundforge and then arrange and clean up my jams using Acid. I messed around with Reason, Ableton and FL studio on occasion long ago, but the songs I made were crap, they lacked any feeling.
I know most people nowadays use Ableton and I am jealous that they get great results. Sure is easier to play live with a laptop and controller than 20 pieces of hardware.
Wow soundforge and acid, I remember those! Spent most of my teenage years making remixes on these softwares 😄 I had the hacked version as I could not even afford that back then!
right on, thank you for sharing!
and awesome music too :)
Thank you, appreciate the kind words!! 🙏
well said 🙏
This whole video could have been summarized in one statement. "Be a musician, not a programmer."
I use Reaper as my DAW of choice. I do everything via computer keyboard. But I also have a Yamaha PSRE463 keyboard hooked up to my computer. I use the sounds and midi capabilities of my keyboard to start with. Then I branch out into third party VSTs and sound effects. I feel at home with the sounds and midi capabilities
of my PSRE463 keyboard. And it does limit me in someway. And then if I don't like the sounds of my keyboard for a certain part, then I move into VSTs to help with that. I think the problem is, with all the cool stuff out there, sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. And that in turn, causes us to choke on our ideas. And I am certainly guilty
of this myself. So just starting slow and simple before branching out if need be, is a better way to go about making your compositions.
thx for sharing your worthy insights
Thanks for watching!
This adds a whole new perspective in music production. I will definitely consider a more kinesthetic approach. Thanks for your "Random Noise". :)
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for checking it out 😊
I just got an launchcontrol xl to add it to my launchpad, yesterday i had a jam session with both of them and really experienced what you are saying. And now YT gives me this video 😅.
I think it will really work for me
haha the wonders of YT algorithm 😄 glad this was useful!
Great video and concept, well explained
Thank you, I appreciate the kind words! 🙏
"Whatever works for you is the best" is the one thing I can agree on in this video :)
I'll take it 🤝
great vid!! thanks much.
Thank you!
Yes. i realized similar things and adjusting my workflow now also to be more recording the track and modulation live. its more fun and sounds more interesting
Definitely more fun and interesting!
You are correct ✅
The thing that helps me is not having time. It focuses the mind. And having mixdowns and listening to them to the point that i really want to make changes to the arrangement.
Yooo I've been stuck with this for years and sort of going through it right now. I just couldn't understand why I can't make music the same way I used to when I was working on my mpc or slow as windows 95 or 7 with all its limitation. Now listening to your explanation makes more sense to me
Glad this was useful and yeah man, the struggle is real!
Exactly! same experience - that's why I love to start with my Electribe EMX (which I bought 2010) and add some analog sequences which I play on top and record. Most of my tracks which I really like were created with some live playing parts.
Electribe EMX is a legend gear! I hope they will revive that thing again at some point
Weirdly, today was the first time I thought more like this and used session view in Ableton + hit record. I tried to treat making a track like Dj-ing (once I had enough good ingredients ready). Then hours later watched this and I think this is very true. Thanks for all the great content 😊
Thanks for watching! Session view in Ableton Live is amazing for jamming ideas and recording into the arrangement!
Congratulations! You just reinvent the wheel! 😅🤣
I did a "less is more" thing on my last project. Kept it to about 3 VST instruments and 2 effects suites.
Album turned out much better. I've kept that mindset going forward... not saying I won't look at new things though! :)
How can we not look at new things, right?! haha and congrats on getting that album!
True. One way I solve it, is I still play DAW, but only one hardware synth. With only one “sound” to make different part of the song. Otherwise, yes, it’s too easy to make full track by copy/paste, and it stays one looooong idea forever.
Same goes if I play DAW and single sw plug-in but treat it as a hw synthesizer.
One easy trick to turn off a screen, play blind one another computer (I keep work computer screen on, music computer is different, an only accessible thru push or controller). Or just put another window on top of the DAW 😊
These are some good tricks! never thought about playing while the screen is turned off lol
This is some good advice. I only have one drum machine, headphones and that's my studio. I start with a loop (kick, bass or hi-hat) and just about 16 steps in all of them. I have to make it work there (experimenting patterns I like or ideas) and it works. I extend my steps so I can add some variation and sometimes I leave them like that. It drives a message I have for that track.
You have put it so well, make a loop and try to expand it. Thank you.
It's crazy how true this is! I remember playing this game on PC called CokeMusic like 20 years ago, where you could create a virtual character and make music using only their one shots in their mixer, and you could only make 1 minute instrumentals that you could perform to other people in the game. It sounds weird but I feel like I was better at making music when I was kid playing that game than I am now with a DAW lol It frustrates me because I know I have good ideas, but every time I open up a DAW, I'm back to going blank and stuck. Great video, I'm gonna try using my Maschine MK3 more instead of FL Studio and see how it goes. Thank you!
Good ideas. Another thing you can try is take elements of a DAW track and bring them into a sampler to remix/rework. This has worked well form me when a DAW idea gets stale but there's still good elements. I recently constructed a DAWless set up and it's really fun. I start the ideas outside of the DAW and then import them to finish the track.
There is a lot of truth in what you say. Back in the analog days when my band was in the studio a song had to be completed and mastered in 1 to 2 hours. Everything was done with one or two takes. Overdubs were minimal. Studio time was expensive. 45 years later it is amazing how vibrant the songs still sound.
Great advice to consider laying out some constraints or limitations. I also agree that jamming out with hardware and assigning certain parameters on a controller is a lot more organic and fun at the end of the day. You can play your automations live in real time as well as play certain keys and drum rhythms live. I produced strictly in a DAW and then started rethinking hardware. ✌️🇨🇦
Exactly!
So true. Even in recording session i trying to get rid of computer too. Computer makes recording lifeless too
This is a point that’s made often in the community. I feel another perspective is to not always look for something that „needs to“. Because imo this is really the virus in music production. We always need something else, plugin, hardware, better monitors and better ideas, and of course a better workflow.
I think what we really „need“ is to learn to stay mentally on track. With all that gear floating around, we get so used to some sort of instant gratification and an easy way to distract ourselves from the challenge at hand. We all know and love, to a point of chasing after, these moments when inspiration strikes. But inspiration is not dependent on outward factors but on inner creative spirit. Of course, a sense of exploration is much more inspiring than a sense of pressing sameness. But I remember when I started out with Bitwig just exploring and being endlessly inspired. Nowadays it‘s not like that anymore. Has Bitwig changed or is it me? Of course only my mind. Bitwig has only gotten more inspiring. So why do I not explore anymore? Because I think that I am limited.
We always look for some sort of solution on the outside for the „problem“ that our mindset is in a greedy state of wanting better conditions (often this translates to more control) and too lazy to find a creative solution! We want to own the process! We want to own creativity, we want the formula.
But by satisfying this desire for better conditions in whatever way - workflow, speaker, VSTs, knowledge - we move away from the spirit of creativity. We condition ourselves to be ever more dependent on having this and knowing that. For the mind it feels like „yay I got the synth/headphones/xyz so I got the music“. But the spirit looks more and more at the screen like you do in the beginning of the video.
While I do appreciate creativity being shared, I feel like the music production community is often much more tapping into a collective desiring of that sweet state of flow, but instead of working on ourselves, we shift and shift and shift the blame, completely overthinking it and trying to find „the solution“. I don‘t believe there is any other solution than learning to detach from immediate results and from the strong identification with the entire process, and learning to in a meditative way give space to creativity and let it flow without demand or expectation.
Art is not only a kiss by the muse, it is a constant confrontation with oneself. To learn to stick with it and not be discouraged because something at first sounds bad is what I think is a central point many of us (I don‘t take myself out) need to learn.
Sorry for long post 🍌
You wrote that beautifully and your way of thinking touched a nerve in me. I really agree with what you are suggesting here, and I feel it on myself.
We are living in a world that bas become accustomed to the idea of distractions. And we spend most of the time seeking solutions outside ourselves while the answers are probably inside, just like you were saying.
I believe that this goes beyond art and music making, and also related in a philosophical and spiritual way to are chase of happiness.
Thank you for sharing that profound thinking and for the good reminder to look inside 🙏
100% to this video! I have been trying for many years to write a track in arrangement view. But when I go into sessions view, and jam with the music, it feels way more real to me. I really struggle in arrangement view. I was a Dj for many years, and creating something as it's playing feels like it gives the track way more energy. thanks for this video, it's just what I needed.
Session view does feel more like playing! Thanks for watching 🙏
Wise !
Great video! I can definitely relate. I tried to produce music only with hardware, and to be honest I much prefer the tactile feeling of turning knobs on a synth, and muting and unmuting parts on my drum machine. But from a producer standpoint my music sounded very repetitive and lt wasn't really telling a story. I am now, working on producing a track only with software in my DAW, and while it doesn't have the same vibe as the hardware, it is pretty hard to beat!
Thank you! and thanks for sharing. What matter eventually is what works best for you and only you, and if you are happy and satisfied with your workflow than no reason to change what works!
Thanks, I always need new ideas to combat this. I've actually been planning my melodies from whistling more recently which gives me the forced control of needing breath.
Thanks for watching! I am jealous in your ability to whistle, I can barely make a sound when trying to haha
I like the way you are thinking. With Ableton I have using this way for years. Recording the track while using the mute button bringing in different sounds on 8, 16, 32. This way you get a completely different track which sounds more live. I also use the Akai Mp40 and it’s great for recording automation while you’re playing the track. Great video.
Thank you and thanks for watching! 🙏
It used to be the case that musicians played an instrument like guitar or piano. They wrote music playing the instrument. The DAW was just used to RECORD the song that was created on the instrument. You rediscovered this.
True. I even started to learn how to the play the piano a couple of years ago, and I do feel the difference it makes on how I approach things
This is a great topic! I'm a guitarist who uses Garageband and I often get caught in the loop monotony when I get lazy and just use virtual instruments. I've been trying to figure out a way to make my productions less "perfect" and give them more of the human feel and I think when I do more with the guitar, that helps break out of the robotic nature of using somebody else's loops. So, I'm still trying to find that happy medium and your video will help me stay focused more on that. If everyone is doing the same thing, nothing really stands out.
Thanks for checking it! 🙏 It sounds like you are getting closer to your ideal workflow, so keep doing your thing!
Treating my virtual setup like it was a physical one has always helped me. One great advice I got in a music shop when I started getting some gear and software was to just buy Logic Express, which didn’t have most of the fancy plugins from Studio (remember when Logic was a small or huge box ?) and get two Arturia synths instead, and I got the ARP and Jupiter. Well since then I got Logic Pro and the whole V Collection but I always try to start with the idea that I’m in a physical studio with a finite number of available tracks and I only have a bunch of these synths lying around. Reason is great for that too.
I'm still a bit inexperienced in producing but I've always had a love for DAWLESS. Currently I only work with my groovebox. The live performance brings more life to the music and more joy in making music.
My workflow is to get a idea on my synths and record a sequence or melody into my daw. From there on I start to expent my idea, rerecord and rerecord a 1000 times, make midi files, record that, arrange my track and work on details. So you have the intuitive workflow from your limited gear and the endless options from your daw. Works perfect for me
That sounds like a great workflow you made into a successful formula to repeat like a classic song writing 👍
Thank you, very interesting! Now I finally understand why I like Bitwig so much. Because it makes the workflow that you described so easy, e.g. using a MIDI controller to control various aspects and you have like „global macros“ where you can control parameters of multiple tracks with a single knob.
Interesting, maybe I should check out Bigwig one day, never used it before. thanks for watching!
That’s why I ended up making sound design stuffs than making music. If I ended up making several sound in one session and like it enough and think it might fell under the same art direction, I’ll just started with some of the cool sounds to make a music. I dont have hardwares or instruments in my hands now so that’s the only way that amuses me to making music. Other trick is I change DAWs. I know it’s handy to learn new DAW but each DAW has its different workflow that forces you to see the music making in another perceptive. Now I’m using bitwig and the nature of bitwig forces me to do more sound design and that makes me inspiring to start a song from cool sounds I made.
These are good tips! thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!
I'm the opposite- I've come alive with DAWS. I found having hardware, cables, mixers/recorder clunky and uninspiring. On the DAW I usually just start with one or two elements, then build from there.
Because youre a sound designer, and video author is performer. These are two basic pruduction modalities. I would also guess you are good at other arts and designs too
Time to manually rewire our brains. Between the video and comments, there is real game changing advice here. Thanks!
♥️ Thanks for checking it out!
True you have to try working different ways, with midi or without etc, moment thinking and faster getting to the point and later the technical details
I think you have a point here. 👍
That's a good point, I usually do things on my own and just share it after. Maybe I should consider that 👍
I'm just getting back into producing after a 20 year hiatus. I was often facing the scenario you describe and thinking back, my most memorable tracks were ones where I had left the most to performance. Getting back into it now, I'll be looking at ways to highlight that aspect. Cheers.
🍻
Some tactility is good,keeps you
Connected😊
Totally!