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Music Makers?
Hello, Music Makers.
What are you all working on? Any pieces/tracks you've created that you're particularly proud of? Any part of your process that warrants special mention? Any part of your process that is particularly dull?
Let it rip.
I've pretty much mastered "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" on ukulele. I've been working on getting better at reading music so that I can see a note on the staff and quickly know which note it is. I'm doing OK at that.
Sight-reading is definitely something guitarists are notoriously bad at and something I'd like to practice. Though, there was a point qute a few years ago where I was studying classical guitar and became somewhat proficient at it in that context.
I don't like plugging my music too much but since you're asking this cool question, here's a link to one song out of three that I posted last week as my first (solo) tracks ever! Brings me a lot of joy just to listen to it myself.
https://soundcloud.com/stoicdamc/heavything
I have some comments on the process that some people maybe can relate to or have dealt with on their own. It took me a loooong time to record these and post them on Soundcloud, let alone share them with others. I've always hated the sound of my voice and felt really uncomfortable hearing it. Particularly in trying to do hip-hop, I felt as though I didn't fit the sound and always felt as though others would call me out on some particular thing that I lack, especially doing an old-school sound. Despite telling myself this for a long time, it finally truly hit me not too long ago: I realized that I shouldn't worry about whether my sound fits into any mold (obvious, ik). I finally came to like my flow, and I'm particularly proud of the effort I put into my lyrics and rhyme schemes across all three tracks.
Thanks for posting this man! Anything that you wanted to share yourself?
It's always good to get comfortable with your voice! (Though, not necessarily complacent). You got some good producers you're working with.
I've created my fair share of music, but I don't want this post to come across as self-aggran...who am I kidding, of course I'll link some of my music!
Unfinished thing that I've been sitting on for a year that definitely needs some editing/additional sounds (maybe vocals, when I think of good words)
Another unfinished thing. Whipped his up last week. Wanted to explore a harsh, minimal techno sound. I definitely can work it some more.
Hey man, this stuff is pretty cool. I pride myself on being open-minded to other music genres but I've never really heard anything like this. Can you tell me more about what genre this is, what is your favorite part of it, and what the creative process is like? When I produce my own hip-hop instrumentals, I get excited when I get a nice melody going or fit a sample in nicely - but what might that equivalent be in this genre? It's super foreign to me but I'm diggin it. Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for the nice comments.
You know, it's funny...I was trying to think of a proper descriptor for some of the stuff I do and the best I could think of was "non-dance-focused electronic music." (Although that second track I posted is for sure more 'dance-focused')
Some stuff I do is more ambient/soundscape-y, as well. I just like playing with interesting timbres and rhythms. Four Tet and Baths are more head-bobby/dance-y, but I'd consider them to be inspiration - at least, soundwise. Steve Hauschildt, as well. This Oneohtrix Point Never album is probably closest to the sound of a lot of stuff I've produced.
And the specter of Steve Reich looms over nearly everything I do (about 12 and a half minutes in is some of my favorite music).
At least, for that style of music...whatever it may be called. I've tried my hand at hip-hop beats and I play guitar, too.
That's cool, thanks for answering. I'll add these to some of my work/study/chill lists of music to check out - always open to trying something new.
As a hip-hop producer/artist (if I dare call myself that), I think your sound would be interesting in a hip-hop setting. I regularly scavenge Soundcloud for weird and interesting beats to rap on, I think that makes it more fun and interesting than a more tried and true beat (despite my tracks all being classic boom bap ones, lol). In fact, I've been gearing up to collaborate with one of my close mates who makes electronic music, albeit it more trap/edm-y, in an effort to mix it up. Variety is the spice of life as they say. Plus, if you want to make a name then you've either got to be very good at the tried and true or doing be something unique.
Anyways... if you ever give hip-hop another go - maybe some spacey and ambient beats for an out-there type rapper, let me know. It'd be cool to hear what direction you take my favorite genre.
Check out Vince Staple's Big Fish Theory if you're looking for inspiration for some more 'out there' beats. I believe he was inspired by the Detroit techno scene for the production of that album. It's a pretty damn good one. Now that I think about it, his Summertime '06 has pretty interesting production, too.
Welp, now I gotta try my hand at beat production again!
bro, I like your taste. Vince Staples is up there for one of my top modern rappers imo. Loved Big Fish Theory, preferred Summertime '06 personally. His newest album, FM, was pretty cool too.
Anyone use collaboration software? Me and another member of my band both recorded/mixed our last album using Splice so that we could both version songs and not step on each others feet using dropbox or something. While it was super useful, we ran into a mountain of issues with it and it seems like their service is more geared towards sampling and plugins rather than the collaboration aspect. I'm surprised I can't find more services like it online, or maybe everyone just uses drop folders?
Bandlab may have what you're searching for.
Spotify recently acquired a site called Soundtrap that I've tried out. It has potential but is pretty elementary and doesn't work super well. Give it a shot if you want though.
I haven't done anything since about a year, since I'm playing guitar I'm making less music since it's easier and more pleasant to grab my guitar and play randomly that to work on the computer.
Here's a track I kinda like, it was a small challenge to make one using Fruity loops' 3x'Osc (the most basic synth in the software), and quite happy with the sound design and the result is appropriately wonky:
https://soundcloud.com/bouzeux/3x-osc
Over the years I tend to prefer my wonkier tracks, because the one I thought were cool make my cringe more.
Hey, that's pretty good. I always think I'll cringe at earlier work, but more often than not I think "Hmm...this is pretty good. I probably can't do it again."
Drummer here. Believe it or not, my favorite project from the past couple of years is the soundtrack to a puppet show based on the British children's book Elmer The Patchwork Elephant. The show played in Toronto last year and is now touring the UK.
Here's a commercial for the show with a snippet of the music.
My soundcloud is mostly just experiments and stuff, the last song I published was for a for-fun contest, but this contest has me actually working on stuff with the intent to complete it again, so that's a plus.
I sort of have an album written, but haven't been able to figure out how to make it work at all, so it's probably more of a mixtape sort of situation once I can figure out how to do it (which I've been trying for three or four years).
That's a pretty dope jam! Interesting contrast of placid pads + frenetic drumwork.
As far as putting out an album, are you trying to create tracks that are purposefully cohesive? Most things I put out are collections of things I've worked on in a certain time-period, ordered in a way that makes a bit of sense.
They were supposed to offer a sort of vibe as a collection, if that makes sense, but it might work more as a "this was what I did in <x> timeframe" sort of release.