Ableton Forum

MPGK wrote:

beats me wrote:Agreed as a general music point, but with electronica production (or over production) trumps just about every other aspect of the music. Looking at sheet music from electronica is hilarious.

...Aphex Twin is not what I mean by "over-produced", though.

You'd be hard pressed to find anybody on here that writes anything near that intricate. If you know of anybody please point me in that direction.

I get the "I suck at making music" moments when I'm making music. When I listen to stuff I've made in the past, I often think "Hey, that's actually not too shabby! I can't believe I did that!" It's when I get stuck trying to enforce some kind of output the negative vibes surface.

I like what I write, I also concede areas where I don't feel I'm a strong writer, or that I think others could do better.
My original intention with going into computer based production was to get rid of the rock band dynamic. Thing is after a few tracks I realized at least half of what I write is
written with a vocal track in mind, not the actual vocals, just the space in the song for vocals. Then drummers I knew got interested in my project, so I'm back to being in a band, I just eliminated melodic and initial songwriting competition that's all.

IMO if you write a ton of great loops but can't write an entire song, consider joining a band.
You immediately get collaborators with guitar, bass, drums vocals etc.
I think there's enough laptop producers on stage doing nothing with a projector as the only visual etc.
There aren't enough hybrid electronic / rock etc. bands out there though.

Machinesworking wrote:I like what I write, I also concede areas where I don't feel I'm a strong writer, or that I think others could do better.
My original intention with going into computer based production was to get rid of the rock band dynamic. Thing is after a few tracks I realized at least half of what I write is
written with a vocal track in mind, not the actual vocals, just the space in the song for vocals. Then drummers I knew got interested in my project, so I'm back to being in a band, I just eliminated melodic and initial songwriting competition that's all.

IMO if you write a ton of great loops but can't write an entire song, consider joining a band.
You immediately get collaborators with guitar, bass, drums vocals etc.
I think there's enough laptop producers on stage doing nothing with a projector as the only visual etc.
There aren't enough hybrid electronic / rock etc. bands out there though.

Hooking up with other people can be a great motivator in getting things done…unless you discover what you're all really motivated to do is get baked and/or hammered. I'm willing to bet that happens about 75% of time with the intention of putting a band together.

But also I think you can hit a creativity brickwall when you are doing everything yourself, which is something I don't think a lot of producers admit to themselves or others.

Make the next track better !!, I'm not very good, but that's a good excuse to load up live, complete a track with your current set of skill's and thrill's and let the next one, be just that little bit better.

For me I think?

Producership?
Musicianship?
or just plain old inspiration?

For me it's normally musicianship, to which I'm reading 'Music Theory for computer musicians' by Michael Hewitt and putting little tab's on the chapters and try to remember 'A little bit of theory do'es you good' every time a touch the controller, for me it's working..Slowly.

This is why I get a kick with writing film music. You just have to do it and do it fast and usually there's just no time to worry about whether it's a "masterpiece" or not, which is good for me because I tend to get wrapped up in chasing perfection with just about anything I create.

I just did the music for a short film (under 00:05:30) for a 100 hour film competition. Everything has to be done within that 100 hours, script, filming, editing, score, everything. Writing music on a deadline that's that tight can actually be exhilarating and very refreshing.

beats me wrote:

Machinesworking wrote:I like what I write, I also concede areas where I don't feel I'm a strong writer, or that I think others could do better.
My original intention with going into computer based production was to get rid of the rock band dynamic. Thing is after a few tracks I realized at least half of what I write is
written with a vocal track in mind, not the actual vocals, just the space in the song for vocals. Then drummers I knew got interested in my project, so I'm back to being in a band, I just eliminated melodic and initial songwriting competition that's all.

IMO if you write a ton of great loops but can't write an entire song, consider joining a band.
You immediately get collaborators with guitar, bass, drums vocals etc.
I think there's enough laptop producers on stage doing nothing with a projector as the only visual etc.
There aren't enough hybrid electronic / rock etc. bands out there though.

Hooking up with other people can be a great motivator in getting things done…unless you discover what you're all really motivated to do is get baked and/or hammered. I'm willing to bet that happens about 75% of time with the intention of putting a band together.

But also I think you can hit a creativity brickwall when you are doing everything yourself, which is something I don't think a lot of producers admit to themselves or others.

I know I personally thrive more inspiration and creativity wise, when it is a collective or a collaboration. Yeah, I might spend some solo time doing pre-programmining or tweaks and edits, but to have another person involved, is what adds the human element to computer music for me.

I don't suck at making music. The rest of the world sucks at liking it.

H20nly wrote:I don't suck at making music. The rest of the world sucks at liking it.

…is the right answer!

Yeah, right on, very true...!!

alex.the.forge wrote:

H20nly wrote:I don't suck at making music. The rest of the world sucks at liking it.

…is the right answer!

it is. Even so, I just finished mastering one of my tracks, improvised in a flash of brilliance, it is 6m 30s long. I like the way every bit of it sounds, but when I listen back to it it seems like it is the longest 6m 30s ever.

[edit] it is here http://soundcloud.com/utenzil/monad7