Ableton Forum

Oh how I love the Breaks, the many Houses, and even the occasional Techno or Trance. But when I sit down to write any of that it just ain't happening. I blame my parents for raising me on a steady diet of Barbra Streisand and Yanni which led me to rebel and listen to Slayer and my ultimate decent into Gothdom. None of this says future House music producer.

It sounds so simple and basic in my head as far as form and sounds but what comes out isn't hitting the mark. Is this a problem with anybody else? Does anybody else have a tempo ceiling they can't seem to push through? Do you ever feel retarded for not being able to produce the music that 18,000,000,000 other people can produce in their sleep? Do any of you 130+ BPM wizards have any advice or tips?

beats me wrote:Do you ever feel retarded for not being able to produce the music that 18,000,000,000 other people can produce in their sleep?

I feel that. big time.

thats why i love when people act like electronic music is easy to make.

nate_D wrote:thats why i love when people act like electronic music is easy to make.

there is alot of bad electronic music out there. and it's easy to make bad music. so the people that say "electronic music is easy to make" are simply thinking about the groovebox preset players of the world.

download the amen break
insert wav on chan 1
warp wav
insert livecut vst (from smart electronix)
ramp tempo up to 160bpm

BREAKCORE!!

mosca wrote:download the amen break
insert wav on chan 1
warp wav
insert livecut vst (from smart electronix)
ramp tempo up to 160bpm

BREAKCORE!!

entertaining for about 30 seconds or less. at first listen you're like "oh shit thats tight!" and then 30 seconds later you're like "ohhhh ok, it's totally freakin random... thats stupid"

she did and i do make slow house and it sounds good to me. maybe you shoud do what you want to do and not what the other 18.000 guys are doing?

entertaining for about 30 seconds or less. at first listen you're like "oh shit thats tight!" and then 30 seconds later you're like "ohhhh ok, it's totally freakin random... thats stupid"

yup, that's BREAKCORE!!!

try ramping it up to 190bpm and having 4 or five warped loops with follow actions - instant venetian snares

Johnisfaster wrote:

mosca wrote:download the amen break
insert wav on chan 1
warp wav
insert livecut vst (from smart electronix)
ramp tempo up to 160bpm

BREAKCORE!!

entertaining for about 30 seconds or less. at first listen you're like "oh shit thats tight!" and then 30 seconds later you're like "ohhhh ok, it's totally freakin random... thats stupid"

The geniuses are at it again.

what a joke. it takes atleast a year or two of production before you can start churning out tracks that you're going to get signed. i can't believe so many topics about "why don't i sound like sander k? i have all the software but my ch00ns sound basic. i've been producing for a month now what have i done wrong?". start producing...its the only way to get better. some tips i seem to repeat over and over:

1) finish all your tracks

2) learn from your mistakes

3) listen to more music

4) take breaks from your mixes and come back another time your problems will be more obvious

5) build a strong percussive groove..without it you wont have a backbone for the track.

6) master the synths you have before buying expensive new ones

7) stop whining and produce more...your lucky if you sign a track within a year of getting serious.

as a full-time producer be prepared to invest 20-hour days to get consistent results...hits aren't made overnight so keep at it!

9) its certainly a learning process and with each track you will find noticieable strides in quality.

10) it's debatable, but I'm of the school of thought that mastering correctly can make or break a track

now going back to another comment the original user made...as far as downtempo such as deep house and some of the latest acid-tech (for example), it's just as difficult to make these sort of tracks as it is to make trance, if not harder!

SPAWNmaster wrote:what a joke. it takes atleast a year or two of production before you can start churning out tracks that you're going to get signed.

What is this "signing" you speak of? There's no money in electronic music so people put their own shti out.

as far as downtempo such as deep house and some of the latest acid-tech (for example), it's just as difficult to make these sort of tracks as it is to make trance, if not harder!

lol

well find your advantages
i bet barbra streisand had lots of accomplished arangers around her
and guess what - you have them all in yur subconscious.
and slayer - well quite a sense of rhythm there!
thats your past and the fundamentals of your subconscious third ear.

but you can grow and extend it

say you currently resonate with an entirely new direction of music.
and that's like falling in love with a new person- you listen, you touch, you learn. spending some time with it you can understand something new, and this becomes your second nature.
if not - then it's probably just not yours

just enjoy what you do

1) finish all your tracks

2) learn from your mistakes

3) listen to more music

4) take breaks from your mixes and come back another time your problems will be more obvious

5) build a strong percussive groove..without it you wont have a backbone for the track.

6) master the synths you have before buying expensive new ones

7) stop whining and produce more...your lucky if you sign a track within a year of getting serious.

Cool as a full-time producer be prepared to invest 20-hour days to get consistent results...hits aren't made overnight so keep at it!

9) its certainly a learning process and with each track you will find noticieable strides in quality.

10) it's debatable, but I'm of the school of thought that mastering correctly can make or break a track

now going back to another comment the original user made...as far as downtempo such as deep house and some of the latest acid-tech (for example), it's just as difficult to make these sort of tracks as it is to make trance, if not harder!

Drink lots of coffee and red bull on those 20 hour days, I'm in the mastering #10 school of thought as well

Go get faced and see a good DJ

beats me wrote:Oh how I love the Breaks, the many Houses, and even the occasional Techno or Trance. But when I sit down to write any of that it just ain't happening. I blame my parents for raising me on a steady diet of Barbra Streisand and Yanni which led me to rebel and listen to Slayer and my ultimate decent into Gothdom. None of this says future House music producer.

It sounds so simple and basic in my head as far as form and sounds but what comes out isn't hitting the mark. Is this a problem with anybody else? Does anybody else have a tempo ceiling they can't seem to push through? Do you ever feel retarded for not being able to produce the music that 18,000,000,000 other people can produce in their sleep? Do any of you 130+ BPM wizards have any advice or tips?

I'm no pro in the industry by any means. I'm a hobby-ist, and also "new" to electronic music, however, you may actually find what I have to say a bit useful:

Don't define yourself or box yourself into a music genre. It is good to listen to music genres and "borrow" elements and styles from it, but what will make you truly unique and interesting, is when you throw your own mash-up of styles into your music. You are convincing yourself that since you really enjoy electronic music, then that is the music you should be making. And while I agree that it is good to have passion and love for whatever it is you are doing, why do you have to be an electronic music producer? (As far as the style goes, not the medium). Who knows? If you free your thinking enough, maybe you will be the forefather of a new sub-genre of electronic music? Just because your stuff doesn't sound like what everyone else's music sounds like (thank God), doesn't mean it sounds like shit. Go for what you know!