cleansocks wrote:- " I'd chop up, automate some filters... or something to your chorus and bass... it needs some surprise and movement... stutters... filter gates... anything"
when you say automate filters, I'm not quite sure how to do that.
So I forget which MPC you are on... or maybe never knew? At any rate, on all the ones I have experience with, you absolutely can record the Q-Link parameters.
On the Live/X/One... it's a bit obtuse, mostly because there is *so* many options for Q-Links... but I'll just assume this is what you have and if you've got something different then maybe somebody else can chime in. On the MPC you can hold down the Q-LINK button, and select the mode you want (I usually go for PROGRAM, but PAD can be what you want if you're looking to only change parameters for a specific pad), and then hit Q-LINK EDIT. This opens up a menu that allows you to assign parameters for each Q-Link to just about anything you want. So if you've got an LP Filter effect on your program, select Insert 1 (or whichever), and set parameter to filter.
Now as long a you change that Q-Link it will change that parameter in the effect. You can extend this to an insane degree into quite a few other parameters. At any rate... from the MAIN screen, you'll want to make sure the top right icon that is green with three dots and a R, is changed to red with an W... this lets you know that you can (R)ead or (W)rite parameters. in Write mode, when you record while your song is playing it will record the parameter change events for you. Practice this a lot, and you should get a hang of recording parameters. It's easy to get carried away... so keep it simple.
cleansocks wrote:besides that Idk how to make effects kick in at certain times within the sequence other than the Effects page
Yeah this kind of sucks on the MPC Live/X/One... you can however look for FX that have Dry/Wet, and pop them 0% to 100%. Or... and most people might suggest this... use send/returns to mix in an effect, or you can use Sub Mixes to have something applied fully to an effect. Just depends how you want to crack it.
I'd offer up more thoughts here... but I think it'll get you lost in something you should probably be keeping simple and just focus on parameter automations...
cleansocks wrote:which at least for drill is all occupied to STEREO LINK so my 808s are hearable.
I know I'm butchering what you wrote... but uhm... there are plenty of reasons your 808s may be unbearable... but I'll focus on two things.
* The speakers you are playing them on my not be able to reproduce them
* The rest of your mix may be too high
Honestly... for the first bullet, this is why you want to listen to your track on as many sound systems as possible to get a sense for how others may hear it. for the second bullet... well you don't have infinite headroom for your track, so sometimes you just need to lower the rest of your audio tracks to make room for what you want to shine.
cleansocks wrote:This is one of the biggest problems I sensed when Making this and I tried loading so many different sounds and mixing them together and I Felt the others were too sporadic so I settled on this..
Less is more... a sample used once is probably a mistake. A sample used strategically but sparingly can really draw the listener in. If used this way... you can swap samples around in your program and just try different things out without having to record more tracks.
cleansocks wrote:even listening to random youtubers They start out with a simple *click* *click* *clickclick* *click* hi hat or snare or something and they add maybe a cowbell or something to it and it sounds fire.
The artist is almost always the first, and harshest critic of their own music. I bet if you asked most of those Youtubers what they did not like about the track they made you'll get a long list of things you'd never think of.
Similarly... if you think somebody is dropping fire with a hi hat, snare, and cow bell (I know for example purposes, but still)... then you should pay attention to what and how they are doing it. I'd suggest you go check out CharlesRandolph's 264k Challenge and see what folks put together... hell put something together yourself. It'll force you out of your comfort zone and get you thinking about things like sound design, effects etc... instead of worrying about which one sound out of my ten thousand sounds belongs here.
For real though, anybody who's been doing this for any length of time can take a sample and twist it into something you'd think "okay, I know the sample came from a hi hat, but damn that sounds like a kick"... but this requires understanding the dynamics of the instruments you want to recreate, what is core to it, and where you can flourish.
cleansocks wrote:Idk if its the choice of sounds or my poor timing but I just don't have the flows, the rhythym to put down a cool drum pattern or something. I always feel that it doesn't sound right or it sounds too simple and I take out the sound or change some settings within the program.. IT bugs the shit out of me cause its a drum pattern, It can't be that hard to lay down a simple pattern
I feel like you're fretting over something that just comes from practice and thinking about it. If you want to master something you're talking about hundreds of hours to be decent, and thousands of hours for it to be natural. How many hours have you sunk into playing out rhythms? If you tell me you've done your 10k hours I'd probably tell you it is time to find another hobby, but if you're in the tens or hundreds then decide if it is for you, or you'll go back to working with loops or whatever. Plus... maybe now is not the time for you, you can always come back to it later.
I will say though, less is more. Practice playing out patterns like KHSH or KHHHSHHH, which sure is super simple, but it'll build up some muscle memory so you can then build to KHKHSHHHKHHKSHSH or whatever...
cleansocks wrote:All in all, great advice. Especially A/B and leaving lots of room between my sequences to mess with other sounds, instead of trying to fill up that time at once.
Leaving silence is dope too... force yourself to do it sometime.
cleansocks wrote:I got one more question to ask: how long does it take you to get something you think sounds musically good?
Well I finished off #Jamcember and #Jamuary (if you even care you can find them in the forums)... doing a track a day. Just out of sheer necessity to do 62 tracks (plus Beat Battles, Netflips, and some other non forum stuff)... I had to get really good at knowing where I was starting and how much time I would dedicate to working on a track for the day. Overall... I'd say 1-2 hours max for each track.
I blogged about both
#jamcember and
#jamuary.
At any rate... the "secret" was knowing what I knew well enough, practicing, and giving myself time to streamline processes before moving on to learning some new processes. Instead of trying to throw in the entire kitchen sink of tricks I'd decide which thing I want to focus on. Plus, knowing when to throw in the towel and just say "this stinks and there is nothing I can do about it helps". If you decided to go through the tracks I posted each day you'll see there is a bell curve of "pretty good" to "yeah okay" to "this is garbage". This is natural... and what CharlesRandolph was getting at... though I don't make money off of this, so I can handle posting hot garbage, because while it might reflect poorly on me... I don't have a music career to worry about.
cleansocks wrote:I mean how long does it take for you to say okay I put in my melody, my drums , my x, my y, my whatever, this sounds like a beat.
In "track a day mode"... probably 2-5 minutes each... more towards 5-10 minutes if I'm making multiple sections. But remember, I had to move into an efficiency mode. Today... without the pressure, I'm happy to noodle around for 30-60 minutes and just zen out.
cleansocks wrote:when I see people making beats in 30 minutes, 15 minutes, it gets nerve wracking cuz Its like wtf am I not doing that these guys are?
Remember, Youtube is *produce* and *fabricated*... so you have no idea how long somebody has practiced ahead of time to make the one take look good. Even a fifteen minute warm up exercise can get you in the mood, juices flowing, and ready to go. So while you're trying to figure out how they got the kick and snare to sound tight so quick, it is entirely possible that they picked those out ahead of time. On the flip side... they also likely have been doing it long enough that they've developed an ear to know if they need a touch of filter, pitch shifting or something to sound better... all things you might not have developed for yourself.
cleansocks wrote:I feel like Ispend too much time thinking about how the beat should sound or if It could sound better rather than just hitting pads... like i'll spend 30 minutes just tuning my pads to sound exactly right..
Yeah I hear you... but there is "sounds right" and "sounds right"... both sound and look exactly the same... but one is about commitment to perfection and the other is about inability to commit. Honestly, two sides of the same coin... personally it sounds like you should toss the coin for now... it's a bad penny and will show up again later. Just set some commitments to yourself... wether it is doing a track a day no matter what, or signing up for some beat battles... whatever it is... challenge yourself in a small area at a time, and you will get there. No mountain is insurmountable if you can take it one step at a time, but very few people can do it in one giant leap, especially without a lot of help and support.
type of attitude. Online there are lots of haters: new head, old heads, dead heads, and no heads. But online there's so much information now. Everything is right there. Free software, free sounds, free templates, free teachers. Everything is one click away. 
But if you want it, put your middle finger up and step out with best music you can produce. 
