Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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By The Jackal Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:33 am
how & when do you handle these things?

i've got my composition, arrangement, & mixing down...but by then, i'm basically done with the track (and i don't mean "done" as in it's finished, but as in "meh, i'm so over this shit and want to work on a new track now...") and i think it's mostly because to me, this is the least fun part of the process and i don't find it all that creative or engaging. which sucks, because these little things are basically what brings a track to life.

i don't know if i just need to reframe my thinking and view those steps as essential to the track making process or if it's something i need to practice more until it becomes second nature and i just do it out of force of habit. i mean i'm definitely lacking in this department because it's either a) something i've left no energy for or b) something i haven't gotten good at yet.

it just sucks because i can come up with all the different parts of a song easily, but making them flow into one another or sound unique from one another is always the part i hate getting around to, so i end up resorting to something easy, like drum fills/mutes on the last few bars, maybe a filter here & there and i'm beginning to feel like i need to step outside of my comfort zone or put in the extra effort.

do you struggle with this step/process? do you have any go to techniques? is this something you integrate into the track right away or do you lay down the brunt of it and then sprinkle in little bits here & there?
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By NearTao Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:07 pm
Well... are you in it for the fun, or as a career?

If you're doing all this for fun, then do what you find interesting... it's not like your family is depending on finishing up a song.

On the other hand, if it is a job... then yeah... either suck it up and get good/efficient at it... or bite the bullet and pay somebody else to do it.

Honestly though... my advise would be to do a track a day challenge for a month. Get back to basics, and figure out where you want to push yourself to grow. If you fail or get sick of something you've only "wasted" an hour or two... but this can also help you streamline your process and get out of your own head on stuff that *really* doesn't matter.
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By dabmeister Thu Feb 10, 2022 4:46 pm
I think it's determined by your ability to visualize "in your head" what you want. Now I'm not sure what your skill set consists of, but if you can play out what's in your head vs piecing together samples, it makes a huge difference.

The later will take some time and effort until it itself becomes second nature. All of this is an art form that requires practice & patience. It all depends on how hungry your are to devote your time to the craft.
By DokBrown Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:20 pm
I’m in it for fun, I work a track until bangs out my truck system.

Getting it ready for “radio play” is a long arduous process
I rec a musical partner to aid you in this process
By terry towelling Wed Feb 23, 2022 12:15 am
the only way I can do good transitions is to play the track parts live for the final composition -- muting and unmuting pads while recording into the daw.

maybe also try going harder with the tom/snare fills, whistles and drop outs etc at the end of sections. and always put a crash on the one of a new section. also, vary the fills, don't use the same pattern all the time.
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By Lampdog Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:31 am
terry towelling wrote:….. and always put a crash on the one of a new section.


This, is, real talk right here

:lol:
By DokBrown Fri Feb 25, 2022 9:59 pm
eight_trx wrote:take your tracks and bounce em to audio. chop up the audio and add fx, resample etc for your sparkle.



not a bad idea at all
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By v00d00ppl Sat Feb 26, 2022 1:10 am
One thing I do is set a limit to the project in your DAW. Try to build a song with a 75 bar limit and 24 audio track limit.

Keep playing your project from start to finish and you will realize when it’s time to transition between instruments. Notice how I said « instruments », if you can visualize each track is an instrument then you can understand when to back off on certain sound elements.

For fills go online and watch drumming courses. A couple months back I finally got a TD50k2 V Drums set and am continuing taking online courses through drum channel. I picked up fills easily because you can learn from observation the next important piece you pick up from drum tutorials is the philosophy of doing a fill, once you have the philosophy down you will understand when you need it in your song.
By HouseWithoutMouse Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:53 pm
If you get bored by the time you think you'd add fills and other "big picture" elements, how about doing them first? Start by making the song structure with fills, risers, crashes and whatever in place. Mark the areas like intro, verse, chorus, bridge. Add a crash cymbal every 16 or 32 bars or something, and a one-bar rise before it. After the "macro structure" is done, then start building a song over it. If you can't think of a good structure, steal it from an existing hit song.

I'll have to try that on the Force. Start by building a full song Arrangement that has some kind of control stuff on a track, but nothing to control with it yet. Control-changes for abstract descriptions... "intensity", "bang", "drum fill probability". This could make for a good project template? ;)