By The Jackal
Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:19 am
Mostly exercises in mixing & arrangement; I typically work where A) mixing/sound quality doesn't matter and B) there's lack of arrangement in a traditional sense...so when it came time to start make actual "songs" with good mixdowns, my mixing & arrangement skills were a bit underdeveloped.
The two things I set out to accomplish this year and did: learn to develop ideas into tracks as fast as possible, create at least a master worthy mix of anything I work on. Not able to master my own material though...my gear isn't good enough.
'Boyds' was first time I ever gain staged correctly, matched levels, mixed, etc.,. I guess arrangement/composition-wise I find it boring now though because I cared & focused more on mixing, panning, making it sound good on headphones, etc.
'Avtoluv' was a short 2 bar idea that I wanted to see how quickly I could turn into an entire track, but outside of gain staging & mixing, I really didn't give a shit about the mix; I wanted to go from idea to audio as fast as possible, only took a few hours on hardware.
I found I can arrange a track quickly now and have mixdowns/mixes under control, so I feel the only thing holding me back is lacking in the 'ear candy' department and only because I find it sooooo boring & tedious to add bits n' pieces when I'm mostly done with a project; honestly i don't like the 'ear candy' stage because at that point I feel the track is an obstacle getting in the way of me starting on the next one. Everything I work on is now a stepping stone to me progressing & honing my skills, so I want to cut it down like an enemy and challenge the next opponent.
The two things I set out to accomplish this year and did: learn to develop ideas into tracks as fast as possible, create at least a master worthy mix of anything I work on. Not able to master my own material though...my gear isn't good enough.
'Boyds' was first time I ever gain staged correctly, matched levels, mixed, etc.,. I guess arrangement/composition-wise I find it boring now though because I cared & focused more on mixing, panning, making it sound good on headphones, etc.
'Avtoluv' was a short 2 bar idea that I wanted to see how quickly I could turn into an entire track, but outside of gain staging & mixing, I really didn't give a shit about the mix; I wanted to go from idea to audio as fast as possible, only took a few hours on hardware.
I found I can arrange a track quickly now and have mixdowns/mixes under control, so I feel the only thing holding me back is lacking in the 'ear candy' department and only because I find it sooooo boring & tedious to add bits n' pieces when I'm mostly done with a project; honestly i don't like the 'ear candy' stage because at that point I feel the track is an obstacle getting in the way of me starting on the next one. Everything I work on is now a stepping stone to me progressing & honing my skills, so I want to cut it down like an enemy and challenge the next opponent.
MPC 1000 w/jjOS, Elektron Octratrack, Korg EX-8000 & MS-20 Mini, Behringer Neutron, E-mu E6400 Ultra, circuit bent Roland TR 505, Mackie 1604 VLZ3, Electrix Filter Factory, delays & compressors