What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By n4l Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:06 pm
For me, it's recognizing a good sample, then it's the drum pattern.
Last few months I've been trying to improve my drum flows and figuring out what kind of hi hat pattern fits the sample, what kind of kick, snare..

I don't know how to explain it but you just have to own good ears for finding the groove. And many hours of practice every day.

Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By m56p87 Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:51 pm
I always have to remind myself, especially when building samples. To not just make 1000 lead sounds. But make samples to fill supporting roles in my tracks as well. Same goes for choosing samples to go in a song (I make that collage type bs).

I'm down with this thread, cut through all the "oh no, I make hits all day everyday with no problems!" bullshit. +10

But the biggest problem I run into to staring shit from a zero point. Sitting down at that empty machine and start a track from nothing. My mom is a writer and taught me a cool trick though; when I'm working something the day before or whenever, I'll start the next song before I quit for the day. So if I made a few tracks, Ill put together a 4 piece kit/save it/then I'm not staring at a blank slate when I sit down the next day. Even If end up deleting the initial starting program its a lot easier for me to just sit down and get going.

Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By m56p87 Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:12 pm
szr wrote:@m56p87
If you have trouble starting a song, is it not a hint that you're not in the best mood to express yourself musically/emotionally at that moment.. (or maybe you are just not happy with your setup?)
I never force it anymore, maybe you feel differently about it.


No man I love making music and making tracks, once I get going I go all day. It has a lot more todo with my synesthesia. Also I know lots of artists and musicians that have trouble sitting down at a blank piece of paper, blank canvas etc.

About my synesthesia, I usually make tracks visually in my head with color etc.. It's ALOT easier for me to build off a few colors/shapes already there rather than starting from a blank abyss. The best way I can describe it is; imagine your an interior designer and a client asks you to design a room. It would be a lot easier for that designer to have an already constructed room and put stuff in it to compliment the architecture, color, shapes etc..than it would be for a designer to also design the room/building itself which would have infinite possibilities and infinite configurations. For me personally it can just overwhelm me at first.
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Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By n4l Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:58 pm
I'm down with this thread, cut through all the "oh no, I make hits all day everyday with no problems!" ****. +10


Yeah man, sometimes it can be frustarating being alone with all the negative feelings of yourself not being capable of doing something, thinking that all the other artists out there have zero problems and everything goes smooth.
I'm not saying that I'm in for someone else, or I'm in hurry to become something, none of that.

But if you're even a little bit passionate about music it can be frustarating, especially as a newcomer. Hard work still pays off at the end of the day.

Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By m56p87 Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:11 pm
^yeah man I agree, if you are even a little bit passionate about making music at any
level you have creative/technical blocks to overcome. I find music making for me is finding balance between being passive in situations where your music enters new territory/challenges and going with the flow while also maintaining a clear direction in my own mind. Its a balance I'm constantly adjusting. I think the difference is not that people who are passionate about music making dont run into problems I think it's that they enjoy the challenge of overcoming them while learning new and interesting shit. While someone who isn't passionate it about it just sees it as another roadblock they don't want to deal with. A somewhat gross generalization, but this is a pretty "abstract" subject to discuss to begin with. It's just what I have run into through my experiences.

When I first started I had a lot friends who wanted to start producing as well. They would always ask "dude, how can you sit there all day making music". I thought it was obvious "because it's fun as ****!". They also had this idea that they would learn enough so at some point it would eventually become fun later on, and they could go on auto pilot and shit gold nuggets.
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Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By Lampdog Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:17 pm
m56p87 wrote:I always have to remind myself, especially when building samples. To not just make 1000 lead sounds.



szr wrote:you're not in the best mood to express yourself musically/emotionally at that moment..


This is EXACTLY what it is for me. Difference is I recognize it and just turn off my stuff. I move around the house and do something else (non musical). You might not recognize it but your unconscious creative self does, it won't let you, move the **** on and stop loitering :lol:
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Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By n4l Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:21 pm
I totally agree with you.
I think I was in a little hurry too when I started but I like to look at it as a beginner's frustaration and the feeling when you get MPC in front of you and you're like :hmmm: What the **** should I do and why I can't get this thing to work like many others??

The overcoming problems thing is something that I can really relate to, and weirdly it has become one of the things that keep me doing this.
The feeling of getting hang of something and then succeeding is like crack.
When looking back and realizing your growth. It is something so addictive.
It's a musical journey.

Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By m56p87 Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:24 pm
n4l wrote:I totally agree with you.
I think I was in a little hurry too when I started but I like to look at it as a beginner's frustaration and the feeling when you get MPC in front of you and you're like :hmmm: What the **** should I do and why I can't get this thing to work like many others??

The overcoming problems thing is something that I can really relate to, and weirdly it has become one of the things that keep me doing this.
The feeling of getting hang of something and then succeeding is like crack.
When looking back and realizing your growth. It is something so addictive.
It's a musical journey.


**** yeah dude, it's like you feel yourself leveling up!
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Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By crossings Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:38 pm
yeah... i remember years ago when i bought my first MPC and would just kinda stare at it for the first few days, feeling kinda intimidated in it's presence or something :lol: ...fast-forward to now being able to pound out a beat on it from scratch in about 5 minutes... and i still have only scratched the surface as far as all the JJOS features... there are still plenty of new skills i can pick up along the way as well... there ain't nothing like this MPC sh!t for me... i only wish i'd got a sampler sooner in life. :smoker:

Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By Clint Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:32 pm
Being bothered to finish tracks/ ideas, track them out and mix them down.

I've admittedly moved to buying/ selling MPC's recently, at least now I make some good money out of this and have the opportunity to **** with different machines at will. I take great pleasure from turning unwanted/ damaged samplers into dream machines and seeing them go to a good home. It's also cool meeting some of you guys as I have done.

Still waiting to produce an album/ set of my own after all these years...I'll do it one day.

Most of the dopest beats I ever made were not even saved.
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Re: What's the hardest thing in music production for you?

By peterpiper Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:50 pm
clint246clint wrote:Being bothered to finish tracks/ ideas, track them out and mix them down.

I've admittedly moved to buying/ selling MPC's recently, at least now I make some good money out of this and have the opportunity to **** with different machines at will. I take great pleasure from turning unwanted/ damaged samplers into dream machines and seeing them go to a good home. It's also cool meeting some of you guys as I have done.

Still waiting to produce an album/ set of my own after all these years...I'll do it one day.

Most of the dopest beats I ever made were not even saved.



+1
feel absolutly the same and I also know that ONE DAY I wake up and the postman will hand me a box of fresh 12" vinly with my tracks on it :)

I also have problems to focusing too much on sound before mixing (filter this and that while in programming a beat etc) or beeing unable to focus on music making because of things like the mpc-forum :(

Another thing I hate is sample management. I always wanted to build up a well sorted library of samples but I know for sure I will never get this shit sorted the way I wanted because its already too much.

peace
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