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Seems like in a digital environment you could supplement your gritty mix with stems that have nothing on the master bus to give the engineer all options. Even if the gritty mix serves as nothing but an indication of what you're shooting for and they recreate everything entirely from the stems, it's useful. If the gritty mix can be augmented by mixing back in the more dynamic stems here and there, fine. If there turns out to be no real use to providing the stems, also fine.
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Mar 8, 2020 15:42
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Three small questions about this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcD9ADx_Rh4) from the world's biggest dummy: - Why do the first 10 seconds remind me so much of a local news channel theme? - Would you describe the singing in the first 25 seconds as harmonizing? Is there a better term for what they're doing? It's so aurally pleasant to me, it's ridiculous; it's like someone is scratching an itch in my head. - How do they make that sound effect from 2:07 to 2:10 that is supposed to imply the sound of an incoming cannonball? It's really effective at conveying that. Thank you!
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Mar 10, 2020 23:51
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surf rock posted:Three small questions about this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcD9ADx_Rh4) from the world's biggest dummy: 1) it’s a similar sound to whatever soundfont they use on your local news, plus it’s a cadence where the bass goes V up to I which is often used in contexts where you’re supposed to feel inspired or brave which is usually the kinda fanfare news shows go for 2) yes and they’re doing it what I’d call sotto voce which means they’re deliberately doing it very soft and with a soft brush-y tone and texture that makes it extra pleasing. I’d google sotto voce stuff if you want more of the same, harmonizing isn’t specific enough. 3) idk that one I’m very much an old stuffy classical musician and that’s some kinda sampling stuff that I don’t understand either, I hope someone explains it to both of us 
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Mar 11, 2020 00:02
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surf rock posted:- How do they make that sound effect from 2:07 to 2:10 that is supposed to imply the sound of an incoming cannonball? It's really effective at conveying that. I do theatre work and have been getting into sound effects (by necessity; I’m a drummer and they’re often written in the drum book and played on a sample pad) and sound design (by curiosity and it being another income stream) and can at least confirm that yeah, that’s a “large object spinning through the air” effect
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Mar 11, 2020 00:37
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surf rock posted:- How do they make that sound effect from 2:07 to 2:10 that is supposed to imply the sound of an incoming cannonball? It's really effective at conveying that. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/cinematic/rise-hit/ for example. There are three things happening: the initial firing (noise through a long reverb), a bit of silence, the "flight" noise, and a sub bass rumble for the "impact" noise. By using a trapezoidal or square wave LFO on the volume of the sound and adjusting the rate over time (fast to slow), you get that "spinning massive piece of debris" kind of effect.
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Mar 11, 2020 01:28
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You all rock. Thank you!
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Mar 11, 2020 02:40
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Crossposted from the Guitar thread:Brettbot posted:Short version of this question: How much adjustment (forward to backward) do the saddles have on a Strat-tyle tremolo? Or, to put it another way, how close is the bridge line (i.e. the actual "scale length") to the trem block hole?
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Mar 20, 2020 01:30
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Are there any solid resources for learning songwriting out there? I'm reasonably ok at producing, I know my way around the DAW after a few years. I can mix OK. I know some degree of theory and have taken plenty of lessons etc. My challenge is that what I write is just not that interesting, at least not to my ear. There are hints of something good in there, but the process of taking it from a few chords and a melody into a track that sounds like something you would hear on the radio, something that would be both catchy and reflective of my personal influences.. that's brutal. Most Youtube tutorials are basically "songwriting is these 4 bro chords on an acoustic and some lyrics and you're done, it's an amazing song now". That's not what I'm into though. I realize that this is one of those 10k hours things where you just bang your head against the desk long enough until it gets better, but I'd love to supplement that brute force process with something else. Is there something that helps guide you there? Books? Classes? Schooling?
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Apr 2, 2020 20:45
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DreadCthulhu posted:Are there any solid resources for learning songwriting out there? I'm reasonably ok at producing, I know my way around the DAW after a few years. I can mix OK. I know some degree of theory and have taken plenty of lessons etc. My challenge is that what I write is just not that interesting, at least not to my ear. You have read my mind, I'm feeling exactly this.
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Apr 2, 2020 21:15
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Classes are cool and help you feel like you know stuff, and let you rattle off jargon for days, but they’re ultimately basic english/grammar classes that don’t necessarily teach you how to write actual content, even at the college level because it’s the equivalent of everyone rolling up to college without ever having taken any english/reading/etc. classes and then deciding to major in english/communications/creative writing/whatever Ask yourself what you like about a song you’ve written. Why do you like it? What’s something you don’t like in the song? Why? Be specific. Do this as you’re writing sections of songs, even: revise sections as you’re still writing the song. Ask these questions about songs you like and dislike too
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Apr 2, 2020 21:30
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I have a terrible brain for going "nope, that's song x" and not progressing or developing a song because as soon as I realise it sounds very similar to something else I can't shiftthe mindset that I'm just stealing and ditch it. Which is absolutely ridiculous, so I'm trying to make myself write using the super common 'overused' chord progressions to try and break that habit/mentality. The one bonus to homeworking is I can have my guitar on my lap or my little 2 octave midi keyboard and noodle/practice scales throughout the day so I guess at least I'm getting a bit better technically, which is currently a huge mental barrier to me getting ideas out- I know what I want to but the journey to get there is long and currently at about half the tempo
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Apr 2, 2020 21:47
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DreadCthulhu posted:Are there any solid resources for learning songwriting out there? I'm reasonably ok at producing, I know my way around the DAW after a few years. I can mix OK. I know some degree of theory and have taken plenty of lessons etc. My challenge is that what I write is just not that interesting, at least not to my ear. I'm a product designer, not a songwriter, so take this with a grain of salt. It seems like you're asking all the wrong questions if your goal is to create something that hasn't already been created. For example: - Things on the radio are rarely original in their structure or lyrical content, and often what makes them seem original is either an insanely talented singer with a unique voice or it's tiny little sound effects peppered through the song to keep your attention. It's like, how many Beatles songs are about a girl? - If you're thinking of your influences, it's going to make it a lot harder to make something new. - Watching a tutorial or reading a book or taking a class are all basically the same: It's somebody who has already done something telling you how to do it too. Almost by definition, the end result will be repeatable rather than original. - Brute force kills creativity. There's a time and a place for brute force, but this doesn't seem to be it. Try asking questions like.... What is missing from all the music you've heard before? What do you "get," but nobody else does? What do you want to say to the world, which hasn't been said yet? What's the most fun you could have on your instrument(s) of choice? Do you love sus chords or something, and you just want to play them all day long? What do you sound like when you make music? What can you do that nobody else can do? What is your personal aesthetic? What do you believe the world should be like? (To use myself as an example, I believe the world is full of useless crap and distractions. The things I design are therefore minimalist and it's really important to me that every single part of the product adds value.) When you're in a rut, just write down one of those questions and do some brainstorming. Something will emerge, even if you're feeling uninspired as you begin the process. Another thing you could try is being creative in some other medium like visual art. Figure out what your style is, use that as a way to learn about yourself, and then apply that new understanding to your music.
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Apr 3, 2020 01:10
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Tangentially related to the current topic, looks like quarantine is making Ben Levin go off the rails and we all gain amazing content from it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXFckp8qjBw
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Apr 3, 2020 16:35
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Preggo My Eggo! posted:I'm a product designer, not a songwriter, so take this with a grain of salt. I disagree with a lot of this. There’s a reason everything has the same/a very similar structure: it’s a framework to build the rest of your project on. Can you vary it? Absolutely! But because it’s the expected framework, you need a reason to vary from it. The Beatles do this in Yesterday, and the Foo Fighters in Everlong by shortening the phrase by a bar, which signifies something being cut short—because it literally is, and it feels like it too because our reference point is eight bar phrases. The same is true of time signatures: 4/4 is a simple framework to build everything else on, and it’s also very easy to dance to. You can absolutely use other time signatures, but they each have a different feel, e.g. 6/8 is either medium or slow love ballad, or a quicker dance. You can subvert that by cutting off a beat, but what’s your reason for that? Celebration from Wicked is an upbeat dance in 5/8, and it’s using that 5/8 to make you feel uncomfortable because Glinda (good witch) is singing about celebrating Elpheba (bad witch) being gone, but she’s actually sad because Elpheba was her best friend. Thinking of your influences and/or studying what other people have done not only doesn’t make it harder to create something new or make your music formulaic, but it actually gives you ideas with which to work. The Flintstones is a great song, right? Very catchy, amazing original tune. The guy who wrote that was loving brilliant. It’s the exact same chords as I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin. Using the same chords and writing your own melody is so common in jazz there’s a word for it: contrafact. Doing it with the the chords from I Got Rhythm is so common they’re called rhythm changes. Riders On The Storm by the Doors? The keys player took My Favorite Things, put it in 4, slowed it down, and added a keyboard intro. We have 400+ years of using (approximately) this tuning system with these time signatures. You literally cannot create something “truly original”. Even microtonal music has been explored (and it was also what was used before these twelve tone systems the western canon settled on, and is still what’s used in many places outside western music) Nothing is created in a vacuum. Minimalist design came about because of our frustrations in the 90s and 00s with careless design that was unintentionally maximalist. Or necessarily maximalist: our computers had to be a certain physical size—we didn’t yet had have the technology to make a 7.5mm thick futuristic space tablet (thanks Apple!). Minimalism wasn’t even an option. As technology advanced and computers shrunk, we were able to fit all the necessary parts of a computer in a small form factor and then focus on the design of the object itself. Music is the same: everything is either advancing or subverting the current paradigm. 1930s swing was an advancement of 1920s dance music. 1940s bebop was a subversion of 1930s swing (and it was also due to a physical constraint: taxis were being designed with smaller trunks, so drummers started using smaller bass drums. also economic constraints: clubs couldn’t afford big bands, so musicians put together smaller groups. also racist economic constraints: black musicians/bands weren’t allowed to get rubber for tires for their tour busses due to rationing during WWII). Jumping ahead to today, the reason it seems like there’s so much “bad” or “unoriginal” music coming out now is 1. because we’re currently existing in this tone and hearing all the music being released; no one is going to remember that year and a half of pop dubstep or Iggy Azalea (thank gently caress), but they are gonna remember Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, Adele, Nikki Minaj, etc., but also 2. because technology advanced and cheapened to the point where anyone can record their music and make it publicly available. This is how Adele, Billie Eilish, and Lil Nas X got famous. People are subverting the previous system of commercialized music where major corporations had to find you, like you, and offer to make you famous in exchange for your soul. Adele’s music sounds really different from the mainstream pop sound, but it’s not “truly original”; it’s pop with jazz harmonies. Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road is pop country with 80s hip hop 808 bass drum (pitched and used as a bass line). Bruno Mars is heavily influenced by Michael Jackson. Having just spent a lot of time thinking about all this, I actually disagree with calling writing/playing something, listening to it, and changing it “brute forcing”. It’s critiquing yourself and finding your artistic voice/style. The questions you listed and suggestion to try another art can be part of this. Although they’re more indirect than finding your aesthetic solely within music (especially the suggestion of visual art), it forces you to think more abstractly instead of just “lol fingers go tap”
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Apr 4, 2020 04:06
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It's wonderful that we disagree, and thank you for the effort post. I didn't know a lot of this, or at least I wasn't able to put the pieces together like this. I lack the musical knowledge to seriously challenge your assertions even if I wanted to, but I'd like to respond to a few things you mention: You literally cannot create something “truly original” This is soul crushing and demotivates me from even trying. If I believed that I lacked the potential to create something original, not to mention believing that "original" isn't even possible, I would quit making music today. I'm glad I don't agree with this statement. Using the same chords and writing your own melody is so common in jazz there’s a word for it: contrafact. I would describe this as "I see something that nobody else sees, and I'm going to do something original with it." It's inspiring. We might have a different definition of "original" in this context, but just for clarity I don't mean something that's 100% unique and never-before-seen. A thing can be original even if it's derivative in some way. Nothing is created in a vacuum. Minimalist design came about because of our frustrations in the 90s and 00s with careless design that was unintentionally maximalist....Music is the same: everything is either advancing or subverting the current paradigm. I would describe this feeling as identifying what's wrong, or missing, from existing works. If you're looking around, noticing a pattern and then using your energy to break from that pattern, it seems like a good process which has a high probability of making something original. (That's what I was trying to get at with the question "What is missing from all the music you've heard before?") Adele’s music sounds really different from the mainstream pop sound, but it’s not “truly original”; it’s pop with jazz harmonies. Has anybody ever sounded like Adele? She's a once-in-a-generation vocal talent, at least as far as I can tell. This is why I wrote "...what makes it seem original is either an insanely talented singer with a unique voice...." So I think in this case we basically agree -- what makes Adele's music unique is her voice, and pretty much only her voice. We've all heard pop, we've all heard jazz harmonies, but until Adele came onto the scene we had never heard Adele. This just doesn't seem very useful to the person I was originally responding to, unless they're the lead singer of the next Kings of Leon (another example of largely derivative music elevated by a unique voice). 1930s swing was an advancement of 1920s dance music. 1940s bebop was a subversion of 1930s swing The terms "advancement" and "subversion" stick out here. I would assert that the process which led to these advancements and subversions is people thinking in terms like "What's missing?" and "What's more fun?" and "What do you get that nobody else gets?" and "What hasn't been done yet?"
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Apr 4, 2020 05:32
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Having been stuck in my house for a month now cause of the Coronavirus lockdown I figure I should use my time productively. Which means learning the accordion cause I’ve always enjoyed its sound. I’ve tried looking into it and I got from sites with too little information to sites where I’m being drown into much information with diatonic and chromatic, button and piano. What are some good beginner accordions? I was looking at the Honer panther which is a diatonic button in GCF but I’m not sure if I should look more at a chromatic accordion. Either way I think I’ll go with a button style as I have no piano experience so there doesn’t seem to be an advantage for me personally to go with a keyboard accordion over a button one
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Apr 7, 2020 18:47
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What are some of the best mixing techniques for sharpening up the sound of something that was recorded with too much reverb on it?
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Apr 13, 2020 23:41
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There are some de-verb plugins out there now, but in the first instance have a go with a transient shaper and tweaking the sustain. https://acondigital.com/products/deverberate Was pretty acclaimed by Sound On Sound and Musictech.
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Apr 16, 2020 22:52
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Any MPC users in here? I don't know if I should be posting in the Synth thread and nobody has responded to my question on MPC-Forum. I'm looking at getting a MPC One to operate in standalone mode and trigger visuals on my PC using Resolume. After watching a few videos it looks like if I want to use the MIDI out I need to compose my tracks, copy them to MIDI tracks and then if I change the drum program or keygroup track I'd have to copy that back into the MIDI track. Is there no way to have the sound processing and MIDI output happen on one track in standalone mode? Same deal if I want play a drum program or keygroup live onboard and output to MIDI? My PC probably has the CPU headroom to run a DAW and Resolume at the same time, I'd just prefer to keep them separated.
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Apr 20, 2020 06:28
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Hey, I'm looking for a goon-created mashup album that I think was posted back like ten years ago or something. All I remember is it was good running music and had a lot of old hip hop, let's see: "I Wish I was a little bit Taller", "All the Single Ladies," "War Pigs," "Y'All can't stop me now" "Get Ur Freak On," I don't know what else. Haven't been able to find it through search. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
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Apr 20, 2020 20:44
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How does one find a music teacher? My wife played viola in high school, and misses playing stringed instruments. She has been interested in picking up cello, and I've thought it would be nice to surprise her with while we're all stuck at home. I'm thinking, get a full size rental from a music store and find an online teacher?
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Apr 22, 2020 22:55
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Yep. Lots of people down to teach cello (or any instrument) online right now. I'm taking voice lessons from a friend of a friend over Facetime and it's a lot better than I ever would have expected. edit: Music store might even have teachers on staff that will do online lessons, but also I googled "online cello lessons" and got a ton of hits
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Apr 22, 2020 23:38
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canyoneer posted:How does one find a music teacher? My wife played viola in high school, and misses playing stringed instruments. She has been interested in picking up cello, and I've thought it would be nice to surprise her with while we're all stuck at home. I'm thinking, get a full size rental from a music store and find an online teacher? I am taking trumpet lessons online after my school closed due to the whole pandemic bit and it's been really positive for me. I won't say it's on par with a 1-on-1 lesson but it's been good for keeping me playing. If you're stuck for a teacher, this is the school I use: http://phillymusiclessons.com They also do rentals. I'll add that I heard the cello teacher playing a simple melody while I was waiting for my teacher and instantly said to myself that cello was next. I couldn't believe how rich and beautiful it sounded from the next room.
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Apr 23, 2020 00:03
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Take one or two lessons each with several people until you find someone you click with. You have access to every cellist on the planet with at least a smart phone, not just whoever lives within 30min you and is available on the same day and at the same time you are. Everyone can teach you the same stuff, so finding someone you like is more important than their credentials
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Apr 23, 2020 19:11
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Cable question: what's the deal with quarter inch to RCA? I got a TS to RCA to send my MPC One audio (balanced mono) to my stereo receiver, is this kosher or should I return it and try to get a TRS? My research so far says that RCA is unbalanced so it shouldn't matter?
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Apr 24, 2020 07:34
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If you don't have a bunch of noise, you should be fine.
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Apr 24, 2020 08:13
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Do most people start out in music by doing covers? Seems like lots of bands were originally a cover band for x and eventually they branch off and do their own thing, while still retaining the influence of the band they were covering at one point. I'm asking because I'm tempted to make it regular part of my practice and enrichment routine to do covers of some of the artists I really admire and want to absorb into my existing palette. Has anybody tried this? Seems like you'd be able to carefully curate your own style if you were selective and methodical about who you learn from as you cover their work.
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Apr 27, 2020 03:19
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I don't know how else you could learn
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Apr 27, 2020 03:51
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JesustheDarkLord posted:I don't know how else you could learn Let me clarify, I'm thinking of this specifically from the point of view of music production and composition. I assume it's a given that with music performance, you just play other people's work on your instrument of choice, in addition to focused exercises and what not, until you're pretty good. But I don't know if this is considered "the standard path" in composition. My impression was that most people just try to write new material from scratch, which at least for me has always been tricky. I seem to pick up a few practices every time I cover another producer though.
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Apr 27, 2020 04:02
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I'd really hazard against not learning covers. I was never a covers guy even when I played with other people and only learned enough of other people's songs to bastardize into my own creation. I learned theory to the point of reducing everything to numbers and that's a really quick way to suck all of the fun out of composing. There's also an element of obnoxiousness to people who say "I only play my own stuff" that really puts other people off. Personally, I think Nels Cline is the only person to ever really half-successfully pull this off and even then he's probably lying and can the entire discography of Foreigner from end to end. Learning covers is enrichment- the best way to look at it is that it lets you focus on particulars. You learn how other people put songs together, it strengthens your ability to play across multiple fronts and as far as production/recording goes- it takes the burden of creating a song and lets you bear down on other qualities (timbre, reharmonization, rhythms) that you can later use in your own things. It's up to your own self awareness and the honesty of the feedback from your peers to keep you from sounding like a clone of your influences. There's nothing worse than "Hey, so you really like Alice in Chains, don't you?" unless your goal is to be the best Alice In Chains tribute person in the tri-state area and a one-stop outlet for other bands that want to sound like Alice In Chains no matter what the genre they are playing.
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Apr 27, 2020 13:36
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NC Wyeth Death Cult posted:There's also an element of obnoxiousness to people who say "I only play my own stuff" that really puts other people off. The guitarist in my old band was one of these guys but it was really just because he sucked too much to learn songs by ear and was too lazy to read tabs.
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Apr 27, 2020 13:45
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Thinking about this a little more and I read a ton of books about music. Most try to get to the band breakup, the drugs and sex with groupies because it's boring hearing about musicians honing their craft. I remember reading Bob Mould's book and he offhandedly mentions that he was a hired gun on the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack. I remember thinking that it was interesting that he never really mentioned the hundreds of hours he put into his guitar playing to be able to do that- I thought he played barre and power chords with heavy distortion and that's it. Then you listen to Sugar and realize the dude put a hell of a lot of work in. I think it's also myth building in that albums are supposed to spring out of artists' heads fully formed because no one wants to hear about Steve Albini or Kanye West spending 16 hours getting a drum snare right.Bill Posters posted:The guitarist in my old band was one of these guys but it was really just because he sucked too much to learn songs by ear and was too lazy to read tabs. Lol, it's always an excuse. I know I did it because I wasn't skilled enough to learn other people's stuff and my bandmates would have wanted to cover dumb mainstream poo poo and not 'Bull In The Heather' anyway.
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Apr 27, 2020 14:02
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I really like hearing about the creative process, this podcast is great for that http://songexploder.net/ It's not really a detailed, theory heavy retelling but rather about how the ideas came up and how it came together, how any collaboration worked, etc.
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Apr 27, 2020 14:23
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Crossposting this from another thread:Johnny Truant posted:Audiophile goons: I'm looking to use a voice modulator/effects on my voice while running an RPG campaign, do y'all know much about that? Is this doable? I'm running Windows 10, forgot to include that in the OP.
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Apr 27, 2020 16:51
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I believe Clownfish will do at least some of that.
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Apr 27, 2020 17:22
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Keptbroom posted:I believe Clownfish will do at least some of that. This installed, ran for 30 seconds and now only appears in the Windows icon manager thing for about 5 seconds before disappearing. For the 30 seconds it was running it made my voice a completely different pitch, but now it's completely dead. Anyone else had this problem?
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Apr 27, 2020 18:00
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Johnny Truant posted:This installed, ran for 30 seconds and now only appears in the Windows icon manager thing for about 5 seconds before disappearing. For the 30 seconds it was running it made my voice a completely different pitch, but now it's completely dead. Anyone else had this problem? it's not a lot to go on you might need to head over to the Event Viewer in Windows 10 to get some insight into what went wrong
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Apr 27, 2020 18:03
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Helianthus Annuus posted:it's not a lot to go on I uninstalled the program and decided on MorphVOX. Simple UI, lets me do the few things I want, and doesn't just die the first time I install it. 
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Apr 27, 2020 18:21
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Is there a thread around for home hifi stuff? I'm getting ready to upgrade my cobbled together mix of 70s 80s and modern gear, but would like to bounce some things off folks.
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Apr 28, 2020 04:22
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Is there a thread around for home hifi stuff? I'm getting ready to upgrade my cobbled together mix of 70s 80s and modern gear, but would like to bounce some things off folks. It'll be in IYG: https://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=192
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Apr 28, 2020 09:53
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