A dumb question to ask, but...

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ChiefRocka
Senior Member

United States
297 posts
Joined: Feb, 2011

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 00:51:51

Despite the fact that I've been trying to produce for over a year now and that I've been getting regular piano lessons, my productions have never improved. Every time they're utterly shit, from a musical standpoint; every melody that I can think of is either unoriginal, uninspired, is unpleasant to the ear, or any combination of the three.

Is it really advisable to try to just recoup my losses by selling my software and equipment (sound card, mixer, midi keyboard, DAW + VSTs, and monitors)? "Practice makes perfect" isn't the case for me apparently. Maybe I just don't have a musical ear at all.

Edit: Serious responses only please. Don't tell me to resort to making chart remixes, as I'd rather die than do that.

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Edited by - ChiefRocka on 2011/05/28 00:53:59

atomsk
Advanced Member

United States
1,660 posts
Joined: Jan, 2009

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 01:14:32

I have that issue also, the three things I have done to help me out were:

1. Watch videos about others songs in the DAW's you have, see what they did, how they sound, and try to remake them to a point.

2. Video game remixes, get the midi and just go while with it, you may not like that but have a melody and working around it may help you.

3. Make a song, post it some where, get responses, good or bad. Dont ask a friend or family what they think, as 80% of them will say a complete shitty song is the best. Just be ready for someone to say its shit.

Another thing is, try and switch what genre you are trying to make. Say you are trying to do some uk hardcore, try some hardstyle or dubstep. Just switch it up some.

But that is my two cents, others may say the same, or say I'm full of shit.

If it comes down to it, and you are spending to much money and feel like you are going no where, set a date where if you havent made anything good then sell your shit.

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Hard2Get
Advanced Member

United Kingdom
12,837 posts
Joined: Jun, 2001

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 01:18:52

If you enjoy it who cares? If you don't really enjoy it to begin with then you will no doubt get bored of it sooner or later anwyay.

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Dante
Advanced Member

Vatican City State (Holy See)
1,185 posts
Joined: Dec, 2009

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 01:20:47

How long have you been at it?

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atomsk
Advanced Member

United States
1,660 posts
Joined: Jan, 2009

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 01:29:02

quote:
Originally posted by Dante:
How long have you been at it?

Forever, and he still alone.

I just had to...

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Lorenzo.Tweakn
Advanced Member

United States
1,327 posts
Joined: Apr, 2009

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 01:44:26

i learned via collabing & lessons on skype. :x.

after 2 years of writing, i can sumwhat write these trancey type riffs? example: 1:07 onwards http://soundcloud.com/lorenzo-tweakn/lorenzo-acevedo-ft-mc-remixx

i can help you if you want me to, but than again, i can only take you so far, im learning more & more everyday.

and i used to be tone deaf, ask archefluxx.

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Future_Shock
Advanced Member

Australia
2,483 posts
Joined: Apr, 2007

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 03:51:02

imo learning to play an instrument didn't help me so much. Playing isn't the same as writing.

You just need to keep doing it. I've been producing 6 years and i've had a fair few tracks released but to get those good tracks i probably made 1000 bad ones.

Even now, if i sit down to write a riff maybe 1 in 10 will be good enough that i'm happy with it.

A year is not a long time for music. You don't have your own style yet, and i'm surprised you've come to grasps with anything yet.

I didn't get anything signed to a decent label til i had been producing between 2 and 3 years.

And even now, if i take a two week break or something, it takes a little bit of time to get back into that mindframe of writing. It's something that needs continual practice and perfection. Yoou need to do it a lot and over a long period of time.

I'll give you one piece of advice though, that every professional producer i know of agrees with - you've gotta have an escape. Whether it's gaming, or movies (which is a popular one) whatever - if you're just sitting there and nothing is going right, you need to completely take your mind off it and come back to it later. Let your subconscious think about it for a while. You'll often find coming back to it a day later or even a few hours can give you some fresh perspective.

To the person who recommended midis - DONT. That's not training anything. If you can see it, it's not help for training your ears. Grab your favourite hardcore tracks and replicate the riffs. THAT will teach you how stuff should be written, and it'll train your ear to recognize good and bad notes.

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atomsk
Advanced Member

United States
1,660 posts
Joined: Jan, 2009

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 04:24:00

quote:
Originally posted by Andy_Influx:
Grab your favourite hardcore tracks and replicate the riffs. THAT will teach you how stuff should be written, and it'll train your ear to recognize good and bad notes.

I dont understand that part. I dont even know how to elaborate, please explain.

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ChiefRocka
Senior Member

United States
297 posts
Joined: Feb, 2011

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 05:09:24

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Andy, sound advice. I guess I'm being too harsh on myself; I just need to keep working at it. I do have plenty of escapes too (and strangely enough, one of them is my job... even when it involves cleaning tar out of a smoker's computer... eeeewwwwwww).

atomsk, good advice, although I guess I need to just stop cringing and get a song done so I can get to step three. :P Similar to what Andy said, unfortunately I must say that I'm against using pre-made MIDI files. Replicating by ear is more fun (and definitely more challenging, hoo-boy).

Lorzeno, I'm going to take you up on that offer :3 Can you PM me your MSN address (if you have one)? Maybe once I'm good enough I can even collab with you.

Again thanks, my spirits have been brightened.

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Edited by - ChiefRocka on 2011/05/28 05:11:06

Future_Shock
Advanced Member

Australia
2,483 posts
Joined: Apr, 2007

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 07:07:52

quote:
Originally posted by atomsk:

quote:
Originally posted by Andy_Influx:
Grab your favourite hardcore tracks and replicate the riffs. THAT will teach you how stuff should be written, and it'll train your ear to recognize good and bad notes.

I dont understand that part. I dont even know how to elaborate, please explain.

'playing something by ear'

Open your sequencer, play the tune with the riff you want to copy and... copy it!

it teaches you to recognize good and bad notes much better than midi files (which don't teach anything imo)

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H3RO
Junior Member

United States
145 posts
Joined: Jun, 2010

Posted - 2011/05/28 : 13:59:39

Since we're talking about producing from a musical stand point, why not start at the roots of music, a.k.a. music theory. Learning music theory will help you sooooooo much more than just doing stuff by ear. I'm not disagreeing with Andy or anything, because what he's saying will definitely help, but music theory will just take it that extra step. It'll explain which notes sound bad and why they sound bad. It'll teach you how to build major and minor keys out of any single note on the piano. Music theory will help with chord structures and progressions, and make them sound rich, full, unique, and ultimately musical. If you want, I could help a bit with some theory stuff, or you could check out musictheory.net , which is a FANTASTIC site. It has the basics of music theory laid out in a logical order with animated lessons.

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Lorenzo.Tweakn
Advanced Member

United States
1,327 posts
Joined: Apr, 2009

Posted - 2011/06/01 : 00:13:44