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MusicILove Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,278 posts Joined: Mar, 2019
Posted - 2019/04/26 : 18:40:25
Please read all of this I promise I will get to the point eventually
I have for years wanted to produce music. I did media production at college and I have almost completed the digital DJ tips dance music formula course. I have actually been making music for years but always start something and never finish it. I have started over 30 things that never got very far. I have only ever finished 1 remix. It's awful and will never see the light of day. I have recently been enjoying freeform and I have decided it's where I want to start, But I don't know much about the genre and so I want people to post their top 5 freeform tracks to get inspiration. Old / new doesn't matter. I also want to know what you like about those tracks. How do I know I'm going to finish this? Well every Monday I spend my time working on production related stuff and at the end of every Monday I will upload it and post it for you all to critique, No matter what I got even if its just 2 notes or 2 seconds of audio I will upload it. It will be an originally written track No remix. The other thing I want from you is to make sure I keep my promise to finish this track. Bug me every Monday if I don't upload something. I'm going to pre warn you this will be my first proper attempt at production so please don't expect much. By hopefully finishing my first track it will start me on a journey to make more. One more thing if I get unwell during this project I won't be able to upload for a while. A simple cold can take over a month to get over before I'm well enough to start again. I will let you know if that happens but if I'm not unwell then bug and poke me until it's done. (Soft pokers please.)
Thank you for your time.
I shall start this project on Monday. Looking forward to hearing you'r top freeform tracks.
bonus Eclipse - Distortanord, which doesn't seem to be on youtube. Can think of a million others I would put as a top five.
Two thoughts.
As another person who also starts lots and doesn't always finish I find that the best and sometimes only way is just to push through the barrier, even if it means putting stuff in there that doesn't quite fit *at first*, often that leads to something else, better happening, and you can back track later and fix whatever it is (melody or arpeggio, whatever) you put in there temporarily.
I like to work from the breakdown outwards, and I spend an absolute arseload of time on the breakdown. Just looping the background strings over and over and plucking out new melodies and arpeggios over the top of it. Copy them as a block, drag them out of the track/passed the end. Then go back...repeat..before you know it you have a ton of melody lines you can add wherever you need to...perhaps find the final two parts to the end of your track.
I find that with these two things 'Happy accidents' happen, and they make production far more fun.
__________________________________
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Samination, Swedish Hardcore DJ
Happy, UK Hardcore, Freeform, Makina and Gabber http://samination.se/ ---------------------------------------------
bonus Eclipse - Distortanord, which doesn't seem to be on youtube. Can think of a million others I would put as a top five.
Two thoughts.
As another person who also starts lots and doesn't always finish I find that the best and sometimes only way is just to push through the barrier, even if it means putting stuff in there that doesn't quite fit *at first*, often that leads to something else, better happening, and you can back track later and fix whatever it is (melody or arpeggio, whatever) you put in there temporarily.
I like to work from the breakdown outwards, and I spend an absolute arseload of time on the breakdown. Just looping the background strings over and over and plucking out new melodies and arpeggios over the top of it. Copy them as a block, drag them out of the track/passed the end. Then go back...repeat..before you know it you have a ton of melody lines you can add wherever you need to...perhaps find the final two parts to the end of your track.
I find that with these two things 'Happy accidents' happen, and they make production far more fun.
Thank you. One of my issues is that I always try to start a track from the beginning working on the drums first. I am going to try starting from the break and melody this time. I have never tried writing my own melody but I learned a lot in that course. Hopefully I can have something down by the end of Monday. I have lots of ideas just struggle to get the sounds out of my head.
Hard2Get Advanced Member
United Kingdom
12,837 posts Joined: Jun, 2001
Posted - 2019/04/27 : 21:12:45
I will start with 1 for now and add the other 4 later, because it's actually really hard to list my top 5, and i doubt i will be able to, and instead just list 5 of my favourite. Eclipse vs Force Mass Motion - Brighter Future comes to mind first!
9oh9 Junior Member
United Kingdom
119 posts Joined: Jun, 2017
Posted - 2019/04/28 : 15:41:04
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
Two thoughts.
As another person who also starts lots and doesn't always finish I find that the best and sometimes only way is just to push through the barrier, even if it means putting stuff in there that doesn't quite fit *at first*, often that leads to something else, better happening, and you can back track later and fix whatever it is (melody or arpeggio, whatever) you put in there temporarily.
I like to work from the breakdown outwards, and I spend an absolute arseload of time on the breakdown. Just looping the background strings over and over and plucking out new melodies and arpeggios over the top of it. Copy them as a block, drag them out of the track/passed the end. Then go back...repeat..before you know it you have a ton of melody lines you can add wherever you need to...perhaps find the final two parts to the end of your track.
I find that with these two things 'Happy accidents' happen, and they make production far more fun.
Also, I've found "working to a template" helps once I've got a basic idea down. I.e. copy in another track to your DAW that's similar to what you're aiming for, duplicate the structure, roughing out the shape of the track in terms of breakdown/buildups, then work from there. Really listen to what's going on in the template track in terms of percussion, buildups, sound effects at transitions. It's all these little details that make the difference between a professional/finished sounding track, and a bunch of 16 bar loops.
I've definitely struggled finishing things too. My new years resolution (last year) was to finish 12 tracks I had kicking around on my hard disk before starting any new projects. I almost hit that target by the end of last year but other stuff got in the way and I'm just finishing off the final one now!
As for five tracks, Triquatra's given a nice selection of 90s stuff, so I'll go a bit later:
Ephexis - Raise Alarm (Freeform mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkW3YNtkfR8 I love the relentless driving sound of this, but it's also got nice drum edits, lots of glitchy noises, the two vocal parts are different but complement each other very well.
Marc Smith vs Safe n Sound - Identify The Beat. Absolute stormer, ravey sounds, big kickdrums, trancey drum & bass breakdown, ridiculous cheesy buildup.
Sharkey - LoTek (Oli G remix) - A solid update (itself 10 years old now haha) of an older track.
Kevin Energy & Proteus - London Helsinki Underground (K-Komplex remix). It's still got that driving ravey acid quality, but with lush synths over the top giving a nice contrast.
Arkitech - Dehumanize 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCwL-FyIU5c I like the variation within the track, same idea, but different variations on it. Production is tight,
MusicILove Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,278 posts Joined: Mar, 2019
Posted - 2019/04/29 : 07:59:57
quote:Originally posted by Hard2Get:
I will start with 1 for now and add the other 4 later, because it's actually really hard to list my top 5, and i doubt i will be able to, and instead just list 5 of my favourite. Eclipse vs Force Mass Motion - Brighter Future comes to mind first!
MusicILove Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,278 posts Joined: Mar, 2019
Posted - 2019/04/29 : 08:03:07
quote:Originally posted by 9oh9:
quote:Originally posted by Triquatra:
Two thoughts.
As another person who also starts lots and doesn't always finish I find that the best and sometimes only way is just to push through the barrier, even if it means putting stuff in there that doesn't quite fit *at first*, often that leads to something else, better happening, and you can back track later and fix whatever it is (melody or arpeggio, whatever) you put in there temporarily.
I like to work from the breakdown outwards, and I spend an absolute arseload of time on the breakdown. Just looping the background strings over and over and plucking out new melodies and arpeggios over the top of it. Copy them as a block, drag them out of the track/passed the end. Then go back...repeat..before you know it you have a ton of melody lines you can add wherever you need to...perhaps find the final two parts to the end of your track.
I find that with these two things 'Happy accidents' happen, and they make production far more fun.
Also, I've found "working to a template" helps once I've got a basic idea down. I.e. copy in another track to your DAW that's similar to what you're aiming for, duplicate the structure, roughing out the shape of the track in terms of breakdown/buildups, then work from there. Really listen to what's going on in the template track in terms of percussion, buildups, sound effects at transitions. It's all these little details that make the difference between a professional/finished sounding track, and a bunch of 16 bar loops.
I've definitely struggled finishing things too. My new years resolution (last year) was to finish 12 tracks I had kicking around on my hard disk before starting any new projects. I almost hit that target by the end of last year but other stuff got in the way and I'm just finishing off the final one now!
As for five tracks, Triquatra's given a nice selection of 90s stuff, so I'll go a bit later:
Ephexis - Raise Alarm (Freeform mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkW3YNtkfR8 I love the relentless driving sound of this, but it's also got nice drum edits, lots of glitchy noises, the two vocal parts are different but complement each other very well.
Marc Smith vs Safe n Sound - Identify The Beat. Absolute stormer, ravey sounds, big kickdrums, trancey drum & bass breakdown, ridiculous cheesy buildup.
Sharkey - LoTek (Oli G remix) - A solid update (itself 10 years old now haha) of an older track.
Kevin Energy & Proteus - London Helsinki Underground (K-Komplex remix). It's still got that driving ravey acid quality, but with lush synths over the top giving a nice contrast.
Arkitech - Dehumanize 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCwL-FyIU5c I like the variation within the track, same idea, but different variations on it. Production is tight,
Thanks for the ideas. I planned out the structure on Saturday to make sure I was ready for today. I have a blank project in front of me apart from a Marker track.
MusicILove Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,278 posts Joined: Mar, 2019
Posted - 2019/04/29 : 08:06:31
OK so todays the day. I am looking at a blank project time to start. I shall say again this is my first attempt at writing music, and my first attempt at finishing something that's not just a drum beat with a bass from MIDI I got off the internet.
Whatever I have at 5 PM I Will upload.
I'm so nervous.
3.2.1 GO.
Alert moderatorEdited by - MusicILove on 2019/04/29 08:14:21
MusicILove Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,278 posts Joined: Mar, 2019
Posted - 2019/04/29 : 15:51:12
Freeform project update day 1
Some notes
1 Drums are 100% temporary just wanted a beat to test bass lines to.
2 Trying to decide between the 2 styles of bass line
3 Need to learn how to use an arpeggiator I went through the presets and found one I liked but would like to try doing more with it. It has lots of sliders that I don't understand.
4 The build section is also 100% temporary.
Alert moderatorEdited by - MusicILove on 2019/05/13 06:33:47
DJ_FunDaBounce Advanced Member
Colombia
2,008 posts Joined: Nov, 2001
Posted - 2019/04/29 : 17:10:08
quote:Originally posted by MusicILove:
Freeform project update day 1
Some notes
1 Drums are 100% temporary just wanted a beat to test bass lines to.
2 Trying to decide between the 2 styles of bass line
3 Need to learn how to use an arpeggiator I went through the presets and found one I liked but would like to try doing more with it. It has lots of sliders that I don't understand.
4 The build section is also 100% temporary.
MusicILove Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,278 posts Joined: Mar, 2019
Posted - 2019/04/30 : 16:47:36
quote:Originally posted by DJ_FunDaBounce:
quote:Originally posted by MusicILove:
Freeform project update day 1
Some notes
1 Drums are 100% temporary just wanted a beat to test bass lines to.
2 Trying to decide between the 2 styles of bass line
3 Need to learn how to use an arpeggiator I went through the presets and found one I liked but would like to try doing more with it. It has lots of sliders that I don't understand.
4 The build section is also 100% temporary.
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Posted - 2019/04/26 : 18:40:25
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