Silence also makes the music.

CPU and RAM, should be the focus.

To eliminate complication, I have created a template with channels of the bare minimum used to make a tune.

I can then add from there.

It has helped my work flow quite a bit, because i spend more time thinking about the song and the sounds, rather than spending energy on trivial things (such as naming and organization;important but if every little bit helps, i'll work on optimizing my creation procedure).

From there, you can shape your song how ever you'd like. but at least you have some where to direct  yourself than just staring at something completely blank.

It also might help focus the session too.

I don't tend to overcomplicate things during the introductory phase. Generally That's the quickest phase. Where I tend to overcomplicate things is tiny details like the FX and the Ambiences. Those things combined with fills & arrangement take the majority of the track.

This is also an important concept to consider as well. It's not so much over complicating, it's knowing when to start worrying about details and how to transition between "giving a shit and not giving a shit".

I personally have gotten to a point where, i can quickly get the sound i want, and then leave it be. Over several sessions i tend to go over my sounds and fine tune them a little bit more after i have decided on what i want to project (ie end of creating transitioning into mixing). In order to retain song consistency (characterized by individual song), i try to process the sounds i make in the same session/day (if i haven't already called it quits for the time being).





I highly recommend you write down your creative process and list every thing you generally do for each track. Start to end (non mastering or mastering included).

This should help you realize several pathways that you can take to just making channels, and getting sounds moving at a quicker pace. Also, the list isn't so much about details, it's about the idea of the sound that you need to consider as you proceed into the finalizing stage.


TL;DR

create a basic template, analyze your work flow process with a list from start to finish, repeat 1 and 2 until you're comfortable with how you're doing things, keep improving.

You use compression if you know that the sound needs it.

I like a little bit of compression on some things, but i tend to not use it willy nilly.

I compression a source with many effects coming from some kind of effect rack or combinator (ableton and reason respectively), if it needs the glue.

Compression can also help a group of parts (ie drums) sound as if they're moving as one unit (glue). it helps shape and tailor the impacts and notes to a song a little bit better. or to help get a certain feel and sound out of a specific set of instruments.

For anyone who can't open the link to what I'm trying to achieve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaVfRGx6lMg. Please not I'm not trying to recreate this exact sound but this is an example of a synth lead with an interesting high end that's not just white noise.

Here is my attempt at trying to make a synth lead, there is still a hard high end that sounds like a white noise buzz.



Here is the massive patch in my google drive: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1PcXPKwwMd-MVNvZFlfYW9YcDA&usp=sharing

make a high cut, don't boost frequencies you're unsure about, and add a dash of saturation to it.


should help warm things up. Keep in mind of what you're trying to do with the sound you have in mind.

I can't wait to get back to class.

Maybe body language would have sold it better, but honestly it'd probably take a more long winded conversation in person to actually explain my reasoning. Oddly enough a lot of my views stemmed from philosophy debates with my college professors. Not that that qualifies them as anything more valid, but they're not based in ignorance.

Word up, i'd hope it wasn't based on ignorance lol.

This makes perfect sense to me, and I really don´t get why more people are motivated this way.  You have made a choice for yourself.  Everyday you work a lot(or a little) towards your goal.  That means that you´re on your way.  Looking at my friends I see the opposite all the time.  They are set in their ways, not wanting to evolve(damn Pokemons), or improve, as they are "comfortable" where they are.  Except they´re not.  They´re actually miserable inside ´cause they´re done.  Chosing to be set, and safe, is by all means fine.  But, the most common thing that therapists encounter these days, are people who are depressed because they never went after what they really wanted.  Even though there are a lot of people making music, the number of who would really go for it is relatively low. Anyone who has made a real decision as to what they want, has a major advantage over everyone that has not.  So attila´s approach here is accurate to me.

I think that's a product of concepts that haven't been explored or taught. It's easy to get distracted in this materialist world. Eventually you just gotta decide when you've had enough man, and stop chasing the dragon that other people have set for you.

Stubborness can also be a byproduct of that materialism too, but more than likely it's a natural disposition or the lack of access to people to help you look at things objectively.

To be quite honest, the more i continue to live my life and progress through engineering school, the less i want to actually be a professional musician. It's a pain in the ass man. But every thing in life has a hustle, it just depends on where you want to allocate your resources and to what extent.

Back to that last point, people don't even seem to know themselves well enough to get that far into their decisions.

I always speak more to personal philosophy behind the way of the chosen art, rather than how to get a siqqq skrilslslskdjb;zkjd sound. It's the individual that will eventually learn to make the sound they create, but they first need to know themselves enough to a point to continue their personal growth in order to continue to grow as an artist.

A certain piece of the human spirit seems to have been loss with the progression of technology and increased understanding of data and it's utilization. Emotions and behavior are easily quantified and qualified. "the regular" people need to regain a sense of themselves to prevent a complete take over, getting into lizard man talks but it's still true.

Haha I'm just being honest. I haven't given a whole lot of thought to it, but I think it has something to do with the realness of seeing so many people engage in the same destructive behavior together...it's inspiring to know I'm working on something I don't feel a need to escape from. Some people like to tear others down to feel better about themselves. I think it's a waste of time. There's plenty people out there who have already torn themselves down; you just have to observe them to reap the same emotional benefits.

You're being honest by not giving it much though? You said that you need to take time off, that's a form of escaping, other wise you'd be working on that day off.

I don't see how it's safe to assume that their behavior is instinctively to escape. There's some facets of life that aren't pleasurable, but you still have to do things in order to get to that point.

You said that there's some people who tear others down to feel better about themselves, and you also think it's a waste of time. But you literally are doing that in a subtle and passive aggressive way?

You're literally making no sense, probably because you haven't given it much thought.

Like i get what you're sort of saying in terms of how people can use things to escape a facets that they don't like, and i don't wanna be like "those people" (loose term), but shit man, you're generalizing a hell of a lot and with very limited logical foothold to stand on.

You reek of a lack of ethics, morals, empathy, and philosophy.