I'm troubled with this topic after years of making music as well. There are several other things I could do at a professional level and they would turn out great. Or I could make yet another semi-ok song that nobody cares about.

Quote from: Bertie South on February 03, 2016, 03:01:13 pm

I don't think there's anything wrong with considering a creative outlet one of your priorities. Sure, some people seem content to live as passive, unthinking drones, but self-expression and mastery of skills are legitimate needs, at least if you consider personal happiness to be important (which it absolutely is).

I like the idea of music as being an important creative outlet.  I'd like to tie my music into my current emotions and experiences, so that it serves as sort of a diary, but I can never figure out how established artists seem to do this.  For example, I live in the woods, and a fog rolls in. How do I translate that into a synth? Or finish a song before the fog is gone? Is that something artists even try to do?

I am most inspired by the music I like, or maybe one of my synths. How is it good artists seem to be inspired by unrelated material? Maybe my life is too easy and uneventful for this idea to work.

You can't be something your not.

There's nothing wrong with trying to do any of what you said, you just have to figure out a way to solve the problem you're having. And you do that by writing down what you want to write down.

The professional musicians might not have the luxury of doing what they want, even though they think they do. This is entailed by the music they make and what eventually happens to it. Unless they make some pretty personal stuff and give it away for free or sell it, they're still taking a risk.

On the other hand, if you're doing this more as a hobby or, as a few mentioned before, not doing this entirely. You're still creating the music as it brew inside of you. It's just  not manifested yet.

I come from a culture of many excellent musicians, and they all have day jobs. At least the ones from the 1950's and prior. And the ones who would do music as a work, were incredible.

Now, i am not saying that i don't have dreams of being a dubstep dude who gets paid well to create, but, after my experience going on tour and doing the whole travel thing, it doesn't seem like it would be very fun after a while. I'd have to be well taken care of and get paid enough from many angles, to sit in a studio to make music and then support said music.

At some point, what you create will have some purpose. Even if you're not spending as much time as you ought to, you're still doing music.

Sounds like this is may be an existential question projected at music.

No one blames you for doing the things you gotta do, and in time, those things might shift into a better schedule. Time helps in figuring things out for you.

Thanks for the advice, see I see people use KRK's a lot or some other monitors, I just don't know the logistics on monitors this is is really narrowing a lot of monitors down. anything i should listen to specifically when I buy monitors?

listen to EVERY THING.

You may think those genelecs shouldn't be heard by your ears, but listen to them. get an understanding of what out of your price range, or in, sounds like.

You won't fully understand the monitors until you break them in, and put them to use. It's one of those things where you have to understand the tool and adjust to it, You don't make it adjust to you.

You can always go ask your people that work at those shops their opinion, or the general sound is of the monitors. Have them test it out for you. If you're serious about buying it, they'll obliged to help you make the best decision possible. That is if they are not lazy.

You gotta experience this in real life man, you're questions are starting to go beyond the scope of what the internet can provide.

I do suggest, do a massive amount of research and testing and be aware of deals.

If you want some brutally honest speakers that will last you a lifetime in conjunction with any upgrades that you might buy over your career, then the yamahas hs8's are a good bet and well worth the investment

Nothing new from what others have said.

But, maybe you're just to attached to the work that you're doing.

It might be beneficial to take a step back and just call it a day when you feel that you need to push yourself. Don't get me wrong, it's ok to do that every now and again, but you have to be smart about knowing when you can push yourself and when you just need to let it rest.

Quite the difficult balancing act to feel.

You can take it as a teaching approach or you can just continue to be "dumb" about it.

If you like the guy and want to guide him, there's no hurting in being the teacher.

If he seeks your counsel that is, then you can gradually inform him of your experience as you grow together.

If the person is a douche, then let him douche until he figures it out for himself.

otherwise, i don't see why you shouldn't have a helping hand in guiding the person until they are able to walk on their own.

Plus it'll benefit you if you do some teaching.

then you can form your new romance and collaborate...lol

If you're using a stereo track then in most DAWs the panner acts as a balance between left/right channels.  If you want to pan a track within a stereo field then use a mono track and pan accordingly.

You can also control the stereo width. Ill.Gates, suggested this in one tutorial, and it's come in handy many times.

Keep your old speakers. I still use my Logitec speakers that have a sub for consumer and casual use.

If you've spent some time with those speakers they can be a good reference point for that particular play back across consumer grade speakers.

You should upgrade your monitors if you're ready and you have the funds to do so.

You will also need to figure in cables, interface(if you do not have one), and stands. The stands aren't required, but boy are they HIGHLY recommended on my part.

Since this is your first upgrade, i suggest you buy in the 300-350$ range per speaker. I've tested some things that are below that range, and they just fall short of the quality you get.

I will, go out on a limb and suggest you look into 8inch speakers, because it gives you a range of frequencies that are easily accessible with out much need for an upgrade for a very long time. The only thing that i could suggest is a change of environment, and more expensive gear (1500$ per speaker range or w/e).

But that's end game.

Hope these suggestions help, it's also better to be patient and go looking for odd sales. I got my yamaha hs8's for the same price as KRK's, and the quality in that price range for the product i bought blows every thing out of the water, to me.

Quote from: Marrow Machines on February 05, 2016, 01:02:09 am

What you say is not incorrect, but i think it's out of place to suggest for a person who is just beginning their journey.

I still disagree with this and I don't think it's out of place at all, but it's just my opinion of course. The beginning should always start with the music itself, not the techniques behind it.

Right, but depending on the circumstances the person may just find themselves learning every thing at once. Unless they can focus on one thing, every thing is enticing.

Normally, it seems people learn by wanting to do the thing that piques their interest first. and it may not be hook theory or music, as you stated.

I know this is what i want to be doing with my life but some tips on what areas i should read into to gain a broad foundation would be great. Also how do you guys deal with dishearted thoughts towards music when its not sounding as good as you want it and you aren't necessarily seeing progress

That was the aim of the topic at hand. And like i said, what you suggest seems advanced to give to a mindset of some one who is probably just starting. BUT, as I've said before, it's still great advice!

The context isn't quite clear outside of the specified questions he asked and wanted answer towards.

That's my only defense towards your statement.

Less we loop ourselves in a never ending passive aggressive producer forum talk, I'll stop there.


BTW, OP you gain confidence with each experience. The learning curve at first is bad, but if you really have grit and stick it out, you'll be better than you were yesterday. You'll always want a deep and broad understanding of your art and profession in order to be versatile and wanted. I find it best to do your own research and find some one who is willing to guide you or befriend some one your age on a similar journey so that you can learn off each other, and grow.

There's a quote from skytree, he said that "even if you just open up you daw and don't do any thing, you've made progress."
wishful thinking, but some days, that's all you can do.

Quote from: dslyecix on February 04, 2016, 06:33:20 pm

How can you write a song if you don't know how to use your DAW?

Ermmm... early classical music was written with a pen and a paper for crying out loud. people have been writing songs without DAWs long before DAWs ever existed. And most of them will FOREVER be on the radio. Can't really say the same for most music that is coming out of DAWs these days.... Also, some people are STILL writing music without DAWs.

Quote from: dslyecix on February 04, 2016, 06:33:20 pm

Or know some theory, at least enough to get started?

That's why I mentioned Hook Theory. I would take music theory over mixing theory any day.

Quote from: dslyecix on February 04, 2016, 06:33:20 pm

How can you start using your DAW if you don't know how the plugins work?
How can you know how the plugins work if you don't know what the functions they're performing accomplish? 
How can you learn about the various functions without knowing what's out there, and why you'd want to use them?

You learn all of these things after you have written a song... as you're making the track. You can sketch out a full song first and then worry about mixing and plugins afterwards.

Quote from: dslyecix on February 04, 2016, 06:33:20 pm

The main takeaway though is *don't get discouraged*.

You only fully reach this state after learning to love the process.

You're not appreciating the steps it takes to learn how to walk and chew bubble gum.

I get where you're coming from, but with out proper training in regards to music, it's hard to even fathom what the sound is like in the mind. I'll also mention that with the variety of sounds a synthesizer can produce, you can't even BEGIN to consider what it would sound like or achieve what you want in your mind to start to write that down on paper man.

The OP's topic is about production, and that's what most of these answer are in regards to.

I get where you're coming from, but dsylecix and I are suggesting the emotional context that comes with learning the technical and creative side of production.
It's quite daunting as you know.

What you say is not incorrect, but i think it's out of place to suggest for a person who is just beginning their journey. Not every one has the grit to sort through all the things when considering how to make a track. I've gotten to that point where i can be efficient in my analysis and know what should be changed my mixing and mastering after 6 years of producing and an equipment upgrade...

That's miles ahead for a beginner.