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Post by knight12 on Nov 13, 2023 7:23:54 GMT -5
Hey guys,
total noob here, had the idea to make some ambinet music for a long time, finally got to starting it now since I just got Vital and Waveform 12 and am making some first sounds.
What advice would you give yourself if you were starting now? What videos to watch? What mistakes not to make? What to avoid and what to use in terms of equipment?
Thanks to every one!
P. S. When I have more news I will definitely make some post over here.
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Post by Mike Moth on Nov 13, 2023 13:57:16 GMT -5
Getting to know the DAW you're using as thoroughly as possible will help to keep you from wasting time. Devour as many instructional youtube videos about it as you can.
If you don't have much music theory it wouldn't hurt to spend some time digging in to it. It's not totally necessary but it can make it easier to flesh out ideas and to figure out why things work or don't work.
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Post by knight12 on Nov 14, 2023 12:47:49 GMT -5
Getting to know the DAW you're using as thoroughly as possible will help to keep you from wasting time. Devour as many instructional youtube videos about it as you can. If you don't have much music theory it wouldn't hurt to spend some time digging in to it. It's not totally necessary but it can make it easier to flesh out ideas and to figure out why things work or don't work. Thanks a lot! Fortunately my wife is a musician so she agreed to teach me music theory. ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png)
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Post by tombreaver on Jan 22, 2024 3:28:39 GMT -5
Finish your WIPs
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Post by arillius on Jan 26, 2024 16:17:31 GMT -5
This. 100% I think I have a few hundred unfinished tracks. One of these days I will finish em, I swear!
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vandus
Townfolk
Exploring Aquaaris...
Posts: 26
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Post by vandus on Apr 5, 2024 14:36:17 GMT -5
Just keep going, it doesn't always have to be perfect.
Get the idea down. Iterate a bit, find what works. Start recording, start layering and expanding on your idea. Keep the momentum, don't worry about the mix. Once it's all together and complete, start tweaking and refining. As soon as you start asking yourself "Should I export this?"...stop! Go do something else for a day or two then come back with fresh ears for a final mix and call it finished.
Repeat ad-infinutm.
I initially wasted a lot of time trying to do this or that, when all I needed to do was make more music. Some things that helped me early on:
>Do covers to explore sounds and textures and layering and mixing. It frees your creative brain to focus on the details rather than "does this melody work?"
>Give yourself fun challenges, like make a song in 30 minutes or 1 hour, or make an album in a day or a week. Then add constraints, like it has to be this genre or you can only mix using volume and pan, or you can only use your voice.
>Listen to shitty music. Listen to music you don't like. Sometimes you end up finding something fun, but most of the time you can clearly see what is NOT working and what you DON'T want to sound like
>Don't worry about gear, just use what you have. Pickups wont help you play beautiful chords. Having this VST or that VST wont matter if your mix sucks. Challenge yourself to make a few bucks to pay for a new instrument or VST instead of splurging up front.
>Get feedback from friends who aren't trying to be mean when they say "this sucks". Hard to do, but you can also let strangers on the internet do that for you if you don't trust your friends to be honest ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
A lot of what I learned to came with time and maturity, as well as incorporating other artistic lessons learned and life skills.
Remember, your art is a copy of a fragment of your totality condensed into a finite form. So go and create and find the fun in it. Otherwise, what's the point?
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Post by skirmisher on Apr 17, 2024 1:32:10 GMT -5
Just do it. It's the only advice I can give anyone and everyone. Keep writing, and finish your tracks. Even the bad ones. If you don't get the bad ones out of the way, you won't write the good ones either.
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Post by Tidemancer on May 5, 2024 7:54:55 GMT -5
The best advice I could give has already been given: finish every track you start. They might end up crappy but in the meantime you’re learning SO much. About sound design, about arrangement and about your DAW. You can always bin it later or leave it in a dusty corner of your hard drive, but most of what making music is, is experience. You try, you fail, you try again, get it right and learn what you like, what the best workflow for you is. Also, another thing: don’t make the music other would want, make the music YOU want to make
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Post by Mike Moth on May 6, 2024 9:57:24 GMT -5
You can always bin it later or leave it in a dusty corner of your hard drive... I'd go with always leaving it in a dusty corner. I've gone back to things that I didn't like or that didn't work (or both), and with a fresh set of eyes and often new inspiration they've taken on a whole new life.
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Post by talvisynth on May 15, 2024 2:38:01 GMT -5
I guess I'd tell my younger self to never put any project on hiatus. Also dare to be silly. And don't build walls around you. And never do certain personal choices when it comes to life outside of (yet also having effect on) making music & anything creative. And now I bursted in tears. Gah. :..O
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Post by doomed on May 28, 2024 15:40:52 GMT -5
Just start making music. Took me way too long to get over the whole "what if it sucks?" mentality.
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Post by antipodeangoblin on Jun 6, 2024 13:58:01 GMT -5
1. Listen to what you're making, while you're making it, with good headphones 2. Never release anything if you haven't had a final listen to it on headphones, or in the car 3. Get good headphones
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Post by Mike Moth on Jun 6, 2024 15:02:00 GMT -5
1. Listen to what you're making, while you're making it, with good headphones 2. Never release anything if you haven't had a final listen to it on headphones, or in the car 3. Get good headphones Something I'd like to add to this, I'm not sure where I originally heard it from, is passive listening. Try listening to your stuff while you're doing something else and not fully paying attention to it. I've noticed things doing this that I just didn't catch while paying with full attention.
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Post by magicwillow on Jun 27, 2024 23:50:31 GMT -5
All of this advice is good. I'd add to it that you should just keep making music. You shouldn't worry about whether your music is bad because the truth is no matter what you make in a few years you will have progressed to the point where you will notice issues with it anyway. And that's a good thing! If you just keep making music you will get so good you won't even recognise your own music. Just keep making and releasing. Don't ever give up, and do it for the love of it.
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Post by RangerRick on Jul 1, 2024 13:12:57 GMT -5
Yeah, the only way to progress is to do stuff. You can study and think as much as you want, but until you put notes down and make something, it will only by theory.
It may also feel like you haven't made any progress, but I picked up an unfinished tune from a year ago that I frustratingly set down because the mix just wasn't working, and I took all my plugins off it and started over and out popped something that works!
I had no idea I'd progressed that much in mixing and mastering in the last year, but I could hear the difference.
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