Getting stuck while producing

[Sliverdub]

Yeah why you adding the video?

[charles1]

Why do you add that weird ass video to all your posts? You know you can add it to your signature and it sits below your posts automatically?
Link: http://www.dubstepforum.com/ucp.php?i=p ... =signature

thanks for the link! I didn't know how to make a signature, so i've been using a makeshift one. I'm sorry you thinks it's weird ass..

[bogling]

10 pound bag:

If you're having trouble with arrangements in particular I'd suggest loading a track you admire in to your DAW, match the BPM then replicate the general structure of that tune with empty sequencer blocks

I actually tried that out but, didn’t get to the finish line to complete it. Haha. I see your view about being “good”. I aim to become really really fluent at creating the songs in my head as accurately as I can to the original sounds. And also finish as many tunes as I can. I’m far from that.
Genevieve:
My strengths are creating sounds, and making the song sound cool in my head haha . . . It’s actually weird with me when I started getting better at making songs when I was starting out I ACTUALLY completed I think like 4-5 songs 3 years ago even though they didn’t sound that amazing. But as I got more into teaching myself experimenting trying to make complicated sounds like my favourite producers, I became too much of a perfectionist and started getting into the short songs mode.

Try approaching arrangement from a completely different perspective than you did before. Stop thinking about 8-bar loops but get a rough outline of what you want out of a song first

Ja I actually have been experimenting with that over the last couple months, working by 32bars, working just to go as far as I can as the idea comes in. Thanks for the tip though.
I don’t mean to derail the thread or anything but, another challenging thing is trying to get the notes and stuff to sound like they do in my head. I mean I even record myself on my phone and then try to make those notes on my computer by ear but it NEVER sounds the same it’s like the notes don’t even exist on a piano roll or something. Do you guys have any tips for this? Is there some sort of way I can record myself and put it in my computer somehow and get the computer to identify the notes?

[Sharmaji]

Is there some sort of way I can record myself and put it in my computer somehow and get the computer to identify the notes?

melodyne/autotune

or just throw a tuner plugin on the track and see what the notes are.

if your aim is to write songs, write the song first-- produce it 2nd.

[Nevs]

-charles

Why do you add that weird ass video to all your posts? You know you can add it to your signature and it sits below your posts automatically?
Link: http://www.dubstepforum.com/ucp.php?i=p ... =signature

Also for chords/sub bass etc. I layer my chords with all the low end cut, a midrange bass (100Hz-500Hz ish) playing the lowest set of notes and the sub cut, and a dedicated sub layer again playing the lowest set of notes. All these normally get bussed together with adequate EQ/compression/saturation/stereo fx (keep the bass mono).

Sometimes I have other midrange or strings/choirs playing the higher notes of the chords too. I also roll off the top end (16-18kHz ish) because sometimes with supersaws you can start to push the top end too much and it'll become piercing.

Don't fully understand your first paragraph, what do you mean by "low end cut" and "sub cut"? Are these the same thing? Do you mean you layer the chords with a sub, buss those two together, then a midrange bass and sub, buss those two together, and then another sub under all of that along with compression/effects? I don't really follow you, sorry .

By low cut, I meant the general low end - basically anywhere the midrange bass is filling in. Say have a smooth roll off at 400Hz, so you still have some bleeding through - but I'd ensure <100Hz is completely cut.
By sub cut, I meant exactly that - so wherever your sub is sitting, say 60Hz and lower?

I have a bass buss and a synth buss (in addition I also have others e.g. drum buss/orchestra buss/vox buss etc. but those don't matter here) , on both I normally have some form of EQ, again just ensuring each set of synths isn't overstepping the range it should be in and some light compression and saturation to help "glue" the sounds. These busses then go to the master where everything is summed.

Thank you, much more clear, I'll give that a try. One more thing, I read alot that bass needs to stay in mono, why is this? Does this only apply to lower basses? Can I use stereo for a mid range bass?

[mthrfnk]

-charles

Why do you add that weird ass video to all your posts? You know you can add it to your signature and it sits below your posts automatically?
Link: http://www.dubstepforum.com/ucp.php?i=p ... =signature

Also for chords/sub bass etc. I layer my chords with all the low end cut, a midrange bass (100Hz-500Hz ish) playing the lowest set of notes and the sub cut, and a dedicated sub layer again playing the lowest set of notes. All these normally get bussed together with adequate EQ/compression/saturation/stereo fx (keep the bass mono).

Sometimes I have other midrange or strings/choirs playing the higher notes of the chords too. I also roll off the top end (16-18kHz ish) because sometimes with supersaws you can start to push the top end too much and it'll become piercing.

Don't fully understand your first paragraph, what do you mean by "low end cut" and "sub cut"? Are these the same thing? Do you mean you layer the chords with a sub, buss those two together, then a midrange bass and sub, buss those two together, and then another sub under all of that along with compression/effects? I don't really follow you, sorry .

By low cut, I meant the general low end - basically anywhere the midrange bass is filling in. Say have a smooth roll off at 400Hz, so you still have some bleeding through - but I'd ensure <100Hz is completely cut.
By sub cut, I meant exactly that - so wherever your sub is sitting, say 60Hz and lower?

I have a bass buss and a synth buss (in addition I also have others e.g. drum buss/orchestra buss/vox buss etc. but those don't matter here) , on both I normally have some form of EQ, again just ensuring each set of synths isn't overstepping the range it should be in and some light compression and saturation to help "glue" the sounds. These busses then go to the master where everything is summed.

Thank you, much more clear, I'll give that a try. One more thing, I read alot that bass needs to stay in mono, why is this? Does this only apply to lower basses? Can I use stereo for a mid range bass?

With low end, sub specifically, if you have different signals in the L & R channels, when they get summed they will phase cancel (destructively interefere) dependant upon how out of phase the signals are. If you keep the signals the same (i.e. mono) they won't do this and you keep a nice strong low end in the centre of the field. If nothing else it feels natural, to me at least, to have the deep bass straight in the middle of the stereo field...

Ultimately say you play your tracks on a mono PA/club system the sub bass and even kick may dissapear entirely. Midrange can have stereo effects, but prevent yourself going overboard and ending up with just a wide stereo mess.