Your Top 3 Intuitive Concepts to Making Music

[tylerblue]

I'm relatively new to music production, and one of the things I've noticed is that a lot of people tend to ask people how to make a specific sound, or which buttons to push, or which knobs to turn, etc. I don't tend to enjoy working this way seeing as though that doesn't teach me anything on an intuitive level such that I may later go and do it on my own without having any knowledge as to what the buttons and knobs are actually doing. In other words, I like to be "taught how to fish" rather than being "handed fish".

Seeing the quality of music producers on this forum, I gather that many of you work off of intuitive concepts that guide you to make new sounds or reproduce sounds that you enjoy in other music. What are your top three vital concepts that guide you as a music producer?

[Astral]

Originality, Originality and streaming movies.

[symmetricalsounds]

not being afraid to just mess around, trust your ears and less is more.

[FSTZ]

biggup san diego!

thanks for asking a good question

one piece of advice that many on the forum tend to differ with me on...

go into the session with a concept, try to write the tune in your mind before you execute your song

see the big picture before you push a button

good luck

[wub]

Spend as much time as you can doing sound design

Sample everything

Crtl + N

[symmetricalsounds]

Crtl + N

ctrl+S

[Hurtdeer]

it's worth reading how to make specific sounds man, not really to copy them and just use it, but knowing how to make a sine or a square wave will take you a long way into knowing exactly what you want from your music

kind of like someone showing you how they use a fishing rod, and then giving it to you. you don't even have to catch the same fish. argh metaphors

other than that: persistence, not worrying about what other people think until after it's finished, and, uh... weed?

[symmetricalsounds]

free pdf here http://noisesculpture.com/how-to-make-a-noise

[Muta]

What i just do is...

Getting inspiration by IDK what, can be various things.
Mess around when im bored.
Do something else (For example, drawing) when music issnt working out at that moment, and try again later :]

[jsills]

awesome post bro.

1) focus on arranging well , picking good sounds from the beginning. make solid grooves.

2) learn different waveforms sounds and texture so you know what might compliment another sound or what might be missing from a mix.

3) if it sounds shit, it is. delete it.

[press]

Photek has said:

"all anyone's style is, is what else they're into outside of jungle"

this really resonates with me and i try to apply it to dubstep and try to not let dubstep influence my dubstep to much and use my years of hip-hop and dnb influences to give me my sound.

thats all i got right now. lol

[kontrol]

i find that you can have cool sound A and cool sound B and put them together you get cool sound c, and it can be completely different from what you originally set out to achieve.. this often gets me sidetracked

my main thing is to focus on an idea and run with it, anything else gets the ctrl + D

[wub]

Photek has said:

"all anyone's style is, is what else they're into outside of jungle"

this really resonates with me and i try to apply it to dubstep and try to not let dubstep influence my dubstep to much and use my years of hip-hop and dnb influences to give me my sound.

thats all i got right now. lol

Proper sound advice - one of the reasons DnB gets a lot of slating is it's DnB made by people who just listen to DnB. It's like audio inbreeding.

[jolly wailer]

tempo




mood



a coherent sound palette (i.e. do my samples and synth sounds sound good together?)



and then working out variations on my theme

[jsills]

It's like audio inbreeding.

too true

[Pedro Sánchez]

1. Listen to as much as you can musically and hold no prejudice
2. Take inspiration from your life experiences as well as musical ones, a sound doesn't just have to from a musical context
3. Never limit your creativity or say to yourself "I've learned all I need to know"

[FSTZ]

"I've learned all I need to know"

hah!

I have heard some cocky hiphop types try and flex that shit...

impossible

[gravity]

Photek has said:

"all anyone's style is, is what else they're into outside of jungle"

this really resonates with me and i try to apply it to dubstep and try to not let dubstep influence my dubstep to much and use my years of hip-hop and dnb influences to give me my sound.

thats all i got right now. lol

spot on though. dont get too into the genre that you are making, or you will more than likely make generic cack. listen to as much music as you can, and explore genres you might not normally with unbiased ears. other music will subliminally influence your sound.

[yamaz]

Research. Experiment. Play.

Add pot to taste.

[the get down]

Backup everything twice on different drives and once to DVD and keep the DVDs at a different location.


Trust me, this will save you stress and heartache in the long run.