Things that annoy you most about production...

[RandoRando]

^^^^^ i dont know of any dubstep artists who sold out, but one of my favorite rap groups three 6 mafia, they used to be the shit back in the 90s and 2000 2001 . then once they started to get bigger they started to put out stupid shit like lolli lolli cause all they cared about was the money, just putting out stupid tracks that little girls in clubs like. Thats my defintion of a musician(s) selling out.

[wub]

Black Eyed Peas. Were a credible hip hop act when I was at college.

Then Elephunk came out

[hutyluty]

I hate also that I make a track and I can't get to that level again seemingly. Like, it was something I actually still like (Solitude in my sig) but my efforts since aren't touching that, and sometimes I think they might never

Yeah man i get this a lot, my older tracks always seem 10 X better than the ones im doing now

[wub]

I hate also that I make a track and I can't get to that level again seemingly. Like, it was something I actually still like (Solitude in my sig) but my efforts since aren't touching that, and sometimes I think they might never

Yeah man i get this a lot, my older tracks always seem 10 X better than the ones im doing now

Maybe it's not your tracks getting worse, but your production expectations getting higher as you develop as an artist?

[hutyluty]

:O Thankyou zen master Wub, have really changed my perspective on life this morning

[symmetricalsounds]

Black Eyed Peas. Were a credible hip hop act when I was at college.

Then Elephunk came out

the first two albums were decent, but yeah you can see how they didn't wanna be a normal hiphop act and went for big money. still they did a few tunes way back then.

[Codox]

everything, i hate producing

[benjam]

Having a girlfriend and the inevitable arguements about 'spending time together' eg watching tv in silence haha

[Depone]

Never being satisfied with the end result

[__________]

The company that made my pc, they're assholes... My F# buttons are all assigned to do various system tasks and i cant figure out how to un-map them, so when f5 would bring up the step and f the playlist or w.e., i havent had that luxury in a good sixth month...

my f5 opens a calculator.

Try Sharp Keys. I have a mac keyboard on a pc and had to remap some keys:

http://www.randyrants.com/sharpkeys/

==

And to hulty, read that damn moneyshot thread again if you are clipping.

Autohotkey.
I think the code would just be

Code: Select all

F5::F5

in a .ahk file

[the dub lemon]

Listening to my track and think that needs a scream/moan/shout/roar/growl/clang/boink/clang/whatever right there. Then hunting through films/sample sites/youtube/etc to try and find what i want...can't find, get disheartened, give up.

[symmetricalsounds]

just get a mic and record it

[BaseBass]

I can't stand the fact that my drops never statisfy.... that one very moment where it has to hit you in the guts... it just doesn't do it. It usually sounds weak.

[[asterisk]]

Never being satisfied with the end result

I second this. But it's kind of a catch 22 and isn't unique to edm. Since it takes so much work to get smashing tracks, via sound design, arrangement, automation, fx, mixing and mastering (even saying it like that makes it seem simpler than it is) and thus the time involved at each step, as a producer you literally have listned to evry aspect of your track thousands of times before it comes together. So your ears really do play tricks on you and you'll NEVER be able to listen to your own stuff objectively like others do. You can't help but hear the pieces that make up the whole and so it's near impossible to sit back and take it in as such. The closest you can get to this is not listen to it for a long time and come back to it fresh, but even then it's not the same. That maybe why some people tend to like their older stuff better actually. I remember when my old band's first ep came out and I thought it sounded crap, I could hear every little mistake, but I recorded and mixed it, so of course I could. But everyone seemed to love it and couldn't understand what I was bitching about. So I think it's something similar with all musicians and producers, we usually don't dig our stuff as much as others! Fact of life unfortunately.

[Turnipish_Thoughts]

I hate also that I make a track and I can't get to that level again seemingly. Like, it was something I actually still like (Solitude in my sig) but my efforts since aren't touching that, and sometimes I think they might never

Yeah man i get this a lot, my older tracks always seem 10 X better than the ones im doing now

Maybe it's not your tracks getting worse, but your production expectations getting higher as you develop as an artist?

Absolutely. I feel inclined to say something about the relativity of perspective as part of an expanding consciousness. It would sound contrary that tracks created with a more limited set of knowledge would sound to the more trained ear as better than attempts at creating tracks from a (now) more musically trained mind. That would be so, if the world were black and white. Throw into the mix the many variables of inspiration and experimentation, an infinite possibility in harmonic interplay and sound design decisions and it makes complete sense that sometimes you really do just stumble upon something special, theory and know-how is important, but its not the ghost in the machine, its just the machine. a 'good track' comes from somewhere much more ethereal and carnal than a set of defined guidelines, which will only serve to refine the details of the mural, as it were.

The broad strokes that define the piece, and more importantly, the sense of adventure and self belief prerequisite to casting those strokes in unconventional ways is in my opinion where those rare personal musical achievements come from, and not (at least in the most part) from a purely theoretical foundation.

[mitchAUS]

I hate also that I make a track and I can't get to that level again seemingly. Like, it was something I actually still like (Solitude in my sig) but my efforts since aren't touching that, and sometimes I think they might never

Yeah man i get this a lot, my older tracks always seem 10 X better than the ones im doing now

Maybe it's not your tracks getting worse, but your production expectations getting higher as you develop as an artist?

Absolutely. I feel inclined to say something about the relativity of perspective as part of an expanding consciousness. It would sound contrary that tracks created with a more limited set of knowledge would sound to the more trained ear as better than attempts at creating tracks from a (now) more musically trained mind. That would be so, if the world were black and white. Throw into the mix the many variables of inspiration and experimentation, an infinite possibility in harmonic interplay and sound design decisions and it makes complete sense that sometimes you really do just stumble upon something special, theory and know-how is important, but its not the ghost in the machine, its just the machine. a 'good track' comes from somewhere much more ethereal and carnal than a set of defined guidelines, which will only serve to refine the details of the mural, as it were.

The broad strokes that define the piece, and more importantly, the sense of adventure and self belief prerequisite to casting those strokes in unconventional ways is in my opinion where those rare personal musical achievements come from, and not (at least in the most part) from a purely theoretical foundation.

[hasezwei]

broken gear.
my nanokontrol's usb port needs to be soldered, my zoom h1's sd card died for no reason so i have unbelieveable 35 seconds of onboard memory to records, my omnicontrol's start/stop buttons only work if you hit them hard, the guy who actually owns my midikeyboard claimed it back.

also, gearlust.

the only thing annoying me about production is not having thousands of euros to spend on it.





(and 16 year olds churning out bangers)

[wub]

my zoom h1's sd card died for no reason so i have unbelieveable 35 seconds of onboard memory to records

Limitation breeds innovation

[[asterisk]]

Yesh, most of what has been said here. But the top of my aggro list has to be my seemingly fundamental inability to not go totally OCD with every aspect of sound design and effects. I just can't help myself so I guess I'm a habitual "tweaker" in this regard. I can get some great sounds this way but it's SOOOO f*ing frustrating when I waste hours by the dozen with not much to show for it. So in that sense the above poster is 100% correct, some limitations can be a really good thing! Also I guess I need to find a collab partner who is impatient enough to scream at me "dood, it sounds good, lets keep moving"!!

[Grimenoceros]

In FL, re-playing a certain section over and over to make sure I like it, by clicking on the very top row with the time markers to go back, and instead clicking the window slider and jumping 80 miles back to the beginning because I was zoomed in 100%.

I do this at least 20 times a session and each time I want to piss blood.