Stopping production to actually learn your equipment

ketamine · Post by **ketamine** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:08 pm

Decided I'm tired of doing things the hard way / randomly tweaking knobs / scrolling presets for hours with no real understanding of what I'm doing or why . . . Been doing this for years only to watch other people who (especially the Pros) took the time to read manuals properly, get on with much more ease and speed.

Believe, books have NEVER been my thing (ADHD init) but it's paying off. Really itchin to start but I'm convinced the creative payoff will be bigger if you just learn the tools first.

wil blaze · Post by **wil blaze** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:13 pm

My biggest tip would be to concentrate on just a handfull of bits of gear/software

If you try and use 20 different synths you will get nowhere fast...

Take time to study 1 synth until you know it inside out... then you will able to get the best out of it and apply what you've learnt to new synths

misk · Post by **misk** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:20 pm

if you buy it, either hardware or software, you'll force yourself to learn it, otherwise your wasting money.

ketamine · Post by **ketamine** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:21 pm

Wil Blaze wrote:If you try and use 20 different synths you will get nowhere fast...

Take time to study 1 synth until you know it inside out... then you will able to get the best out of it and apply what you've learnt to new synths

Totally agree. Not going after all the equip, that would be impossible, or at the least, impractical. Concentrating on Massive and Kore 2 / FM8. Learn to make your own sounds, will never run out of original matterial . . .

mumble · Post by **mumble** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:24 pm

Im in the same situation at the moment, taking time out from building tracks to try and improve my sound engineering skills.

teqh · Post by **teqh** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:06 pm

Misk wrote:if you buy it, either hardware or software, you'll force yourself to learn it, otherwise your wasting money.

This, I just jumped in four months ago after reading around on here on another acc, best money ive ever spent man, if im just fucking about and not learning anything i just remind myself of the fact im skint for a reason

Wil Blaze is right as well, Im restricting myself to working internally with logic ATM just so I can get to know it inside out, I think what seperate the pros from us lot is that they can hear something in their head and be able to reproduce it, which is what Im aiming to achieve

BRAIN TO MUSIC

Brisance · Post by **Brisance** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:26 pm

Get off the Ketamine and get some amphetamine. After a long night of euphoria, I usually find myself reading some ebooks on mastering etc.

b-lam · Post by **b-lam** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:28 pm

learn a new technique every tune u make, that way you don't have to spend hours tweaking sounds and constantly thinking about when ur actually gonna make a tune, and u still progress in ur knowledge of the gear you're using.

wil blaze · Post by **wil blaze** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:55 pm

Misk wrote:if you buy it, either hardware or software, you'll force yourself to learn it, otherwise your wasting money.

I need to heed this advice... I got so much gear i ain't used...

Currently a Yamaha CSX-1 sitting in my lab that i plugged in once to check it worked... had it for about a year i think... same with a kawai drum machine i picked up over the summer!

Stupid really... but like... if i find something i want, i can't help but buy it!

Software wise i'm much more sensible... but that never has the same power over me than hardware... which i buy compulsively!

alpha3 · Post by **alpha3** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:30 am

I've only recently got back into writing stuff. I've got a few hardware bitz and software as well as production tips to try and I'm finding that if I do a track I use it as a vehicle to try out a piece of gear or a particular technique. The trax are not great but another thing twigs. Ie: I might concentrate on mixing and matching beats one day so I concentate on a sampler to tidy them up then recycle them so I can extract a groove to use on the bass and riffs. Or the other day I was trying out triplet delays and different reverbs. It's a slow process but I'm not doing much else so it's slowly going in. The day I start mixing decent trax I'll probably have completed this musical journey and drop dead.

ketamine · Post by **ketamine** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:38 am

Wil Blaze wrote: if i find something i want, i can't help but buy it!

Software wise i'm much more sensible... but that never has the same power over me than hardware... which i buy compulsively!

HA HA HA HA I'm the other way round . . . obsessively hoarding software like my life's dependent on it . . . (hence this post) especially NI kits . . . its like I have to have everything they make or I can't breathe . . . and ever since that Rusko Masterclass, honestly I've been eyeballing Albino . . .

legend4ry · Post by **legend4ry** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:49 am

Yes.

Most high-end software will do everything you want it to in a sense of sounds so whats the point in buying / downloading bare VSTis, tweaking presets when you can find a vsti what has a nice UI and learn it inside out?

Thats why I only use FM8 & recently bought Sylenth1 which is also great, I also bought Octopus, Guitar rig & Rhino2 a while back, all great also and all have features what the others don't.

jheri · Post by **jheri** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:24 am

I've been doing a bit of this recently, it blows my mind some of the things I find out. Makes me wish I'd done it earlier.

pyro_racy · Post by **pyro_racy** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:44 am

Well i'm not mixing with monitors (getting them at christmas) so yeah i'm just arranging all my folders and laying my songs out ready to mix em properly when i get em

misk · Post by **misk** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:37 pm

Wil Blaze wrote:
Misk wrote:if you buy it, either hardware or software, you'll force yourself to learn it, otherwise your wasting money.
I need to heed this advice... I got so much gear i ain't used...

Currently a Yamaha CSX-1 sitting in my lab that i plugged in once to check it worked... had it for about a year i think... same with a kawai drum machine i picked up over the summer!

Stupid really... but like... if i find something i want, i can't help but buy it!

Software wise i'm much more sensible... but that never has the same power over me than hardware... which i buy compulsively!

when in doubt, remind yourself that blockhead makes all his shit on an ASR-10, Hi fi speakers, and a shitty numark turntable for sampling records.

pdomino · Post by **pdomino** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:43 pm

Brisance wrote:Get off the Ketamine and get some amphetamine.

HAHAHA
I would recommend sitting and playing with your midi keyboard and just going through synths/modules and messing with scales etc.

armada · Post by **armada** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 4:43 am

the two go hand in hand for me. when im making tracks and there is a sound i hear in mi head that would go well over what im workin with then i hit the books/manuals and find out how to make it. i retain way more this way than reading page after page of the technical shit.

jolly wailer · Post by **jolly wailer** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:08 pm

I'm doing this right now.

mr ads · Post by **mr ads** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:44 pm

Misk wrote: when in doubt, remind yourself that blockhead makes all his shit on an ASR-10, Hi fi speakers, and a shitty numark turntable for sampling records.

This I didn't know and impresses the hell out of me.

faun2500 · Post by **faun2500** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:15 am

Misk wrote:if you buy it, either hardware or software, you'll force yourself to learn it, otherwise your wasting money.

100% agree with that!

Stopping production to actually learn your equipment

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Stopping production to actually learn your equipment

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