everything i do sounds like total crap (total rant)

[Mannyyyyy]

Hello guys im going to rant right now but i have no clue what to do. Mostly I have a bunch of ideas on my mind to make a couple sick tunes but their are a couple things stopping me from this goal. One is i don't have the experience at all. I've only been producing for about 4 months now and i love it but sometimes i just wanna throw my computer out the window since my incapability of doing certain things. Another reason i get stuck is i have the idea in my mind but once I get onto logic I lose all faith cause i cannot get the sound that was in my head onto the actual arrangement. I ask a lot of people for tips a lot and it does help me but everytime i try to do things with tips i get usually get my songs either sound very very bad and i want to just throw the project away or just turn the computer off. I know producing is very much hard work but how are some people actually able to pull off what they have in their mind and actually make it happen. I mostly have no sort of direction at all since i've been learning everything myself and by reading but i feel like the lack of i guess friends or people i know that don't produce bring me down since i have no one to show except forums. Mostly i feel like everything i do or try to do music wise to get my idea from my mind into the song always ends of like total crap. Did anyone go through this when they first started to produce or am i just going crazy. Does anyone know what kind of situation im at?

/end rant

[Trebek]

I can second that. I'm sure everyone will just say this: Practice, patience, persistence. Thats all it really is, a band didn't get together one day and all the sudden become great, they practiced hard everyday or very often to hone there skills. You shouldn't worry about what it sounds like, and just have fun as I see it, but that's hard. When I start a tune I'm always like fuck nobody will like this, then I catch myself....Why the fuck should I care if someone else will like it, I should make it for me, but its always like a nagging feeling that I wanna make good tunes for others to enjoy. But I guess it all happens in good time. Keep pushing on, the more you twidle all those knobs and what not, the more familiar you will become with it and the easier it will become.

[decklyn]

I have been writing music on a computer for 14 years and I can tell you from years of effort that you just have to put the time in.

You will get lucky and write some tunes along the way that are exceptional but it may take a long time before you can just sit down and write stff that sounds good.

Just try to have fun.

And buy monitors!

[nowaysj]

I really feel like the ability to play the keyboard could shave years off of your development. If you can translate your musical thoughts into physical motions, those motions can be captured and reproduced with technology. A year of dedicated practice, I suppose, should yield results. I would very much like piano lessons myself. I have struggled for years turning musical ideas into an external reality.

On another tangent, I would say keep it simple to a certain extent. The more elaborate and grandiose the project the more skill adn experience is required. Just keep it simple and write the music that comes naturally.

[Swissdub]

the reason is...... youve been producing for 4 months....surprised?

learning to produce is like learning any other instrument, you just have to keep pracitsing, learning and putting what you learn into practise.

you just dont pick up a guitar and say 'i want to play some masterpeice in 4 months, you start by learning chords, then learning basic basic songs, then slowly getting better and playing better songs.

just give it time man, take in as much knowledge you possibly can, read up on music theory, and it will come, slowly...but surely

[daft cunt]

Yeah man we all go through that and even the most succesful artists did. There's this blog with short Q&As with dubstep artists like SPL and Bassnectar and when they're asked what they wished they knew when they started, most of them replied something about not rushing things. So no, you're not alone man, what you're going through is perfectly normal. Unnecessary but normal

My suggestion is to work with what you have rather than what you wish you had (skills and gear). Frustration is a massive creativity breaker.
Don't spend too much energy on the EQ/comp side of things. You're a musician first so imo you should focus on sound design, music theory and arrangement.
Personally, I spent the last 2 years not finishing a single tune because I was not happy with my sound design skills so I just made loops and pieces of tunes working on specific aspects of sound design and now I start being able to put it all together. I'm not recommending you to do that, it worked for me but what's important is that you find your way to cope with it.

Also, work cleverly : what kind of sounds do you need for your tunes ? Drums, bass, pads, arps, leads, risers, weird bleeps and fx, etc. So enjoy these moments when you're totally uninspired for writing music and work on the kind of sounds you want to improve at that time.
Look for the gold threads on DSF (and avoid spending too much time reading/posting on the others), watch tutorials on youtube, grab masterclass vids, etc.
About that, if you're not using Massive yet, unless you really can't stand the GUI, consider it. Not because it's better than other synths but because of the huge amount of great tutorials available for it. Once you're getting good with it, it's much easier to understand other subtractive synths and synthesis in general.

But really, most importantly : don't try to rush anything. The ear can only develop at its own pace and so do your sound design and writing skills. And they'll develop faster if you're not constantly feeling frustrated.
Go easy on yourself and keep having fun. If you're not, go do something else for a while. It's supposed to be fun, not a stressful race.

[Sinisterbeats]

everyone who's underwhelmed by what they're producing, or are continuing to produce-- watch this:

[eldoogle]

Ok so I've read everyones post but Dafts: tldr, but anyways its all right. edit - I read dafts.

All you need to do is not give up and spend hours and hours every week. Its what I've been doing and (imo) it works.

My newest song started out as a terrible 7 minute long electroish song, and then I thought the intro would be good for a dubstep intro, so I decided to change it and I've been working on it all week. My best advice is to work on your stuff even if it doesn't sound good right off the bat, and listen to peoples feedback.

[VirtualMark]

I know how you feel mate! I've been producing for about 4 months also... and my stuff pretty much sucks. But i would say that the tunes i make now are better than the ones i made when i started, so thats my goal. For each tune i make to get better and better.

I'm also studying every aspect of production that i can. I've got to know cubase fairly well, i have been practising keyboard playing, i've been learning synthesis and loads of other stuff. I'm hoping that the bigger picture will eventually come together.

And to be honest i'm enjoying learning all this stuff. It started as a hobby but now i'm taking it seriously as i've found something i enjoy so much! I reckon within a year or two and with a lot of effort its possible to make some real good tunes.

[thor_beatz]

I started making music in 1998. On fasttracker2. My dad had a internet connection, the only way to get your tunes out was via scene.org.

Be happy you are starting out today. You'll be making some dope shit with pirated material within a year. If not, you did not spend a dime and you can honestly say you tried.

because, sure time and practice will get you far, but talent is also needed. Even if it's just you that think you are talented, it's the only way you can justify giving music every minute of free time you have in a day. Stay confident you'll be the new tripple a producer, and dont throw your computer out of the window until it gives you considerable amounts of street cred

[therook]

Op I feel ya man. Producing is hard and every time you hear a better tune than yours you feel like selling you shit and playing World of Warcraft again. I know how that feels. lol.

But keep on keeping on. Some good advice I read from Mr. High Rankin was to "Make as many tunes as you can". Like make a drum track real quick, then make another, then maybe play with some melodies or what not, then proceed to make a song, etc.

It gets easier the more you make

[Nacklewicket]

why so mad? you should be having fun learning this shit ! if you been producing for 4 months jeesh ud have to be fucking inhuman to put down your exact visions into your daw... thats whats seperates amateurs from the proffesionals..
4 months in i still didnt know how to difference the "pattern" and "song" mode in FL. was just fucking around with ONE extremly long pattern at a time and messing about with sytrus for EVERYTHING (with about 15 clones of it and not understanding what i was doing wrong and why the shit was lagging madly).

dude... be patient. if you find it fun youll continue and learn it..

like most creative doings in life, producing takes time to learn. learning takes alot of practice.

ur supposed to do it because you believe in it and you find it amazing and something about it keeps you interested even though youre not very good at it.


i wish u all good luck man

[Nacklewicket]

I can second that. I'm sure everyone will just say this: Practice, patience, persistence. Thats all it really is, a band didn't get together one day and all the sudden become great, they practiced hard everyday or very often to hone there skills. You shouldn't worry about what it sounds like, and just have fun as I see it, but that's hard. When I start a tune I'm always like fuck nobody will like this, then I catch myself....Why the fuck should I care if someone else will like it, I should make it for me, but its always like a nagging feeling that I wanna make good tunes for others to enjoy. But I guess it all happens in good time. Keep pushing on, the more you twidle all those knobs and what not, the more familiar you will become with it and the easier it will become.

think of it in this way; if you make a tune u enjoy
then at least >ONE< other human being on this planet is BOUND to also dig it.. im pretty sure this is the way the world works
no but i really believe in this.

[Mannyyyyy]

thanks guys for advice i mostly went on super rage yesterday i couldnt even find direction at all but i see what you guys mean and thanks for the advice

[therzbm]

one thing that helps is not to compare how far off sounding like your idol you are, but how far you have come from day one when you started. think about the first thing you ever made compared to stuff you make now and focus on how much you improve week by week or month by month. there are millions if not billions of people who never will play an instrument or make any sort of music in their life, be grateful you are lucky enough to be able to do so. never give up, you are only going to get better even if it takes your whole life to write that masterpiece, it would have been worth it and is more than a lot of people can say they have achieved.

[stompzi]

Haha, it feels like I've been in the same boat as you for years... let alone 4 months...

Two things that keep me sane:

1: You recognise that you aren't very good. That's a lot better than thinking you're great, even besides keeping you from becoming an ego it means you have something of an objective view of your stuff, so hopefully you know what you need to work on.
2: Stop trying to turn the track you hear into your head into reality (or at least take a break from doing that once in a while). Some of the best ideas were born from experimentation, and I find that a lot easier and more fun when I'm frustrated than trying to force things.

Good luck and all that

[brightondubhead]

[corpu5]

be patient man and practice, better still dont produce all the time, take regular breaks and go out for a walk or go out clubbing .... dont get bogged down in your room, get outside your house and experience life .... then go back to your room and write pieces on it.

[s3f]

be patient man and practice, better still dont produce all the time, take regular breaks and go out for a walk or go out clubbing .... dont get bogged down in your room, get outside your house and experience life .... then go back to your room and write pieces on it.

This. Sometimes it's just not possible to force producing... Once you get a good idea, an inspiration, just a melody or beat or something you'll find yourself rushing to your desk and frantically laying down stuff in your DAW and suddenly ending up with a new track or at the very least some cool loops. If you don't feel like producing, just don't. If you do, by all means, do it! Just my 2 cents

[Nacklewicket]

be patient man and practice, better still dont produce all the time, take regular breaks and go out for a walk or go out clubbing .... dont get bogged down in your room, get outside your house and experience life .... then go back to your room and write pieces on it.

this is the best piece of advice ever! i always take >every< chance i get to do something else besides producing.. even though im always hungry to produce.. i can sit endless hour just producing but you gotta get inspiration and experiences to produce quality stuff. and its a good way to rest your ears and creative part of your brain.. refreshens your musical senses i think