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NEOGAF's Official Music Production Thread: calling all producers

rrc1594

Member
Guys I'm trying to record through MboxMini in Pro Tools. I can't get any Microphone signal.

Pro Tools is reading the box maybe it's my I/O set-up?
 
Do you have Auto input monitoring on? What type of mic is it, dynamic or condenser? Does the mic require phantom power? Could you screencap your I/O pages.
 
What's the concensus on Auralex foam speaker desk stands (paging Falk)? Any cheaper/more viable alternatives?

edit: Should've asked, are foam pads actually worth investing in/do they actually work?

thanks for the suggestion Chris Metal

edit 2: thanks for the answer!
 

Falk

that puzzling face
What's the concensus on Auralex foam speaker desk stands (paging Falk)? Any cheaper/more viable alternatives?

edit: Should've asked, are foam pads actually worth investing in/do they actually work?

thanks for the suggestion Chris Metal

Can't comment on the specific product but isolation is definitely a proven science and cuts out a lot of resonance other objects in your room may have, especially if you have your speakers resting on something that isn't stands specifically built for them.
 
So I got a couple things to post in here, but first I'll just spit out "this 18 tracks, 1:02:51 long" thing.

That was fun and was done relatively fast, but I'm now feeling all the empty spaces I left. I want to get experimental, progressive, and more ambient with sounds. So what I'm really looking for now is new plugins. I've been using Sytrus in Fl Studio 12 for the past two years and I have grown tired of it.

I was eyeing a current deal going on over at Native-Instruments with their Komplete 10 series. Currently, the lower tier is about $399 rather than the usual $499. Comes with some stuff like Massive and Absynth 5. There's a whole comparison chart and it includes quite a few things. If I were to buy this pack, I probably would be just using what is in it for a pretty good while.

I'm rolling on some Jon Hopkins, Flying Lotus, Daedelus, Hudson Mohawke influences.
 

ozfunghi

Member
New song:

https://soundcloud.com/florsh-558501827/crunch

I'm having this weird problem where it seems that every other time I export a song in FL Studio it "wraps" the ending around to the beginning. I'm having to export everything twice now, it's strange.

I think this has potential, and i really like the general sound & feel. Especially the beginning is catchy and powerful.... but then, like many if not most synthwave tracks, it gets stuck in an overly repetitive layer upon layer of similar synths, without breaks or diversity. I generally like the synthwave sound, but i generally dislike the way it is presented. This is a general remark, not specifically about your track. More like my personal opinion.

Spent some more hours on these projects, hoping to get to the ''finishline'' in the coming weeks.

https://soundcloud.com/nyx_1978/george-hefner-sweat

If I make it (and am at least 99% happy with the results), I might just try and get them released by sending them to labels. ;-)

edit: Yep, that's one done:

https://soundcloud.com/nyx_1978/george-hefner-you
I've been digging through all my Reason projects and found this one from 2009, which is ''finished''.

Thought I'd share it here as well, just for fun.

https://soundcloud.com/nyx_1978/george-hefner-sleepyhead

Not bad, but personally i'm missing some variation. To me this feels more like 2 minute intro's being stretched over 5 minutes.

i remember passing by this thread a while back and thought, hey cool, people with common interests as me, if i ever need help with anything, i'll give this thread a try..... Well now's the time.

Good to see you got the help you wanted. But in the past this thread has suffered too much from people not giving any form of input or feedback when others were in need, but only asking others to help them instead. This should really be more of a natural thing. If you want help, don't feel afraid ask, but don't neglect others asking for some feedback in return. So "if you ever need help" sounds like a bit selfish if you are not willing to return the favor and neglect the topic until you need help. Sorry for sounding a bit like an ass but things like that just rub me the wrong way.

Made an album with a classical guitarist. Was a really cool experience, was hard at times to mix the two styles together.

Really proud of it, it's now on Spotify and Apple:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2GoBsllm9sdLHx7tI49vqj
iTunes: https://t.co/IWjscog8su

Congrats! Sounds good. I'll try to listen to it more in depth later (now i just skipped through it).
 
What's y'alls thought process when making a song? I still haven't managed to make one in these past 3 months. I never knew how thought intensive this is. You got to think about Melody, harmony, and the bass.
 

Xrenity

Member
What's y'alls thought process when making a song? I still haven't managed to make one in these past 3 months. I never knew how thought intensive this is. You got to think about Melody, harmony, and the bass.

I usually don't try to think a lot, just start off with a beat and see where it goes.

Hardest part for me is 'what comes next' after you've got that 8 bar loop.
 

The Kree

Banned
What's y'alls thought process when making a song? I still haven't managed to make one in these past 3 months. I never knew how thought intensive this is. You got to think about Melody, harmony, and the bass.
Try some extended meditation on your initial idea instead of starting without a plan and getting stuck. I don't start until I've already got the beginning, middle, and end in my head most of the time. In the cases where I don't have a plan, I just use some basic theory to get the writing done past the initial idea - scales>harmonies>chords>arps>melodies. Most of my brain power is spent on sound design rather than writing and arranging.
 

Nyx

Member
Not bad, but personally i'm missing some variation. To me this feels more like 2 minute intro's being stretched over 5 minutes.

Yep, always my problem.

I usually don't try to think a lot, just start off with a beat and see where it goes.

Hardest part for me is 'what comes next' after you've got that 8 bar loop.

Same here, most of the times I just start up a new project and fiddle around with drums, synths and samples without an actual idea upfront. Most of the times it ends up to nothing, sometimes I feel I can make a complete track out of it, but as mentioned they always miss variation.
That's the hardest part for me, mixing up drum patterns, having good fills and breaks, effects... Then I 'get stuck in the loop', lose motivation and interest in the track and start something new. Neverending cycle lol.

In the cases where I don't have a plan, I just use some basic theory to get the writing done past the initial idea - scales>harmonies>chords>arps>melodies. Most of my brain power is spent on sound design rather than writing and arranging.

Basic music theory you mean? Any pointers to good books or online stuff?
 

The Kree

Banned
Basic music theory you mean? Any pointers to good books or online stuff?

If you want to have an easy-to-use book on hand, I'd recommend this:

51MOm4iiEhL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


I use this site a lot when I need a quick chord reference for whatever scales I happen to be working with: http://www.scales-chords.com

Generally just searching concepts on Wikipedia and YouTube should help a lot.

I don't make it a point to memorize scales or modes or chords. Music theory is all about understanding the relationships between notes, and then using those relationships to create shortcuts in the writing process. It's not much different than converting 2+2+2+2 into 2x4. The things you do well by accident become easier to replicate once you understand why certain things work and certain things don't.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
I don't make it a point to memorize scales or modes or chords. Music theory is all about understanding the relationships between notes, and then using those relationships to create shortcuts in the writing process. It's not much different than converting 2+2+2+2 into 2x4. The things you do well by accident become easier to replicate once you understand why certain things work and certain things don't.

I'm in the same boat. I honestly think that music is built on the relationship of 5ths, which then sorta gives rise to a very close approximation of an equal tempered scale.

The moods that chords, which generally are combinations of notes, convey have a lot to do with how the pitches interact with each other and whether they're 5ths apart (or 5ths of 5ths of 5ths of 5ths blah blah blah blah)

Going to music school and learning music theory for me was basically understanding how to put what I hear into a more generally accepted format that other people can understand.

hopefully by 2100 we all sight read MIDI data rather than scores
 
I think this has potential, and i really like the general sound & feel. Especially the beginning is catchy and powerful.... but then, like many if not most synthwave tracks, it gets stuck in an overly repetitive layer upon layer of similar synths, without breaks or diversity. I generally like the synthwave sound, but i generally dislike the way it is presented. This is a general remark, not specifically about your track. More like my personal opinion.

I don't disagree (although I feel that complaint could be applied to a lot of electronic music generally, not just synthwave).

Edit: New one- https://soundcloud.com/florsh-558501827/tacit-approval
 

ozfunghi

Member
I've been reworking a track i started in 2003, and reworked in 2009, lol.

https://soundcloud.com/the-best-of/forget/s-npmux

I think i'm going to have to redo the talkbox parts after replacing the current fitting with a wider fitting for the tube, because the high notes never get the same clarity as the low notes. I think that might be the problem. Especially the part around 3m40s is placeholder.

Feedback is welcome.
 

Accoun

Member
AIR (not to be confused with Team AiR, lol) Xpand2 is $1 with pennies on Plugin Boutique sale.

http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/64-Virtual-Instrument/1560-Xpand-2

Anyone used either their commercial plugins, or Plugin Boutique? Do they just give you the code and download? Does it have some shitty license manager (or God forbid, it has anything to do with iLok)?

Never used neither the store, nor the developer's plugins, so I would like to know this beforehand.



[EDIT]
It's iLok License Manager. RIP
 

ozfunghi

Member
A bit of a sound design challenge: I'm trying to recreate the lead synth from Bedrock's Heaven Scent. I've time stamped it here: https://youtu.be/-XuRqqjbatw?t=3m19s

I'm using Massive and haven't quite zeroed in on it yet. Was wondering if anyone would be up for giving it a try.

I always find this difficult. Especially since there is a lot of reverb/delay on top. I would try to reverse engineer it. Start with the delay and reverb. Recreate the sequence with the right notes, and then start to sculpt the sound. Hard attack, open filter. I think.
 

boinx

Member
What's y'alls thought process when making a song? I still haven't managed to make one in these past 3 months. I never knew how thought intensive this is. You got to think about Melody, harmony, and the bass.

Honestly there ain't much thought put on it on my part, every time I go in thinking that I'm gonna make something that sounds exactly like this thing I had in my head rarely works out.

I usually start with just trying to make some groovy sounding synth thing and once I think that sounds cool, all the other elements of the track start coming in together. Finishing tracks is always the hardest part of the whole process tho.

Anyway, new guy in the thread and a couple weeks back, probably the last big tournament for Quake Live was held and Quake along with Doom have always held a soft spot in my heart for their art direction, both visually and sound wise. Since the last tournament represented an end of an era of sorts I just had to put something together.

edit: nvm
 

The Kree

Banned
I tried a saw and some other wavetables and couldn't hear an appreciable difference, I think because of the feedback from the comb filter. I think that's as close as I'm gonna get without any additional processing outside of Massive.
 

whitehawk

Banned
Hey what DAW does everyone use? I have been using Pro Tools 10, but I'm getting fed up with Avids bullshit with not offering software updates to versions after a year, and their new upgrade bullshit. They basically add features most people don't need, to justify making you upgrade every year just so you can also upgrade your OSX/Windows.

I've been thinking of just jumping to reaper or buying Logic X. Because I'd like to jump to El Capitan. Right now I'm stuck with Mavericks, or I lose pro tools. Fuck avid.

As long as my plugins work, EZ Drummer, and Metal Amp Room. And that I can use my MBox with them.
 
It's hard to argue against either Reaper or Logic. They both should work with all of your plugins, assuming none of them are AAX-only. Logic doesn't have a trial, so far as I know, so I'd recommend trying Reaper first as it has a quite generous one. Your audio interface should work with both.
 
I have Pro Tools 12 and 10 joint installed on Mountain Lion, when I upgrade some of my equipment I'll make my move to PT12 only permanent with an OSX update.

Others as alternatives would be Studio One 3 and Cubase/Nuendo.
 

whitehawk

Banned
It's hard to argue against either Reaper or Logic. They both should work with all of your plugins, assuming none of them are AAX-only. Logic doesn't have a trial, so far as I know, so I'd recommend trying Reaper first as it has a quite generous one. Your audio interface should work with both.
Thanks man. Yeah I just downloaded the trial, I'll be testing it out a lot.

Now for getting used to a new DAW. I was so used to/comfortable with PT :'(
 

Hamst3r

Member
Hey what DAW does everyone use?

I use Reaper. Something to keep in mind if you try Reaper out is the Actions menu. If you have a particular shortcut you like for something, or a certain way for a feature to work, go into the Actions and see if you can customize it. There's also stuff like this Keymap that does some of that for you. That repository also has a lot of Extensions for Reaper that add new functionality, so definitely dive into those as well.
 
Thanks man. Yeah I just downloaded the trial, I'll be testing it out a lot.

Now for getting used to a new DAW. I was so used to/comfortable with PT :'(

In Reaper you can set up Keymaps that imitate Pro Tools. Reaper also has the ability to customise it's look with themes, so you can make it look like Pro Tools as well if you want familiarity... video below on how to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAGb2pnEXlU
 
Hey everyone!

I'm having a problem with audio playback on my Focusrite 2i4, wonder if anyone here would be able to help.

I'm using ableton to record through Focusrite which I have a Tr8 hooked to it. Recording mono.

The problem is when I'm listening to the audio while i'm recording it. I think it's playing both, the instrument, and the play back. So I hear the sound sort of doubled. It records fine, it's that I wanna hear only the play back. I even have the 'mixer knob' turned all the way to playback. When I turn it to instrument, I can hear the instrument fine. I'm not sure what to do about this
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Hey everyone!

I'm having a problem with audio playback on my Focusrite 2i4, wonder if anyone here would be able to help.

I'm using ableton to record through Focusrite which I have a Tr8 hooked to it. Recording mono.

The problem is when I'm listening to the audio while i'm recording it. I think it's playing both, the instrument, and the play back. So I hear the sound sort of doubled. It records fine, it's that I wanna hear only the play back. I even have the 'mixer knob' turned all the way to playback. When I turn it to instrument, I can hear the instrument fine. I'm not sure what to do about this

What software are you tracking with? Also when you say you only want playback, I'm assuming that's because you have some FX being run?

Preemptive answer (that might be a complete red herring depending on what you're tracking with) - check if there are any input monitoring settings on the track on the software side that may be going parallel to your actual recorded track.
 
What software are you tracking with? Also when you say you only want playback, I'm assuming that's because you have some FX being run?

Preemptive answer (that might be a complete red herring depending on what you're tracking with) - check if there are any input monitoring settings on the track on the software side that may be going parallel to your actual recorded track.

Yup. That was it. Two tracks in Ableton were playing the TR8 at the same time -__-!
Thanks though :)
 
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