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NEOGAF's Official Music Production Thread: calling all producers

T

The Kree

Banned
Grokbu said:
I am considering getting a DAW and making some music.

If I were to use some sample libraries and plugins, ones that I've bought and also free ones, to make songs; Are there any potential legal issues that could arise if I were to upload these songs for free? And what if I were to sell these songs?
Click to expand...

Of course not. Never heard of a guitar manufacturer suing rock bands.
 
G

Grokbu

Member
The Kree said:
Of course not. Never heard of a guitar manufacturer suing rock bands.
Click to expand...
Ah, alright. Thanks.

So unless there's a special case (if even then?), when selling songs, one doesn't have to write who made/published the sample libraries etc. used somewhere?
 
T

The Kree

Banned
Grokbu said:
Ah, alright. Thanks.

So unless there's a special case (if even then?), when selling songs, one doesn't have to write who made/published the sample libraries etc. used somewhere?
Click to expand...

Nah. If there is, the packaging or documentation of said libraries will state explicitly whether they can be used credit/royalty free or not. In the case of something like Kontakt, VSL, Hollywood Strings, etc., you've already paid for the right to use them in your compositions however you see fit upon purchase.

Although, I have heard of lawsuits coming against producers/composers who used patterns from arpeggiators created by synth manufacturers, which might be tantamount to simply changing the key of a melody or chord progression that someone else wrote, but even that seems like a nebulous concern at best.
 
H

Hamst3r

Member
Grokbu said:
I am considering getting a DAW and making some music.

If I were to use some sample libraries and plugins, ones that I've bought and also free ones, to make songs; Are there any potential legal issues that could arise if I were to upload these songs for free? And what if I were to sell these songs?
Click to expand...

There are no problems with that. There are some libraries with special terms, like how one sample CD I have says the samples must always be played with at least 3 other concurrent sounds, or how the Vienna Symphonic Library says you have to credit them in the liner notes if you use their instruments. But I've never heard of any of this actually being enforced, nor do I think they even could, or are even looking for instances of people violating these terms. I mean, maybe if you were a big time producer or film composer this could be a thing, but even then it's hard to imagine. But for free online? Nah.

So really, don't worry about it. It's not going to cause any problems. I've been using music software and samples, and releasing music online for free and licensing it for decades.
 
clem84

clem84

Gold Member
The Kree said:
I've had similar issues with MPCs in the past where the pads weren't always making contact with the sensors beneath them unless they were hit hard. The default design was such that there's a very thin space between the pad and sensor. The solution to the problem was to place a thin slice of foam or cork between them so that the pad would trigger the sensor with even the slightest touch.

This might be your problem if the sensor itself isn't defective. Open it up, inspect it, try triggering the sensor without the foam cover on top of it.
Click to expand...

Yeah looks like it's the foam cone. I found a cheap place on ebay to order them. Hopefully this won't be too difficult.
 
S

Skinpop

Member
what is a good program if I just want to throw something together quickly to test an idea?
I'm somewhat familiar with FL studio but most of the time it's too much. Usually I discover a melody while doing something and then I just want to whip something up in half an hour or so.
 
O

omg_mjd

Member
Need some good podcast recommendations for songwriting, song analysis and production. I'm already subbed to the EDM Producer Podcast (which is great).

Skinpop said:
what is a good program if I just want to throw something together quickly to test an idea?
I'm somewhat familiar with FL studio but most of the time it's too much. Usually I discover a melody while doing something and then I just want to whip something up in half an hour or so.
Click to expand...

Garageband? The iOS version works well if you don't have a Mac. There's also the Korg music apps on 3DS: DSN-12 and M01d. Those are pretty easy to use and M01D exports in MIDI so it's possible to use it as a sketchpad for a DAW.
 
G

Grokbu

Member
The Kree said:
Nah. If there is, the packaging or documentation of said libraries will state explicitly whether they can be used credit/royalty free or not. In the case of something like Kontakt, VSL, Hollywood Strings, etc., you've already paid for the right to use them in your compositions however you see fit upon purchase.

Although, I have heard of lawsuits coming against producers/composers who used patterns from arpeggiators created by synth manufacturers, which might be tantamount to simply changing the key of a melody or chord progression that someone else wrote, but even that seems like a nebulous concern at best.
Click to expand...

Hamst3r said:
There are no problems with that. There are some libraries with special terms, like how one sample CD I have says the samples must always be played with at least 3 other concurrent sounds, or how the Vienna Symphonic Library says you have to credit them in the liner notes if you use their instruments. But I've never heard of any of this actually being enforced, nor do I think they even could, or are even looking for instances of people violating these terms. I mean, maybe if you were a big time producer or film composer this could be a thing, but even then it's hard to imagine. But for free online? Nah.

So really, don't worry about it. It's not going to cause any problems. I've been using music software and samples, and releasing music online for free and licensing it for decades.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply. Just wanted to say thanks for the help!
 
G

GustyGardens

Banned
Just wanted to introduce myself as I recently got back into recording and producing music. I was using Adobe Audition back when I was recording everything live, but I eventually switched to FL Studio which was fun. I fell off the production wagon a few years ago, but I miss it. I really want to get my stuff out there again. Most of my stuff in the past has been 80's synthy stuff, so I doubt I'm going to be deviating from that anytime soon.

Currently, I'm using Renoise as my software of choice. There's a learning curve coming from other software, but it's been really nice. On top of that, I prefer its lightweight design.

Everything is running on my laptop, which is connected to an external display, keyboard, graphics tablet and studio monitors. It works fine, but I'm gonna be building a dedicated PC at some point in the near future.

Either way, I hope to be able to share some stuff at some point during the year.
 
C

csquared587

Member
omg_mjd said:
Need some good podcast recommendations for songwriting, song analysis and production. I'm already subbed to the EDM Producer Podcast (which is great).
Click to expand...

I love the Song Exploder podcast. I've been binging them on my commutes. Different bands/producers breaking down their songs track by track. Quick 15-20 minute episodes, its great.


This might not be a lot of peoples cup of tea on here, but any comments on the mixing? Hip Hop/Pop style instrumental song.

https://soundcloud.com/fivehandsmusic/network
 
N

Nyx

Member
It's been awhile since I returned to this track but yesterday I felt like it and added a glass noise sample, delays, reverb and extra drums and suddenly I feel this track is just inches away from being finished.
Really forgot how easy it can be to get variation in drum patterns just by using a bit of delay at the end of a beat or anywhere inbetween where it fits. Really spent quite some time experimenting with things to spice up this track before, but using a simple delay on hi hats, reverb on the clap etc. were things that didn't even occur to me in the past months. Weird, but happy that it clicked yesterday.

https://soundcloud.com/nyx_1978/george-hefner-empty-glass

Might add some more atmospheric stuff, but in my experience I need to say ''ok this is done'' some day cause otherwise a track is never ever finished....

csquared587 said:
This might not be a lot of peoples cup of tea on here, but any comments on the mixing? Hip Hop/Pop style instrumental song.

https://soundcloud.com/fivehandsmusic/network
Click to expand...

The mixing sounds very clean on my headphones, nice job! Perhaps try some stereo panning once in awhile? On some sounds that might turn out great. (but that's just a personal thought)
 
B

BowieZ

Banned
Does anyone here consider themselves verging on professionally skilled at mixing (and mastering ideally) and who would also be interested in collaborating on some electro-pop songs with me (as a producer and melody pro) and a US young male wannabe pop star? Preferably who also uses Logic? (PM me obviously.)
 
T

The Kree

Banned
csquared587 said:
I love the Song Exploder podcast. I've been binging them on my commutes. Different bands/producers breaking down their songs track by track. Quick 15-20 minute episodes, its great.


This might not be a lot of peoples cup of tea on here, but any comments on the mixing? Hip Hop/Pop style instrumental song.

https://soundcloud.com/fivehandsmusic/network
Click to expand...

Mixing sounds great.

Nyx said:
It's been awhile since I returned to this track but yesterday I felt like it and added a glass noise sample, delays, reverb and extra drums and suddenly I feel this track is just inches away from being finished.
Really forgot how easy it can be to get variation in drum patterns just by using a bit of delay at the end of a beat or anywhere inbetween where it fits. Really spent quite some time experimenting with things to spice up this track before, but using a simple delay on hi hats, reverb on the clap etc. were things that didn't even occur to me in the past months. Weird, but happy that it clicked yesterday.

https://soundcloud.com/nyx_1978/george-hefner-empty-glass

Might add some more atmospheric stuff, but in my experience I need to say ''ok this is done'' some day cause otherwise a track is never ever finished....
Click to expand...

Sounds done to me. I dig it.
 
G

Gaaraz

Member
Probably a stupid question, can I create metal music with nothing but one guitar? Is there any good software which will do a good job of the drums and bass guitar? I want to start making my own music, and whilst buying and learning drums is something which interests me, but they're expensive and bulky. I don't really want a bass guitar.

I'm not doing anything serious by the way, just wanted to know if I could throw together something reasonable digitally to go with what I'm playing on guitar.
 
I

InaudibleWhispa

Member
Gaaraz said:
Probably a stupid question, can I create metal music with nothing but one guitar? Is there any good software which will do a good job of the drums and bass guitar? I want to start making my own music, and whilst buying and learning drums is something which interests me, but they're expensive and bulky. I don't really want a bass guitar.

I'm not doing anything serious by the way, just wanted to know if I could throw together something reasonable digitally to go with what I'm playing on guitar.
Click to expand...

Sure. I believe the most common drum VST's are Addictive Drums and EZDrummer. Not sure about bass, there's probably a bunch of options, I think the best I've heard is the Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass. And then there are a ton of virtual amp plugins, and the usual stuff like chorus, delay and reverb to get the exact tone you're looking for. Heck you don't even need a guitar :p
 
H

Hamst3r

Member
Gaaraz said:
Probably a stupid question, can I create metal music with nothing but one guitar? Is there any good software which will do a good job of the drums and bass guitar? I want to start making my own music, and whilst buying and learning drums is something which interests me, but they're expensive and bulky. I don't really want a bass guitar.

I'm not doing anything serious by the way, just wanted to know if I could throw together something reasonable digitally to go with what I'm playing on guitar.
Click to expand...

Totally. I suggest getting Native Instruments Komplete 11 for the Abbey Road drums, the Scarbee basses, and the Guitar Rig effect suite.
 
T

The Kree

Banned
I know a couple guitar players who have put together entire albums with drum libraries and Guitar Rig, and they joined up with other players later on for doing live gigs. Unless you're using one of the more advanced bass libraries you might be a little limited in terms of articulation, but it's 100% doable. I like Native Instruments Battery for drums.
 
V

vonStirlitz

Unconfirmed Member
[Redacted as the member no longer wishes to be associated with this website, and the reputational damage and distress caused by association with this website. In addition, the user considers that the action of the management, and the nature of the site and members of its community, renders the original terms and conditions of this site void, and it unconscionable for either side to be bound to them. The user reasserts their IP rights in all content and does not give any authority for its continued usage on this website. Despite requesting that the user's account be deleted, in accordance with data protection rules which apply to this website over multiple jurisdictions, the admin team have failed to delete this account, requiring the user to take its own steps to ensure the valid deletion of data.]
 
T

Teknopathetic

Member
"I am thinking of getting an analog synth. Must be inexpensive and able to recreate that late 70s moog sound. At the moment I am thinking of the Arturia Microbrute or Novation Mininova."

Mininova's not an analog, but an analog-modeling digital synth. There's nothing wrong with that, analog-modeling synths sound just fine, I'm just pointing that out since you seemed to be particular about the Analog bit. The Novation Bass Station II, however, is an analog synth and roughly in your price range, as is the Korg Monologue. And Microbrute will *not* get you a Moog sound. None of the aforementioned synths will.

The cheapest option to get close to a classic Moog sound is software (Arturia Mini V, Native Instruments Monark, U-he Diva). If for some reason you *need* hardware, you're not getting the Moog sound south of $600-700, like a Mother 32 or used Slim Phatty, both of which don't have a keyboard so you'd need to spend a bit more. There's also the Minitaur, which is pretty cheap but is limited note-wise (as in, you cannot play notes higher than, IIRC C4) so I wouldn't recommend it as your only synth.
 
T

thezerofire

Banned
Teknopathetic said:
"I am thinking of getting an analog synth. Must be inexpensive and able to recreate that late 70s moog sound. At the moment I am thinking of the Arturia Microbrute or Novation Mininova."

Mininova's not an analog, but an analog-modeling digital synth. There's nothing wrong with that, analog-modeling synths sound just fine, I'm just pointing that out since you seemed to be particular about the Analog bit. The Novation Bass Station II, however, is an analog synth and roughly in your price range, as is the Korg Monologue. And Microbrute will *not* get you a Moog sound. None of the aforementioned synths will.

The cheapest option to get close to a classic Moog sound is software (Arturia Mini V, Native Instruments Monark, U-he Diva). If for some reason you *need* hardware, you're not getting the Moog sound south of $600-700, like a Mother 32 or used Slim Phatty, both of which don't have a keyboard so you'd need to spend a bit more. There's also the Minitaur, which is pretty cheap but is limited note-wise (as in, you cannot play notes higher than, IIRC C4) so I wouldn't recommend it as your only synth.
Click to expand...
I still want a Minitaur really bad, some of the sounds it can make are just so nice
 
V

vonStirlitz

Unconfirmed Member
[Redacted as the member no longer wishes to be associated with this website, and the reputational damage and distress caused by association with this website. In addition, the user considers that the action of the management, and the nature of the site and members of its community, renders the original terms and conditions of this site void, and it unconscionable for either side to be bound to them. The user reasserts their IP rights in all content and does not give any authority for its continued usage on this website. Despite requesting that the user's account be deleted, in accordance with data protection rules which apply to this website over multiple jurisdictions, the admin team have failed to delete this account, requiring the user to take its own steps to ensure the valid deletion of data.]
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
Speaking of recording guitars and sequencing the rest:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guit...d-amp-and-effect-modelling-in-a-plugin-647171

Helix is seriously good shit. Our FoH mix engineer for Capcom Live tour works on the thing, which means we've done some pretty crazy nonstandard stuff with the hardware units (e.g. using them as a method of communication so the band leader can signal us discreetly). Personally looking forward to the convenient Interchangeability/transferring of patches between the show and my in-the-box setup, but that aside Helix just sounds great.

feel free to label me a shill
 
E

ekim

Member
Falk said:
but that aside Helix just sounds great.

feel free to label me a shill
Click to expand...

I always considered Helix sounding kind of mediocre. (still better than Guitar Rig. lol)
BIAS is way better imho. But I guess it's a personal thing although the price for the Helix SW is way too high.
 
V

vonStirlitz

Unconfirmed Member
[Redacted as the member no longer wishes to be associated with this website, and the reputational damage and distress caused by association with this website. In addition, the user considers that the action of the management, and the nature of the site and members of its community, renders the original terms and conditions of this site void, and it unconscionable for either side to be bound to them. The user reasserts their IP rights in all content and does not give any authority for its continued usage on this website. Despite requesting that the user's account be deleted, in accordance with data protection rules which apply to this website over multiple jurisdictions, the admin team have failed to delete this account, requiring the user to take its own steps to ensure the valid deletion of data.]
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
ekim said:
BIAS is way better imho. But I guess it's a personal thing although the price for the Helix SW is way too high.
Click to expand...

(I'm not a guitarist (anymore) - so I'm coming more from the production side of things than the actual performance) I don't think I can claim I've heard BIAS in action anywhere near as much as Helix or Axe-FX, but yeah, it feels definitely up to personal preference.

Speaking of Guitar Rig, hilariously enough the only thing I use it for nowadays is... part of a bass processing signal chain to get it to sit right in dense rock stuff. Something about the borderline-usable Gratifier that works with the upper ranges of bass to add a bunch of harmonics.
 
E

ekim

Member
Falk said:
(I'm not a guitarist (anymore) - so I'm coming more from the production side of things than the actual performance) I don't think I can claim I've heard BIAS in action anywhere near as much as Helix or Axe-FX, but yeah, it feels definitely up to personal preference.

Speaking of Guitar Rig, hilariously enough the only thing I use it for nowadays is... part of a bass processing signal chain to get it to sit right in dense rock stuff. Something about the borderline-usable Gratifier that works with the upper ranges of bass to add a bunch of harmonics.
Click to expand...

Haha. Same for me... kind of. I use the octaver and bass amps there with my e guitar to get my bass tracks. They don't sound very good on their own but in the mix with the slight distortion and good saturation it does fit. I don't need much compression or EQing (other than a low cut below 50Hz) either so it's good for this. But I think I will migrate to a full VSTi for Bass soon. (http://www.ikmultimedia.com/mobile/products/modobass/)
 
L

lazygecko

Member
Guitar Rig is my goto for the various delay and reverb modules it has. No real need to get a bunch of standalone plugins that way. Only really use it as an aux too, since I noticed it does something to the signal that really dulls out sharp peaks, even when no effect is loaded. That'll really kill stuff like drums.
 
T

The Kree

Banned
Psyclone said:
Been getting my head around logic lately. Thought I'd post this here to see what you guys thought? Any feedback (no pun intended) would be great. The rest of my stuff's on there as well so feel free to rummage. Quality deteriorates the further down the list you go I guess.

https://soundcloud.com/muhannad-daghlas/day-job-demo
Click to expand...

I like your stuff. Great rhythms and melodies.

Acrylic7 said:
best place to buy a good audio interface and studio monitors?
Click to expand...

Sam Ash, Guitar Center, Musicians Friend, Sweetwater, Amazon
 
B

BeeDog

Member
Is there any way to put DAWs (like FL Studio etc.) or VSTs on a watch-list so you get notified when they go on sale or when a discount coupon is available? I am eager to get into production, but it's tough following up on this entire area, especially if you wanna do the budget approach.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
Signing up for company newsletters probably do that. They generally always blast when stuff goes on sale.

Summer/Autumn/Winter/Spring/Cyber Monday all good to look out for generally.
 
T

The Kree

Banned
BeeDog said:
Is there any way to put DAWs (like FL Studio etc.) or VSTs on a watch-list so you get notified when they go on sale or when a discount coupon is available? I am eager to get into production, but it's tough following up on this entire area, especially if you wanna do the budget approach.
Click to expand...

Google Alerts should do the trick.

Specificity makes it more accurate, so it helps if you know exactly what product you're waiting for and where you wanna buy it. Otherwise you're gonna get links to blog articles, reviews, etc.

So set one up that says something like 'Waves Mercury Bundle on sale at pluginboutique.com.'
 
E

ekim

Member
Finished the first score for a short movie yesterday. Feels great although Ableton is rather cumbersome for this usecase. It's fun to try to transform the directors ideas into actual music and it's surprising how much you can influence the mood and feeling of a movie by simple changes.
 
B

BeeDog

Member
Thanks guys. Put up two alerts for FL Studio on Google Alerts, and will try to do some more research regarding VSTs for more alerts.
 
F

Falk

that puzzling face
ekim said:
Yeah of course removing the score altogether makes for interesting results but I was rather talking about subtle changes like changing the articulation from Legato to Portamento or simply replacing the piano with an electric organ.
Click to expand...

Oh right, I was just looking for any excuse to post that.
 
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