What is your weakest skill as a producer?

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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby TheMalenEst » 01 Jan 2013 20:35

Im starting to improve on mixing, EQ.

I have been making music for like 6 months now and i still don't know how a compressor works :/
a good thing is that i'm going in a school where you will learn about these things like i mentioned above.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby itroitnyah » 01 Jan 2013 20:46

TheMalenEst wrote:I have been making music for like 6 months now and i still don't know how a compressor works :/
watch this, MalenEst. I'm not 100% sure if it tells you exactly what a compressor does, since I watched it a while back, but it definitely made me understand better how a compressor works.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Sonarch » 01 Jan 2013 20:52

Making music.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby cplbradley » 03 Jan 2013 16:44

My new list as of the past few months of learning:
1. Mastering
2. Mastering
3. Mastering

MASTERING SUCKS
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Paianni » 03 Jan 2013 17:19

I've been struggling with software drum machines. Just don't understand as many of their functions as I do with synthesizers, which is why on most of my comps many of the drum kits kinda sound the same or very similar, 'cause I've stuck with the presets.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Nine Volt » 03 Jan 2013 17:41

Well, I'm not sure if this makes me a bad person/producer, but whenever I make a song I can never get any ideas on what synths to add. I'm perfectly fine (sometimes even good) with the actual synth design, mastering, structure, and mixing (those last two especially) so basically I find a song I like from a producer (typically General Mumble, for the simple fact that he has a metric fuckton of songs) and I take inspiration from one of his songs.

To start with I generally guess the BPM of the song I'm choosing to base it off of (though I usually am fairly far off - I mistook a 175 bpm beat for a 155 bpm one, though I didn't change it simply because I liked the way mine was going at 155) and then I start building chords and melodies similar in progression but different in notes and usually key. Then I analyze the song for how often the artist adds new stuff and whatnot.

Now, before you call me an unoriginal bastard, let me just say that I only use the songs as a starting point and that my songs always come out much different than the originals. Case in point:
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This song (can't be bothered to upload the finished version as I'm intending it for a community album) is based off of the song "000000" by General Mumble. If you look at the original (here) you can tell that my song is completely different than Mumble's. Structurally, there's some passing similarity but I really only used the original to get ideas.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Stu Beef » 03 Jan 2013 18:03

Welp, that's pretty much how all music is made anyway. Eventually you just don't have to really use a reference anymore.

After that you get bored of patterns and that's when the fun REALLY begins.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Nine Volt » 03 Jan 2013 18:13

Stu Beef wrote:Welp, that's pretty much how all music is made anyway. Eventually you just don't have to really use a reference anymore.

After that you get bored of patterns and that's when the fun REALLY begins.

I'm just waiting for that time :3

After all, I've only been doing this for very slightly more than a year, and it's only been decent for a few months.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Shouki » 05 Jan 2013 04:19

my biggest downfall is harmonizing everything together, That and my attention span is that of a gnat. I easily forget what i was going for in my melody or my ideas all together.

And i also have this habit of being really dark sounding lol. This upbeat and happy melody concept just doesn't seem to process for me lol
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby FLAOFEI » 05 Jan 2013 07:29

I would say Mixing and Mastering, caus I have no idea what the "Right" way to go about it is... But I think it sounds good in the end, and if it sounds good it is good, so I cant complain.

Instead im gonna say geting started and continueing on songs long enough to make thim good. I think I only have 2 or 3 songs I worked full out, no shortcuts on. The rest I skiped stuff, like giveing all synths a mixertrack, even though they might need an Eq... I sometimes feel shame for my lazyness :( :cry: :( :( :cry: :cry: :cry: :( :( :cry:

So yeah, geting past the stage of derping around with a singel synth and a drumkit, and allso playing the piano. I want to play it so can actually make some melodies and test them out without haveing to go through pianoroll and stuff.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Nine Volt » 05 Jan 2013 11:45

I can't make dark sounding anything to save my life. Chains was the only thing I did that was even moderately dark sounding.

I wish I could do dark.

Everything I make sounds upbeat and happy
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Sonarch » 05 Jan 2013 13:41

Nine Volt wrote:I can't make dark sounding anything to save my life. Chains was the only thing I did that was even moderately dark sounding.

I wish I could do dark.

Everything I make sounds upbeat and happy


There is some music theory that might help you out in making things sound dark. And no, it's not just to make your chords minor. As I learned from a post by Dr. Dissonance on his tumblr awhile ago, (http://drdissonance.tumblr.com/post/28597721135/major-happy-minor-sad-why-thats-rubbish-and)
it's all about intervals. Learn some stuff about how that works and you might be able to apply it into making something more dark-feeling.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Paianni » 06 Jan 2013 12:36

I don't see why ponies are putting 'using a compressor' as a problem. Should you have a loud enough soundcard or DAC (which is kindof a must for this kind of work), you shouldn't need to, all it does is minimizes punch and makes the mix fatiguing to listen to. If you know anything about the Loudness War you'll know what I'm talking about. All you have to make sure is that none of the track volumes exceed 0db, and the output volume is left at the default setting. Your DAW will do the rest of the work for you, and you'll end up with far better sound quality.

A good guide to use once you've made your mixdown is to measure it using the TT Dynamic Range Meter (Windows&Mac) or the dr14_tmeter (Linux) and make sure that the DR rating does not exceed a rating of 8. That's the absolute low-end, the very best can go as high as 20 (not all genres will understandably be capable of that though). I personally managed 18. What you'll notice if you encode it in MP3 format is that there will be a background hiss on some of the quiet passages, which is why a better lossy format (OGG/MP4 (AAC)) or lossless format (FLAC/ALAC) is advised.

Someone set up a site that collects DR ratings for albums new and old, you can see them all here.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Dabrenn » 08 Jan 2013 21:57

I have a major issue with trying to put way too much in at a time. Every time I make a new sound as a "one shot" sort of thing, I end up making an entire loop and it end up playing the whole time and next thing you know, I have a really muddy mixed up loop thing.

It sounds like an easy fix, but I struggle with it. For some reason I can't keep things simple and interesting.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby VINXIS » 09 Jan 2013 07:52

Compositioning in anything besides 3/4 or 4/4

...


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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Patashu » 09 Jan 2013 19:01

Starting.

Second biggest weakness: Length. I pack a lot of effort into a short amount of song and then I don't feel like extending it further. In general, I'm unable to make myself extend a song to indefinite lengths, and the longest I've made a song go before looping is 2:30 XD

Third: Making happy, upbeat stuff. I can't get any amount of time into a song without trying to evoke some kind of ambiguous interesting emotion. Maybe this isn't a weakness??
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Mr. Bigglesworth » 10 Jan 2013 19:03

Welp, I've improved upon my melody skills (kinda), but for some weird reason it's MUCH easier to make a decent melody with a string sound than other things. Not sure why exactly, probably just because I'm partial to strings and classical sounds.

Also, compression, usually too much of it XD I'm working at that too.

Mastering is also a bitch, but that's improving too (...slowly)
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby ghelded_kultz » 12 Jan 2013 10:32

Mixing, Mastering, Creating interesting/realistic rhythms, Writing Lyrics, and Singing. Oh and synth/drum/sound design.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Anonagon » 12 Jan 2013 21:48

-Creating nice synths
-Not being repetitive
-mastering
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Symphon » 13 Jan 2013 10:27

I'd have to say energetic songs I have a problem with. Even when I tried to make a dance-y house song, I accidentally made me a bit melancholic and reflective. Major problem there.

Oh, and remixing. I'm god-damn awful at remixing. Like. Horribatastic.

And complex synths. I tend to make simplistic plucks, typical house leads, and pretty static basses. Not to say they don't sound good, just they are very simple.

And mixing. Still learning.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Nine Volt » 13 Jan 2013 10:31

Still not getting very far making dark sounding music. I'd like to make dark but energetic music, but usually I can get the energetic part just fine, but not the dark. And when I do get the dark part, it's not energetic. Using minor (as opposed to my usual B Major) only gets you so far.

I also have a problem where every dubstep drop I make ends up being lethargic. Not a bad thing, but I'd like to at least be able to make an energetic drop. Maybe it's because the only dubstep songs I've really made were at 66 and 90 BPM...
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Mesogears » 16 Jan 2013 19:51

I really like composing music, but I'm terrible at mixing, and even more terrible at mastering. Well, at least I don't boost the mid-range frequencies on the bass like I used to...

Also, making Eurobeat. GAH.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Dabrenn » 18 Jan 2013 17:22

Nine Volt wrote:
I also have a problem where every dubstep drop I make ends up being lethargic. Not a bad thing, but I'd like to at least be able to make an energetic drop. Maybe it's because the only dubstep songs I've really made were at 66 and 90 BPM...


Really focus on the non-drum percussive elements of a drip to make it more energetic. Something as simple as using a ride cymbal on every quarter note (eith if you're using half time) can make a world of a difference.

Also, faster wubs and changing sounds speed things up obviously.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby Mesogears » 18 Jan 2013 17:46

Oh yeah, one more thing I forgot: Sometimes while trying to make a song energetic it just sounds muddy and dark. Thankfully, I don't run into the problem as much these days.
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Re: What is your weakest skill as a producer?

Postby NightmareSnake » 19 Jan 2013 14:35

Producing.
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