making beats
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- mg330
How many of your are mostly self-taught when it comes to whatever instrument(s) you focus on the most? Did any of you take classes, or were you taught by anyone else?
I never learned a single thing about piano or the keyboard or scales on a piano. Took some time a few weeks ago to familiarize myself with the absolute basics of the keyboard and scale arrangement by watching a video, and it just opened this whole new door to understanding where my fingers can go, how to reference the black keys for knowing where to return to if I'm playing something. It was great and got me actually sitting down easily playing some basic and repetitive ideas that were a bit more complex than what I usually do.
Actually considering taking some lessons soon but with the caveat that I don't want to learn how to read music and don't want to play other people's songs. That just doesn't interest me as a musician. I've only ever known two cover songs in 26 years, I can't tell you the names of a single chord on my guitar. I've always been a "by ear" musician and self-taught aside from some lessons for a few months after I got a guitar in 1992, but the guy just wanted to teach me metal songs and grunge stuff.
Do you think piano teachers would be receptive to just teaching someone technique and exercises and perhaps a little theory rather than how to read music? Is that abnormal? I want to get a lot better at my playing for writing and recording, but wouldn't love to think I can evolve to actually playing entire songs I've written.
- I've been playing music for almost 30 years, but I consider myself a pretty bad musician. I think learning music is highly personal. What works is different...nocomply
- for everyone. I took some lessons long ago, but I was too young to take it seriously. I learned the pentatonic scale. Got a lotta mileage outta that.nocomply
- In this digital age you can learn so much online the way we couldn't when we were young. It's crazy. It's a subject I think about a lot.nocomply
- As an adult, it's been all self-taught. I could probably learn faster with real lessons, but never made it a priority.nocomply
- I've read some music theory 101 type books, but just because it's interesting to me.nocomply
- As to your question, I think someone would absolutely work with you on technique and theory. You just need to find the right fit.nocomply
- As for reading music... I do it on a trumpet, but not on any other instruments I (badly) play.nocomply
- Thanks!
I could read music for a trombone in jr. high, but after moving to guitar, forget it.mg33 - Got a bass guitar at 16. Went to a few lessons but bored me so got RHCP BSSM book and learned that off by heart as my "learning to play"microkorg
- thats the only formal learning I've done. I would LOVE to be able to play the piano well. Probably too old now for brain and fingers to learn lol.microkorg
- I tried learning guitar when I was about 10 for a couple of months, it never stuck.. everything else I taught myselfautoflavour
- Depends on the music u want to make..autoflavour
- Nairn1
^
"Actually considering taking some lessons soon but with the caveat that I don't want to learn how to read music and don't want to play other people's songs."
Piano Teacher: He was a nice guy, but Worst. Client. Ever.
- haha this. if you learn piano the proper way, you'll have to play other people's stuff all the time, to get you used to reading music.hans_glib
- and scales. endless scales (for finger dexterity). and to learn the various keys.hans_glib
- having said that i totally get your caveat. i gave up learning piano when the teacher showed no interest in my "compositions".hans_glib
- ok they were shit, but a little encouragement wouldn't have killed him.hans_glib
- I had lessons from some pantomime pianist when I was about 16. He was a bit too touchy-feely for my likings so never went back.Ianbolton
- prophetone1
Diggin this guy’s stuff, minimal ‘n vibey, old skool flavor, and the workflow. Also seeing that Cirklon pop up more and more, becoming the go-to for hardware sequencing.
- yeah I have been half lusting a cirklon, but I already a) have enough sequencers b) don't have any money, especially that much c) hate waiting listsautoflavour
- ^^ If you're on a Mac, check out Numerology (with a launchpad). Once I set it up for a track, I don't need to look at the screen when programming it.section_014
- This very inspiring!robotron3k
- nice, will checkautoflavour
- robotron3k1
- look at all the blinky lights!prophetone
- Just some dude in Arizona doing his thang.robotron3k
- autoflavour0
Analog4 arrived.. nothing simple.. looks like I'm going to have to do some surgery.. have a couple of leads.. some diodes and capacitors to check.. but these surface mount caps are going to suck as they are fucking tiny ..
this might actually be a very very expensive door stop after all.
- eyeball them pcbs w/ high powered mag glass to find visible probs, buy components needed, hire local solder ninja to solder it up ninja-style, profit?prophetone
- then fire it up... still doesn't work hahaprophetone
- yeah, that's my plan for tomorrowautoflavour
- failing that, can replace board, but will end up costing the same if I had just got a whole one second hand.. defeats the purposeautoflavour
- prophetone4
- wow! thanks!renderedred
- 1.5GBprophetone
- yup, downloading nowrenderedred
- Good grief. Is there any deadline on it?mg33
- Not sure, making rounds on Facebook posts today so it's a fresh promo and might not last?prophetone
- Looks like lots of Ableton. I assume the wav files can be loaded into Logic?mg33
- Yep, for each I just dragged all WAVs out of audio files folder into root of each folder, trashed all else, WAVs happy in Logic https://i.imgur.com/…prophetone
- Are these different from the packs that have been circulating for years?section_014
- probably, similar packs have been floating around forever but... this pack added at least 20 drum machines to my sample pile I didn't have beforehandprophetone
- autoflavour2
- plus a bunch of other crap from Rolandautoflavour
- coolprophetone
- I don't understand why use digital recreations? pretty much VST's with a physical interface?inteliboy
- prophetone0
- picked up a MC505 for my kids about 6 months ago.. shit sounds soooooooo dated.autoflavour
- still fun tho.autoflavour
- they are fun, got the 303/505prophetone
- mg332
Looking for some advice from you guys. I've spent a lot of time off and on over the past several years recording bits and pieces of ideas, learning software, etc. and trying to fit that in with life, marriage, parenthood, other hobbies, work, etc.
I've set a limit on creating new ideas starting this month and started going through several dozen of those ideas, bouncing them in whatever state of completion they're in, syncing to Google Drive, and having them with my anywhere to listen to, generate new ideas etc.
I'm setting a goal of determining 4-5 tracks to focus on for the rest of the year, to refine them, re-record them, get them as perfect as I can.
Any of you have some advice on how to make this next process enjoyable, productive, work with some constraints and deadlines to keep moving forward, etc? It's been a LONG time since I last finished off full songs; that was all in my band-playing days that ended in 2010. Been doing my own thing ever since.
Super excited to pick the ideas i like best and just iterate on them, step away for a few days, get back at them and be productive. It's fun because there are more than a few people in my life who forgot I make music, and a ton of new people I've gotten to know since my band ended that have no idea I do this stuff. Everything I'm doing now is instrumental / ambient with guitars, synths, strings, more compositional in structure than typical song formats I used to do. I think some of what I'm making will surprise people and that's where I really get excited about it. It's been fun to design a site for my project, learn some new web stuff, get back to what was fun about being in a band as far as visual design and themes and stuff.
Advice? Tricks? Madness to avoid?
- Get a Soundcloud and start putting them out there. Gets harder to fit it all in. But would be great to hear what you make. :-)PhanLo
- focus less on making whole songs.. remember some of Dilla's best tracks are like a minute long.autoflavour
- that said, the method to my madness is never stop working on something until you feel you can come back to it and be satisfied or could happily delete itautoflavour
- Not everything will be a diamond in the rough, sometimes they are just rocks. knowing when to pull the pin is the trickautoflavour
- not to mix too many metaphorsautoflavour
- prophetone1
- 10 stacksprophetone
- need!futurefood
- it is beautifulprophetone
- section_0141
Behringer Model D's are freaking $208 @ Sweetwater (and probably everywhere else too). I don't need another mono, but I'm having a hard time passing this up.