Should I continue making music?

F

FrostEP

New member
Hi!,

I started making music on and off about 3 years ago. The entire time I haven't really spoken to any community or person who does it so I don't know how to get good feedback. Hopefully this is the right place!

I don't really enjoy listening to music which is strange because I really enjoy making it. I've noticed that everything I have made is completely underwhelming and terrible compared to everything I've listened to and with near zero knowledge of the technical side (my enjoyment comes from fitting the pieces together) I have no idea how to fix it. I do use effects and adjust volumes but it's all guesswork.

The track I want feedback on most is Cavern It's probably my favorite piece and I want to know everything wrong with it. It is part of an album I released a while ago but it was just for the experience of releasing something to see what it's like and as such Cavern is free to download.

The other track I'm proud of is Something Hidden but it's nearly 10 minutes and... Who really has time for that? Still, feedback on anything of mine is cherished.

I mainly want to know if my stuff is good enough to continue making more or if I should put more focus into my other hobbies instead.
 
Every artist starts off bad. You have some pretty cool stuff going on here, it's just that the mixing quality is bad.
I suggest listening to more music. Any music; more variety the better to get more inspiration
Also, youtube has tons of tutorials for whatever DAW you use.
I watch a lot of SeamlessR for FL Studio. On his channel though you can find links to other tutorial channels that cover other DAWs.
On this song, I'm lacking a central theme. It just goes on and on with nothing solid the audience grasp onto.
Other than that, you seem to have the creativity.
Experiment more and look for help other than just messing with stuff yourself.
Hope this helped.
 
This is somehow pretty good tho. I don't even really know what i'm doing sometimes with my mixing and effects and all that sh*t. Sometimes best thing happened when we don't really expect it. Keep on going dude! You got some skills there! Cheers
 
Listen my friend keep going, learn and learn some more. I know it plays with your head from time to time like is my music any
good can I be bothered to learn mixing and mastering cause it gets in the way of creativity. Concentrate on your music making side
first and getting the song structure right and then learn eq, layering sounds mixing and mastering.

YouTube is your best friend for tutorials, believe me you will get better because you have some good ideas there.
Have a listen to my soundcloud and other members soundcloud and break the songs down and listen to the sounds they have used
and structure.

I still learn new things all the time or a new way of doing things to make production easier. So don't give up, keep going my friend and don't be afraid to ask for feedback.

Cheers :cheers:
 
FrostEP how is that you don't enjoy listening to music but enjoy making it? Do you suffer from musical anhedonia?
 
Hey dude!

In stead of giving you specific feedback on your tracks, I'll direct you to some resources that have helped me a lot.

My personal favorite is Zen World - https://www.youtube.com/user/Z3NWorld
Zen is very knowledgeable with sound design and the subgenres of House. He is also pursuing a degree in education so he makes his content very accessible. He even makes short instagram sound design videos.

Another good option is Multiplier - https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiplierSounds
He specializes in dusbtep (which isn't my thing) but still have many videos that are great for learning about general mastering and mixing. He also released a huge sound bank for massive and some 808s for Serum. Although the Massive pack is disorganized, I'd still recommend picking up and experimenting.

Next, ADSR and W. A. Producitons - https://www.youtube.com/user/ADSRtuts & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBq...Qdw-qHJURO-Uqg
They both provide a lot of good templates that can be useful for dissecting different styles. Both can be a little pushy in terms of advertising their products, both still useful.

Finally, musicbyLUKAS - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxP...rIC3IwYY_6j-CA
MBL focuses more on branding than actual production. While its clear Lukas is... well lets just not say the most knowledgeable sound designer seeing as he only uses Nexus with presets, he's managed to produce some really solid tracks and has done a phenomenal job branding himself and his company. Also, his website has a collaboration network for you to connect with other producers.

Good luck with your future in EDM production! Stay curious and keep learning - feel free to shoot me a message on soundcloud if you'd like any specific advise

https://soundcloud.com/alexroseofficial
 
Kemix said:
Every artist starts off bad. You have some pretty cool stuff going on here, it's just that the mixing quality is bad.
...
Also, youtube has tons of tutorials for whatever DAW you use.
...
On this song, I'm lacking a central theme. It just goes on and on with nothing solid the audience grasp onto.
...
Hope this helped.
Click to expand...

I have watched quite a few videos on youtube for things I have trouble with, nothing so far has stuck or made sense to me yet.

A common reply from friends I have shown is a lack of theme or story which is something I genuinely can't understand. I've never had that feeling from other music so I don't know how I'd put it in mine. I will try to look for more help but I've found it difficult to know where to go.

This has helped, it has confirmed there is a definite fixable issue with my music.

faizhizami1994 said:
This is somehow pretty good tho. I don't even really know what i'm doing sometimes with my mixing and effects and all that sh*t. Sometimes best thing happened when we don't really expect it. Keep on going dude! You got some skills there! Cheers
Click to expand...

Thank you. I agree with the happy accidents remark, most of my music comes about by applying effects randomly to see what happens.

Fulloctave88 said:
Listen my friend keep going, learn and learn some more. I know it plays with your head from time to time like is my music any
good can I be bothered to learn mixing and mastering cause it gets in the way of creativity. Concentrate on your music making side
first and getting the song structure right and then learn eq, layering sounds mixing and mastering.
Cheers :cheers:
Click to expand...

I don't think I'll ever give up entirely, it just takes up a lot of time that I could be giving to other hobbies that I might excel at faster. I try to look at my music objectively and I know it's not the worst, just nowhere near everyday playlist worthy.

The contruction is most definitely the part I enjoy about making music most and I wouldn't be making music if I had to sit down and learn the muscle memory for an instrument for 2 years. Software makes it so easy to experiment with different sounds and ideas instantly.

OGBama said:
FrostEP how is that you don't enjoy listening to music but enjoy making it? Do you suffer from musical anhedonia?
Click to expand...

I've never thought to have it diagnosed! I don't get sick of listening to my music when making it and I have to listen to each part over and over again obviously. I also remember I used to listen to music a lot when I was younger and I still appreciate how it's made and the little unique things people put in. At some point I just stopped enjoying music as an activity. A part of it could be listening to music reminds of how much worse my music is compared to it, that could certainly play into it. Sorry I don't have a definite answer, having music on will usually just cause me to enjoy everything I am doing less.

AlexRose said:
Hey dude!

In stead of giving you specific feedback on your tracks, I'll direct you to some resources that have helped me a lot.
Click to expand...

Thank you I have a really hard time looking for places to learn. Every tutorial so far has left completely confused or they've just told me which knobs to turn to make their sound, which would not be helpful in my tracks. Compression is the thing I've been struggling with most as everyone says if you don't know what you're doing it will ruin your track so I've stayed away. As far as I could tell it's squashing the peaks so you could bring everything back up, I wasn't sure how it ruins the track.

Hopefully it's just my bad luck with videos and not an inability to learn!
 
I actually find your track really cool man! It is something totally different from what most people make. Really cool!

It has a raw feel to it that I really like, well organized, one thing that could really help your tracks, make your synths less dry, this is the key I think!


Keep producing, as long as you like it right?
 
A lot of times it can be useful to understand how people made their sounds tho so that you know what knobs change what! About compression, it can ruin a track because a lot of times parts of the sound that are meant to be quiet (like reverb tails) and amplified under compression to such an extreme that distorted sounds become prominent. You should only compress to make sure that the sound is of similar volume in a variety of tonalities (usually higher frequencies are louder), not that the sound is always 100% all the time.
 
I feel the same actually, it started out fun but sometimes it starts to feel like a chore. I enjoy making things but then tbh I don't enjoy listening back because it doesn't sound good and then I think to myself that took alot of time to make. It seems like there is a balance between it being fun and then starting to get annoying
 
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In the beginning you can really appreciate the smallest things you create because this phase is new and interesting, but later on you realize that there is so much more to learn and improve, some people walk away from this probably due to low self esteem combined with the fact that they unintentionally measure against unrealistic goals (big/famous tracks). My tips:
1. Always keep that fun factor in your production process (creativity > technical stuff) this keeps your creativity going, most important!
2. Don't overthink as in "I'm not gonna try that it will be too hard", famous producers are just normal humans, their sh*t stinks just as much as yours does, and even they have created bad stuff, you just try to create stuff you like from other producers and you'll see that it is do-able.
3. Define short term goals and long term goals, short term goals first, long term will come, within the time required
4. Take feedback seriously, see it as an opportunity to learn and don't get discouraged by other peoples opinions
5. Keep on going, evaluate after every goal, remember the things that were hard and improve on them, on every step ask yourself if it was optimal that way

I've been producing for little less then a year now, and my biggest improvements actually came when I stopped overthinking everything, really nothing is too hard, you just do it, and you will see that it isn't all that hard, as long as you want it!

Kindest regards,
Hayway
 
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I like the song man, but I agree with some of these people as it doesn't really have a central theme. Something to remember when the song is done playing. The sounds seemed to fit. Maybe trying to make on the instruments stand out more will give it that central theme.

Check out my sounds too if you get a chance. https://soundcloud.com/iamaxo/sets/dream-proxy-ep .
 
Listening to Cavern song. You just miss music theory. You can't spam those notes as you wish. Going up going down every note you can press. If it was in any key it would sound better, thats the first part.

Second, if you need to question yourself do you need to make music, sole question gives you answer. Stop right now and continue when you feel like making music.
 
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