Key To Success With Your Music

very informative, thanks

---------- Post added at 12:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 PM ----------

keep posting em goodies!
 
Here's another thread from last year.... I'm just out to educate.


How I make Beats/Instrumentals


Okay as you know, I use my Yamaha and my Akai to start all my tracks and then I transfer everything to Pro Tools. I use Reason, Cubase, and FL too. Because an idea is an idea, no matter what you use. My best advice to you would be to read your manual or guide. It’s not about having the most or best equipment. It doesn’t hurt, but garbage is still garbage… no matter what it comes out of. You want to be able to translate you idea to a tangible format in an easy manner that does not consume time. So learn your software and equipment like your life depended on it. Also, learn about music theory and how musical instruments are played/arranged in music. Learn how to play an instrument!!!!! Learn how to mess with midi on hardware and software. The more you read and learn …..THE BETTER and EASYER the process will go.

Here I go…………


  • I usually have a drum pattern or an idea of how I want my notes to play in a loop or sequence (4 bars). I take that idea and try to play it out on my equipment the best way I can. Alternatively, if it’s a sample I go through the sampling process to get that out as my base for the beat. (I’ll go through sampling later)
Note: One rule, I have is …. Anything I can B Box, hum, whistle, bang out, clap or sing can be translated to equipment. Any 2 year old can do all of that, it’s just a matter or knowing how to put it in the machine.

  • Once I lay down the base, I move on to adding to the sequence what I think it needs to become a hot beat in my opinion. I usually only make 4 bar beats but 8 bar is better for move changes to happen within a loop and 16 is even better and if you are doing 32 then WOW! It doesn’t matter if it’s one bar or 4 ….just make it how you feel. If you good you can actually use this time to make break patterns too. (During this time I tweak my individual sounds to give a unique sound to the instruments)
Note: These first 2 steps usually take about less than 30 minutes if you are grooving or have any musical talent at all.


  • Once I have my beat rolling, I actually remove parts of the pattern that make it so unique and I add new instruments or play the same instrument differently. I do this until I can’t do it any more. Ideally I would do this to at least every sound 2 times. And make at least 3 different patterns So, your beat doesn’t sound like a big ass loop that everyone can get tired of hear after 16 bars of the same thing repeating. It’s not about being complex … it’s about entertaining and keeping the listeners attention. So don’t be lazy. The Neptunes for example aren’t complex at all but they construct songs … not just the beat… that keep the listener entertained.
Note: This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or days… if you are constructing a symphony or don’t have any skills or experience.

  • I personally go straight to arrangement after I have all the different patterns. I lay out how I want the beat to change over the course of the song. Intro, Chorus, Verse etc. Sometimes I actually end up adding new instruments and making my breaks during this process. I do recommend having your parts already done, but just like any art, there is no one way to achieve your goal. As long as your satisfied with the result.
Note: This too can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more if you are constructing a symphony or don’t have any skills or experience. Study up on arrangement, and listen to a lot of good producers to learn about arrangement. Funk music has some good arrangement.


  • Once I’m done arranging, it’s time to mix it down. I start mixing my drums first and move on to the lower end sounds and move to the high end sounds. Last I mix is my percussion and SFX.( It’s a bit more in depth but I’ll have to get with you to explain) If you got a Vocal mix the beat around the vocal ….meaning start with the vocal then the drums….so on!!!!


Note: Mixing can take all day and could actually involve you doing multiple mixes. This will only get easier with time. So don’t get discourage cause your music doesn’t sound like the pros, just study up on mixing and listen to the greats and study how their music is mixed. On the other hand, hire an engineer to do it for you…. LOL!

I don’t recommend making and mixing the beat in the same day if you do this by yourself, cause after a while of listening to the beat your ears will wear out and you will start to gray out. This means no sound with be unique like the colors of the rainbow and you’ll start to hear ever sound with in a box like manner. This can throw off your mixing. So once, you have arranged the beat move on to something else but don’t mix anything down. Save mixing for a when your ears are fresh.




I hope this can help someone get their ideas out in an organized manner. God Bless!!!!

---------- Post added at 10:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:20 PM ----------

Here's something I found about Laziness


This post was written by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. I have to admit, I'm as lazy as the next guy. I have my moments of productivity, where I'm cranking out the tasks and checking things off my to-do list like my life depended on it.
But for the most part, I just want to do a few things each day, and then take a nap.
And as it turns out, that's all that's needed. Doing just a few things each day has worked wonders for my productivity -- I do less, but those few things I do have a higher impact. With this method, I've created a couple of successful blogs, and achieved a few other things along the way. Not trying to brag, but only showing that laziness can actually work if you put it to work for you.
How can laziness work? Well, if you only want to do three things, just do three things. But here's the key: make those three things count.
Here are my suggestions for making laziness work for you:

  1. Choose only three things to do today. If you set a limit, you will be forced to choose just the important things. If you don't set a limit, you'll try to do everything ... which means you'll be busy, but you'll be doing a lot of unimportant things as well. Just choose three, but choose carefully.
  2. Choose for impact, not urgency. There are always things that seem urgent today, and those things tend to push the important stuff back. But here's the thing: the urgent stuff is only urgent in our minds. In a week, they won't matter. But if you choose something that has long-term impact on your work and your life, it will matter in a week. It's those high-impact tasks that really make a difference. If you choose high-impact tasks -- things that will really make a difference over time, that will get you recognition and success and create new opportunities -- you can let the urgent stuff melt away.
  3. Choose them the night before. Plan your three tasks the night before, so you're prepped for the day when you wake up. Then there's no "urgent" stuff on the list, because you chose them when you were calm. It helps give you a jump-start on your day.
  4. Start on them immediately. First thing you do when you start working: start on the first of your three important tasks. Don't do little things. Just start.
  5. Don't check email until the first one's done. There's always the urge to dive into email (or whatever your normal productive distraction is at work), but resist. Let it be your reward for completing the first task on your list. Let your urge to be lazy motivate you to finish that task!
  6. Choose a fourth, more important task to procrastinate on. Here's where procrastination can really help you. Trick yourself by putting a big task you've been dreading at the top of your list. So you actually have four tasks. You will try to procrastinate on that big task by working on the three tasks below it. In that way, you'll still get three very important tasks done while procrastinating on the fourth. How will you get that fourth one done? When something bigger comes along that you dread even more, put that at the top of your list.
  7. Take breaks in between. When you finish one of your three tasks, give yourself a short break. 10 minutes works well for me, but you may need 15 or 20. That's OK. We're not in a sweatshop here. You're only doing three things today. Take a walk. Get a glass of water. Shoot the breeze with someone. Check whatever you like to check online. Then get back to work on the next task.
  8. When you're done, celebrate with a nap. After you do your three important tasks, take a nap. You've earned it. You've done three important things today, which is more than most people, to be honest. They might do 7 smaller things, but you've been more productive by doing less.
  9. Batch process smaller tasks. It's inevitable that you'll have smaller things you'll need to take care of. Put those off until the afternoon or end of your day, and do them all at once in batches. So do all your phone calls, then all your emails, then all your little paperwork or whatever. Just don't allow these smaller, routine tasks to push back your big ones.
  10. What if you need to do more? You probably won't actually complete them all anyway. Just choose three and put the rest off until tomorrow. I promise, the world won't end and life will go on. And you'll be much less stressed.

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Progression, Production, Presentation, Promotion, & Sacrifice! It do get no realer than that I think a lot of producers and artist need to read this thread!!
 
my sacrafice was being homeless in norcal for a while due to scumbag roomates an losing id. i had my laptop an kept doin my thing evrywhere i could charge lol
 
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