Please tell me it's not just me that has this problem?

A

Audiosy

New member
First I'd like to start by saying hi, I'm new to the forums and hope to spend sometime getting to know what's what. I've been using FL Studio for a couple of years now and to say the least, I'm still no where near fully competent at mastering the programme, but I'd say I've got a firm start. Sometime in the future, I'm hoping to be signed to a label, but i know this is a way off (always try and keep thing's in perspective). I'm having a few problems which i hope some people have also encountered if not everyone, I'm finding i have great idea's when walking around Tesco's, but just can't put put them into a track, as soon as i open up my DAW, it's like my brain malfunctions!!!

Another problem I'm coming across, is track structure and synth sounds. I love the typical Deadmau5 and Feed Me sound, but the sounds these producers are using, i can't seem to grasp! I've bought N.I Massive tutorials along with sylenth, when i bought the plugins, so i know how to use the synth's but obviously not fully. Also some of the automation used can throw me too. I listen to my favourite tracks from artists and note down timings etc, but when I'm halfway through the track, I find it's strayed a fair amount, still sounds ok, but there's always something missing!!

I'm just wondering if other EDM producers have this problem at times, and if it's drove you mad like it has me today!

Thanks for reading, i know you've more than likely answered these sorts of questions before.
 
synthesis is your friend for making the sounds you want instead of wasting time trying to find presets, as for your ideas maybe you should record them onto your phone or a handheld recorder and play it back once you get onto your daw
 
Hey Audiosy welcome to the forum.

What you are describing is really the million dollar question everyone faces when they begin (and really, to some degree, forever.)

"How do I get what's in my head out onto "paper?" This is literally the question every one of my students has when they come to me... and the question I myself face all the time.

As you get better at production, sound designing, mixing, theory, etc this gets easier... but sometimes it just never goes as planned. (This is also part of the magic if you learn how to embrace it though!)

It's hard to give a set of rules to really achieve what you're looking for in something like a forum post... there is no easy answer other than "just keep practicing every single day."

Just for your reference I am a producer that has done tons of EDM, both underground and more "commercial," released on labels, been in the Beatport top 100 for Gltich Hop and produced for other artists. What you are describing is totally NORMAL!

Unless I knew more about your specific situation, it's hard to give any real advice as far as what to focus on. If you'd like to discuss more about it, feel free to send me a message. Always happy to chat.

But no matter what, just always remember that EVERYONE goes through this, and you CAN do this! Just never ever stop. Work hard. Have fun.

Good luck! :)

(Excuse any typos... been a long day haha)
 
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use your phone (or a portable recorder) to record your ideas in tescos (stop and sing into your phone) - that way you have the essence of what your idea is and you can spend your time productively transcribing it once you open your daw

as for sounds and presets two schools of thought
1) create your own from scratch,
2) go through a particular synth and its presets and record each one with the same line, and edit into single lines with preset name as a database for you to reference in the future
 
Hello there,
Well as rayzer said, this is a problem you will be facing when new and to some degree during all your production period. I would like to share some experience with you about this. One problem I had with FL studio was the beat. It was difficult to make a drop in FL, because in order to make a dropping beat, you need to make a new sample for every one and often it takes 4-5-6 samples and then the things become ugly.
However it is very important to organize you project perfectly in order to overcome this. Problem in FL Studio is the lack of sample grouping and to do this you need to be creative :). For example give similar colors to similar samples and to automations to a certain track. This way you will be more creative. In FL studio often people keep the beat simple, cos they don't want to create more and more samples. This is how to approach this problem.
You say you cant get whats in your head in the DAW. Recording it singing on a audio file is a good advice, but another thing is use the keyboard. Often the problem comes from wrong timing. You know the notes and the chords, but as you write them on the piano roll their timing has nothing to do with what was in your head. This is common. So record it, cos by the time you have corrected the riming you've forgotten the rest of the melody/beat. My second advice is when in piano roll on a blank sample and play it. Use the keyboard to play the chords and then see where they come on the roll by timing. This way you wont be struggling with the timing so much.

Best regards,
Kostadin
 
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Thankyou all very much, the advice given has given me some great idea's and confidence due to this being normal for most. I do take my music production as seriously as i can, but at times can prove too much and need to step back for a day or so, head just becomes fried and ideas end up blurred, guessing most producers go through this at some point too? The problem i have most of the time is very hard to explain but will post an example when i think I'm at a certain point of a track I'm working on. Just feel most of the time there's something missing!! And bugs me :D.

Thanks again for the replies, this has helped allot, feel free to message any music you wish for me to listen too, i will happily give an opinion and my take on it. (Will do my fair share to help others too :))
 
At this point I'm not 100% sure, I'll just keep practicing until i get there. I know there's probably allot of people that spam their tracks on here, so that's why i haven't posted anything as of yet. Although have given some feedback :)

Will put something up shortly though.

Thanks again
 
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