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comment by coalsenats
coalsenats  ·  2237 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Without You - A song I produced with a friend.

Great stuff (:

Are you moving down chromatically around 0:15? the voice leading sounded so good, but my ear is inexperienced.

Hope you don't mind me asking - what program do you use? I've been learning ableton for the past month as a way to flesh out all the songs I never finish.

It's so overwhelming (but exciting) to think of how much I need to learn when it comes to producing/mixing.





flac  ·  2237 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I am indeed! Also moving chromatically up at 0:52 ish.

I am happy to talk shop! I use Reaper and love it dearly, mostly because it's just what I know best at this point. I've been using it for about 4 years, and because I'm a stingy bastard I still use almost exclusively built-in plugins for EQ, Delay, Compression, etc.

I messed around with Ableton for a little bit - I found it to be a great place to work on ideas and get creative, but I was just so used to Reaper that it never really stuck with me. If you're looking to make some sort of electronic music, Ableton is definitely a good pick.

Also, if you are interested in making electronic music and happen to have $250 to spend on something musical, I highly recommend the Arturia Microbrute, especially this particular package. This is what I use for basically all my synth stuff, and it's awesome. The Microbrute itself is an awesome way to learn the basics of synthesis in a hands-on way (plus it sounds great!), and it also works as a velocity-sensitive MIDI controller. The real beauty of this package is the synth library they include with it - there are something like 6000 presets, including some really lovely electric piano/organ stuff.

All that being said, I recall that there are some nice synths built into Ableton, so the above recommendation may be irrelevant.

------------------------

What sort of music do you like? Do you have anything you've been working on that I could listen to (maybe PM me?) Always happen to meet another musician on here!

In closing, here are two somewhat goofy but very useful videos you may find interesting:

coalsenats  ·  2235 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I like the dated aesthetic of those vids! Ha. Really excited to dive into the mixing video especially.

That microbrute does look really nice for learning what's what on a synth. Unfortunately, I'm saving up for a gig-worthy set of keys so I don't really have the budget for it.

I mostly have been using a cheap vst I bought from pluginboutique, as I liked the electronic options on there more than the Ableton Lite core sounds. (I suspect I'm using them wrong, as I'm not finding too many on there I like at all.)

With my original stuff, I've always gravitated towards danceable, light-hearted pop and rock as well as instrumental piano music, but I do plan to get more familiar with the workings of synths in the future. For now, I'm having fun with the hybridx64 vst and directly playing keys into ableton with the Focusrite Scarlett. I'm trying to ease my way in to the whole process, and I have my eyes set on learning mixing techniques and philosophies right now.

For example, I'm mostly happy with this arrangement now, but I still feel pretty lost on how to get the sound to a higher level of quality. (EQ this, compression that.....)

Some tracks seem to be uploading to soundcloud much quieter than what I'm hearing through ableton.

I'm really digging your score music, especially Clown Magic! Love those strings.

veen  ·  2235 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Maaan I might have to steal that approach of yours. The Microbrute looks like a lot of fun. I've long wanted to spend some time learning the basics of making electronic music and cobble together an electronic album of my own.

flac  ·  2234 days ago  ·  link  ·  

do it do it do it do it

[PM me if you want some drum samples/plugin recommendations/any help getting started]

veen  ·  2233 days ago  ·  link  ·  

KB pointed me towards a neat iPad app called iMaschine 2 to get my feet wet. It’s a lotta fun so far! I’ll let you know when I get to the real stuph.