# Is (the process of) music production...boring?



## Alex Fraser (Aug 5, 2020)

It struck me the other day - a typical Wednesday morning, as I sat down to write.

I loaded the usual template and opened an instance of Komplete Kontrol. A quick browse of the (1000's) of available patches yielded the perfect starting sound in seconds. Nice. New track, same again. 10 minutes later and the track had already taken shape. One hour later, it was in the can.

I didn't tweak a single synth. I didn't make a single sample. Is all this a bit too....easy?

Logic automatically lines up my audio perfectly and will compose a drum part in seconds.
I have on tap a couple of orchestras recorded at world class studios. New libraries containing 100's of patches of achingly beautiful, pre-prepared ensembles capable of creating completed underscore within minutes, are released like clockwork.

I have about 10,000 kick drums to choose from. There's more synths patches than I have time to listen too. And I have a small rig compared to the typical VI controller.

_<"Waynes World style scene shimmer cut. Thread gets a retro grain.">_

Back in the day, musical tech was a much trickier (and expensive) proposition. For the average composer, ideas were capped by the severely limited technology. You had to *work* to get the sound you wanted. Creative decisions had to be locked in early. Every completed mixdown came with a war story of bending the available technology to one's will. I remember a recording session where getting the finished song on DAT involved the entire band "playing" the mixing desk on playback, jointly muting tracks and adjusting levels on the fly for the final master.

(Which is why I can never take those threads than moan about "wasted gui space" seriously.)

I can't help but notice notable composers like Christian Henson - presumably having access to terabytes of libraries - make life more "difficult" for themselves by creating sounds from scratch, undertaking sound design experiments, and generally avoid using the latest and greatest must-have release. Is it to keep things interesting? Are they bored also?

I hate to sound like one of those "old man back in the day" types. I'm in awe of modern technology. And when I'm wearing my "writing for money" hat, I really appreciate all the flexibility and time saving tools we have at our disposal.

But yet... I can't shake the feeling that the "fun" and challenge has been stripped out of the music making process.

Anyone else feel the same way? Maybe I should start sampling my walking stick and try to create an entire track from it.
A


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## Rasoul Morteza (Aug 5, 2020)

I suggest making it a routine habit to go to your local library (assuming it's open despite the pandemic) and study books on various subjects from music history, world music to modern music and acoustics to refresh your ideas. The studio is pretty much the worst place to be seeking inspiration. Most of us haven't even opened the door, let alone having figured everything out. To make any craft fun you have to turn it into a challenging puzzle. You have to "think" in order to solve it, and then receive a reward.

Otherwise passing a test with the answer sheet in front of you rapidly becomes boring task to any person.

-The philosophical me

Cheers


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## Thomas Kallweit (Aug 5, 2020)

Yes, please sample your walking stick - could be lots of fun 

Honestly, I get what you are saying - though I not have the template of 1000 here at all - but also 1000 Kicks or more.
I guess we are already at a level of complaining at a high level - having so many options residing at the HDs. What I said earlier in other words: As a consumer of movies I do not enjoy the soundtrack music always at all these days with lots of automated "perfect" forms - it mostly sounds perfect, but sterile often - hopefully not getting of topic of the initial question here..

So for me all that search for perfection seems not to land well as a result when I listen - may be not what you intended but just an opinion. The writeformoney-hat is of course a special hat...

So I guess using own sounds could be refreshing...


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## Stringtree (Aug 5, 2020)

O-boy, this is going to be an interesting one. This is better than Falcon Crest.

Yup, three computers running Giga back then to do what an off-the shelf office computer could do today. 

I think it comes down to the chair. The stupid chair. Despite scoring a Herman Miller classic, I still prefer some dopey gold-colored couple of cushions that can bounce a little on a cheap bent-paperclip frame when I'm gooning over some dumb twaddle I just wrote. Boing, boing. Found it in someone's trash.

Boring? Nahh. I have nobody else to talk to about this. 

I'm completely inspired by what other human beings do with the very same notes, when faced with the very same challenges. Arranged a little more thoughtfully, with a touch of individual skill or grace, and most importantly, with a sense of humor and cheerfulness.

I think this is clickbait. Ow. Can someone help me with this hook?


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 5, 2020)

Stringtree said:


> O-boy, this is going to be an interesting one. This is better than Falcon Crest.


I had to Google that.


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## Thomas Kallweit (Aug 5, 2020)

I also like what others do with the same notes. So this can help or not. 
But in the end all has to be pulled together. And the overwhelmingness can happen?
For me: Yes. But of course no new discussion, but worth while..

Falcon Crest is really old and I remember it was there - don't remember the music ; /


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## tebling (Aug 5, 2020)

It's very easy today to meet what was a high bar a decade or two ago. The question is - what are you doing to raise today's bar?


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## Stringtree (Aug 5, 2020)

I'm happy a non sequitur became a minor meme. You guys are fun!

Remember when you had the greatest food? When somebody really cared and did right? Mine happened last night, and I did it. 

Ordinary chicken parts, dipped into a little flour. Then sprinkled with salt and pepper. 

Into some beaten egg, then into crunchy bread crumbs. 

Thumb and forefinger crumbling some thyme, oregano. Gently fried in butter and olive oil, then baked.

See, music can never, ever, ever be boring to me because real food always tastes better. Real music made by people who care about technique and freshness will never, ever become boring.


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## jononotbono (Aug 5, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> It struck me the other day - a typical Wednesday morning, as I sat down to write.
> 
> I loaded the usual template and opened an instance of Komplete Kontrol. A quick browse of the (1000's) of available patches yielded the perfect starting sound in seconds. Nice. New track, same again. 10 minutes later and the track had already taken shape. One hour later, it was in the can.
> 
> ...



Can we hear the music you wrote in 1 hour that you said “was in the can”?


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## Stringtree (Aug 5, 2020)

Woop woop...


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 5, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Can we hear the music you wrote in 1 hour that you said “was in the can”?


Sure, just follow the links in my sig. Every track there was created in about an hour, with another hour to mix and master. They're not particularly sophisticated and won't win any VI control points, but they do the job they're designed for and pay the mortgage.

Also, to be absolutely, boringly and pedantically clear, I'm not posturing or claiming some sort of innate musical ability - I'm simply talking about the tech here and how it takes some of the excitement (for me) out of the music making process.


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## classified_the_x (Aug 5, 2020)

my music is boring until I get to a point I realize I can dance to it and start dancing. 

maybe you need to produce music you can dance to... always fun


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## jononotbono (Aug 5, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> Sure, just follow the links in my sig. Every track there was created in about an hour, with another hour to mix and master. They're not particularly sophisticated and won't win any VI control points, but they do the job they're designed for and pay the mortgage.
> 
> Also, to be absolutely, boringly and pedantically clear, I'm not posturing or claiming some sort of inane musical ability - I'm simply talking about the tech here and how it takes some of the excitement (for me) out of the music making process.




Maybe you should start writing different music? If you’re bored why don’t you have a go at writing music that doesn’t bore you?




Alex Fraser said:


> Are they bored also?



I’m quoting that because it insinuates that you’re bored.

Do something about it man! Write something that blows your skirt up. We live in such an amazing time! The Music technology allows us to do so much stuff we could never do even 10 years ago!

I think the possibilities with production are so exciting! And I don’t think music production is too easy. I think it’s incredibly difficult. I’ve always found that nothing good comes easy. Maybe that’s just me though.


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 5, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Maybe you should start writing different music? If you’re bored why don’t you have a go at writing music that doesn’t bore you?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's excellent advice Jono - and yep, orchestral mockups are the next challenge for me. Something new and exciting.

Sure, music production is always a learning process. I guess it's a perspective thing based on what point in time you started the learning process. Maybe now I'm in my early forties, I'm simply a weary old nostalgic fart.


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## Rex282 (Aug 5, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> That's excellent advice Jono - and yep, orchestral mockups are the next challenge for me. Something new and exciting.
> 
> Sure, music production is always a learning process. I guess it's a perspective thing based on what point in time you started the learning process. Maybe now I'm in my early forties, I'm simply a weary old nostalgic fart.


hahahaha .....forties.......old...hahahahahahahahahahah


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## jonathanparham (Aug 5, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> Sure, music production is always a learning process. I guess it's a perspective thing based on what point in time you started the learning process. Maybe now I'm in my early forties, I'm simply a weary old nostalgic fart.


I normally don't take time on VI for these convos BUT, the pandemic, it's you, and I like your music.

1) From what I've heard from you, and the questions you've answered for me in the past about your work give me the perspective, that it's not boring but you're writing for a very 'specific' market. IMO you are successful because you earn a living at it and I'd have to study really hard to get stylistically right. I could get it harmony and arrangement, but your genre/style is about the production and sounds. Something I'm working hard at now.
2) I think the 'beats' hip hop market is its own thing. I love Hip Hop and know about copyright but if you had told me 10 years ago that I could lease a 'beat' I would have laughed. Well you and I know there are people laughing all the way to the bank on 'beats' The successful cats sound like the other library writers I know; it's volume game. In some genre's beat makers are their own tastemakers for a segment of the industry. It's a different kind of producing then I'm used to. I think Phil Spector, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lews, Quincy Jones etc. But these new cats are building relationships around the music.
3) I was listening to Andre 3000 being interviewed by Rick Rubin this afternoon. Hey gave Andre an exercise, that he suggests to other artists. Write a song for another artist living/dead and pitch it. So the idea is you write something in your voice or style but for some else preferably in another genre. Also, Andre and Rubin both said to set aside time to listen to other genres you woudln't normally listen to. Andre 3000 was fan of Glass and began listening to Reich.
4) The pandemic has shown us how isolated we are (or in my state the way we NEED to be). As composers, writers, and arrangers we already spend significant time by ourselves creating. The Quarantine has quadrupled that time. We need performances, ensembles, sessions with other artists to perform our music. A buddy of mine teaches music at a charter school and he has a regulation of no 
wind instruments' to be practiced in public. The germs go through the blow holes. Go figure.


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## rottoy (Aug 5, 2020)

I honestly can't wait to get the actual composing part out of the way 
so I can slather my creation with reverb.


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## CT (Aug 5, 2020)

Same. That's the only reason I bother writing anything in the first place.


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## jononotbono (Aug 5, 2020)

Why don't you just sample reverb and then map it out in Kontakt and only write music with Reverb.

Then Reverb the shit out of that using your favourite Reverbs. Winning.


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## tmhuud (Aug 5, 2020)

Oh. My. I remember the days when when there weren't any layered or in the box samples. If you had to do a groove, ya had to lay it all down in midi from bits and pieces (and live recordings) you had. It wasn't boring back then- always on your toes. I guess I can see where its boring today. Or , perhaps, less challenging? In the days of no PS we would create huge stacks of winds, strings, brass (whatever) and record those) Some live, some sampled. (I think Miroslav was used a lot.) 

If you get bored today my only advice is to go and make a sample library. If that is too much to bite off at first just do some simple recordings. You know, record a small choir and map it into a sampler? Or pick an instrument you love and play and record ONE articulation (stacc, pizz whatever) Have some fun! Learn harmonica!

Dont make it like its out of your wheelhouse. Get some neighbors together and tell them to sing something. So what if they are all out of tune! You can fix that in post and make something cool later for a soundtrack. Honestly, it will be very gratifying because your not just composing something for someone later, your MOLDING your own sound.

If I dont make any sense just skip over my post as I didn't read thru the whole thread. (now, where IS my Johnny White Walker?)


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## patrick76 (Aug 5, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Why don't you just sample reverb and then map it out in Kontakt and only write music with Reverb.
> 
> Then Reverb the shit out of that using your favourite Reverbs. Winning.


Your statement is causing my head to explode. 

Do you guys say "Ree-verb" or "Rih-verb"? I've noticed that George Massenburg and Mick Guzauski both say the latter. I think I'm going to start saying it like them and pretend I'm part of the ultra-cool mixing crowd.

What the hell was this thread about?? Ah yes, boring processes. I think any process is boring if it is repeated often enough. Well, the majority of processes...


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## D Halgren (Aug 5, 2020)

jonathanparham said:


> I normally don't take time on VI for these convos BUT, the pandemic, it's you, and I like your music.
> 
> 1) From what I've heard from you, and the questions you've answered for me in the past about your work give me the perspective, that it's not boring but you're writing for a very 'specific' market. IMO you are successful because you earn a living at it and I'd have to study really hard to get stylistically right. I could get it harmony and arrangement, but your genre/style is about the production and sounds. Something I'm working hard at now.
> 2) I think the 'beats' hip hop market is its own thing. I love Hip Hop and know about copyright but if you had told me 10 years ago that I could lease a 'beat' I would have laughed. Well you and I know there are people laughing all the way to the bank on 'beats' The successful cats sound like the other library writers I know; it's volume game. In some genre's beat makers are their own tastemakers for a segment of the industry. It's a different kind of producing then I'm used to. I think Phil Spector, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lews, Quincy Jones etc. But these new cats are building relationships around the music.
> ...


I listened to that too. Andre is humble and real. What a refreshing attitude in a culture of posturing and boasting. He's always been one of my favorites!


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## Stringtree (Aug 5, 2020)

Just go shopping. If you’ve never seen what a new pair of shoes can do for a girl’s spirits, why, look at this beautiful closet of sample libraries. Why, you oughta try it! Feeling down about music in general? Then come with me!

You don’t even need to leave home or even get out of bed. After I’ve finished my chores, I log on to V-I Control and begin my day’s shopping.

Well here’s a beautiful viola. Heavens, I wasn’t even looking for an ugly violin with a dour sound to match. If con sordino isn’t included that’s definitely a deal breaker. But look, it’s on sale! Into the cart it goes. See? It’s fun!

Mm. An oud! Well that’s sure to fill a hole in my collection. It’s on sale too. What the hell is an oud? Oh yeah. I just looked it up, so now I feel confident intelligently incorporating it in my music, which is what this is totally about. 

No!! Two gigabytes left on my sample drive, and this bastard of an operating system is complaining about a lack of available space for new purchases. What do you mean, how many free things do I need? Well, all of them, because one doesn’t just leave perfectly good things on the ground! 

Come on. We’re changing focus. We’re going to get some ice cream and go shopping for a bigger drive to hold our samples. Dirty! Put that down! We don’t pick up things off the ground.


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## InLight-Tone (Aug 5, 2020)

Maybe expand beyond doing simple repetitive "beats"...


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## Stringtree (Aug 5, 2020)

ACID, brah. Pull the right side of that bar to the right, and it makes music. Fun for a sec, but once anyone could do it, the magic sorta went away. If what’s inside gets boring, I go outside.


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## Michel Simons (Aug 5, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> Maybe now I'm in my early forties, I'm simply a weary old nostalgic fart.



Wait until you get to your late forties.


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## classified_the_x (Aug 5, 2020)

I bet that if I hear your easy track I'm gonna find something wrong. I won't like the strings, they will be too strident for me. I'll secretly laugh at you. That's what I got from listening to some orchestral sounds recently. Validated music.

It's not that easy. Maybe your clients will take your stuff, but probably you can improve somewhere. Make things perfect... for real. Make them sound like marshmellow to our ears. As always, mindset is involved. You have a mindset you got things figured out, but probably if you showed what you done, we'd spot flaws. Go for perfection, and it will make things exciting again.


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## tf-drone (Aug 6, 2020)

Hmmm,

finishing a whole track in ONE hour? Hmmm. Unless you are in a creative frenzy (which cannot happen more than on two days in a year IMHO) or it is "only" workmanship, listenable but not remarkable. Currently all my music falls in this category, a mere finger exercising.

I still think it is impossible to release more than two hours of serious music in a year, unless you are Mozart or JSB.


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## Henu (Aug 6, 2020)

"I just sat in front of the piano and all that composing was too easy because I had a medium to express my musical thoughts almost too fast. Pianos are destroying the creative art of composing, please stop using them."

- Johan Ludwig Haydn, 1724


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## el-bo (Aug 6, 2020)

I enjoy writing music, and I enjoy playing the music that I am writing/have written. But the moment I hit ‘REC’ all the enjoyment just vanishes :(


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 6, 2020)

classified_the_x said:


> I bet that if I hear your easy track I'm gonna find something wrong. I won't like the strings, they will be too strident for me. I'll secretly laugh at you. That's what I got from listening to some orchestral sounds recently. Validated music.
> 
> It's not that easy. Maybe your clients will take your stuff, but probably you can improve somewhere. Make things perfect... for real. Make them sound like marshmellow to our ears. As always, mindset is involved. You have a mindset you got things figured out, but probably if you showed what you done, we'd spot flaws. Go for perfection, and it will make things exciting again.


Oh, you'd find all sorts of things that are wrong, especially if you're listening through the prism of VI control standards. 😂

If you don't mind though - I'd like to use your quote as a jumping off point. I think the thread is now too focused on the "one hour" thing or the perceived standard of my music. Actually, I was waxing on about the *process or journey* of making the music. The difference between plundering a collection of floppy disks or sampling a record for that "perfect kick" - or having an SSD with thousands of them on tap, instantly playable.

I'm worried that I'm giving off a "this is all too easy for me" ar***ole vibe - which wasn't my intention. Rather, I was trying to suggest that modern tech has taken some of the "shine" or technical challenge away from producing music. Maybe I'm just viewing this all through rose tinted nostalgia. 😉


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## Keith Theodosiou (Aug 6, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> I hate to sound like one of those "old man back in the day" types. I'm in awe of modern technology. And when I'm wearing my "writing for money" hat, I really appreciate all the flexibility and time saving tools we have at our disposal.
> 
> But yet... I can't shake the feeling that the "fun" and challenge has been stripped out of the music making process.
> 
> ...


To be honest, what you feel is ok to feel.

We have this tech to help us.
The only things i don't use are things like chord helpers and arpegio helpers. I will always write my own.
It may sound silly but i feel i didn't write that bit if i use an arpegiator, someone else programmed that in.
Having said that, i have just bought Spitfire's Symphonic motions. Where i used to program big long chord staccs, now this will play the staccs while i play the chords and it sounds more realistic as that is what it was designed for. It's not cheating, it's helping me save a lot of time plus i still have to work out chord progs and note changes.

Basically, the tech i will use are the ones where i know i could do it all by hand but it saves me a lot of time and effort. That way, the music i write is till coming from my head not someone else who programmed a sequence if you know what i mean.


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 6, 2020)

jonathanparham said:


> I normally don't take time on VI for these convos BUT, the pandemic, it's you, and I like your music.
> 
> 1) From what I've heard from you, and the questions you've answered for me in the past about your work give me the perspective, that it's not boring but you're writing for a very 'specific' market. IMO you are successful because you earn a living at it and I'd have to study really hard to get stylistically right. I could get it harmony and arrangement, but your genre/style is about the production and sounds. Something I'm working hard at now.
> 2) I think the 'beats' hip hop market is its own thing. I love Hip Hop and know about copyright but if you had told me 10 years ago that I could lease a 'beat' I would have laughed. Well you and I know there are people laughing all the way to the bank on 'beats' The successful cats sound like the other library writers I know; it's volume game. In some genre's beat makers are their own tastemakers for a segment of the industry. It's a different kind of producing then I'm used to. I think Phil Spector, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lews, Quincy Jones etc. But these new cats are building relationships around the music.
> ...


Thanks man, I like you too.

You're right about the beats thing and I'm guessing it's mostly the same for lower tier library stuff too. It's a numbers and marketing game, first and foremost. Whilst the music needs to be of a certain standard, tricksy production chops or clever use of harmony and originality - all things that are prized on this forum - actually hurt the bottom line. Which is often a hard thing to explain.

There comes a point in the writing process where you know that the track "does what it needs to do" and any further work is just fiddling and won't lead to more income.



tf-drone said:


> Hmmm,
> 
> finishing a whole track in ONE hour? Hmmm. Unless you are in a creative frenzy (which cannot happen more than on two days in a year IMHO) or it is "only" workmanship, listenable but not remarkable.


Absolutely. But this is music that's designed for a very specific task. It's not designed as a finished product, more of a "jumping off point" for singers and songwriters. My wife can't stand to listen to it. VI control will always be unimpressed. But it's exactly what my client base wants.


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## Henu (Aug 6, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> But it's exactly what my client base wants.



As long as you can provide for your client base with your expertise while being also efficient and keeping up with the quality, I don't see much problem here. Especially if you have more "interesting" projects going on as well, be them for clients or not.

After all, it's our job to provide for the client, and sometimes the job just "needs to be done" while sometimes there is something really interesting as well which can really suck us into the zone. 

But even at the worst days, it's still the best fucking job there is.


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## Ivan M. (Aug 6, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> I didn't tweak a single synth. I didn't make a single sample. Is all this a bit too....easy?



Yes, if your creativity is driven only by your sounds. If you start with an idea first, and imagine a sound, it gets really frustrating and time consuming trying to materialize it.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Aug 6, 2020)

I think music production is incredibly boring. I struggle with it a lot.

As far as my personality goes, I'm not the guy to sit around for too long, which makes it pretty difficult for me. And then there's this weird thing that happens once computers are involved. I find that they instantly force the brain into a weird restrained mode of functioning and it kind of kills all imagination.

Templates bore me, DAWs look like warehouses or prisons, sample libraries don't inspire me. They're potent tools, but the excitement and inspiration have to come from some place else ... still haven't figured out how to get through the whole process without kind of dreading it. I wish I could write music while running, swimming or hitting heavybags.


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## Bluemount Score (Aug 6, 2020)

Rex282 said:


> hahahaha .....forties.......old...hahahahahahahahahahah


I'm 22 and sometimes feeling old


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## Bluemount Score (Aug 6, 2020)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> I wish I could write music while running, swimming or hitting heavybags.


Replace the heavybag with a (preferably stable) keyboard, hanging verticaly from the roof. Don't forget to press record!


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Aug 6, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Replace the heavybag with a (preferably stable) keyboard, hanging verticaly from the roof. Don't forget to press record!



That's a brilliant idea. I feel like my future pieces will include a whole bunch of fff tutti clusters ...


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## MartinH. (Aug 6, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Replace the heavybag with a (preferably stable) keyboard, hanging verticaly from the roof. Don't forget to press record!



Maybe you could put drumpad triggers on it and have them play taikos etc.. Boxing while triggering Damage 2 patches would be a pretty "epic" workout.


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## Rodney Money (Aug 6, 2020)

I feel your pain but on another side of using technology in music, engraving the sheet music for the conductor and live musicians. Since April I have engraved 120+ pages of score. Let’s just say when I’m working on the sheet music if I don’t have either a podcast playing, something cool on YouTube on, or my 7 year old princess entertaining me with her art projects I would just go ahead and end it saying nothing is worth this painstakingly task of torture. This is just 1 example of a page I completed yesterday, and this would be considered an easier page:


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## ProfoundSilence (Aug 6, 2020)

jononotbono said:


> Why don't you just sample reverb and then map it out in Kontakt and only write music with Reverb.
> 
> Then Reverb the shit out of that using your favourite Reverbs. Winning.


isnt phobos a convolution based synth?


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Aug 6, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> Maybe you could put drumpad triggers on it and have them play taikos etc.. Boxing while triggering Damage 2 patches would be a pretty "epic" workout.



Yeah ... crank that PUNISH knob ...


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## jononotbono (Aug 6, 2020)

ProfoundSilence said:


> isnt phobos a convolution based synth?



I don't know. Ask BT.


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## GNP (Aug 6, 2020)

Yes, extremely boring.


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## GtrString (Aug 6, 2020)

If you work isolated in your home studio, using the same old changes, alone, programming drums, mixing, update software, read and re-read all the rejections, checking your statements full of 0,0x'es, turn on the news ect, ect .. yezzzzzzzzzzzzz


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## jonathanparham (Aug 6, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> Back in the day, musical tech was a much trickier (and expensive) proposition. For the average composer, ideas were capped by the severely limited technology. You had to *work* to get the sound you wanted. Creative decisions had to be locked in early. Every completed mixdown came with a war story of bending the available technology to one's will. I remember a recording session where getting the finished song on DAT involved the entire band "playing" the mixing desk on playback, jointly muting tracks and adjusting levels on the fly for the final master.


I started doing sound design on reel to reel tape. Warm textures but don't piss me off and say you don't like it. A lot for reels on the floor lol



Alex Fraser said:


> But yet... I can't shake the feeling that the "fun" and challenge has been stripped out of the music making process.
> 
> Anyone else feel the same way? Maybe I should start sampling my walking stick and try to create an entire track from it.
> A


 As you've responded, you know what you need to deliver to your client. I say just branch out for a newer artist IN addition to your usual stuff. OR Transcribe some 70s R&B then put your tracks on it. lol


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## jonathanparham (Aug 6, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> It struck me the other day - a typical Wednesday morning, as I sat down to write.
> 
> I loaded the usual template and opened an instance of Komplete Kontrol. A quick browse of the (1000's) of available patches yielded the perfect starting sound in seconds. Nice. New track, same again. 10 minutes later and the track had already taken shape. One hour later, it was in the can.


Oh dude I heard an interview with Zaytoven where he says he makes 10 beats a day. He had to quit his day job as a barber because he walk into the shop and people would shove demos in his face lol. he didn't even want to admit he was 'making' it with 10k and 20k placements at that time.


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## SupremeFist (Aug 6, 2020)

Doing anything over and over again without setting yourself secret challenges or working deliberately to expand your capabilities is boring.


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## Alex Fraser (Aug 7, 2020)

jonathanparham said:


> Oh dude I heard an interview with Zaytoven where he says he makes 10 beats a day. He had to quit his day job as a barber because he walk into the shop and people would shove demos in his face lol. he didn't even want to admit he was 'making' it with 10k and 20k placements at that time.


Oh yeah, some of those guys are like machines. 10 a day is way beyond me. 3 at max before I've burnt out of inspiration and need to get away from the screen.

IMO, the absolute hardest thing in music production is completing a track, closing the file and going straight into a new one without a break.


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## jonathanparham (Aug 7, 2020)

Alex Fraser said:


> Oh yeah, some of those guys are like machines. 10 a day is way beyond me. 3 at max before I've burnt out of inspiration and need to get away from the screen.
> 
> IMO, the absolute hardest thing in music production is completing a track, closing the file and going straight into a new one without a break.


interesting. I got some more PM's for you


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## Fredeke (Aug 7, 2020)

In short: it can be.


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