Are you destined to become a failed wannabe music producer?

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by DIGITAL SCREAMS

get some pussy and make some tracks tonight.

I hope you have realised that these two things rule out each other? Although I did have a cat that walked on the keyboard creating Mike Garson stuff.

[IamEvil]

I had a pretty well equiped home studio about 6 years ago - which I'd slowly built up over years... but had no success with (the one on the pics in my sig. link)

I sold it to a DJ friend who was a total beginner when it came to writing music and production.

He took my gear and had a record out after about 6 months

[annikk.exe]

Man, what is going on here :P So many tortured artists !

I've quit loads of times before, and when I do I get out more, meet mates, exercise etc. But like an alcoholic I get sucked back in by the 'just a little' idea and the vicious circle continues.

I've had the opposite experience from you, Infinity+1. Music is something I have fought tooth and nail to stay in. In the beginning when I had no money, classical training or source of advice, I used tracking programs and deleted the sequencer contents of other people's songs so I could write my own tune with their samples.

Later, during the years of the band I worked so many shitty jobs, just trying to feed myself and help pay for the next tour. I never found it difficult to sit down and start writing, it came very naturally to me. I swiftly learned to embrace the raw, badly produced feel, and didn't worry too much about perfecting the production. To reinforce this I even wrote songs and intentionally made them sound awful. Harsh, abrasive, non-musical music. Gradually I learned what compressors did, and why EQ is handy, and picked up tips from various different places until eventually getting a reasonable sound was more like a part of the actual programming.

It keeps me up all night, fools me by making me think I'll enjoy it and be good at it. I get depressed because I can't even write a simple arpeggio over two chords. My drums sound thin and crap.

Infinity+1, if I were you I would set myself a challenge to write a song with only 3 different synth patches, a kick, snare, and hat, and actually focus on paying zero attention to the production quality, and complete the entire song in less than an hour. Just GET IT DOWN, get it out there.
If you keep doing this, sooner or later you'll hit upon a song that you feel like developing a bit more.
I also think you sound like you could use a holiday :>


-Annikk

[D*2]

I've been seriously learning how to produce for the last 8 months...
and still havnt finished a track....
but my 8 bar loops are I'm making are considerably sounding better and better..
But.. i still need the patience and understanding to finish a complete track..
I think I'm happy with the dozens of unfinished projects i have!
but one of these days I'm finally going to finish one!

[Ceri JC]

Originally Posted by annikk.exe

Infinity+1, if I were you I would set myself a challenge to write a song with only 3 different synth patches, a kick, snare, and hat, and actually focus on paying zero attention to the production quality, and complete the entire song in less than an hour. Just GET IT DOWN, get it out there.
If you keep doing this, sooner or later you'll hit upon a song that you feel like developing a bit more.
I also think you sound like you could use a holiday :>


-Annikk

I agree, I find this very useful when stuck in a rut of not actually finishing tracks. Take an 8 bar loop you've done, create another 2/3 variations on it then force yourself to record "live takes" of a track (recorded in realtime) with you selecting patterns, playing along, changing fx etc. Bounce it to .wav and save it. Eventually you'll stumble on something you like/that works well and then you can go back and polish it. Sometimes I don't even realise which tracks are the best/worth working on further until a few days after they're done and I'm listening to them on my mp3 player.

[Khazul]

Or do what lost of folks do when they are out of ideas - learn production techniques, embellish their 4/8/16 bars of bleeps and release it under minimal techo or minimal tech house

Ooops - probably just upset the minimal crowd...

[Prime NL]

I had my xxx min. of fame, so i don't feel the pressure anymore to have something released on a CD or Album.

Did my live perfomances on stage as support act for other very famous acts or DJs, performed live on festivals, did live shows on the national radio, released CD's and EP's on my own record label and saw almost every famous club in Europe.

I feel i don't have that urge anymore to get out there and spent every minute of my life advertising my "band"....this is also due to the fact that i am married and have 2 kids walking around...they don't need a dad who will be almost every weekend on the road.

Nowadays i just have fun and feel happy in my home studio creating 8 bar loops and play around with it.

For all the people who still have the urge to "get out there" on stage or on a CD/EP plug yourself as much as you can...that is the only road to get well known and famous.

Just burn that CD with your experimental stuff and send it out to your interesting record labels who are in line with your style you create....there is always the chance that one of them will pick it up.

[Ceri JC]

Originally Posted by Prime NL

Just burn that CD with your experimental stuff and send it out to your interesting record labels who are in line with your style you create....there is always the chance that one of them will pick it up.

Yes, it's surprising how few labels you need to send (half-decent) stuff to before you get someone interested, so long as you select the right labels. You hear these stories of a great band/artist claiming to have sent hundreds of demos out before it gets picked up and you just have to wonder whether they got a Music Directory and just started at A in the record labels and sent it to the first 200 they came across. I know people at labels who complain about the volume of demos they get that they would never in a million years put out, almost as if the person hasn't even listened to the other stuff on the label.

[Prime NL]

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Yes, it's surprising how few labels you need to send (half-decent) stuff to before you get someone interested, so long as you select the right labels. You hear these stories of a great band/artist claiming to have sent hundreds of demos out before it gets picked up and you just have to wonder whether they got a Music Directory and just started at A in the record labels and sent it to the first 200 they came across. I know people at labels who complain about the volume of demos they get that they would never in a million years put out, almost as if the person hasn't even listened to the other stuff on the label.

Your totally right on that Ceri...it's sometimes suprising what kind of demos i get which are totally not in line with the kind of music i support.

I got CD's containing country or even Schlager or Hardrock music....even though my Record Label is registered as a Dance label.

Sometimes you will be rejected...but in my beginning of my musical career i got some great feedback of labels which comment on the music or give some critics which can be used in future demo CD's.

Just don't expect to be recognised by a label with just a Myspace page or some YouTube movies....if those people get attention by labels it's mostly luck.

Expect to be dissapointed alot...just keep up and try again.

[synthetik]

I registered to reply to this thread. A folder of mine exists within my harddrive that technically has more access time than any of the other folders in my computer. Almost a gigs worth actually, only a few tracks are finished, if that. And somewhere in my mind I've always thought maybe it's just me, maybe I can make music in my head, make unlimited amounts of patches, talk like that very same extremely fuzzy and distorted patch is the most unique thing in the world and it's in my song. BUT I can't just do it, I can't sit there and actually make music.

I don't know if it's the lack of skill or the lack of dedication, believe me, I really want to make music, my desire to make music far outweighs everything else I want to do. I just can't. Reading through everyone elses' replies, I realize that maybe it isn't about making crap that other people would like but more about making those 8 bars. Thanks all.