In my research on entering the DAW era. I get this. I love my old fashion bang on the buttons drum machine. No one who isn't an accomplished musician is gonna like you after viewing this.
Back in the 90s I did everything straight to two track - practice, structure, a hardware sequencer and a couple of synths - I used to draw arrangements on graph paper... and then record it, maybe do a couple of takes, and move on. And then when I started with DAW work I would get very bogged down in detail and repeatability. More recently I've found it very liberating to go back to a 4-track and start with a single synth, take it steady but work quickly - by which I mean, make decisions and stick to them, but don't rush in favour of a poor choice. Put the right stuff down and you don't need to fix it later. So yeah, I absolutely get where you're coming from here.
Remembering 8 track recording on a cassette tape and Adat was the standard back then. Then hard drive digital multi track recorders came along good thing about those machines no latency issues!
Les Paul once told me that once he had his multitrack working (the 8 track monster developed by Les Paul, intern Ray Dolby, and Ampex), he never had a big hit again. It turns out that the limitations of single track sound-on-sound brought out the ultimate focus and perfectionism in his work. No undo. No extra takes. No mixing afterwards. And remember, most of his sound on sound was with a single tape machine (ie, destructive and permanent overdubbing).
I went DAWless on my last album to focus more on my skills as a performer. I recorded each song live to a 2track, which allowed me to say "done" a lot sooner than I would on my DAW. 😂
You articulate yourself really well, your content is engaging & consistent. Having too many options & getting new gear too often, always results in writers block and indecisiveness. Less is more, having a few things you know really well is better than a 100 things you don't.
Ultimately, it’s all about the music. Do whatever you need to do to make it happen, but at the end of the day, when I listen to a record, I really don’t care how it was made.
I, however, only consume organic, fair trade, free range gluten-free music. If the artist wasn't home schooled, or at the very worst Waldorf schooled... I just can't listen. Parochial schooled artists have a sheen, and don't get me started on public schooled musicians. If they don't have a trust fund and quality modular analog hardware, then I need some quality outboard to lift the veil.
I'm a massive fan of creating within constraints. All my best ideas were written with the aid of a very old tablature program called powertabs. ...if you DO indulge in a daw, indulge with purpose, otherwise keeping it simple within a Daw is also possible. ...And if you DO go dawless, do it for the right reasons, not just to be the coolest succulent hipster in the room, but for live rig performance reasons and/or to actually challenge and create ...Jameson you certainly created something special in this EP. I just listened to it 3 times in a row. Excellent work.
I just started studying music as a hobby (retired) and aiming at creating musical landscapes with synthetic music. It's not an easy task to get a real good understanding of the 'fabric' of music, but it's obvious that one gets nowhere without it. And yes, I discovered the piano as the most comprehensive tool to learn music the right way. I listened to tons of synthesizer music, also to the typical, let's call it "DAW music", you find on the huge festivals. They mostly lack any depth in musical sense, although I do agree that the purpose of these festivals is the atmosphere of emotions, rhythms, and massivness. What you're saying makes a lot of sense to me, so I subscribed.
NAW. Don't throw away your DAW. Your DAW is how you (probably) are the most productive. Your DAW is passively teaching you about mixing, arranging, and practically every form of music production. Your DAW is how you currently (or eventually?) will record something and SHARE what you've made with others, in a way that can persist past your fever dream of some amazing DAWless performance you're going to put on at your local club (You know, the one where your head is down over your Elektron boxes, your Oxi, and your Perkons, and your hair looks amazing, and you have this amazingly peaceful, calm look on your face sort of like Gillian from New Order, and people in the club are looking at how cool you are and how great your music is and just going "Daaaaaaammmmnnnn, who would've guessed that he/she was this talented!" Yeah - THAT dream - the one where Bo or Cuckoo or Ben Jordan or Venus Theory happen to be at the club that night and walk up to you and say "Amazing set! Would you like to do a collab? You DEFINITELY need your own synth RUclips channel!" Yeah... well, while you're working on that, I would suggest you KEEP your DAW and maybe commit to a goal such as "Finishing my first track" or "Finishing a 4 song EP". Keep the hardware around, because we all love it (God knows, I do), but... NAW. Don't throw away your DAW. When it's all said and done, do what works for YOU and what you ENJOY, but if you USE a DAW, then banishing one of your tools isn't a panacea. It's sort of like burning a book. Use it when and how you want and don't let IT use YOU. Love and respect it as another TOOL - claim the power it gives you, and use it as yet another INROAD to whatever it is that you're trying to express.
Its a good position. Myself: when I want to record, I do it on my 24 track. If I care about the outcome, I put the tracks onto Studio 1 and can do literally anything I would like to finish it; but to record into the DAW is a process that gets in the way of actually making music. Cheers.
🤣 definitely. You summed it up perfectly. You got to love New Order. They are legendary. The DAW is how I learned this stuff and have used it now for about 5 years. I do have gear but I will never stop using my DAW. It's just too much fun and convince.
THIS. Also, for a lot of us hardware is a *LUXURY*. I started my music journey so poor I didn't even have a bank account. I vowed that I would *only* pay for upgrades to my music set up with money generated from said music. If you make use of free software and a good DAW (even some of the free ones!) - you can make money from no money. Meanwhile, a lot of my other producer friends were buying all these fancy synths and drum machines etc. - spending more then their making from their music and generating far less in finished pieces. I think more common than the DAW getting in the way is the addiction to gadgets and the 'flair' of real time performance
the main message of the video IS more "dont confuse composing and playing with producing and mixing". are you a musician or a producer defines how you will use the daw.
The moment you pick a tool to create music, you've constrained yourself to the idioms of that tool and your knowledge and skill of that tool. This is a Good Thing. I approach composition very differently depending on when I'm using guitar, bass, keyboard, my Push, or scratching out things in the piano roll. One of my favorite things is to come up with something on one of these things, and then figure it out on another which usually gives me new perspectives.
I'm currently collaborating with a friend on a hardware synths only album project. I say hardware synths only, meaning we're using DAWs for effects and recording, but that's it. No soft synths whatsoever. It has forced me to dive deep into programming my synths, which I REALLY love doing.
There was a moment when I realized that booting up the computer, starting the software, fiddling around with the mouse and pushing around blocks on the screen annoyed me to the point I almost lost interest im making music. I didn't touch a computer again from then on. I do not aim for perfect productions, I make music for the thrill of it. Synths, samplers and groove boxes are sufficient for me and brought the life back to it.
Again and again I love the questions you pose about the creative process itself. Very inspirational! I am discovering for myself that interesting ambient music is so much more about less is more and certainly not trying to fill up all the space! For sure, all the endless possibilities of nowadays can get overwhelming. In the end of the day, as you say, we have to explore what we love most and come up with our own unique music. Keep up the great work!
I spend a lot of my day working on a computer so when I go to make music for fun I like NOT doing that. Recently I purchased a Moog Matriarch and I have found great joy in playing it especially because, unlike all my other synths, it doesn't have presets. I find this limitation to be very inspiring, plus I'm learning more about synthesis than I ever have before.
Excellent subject matter. All beautiful things happen through constraints and limits. A river flowing that is constrained by land, clouds blowing through mountains, or a breath flowing through a flute. Without limits, we can't capture the here and now, because mathematically speaking, a limit is nothing more than a snapshot of something approaching a point in time. Great video!
Man thanks so much for sharing this type of content, sometimes we need to think differently to get different results. I always enjoy the topics you push in your videos 🎉.
I'm so glad your videos were suggested to me. It seems that i went on the same path as yours, except that i am a nobody. We have to limit the unlimited possibilities of daws to challenge our creativity, go deeper into the knowledge of a single instrument to extract from it what we have in mind, and sometimes happy mistakes lead us to new ideas, and so on. I started to limit my number of vst's two years ago, and now i know them so that there is alsmost no delay between my idea and the result on the screen. I also have my music ideas with the sounds of my vst, wich is a blessing. What i have in my mind, i will have it in a very short period of time. And if i need something specific upon it, i just have to search for that sepcific vst and just add it to my collection. But the never ending exploration of vst's is over for me. The less the better.
The same principle can still be applied to music production on the computer, it's just a matter of adhering to the restraint of whatever self-imposed rule you can come up with. Something simple like five tracks, two effects, and keeping three randomly chosen instruments with the other two being of your choice - might force you to have something interesting if you can stick to it.
When I was in my early twenties I took my wife to the Huntington library in California. On display were letters written by George Washington. They were beautifully written. Each were well thought out, purposely written. No erasing no adding additional thought. Pure heart felt expression. listen to the Carter family country music recordings. What was captured was pure emotion, pure imperfection. Pure human feeling. What is lost in music today. Every thing is now placed perfectly in place. Devoid of human emotion. Technology can be great. But put 99% of all artist today in front of a wax record recording they could not express themselves. True artistic expression is fading. I long to hear an artist express themselves in a way that will be endearing forever. No overdub no multiple takes just real human emotion.
Limitations are fun. They force decisions, and more refinement, which we all need. I find myself drifting to various methods. Truth is, I still use a DAW more like a tape recorder anyway.
When I started making electronic music I began on Fasttracker II in 1998/1999, before that in 92 it was guitar, but electronic was where I really started getting serious. In those days shortly after, I went 90% hardware driven, Mirage ensoniq DSK 1 sampler, Yamaha DJX 1, Yamaha SY2, and a home made synth from PAIA. So there were great things I could do in 2001 with that setup. I had to move to digital everything in 2009 because I was looking for my sound, and I found in 2013, when using ableton, but now, I long to get back into that, but good thing I own most of the setup.
I super love a hybrid approach. Tascam Model 16 for recording 2-3 instruments simultaneously. Then kick those stems over to Bitwig for further work. This way is much kicking very yes ass, for me.
I appreciate the limit yourself perspective. However, i'll be sticking with my DAW, as I give myself limits on each project within the DAW, and that also works very well for me 🙂
I like the accurately drawn modulation my DAW can offer that my hands just arent capable of. Shaping and perfecting the sound I want. Crafting and building crescendos etc Unless you're squiddly-diddly with 8 hands to tweak things at once, you may want to keep your DAW
I also remember when thinking making ambient music is just putting a ton of shimmer reverb on whatever signal you are processing...oh, how I was wrong. Thank you for this insightful video!
Setting well defined limitations for a project is a good practice to encourage creativity. As an organist who is tired of simply giving the bass role to the pedals, I like putting the bass in the LH with an 8' or 16' stop, melody in the pedal with an 8', 4' or 2' solo stop, and a countermelody in the right hand (though I don't maintain a strict trio texture).
I totally get this. I used Ableton for years like it was an instrument (which it can be), but would often get overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities. Lately I tend to just grab like 2 synths or a synth and drum machine, and just record stuff into a digital recorder with no computer involved. Basically like recording "to tape". Then I'll throw the stereo recording into Ableton for a little mastering, but that's about it. I make things that are less complicated, but more realized. I always just try to do too many things at once in a DAW and end up with a busy and cluttered mess.
I'm just a home hobbyist, but going back to four-track cassette mixers and Voyetra software on 5 inch floppies. I have Ableton, but I'm now all about having wonderful hardware synths that I just pretty much enjoy in the moment stream-of-consciousness personal enjoyment without even bothering to record.
Funny thing is - when I self imposed a 16-track limit on me in my DAW - I started programming much fatter leads, basses and pads using my synths that required no additional layering simply because I couldn't just freely use a ton of tracks for that anymore, as out of those 16 - about 6-8 are easily taken by drums right away leaving little room for other elements. Which led to more thought being put into how any element should sound so it exploits as much sonic space as possible.
I wish one day to be so skillful to be able to just record something and have it perfect in the frequency spectrum exactly as it should! just i can only wish one day...
Great way to limit yourself, if you are on budged, is to use for making music iPad .. it’s like in between desktop daw and hw gear.. there is definitely lot of limitations, but it’s also pretty powerful - but also it’s somewhere in middle between using just mouse and keyboard and grabbing actual physical knobs - i found the way how i directly interact with apps wirh my fingers much more inspiring than warchinh on monitor and clicking with mouse …
I can't afford an ipad, and something like a circuit tracks gives tactile feedback and it's portable(and I financed that circuit tracks interest free at zzounds, but I couldn't get financing with interest from best buy for an ipad, weird yeah?).
@@gossamyr well you can buy old ipad mini, something like 3-4 years old model is still perfectly capable of doing much more than just plain circuit (i had circuit, both og and tracks, loved them too of course) .. ipad mini is more like having multiple gears with ability to connect them in between at you will.. there is even miRack (which is clone of VCV rack - so you can have even modular). Believe me it's great ecosystem.. i use both worlds - ipad and hw synths, both have pros and cons, it 's good to be always opened to posibilities
@@raysubject I'm usually open to things, especially in the idea realm, but I have had to nix certain brands due to their practice as a company(my only voice if I don't like something apple does is not buy apple, which is sad and kinda lame, really). But I remember trying to get one for my kid and I couldn't, so we went kindle, as many do.
@@gossamyr there are music apps on kindle ? I thought we are talking about using music apps :) Of course it’s choice of everybody to not use any platform from any reason .. i use ipad for music cause there is fantastic ecosystem of music apps uncomparable to any other hw mobile device, and actually most of those app are made by small indie developers and i am glad i can support them by buying their apps… I use iOs devices for music for more than decade and have great experience with it … i don’t like some things Apple does too, but i am not emotional here, it’s just piece of HW ad every big company does bad things - so as Google, Amazon, etc. But none of them has on their devices such powerfull ecosystem of music apps, so it is what it is … it’s called pragmatism 😂
No way on God’s green earth I’ll be getting rid of my DAW, but I 100% agree that limitations are where it’s at. As long as you continually develop a mindset for crafting music, then each track added has to have a distinct purpose. Having a large library of sounds just gives me that many more starting points for a song to be born.
This makes sense to me. I wrote my best songs with a guitar and a pen and paper. I recorded them on a tape 4 track and bounced tracks back and forth. I was more productive. Now I have option paralysis half the time. It's important to have a decent song idea to start with. You can't polish a turd.
Just want to say that I love your channel🥳 I find your viewpoints in this video very interesting. I often ask myself: What`s the reason I always deliever a better performance when playing live(church-organ, piano and synths), with a live audience, rather than recording in the studio? I think this is the reason: "Because I actually have to!!" There is no turning back in a live performance, but as soon as we open ProTools, Logic, Reaper or any other DAW.....we suddenly loose focus, and become somewhat lazy, because what the heck....."Why is this first take important? If I screw up, I can always fix in in the Daw?" "And why is this second take any more important? If I screw up, I can always fix it in the DAW." And why is this third take.....well, you take my point. I would love to go dawless....
I find that when my brain is in creative improvising mode, it does not remember what I was playing 5 seconds ago, instead its constantly thinking about where I am going to go next. So I bought a massive Korg sampling keyboard workstation with built-in sequencer. That kept me going for 10 years but finally I discovered like you that I was spending to much time fiddling in the tech and not enough time improving the performance. The tech was necessary for grabbing the ideas. But for recording, I have made a concerted effort to learn to play every piece / track myself perfectly and record pure audio instead.
I love your videos man, but whenever I watch you I can’t get Billy Bob Thornton out of my head. And then you make me think and I am reminded again why I love your channel!
I started on analog tape, and though I'm fully in the DAW world now, I do miss those tape days and sometimes think about what it would be like to skip the computer entirely and just build an 8-track reel-based recording setup like I used many times in the past. Bouncing tracks down to free them up is kind of a lost art nowadays I suppose heh. But it's one of those things that makes you stop to really consider and plan things out. A DAW-based setup is quite convenient, but yes the "option anxiety" that can set in can be a creativity killer.
Thank you for this great essay - I am encouraged to re-learn the art of rehearsal. It's something that consumed my life as I studied cello, but as I move to electronic music production, I've been less inclined to it, and that's to my detriment. Thank you!
just in case the tongue-in-cheek humor escapes anyone... mister jones is obviously joking about "throw away your DAW." I do find that I work very differently in & out of the box. & I enjoy both the process & the results in both scenarios. as always, your thoughts on all this, mister jones, are compelling & inspiring. a thousand thanks to you & everybody else here who are sharing their takes on all this jazz....
"The most memorable melodies and ideas can withstand being stripped away to their core elements. If the bones are good, you've probably got something that can withstand variation and development down the road." YES. THIS. : )
Couldnt agree more, i have never used DAW but always got the impression you could not make a polished production without it but always found that the expression was missing with it,hope that makes sense,im still a bit of a noob ,love your well explained very interesting vids always
it is the case though that the experience of creating in time and by interacting with instruments directly is far more conducive to a greater quality music, learning and ultimately a deeper level of fulfillment.
"When your bones are good"... kind of says it all. As I'm learning, I'm finding that I like playing the instruments. I'm still not sure what my personal intentions are, but I'm liking the trip. I just need more hands. Nice messaging in your vid.
Thanks! I'm so tired of having a million options that may take me a lifetime to figure out! I'm even considering releasing an album of songs I created with one take on my iPhone! If the feelings there and it sounds clean, WTF! It's all about the feeling! I don't care how perfect a track sounds, no feeling no go!
There is no reason why you cant work in both areas. Hardware sequencers etc or even multitracking and the DAW. Combine and refine them later. Create using both approaches. It only expands or broadens the ideas and where they may come from. One does not have to exclude the other.
When Berlin School electronic music was young, it was all DAW-less. Live sequencing and playing, recorded multi-track. One could do this still today, using a DAW as a simple multitrack recorder. But this requires to resist the digital temptations.
I am going to be honest. My best two albums even as an experienced synthesist, were the albums were synths were barely present and I focused on the string instruments I play: bass guitar, upright bass, electric guitar, and cello. I only allowed myself one synth track and only used one synth. The first of these two specific albums one only had synths on two songs, the second I used it throughout the album but it was one very simple synth...the Lyra 8. I love synths...and have many. But I also recognize the power of limiting oneself to a single concept. Next album is all synths. But the one after I am stripping it down again. Acoustic upright bass and electric piano or organs. Limitations can be great. Developing a musical voice no matter what is in your hands is essential to being a good musician.
I'm 71 and grew up in the San Fernando valley, I started mowing the lawn of this old Italian guy, Joe Pass. Worked for him for two years at his house and watched him at Dante's (SFV Jazz club) many times. He played once a month on Monday, guitar night. I could actually just stop by his house and hang out, and I did. One morning after watching him at Dante's the night before, I was marveling at his version of Green Dolphin Street and his incredible speed and accuracy. He stopped me and said he was just showing off and everything sounds better with less notes, later he commentated that there is no such thing as a bad note. We'd sit around with guitars and play a phrase and take notes out, stripping it down to one note finally, it was hilarious. The point was, good musicianship involved handing the lead off and getting the hell out of the way, strip out the clutter and never play (or write) anything that you don't want the user to actually hear. I was transcribing some of the Class of 71 (Jack Dougherty, the Carpenters producer) jazz tunes for the CSUN Jazz Band back then, Joe played on that album and he helped me with some of the more difficult phrases. Simple, simple, simple was his constant advice.
I also grew up in that era of LA, loved that period of time, loved Joe. Saw him many timee perform and he was flawless. Truely an inspiration. Simplicity is everything but not any more. Your story touched me brought me back in time. I'm also 71 and grew up in LA;
I love adhering to some self-imposed constraints. Like, one of my favourite things to do is to make a whole track using only one sample and any effects that I want. Besides being a great sound design exercise, it is paradoxically a very liberating process which basically strips away all your choices you do not have to make anymore - now you have to look for ways to reach your goal rather than looking for goals to reach, given a (practically unlimited) set of tools and sounds. Such tracks do not come out great every time - but every time it's fun and every time you learn something. Another thing I like to do (and am basically doing all the time) is using mostly stock Ableton tools. I very much like Live's minimal interface and I'm always very reluctant to 'pollute' it with some third-party plugin. Yes, that's maybe my OCD speaking here but still it helps keep plugin clutter to a minimum. And as an added bonus, I know the stock plugins pretty well which also keeps things flowing. As for NOT doing something inside a DAW, today I sampled my Korg Monotron Delay (which BTW never ceases to surprise me), and after watching your video I realised I WOULD NOT make these sounds in Live. I certainly COULD if I was asked to, but I just wouldn't. Because I would make something else, something Live, for me, is more conducive to.
I'm not a DAW person, never been for me. I love the challenge of having to play and learn each part myself instead of just letting the computer do it for me. The other day I was practicing a piece and made a mistake in the chord progression and was like, wow do that again and it lead to a whole unique transition that never would have happened if I was just dragging and dropping sections. If that's how people create and they enjoy it cool, that's what makes music so great. different ways and different results
Thank you Jameson , I appreciate your views on this . I play drums, and a bit of bass guitar . My fallback is utilizing computer for recording. I kind of feel like old-school cassette tapes are a bit more my vibe. - or prefere because they are extremely easy to use and kind of everything is laid out on the machine. There’s no deep dives. I don’t know if I actually have the patience for that, but I would really like your opinion with that is extremely extremely easy to use. I do have mixed craft installed in my laptop however I haven’t even used it for about two years . My basic idea is I would say just getting a drum beat for tempo down, and secondly, I do like to play along with the drums and creating base lines Guitar and whatever else. The reason I found you is on RUclips and asking the question what is the easiest standalone music production unit. .. That is how I found you I have Roland TR-8S Elektron Cycles $ Now I’m really seeking of what is the easiest way to get down ideas in the way I said before - As a drummer, I am definitely a hard rock drummer, but that does not indicate every kind of genre I would like to do them too. I’ve tried to give you the basics of what I’m looking for. I guess the next thing is budget so I think I’ll say maybe ( $ 1500 ) besides monitors I do not need those. I do have also mixing board the Beringer I do have a Porta 2 cassette recorder it does need a bit of love Yeah, I have the TR8S I have the Elektron Cycles & Samples Roland JD-XI Volca Sample 2 / Volca 4:18 beats -as well as Zoom R 24 for recording And Tascam DP- 008EX Master of none ! Any help or advice is greatly appreciated if you’ve got the time to do so NATION meeting nova that I’m trying to solve because I just need the cash
I think a good approach is to explicitly alter phases of enriching your music and stripping away elements that are not in line with what you want to express. This forces you to think about where you want to go and gives the music more focus while not sounding thin and basic.
Wow, this is just the second video of yours I've seen, and the first just yesterday (Anyone can make electronic music). Both related and super relevant to modern music production and lovers/learners of doing so..... I feel like this video here is like a Musical Church Sermon.... Incredibly good and DEEP to ponder and also to help heal things that may get in the way, regardless of where at in the process or in the learning (Humble long term home studio learner here). Thank you so much! This will be watched over and over at times for me. Subscribed! Cheers!
Hey Jameson , great video! Your insights resonate with me. I’m in that same space. The ‘ endless possibilities “ of DAWs ultimately drove me nuts 😂!!! Audition, Audition, Audition, add, add,add, effects that do “ everything “ , graphics for everything!…It can become all about your eyes and not your ears!!…I’m not giving up the DAW completely but when I do use it , I will keep it simple 😊. I too go back to “ before there were DAWs”. I’m now learning the MPC. I work with a Yamaha S90sx and an MPC one. I’ll play parts and get creative with samples. That’s it! There’s no huge screen to look at so I must use my ears…I believe limitations will actually liberate your creativity….btw, contrary to what many people believe, you can do a lot of styles of music using an MPC or other hardware set ups
I was recently thinking about a setup some friends and I created on a dining room table... a load of synths, some pattern sequencing, no DAW, we had an Atari ST that played a sample on repeat. All recorded to tape. That's what we had and it sounded great, at least to us at the time.
After 20 years, I've returned to the synth scene. But purely as a hobby. No daw this time, just a simple miniature synth that I'm squeezing all sorts of fun out of. The lack of choice is liberating. Wish I never got wrapped up in daws all those years ago. They just ate away at my time and spontaneity.
i love hands on i loved midi and keyboards old mac g4 os9 and digi001 i love all from that time it calls me no matter if i have it all today but i loved that time of making music it was my greatest time coming from tape to digital
My workflow has always been based more on playing instruments and basically improvising in real time and recording quickly with little editing afterwards. Back in the 90's I recorded on my synth's sequencer then put that on tape. Later I switched to DAWS but as life got busy, I focused on getting stuff down quick and dirty, figuring I can get back to it and make it nicer later. (That actually doesn't tend to happen.. I start more than I finish and always tend to favor coming up with new stuff to polishing up things that could be better). I think my strengths in improvisation and composing on the fly come across a lot better live than in recordings. I helps when people can SEE that you're winging it and doing well, whereas in DAW world it's more about meticulously crafting every detail.. I see the difference kind of like that between making a speech on the fly and reading one. The written one will usually be more logically and grammatically correct, and say more precisely what was intended --- but it will also SOUND like you're reading it, and the feelings expressed will probably be expressed LESS effectively than if you just talked off the cuff, even if people see you at a loss for words.
Recently I bought SP-404 MKII sampler, and indeed, because of its limitations, I managed to compose about 10 tracks in very short time. Obviously these tracks are not that polished as when the a DAW is used. But this is the beauty that result is kind of rough. Love it
BTW Huge fan, love the channel! I totally agree and I've been doing that now for about 25 ish years now. Having to deal with a lot of push back from traditionalists that remark on well you can't get a quality recording out of a one take session...BS! It just takes practice and the recording aspect is the same as the performance, where all the moves need to planned to happen. And if it doesn't happen on the first take, you play to the end like in a live performance and do it again until the performance hits the mark. For me doing music that way grew out of necessity when my life and day (20yrs in the military) job left very little time record traditionally. I would get frustrated not having anything to show for my time in the studio. I started recording my sessions, and then decided I wanted to make them more productive so I would think about what I was going to work on in between sessions and focus on the individual elements of what would be needed for the final recorded one take. When our youngest passed, it became therapy, for me. So then I wasn't as stressed about getting anything recorded because my brain was broken and just playing music was what I needed to heal. I haven't had a computer that could drive my DAWs like Audacity reliably beyond a stereo recording at 44.1 16bit until very recently, so that had been the limiting factor. The video below is in my studio back in 2015 my first attempt try to unsequence my formerly sequenced songs and video record the performance of my songs so that the audience understood what they where hearing. It would take a while to configure my setup to accommodate regions of keyboard space for different tracks from the original, and then setting up the drums to change with what I was playing so that it would ebb and flow with the changes. I think this is a natural way to record music, and I am with you on this endeavor. Thank you for what you do, thank you for your honest approach to what you share and being true to yourself. Hope you like the video. ruclips.net/video/ZSRoe64ebOs/видео.html
Just about done with my dawless setup. Vintage digital/analog synths sequenced by an MMT-8 or cakewalk for DOS. Track to Tascam DMP-8 or ADATS . Will eventually master to a 3 head cassette, CDR or Hi-Fi VHS.. Haven't figured pout the workflow for mix yet. First impression is this. Most tracks are done in one shot/live. That means I have to practice. A lot. Also, it requires a lot of planning.
Limitations breed creativity and or invention. It is an attractive small room to lock one's self in. Ironically, the type of DAW-less setup that I sometimes romanticize from afar is a lot more than my budget can allow.
For everybody who thinks 'That's a fantastic idea!': Just delete most of your softsynth except 2 or 3. There you go, you've limited yourself and saved 1000s of dollars for hardware synths. You're welcome!
Composer, musician and conductor are very different professions, which are not mixed with each other even in traditional music. A composer doesn't need anything more than a keyboard and a piece of paper. Musician is a craft that consists of translating what is written on the paper into music. A computer can do that better. A conductor gives character to the music. Nowadays he doesn't need an orchestra anymore, just a DAW. It is your decision, which profession is yours.
I get your point, but looking back at most recorded music on tape, multitrack recording and overdubs were usually a part of the process, as well as effects and many other things that all DAW’s have. DAWs can certainly do a lot more, but no one really forces us to use them, and as an keyboard player, I always try to run away from quantizing any midi instrument track that I played (the only exception being if I really want something to sound like a machine, like synth arpeggios that I actually play, instead of programming them. Yes, it’s true that we can easily obsess over details that no one else will listen (or at least, pay any serious attention to), but that’s also a part of what we need to train ourselves and try to improve. Although I understand and agree that some limitations can be a good thing, I don’t miss the times that I could only record 1 stereo track on a cassete, and I don’t believe that many people coming from that age would miss it either. 😉 Many times we tend to find excuses for not being more productive (and I’m certainly included in that group), when we’re likely missing real motivation on finishing a song/ / album or whatever. We often tend to believe that sometime we’ll sit in front of the instruments, and inspiration alone will make us archive something fast and easy. While it can certainly happen (it happened to me several times), there was usually a deliberate decision in the back of my mind to accomplish something, or the result of playing a lot on the synth keyboards, and suddenly something inspiring comes out. The main reason why so many of us get lost in so many small details inside a daw is because we have that time. When we’re on a time limit to finish something, we can’t spend your time with those sort of things, we don’t overthink it, we don’t listen to the same part 1000 times (at that time we lost all objectivity, since we got used to it), etc. I’m writing this as a reflection of my own behavior, and not as a critique of any sort. 🙂
This is a thought/discipline/system/method...etc. proviking topic. When focusing on being just a listener, I agree that the methods used to create it (music) are not important enough to sway whether or not I like it. Fair enough for the listener. In the case of the musician and I will speak from being one personally, and as a friend/colleague of hundreds of other musicians nation wide, I will say that we came through that way of just being "listeners" to LEARNING the SWEET SCIENCE OF SOUND! As children, we just utter sounds. Having no understanding of "music" other than womb to world sounds. As we grew, we heard melodies in nature, in media devices of the times (radio, TV, records, tapes, computer devices internal and external...etc.), and social performances that occurred. We became inspired by the musical sounds we heard to choose to create these sounds maybe even as a career choice. We chose an instrument that we either liked to hear, or saw someone perform on and was further inspired. We questioned what it took to learn the instrument, and jumped into the process. Let me make brief this potential documentary. That was the way we learned. Today, I the shadow of technology, we have given up the opportunity to learn to become, and have embraced "I need to become, NOW! Whether I am not qualified, skilled, educated or motivated is irrelevant. I can be whoever I want to be without learning how to be. Just get the chord pack and you to can be a star! There will be a fall of those who don't know and fake like they do. this has proven itself throughout time. Just let the right question be asked and the lack of knowledge will reveal itself. I leave you with this, Jameson Nathan Jones has a great point. Less is more when you understand the real value of the "less" you posses. C.S.U.!
Watch me perform the entire EP here if you're into that kind of thing: ruclips.net/video/loQU3-3OU3U/видео.html
In my research on entering the DAW era. I get this. I love my old fashion bang on the buttons drum machine. No one who isn't an accomplished musician is gonna like you after viewing this.
Back in the 90s I did everything straight to two track - practice, structure, a hardware sequencer and a couple of synths - I used to draw arrangements on graph paper... and then record it, maybe do a couple of takes, and move on. And then when I started with DAW work I would get very bogged down in detail and repeatability. More recently I've found it very liberating to go back to a 4-track and start with a single synth, take it steady but work quickly - by which I mean, make decisions and stick to them, but don't rush in favour of a poor choice. Put the right stuff down and you don't need to fix it later. So yeah, I absolutely get where you're coming from here.
Remembering 8 track recording on a cassette tape and Adat was the standard back then. Then hard drive digital multi track recorders came along good thing about those machines no latency issues!
Les Paul once told me that once he had his multitrack working (the 8 track monster developed by Les Paul, intern Ray Dolby, and Ampex), he never had a big hit again. It turns out that the limitations of single track sound-on-sound brought out the ultimate focus and perfectionism in his work. No undo. No extra takes. No mixing afterwards. And remember, most of his sound on sound was with a single tape machine (ie, destructive and permanent overdubbing).
As Flaubert said, the work is finished when there nothing left to take away.
I went DAWless on my last album to focus more on my skills as a performer. I recorded each song live to a 2track, which allowed me to say "done" a lot sooner than I would on my DAW. 😂
You articulate yourself really well, your content is engaging & consistent. Having too many options & getting new gear too often, always results in writers block and indecisiveness. Less is more, having a few things you know really well is better than a 100 things you don't.
Ultimately, it’s all about the music. Do whatever you need to do to make it happen, but at the end of the day, when I listen to a record, I really don’t care how it was made.
Facts
I, however, only consume organic, fair trade, free range gluten-free music. If the artist wasn't home schooled, or at the very worst Waldorf schooled... I just can't listen. Parochial schooled artists have a sheen, and don't get me started on public schooled musicians. If they don't have a trust fund and quality modular analog hardware, then I need some quality outboard to lift the veil.
but a strong backstory might enhance the impact of your experience, or no?
I'm a massive fan of creating within constraints. All my best ideas were written with the aid of a very old tablature program called powertabs. ...if you DO indulge in a daw, indulge with purpose, otherwise keeping it simple within a Daw is also possible. ...And if you DO go dawless, do it for the right reasons, not just to be the coolest succulent hipster in the room, but for live rig performance reasons and/or to actually challenge and create ...Jameson you certainly created something special in this EP. I just listened to it 3 times in a row. Excellent work.
I just started studying music as a hobby (retired) and aiming at creating musical landscapes with synthetic music.
It's not an easy task to get a real good understanding of the 'fabric' of music, but it's obvious that one gets nowhere without it.
And yes, I discovered the piano as the most comprehensive tool to learn music the right way.
I listened to tons of synthesizer music, also to the typical, let's call it "DAW music", you find on the huge festivals.
They mostly lack any depth in musical sense, although I do agree that the purpose of these festivals is the atmosphere of emotions, rhythms, and massivness.
What you're saying makes a lot of sense to me, so I subscribed.
NAW. Don't throw away your DAW. Your DAW is how you (probably) are the most productive. Your DAW is passively teaching you about mixing, arranging, and practically every form of music production. Your DAW is how you currently (or eventually?) will record something and SHARE what you've made with others, in a way that can persist past your fever dream of some amazing DAWless performance you're going to put on at your local club (You know, the one where your head is down over your Elektron boxes, your Oxi, and your Perkons, and your hair looks amazing, and you have this amazingly peaceful, calm look on your face sort of like Gillian from New Order, and people in the club are looking at how cool you are and how great your music is and just going "Daaaaaaammmmnnnn, who would've guessed that he/she was this talented!" Yeah - THAT dream - the one where Bo or Cuckoo or Ben Jordan or Venus Theory happen to be at the club that night and walk up to you and say "Amazing set! Would you like to do a collab? You DEFINITELY need your own synth RUclips channel!" Yeah... well, while you're working on that, I would suggest you KEEP your DAW and maybe commit to a goal such as "Finishing my first track" or "Finishing a 4 song EP". Keep the hardware around, because we all love it (God knows, I do), but... NAW. Don't throw away your DAW. When it's all said and done, do what works for YOU and what you ENJOY, but if you USE a DAW, then banishing one of your tools isn't a panacea. It's sort of like burning a book. Use it when and how you want and don't let IT use YOU. Love and respect it as another TOOL - claim the power it gives you, and use it as yet another INROAD to whatever it is that you're trying to express.
Its a good position. Myself: when I want to record, I do it on my 24 track. If I care about the outcome, I put the tracks onto Studio 1 and can do literally anything I would like to finish it; but to record into the DAW is a process that gets in the way of actually making music.
Cheers.
🤣 definitely. You summed it up perfectly. You got to love New Order. They are legendary. The DAW is how I learned this stuff and have used it now for about 5 years. I do have gear but I will never stop using my DAW. It's just too much fun and convince.
THIS. Also, for a lot of us hardware is a *LUXURY*. I started my music journey so poor I didn't even have a bank account. I vowed that I would *only* pay for upgrades to my music set up with money generated from said music. If you make use of free software and a good DAW (even some of the free ones!) - you can make money from no money. Meanwhile, a lot of my other producer friends were buying all these fancy synths and drum machines etc. - spending more then their making from their music and generating far less in finished pieces. I think more common than the DAW getting in the way is the addiction to gadgets and the 'flair' of real time performance
the main message of the video IS more "dont confuse composing and playing with producing and mixing". are you a musician or a producer defines how you will use the daw.
and technically you can absolutely make ppl dance for hours live juste playing one 40 bucks drum bought on craigslist. I did multiple times
That was poetic, and speaks to a lot of truth. De-GAS 🤘
The moment you pick a tool to create music, you've constrained yourself to the idioms of that tool and your knowledge and skill of that tool. This is a Good Thing. I approach composition very differently depending on when I'm using guitar, bass, keyboard, my Push, or scratching out things in the piano roll. One of my favorite things is to come up with something on one of these things, and then figure it out on another which usually gives me new perspectives.
I'm currently collaborating with a friend on a hardware synths only album project. I say hardware synths only, meaning we're using DAWs for effects and recording, but that's it. No soft synths whatsoever. It has forced me to dive deep into programming my synths, which I REALLY love doing.
There was a moment when I realized that booting up the computer, starting the software, fiddling around with the mouse and pushing around blocks on the screen annoyed me to the point I almost lost interest im making music. I didn't touch a computer again from then on. I do not aim for perfect productions, I make music for the thrill of it. Synths, samplers and groove boxes are sufficient for me and brought the life back to it.
Great piece, very important points here.
Again and again I love the questions you pose about the creative process itself. Very inspirational! I am discovering for myself that interesting ambient music is so much more about less is more and certainly not trying to fill up all the space! For sure, all the endless possibilities of nowadays can get overwhelming. In the end of the day, as you say, we have to explore what we love most and come up with our own unique music. Keep up the great work!
I spend a lot of my day working on a computer so when I go to make music for fun I like NOT doing that. Recently I purchased a Moog Matriarch and I have found great joy in playing it especially because, unlike all my other synths, it doesn't have presets. I find this limitation to be very inspiring, plus I'm learning more about synthesis than I ever have before.
Excellent subject matter. All beautiful things happen through constraints and limits. A river flowing that is constrained by land, clouds blowing through mountains, or a breath flowing through a flute. Without limits, we can't capture the here and now, because mathematically speaking, a limit is nothing more than a snapshot of something approaching a point in time. Great video!
Man thanks so much for sharing this type of content, sometimes we need to think differently to get different results. I always enjoy the topics you push in your videos 🎉.
I'm so glad your videos were suggested to me. It seems that i went on the same path as yours, except that i am a nobody. We have to limit the unlimited possibilities of daws to challenge our creativity, go deeper into the knowledge of a single instrument to extract from it what we have in mind, and sometimes happy mistakes lead us to new ideas, and so on. I started to limit my number of vst's two years ago, and now i know them so that there is alsmost no delay between my idea and the result on the screen. I also have my music ideas with the sounds of my vst, wich is a blessing. What i have in my mind, i will have it in a very short period of time. And if i need something specific upon it, i just have to search for that sepcific vst and just add it to my collection. But the never ending exploration of vst's is over for me. The less the better.
The same principle can still be applied to music production on the computer, it's just a matter of adhering to the restraint of whatever self-imposed rule you can come up with. Something simple like five tracks, two effects, and keeping three randomly chosen instruments with the other two being of your choice - might force you to have something interesting if you can stick to it.
When I was in my early twenties I took my wife to the Huntington library in California. On display were letters written by George Washington. They were beautifully written. Each were well thought out, purposely written. No erasing no adding additional thought. Pure heart felt expression. listen to the Carter family country music recordings. What was captured was pure emotion, pure imperfection. Pure human feeling.
What is lost in music today. Every thing is now placed perfectly in place. Devoid of human emotion. Technology can be great. But put 99% of all artist today in front of a wax record recording they could not express themselves. True artistic expression is fading. I long to hear an artist express themselves in a way that will be endearing forever. No overdub no multiple takes just real human emotion.
YES! REAL LIFE not some made up premeditated perversion! Thanks
Limitations are fun. They force decisions, and more refinement, which we all need. I find myself drifting to various methods. Truth is, I still use a DAW more like a tape recorder anyway.
No they don’t. Lol.
@@mooted5513 Hey, whatever works!
@@mooted5513 Yes, they do. Lol.
So use your DAW like a tape recorder. Write the rules on a piece of tape and stick them to your computer.
When I started making electronic music I began on Fasttracker II in 1998/1999, before that in 92 it was guitar, but electronic was where I really started getting serious. In those days shortly after, I went 90% hardware driven, Mirage ensoniq DSK 1 sampler, Yamaha DJX 1, Yamaha SY2, and a home made synth from PAIA. So there were great things I could do in 2001 with that setup. I had to move to digital everything in 2009 because I was looking for my sound, and I found in 2013, when using ableton, but now, I long to get back into that, but good thing I own most of the setup.
I super love a hybrid approach. Tascam Model 16 for recording 2-3 instruments simultaneously. Then kick those stems over to Bitwig for further work. This way is much kicking very yes ass, for me.
I appreciate the limit yourself perspective. However, i'll be sticking with my DAW, as I give myself limits on each project within the DAW, and that also works very well for me 🙂
@@defcreator187 wtf are you talking about
@@defcreator187 lol, I had no idea my guitars and drums aren't real when I record into a DAW.
@@mszuala pay no attention to the toxic masculine troll ;D
@@defcreator187 Guys who don’t get girls obsess over what girls like. Jus sayin😊
@@defcreator187 Do you even know what a Daw is?
I like the accurately drawn modulation my DAW can offer that my hands just arent capable of. Shaping and perfecting the sound I want. Crafting and building crescendos etc
Unless you're squiddly-diddly with 8 hands to tweak things at once, you may want to keep your DAW
I also remember when thinking making ambient music is just putting a ton of shimmer reverb on whatever signal you are processing...oh, how I was wrong. Thank you for this insightful video!
love your take on how powerful subtraction can be thanks for that
Setting well defined limitations for a project is a good practice to encourage creativity. As an organist who is tired of simply giving the bass role to the pedals, I like putting the bass in the LH with an 8' or 16' stop, melody in the pedal with an 8', 4' or 2' solo stop, and a countermelody in the right hand (though I don't maintain a strict trio texture).
your song adrift is phenomonal. the overall sound and how your page looks is art. You are an artist
conoci tu canal hoy y ya me vi como 20 videos, la calidad del contenido es increíble. Muchas gracias bro!!
loved your take on how powerful subtraction can be thank you
One of the best talks on this subject I ever heard
Cheers to these concepts, another great video :)
I totally get this. I used Ableton for years like it was an instrument (which it can be), but would often get overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities. Lately I tend to just grab like 2 synths or a synth and drum machine, and just record stuff into a digital recorder with no computer involved. Basically like recording "to tape". Then I'll throw the stereo recording into Ableton for a little mastering, but that's about it. I make things that are less complicated, but more realized. I always just try to do too many things at once in a DAW and end up with a busy and cluttered mess.
🤔🤔🤔 ...I HEAR you... But that's not the DAW's fault.
Very well put, Jameson. I remember making sketches on a tiny old Boss loopstation and it is some of my best music to date.
I'm just a home hobbyist, but going back to four-track cassette mixers and Voyetra software on 5 inch floppies. I have Ableton, but I'm now all about having wonderful hardware synths that I just pretty much enjoy in the moment stream-of-consciousness personal enjoyment without even bothering to record.
Funny thing is - when I self imposed a 16-track limit on me in my DAW - I started programming much fatter leads, basses and pads using my synths that required no additional layering simply because I couldn't just freely use a ton of tracks for that anymore, as out of those 16 - about 6-8 are easily taken by drums right away leaving little room for other elements. Which led to more thought being put into how any element should sound so it exploits as much sonic space as possible.
I wish one day to be so skillful to be able to just record something and have it perfect in the frequency spectrum exactly as it should! just i can only wish one day...
Great way to limit yourself, if you are on budged, is to use for making music iPad .. it’s like in between desktop daw and hw gear.. there is definitely lot of limitations, but it’s also pretty powerful - but also it’s somewhere in middle between using just mouse and keyboard and grabbing actual physical knobs - i found the way how i directly interact with apps wirh my fingers much more inspiring than warchinh on monitor and clicking with mouse …
I can't afford an ipad, and something like a circuit tracks gives tactile feedback and it's portable(and I financed that circuit tracks interest free at zzounds, but I couldn't get financing with interest from best buy for an ipad, weird yeah?).
@@gossamyr well you can buy old ipad mini, something like 3-4 years old model is still perfectly capable of doing much more than just plain circuit (i had circuit, both og and tracks, loved them too of course) .. ipad mini is more like having multiple gears with ability to connect them in between at you will.. there is even miRack (which is clone of VCV rack - so you can have even modular). Believe me it's great ecosystem.. i use both worlds - ipad and hw synths, both have pros and cons, it 's good to be always opened to posibilities
@@raysubject I'm usually open to things, especially in the idea realm, but I have had to nix certain brands due to their practice as a company(my only voice if I don't like something apple does is not buy apple, which is sad and kinda lame, really). But I remember trying to get one for my kid and I couldn't, so we went kindle, as many do.
@@gossamyr there are music apps on kindle ? I thought we are talking about using music apps :) Of course it’s choice of everybody to not use any platform from any reason .. i use ipad for music cause there is fantastic ecosystem of music apps uncomparable to any other hw mobile device, and actually most of those app are made by small indie developers and i am glad i can support them by buying their apps… I use iOs devices for music for more than decade and have great experience with it … i don’t like some things Apple does too, but i am not emotional here, it’s just piece of HW ad every big company does bad things - so as Google, Amazon, etc. But none of them has on their devices such powerfull ecosystem of music apps, so it is what it is … it’s called pragmatism 😂
Yes! You're speaking my language. The computer only gets in the way of the creative process.
That's not the computers fault, you have to stay focused.
Proper discussion on the topic, bro. Ril gud.
No way on God’s green earth I’ll be getting rid of my DAW, but I 100% agree that limitations are where it’s at.
As long as you continually develop a mindset for crafting music, then each track added has to have a distinct purpose.
Having a large library of sounds just gives me that many more starting points for a song to be born.
😂
The Idea factory has always and will always be the human mind. DAW is just the output.
@@babyzorilla Facts the DAW is just the means of expression.
Nothing better for ambient music than a 65 DB noise floor
This makes sense to me. I wrote my best songs with a guitar and a pen and paper. I recorded them on a tape 4 track and bounced tracks back and forth. I was more productive. Now I have option paralysis half the time. It's important to have a decent song idea to start with. You can't polish a turd.
This is great. I recently did similar - happy to find your video.
Just want to say that I love your channel🥳 I find your viewpoints in this video very interesting. I often ask myself: What`s the reason I always deliever a better performance when playing live(church-organ, piano and synths), with a live audience, rather than recording in the studio? I think this is the reason: "Because I actually have to!!" There is no turning back in a live performance, but as soon as we open ProTools, Logic, Reaper or any other DAW.....we suddenly loose focus, and become somewhat lazy, because what the heck....."Why is this first take important? If I screw up, I can always fix in in the Daw?" "And why is this second take any more important? If I screw up, I can always fix it in the DAW." And why is this third take.....well, you take my point. I would love to go dawless....
Done and done. Looking forward to watching this on my phone and justifying my decision to throw away my computer based on a RUclips video title.
In music (as with comments), most often “less is more”. However sometimes “more is more”. Knowing when comes with experience and maturity.
I find that when my brain is in creative improvising mode, it does not remember what I was playing 5 seconds ago, instead its constantly thinking about where I am going to go next. So I bought a massive Korg sampling keyboard workstation with built-in sequencer. That kept me going for 10 years but finally I discovered like you that I was spending to much time fiddling in the tech and not enough time improving the performance. The tech was necessary for grabbing the ideas. But for recording, I have made a concerted effort to learn to play every piece / track myself perfectly and record pure audio instead.
I love your videos man, but whenever I watch you I can’t get Billy Bob Thornton out of my head. And then you make me think and I am reminded again why I love your channel!
It all depends on the person and what contraption gives them the most creative ideas.
Once again Jameson. Love you Chanel and have done so for probably a year now..❤🙏🏻
🙏🙏
I started on analog tape, and though I'm fully in the DAW world now, I do miss those tape days and sometimes think about what it would be like to skip the computer entirely and just build an 8-track reel-based recording setup like I used many times in the past. Bouncing tracks down to free them up is kind of a lost art nowadays I suppose heh. But it's one of those things that makes you stop to really consider and plan things out.
A DAW-based setup is quite convenient, but yes the "option anxiety" that can set in can be a creativity killer.
Thank you for this great essay - I am encouraged to re-learn the art of rehearsal. It's something that consumed my life as I studied cello, but as I move to electronic music production, I've been less inclined to it, and that's to my detriment. Thank you!
Thanks Brice! Yeah it’s easy for me to forget that a lot of the same concepts apply.
just in case the tongue-in-cheek humor escapes anyone... mister jones is obviously joking about "throw away your DAW." I do find that I work very differently in & out of the box. & I enjoy both the process & the results in both scenarios. as always, your thoughts on all this, mister jones, are compelling & inspiring. a thousand thanks to you & everybody else here who are sharing their takes on all this jazz....
"The most memorable melodies and ideas can withstand being stripped away to their core elements. If the bones are good, you've probably got something that can withstand variation and development down the road." YES. THIS. : )
Limits breed creativity. Using multiple instances of 1-2 VSTs is one of the best ways to create cohesion between your tracks.
Couldnt agree more, i have never used DAW but always got the impression you could not make a polished production without it but always found that the expression was missing with it,hope that makes sense,im still a bit of a noob ,love your well explained very interesting vids always
it is the case though that the experience of creating in time and by interacting with instruments directly is far more conducive to a greater quality music, learning and ultimately a deeper level of fulfillment.
Very cool to hear about the ideas behind this. Thank you for sharing! I didn’t even know when I heard the EP that this is how you made it!
🙏🙏
"When your bones are good"... kind of says it all. As I'm learning, I'm finding that I like playing the instruments. I'm still not sure what my personal intentions are, but I'm liking the trip. I just need more hands. Nice messaging in your vid.
Thanks! I'm so tired of having a million options that may take me a lifetime to figure out! I'm even considering releasing an album of songs I created with one take on my iPhone! If the feelings there and it sounds clean, WTF! It's all about the feeling! I don't care how perfect a track sounds, no feeling no go!
There is no reason why you cant work in both areas. Hardware sequencers etc or even multitracking and the DAW. Combine and refine them later. Create using both approaches. It only expands or broadens the ideas and where they may come from. One does not have to exclude the other.
I would say ONLY use your DAW and nothing else( but a MIDI controller). Saves you ALOT of money and you'll still get the benefit of limitations.
When Berlin School electronic music was young, it was all DAW-less. Live sequencing and playing, recorded multi-track. One could do this still today, using a DAW as a simple multitrack recorder. But this requires to resist the digital temptations.
You've got a point bro. It's just a matter of choices 😇
I am going to be honest. My best two albums even as an experienced synthesist, were the albums were synths were barely present and I focused on the string instruments I play: bass guitar, upright bass, electric guitar, and cello. I only allowed myself one synth track and only used one synth. The first of these two specific albums one only had synths on two songs, the second I used it throughout the album but it was one very simple synth...the Lyra 8. I love synths...and have many. But I also recognize the power of limiting oneself to a single concept. Next album is all synths. But the one after I am stripping it down again. Acoustic upright bass and electric piano or organs. Limitations can be great. Developing a musical voice no matter what is in your hands is essential to being a good musician.
MPC Live Standalone + midi keyboard >> from idea>>> finished product eg M & M ( mix n master).
Thanks for your insight.
Microtonic, nice
I share your opinion and expiriences 100%, dude 😊
I'm 71 and grew up in the San Fernando valley, I started mowing the lawn of this old Italian guy, Joe Pass. Worked for him for two years at his house and watched him at Dante's (SFV Jazz club) many times. He played once a month on Monday, guitar night. I could actually just stop by his house and hang out, and I did. One morning after watching him at Dante's the night before, I was marveling at his version of Green Dolphin Street and his incredible speed and accuracy. He stopped me and said he was just showing off and everything sounds better with less notes, later he commentated that there is no such thing as a bad note. We'd sit around with guitars and play a phrase and take notes out, stripping it down to one note finally, it was hilarious. The point was, good musicianship involved handing the lead off and getting the hell out of the way, strip out the clutter and never play (or write) anything that you don't want the user to actually hear. I was transcribing some of the Class of 71 (Jack Dougherty, the Carpenters producer) jazz tunes for the CSUN Jazz Band back then, Joe played on that album and he helped me with some of the more difficult phrases. Simple, simple, simple was his constant advice.
I also grew up in that era of LA, loved that period of time, loved Joe. Saw him many timee perform and he was flawless. Truely an inspiration. Simplicity is everything but not any more. Your story touched me brought me back in time. I'm also 71 and grew up in LA;
I love adhering to some self-imposed constraints. Like, one of my favourite things to do is to make a whole track using only one sample and any effects that I want. Besides being a great sound design exercise, it is paradoxically a very liberating process which basically strips away all your choices you do not have to make anymore - now you have to look for ways to reach your goal rather than looking for goals to reach, given a (practically unlimited) set of tools and sounds. Such tracks do not come out great every time - but every time it's fun and every time you learn something.
Another thing I like to do (and am basically doing all the time) is using mostly stock Ableton tools. I very much like Live's minimal interface and I'm always very reluctant to 'pollute' it with some third-party plugin. Yes, that's maybe my OCD speaking here but still it helps keep plugin clutter to a minimum. And as an added bonus, I know the stock plugins pretty well which also keeps things flowing.
As for NOT doing something inside a DAW, today I sampled my Korg Monotron Delay (which BTW never ceases to surprise me), and after watching your video I realised I WOULD NOT make these sounds in Live. I certainly COULD if I was asked to, but I just wouldn't. Because I would make something else, something Live, for me, is more conducive to.
I'm not a DAW person, never been for me. I love the challenge of having to play and learn each part myself instead of just letting the computer do it for me. The other day I was practicing a piece and made a mistake in the chord progression and was like, wow do that again and it lead to a whole unique transition that never would have happened if I was just dragging and dropping sections. If that's how people create and they enjoy it cool, that's what makes music so great. different ways and different results
DAW's dont write your music for you though.
Thank you Jameson , I appreciate your views on this .
I play drums, and a bit of bass guitar .
My fallback is utilizing computer for recording. I kind of feel like old-school cassette tapes are a bit more my vibe. - or prefere because they are extremely easy to use and kind of everything is laid out on the machine. There’s no deep dives. I don’t know if I actually have the patience for that, but I would really like your opinion with that is extremely extremely easy to use.
I do have mixed craft installed in my laptop however I haven’t even used it for about two years .
My basic idea is I would say just getting a drum beat for tempo down, and secondly, I do like to play along with the drums and creating base lines Guitar and whatever else.
The reason I found you is on RUclips and asking the question what is the easiest standalone music production unit. ..
That is how I found you
I have Roland TR-8S
Elektron Cycles $
Now I’m really seeking of what is the easiest way to get down ideas in the way I said before -
As a drummer, I am definitely a hard rock drummer, but that does not indicate every kind of genre I would like to do them too. I’ve tried to give you the basics of what I’m looking for. I guess the next thing is budget so I think I’ll say maybe ( $ 1500 )
besides monitors I do not need those. I do have also mixing board the Beringer
I do have a Porta 2 cassette recorder it does need a bit of love
Yeah, I have the TR8S
I have the Elektron Cycles & Samples
Roland JD-XI
Volca Sample 2 / Volca 4:18 beats -as well as Zoom R 24 for recording
And Tascam DP- 008EX
Master of none !
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated if you’ve got the time to do so
NATION meeting nova that I’m trying to solve because I just need the cash
Lovely! People do excellent things with DAWs, no question. But I like working within self imposed parameters too sometimes. Both are good.
I think a good approach is to explicitly alter phases of enriching your music and stripping away elements that are not in line with what you want to express. This forces you to think about where you want to go and gives the music more focus while not sounding thin and basic.
Wow, this is just the second video of yours I've seen, and the first just yesterday (Anyone can make electronic music). Both related and super relevant to modern music production and lovers/learners of doing so..... I feel like this video here is like a Musical Church Sermon.... Incredibly good and DEEP to ponder and also to help heal things that may get in the way, regardless of where at in the process or in the learning (Humble long term home studio learner here). Thank you so much! This will be watched over and over at times for me. Subscribed! Cheers!
Thanks Greg! Welcome!
Portable Cassette Recorder, That's how I started. ( I carried extra tapes and batteries everywhere.) LOL !!
limitations can foster creativity. cheers
Hey Jameson , great video! Your insights resonate with me. I’m in that same space. The ‘ endless possibilities “ of DAWs ultimately drove me nuts 😂!!! Audition, Audition, Audition, add, add,add, effects that do “ everything “ , graphics for everything!…It can become all about your eyes and not your ears!!…I’m not giving up the DAW completely but when I do use it , I will keep it simple 😊. I too go back to “ before there were DAWs”. I’m now learning the MPC. I work with a Yamaha S90sx and an MPC one. I’ll play parts and get creative with samples. That’s it! There’s no huge screen to look at so I must use my ears…I believe limitations will actually liberate your creativity….btw, contrary to what many people believe, you can do a lot of styles of music using an MPC or other hardware set ups
I was recently thinking about a setup some friends and I created on a dining room table... a load of synths, some pattern sequencing, no DAW, we had an Atari ST that played a sample on repeat. All recorded to tape. That's what we had and it sounded great, at least to us at the time.
After 20 years, I've returned to the synth scene. But purely as a hobby. No daw this time, just a simple miniature synth that I'm squeezing all sorts of fun out of. The lack of choice is liberating. Wish I never got wrapped up in daws all those years ago. They just ate away at my time and spontaneity.
I really enjoy your videos. Keep doing you, my g. You seem like you would be a major asset to work with.
i love hands on i loved midi and keyboards old mac g4 os9 and digi001 i love all from that time it calls me no matter if i have it all today but i loved that time of making music it was my greatest time coming from tape to digital
Very deep profound truth in this video ! Thanks !
"The Power Of Limitations" = Limitations are the mother of creativity.
My workflow has always been based more on playing instruments and basically improvising in real time and recording quickly with little editing afterwards. Back in the 90's I recorded on my synth's sequencer then put that on tape. Later I switched to DAWS but as life got busy, I focused on getting stuff down quick and dirty, figuring I can get back to it and make it nicer later. (That actually doesn't tend to happen.. I start more than I finish and always tend to favor coming up with new stuff to polishing up things that could be better). I think my strengths in improvisation and composing on the fly come across a lot better live than in recordings. I helps when people can SEE that you're winging it and doing well, whereas in DAW world it's more about meticulously crafting every detail.. I see the difference kind of like that between making a speech on the fly and reading one. The written one will usually be more logically and grammatically correct, and say more precisely what was intended --- but it will also SOUND like you're reading it, and the feelings expressed will probably be expressed LESS effectively than if you just talked off the cuff, even if people see you at a loss for words.
Recently I bought SP-404 MKII sampler, and indeed, because of its limitations, I managed to compose about 10 tracks in very short time. Obviously these tracks are not that polished as when the a DAW is used. But this is the beauty that result is kind of rough. Love it
BTW Huge fan, love the channel! I totally agree and I've been doing that now for about 25 ish years now. Having to deal with a lot of push back from traditionalists that remark on well you can't get a quality recording out of a one take session...BS! It just takes practice and the recording aspect is the same as the performance, where all the moves need to planned to happen. And if it doesn't happen on the first take, you play to the end like in a live performance and do it again until the performance hits the mark. For me doing music that way grew out of necessity when my life and day (20yrs in the military) job left very little time record traditionally. I would get frustrated not having anything to show for my time in the studio. I started recording my sessions, and then decided I wanted to make them more productive so I would think about what I was going to work on in between sessions and focus on the individual elements of what would be needed for the final recorded one take. When our youngest passed, it became therapy, for me. So then I wasn't as stressed about getting anything recorded because my brain was broken and just playing music was what I needed to heal. I haven't had a computer that could drive my DAWs like Audacity reliably beyond a stereo recording at 44.1 16bit until very recently, so that had been the limiting factor. The video below is in my studio back in 2015 my first attempt try to unsequence my formerly sequenced songs and video record the performance of my songs so that the audience understood what they where hearing. It would take a while to configure my setup to accommodate regions of keyboard space for different tracks from the original, and then setting up the drums to change with what I was playing so that it would ebb and flow with the changes. I think this is a natural way to record music, and I am with you on this endeavor. Thank you for what you do, thank you for your honest approach to what you share and being true to yourself. Hope you like the video. ruclips.net/video/ZSRoe64ebOs/видео.html
Back to guitar, pen and paper too. Bought a Tascam Model 12 for recording.
Just about done with my dawless setup. Vintage digital/analog synths sequenced by an MMT-8 or cakewalk for DOS. Track to Tascam DMP-8 or ADATS . Will eventually master to a 3 head cassette, CDR or Hi-Fi VHS.. Haven't figured pout the workflow for mix yet. First impression is this. Most tracks are done in one shot/live. That means I have to practice. A lot. Also, it requires a lot of planning.
Limitations breed creativity and or invention. It is an attractive small room to lock one's self in. Ironically, the type of DAW-less setup that I sometimes romanticize from afar is a lot more than my budget can allow.
love it! this makes me wanna make another solo grand piano album
For everybody who thinks 'That's a fantastic idea!': Just delete most of your softsynth except 2 or 3. There you go, you've limited yourself and saved 1000s of dollars for hardware synths. You're welcome!
I actually mostly use serum and vital. All the rest is for a specific mojo or something that serum and vital can't provide.
Composer, musician and conductor are very different professions, which are not mixed with each other even in traditional music. A composer doesn't need anything more than a keyboard and a piece of paper. Musician is a craft that consists of translating what is written on the paper into music. A computer can do that better. A conductor gives character to the music. Nowadays he doesn't need an orchestra anymore, just a DAW. It is your decision, which profession is yours.
I get your point, but looking back at most recorded music on tape, multitrack recording and overdubs were usually a part of the process, as well as effects and many other things that all DAW’s have.
DAWs can certainly do a lot more, but no one really forces us to use them, and as an keyboard player, I always try to run away from quantizing any midi instrument track that I played (the only exception being if I really want something to sound like a machine, like synth arpeggios that I actually play, instead of programming them.
Yes, it’s true that we can easily obsess over details that no one else will listen (or at least, pay any serious attention to), but that’s also a part of what we need to train ourselves and try to improve.
Although I understand and agree that some limitations can be a good thing, I don’t miss the times that I could only record 1 stereo track on a cassete, and I don’t believe that many people coming from that age would miss it either. 😉
Many times we tend to find excuses for not being more productive (and I’m certainly included in that group), when we’re likely missing real motivation on finishing a song/ / album or whatever.
We often tend to believe that sometime we’ll sit in front of the instruments, and inspiration alone will make us archive something fast and easy.
While it can certainly happen (it happened to me several times), there was usually a deliberate decision in the back of my mind to accomplish something, or the result of playing a lot on the synth keyboards, and suddenly something inspiring comes out.
The main reason why so many of us get lost in so many small details inside a daw is because we have that time.
When we’re on a time limit to finish something, we can’t spend your time with those sort of things, we don’t overthink it, we don’t listen to the same part 1000 times (at that time we lost all objectivity, since we got used to it), etc.
I’m writing this as a reflection of my own behavior, and not as a critique of any sort. 🙂
This is a thought/discipline/system/method...etc. proviking topic. When focusing on being just a listener, I agree that the methods used to create it (music) are not important enough to sway whether or not I like it. Fair enough for the listener. In the case of the musician and I will speak from being one personally, and as a friend/colleague of hundreds of other musicians nation wide, I will say that we came through that way of just being "listeners" to LEARNING the SWEET SCIENCE OF SOUND! As children, we just utter sounds. Having no understanding of "music" other than womb to world sounds. As we grew, we heard melodies in nature, in media devices of the times (radio, TV, records, tapes, computer devices internal and external...etc.), and social performances that occurred. We became inspired by the musical sounds we heard to choose to create these sounds maybe even as a career choice. We chose an instrument that we either liked to hear, or saw someone perform on and was further inspired. We questioned what it took to learn the instrument, and jumped into the process. Let me make brief this potential documentary. That was the way we learned. Today, I the shadow of technology, we have given up the opportunity to learn to become, and have embraced "I need to become, NOW! Whether I am not qualified, skilled, educated or motivated is irrelevant. I can be whoever I want to be without learning how to be. Just get the chord pack and you to can be a star! There will be a fall of those who don't know and fake like they do. this has proven itself throughout time. Just let the right question be asked and the lack of knowledge will reveal itself. I leave you with this, Jameson Nathan Jones has a great point. Less is more when you understand the real value of the "less" you posses. C.S.U.!