Best place to put the keyboard is where you can headbutt that key every time you're happy with your work, of course.. Nah just kidding, leaving markers is a good idea though :)
commercial application of music defines popular understanding and form. the musical process is based around an incentive model that doesn't fit life well. the first time we hear these new sounds, how is this different from experiencing music? what it means to the erudition of our spirit or mind. instead what is preferred is a redefinition of cultural form. we keep trying to make each other listen to music created with incentive. we're going about this wrond. review: why do we listen to music? how do we understand music? cannot many, many of the worthwhile applications of music (eg. mood redaction) be satisfied with other models? procedural music generators could provide constantly novel material to parse, with structure and substance. but instead of developing these interesting forms of presentation, we are stuck on making "song products". i hate these stupid "turn your loop into a song" - nobody knows what a song is anymore or can experience life and music outside of their culture because it upsets their formats. if twiddling a modular can be music, birds can be music, life can be music, procedural generation can be music, but i'm the only one who has done it for the last quarter century. now they've got "never gonna give you up but an AI tries to complete it" which is more imaginative than most composers and will completely replace all of you. because you were too boring to develop procedural algorithms outside of throwing a nerual net at it.
So Andrew are we going to get a polyend tracker review? I see it sitting in thebackground there and it seems like an ideal tool to put togther all those pre effected and found sounds on :)
@@atomictraveller You're the only one who did it. So EVEYONE else is too boring to reach your towering heights of creativity? Shutuuuuup. Besides there is an intangible quality in human creativity that could never be recreated by AI, at least not any time soon, and at the end of the day, it's human creativity that programs it. Why not just use that human creativity to develop what sounds good to you? Essentially its the same thing, but going about it in a roundabout way. Why not develop AI that can write pretentious RUclips comments for you, when clearly you can just write them yourself? Sound is sound, it's all vibration. Creating a single sound is likely to be used in part of a much, much larger project with potentially a hundred tracks. If you think any current AI music sounds in any way imaginative, you're crazy. So much goes into volume and timing dynamics via human touch that no AI is anywhere near recreating. You also say that if twiddling a modular can be music than so can procedural generation, but that very point also expresses that twiddling a modular IS in fact music, or creating "song products" is music. So what's your stance? That contradicts. Some make music to be recognized, some make music for self satisfaction and don't care what happens or who hears it. You act as if the latter doesn't exist, and you're the only one trying to break the mold by developing algorithms for a technology that will only have implications for creating super simple sound structures that follow basic theory, with some randomized directions. It will still be missing the million human elements that go into music. Creativity relies on context, and you won't, in your lifetime see an AI that can understand context. Can it replace situations for musical scores and stuff like that? Maybe. Will it ever write a song like say, Elliott Smith, or John Lennon could write? No. Wake up dude, acting like your some master. How about you just write a great song yourself? Or can you not do that? How are you going to develop an algorithm for something you don't understand yourself? Bang on your Ear sounds like my grandmother tried to recreate an Aphex Twin track in an hour. There's a reason for common themes in music, and a right and wrong way to explore beyond them. But ok. You're the only one! Apply that limitless creativity and groundbreaking vision to make some good music now. Most musicians don't care about, or have interest in developing algorithms bro, we just wanna make music. Like with real analogue instruments and vocals and stuff. Go ahead and work on the algorithms though, that's your prerogative, and your music is fine, but it certainly doesn't justify your points.
I think sound design is more like drawing seperate, independent lines with specific techniques. Sketching, most of the time, is already about assembling lines together to make a "thing" (which sound equivalent is a "song")
sketching is is more like practicing. making sounds isn't going to make you a better musician. making music makes you a better musician. a proper equivalent would be a visual artist making his own pencils. or creating their own paints.
@@Kevinschart I disagree. A proper equivalent of your argument would be an musician making the instrument. As a visual artist, I have had many pieces come from doodling, sketching, whatever you like to call it. I see no difference with "doodling" different sounds.
@@Kevinschart No, that would be like coding your own softsynths, or soldering your own hardware -- Which some musicians do. What Andrew's doing is more akin to playing with non-standard tunings and excitement of an already existing (acoustic) instrument's hardware. Regardless, I don't see how you can argue that sound design doesn't make one a better musician -- Doesn't Andrew's music speak for itself?
True, but as somebody who is coming back to music/putting in effort for the first time i kindoff think that i shant bother with making sounds, other than maybe to sample some real world sound for a track tbh
@@Downloadguy1995 Making sounds yourself is always great. Even if you're not good at getting good stuff out of synths, you can just use some sample or preset and go ham with effects and stuff.
12:22 🎸"This... is a preset." THANK YOU. I've always rolled my eyes at EDM "purists" who make a big fuss about using presets, because no acoustic musician is gonna tell you "you can't use your instrument how you bought it, you need to rebuild it or you're not a real musician."
For real, for me if i’m ever tripping up on myself thinking about if I should use presets or raw sounds or samples or something I just remind myself it always boils down to if it sounds good it sounds good.
If it sounds good, it sounds good. Doesn't matter if it was custom made for one-time use or if it's meant for many uses. The important part is exercising good taste in putting the right sounds together - knowing what to use, when, and how. Insisting on only using one's own patches which were made during the song is like a painter only using paints they produced themselves. It doesn't generally make the end result any better; it mostly just makes the process harder.
I'd like to mention how incredible Andrew's camera and editing work is. I know we all come here to learn about music, but I'm honestly learning a lot about camera/editing techniques as well! Love the videos Andrew. :)
Hah, I did that once, just sketching an idea out and setting it aside within the project I'd made the sound in because I got a different idea for it -- different time sig and everything -- and then it organically wound up just being a different movement later in the same song lol
If your DAW doesn't have markers, you can reserve a MIDI keyboard for a MIDI track and just hit a random note while you're recording both audio and MIDI.
If you're like me, with a non-wireless keyboard and only one MIDI controller... You could hook up an instrument (in my case, a bass), keep it nearby & recording (but not monitoring haha) and hit the strings really hard with your feet every time you get something good
@@ts4gv I can see myself getting used to doing this, and forgetting how rediculous it would look to another human... " why does he keep hitting his guitar randomly with his feet hahahaha"
0:30 Andrew: "Does that sound a little bit pointless, or like, a waste of time, or not very productive?" Me: How is that different from my normal workflow?
Johns Junk 🤦♂️ that’s not constructive in any way, you don’t have a clue how much he’s working or how much he isn’t. Don’t be so preachy and get off your high horse. I hate people like you.
@Johns Junk Why!? You presumably don't even now him! Get outta here if you just want to hate on people randomly. You are certainly welcomed when you are not that unkind....
Jeez, RUclips unsubbed me and stop giving me your notifications. Now I know why I felt so uninspired last months. You really push me going back to do stuff instead of wasting time. Thanks, dude.
@@LEVRAN i say leave it to the experts. i don't think billy joel spent a lot of time "making sounds"... he wrote music. this advice is not for everyone
@@Kevinschart music is sounds, he tuned instruments in a certain way, he sung in a certain way, and instruments are meant to be played in a certain way. He did spend a lot of his time making sounds, that is how songs are made.
@@TheParadox1010 i disagree, but whatever "sound designing" Billy did, he didn't do it to the degree Andrew is talking about. he wasn't walking around his house banging pans together and sampling them. Andrew makes bleep bloop music. Everyone isn't into that. Plenty of working producers that aren't spending their free time patching up modulars.
@@Kevinschart and everyone isn't into Billy Joel (I know, but it's true). Why bother making this comment? Billy Joel is better than Andrew? Is that your point here? This is a great video for those interested... if you're not, that's fine too but what are you trying to accomplish? Of course this advice is not for everyone, very little is.
Just a suggestion, in relation to printing it affects, when exploring sounds. Something I will do, is create a bus channel with the effects. That way when I'm recording, I have Both a wet and dry print. This gives you more creative options later, though, as Think about it, I suppose one could just record automation of you tweaking affects. But if you have the Drive space, you can just erase it. So there's that
He's the only dude alive who could get away with saying it. I've said it to musicians in the studio when I've been producing and felt like I was moments away from being murdered lol.
The way you talked about sound hoarding at the beginning, that for me is actually an analogy to how I approach life in general. I feel like I only have to focus on things that are important, and do them with max efficiency. Anything that isn't useful in the long run feels like a waste of time. Of course, that means I improve my artistic potential and whatnot at an even speed, but also I have little to no enjoyment left in life. It's been like this for a lot of years and I'm just sick of it. I'm not in a good place at all. Right now I'm trying to find the strength to change my viewpoint. I'm not even sure why I write that here. I guess I'm just glad that you made this video.
it's the same over here. I also fail to do everything efficiently so that's extra annoying, but I'm just trying to do what feels good for me. What comes out naturally w/o me even thinking about it, and honestly, chemistry is not for me. I love all things science but it's taking me nowhere-or at least that's how I've been feeling for a while now. Glad to know I'm (we're) not alone. All the best to you both and may music bring peace and joy upon us💙
I got outta this (somewhat pessimistically) with the realisation that nothing I'll ever do is permanent and very few people will see anything I do. The bright side to that fact is that it's okay to make mistakes and waste time because _that's what you're already doing by trying to make something that'll last._ The way I see it, I have ~80 years to have fun and help everyone else have fun, so that's what I'll aim to do.
i want to give an extra thumbs-up for "this is a preset." also, that cable hanger sounds great. not having any modular stuff, but a microphone to sample it with, it'd be my #1 pick in the giveaway ;-)
Loved this. Would love to see a video on how you organize your samples (like is it all in one big ol’ directory? and do you come up with descriptive names?)
I don't work on music consistently enough to need to do this sort of thing often, but I realized its importance about two years ago. I did a few sound design sessions with three different synths (relatively simple ones at that), and I loved the results! It really is a lot of fun to set a synth playing, tweak parameters for a while, and get lost in the sound. I'd also add that one simple way of capturing synth parameters is to record your screen with something like OBS. You can refer back to the video later and create a preset out of the synth settings at any given point in your session. And for DAWs that don't have audio recording capabilities, OBS can serve this function too!
I've never been that great at sound design, probably because I try to cram it into my songs while I'm writing them. I'm gonna give this a whirl, and maybe it'll help me be more productive with sound design-thanks for the idea Andrew!
Yeah it's a whole different gear, or mindset. When you want to just write music, it's incredibly boring and feels like your entire workflow grinds to a hault when you have to spend 30 minutes tweaking some patch and twisting knobs figuring out what you want. When you have a fleshed out bank of sounds you can pull from at any time it allows you to speed up the process and know that everything you're using is somewhat unique to you, and it allows you to just focus on the fun part of writing music. It's like if an artist had to stop every 5 minutes to completely mix a new type of paint from completely from scratch, instead of just being able to choose their palette and mix and then start, tweaking as they go.
@@jurj4108 Thank you for that though. I honestly didn't even notice until you mentioned. I'm sure I would have been called out by someone else as well.
that was some top notch editing on that Fender throw... in addition to all that top notch wisdom you so casually drop on us with just about every video...
I stumbled into sound design kind of backwards myself. Back in the mid 90s, was when I got my first computer, and a buddy of mine introduced me to a cracked copy of acid pro. I was a bass player at the time, and the only thing I was interested in was making loops to practice too. I was in my mid 20s flash forward, at the age of 41, I was being mentored hi Dane Davis, the Oscar winning sound designer of The Matrix. Do you want to know about sound design, you need to look him up. The man is a genius. I learned so much from the year I spent with him. I also learned that I was not personally cut out for Hollywood LOL. He warned me...Took me two years to figure out what a toxic environment Hollywood is. But that's besides the point. If you really want to get deeply into sound design, Look him up. He also started as a musician, bassist as a matter of fact. His approach, is a blend of different fields of thoughts. He walks the line between artist, craftsman, a mad scientist
Andrew, you continually inspire and teach me things. Love this idea of creative sound design and bringing Play back into my music! Thanks for SO much content creation.
Yoo I've only seen a few of his videos here and there, but he fr explains everything super clearly and quickly and literally doesn't waste a syllable. It's like a superpower
I just did this last night actually. I had a homie come over and we had no idea what we wanted to do productively. Then I remembered that I needed more sounds and samples. So we just recorded stuff for an hour and played with them for the rest of the day. We ended up finding inspiration for a new song!
"Making patches" is what I call it. It's sometimes nice because I feel there's much less pressure involved to create an entire project or body of work.
"Music is made of sounds" & "This... is a preset." SO much yes! Definitely my two favorite parts. I was really hoping for a trifecta, where at some point you would bring up people who say ignorant things like "DJ's/Producers/DAW Dealers/Sound Sorcerers/Noise Wizards/etc. aren't real musicians because they just push buttons" so we could get the raised-eyebrow-close-up of "...and pianists do what, exactly?" Keep up the amazing work, man. I finally pulled the trigger on the Ableton Live 10 Suite & Push controller combo due to the extensive plethora of enjoyably informative videos you have. This is now my most watched RUclips channel. Thank you!
I’s like to add an additional tip that after you’ve made all these new sounds and presets, spend some time organizing it. It’s really great when you’re not feeling like making music (no inspiration, etc.). Create folders and favorites and categorize them. I have a go to drum kit that I made over the years that’s “my sound” but I never made like an organized base version of it. Always opened up a certain project and dragged in the drum track from that. I can’t believe I spent so much time never organizing my favorite sounds, samples, kits, etc. it’s really great for work flow and when you do want to create it lets you keep going without folder diving.
Great tips! I was just editing an "in the studio with Skrillex" video (on my channel) and i noticed he also had a library of audio sample he'd made in other sessions. Skrillex also used very minimal plugins during the "sketch stage" of the songwriting process. So I think you're onto something...
I find a lot of joy in trying to mimic other sounds I hear in songs. It really makes you have a goal/vision, and think about about how sounds are made. Eventually, when you hear sounds in songs you can almost see how they're created.
I remember one time I plugged my beaten up Casio toy keyboard to my laptop using a thrift store adapter and it made some WILD sounds, which gave me lots of inspiration, and I started to do those sound design sessions sometimes, super fun.
12:54 there is SO much you can do with this sound right here!! I caught myself imagining what the drop could be and all of these ideas have run amok, amazing stuff!
I find some similar things in my songwriting process. Especially when you were talking about coming up with really good sounds. I do that with chord progressions or harmonic sequences. I'm a multi-instrumentalist who learned singing along the way. So due to my relative lack of experience with singing I find it really hard to write lyrics and melodies to my already existing instrumentals. But when I come up with lyrics and melodies, I have a huge catalogue of harmonic sequences and soundscapes that I know how to create. And that is why I still sit down with an instrument and play variations of a chord progression for hours on end to find the ones that speak to me. I may not have use for it at the time, but 3 months later I might be reminded of it when trying to turn a new set of lyrics into a song. Loved the video. It was very insightful. Cheers from Germany :)
Totally agree. It also helps when learning a new instrument. Letting go of the need to construct something instead of allowing yourself to discover new sounds without expectations. Very liberating.
"Designing" sound beforehand is literally what us samplers are doing. It's great to have a lot of usable samples in your library. Sometimes, I'm just listening to some samples and get inspiration for a track
5:53 Chapter 3 totally spoke to me for my workflow. Anything to be able to be prepared to get your ideas out of your head the fastest. Just like devoted sessions for sampling - efficiency is learned and pays major dividends.
100% agree! I spent some time creating a modified Linn LM-1 from samples I found just yesterday! Don’t know if I’ll ever use it, but it was a great learning experience!
My most original sound design was my hip about a week before replacement surgery. I made a wonderful set of drums from the crackles and grinding of my hip bone. Thanks for the inspiration, Andrew!
That is an awesome advice. Because I've jumped into Ableton with my knowledge as a live musician I've never really spent much time exploring its tools and instruments and just did what I knew already. And recently I decided to spend a few hours each week just recreating some factory presets from scratch by myself to get to know the software and to enjoy all the happy accidents that happen in the process.
YES YES AND YES i love sound design, in fact i've been sound designing more then producing lately. Besides Synthesis and sound design sessions, i stumbled upon something recently. FL has something under the tools tab ( dump score log on selected track ) which is so useful, I can sit there and play piano or something via midi, and if lets say i stumble upon a melody or groove by accident I dont have to try and re create that happy accident. I can use "the dump score onto selected track" and find the section i played that i liked , copy the midi and paste to a new track....... WHICH IS SO AWESOME !!!!! Having an audio session of happy accident is cool too, but having midi is also omg amazing type. .. Much love to you all and stay healthy !! PEACE
I’ve been doing this a lot lately in serum just taking a break from strictly writing and I’ve designed so many sick patches. Sounds I’ve legitimately never heard before but upon playing with them they inspire songs just by the sound of them alone. This is great advice!
i hadn't been able to make music like i used to in years. now i know why. sound designing was the magic i lost as i focused more on composition and mixing. you have breathed new life into me and my music. i had lost my way. thank you so much for bringing me back!
I'm doing this while I make music, and sometimes I just loose my structural idea cuz I spend too much time doing weird noise experiments. Old habits are hard to break...
Great points. After 5 years of college as a music composer I thought I had to write music from an inspired kinda point of view but later figured out that my best way is to find a sound and/or rhythm that moves me or that I like and turn the recorder on. That becomes the boards, etc., that I then begin building my house of music with. I feel like I'm faking it because there are composers who actually do have vision and inspiration but I love what I produce so I'm stickin wid it. The sound is my inspiration. My way is not very cerebral but it works for me.
I literally am doing this for the first time while making my first sample pack. The amount of fun I’ve been having has blown my mind. I agree with this video so much
one of my favorite techniques is to simply set up something on my synths that sounds cool, maybe a feedback loop through my pedals, whatever, record like 10 minutes of just jamming, no purpose just enjoying it, i save all these in a folder and anytime i want really any kind of sample i just browse through those jams and find amazing moments that i could never plan out but that can work absolutely perfectly in my songs. normally i will take literally no more then five seconds from a 10 minute jam but its always fun relistening to them and at this point i have over 100 to choose from so yea.
Good man Andrew, I do the same thing! I have been doing music scoring and sound design since the year 1999.... Just play around and see what happens is magic. Play because you like to play....... It will come.
Awesome! I love your point about 'mind games'. Being Classically trained and having the daunting task of composing music in a deliberate form is a huge point that I try to convey to people. Digitally composing seems like an even further stretch but I am definitely excited to try.
I can't tell you how many riffs I've written on bass that I've forgotten. You're talking about the literal equivalent of just jammin it out, most of the time nothing comes of it, but you make some really cool stuff.
This is basically the approach to making physical collages from magazines. You can't decide what image you'd like to use, you have to cut out lots of things and then spread them on a table and see what combinations look good together. Gradually, you add pieces to more pieces until an image emerges (or you make a mess). Pretty relaxing (until all the exacto knife use kills your wrist).
I do this as a writer so much. This helps get small ideas out of the mind to make room for bigger and longer ideas. I store all my little bits together so that I can use them later if I desire. One two sentence bits turned into a 120+ page book.
Thanks for watching! Leave a comment if you have any other good sound design tips. :) Giveaway goes until May 15! gleam.io/ZZNHd/andrew-huangs-april-2020-giveaway
The most important two things, at least for me, are: A) Spend time making music frequently, and B) Do something different each time. Together, these two pretty much guarantee you'll improve and have something to show for it.
Another great one. Thanks Andrew. Your explanations are always so considered, smart and funny. Now I feel the need to go and make some noise! One day soon I'm going to have to do your production class...
Damn you Huang! I can't get through one of your videos without stopping and running to the synths! Gaaarrgggh. Can't you just stop being an inspiration as a musician and as a teacher!
1:12 I so.. needed this. Was pretty much stuck because I couldn't get the sound I was looking for while sitting down to produce for my next video. Thank you Andrew.
Great talk! I love your very introspective comments, that sometimes spell out almots obvious facts - but... they are exactly those round blocks that you have to deal with as a musician.
This reminds me of the techno sound design process, where some producers follow the mantra, "work on your sounds." James Wiltshire also has a great tutorial on sound design. Glad to hear you are trying a new process in your music production, Andrew!
Oh I’ve been doing this a few years. Just seemed like a good topic for a video :)
4 года назад
Cool. I do the same in photography. I shoot patterns, light, movement, texture... anything I may need. I now have my own library of stuff to use in editing. Fun.
I do a lot of orchestra gigs (or used to, before coronavirus), and I'm often thinking about the ways great composers used preset orchestral instruments to create such a vast array of creative sonorities and blending sounds in ways that can be downright mind-blowing. Electronic music feels the same in the sense that the objective is to create unique moments of sound that join together, creating an expression of engaging ideas. I'm just very grateful to have modern technology instead of having to completely rely on translating what's in my head to pieces of paper that musicians perform, and hopefully it sounds like I hoped it would.
Alternative tool, a Stinky board, it's basically a 4 way directional pad for your foot, and you can assign different keys to different buttons, maybe you can set the marker key to with the skinkyboard so you don't even need to think about it.
Great tips - especially about getting under the skin and learning to program different synthesizers - it is as important as musical knowledge in 2020. The more you know, the less you freak out when you want to tailor a sound to a song your working on. Also MAD props for starting from init for each of your patches for a library. I've been doing that now on 80+ libraries at my site since 2009 and for Korg synths since 1988.
Always worked like this to generate initial material or spark creativity, later on I write it all out in my head then set down and figure out how to translate that into actual audio (and transcribe it so nothing is lost). Those songs tho are conceptualized from new sounds I’ve been working on (or even whole systems), the environment I’m in and even improv sessions. I just try to keep my life and sound as 1 continuum so that it’s authentic and the easiest way I’ve found to achieve this is to view the whole thing as a collage or tapestry with all sounds being a potential part of the larger whole to convey whatever I want to say. These sessions are really important for me especially if I combine them with new techniques (extended ones even) or musical concepts I haven’t worked with before. They work to expand my vocabulary the same way reading literature from a period or style I’m unfamiliar with does. Cheers!
Thanks for highlighting this.... All the points you make are A+! When I first heard about this thru a Mr. Bill session I did like... 2 of these sessions and it upped my composition speed immensely! I don't get stuck in the loop as much as I used to, trying to find the right sample sound or tweaking things forever. Resampling to audio is a super effective way to speed up the process and push out of creative blocks and the tedious b.s. of perfecting sounds (when in all likelihood I'm probably just fatiguing my ears/brain/eyes more than anything).
Got a few comments about this so I thought I would clarify - been doing this a few years, it was just very late in my music journey. :)
Wow
Best place to put the keyboard is where you can headbutt that key every time you're happy with your work, of course.. Nah just kidding, leaving markers is a good idea though :)
commercial application of music defines popular understanding and form.
the musical process is based around an incentive model that doesn't fit life well. the first time we hear these new sounds, how is this different from experiencing music? what it means to the erudition of our spirit or mind. instead what is preferred is a redefinition of cultural form. we keep trying to make each other listen to music created with incentive. we're going about this wrond. review: why do we listen to music? how do we understand music? cannot many, many of the worthwhile applications of music (eg. mood redaction) be satisfied with other models?
procedural music generators could provide constantly novel material to parse, with structure and substance. but instead of developing these interesting forms of presentation, we are stuck on making "song products". i hate these stupid "turn your loop into a song" - nobody knows what a song is anymore or can experience life and music outside of their culture because it upsets their formats. if twiddling a modular can be music, birds can be music, life can be music, procedural generation can be music, but i'm the only one who has done it for the last quarter century. now they've got "never gonna give you up but an AI tries to complete it" which is more imaginative than most composers and will completely replace all of you. because you were too boring to develop procedural algorithms outside of throwing a nerual net at it.
So Andrew are we going to get a polyend tracker review? I see it sitting in thebackground there and it seems like an ideal tool to put togther all those pre effected and found sounds on :)
@@atomictraveller You're the only one who did it. So EVEYONE else is too boring to reach your towering heights of creativity? Shutuuuuup. Besides there is an intangible quality in human creativity that could never be recreated by AI, at least not any time soon, and at the end of the day, it's human creativity that programs it. Why not just use that human creativity to develop what sounds good to you? Essentially its the same thing, but going about it in a roundabout way. Why not develop AI that can write pretentious RUclips comments for you, when clearly you can just write them yourself?
Sound is sound, it's all vibration. Creating a single sound is likely to be used in part of a much, much larger project with potentially a hundred tracks. If you think any current AI music sounds in any way imaginative, you're crazy. So much goes into volume and timing dynamics via human touch that no AI is anywhere near recreating. You also say that if twiddling a modular can be music than so can procedural generation, but that very point also expresses that twiddling a modular IS in fact music, or creating "song products" is music. So what's your stance? That contradicts. Some make music to be recognized, some make music for self satisfaction and don't care what happens or who hears it. You act as if the latter doesn't exist, and you're the only one trying to break the mold by developing algorithms for a technology that will only have implications for creating super simple sound structures that follow basic theory, with some randomized directions. It will still be missing the million human elements that go into music. Creativity relies on context, and you won't, in your lifetime see an AI that can understand context. Can it replace situations for musical scores and stuff like that? Maybe. Will it ever write a song like say, Elliott Smith, or John Lennon could write? No. Wake up dude, acting like your some master. How about you just write a great song yourself? Or can you not do that? How are you going to develop an algorithm for something you don't understand yourself?
Bang on your Ear sounds like my grandmother tried to recreate an Aphex Twin track in an hour. There's a reason for common themes in music, and a right and wrong way to explore beyond them. But ok. You're the only one! Apply that limitless creativity and groundbreaking vision to make some good music now. Most musicians don't care about, or have interest in developing algorithms bro, we just wanna make music. Like with real analogue instruments and vocals and stuff. Go ahead and work on the algorithms though, that's your prerogative, and your music is fine, but it certainly doesn't justify your points.
I mean, it's completely normal for an visual artist to skech without purpose. Why not for a sound designer?
I think sound design is more like drawing seperate, independent lines with specific techniques. Sketching, most of the time, is already about assembling lines together to make a "thing" (which sound equivalent is a "song")
A writer writes every day.
sketching is is more like practicing. making sounds isn't going to make you a better musician. making music makes you a better musician.
a proper equivalent would be a visual artist making his own pencils. or creating their own paints.
@@Kevinschart I disagree. A proper equivalent of your argument would be an musician making the instrument. As a visual artist, I have had many pieces come from doodling, sketching, whatever you like to call it. I see no difference with "doodling" different sounds.
@@Kevinschart No, that would be like coding your own softsynths, or soldering your own hardware -- Which some musicians do. What Andrew's doing is more akin to playing with non-standard tunings and excitement of an already existing (acoustic) instrument's hardware.
Regardless, I don't see how you can argue that sound design doesn't make one a better musician -- Doesn't Andrew's music speak for itself?
"Instruments are just presets" Never thought of it that way, but ... yes, definitely !
True, but as somebody who is coming back to music/putting in effort for the first time i kindoff think that i shant bother with making sounds, other than maybe to sample some real world sound for a track tbh
That legit opened my third eye.
I've been looking for this quote for so long!!!
@@Downloadguy1995 Making sounds yourself is always great.
Even if you're not good at getting good stuff out of synths, you can just use some sample or preset and go ham with effects and stuff.
12:22 🎸"This... is a preset."
THANK YOU. I've always rolled my eyes at EDM "purists" who make a big fuss about using presets, because no acoustic musician is gonna tell you "you can't use your instrument how you bought it, you need to rebuild it or you're not a real musician."
Hey, your Guitar Hero meme charts with Bandipat are great.
"EDM purists"
For real, for me if i’m ever tripping up on myself thinking about if I should use presets or raw sounds or samples or something I just remind myself it always boils down to if it sounds good it sounds good.
Right. However, making your own sound feels better imo.
If it sounds good, it sounds good. Doesn't matter if it was custom made for one-time use or if it's meant for many uses. The important part is exercising good taste in putting the right sounds together - knowing what to use, when, and how. Insisting on only using one's own patches which were made during the song is like a painter only using paints they produced themselves. It doesn't generally make the end result any better; it mostly just makes the process harder.
I'd like to mention how incredible Andrew's camera and editing work is. I know we all come here to learn about music, but I'm honestly learning a lot about camera/editing techniques as well! Love the videos Andrew. :)
DUUUDE!
Cool tip! Sometimes I end up doing this inside of another project and end up spending hours working on that instead of the song!
Lol too real
Hah, I did that once, just sketching an idea out and setting it aside within the project I'd made the sound in because I got a different idea for it -- different time sig and everything -- and then it organically wound up just being a different movement later in the same song lol
And completely forget the song lol
making new crazy tunes inside the crazy tunes you intended to make
Facts! Then u loose all sort of inspiration :/
If your DAW doesn't have markers, you can reserve a MIDI keyboard for a MIDI track and just hit a random note while you're recording both audio and MIDI.
Ohh totally! Great idea. That could work actually very well if you are recording on the session View
hehe that's weirdly funny and also an awesome idea!
Or even use your foot pedal !!!
If you're like me, with a non-wireless keyboard and only one MIDI controller... You could hook up an instrument (in my case, a bass), keep it nearby & recording (but not monitoring haha) and hit the strings really hard with your feet every time you get something good
@@ts4gv I can see myself getting used to doing this, and forgetting how rediculous it would look to another human... " why does he keep hitting his guitar randomly with his feet hahahaha"
0:30 Andrew: "Does that sound a little bit pointless, or like, a waste of time, or not very productive?"
Me: How is that different from my normal workflow?
THIS!
the difference is:
he's working in some form
and your not
Johns Junk 🤦♂️ that’s not constructive in any way, you don’t have a clue how much he’s working or how much he isn’t. Don’t be so preachy and get off your high horse. I hate people like you.
@Johns Junk
Why!? You presumably don't even now him!
Get outta here if you just want to hate on people randomly.
You are certainly welcomed when you are not that unkind....
I identify intensely with this.
Jeez, RUclips unsubbed me and stop giving me your notifications.
Now I know why I felt so uninspired last months.
You really push me going back to do stuff instead of wasting time.
Thanks, dude.
Such great advice. What I need to hear to get over my own made up hurdles.
Yep! It’s best not to worry about what you make, but rather just to... make something 😆
Meanwhile all the foley artists going: "this is all we do"
😂
@@LEVRAN i say leave it to the experts. i don't think billy joel spent a lot of time "making sounds"... he wrote music. this advice is not for everyone
@@Kevinschart music is sounds, he tuned instruments in a certain way, he sung in a certain way, and instruments are meant to be played in a certain way. He did spend a lot of his time making sounds, that is how songs are made.
@@TheParadox1010 i disagree, but whatever "sound designing" Billy did, he didn't do it to the degree Andrew is talking about. he wasn't walking around his house banging pans together and sampling them. Andrew makes bleep bloop music. Everyone isn't into that. Plenty of working producers that aren't spending their free time patching up modulars.
@@Kevinschart and everyone isn't into Billy Joel (I know, but it's true). Why bother making this comment? Billy Joel is better than Andrew? Is that your point here? This is a great video for those interested... if you're not, that's fine too but what are you trying to accomplish? Of course this advice is not for everyone, very little is.
Just a suggestion, in relation to printing it affects, when exploring sounds. Something I will do, is create a bus channel with the effects. That way when I'm recording, I have Both a wet and dry print. This gives you more creative options later, though, as Think about it, I suppose one could just record automation of you tweaking affects. But if you have the Drive space, you can just erase it. So there's that
This really should be the top comment. Great idea
Yeah I do this with my guitar recording too, very useful
@@aurynholmes Thanks Holmes
calling a guitar a preset is such a baller move
He's the only dude alive who could get away with saying it. I've said it to musicians in the studio when I've been producing and felt like I was moments away from being murdered lol.
This isn't a new idea/concept :)
*pro gamer move
Beau Tyler one time i told a dude a daw was an instrument and he told me to get my head out of my ass
Micah Brossiet sounds like the other musician had his head up his ass. Takes just as much time and dedication to learn a daw as it does an instrument.
The way you talked about sound hoarding at the beginning, that for me is actually an analogy to how I approach life in general. I feel like I only have to focus on things that are important, and do them with max efficiency. Anything that isn't useful in the long run feels like a waste of time.
Of course, that means I improve my artistic potential and whatnot at an even speed, but also I have little to no enjoyment left in life. It's been like this for a lot of years and I'm just sick of it.
I'm not in a good place at all. Right now I'm trying to find the strength to change my viewpoint. I'm not even sure why I write that here. I guess I'm just glad that you made this video.
@Greg Jonson
I feel you man. Like.... totally.
Take care 🙏
Peace!
it's the same over here. I also fail to do everything efficiently so that's extra annoying, but I'm just trying to do what feels good for me. What comes out naturally w/o me even thinking about it, and honestly, chemistry is not for me. I love all things science but it's taking me nowhere-or at least that's how I've been feeling for a while now. Glad to know I'm (we're) not alone. All the best to you both and may music bring peace and joy upon us💙
I got outta this (somewhat pessimistically) with the realisation that nothing I'll ever do is permanent and very few people will see anything I do. The bright side to that fact is that it's okay to make mistakes and waste time because _that's what you're already doing by trying to make something that'll last._
The way I see it, I have ~80 years to have fun and help everyone else have fun, so that's what I'll aim to do.
You got this, man. I can be the saaaaame way. Gotta have fun with it.
You can find purpose in God, get yo know him.
i want to give an extra thumbs-up for "this is a preset."
also, that cable hanger sounds great. not having any modular stuff, but a microphone to sample it with, it'd be my #1 pick in the giveaway ;-)
Loved this. Would love to see a video on how you organize your samples (like is it all in one big ol’ directory? and do you come up with descriptive names?)
“This is a preset” YES THANK YOU I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE IN THAT FEELING
He said that and I'm like...
"How the F$#k did I missed that?!?!"
Amazing perspective
I dont get it, you mean using a preset in a synth to build upon the pre-existing sound rather than from the default preset?
@@tahaqtr7439 The synth is newer than the guitar. So the presets have had less time to get better.
YES! I have expounded this virtue precisely to my family/friends who don't understand "computer" music. Thank you for validating my craziness.
I don't work on music consistently enough to need to do this sort of thing often, but I realized its importance about two years ago. I did a few sound design sessions with three different synths (relatively simple ones at that), and I loved the results! It really is a lot of fun to set a synth playing, tweak parameters for a while, and get lost in the sound. I'd also add that one simple way of capturing synth parameters is to record your screen with something like OBS. You can refer back to the video later and create a preset out of the synth settings at any given point in your session. And for DAWs that don't have audio recording capabilities, OBS can serve this function too!
I've never been that great at sound design, probably because I try to cram it into my songs while I'm writing them. I'm gonna give this a whirl, and maybe it'll help me be more productive with sound design-thanks for the idea Andrew!
Yeah it's a whole different gear, or mindset. When you want to just write music, it's incredibly boring and feels like your entire workflow grinds to a hault when you have to spend 30 minutes tweaking some patch and twisting knobs figuring out what you want. When you have a fleshed out bank of sounds you can pull from at any time it allows you to speed up the process and know that everything you're using is somewhat unique to you, and it allows you to just focus on the fun part of writing music. It's like if an artist had to stop every 5 minutes to completely mix a new type of paint from completely from scratch, instead of just being able to choose their palette and mix and then start, tweaking as they go.
Did it work?
Post your results bro! We'd love to hear em
Well now you need to do a tutorial of how you did that grabbing the guitar off the wall effect. That was cool
@JohnnyAshtray
It was REALLY cool!!
(It was still a guitar though ;)
@@jurj4108 I'm an idiot. Fixed.
Yup I legit don't know how that was done.
@@johnnyashtray Haha, no worries. It wasn't an insult. I was mentioning it only jokingly :)
@@jurj4108 Thank you for that though. I honestly didn't even notice until you mentioned. I'm sure I would have been called out by someone else as well.
that was some top notch editing on that Fender throw... in addition to all that top notch wisdom you so casually drop on us with just about every video...
I stumbled into sound design kind of backwards myself.
Back in the mid 90s, was when I got my first computer, and a buddy of mine introduced me to a cracked copy of acid pro. I was a bass player at the time, and the only thing I was interested in was making loops to practice too. I was in my mid 20s flash forward, at the age of 41, I was being mentored hi Dane Davis, the Oscar winning sound designer of The Matrix. Do you want to know about sound design, you need to look him up. The man is a genius. I learned so much from the year I spent with him. I also learned that I was not personally cut out for Hollywood LOL. He warned me...Took me two years to figure out what a toxic environment Hollywood is. But that's besides the point. If you really want to get deeply into sound design, Look him up. He also started as a musician, bassist as a matter of fact. His approach, is a blend of different fields of thoughts. He walks the line between artist, craftsman, a mad scientist
Andrew, you continually inspire and teach me things. Love this idea of creative sound design and bringing Play back into my music! Thanks for SO much content creation.
Yoo I've only seen a few of his videos here and there, but he fr explains everything super clearly and quickly and literally doesn't waste a syllable. It's like a superpower
Best channel on youtube.
This video is PERFECT! Mind blowing!!
I just did this last night actually. I had a homie come over and we had no idea what we wanted to do productively. Then I remembered that I needed more sounds and samples.
So we just recorded stuff for an hour and played with them for the rest of the day.
We ended up finding inspiration for a new song!
Wooo, baby! SOUND DESIGN!
Thanks for sharing, Andrew!
I will definitely utilize these tips and tricks with my own music/sound designs 😎 🔥
"Making patches" is what I call it. It's sometimes nice because I feel there's much less pressure involved to create an entire project or body of work.
Yes same. It's so nice not to have that pressure.
"Music is made of sounds" & "This... is a preset." SO much yes! Definitely my two favorite parts. I was really hoping for a trifecta, where at some point you would bring up people who say ignorant things like "DJ's/Producers/DAW Dealers/Sound Sorcerers/Noise Wizards/etc. aren't real musicians because they just push buttons" so we could get the raised-eyebrow-close-up of "...and pianists do what, exactly?" Keep up the amazing work, man. I finally pulled the trigger on the Ableton Live 10 Suite & Push controller combo due to the extensive plethora of enjoyably informative videos you have. This is now my most watched RUclips channel. Thank you!
3:11 I laughed aloud and I don't know why😂😂😂😂 it was just out of blue
It Scarred me a little 😂😂
Yeah, had to rewind it 😆 so good
I’s like to add an additional tip that after you’ve made all these new sounds and presets, spend some time organizing it. It’s really great when you’re not feeling like making music (no inspiration, etc.). Create folders and favorites and categorize them.
I have a go to drum kit that I made over the years that’s “my sound” but I never made like an organized base version of it. Always opened up a certain project and dragged in the drum track from that. I can’t believe I spent so much time never organizing my favorite sounds, samples, kits, etc. it’s really great for work flow and when you do want to create it lets you keep going without folder diving.
Great tips! I was just editing an "in the studio with Skrillex" video (on my channel) and i noticed he also had a library of audio sample he'd made in other sessions. Skrillex also used very minimal plugins during the "sketch stage" of the songwriting process. So I think you're onto something...
I find a lot of joy in trying to mimic other sounds I hear in songs. It really makes you have a goal/vision, and think about about how sounds are made. Eventually, when you hear sounds in songs you can almost see how they're created.
I remember one time I plugged my beaten up Casio toy keyboard to my laptop using a thrift store adapter and it made some WILD sounds, which gave me lots of inspiration, and I started to do those sound design sessions sometimes, super fun.
Andrew is one of the few producers who show you how he makes these random bleeps and bloops useable
9:47 - I hadn't realised that looping the audio would then create one long audio file like that - works perfectly in Cubase, thank you so much!
12:54 there is SO much you can do with this sound right here!! I caught myself imagining what the drop could be and all of these ideas have run amok, amazing stuff!
I find some similar things in my songwriting process. Especially when you were talking about coming up with really good sounds. I do that with chord progressions or harmonic sequences. I'm a multi-instrumentalist who learned singing along the way. So due to my relative lack of experience with singing I find it really hard to write lyrics and melodies to my already existing instrumentals. But when I come up with lyrics and melodies, I have a huge catalogue of harmonic sequences and soundscapes that I know how to create. And that is why I still sit down with an instrument and play variations of a chord progression for hours on end to find the ones that speak to me. I may not have use for it at the time, but 3 months later I might be reminded of it when trying to turn a new set of lyrics into a song.
Loved the video. It was very insightful. Cheers from Germany :)
Totally agree. It also helps when learning a new instrument. Letting go of the need to construct something instead of allowing yourself to discover new sounds without expectations. Very liberating.
The editing on that guitar.... Oh my gosh... That was satisfying.
"Designing" sound beforehand is literally what us samplers are doing.
It's great to have a lot of usable samples in your library.
Sometimes, I'm just listening to some samples and get inspiration for a track
Can we get a "Music is made of sounds - Did you know that?" shirt?
5:53 Chapter 3 totally spoke to me for my workflow. Anything to be able to be prepared to get your ideas out of your head the fastest. Just like devoted sessions for sampling - efficiency is learned and pays major dividends.
Sound design is so fun and you can find some serious bops while doing it
100% agree! I spent some time creating a modified Linn LM-1 from samples I found just yesterday! Don’t know if I’ll ever use it, but it was a great learning experience!
As a noise artist, this is basically just what I do when I'm "working."
same lol
"noise artist" Lmao
@James To get a feeling of superiority with the least amount of effort?
ERIS PADS HER CHEST
James it may just sound funny. Like “jelly squasher”
My most original sound design was my hip about a week before replacement surgery. I made a wonderful set of drums from the crackles and grinding of my hip bone. Thanks for the inspiration, Andrew!
Always fun and inspiring! Yes, the bottom line in "electronic music" is exploring SOUND DESIGN. Thank you.
12:08 freaked me out, was not ready for that.
Your advices seem in fact so natural and make so much sense, that I can't understand why I didn't heard that kind before, thanks, awesome !!
"But what is an instrument?"
*VSauce music plays*
That is an awesome advice.
Because I've jumped into Ableton with my knowledge as a live musician I've never really spent much time exploring its tools and instruments and just did what I knew already. And recently I decided to spend a few hours each week just recreating some factory presets from scratch by myself to get to know the software and to enjoy all the happy accidents that happen in the process.
YES YES AND YES
i love sound design, in fact i've been sound designing more then producing lately.
Besides Synthesis and sound design sessions, i stumbled upon something recently.
FL has something under the tools tab ( dump score log on selected track )
which is so useful, I can sit there and play piano or something via midi, and if lets say i stumble upon a melody or groove by accident I dont have to try and re create that happy accident. I can use "the dump score onto selected track" and find the section i played that i liked , copy the midi and paste to a new track....... WHICH IS SO AWESOME !!!!!
Having an audio session of happy accident is cool too, but having midi is also omg amazing type. ..
Much love to you all and stay healthy !!
PEACE
I’ve been doing this a lot lately in serum just taking a break from strictly writing and I’ve designed so many sick patches. Sounds I’ve legitimately never heard before but upon playing with them they inspire songs just by the sound of them alone. This is great advice!
12:32 that was so clean
This is honestly one of the most insightful videos I’ve seen on RUclips in regards to sound design! Thank you so much man
Setting markers as you go. Worth watching the vid alone.
i hadn't been able to make music like i used to in years. now i know why. sound designing was the magic i lost as i focused more on composition and mixing. you have breathed new life into me and my music. i had lost my way. thank you so much for bringing me back!
I'm doing this while I make music, and sometimes I just loose my structural idea cuz I spend too much time doing weird noise experiments. Old habits are hard to break...
Great points. After 5 years of college as a music composer I thought I had to write music from an inspired kinda point of view but later figured out that my best way is to find a sound and/or rhythm that moves me or that I like and turn the recorder on. That becomes the boards, etc., that I then begin building my house of music with. I feel like I'm faking it because there are composers who actually do have vision and inspiration but I love what I produce so I'm stickin wid it. The sound is my inspiration. My way is not very cerebral but it works for me.
"This is a preset." - Huang, Andrew
I started doing an air-high five when your videosnstart xD
I should start doing this. Can’t wait to see what else is in the video!
This is good advice. Learning to experiment with no goals rather than trying to recreate a specific sound was how I figured out FM synthesis.
"music is made of sounds"
:0
I literally am doing this for the first time while making my first sample pack. The amount of fun I’ve been having has blown my mind. I agree with this video so much
Wonder if the white patchcablehangers are gonne be more "white-ly" available .... So funny omg
I have the first one powder coated in white!
The idea that musicians wouldn't have an equivalent to doodling on napkins and playing in a sketchbook never crossed my mind.
one of my favorite techniques is to simply set up something on my synths that sounds cool, maybe a feedback loop through my pedals, whatever, record like 10 minutes of just jamming, no purpose just enjoying it, i save all these in a folder and anytime i want really any kind of sample i just browse through those jams and find amazing moments that i could never plan out but that can work absolutely perfectly in my songs. normally i will take literally no more then five seconds from a 10 minute jam but its always fun relistening to them and at this point i have over 100 to choose from so yea.
Good man Andrew, I do the same thing! I have been doing music scoring and sound design since the year 1999.... Just play around and see what happens is magic. Play because you like to play....... It will come.
"music is made of sounds" - Andrew Huang 2020
Awesome! I love your point about 'mind games'. Being Classically trained and having the daunting task of composing music in a deliberate form is a huge point that I try to convey to people. Digitally composing seems like an even further stretch but I am definitely excited to try.
I made it early enough to see the fake Mr.Beast comments
🤣🤣🤣🤣
The comment is always something like “gūÿš ïf ÿöù wäñt à frëė ìphøńé 11 jüśt gö tõ thïś łïńk: hejhbejiusii.ml”
I can't tell you how many riffs I've written on bass that I've forgotten. You're talking about the literal equivalent of just jammin it out, most of the time nothing comes of it, but you make some really cool stuff.
Andrew: click on this card *points* to enter the giveaway
The card that doesn’t exist: U wot m8
I don’t know why they don’t work sometimes 😡
This Episode has So many good nuggets and Andrew you are so cheerful it's Awesome.
"Chapter 1: Fun" F is for friends who do stuff together. U is for you and me! N is for anywhere and anytime at all.
U is for uranium... BOMBS!
Nathan V Please don’t
FunUraniumNuclear
Down here in the deep blue sea!
@@daredevilofficial4100 Don't go throwing your Catholic guilt on me, Mr. Lawyer-Man! I know who you are, Matthew!
100% agree! Making sounds to fit negates a large element of the beauty of creativity!
5:00 - Dope!
12:07 - I'm having a Davie504 moment, staring at the Bass on the wall. I'm calling the Police...
This is basically the approach to making physical collages from magazines.
You can't decide what image you'd like to use, you have to cut out lots of things and then spread them on a table and see what combinations look good together. Gradually, you add pieces to more pieces until an image emerges (or you make a mess). Pretty relaxing (until all the exacto knife use kills your wrist).
What are the differenses between FL Studio and Ableton. And what makes you wanna use Ableton?
And FL studio has a great piano roll 😜
I do this as a writer so much. This helps get small ideas out of the mind to make room for bigger and longer ideas. I store all my little bits together so that I can use them later if I desire. One two sentence bits turned into a 120+ page book.
Thanks for watching! Leave a comment if you have any other good sound design tips. :) Giveaway goes until May 15! gleam.io/ZZNHd/andrew-huangs-april-2020-giveaway
Awh yea Andy! Depths anissss!!
Tap that keyboard with my toe? Nahh... When I see that keyboard I know it's batteries are down...
hi andrew :) love yor vids
Give pls ru caption plsss.
The most important two things, at least for me, are: A) Spend time making music frequently, and B) Do something different each time. Together, these two pretty much guarantee you'll improve and have something to show for it.
Another great one. Thanks Andrew. Your explanations are always so considered, smart and funny. Now I feel the need to go and make some noise! One day soon I'm going to have to do your production class...
Crazy Bro! Best tips, thank you so much🔥👊 Tomorrow I will upload my next beat, feedback would make me very happy. Thanks for the support. Peace🥰☮️
Damn you Huang! I can't get through one of your videos without stopping and running to the synths! Gaaarrgggh. Can't you just stop being an inspiration as a musician and as a teacher!
I give you permission to improve North Korean songs
Honestly there is no other channel of which the upload notification makes me more excited and happy than this one. Keep it up Andrew!
1:12
I so.. needed this. Was pretty much stuck because I couldn't get the sound I was looking for while sitting down to produce for my next video.
Thank you Andrew.
Great talk! I love your very introspective comments, that sometimes spell out almots obvious facts - but... they are exactly those round blocks that you have to deal with as a musician.
This reminds me of the techno sound design process, where some producers follow the mantra, "work on your sounds." James Wiltshire also has a great tutorial on sound design. Glad to hear you are trying a new process in your music production, Andrew!
Oh I’ve been doing this a few years. Just seemed like a good topic for a video :)
Cool. I do the same in photography. I shoot patterns, light, movement, texture... anything I may need. I now have my own library of stuff to use in editing. Fun.
Thank you so much for these amazing modular tips!
I do a lot of orchestra gigs (or used to, before coronavirus), and I'm often thinking about the ways great composers used preset orchestral instruments to create such a vast array of creative sonorities and blending sounds in ways that can be downright mind-blowing. Electronic music feels the same in the sense that the objective is to create unique moments of sound that join together, creating an expression of engaging ideas. I'm just very grateful to have modern technology instead of having to completely rely on translating what's in my head to pieces of paper that musicians perform, and hopefully it sounds like I hoped it would.
Awesome video Andrew, and thanks for the plug! :D Been meaning to do some audio samples of the HEX-01.
Alternative tool, a Stinky board, it's basically a 4 way directional pad for your foot, and you can assign different keys to different buttons, maybe you can set the marker key to with the skinkyboard so you don't even need to think about it.
Great tips - especially about getting under the skin and learning to program different synthesizers - it is as important as musical knowledge in 2020. The more you know, the less you freak out when you want to tailor a sound to a song your working on. Also MAD props for starting from init for each of your patches for a library. I've been doing that now on 80+ libraries at my site since 2009 and for Korg synths since 1988.
Thanks for all the videos, it's by watching people like you I keep my motivation for production up 😊
Always worked like this to generate initial material or spark creativity, later on I write it all out in my head then set down and figure out how to translate that into actual audio (and transcribe it so nothing is lost). Those songs tho are conceptualized from new sounds I’ve been working on (or even whole systems), the environment I’m in and even improv sessions. I just try to keep my life and sound as 1 continuum so that it’s authentic and the easiest way I’ve found to achieve this is to view the whole thing as a collage or tapestry with all sounds being a potential part of the larger whole to convey whatever I want to say. These sessions are really important for me especially if I combine them with new techniques (extended ones even) or musical concepts I haven’t worked with before. They work to expand my vocabulary the same way reading literature from a period or style I’m unfamiliar with does.
Cheers!
Thanks for highlighting this.... All the points you make are A+!
When I first heard about this thru a Mr. Bill session I did like... 2 of these sessions and it upped my composition speed immensely! I don't get stuck in the loop as much as I used to, trying to find the right sample sound or tweaking things forever. Resampling to audio is a super effective way to speed up the process and push out of creative blocks and the tedious b.s. of perfecting sounds (when in all likelihood I'm probably just fatiguing my ears/brain/eyes more than anything).