Computer Music Production Archives

The Secret to Starting an Album

If you’re stuck try this. (It’s how I started my first two albums).

Every day for a week spend an hour just starting stuff. Get a groove going, add parts quickly, don’t worry about the details at all, just get a vibe.

Once you have a basic idea down, make sure you record it. Then move on and start something else. Above all don’t get sucked into one groove or sound or making it perfect.

The idea is to just get a load of ideas down as fast as possible.

When your hour is up stop. Turn off the computer. Leave the area. Forget about it.

Do the same every day for a week. Don’t listen back to what you did the day before, just sit down and get as many ideas down as possible.

By the end of the week you’ll have a load of ideas. Give it a while before listening to them. Maybe give it a week or so. When you do, listen to them one after the other. Make sure you have a notepad next to you and write down whatever comes into your head as you’re listening.

Many of your ideas will be crap, (ignore the crap) but worry not. I guarantee there’ll be some gold in there. Maybe even enough for an album.

100 Things Every Music Producer Should Know: #2/ Trust Your Ears Not Your Speakers

If you’ve not spent a small fortune on the best studio monitors and acoustically treating your room (or even if you have), the best way to make sure your final mix is right is by checking it on a wide variety of systems, speakers and headphones.

Check it in your mates studio, on the crappy ghetto blaster in the kitchen, on your car stereo, on your computer speakers (especially on these – most people will first hear your music on something like them), if you DJ try it out in a club, on your iPod through those terrible white in-ear headphones – listen to it everywhere.

I used to have just two sets of speakers in my studio. But when I checked my music elsewhere I was always shocked at how different it sounded. I’d got too used to hearing it in the best possible studio environment. But most of the time most people (including me) won’t hear my music in my studio on my speakers. So now I have three extra sets in here, all of them crappy, and I still check stuff in my kitchen, car and shower.

While it might not be the best idea to completely mess with your mix because it sounds weird on your grandad’s old Walkman, if there’s anything blatantly not working make a note and adjust accordingly. Apart from the useful perspective you’ll only get from listening in different environments, if your music sounds great on everything (especially the most awful speakers) you’ll know you’ve nailed it.

100 Things Every Music Producer Should Know: #1/ Less Is More

Less musical parts have more sonic impact. It might seem counter-intuitive but if you want your music to sound big, add less. With fewer parts, each have more space in the mix and sound more powerful.

When you think you’ve finished a track, play a section and mute each part in turn. Is it there for a reason? Does it make any difference? Or is it just pointless fluff? You might find that muting it does make a difference: the music’s better without it.

If it’s better without, get rid of it (obviously). If it doesn’t make much difference, get rid of it. If you’re not sure about it, get rid of it. Be ruthless.

Don’t fudge it and add stuff to a section that’s not working just to cover it up. If it’s not working, you’ve either got the wrong part(s) or sound. You don’t need more, you need different.

10 Tracks 10 Weeks – My Conclusions

Its been just over a month since I completed my 10 tracks 10 weeks project, enough time for me to draw some conclusions about the whole shebang.

(For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, through August and September this year I wrote and released one track a week for 10 weeks, you can read about the process and listen to the music here.)

As I can’t remember exactly exactly what my original hopes were for the project (it seems like such a long time ago now), I’ve gone through the original 10 tracks 10 weeks blog post, and will address each of them to see how I fared.

I wanted to find my distinct musical voice

I got 50% of the way there.

While I some of this album fits together as a whole, in my opinion other parts don’t. I didn’t have the luxury of writing more than 10 tracks and picking the best ones, and one of the points of this process was to discover the “real” me musically, so I am forgiving myself for the slightly schizophrenic nature of the finished product.

I still think its an engaging listen (which I guess is the most important thing), but I’m sure that if I’d written this album more traditionally, a few of the tracks wouldn’t have made it to the final cut. Not because I don’t like them (in fact I don’t hate any of them which is something of a surprise), but because they don’t fit.

Overall the exercise was very useful to me as a musician, because I discovered what feels right, and have got closer to understanding what makes me tick musically.

And for the record Robot Go Disco, Crush, Lullaby and Do Be Do are the tracks which speak most to my heart and make me happy.

I didn’t want to think about the market

Fail!

I found that the opposite occurred, but this wasn’t a negative experience at all. Quite the reverse.

While I wasn’t worrying about sales exactly (because it was all free) at first I became quite fixated on the number of downloads until I forced myself to stop constantly checking the figures.

But the direct response I got from all the comments, Tweets and Facebook messages was a revelation. I was much more aware and attuned to the reaction of my audience whilst writing the music than I’ve ever been in the past.

And I was surprised to find that instead of leading to insecurities and difficulties in my creative process, this connection sustained me in my difficult moments. I found them immensely energising and inspiring. (Thank you!)

I wanted to avoid “endless head scratching”

Apart from the experience of connecting directly with my audience, this was the biggest benefit I got from the process. I’ve always found writing any music to be singularly painful and somewhat excruciating, and 10 tracks 10 weeks was no different.

But after consistently hitting deadline for 10 weeks in a row, I’ve gained an enormous amount of confidence in my ability to ship. I’ve also realised that its much more important and artistically honest to get something out even if you’re unsure about it than go round in circles trying to make it perfect. “Prolific not perfect” is my mantra now.

So in general I’d say 10 tracks 10 weeks was an unrivaled success. The finished product is good enough, in fact something I’m proud of. I have thought about repeating the process, then choosing the 10 tracks that work the best out of the resulting 20 to make a finished album with, but I’ve decided to leave it as is.

Because for all its faults, 10 tracks 10 weeks is a document of a process and an experience which I want to preserve and remember for what it was – the most exciting and enlightening creative project I have every undertaken.

And anyway, now its time for me to get on with my next idea! 🙂

What do you think? How was it for you? What are your favourite tracks?

Boing Boing Boing

When writing a tune I used to bounce my individual tracks simply to save on processor power. But it’s now an integral part of my creative process.

When I bounce something (ie record it to an audio track), it’s set in stone in my mind. It’s unlikely I’ll mess with it because its a hassle to reload the original part and synth, sampler or whatever.

This focusses me on getting the part right and forces me to move on. I avoid the dangerous temptations of perfectionism and maintain precious momentum.

So as you create, keep on bouncing those parts. Boing boing boing.