Reason for alternative and indie music

[nebraskafire]

Hi, I love the reason daw but when I search for inspiration or tutorials and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff. Is there anything related to alternative and indie music out there. Maybe there some people in this forum?

[Oquasec]

These places cover most of what you need to know about music theory and can be applied anywhere:

Propellerhead https://www.youtube.com/user/PropellerheadSW
Protostar

Jelie https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Anmv ... jedtvyOohw
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Most producers don't have the time to make tutorials, they're too busy in school or touring, making a living etc.
There's so many books that have been made on the subject over there years that I also need to get to, right there with ya.

[sdst]

hip hop and edm are a cancer, that's why I never watch the videos

I remember this is done in Reson

[DaveyG]

Hi, I love the reason daw but when I search for inspiration or tutorials and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff.

That's because Reason can trace it's roots back to Rebirth RB-338 and has always had a heavy bias towards EDM and related genres. The early versions were all about REX loops and basslines. Fast forward to today and Reason is more general purpose and can be used as a traditional DAW for audio and MIDI, although it is far from perfect in that respect.

So there is no reason why you can't record and produce indie and alternative music with it but there are better tools out there for the job. What sort of inspiration are you looking for? Any guide to making your chosen type of music will be adaptable to Reason.

[guitfnky]

Hi, I love the reason daw but when I search for inspiration or tutorials and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff. Is there anything related to alternative and indie music out there. Maybe there some people in this forum?

been using Reason for 10+ years now, and most of what I do is alt-rock/art-rock. I think Reason is great for alternative styles, but of course it has its deficiencies, like any DAW. are you looking for info on anything in particular? mix/production tips or songwriting tips--that sort of thing?

maybe a better starting question is, what kind of instrumentation are you using? live/recorded instruments (drums, bass, guitar, vocals) primarily, MIDI instruments done in an indie style, or a mixture?

[colonel_mustard]

For a complete beginner, the Matt Piper tutorials at Lynda.com are pretty good. If there's a free trial offer, it's only about 4 hours. Basic stuff, but it's good to have the basics down.
https://www.lynda.com/Reason-tutorials/ ... 040-2.html

[Tiny Montgomery]

Hi, I love the reason daw but when I search for inspiration or tutorials and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff. Is there anything related to alternative and indie music out there. Maybe there some people in this forum?

There's a good video on the RS site about how the band Niki and the Dove used Reason. It's not a tutorial but might be inspirational for someone looking to see people using Reason in a more traditional recording setting.

[Ottostrom]

I feel like this is a problem for any DAW tutorials as it seems to be mostly focused on those genres that you mentioned.
Personally I use Reason for Alternative & Indie music and I think it suites the style very well! I have a big collection of old refills that I like to dig around in to find weird Rex loops or instruments that can be reshaped into something interesting, and the audio editing features are good enough so recording real instruments doesn't feel like such a hassle.

Wish I could recommend some Reason specific tutorials for this sort of music but I've also had a difficult time finding any.

[guitfnky]

I think Reason's main downside for non-electronic music is in how it handles (or doesn't) multitrack audio. not being able to link tracks so your slice and comp edits apply to all linked tracks is a huge deficiency. I've found a hack to help get around it, while keeping everything in phase, but it's a huge, imperfect kludge, and still requires manual edits to each track.

[MrFigg]

Well if you like indie and alternative I’m assuming you’ve got some records...and I’m assuming you’ve got some sort of sound and instrument in mind. If you play guitar then fire up a Rex loop, plug in your guitar and play some chords along. You’ll get a song together.

[motuscott]

I think Reason's main downside for non-electronic music is in how it handles (or doesn't) multitrack audio. not being able to link tracks so your slice and comp edits apply to all linked tracks is a huge deficiency. I've found a hack to help get around it, while keeping everything in phase, but it's a huge, imperfect kludge, and still requires manual edits to each track.

That's a big issue for me too, being a drummer and all.
Given the tepid outcry for punch in, I don't know if Reason's gonna tackle these old school problems.

[guitfnky]

I think Reason's main downside for non-electronic music is in how it handles (or doesn't) multitrack audio. not being able to link tracks so your slice and comp edits apply to all linked tracks is a huge deficiency. I've found a hack to help get around it, while keeping everything in phase, but it's a huge, imperfect kludge, and still requires manual edits to each track.

That's a big issue for me too, being a drummer and all.
Given the tepid outcry for punch in, I don't know if Reason's gonna tackle these old school problems.

I remain ever hopeful, but at this point, never optimistic.

[altron]

... and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff ...

IKR! To be honest it sucks RS advertise Reason in such a one-sided way. I ignore all the lamestream EDM and Hip Hop that is brainfed by them.

I personally use Reason for the styles I'm most interested in: Synth music, new wave, ambient, and Shoegaze. So it's not like Reason is really tailored to any specific genre. Some synths are, definitely, though.

[chaosroyale]

This is absolutely me shilling my product, but I made some sets of FX combinators aimed at indie/shoegaze/alternative/experimental sounds, and everyone seems to love them. 2 sets so far, and 3rd one on its way soon.

viewtopic.php?t=7521040

In the more general sense, I have used Reason on -for example- a client's commercial project of hybrid-style folk, and the sound sculpting possibilities really fit the material very well. One downside as others have pointed out is that Reason is a bit behind on multitrack recording workflow, but still much better than the old 4 and 8-tracks that all those cool 80's indie records were made with! I don't personally see any difference between different styles of music when producing or mixing; all DAWs have strong and weak points but it does not really have anything to do with whether your tracks are at a certain BPM or using a certain tone palette or playing style.

Reason definitely sucks for very long tracks, due to the sequencer window, which, for who knows what f-ing reason, cannot zoom out to show the whole song. So soundtrack or ambient shoegaze can be a problem.

Hi, I love the reason daw but when I search for inspiration or tutorials and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff. Is there anything related to alternative and indie music out there. Maybe there some people in this forum?

[BRIGGS]

The best inspiration happens, when you are working on your own music.

Now get back to work!

[selig]

I've never (knowingly) used Reason for EDM or hip-hop in almost 20 years of Reasoning. I've not found it to be creatively limiting, in fact the opposite. BUT, it does have its inexplicable technical limitations IMO!

[chimp_spanner]

*raises hand* - instrumental space nerd math metal over here. Whatcha wanna know?

[avasopht]

I've never (knowingly) used Reason for EDM or hip-hop in almost 20 years of Reasoning.

Neither have I, which is quite unfortunate given it's what I've spent my last 20 years trying to create

[EnochLight]

Hi, I love the reason daw but when I search for inspiration or tutorials and just find EDM and hip-hop stuff. Is there anything related to alternative and indie music out there. Maybe there some people in this forum?

I do alternative/indie as well in Reason (in fact, my last single was 100% done in Reason - all guitars, although the drums were programmed). There's no special technique - you just record your production and proceed as you would in any DAW. Or are you looking for a tutorial on how to song write?

This was all Reason 10: https://music.apple.com/us/album/stella ... 1370705233

[avasopht]

This was all done in Reason, which really helped when I wanted to adjust up some of the drums and other instruments.

[integerpoet]

The audio for all the these videos was done in Reason. This should put to rest any question about genre.

(Also consider that most of the musicians are recording themselves with no skills on crappy laptop mics in bad rooms and depend on a part-time amateur to make it sound otherwise to the extent possible.)

[EnochLight]

This was all done in Reason, which really helped when I wanted to adjust up some of the drums and other instruments.

That.. was simply awesome. Excellent mic'ing of the guitars, and the drums sit really well. Just an overall excellent production!

[motuscott]

That.. was simply awesome. Excellent mic'ing of the guitars, and the drums sit really well. Just an overall excellent production!

I know, great song!
Nice work Avasopht.

[plaamook]

Reason definitely sucks for very long tracks, due to the sequencer window, which, for who knows what f-ing reason, cannot zoom out to show the whole song. So soundtrack or ambient shoegaze can be a problem.

This is perhaps my single most desired feature request in Reason. This simple unprofesional stupid little thing that should never have been implemented like that from the start. Any chance I get I batch about this hoping someone somewhere will eventually give a shit.

If I'd have thought about this before I started making music I'd have skipped over Reason. As it is I got really stuck into it before I realised I wantd to work on long stuctures.

[selig]

This was all done in Reason, which really helped when I wanted to adjust up some of the drums and other instruments.

That.. was simply awesome. Excellent mic'ing of the guitars, and the drums sit really well. Just an overall excellent production!

And that video/animation was perfect for the song too!