What are you overcoming or having trouble with, and trying to improve on?

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avasopht
Competition Winner
Posts: 3931
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

30 Jan 2019

I really need to home in on creating strong melodies and just composition in general.

Composition was how I got started but DAWs and Reason changed that and my focus shifted towards the sounds, timbres and use of effects.

I feel composition and arrangement is my weak point now.

How bout u?

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MrFigg
Competition Winner
Posts: 9123
Joined: 20 Apr 2018

30 Jan 2019

Lyrics. I am totally crap at words to songs (Which is weird as I’m good at writing letters, stories and reports). In the last 34 years I’ve written two songs I’m actually happy with. Music on the other hand is no problem at all.
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

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TritoneAddiction
Competition Winner
Posts: 4219
Joined: 29 Aug 2015
Location: Sweden

30 Jan 2019

I’m trying to get back to the reason I first started making music, which was to have fun being creative and don’t worry about things to Improve.
The less I worry about the result the more fun I have and the better results I get.
It’s kind of a weird way of going about things, but at the moment it’s working for me.

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Zac
Posts: 1784
Joined: 19 May 2016
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30 Jan 2019

avasopht wrote:
30 Jan 2019
I really need to home in on creating strong melodies and just composition in general.

Composition was how I got started but DAWs and Reason changed that and my focus shifted towards the sounds, timbres and use of effects.

I feel composition and arrangement is my weak point now.

How bout u?
^^This is pretty much the same as I feel about my situation.

Also, I'm in a house share right now and have very sensitive old housemates so even mixing on my dt770pro headphones winds them up.

PhillipOrdonez
Posts: 3732
Joined: 20 Oct 2017
Location: Norway
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30 Jan 2019

Mixing, the eternal quest.

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jappe
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Posts: 2437
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

30 Jan 2019

MrFigg wrote:
30 Jan 2019
Lyrics. I am totally crap at words to songs (Which is weird as I’m good at writing letters, stories and reports). In the last 34 years I’ve written two songs I’m actually happy with. Music on the other hand is no problem at all.
Lyrics here too!
I need to get a better feeling for the English language somehow.
For some unknown reason singing in my native language feels awkward.

A workaround is to use some old enough poem for the lyrics.

The Swedish EBM band Covenant did that successfully with this song:


Or generate the poem: http://www.elsewhere.org/hbzpoetry/

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diminished
Competition Winner
Posts: 1880
Joined: 15 Dec 2018

30 Jan 2019

I always end up with perfectly mixed 12 to 16 bar loops of 10 to 20 instruments and lanes and I hate myself for it.
:reason: Most recent track: resentment (synthwave) || Others: on my YouTube channel •ᴗ•

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jappe
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Posts: 2437
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

30 Jan 2019

avasopht wrote:
30 Jan 2019
I really need to home in on creating strong melodies and just composition in general.


How bout u?

Composition is challenging for me too.

I've had more success when I don't rush it and take the time to make the rhythm track almost complete before I proceed.

Worst case is when I make a segment of the song with all tracks, automation included. I just seem to be drained of energy to proceed from there.

Melodies are never a problem for me these days since I started practising this workflow:

1. make the beat.
2. proceed with experimenting with chord progressions and chord rhythm in short looped segment.
For each segment:
a) slow down the tempo enough to enable you to follow the chord changes.
b) loop the segment and experiment with a lead melody.
Sometimes a segment is only 1 chord, sometimes more.

The thing here is that you really don't know what the melody is going to be on the macro scale while you're working with it segment by segment on the micro scale. You only know that there's a good chance that it's going to be good.

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Marco Raaphorst
Posts: 2504
Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Location: The Hague, The Netherlands
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30 Jan 2019

I have many ideas laying around. Most of them are years old. I use complex harmonies. It's poppy material but I don't want it to sound too sweet. need to sing it but I am not a singer, more a guitar player. I am planning to finish at least 8 tracks next 3 months. Hope to find something of an unique style, want to blend old with new. Me playing guitars, bass, shakers and drummachines and synthi overlays.

My weak points are singing and finishing songs in a way I like it. Am into Arial Pink for some time. Perfect pop not sounding too perfect. Love that.

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MannequinRaces
Posts: 1543
Joined: 18 Jan 2015

30 Jan 2019

diminished wrote:
30 Jan 2019
I always end up with perfectly mixed 12 to 16 bar loops of 10 to 20 instruments and lanes and I hate myself for it.
This is me to a tee as well. Learning to stretch songs out is a major problem for me

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MrFigg
Competition Winner
Posts: 9123
Joined: 20 Apr 2018

30 Jan 2019

MannequinRaces wrote:
30 Jan 2019
diminished wrote:
30 Jan 2019
I always end up with perfectly mixed 12 to 16 bar loops of 10 to 20 instruments and lanes and I hate myself for it.
This is me to a tee as well. Learning to stretch songs out is a major problem for me
Yep
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

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motuscott
Posts: 3420
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Contest Weiner

30 Jan 2019

Keeping spliff lit while singing lead. Also tinkling ice in high ball glass keeps bleeding into lead vox track.
So, lifestyle engineering?
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

WarStar
Posts: 296
Joined: 17 Oct 2018
Contact:

30 Jan 2019

The primary weakness I have is drum transitions. Not EDM style drums, which is more kick/bass drum crescendo type of thing, but more so live-kit type of style rolls and transitions. I'm just not super great at quick finger drumming. I can hear in my head the transitions but it's difficult to get down on the track.

I also have problems in deciding when a song is complete lol

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aeox
Competition Winner
Posts: 3222
Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

30 Jan 2019

Everything!

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rgdaniel
Posts: 592
Joined: 07 Sep 2017
Location: Canada

30 Jan 2019

motuscott wrote:
30 Jan 2019
Keeping spliff lit while singing lead. Also tinkling ice in high ball glass keeps bleeding into lead vox track.
So, lifestyle engineering?
See, THIS is why we need a Like button...

estuary
Posts: 112
Joined: 09 Apr 2018
Location: tokyo

30 Jan 2019

PhillipOrdonez wrote:
30 Jan 2019
Mixing, the eternal quest.
Right ... with all the stuffs and tools we have ... I am getting too much picky with sounds/mix.
As someone told me on the studio yesterday, mix is never finished just abandoned.

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Dante
Posts: 531
Joined: 06 Jun 2015
Location: Australia
Contact:

30 Jan 2019

In the vocal/lyrics space : PHRASING - don't underestimate it. Whether to jam those 2 syllables in one beat, or put each syllable on its own beat. etc etc. Makes a HUGE diff to the impact of a vocal line.

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eusti
Moderator
Posts: 2793
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

30 Jan 2019

I feel I have plenty of weaknesses in regards to making music... But as I'm collaborating with an old friend of mine again, I can relax about some of those... My drum & bass programming and my mixing are probably my worst... But luckily my friend is good at those... So, I get to concentrate on things that I'd love to improve instead composing, arranging, lyrics and vocals... That is already so much... :P

D.

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