Reason OCD

[Last Alternative]

METHOD TO MY MADNESS
I always have a different track for each part of drums but the drum bus is always grey, as is drums' REmark. I like to always have the same color code in every song for an easy visual It kills me very painfully to see people never label or color anything on Youtube videos. Even my 2 friends who use R never do. How can anyone work like that?! Major pet peeve LOL.
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kick- grey (deep color for a deep sound)
snare- brown (snare reminds me of wood)
hihat- orange (like brass)
tambourine- baby blue (airy color)
toms- camo green (deep green, deep colorful sound)
cymbals- yellow (color of cymbals)
percussion/drum fx- wheat (easy to spot)
real bass/synth bass/REmark/bus- steel blue (my Schecter bass is blue so..)
clean guitars- light green (I think of clean gtr as light version of heavy gtr)
rhythm guitars/REmark for all guitars/gtr bus- green (balances with all the other colors going on)
lead/solo guitars- red (red makes me think emergency, fire, in your face urgent, etc.)
synths/pads/REmark for all/bus- baby blue or light green (balancing color to the rest)
vocals/REmark for vox/bus- <span style=

[liampatrickingram]

I was thinking earlier today how interesting it would be if somehow all of us were put in a room to watch each other work on a track in real time.  With reason's very open ended workflow possibilities I have a feeling we would drive each other crazy because we all have our little quirks and things we are obsessive about when we are in the zone. 

So for a fun little topic - what are a few of the weird things that you are obsessive compulsive about when you are working in reason?

For example (and mine may be common)

- separate drum channels all HAVE to be "wheat" - no exceptions
- every device must always be completely minimized unless I'm working on it
- there can be no channels on the mixer, sequencer or rack that have the colour red, EVER.
- I also use the Echo preset "Short Round"(with extra wobble) a ridiculous amount for some reason

What are yours?

Liam

[Namahs Amrak]

I was thinking earlier today how interesting it would be if somehow all of us were put in a room to watch each other work on a track in real time. 

Got a spare 6 hours? That how long my average sessions are.

[liampatrickingram]

As a matter of fact I do. I'll swing by tomorrow?

[Namahs Amrak]

As a matter of fact I do. I'll swing by tomorrow?

Bring a gas mask. There will be a lot of cigarette smoke involved

To extend on your excellent subject starter - when I work it feels unproductive, I might spend hours at a time on one 16 bar loop that plays over and over again. The spontaneity is there initially (it all starts with guitar) but when I transpose the ideas to MIDI, it becomes more clinical. Which is part of the reason I'm starting to get more into guitar, and actually work on my techniques, so I can record guitar  !  When it's all said and done though, it's my time and it's my hobby, so overall an enjoyable pursuit regardless of how I go about it

[JNeffLind]

For me it's all about arranging my non computer stuff, meaning having my seat adjusted so I can put my feet up and sit comfortably for hours. Have coffee and water on hand, make sure I've eaten recently so I won't be interrupted by growling stomach, have my keyboards all arranged within reach, etc. 

As for actual quirks in the program, I don't think I really have any. I work in a rather chaotic way I guess and then do my best to sort it out and clean it up afterwards.

One thing maybe is that I generally do all my writing in terms of chords, melodies, etc. with a basic piano patch, then go back afterwards adding unique sounds. For some reason I feel that keeps me musically "honest" in that I don't rely on a cool sound to carry a song. Got to have the musical foundation before adding the embellishment of sound design.

[esselfortium]

I was thinking earlier today how interesting it would be if somehow all of us were put in a room to watch each other work on a track in real time.  With reason's very open ended workflow possibilities I have a feeling we would drive each other crazy because we all have our little quirks and things we are obsessive about when we are in the zone. 

I realize I'm getting off topic here, but when you mention that, it could be fun to do some streams. One of us could schedule a time and let people know about it, then stream audio/video as we spend a couple hours putting together a song or crafting patches or whatever, while fielding questions and discussion from the stream chat. Can be a great learning experience for all involved  

[Orion]

- there can be no channels on the mixer, sequencer or rack that have the colour red, EVER

can't stop laughing !

[selig]

I was thinking earlier today how interesting it would be if somehow all of us were put in a room to watch each other work on a track in real time.  With reason's very open ended workflow possibilities I have a feeling we would drive each other crazy because we all have our little quirks and things we are obsessive about when we are in the zone. 

I realize I'm getting off topic here, but when you mention that, it could be fun to do some streams. One of us could schedule a time and let people know about it, then stream audio/video as we spend a couple hours putting together a song or crafting patches or whatever, while fielding questions and discussion from the stream chat. Can be a great learning experience for all involved  

You are thinking like I do here. I learned engineering by assisting many different engineers over a few years time. I feel that was a much better approach than learning only one engineer's approach or even going to a school - at least, it was for me.

For anyone else who might learn similarly, I've imagined many different ways to try to re-create this experience in a setting and structure that would be meaningful to the participants. Start a new thread if this is something you're interested in discussing further - I'll join you there!

Anyway, sorry to pile on the off topic tangent, carry on!

[Orion]

One thing maybe is that I generally do all my writing in terms of chords, melodies, etc. with a basic piano patch, then go back afterwards adding unique sounds. For some reason I feel that keeps me musically "honest" in that I don't rely on a cool sound to carry a song. Got to have the musical foundation before adding the embellishment of sound design.

I like that idea. I think I will try that with my next few tracks.

[Marketblandings]

One thing maybe is that I generally do all my writing in terms of chords, melodies, etc. with a basic piano patch, then go back afterwards adding unique sounds. For some reason I feel that keeps me musically "honest" in that I don't rely on a cool sound to carry a song. Got to have the musical foundation before adding the embellishment of sound design.

I am similar except I write and develop a song with an old palm sized Gen MIDI sound module (Yamaha MU5). It's instant. Nothing to set up. It's a big step better sounding than, like, a soundblaster soundcard wavetable synth - but not anything close to Reason.
But like you, I have the same idea that a song has to be compelling to me just using these little GM sounds before it deserves the full treatment. :s0801:

[liampatrickingram]

One thing maybe is that I generally do all my writing in terms of chords, melodies, etc. with a basic piano patch, then go back afterwards adding unique sounds. For some reason I feel that keeps me musically "honest" in that I don't rely on a cool sound to carry a song. Got to have the musical foundation before adding the embellishment of sound design.

I've been doing the same thing lately, with a piano too.  I like how if you nail a good chord progression there is a very good chance you will end up with a finished product.  When you start off with sounds and effects you often have an awesome start but then can't transition smoothly into a chorus or bridge.  You're left with an amazing 16 bar snippet that you never get around to finishing.  The last project I was working on I had at least over 100 reason files and ended compiling 10 mediocre songs.

[Last Alternative]

Aside from recording, EQ takes the longest and I start over a lot. My weak point is obsessing way too long over cutting resonant and whistling frequencies - sometimes after a while I realize I'm hearing things. :s0959:

[MirEko]

One thing maybe is that I generally do all my writing in terms of chords, melodies, etc. with a basic piano patch, then go back afterwards adding unique sounds. For some reason I feel that keeps me musically "honest" in that I don't rely on a cool sound to carry a song. Got to have the musical foundation before adding the embellishment of sound design.

I like that idea. I think I will try that with my next few tracks.

I used to do this but now I find that I create melodies I wouldn't make if I was using a piano sound. Sometimes unique melodies come from the sound itself.

[Gaja]

Aside from recording, EQ takes the longest and I start over a lot. My weak point is obsessing way too long over cutting resonant and whistling frequencies - sometimes after a while I realize I'm hearing things. :s0959:

Yeah I know that problem. The worst part about it is, at some point, when all the resonant frequencies have been removed, everything left will sound like it's resonating, when in reality it's just all that's left of the signal.
The trick is (imo) to only remove freuencies that are actually disturbingly audible.

[Ocean of Waves]

Drums are cyan blue
Basses are orange
Guitars distortion are red
Guitars other are lilac
Vocals are yellow
Synths and keys are green

Busses have the same colors but are written in CAPITALS.
Each of the above have there own Rack with a ReMark on top of each Rack with the same color-coding.

Insert fx are gain-staged and put into Combinators with a skin matching the sound, I've got Amp and FX, this enables me to quickly audition.

[Nymphomation]

-All my bus channels have to be in square brackets and capitals e.g.
[DRUMS]

-Bus channel colours are darker variants of the child channels

[Dan303]

I wish I could choose the cable colours.

This would be awesome for big modular combinator patches. One colour for LFOs, another for envelopes, another for sequences, etc.

[JNeffLind]

3. I always use quantize while recording & all the midi notes ought to be precise from either sides!

I'm the same way. I used to adjust notes by hand until I discovered the legato feature on the tool window. Huge time saver for me if you haven't discovered it yet.

[Arrant]

- there can be no channels on the mixer, sequencer or rack that have the colour red, EVER.

All channels bass related must be red. Guess a collab is out of the question then

All modulation signals must be on separated tracks that are sky blue.

All bus channels must also be sky blue

And the most important: All clips must match the track color, and the mixer color must match the track color (a pain on R7 really)

[Jagwah]

Really cool idea for a thread, got some laughs out of it so I will share too.

One thing I absolutely must have is an audio splitter in its own rack on the very left, and again on the very right of the rack. Whatever device I am working on I position its rack to the center of the screen and I can't do that if I am on the very right or left of the rack.

I save and type everything in CAPITALS. Kind of makes it stand out when searching for things.

Global send effects always go to the left of the master section in the rack.

I always save things as 1.0, 2.0 3.0 etc etc, and sometimes as point fives if I must leave in a rush and I am unsure about the save, but I always skip 13.0

I never ever automate the level faders on the SSL, if I need to I will always just drop a line mixer at the end of the channel's chain and automate that. Saves hassles when leveling / mixing later.

I only ever fold a device if I really don't need to be looking at it again, same with sequencer tracks.

I NEVER name something unless it needs to be named, seen videos where people waste a lot of time naming things in my opinion. All my SSL channels are usually named, otherwise only when something needs it.


:comp:

[Julibee]

Wow! The only thing I'm truly OCD about.... I have to take off my shoes to sing. I've even done it on stage.

However, I am kind of rabid about removing ALL mastering presets until I'm finished mixing. That's about my only rule for mixing.

I do arrange things in the mixer in a certain order, and I will often color code things, but I don't have any set rules about it, and all your colors are belong to me.

[Last Alternative]

Well actually everything I do is OCD.
-I can spend hours recording 1 part (guitar, vocals, bass..) until it's perfect for me, which it still never is.
-Everything is labeled & color coded, in specific order.
-Once the rough draft is laid out I will play the song on a loop going thru every kick I have, then snare, hats, toms, etc. to find the best.
-Already mentioned my OCD with EQ..
-Sometimes I will spend literally all day & night doing music and not even eat, pee, etc. without even realizing it [crazy, yes].
-I strive for perfection but it's unattainable. I have to keep telling myself even the pros cringe at the finished product. So true.