KVR Audio

Fhangor · Post by **Fhangor** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:49 am

Hi all!

Can you tell me why you are using prepared grooves in your songs? Are you convinced of them being better than yours? Are they inspiring your work? Or aren't you able to create your owns?

I have looked over some groove libraries. But at last I have decided to make my own rhythms to my songs cause of the own touch . For me I am not able to say that the song is completely done by me if I use the prepared grooves. what is your opinion?

quantize · Post by **quantize** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:58 am

this is a silly old argument some people obsess over..the truth is it doesn't matter in the slightest..often sampled live beats provide atmospheres and grooves that are either impossible or incredibly tricky to produce with programmed single hits,or conversely loops will not always fit the situation..you dont have to do one thing or another, just choose the right sounds for your music, and leave the method postulating to purist tossers..

Maadfoo · Post by **Maadfoo** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:01 am

Well,

I'm doing my own grooves too...but as slicing beats is a great oppertunity to give them grooves your own touch its actually better because you're building of professional material and do not have to work 4 funcking years on one beat.

Greetz

aallvor · Post by **aallvor** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:01 am

Fhangor wrote:Hi all!

Can you tell me why you are using prepared grooves in your songs? Are you convinced of them being better than yours? Are they inspiring your work? Or aren't you able to create your owns?

I have looked over some groove libraries. But at last I have decided to make my own rhythms to my songs cause of the own touch . For me I am not able to say that the song is completely done by me if I use the prepared grooves. what is your opinion?

If it sounds good, it is good. No one needs to know

ludwig · Post by **ludwig** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:37 am

I use sliced grooves (rex files). Maybe because i'm a bit lazy and also because those sliced grooves are already processed with fx and eq and stuff.

Minispek · Post by **Minispek** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:06 pm

Fhangor wrote:Hi all!

Can you tell me why you are using prepared grooves in your songs? Are you convinced of them being better than yours? Are they inspiring your work? Or aren't you able to create your owns?

I have looked over some groove libraries. But at last I have decided to make my own rhythms to my songs cause of the own touch . For me I am not able to say that the song is completely done by me if I use the prepared grooves. what is your opinion?

I only used prepared grooves when they inspire me. If I find a nice loop that get's me moving then I want to use it as an inspiration for a new track. I don't necessarily end up using the original sounds of the loop.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:09 pm

I often use "prepared grooves" in my music as i like the flavour they give the song. I rarely base a song on it though. Just a little spice.

MotorMind · Post by **MotorMind** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:24 pm

Fhangor wrote:Hi all!

Can you tell me why you are using prepared grooves in your songs? Are you convinced of them being better than yours? Are they inspiring your work? Or aren't you able to create your owns?

I have looked over some groove libraries. But at last I have decided to make my own rhythms to my songs cause of the own touch . For me I am not able to say that the song is completely done by me if I use the prepared grooves. what is your opinion?

Your definition of "prepared grooves" is too vague to have any meaning whatsoever.

Toxikator · Post by **Toxikator** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:26 pm

Asking "why do you use prepared grooves?" (obvious assumption problems aside) is like asking "why do you use preprogrammed hosts?" or "why do you use prebuilt microphones?"

A musician's work is making the best song he can, using whatever tools are available. Prepared grooves are one of those tools.

Minispek · Post by **Minispek** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:31 pm

Toxikator wrote:Asking "why do you use prepared grooves?" (obvious assumption problems aside) is like asking "why do you use preprogrammed hosts?" or "why do you use prebuilt microphones?"

A musician's work is making the best song he can, using whatever tools are available. Prepared grooves are one of those tools.

It think the reason why people don't like using prepared grooves or beats is that they think they aren't being very creative. Everyone likes to have an original sounds.
The solution is to see prefab stuff as a source of inspiration which helps you make that original creative sound you are after and not to see prefab stuff as something that holds creativity back.

Toxikator · Post by **Toxikator** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:36 pm

Well it's a logic that falls backward though. Is it not creative to use presets? Is it not creative to use instruments and plugins that other people built and programmed? Is it not creative to use tuning systems developed by other musicians? Is it not creative to use unoriginal knowledge of music theory?

In a Music Theory forum such as this one I would have hoped people would be more willing to accept that it is not "uncreative" to utilize something other than a soldering iron, a tablesaw, and a lot of time and raw materials when setting about a new project.

krylenko · Post by **krylenko** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:43 pm

Toxikator wrote:Asking "why do you use prepared grooves?"... is like asking "why do you use preprogrammed hosts?" or "why do you use prebuilt microphones?"

No, it's not. Not at all.
Does the microphone sing for you? Does the host record and mix for you?
Clearly not.

The issue at hand is not whether to start from absolute scratch but whether to outsource some of the actual music composition and recording.

It's an interesting topic to debate; please don't cloud it over with inapt analogies.

Minispek · Post by **Minispek** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:25 pm

Toxikator wrote:Well it's a logic that falls backward though.

Yes, true...But! It's about where people draw the line. Most people draw the line at the point where you use equipment to make a raw sound. And it also has to do with what you are capable of. You won't see me build mics. And I do use Synthedit to create some of the equipment I use, but I don't like programming in C++, so that's were I draw the line.

For the same reason I don't like to use too much prefabbed stuff like loops. I believe it is in my capabilities to create my own and even if it's not as good as a precreated one, my capabilities will only increase by practice.

In the end it all comes down to the pleasure you have in making music and it how you do that is not very important. After all, you draw your own lines. My only point was that prefabbed grooves can be a source of inspiration when trying to get to your own original sound.

Fhangor · Post by **Fhangor** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:33 pm

With "prepared grooves" I mean all the loop samples around and midi patterns...

benzene · Post by **benzene** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:03 pm

IMO it's a bit of both. If you felt the need to redesign and produce all your tools from the ground up, then you're going to get stuck, and creativity isn't going to happen. Left brain versus right brain.

However it's nice to make a selection of the musical content yourself: design a synth patch, use some funny concoction of polyrhythms, program your own host in Assembler! I think a complete lack of creative input would never be much fun and actually be quite boring.

It's about the balance.

Classical musicians feel quite content to buy a prebuilt cello, and composers seem happy enough to learn from past works to prepare theirs. But it's what they add to this that leaves them feeling that they did something unique with the tools they had.

Why are you using prepared grooves?