I've got loopitis. Heal me.

[Optomadic]

Takes takes and more takes.. When your done combine them all together. Play some more parts over top and Mixdown.. Tadaa you have a new song!

What you should be doing is rendering each part as you go along. You will be surprised how fast a song comes out of many takes.

A good way to practice commiting to a take is just to smash everything together in a 2 track stereo recording via 8 16 or 32 bar takes. Use an inline recorder(s) like Tapeit and just keep recording more and more chunks of the song.. The more you do this the more you'l percive the length verses the arrangment plus automation etc.

Remember this, human senses become dulled very easily. Just like when you listen to a mix too long your ears start to fool you. Well its the same thing with listening to a loop. Basically you brain becomes bored and tried to protect you by telling you that the song sounds bad and you should delete it. For instance if you ever go back to a song a couple of days later it usually sounds good (or bad depending ).

I basically solved this problem for myself by recording many takes and then just combining them up. Eventually you'l get so good that arranging will seem like 2nd nature..

[Uncle E]

Dnb started as this very experimental and original genre and now it's formulaic and you have to make your track a certain way, in order to meet expectations. I think that limits my creativity a great deal.

You still hear big name DJ's playing tracks from 10 years ago, before the whole Optical/No U-Turn thing blew up and changed the sound into what it is today, so obviously there's an audience for less repetitive DnB.

[iDumi]

It's odd, you sound disenchanted or even bitter about this genre. Why should you make it painful for yourself and carry on with a genre that you feel is frustrating for you?

I was speaking about dnb as a whole. There is a subgenre I still enjoy, that has always broken out off the mold. Think early Renegade Hardware (97-2002) or stuff like Universal Project, Militia, Absolut Zero and the new techo influenced dnb. That's what I love and that's what I want to make.

But even that is built on a pattern, although not as strict.

Btw, I'm working with Reason 4

Do you have any specific reason for trying so hard to do what you feel is expected of you? Just curious.

I think it's ambition. It's been 7 years since I started making music and I haven't made a single dnb tune that is any good.

[SWTrex]

Get used to adding content horizontally rather than vertically.

+1

Recently, while I was playing around with ZebraCM, with no intent to start a new song, I became semi-inspired, hit the record button, and layed out 8+ minutes of what became the backbone of a new piece.

Don't be afraid to hit the record button and just see what happens.

SWTrex

[iDumi]

Don't be afraid to hit the record button and just see what happens.

Well that is a bit difficult for me to do for 2 reasons: I don't have a midi keyboard (but I do plan on getting one mid January the latest) The way I work is by drawing in notes in the piano roll. The second reason is that I can't play the simplest chord to save my life. I'm completely devoid of even the most basic knowledge of music theory. I guess that's making it even harder than it is.

[dacaumodo]

Takes takes and more takes.. When your done combine them all together. Play some more parts over top and Mixdown.. Tadaa you have a new song!

What you should be doing is rendering each part as you go along. You will be surprised how fast a song comes out of many takes.

A good way to practice commiting to a take is just to smash everything together in a 2 track stereo recording via 8 16 or 32 bar takes. Use an inline recorder(s) like Tapeit and just keep recording more and more chunks of the song.. The more you do this the more you'l percive the length verses the arrangment plus automation etc.

Remember this, human senses become dulled very easily. Just like when you listen to a mix too long your ears start to fool you. Well its the same thing with listening to a loop. Basically you brain becomes bored and tried to protect you by telling you that the song sounds bad and you should delete it. For instance if you ever go back to a song a couple of days later it usually sounds good (or bad depending ).

I basically solved this problem for myself by recording many takes and then just combining them up. Eventually you'l get so good that arranging will seem like 2nd nature..

That's interesting. Do you mean you play midi parts live and then render them? Do you delete the midi files/clips as you go? Or are you only talking of audio?

[dacaumodo]

Don't be afraid to hit the record button and just see what happens.

Well that is a bit difficult for me to do for 2 reasons: I don't have a midi keyboard (but I do plan on getting one mid January the latest) The way I work is by drawing in notes in the piano roll. The second reason is that I can't play the simplest chord to save my life. I'm completely devoid of even the most basic knowledge of music theory. I guess that's making it even harder than it is.

Man, get a midi keyboard it will change your life, regardless of whether you know any theory or not. I'd get discouraged in like two days if I only had piano roll.

[tehlord]

Get used to adding content horizontally rather than vertically. In other words, do everything you can to proceed on your timeline.

- Sascha

LOL so simple and so true.

Nice

[bagginz]

Loopitis:

http://www.cosmosis.co.uk/cms/index.php ... &Itemid=40

cheers,
bagginz

[Rottweiler]

Loopitis:

http://www.cosmosis.co.uk/cms/index.php ... &Itemid=40

cheers,
bagginz

elllo mate

[qa2pir]

Loop a drum beat or whatever over and over, and then start to jam melodies with a MIDI keyboard.

Another trick is to think about chord progression (maybe not so much if you're making minimal techno or something); a slightly less intense for the verse, something more building for a bridge, and then the chorus, which should be intense and relieving, typically. Then just smash in the root notes as a bassline, or add static piano chords or whatever, and jam to that.

[eduardo_b]

I'd suggest getting as much done as possible, rough as it is, and then refine later on. If you sit and listen to loops playing endlessly while you tweak and tweak, you will tire of hearing them and move on instead of adding more layers of sound to those loops. Get the ideas down first.

[iDumi]

Loop a drum beat or whatever over and over, and then start to jam melodies with a MIDI keyboard.

Another trick is to think about chord progression (maybe not so much if you're making minimal techno or something); a slightly less intense for the verse, something more building for a bridge, and then the chorus, which should be intense and relieving, typically. Then just smash in the root notes as a bassline, or add static piano chords or whatever, and jam to that.

Did you read beyond my first post? I said I don't have a midi keyboard (yet) and I said what music I'm making... well, trying to make, more rather. And it's not minimal techno. Maybe I should try that.

[jackson]

There's some good tips in this thread:

http://www.undergroundhouse.net/forum/i ... 64141&st=0

Person had a very similar problem to you.

[Optomadic]

Takes takes and more takes.. When your done combine them all together. Play some more parts over top and Mixdown.. Tadaa you have a new song!

What you should be doing is rendering each part as you go along. You will be surprised how fast a song comes out of many takes.

A good way to practice commiting to a take is just to smash everything together in a 2 track stereo recording via 8 16 or 32 bar takes. Use an inline recorder(s) like Tapeit and just keep recording more and more chunks of the song.. The more you do this the more you'l percive the length verses the arrangment plus automation etc.

Remember this, human senses become dulled very easily. Just like when you listen to a mix too long your ears start to fool you. Well its the same thing with listening to a loop. Basically you brain becomes bored and tried to protect you by telling you that the song sounds bad and you should delete it. For instance if you ever go back to a song a couple of days later it usually sounds good (or bad depending ).

I basically solved this problem for myself by recording many takes and then just combining them up. Eventually you'l get so good that arranging will seem like 2nd nature..

That's interesting. Do you mean you play midi parts live and then render them? Do you delete the midi files/clips as you go? Or are you only talking of audio?

Well you can do the exact same thing with MIDI (I do) but it can still mess you up as MIDI is not really committing, you can still go in there and go into edit infinitum again. I'd say do this with audio 1st then when you get the hang of it go with MIDI. BTW ext1.41 is a GODSEND for recording MIDI takes especially in LiveMode ! I created an eXT project that is just a bunch of blank arrangements where I can record a loads of MIDI, stop, pick a new arr record again so on and so on then just click on Live and play them back live..

Again audio its probably best to render straight to audio until you get the hang of it though.. I've found quality/sync/feature wise, TapeIt2 is the best for this. A big plus with TI2 is that you can find -6db to -3db very easy and keep it from clipping, also you can specify how many bars you want it to record (in the full pay version)!