Did you ever went back and revisited your older tracks after gaining more knowledge?

[ferez21]

I was just wondering, as i feel that iv'e gained a lot of valuable and practical knowledge in the recent month or two. I usually hate going back to old "finished" projects, because the old projects are usually very messed up (organize-wise, and mixing-wise).

how do you go about this? Do you revisit your former tracks when gaining new knowledge that can potentially make them sound better?

Cheers,
Erez

[flopasen]

Absolutely.

Since my new computer was built I've created over 250 projects on FL and although only a few stand out to me presently, I continuously go back to older projects to try and understand what 'ME' from the past was trying to create at the time and make slight adjustments / change a few things.

This approach to my portfolio hasn't yielded many 'finished' tracks so far but I have a TON of tracks/ideas that are 75%+ there and just need more time (which I am willing to eventually give (and I'll have more knowledge and experience then too ))

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

- Leonardo da Vinci


It's the closest thing we have to being able to work with a younger self.

[Perimeter Sound]

It's always good for a laugh. Or if you are focused enough I guess, you can find some good jumping off points for tracks that way. In general (and I consider myself lucky in this way, not bragging) I find that I can just (usually) -do better now-, so no real reason to dwell on the past, at least as far as unfinished stuff goes eh.

[highkoo]

Ive been tempted to re-work stuff. But imo, its a waste of time really.
Move forward, do new things, learn new things.

Its pretty rare that we get good enough that it makes sense to dwell on a project, imo.
Theres a lot of music to be made, and none of it will ever be perfect.
"Abandoned" indeed, so why go back only to re-abandon?

That said, I have many projects that have had a working life longer than a few months, so.. maybe I have a different perspective.

I feel like when I am old and theres nothing new that excites me that I want to play with in a new track is when I will start looking back at what I have done. I almost never listen to my stuff, especially old stuff.
Im planning on uploading a bunch of real old House tunes to SoundCloud, and I bet that will be both awesome and cringeworthy simultaneously!

[thecontrolcentre]

Ive been tempted to re-work stuff. But imo, its a waste of time really.
Move forward, do new things, learn new things.

Same here.

[VitaminD]

Absolutely.

Since my new computer was built I've created over 250 projects on FL and although only a few stand out to me presently, I continuously go back to older projects to try and understand what 'ME' from the past was trying to create at the time and make slight adjustments / change a few things.

This approach to my portfolio hasn't yielded many 'finished' tracks so far but I have a TON of tracks/ideas that are 75%+ there and just need more time (which I am willing to eventually give (and I'll have more knowledge and experience then too ))

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

- Leonardo da Vinci


It's the closest thing we have to being able to work with a younger self.

Well said!

I do the same. It is really nice to back years.. even a decade and listen to melodies and chord progressions that never quite made it to full fledged songs. There is a lot of material in those 'incomplete' projects now that I can turn into songs. I do have to sort through a lot of really bad sounding projects though However, often I'd be onto something and create a solid chorus or loop but did not have enough confidence at the time to go further and turn it into a song. Today I do. So it works out.

[Arglebargle]

I've tried occasionally, but it's usually not a productive use of time. Better to move on to new things.

[codec_spurt]

I just spent a couple of days hooking up my Akai MG614 4-Track - the Rolls Royce of 4-Tracks with DBX NR.

Akai now own the Nakamichi brand btw... I only see them as going from strength to strength. Anyway...

I loaded some tapes over 20 years old. Dub Reggae stylee with a trumpet on it.

Wtf? I never could play trumpet? Never even had a trumpet - what's going on?





The Ensoniq SD-1 and Korg MS-10 and other bits and pieces of the time really could make a most interesting noise...


I recorded it into my main DAW through my Focusrite SaffireLE - into Ableton Akai Edition - thanks to just buying an APC-20 - perfect for my needs. Quicker than Studio One, Reaper, EnergyXT2, Podium, the cripped version of Cubase I have... But that's probably just me.

Ableton worked like a champ - I had the routing set to pick up on just mono as an option when recording as the Akai I am using is a battered one - it is in fact my backup Akai - I have two. The other is in mint condition with the cassette section never having been used due to it being used as just a mixer.

I bought it off a chap in Canada that saw me advertising for it on KVR. f**ker charged me a thousand Euros. And I paid it. I paid 60 quid for the battered one.
But those preamps on there are worth ten times that. The mint Akai I bought was actually from a chap who was a manager for them at the time. I had to buy a PSU converter for it though, even though the Akais are actually dual voltage - they have a switch on the back to change between a 110/240 configuration iirc. But for some reason this expensive old lady didn't have one. Transformer cost me 30 quid.


I have another 200 tapes in my suitcase (and the gf smiled and thought I just couldn't let go of my old pron stash when I finally moved in).

Most of them shit. So I have to mine for gold. I have a list of about 20 of the most exotic and rare synths known to man recorded on the tapes, plus girl vocals and performances that I have permission to use, even if just as orphaned works...


I plan to release a massive sample pack of the stuff on there. The samples will all be about 20 seconds to maybe 20 minutes long . Someday.


I need to get my new Ensoniq SD-1 hooked up too. Just bought a mint version of one of them and all. So got two of them too. The disks from 20 years ago still work, well not all, but 80 percent of them. I plan on doing renders and releasing all that too.


As for my music, well, we move forward. It's the only way. But it's just so damn beautiful to load up stuff that you did 20 years ago, that you haven't even listened to a lot of the time, and occasionally be pleasantly surprised and think 'I'm 'aving that!'. Was that me? I don't play trumpet!


I won't be working tracks around them. I'll just be using them as loops in new stuff. You got to draw the line somewhere. You'd go insane otherwise. Wouldn't you?

[codec_spurt]

I feel like when I am old and theres nothing new that excites me that I want to play with in a new track is when I will start looking back at what I have done. I almost never listen to my stuff, especially old stuff.

Well, I feel pretty old too. And nothing excites me any more. I hate modern music. Except for the exceptions one finds in the cracks, but you won't know what they are, no one does, that is why they are in the cracks.

But when you are really old will not be the right time to look back. Look back now. Really, I guarantee you that 80 percent of your stuff will make you cringe, but the other 20 percent...

Ah, the other 20 percent...

If you are any good as a musician/producer, then at some point you will have done something good, and you will have stretched yourself and experimented to get there.

Just for me, load up an old project, if for no other reason than just to check you still have the stuff in a playable format, then listen to it with your best critical mind that you have taken all these years to develop, then, tell me what you find. I bet you a pound to the penny that you will find some stuff in there that you will be able to use. And that it will be so different to what you are doing now, it will make you smile.

~This is a musical journey we are on. Most of us will never have commercial success, but personal success, personal development is important to measure. Even if you just say, Oh codec, you were wrong, all of my old stuff was total shit, then both of us have learned something .


Seriously though, for your own musical sake, to move forward, look back once in a while. Thoroughly recommended. Even if you don't act on it. It is important to remember who we are. And who we once were.

[Mushy Mushy]

Man I'd love to, but where do you guys find the time?!

[highkoo]

If you are any good as a musician/producer, then at some point you will have done something good...

Shit...




Some of my half-old stuff is actually on my iPod, which I listen to on 'shuffle' religiously, so I hear some of it.
And tbh, there is one bit of one track that is f**king awesome, and I am tempted to go grab the loop every time I hear it.
Irony: The part Im talking about is at the end of a track, during a 'fade out', where I feed the whole master through some weird filters.
So my favorite bit from my back catalog is a moment where I arbitrarily altered everything I had done.
Ah, art.

[codec_spurt]

Man I'd love to, but where do you guys find the time?!

There is no time.
That is the problem.

Time is the most precious gift.

No time to check out all those new VSTs that look so pretty.
No time to check out the ones that even sound good.
No time to differentiate.

No time to make art.
No time to appreciate art.

No time to meet a wife.
No time to have children.
No time to love the children.

No time to make new songs.
No time to listen to old songs.
No time to make new tracks with the old songs that you found the time to listen to.


I know I won't get through a tenth of it. I have already overstepped the mark.

Now is the time to be discerning. To never argue with fools. Only those that you might change their mind. Take the time though to find out who they are.

We can look back, it's ok. But like the best of sharks I find myself working most efficiently moving forward. The songs that I lost, like a lot of you, through hard disk crashes (Compyfox I'm with you here) the stuff that I spent a thousand Euros for to get recovered off my Hard Disk, that I have not yet found the heart to go through.. It's all ok, because there is never enough time.

Abandon it all. Just move forward. A big bonfire of your vanities to you all.


But sometimes, just sometimes, if you can find the time, a sweet reminisce is better than a little bitter nostalgia.


And that is why, Everything I find and document as I go forward will be released for free as samples for everyone to use, or songs for everyone to enjoy.

But where will we get the time to listen to them oh Codec of the hill?

Good question, my little disciples...

Good question.

You got me there!

[codec_spurt]

If you are any good as a musician/producer, then at some point you will have done something good...

Shit...




Some of my half-old stuff is actually on my iPod, which I listen to on 'shuffle' religiously, so I hear some of it.
And tbh, there is one bit of one track that is f**king awesome, and I am tempted to go grab the loop every time I hear it.
Irony: The part Im talking about is at the end of a track, during a 'fade out', where I feed the whole master through some weird filters.
So my favorite bit from my back catalog is a moment where I arbitrarily altered everything I had done.
Ah, art.

See, only took you five minutes.

And you only had to trawl through your brain, not 40 f**king floppy disks thinking jeebus holy moly riding an exercise back backwards, no wonder I din't get the gig....



Take that loop. Catalog it. Put it in a folder called 'My Gold'. Become an Alchemist now. Now find some shit to mix it with. Could be your own shit, could be someone elses. Not all shit is equal. When you mix it you shall know. Yes Gold was the goal of the Alchemists of the time. But we are the new Alchemists. We already made Gold. We are looking to make what even the original Alchemists of the time did not realise they were looking for, to find: The Philosopher's Stone.





You hold it in your hand. Your shit. Your Gold. What shall you make of it?

[Tricky-Loops]

I'm tempted to re-work older songs but I tend to go on and forget about the past.

The only thing that I could imagine is to make a remix from an older song...

[ferez21]

@spurt, let me rephrase you

You hold it in your hand. Your shit. What shall you make of it?