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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 09:01 [#00325412]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
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1. How do you guys sample from the real world? Can you recommend a reasonably cheap portable means of sampling?
2. The other day I posted about stumbling across existing tunes when just messing about on a keyboard. Do you ever find you just happen to make a synth sound exactly the same as from an existing tune? Last night I made the TS404 sound just like one of the drums from leftfield's last album.
3. Tell me from start to finish the process you go through to make your music including what equipment/software you use.
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Zeus
from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-07-26 09:06 [#00325423]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker
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1. mini disk w/mic 2. no, and if i did, id quickly get rid of it! dont want to sound alike!
3. I use reason. for now thats it... currently saving for a new setup....
um.. as far as making a track... it starts off any number of ways... a melody idea, or drum idea, or whatever
then i just kinda let it all pour out from there. the tracks kinda write themselves after i come up with the main idea...
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w M w
from London (United Kingdom) on 2002-07-26 09:07 [#00325427]
Points: 21426 Status: Regular
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1. Some markets like costco often allow customers to try free samples to boost their product sales. You can sample things we have the delusion of thinking are in infinite supply, like oxygen, to see if you like it too.
2. other artists inspire me and stuff. culture accumulates. 3. I just use sonic d's fractal incubator software, so all I do is press one button (enter) and it makes a new song every time.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 09:40 [#00325494]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Zeus: #00325423 | Show recordbag
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I tried minidisk with mic before, I wasn't too impressed. The mic wasn't "professional" by any means, but it wasn't cheap tat either. It may be that I was outside so the slight wind caused an effect similair to someone blowing on the mic...
Anyone use portable DAT tape recorders?
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 10:51 [#00325564]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular
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Nice topic, Ceri!
1. I have no means of sampling from the real world at the moment. I used to sample straight into my software sequencer using a pc mic, but my current computer has not allowed me to do so. Its probably a configuration problem, but I'm not into computers as such so I don't know what to do about it...
2. We all do! Its unavoidable! Why? Its just the nature of music!
3. A) If I work alone I use Reason or Fasttracker, and I record directly to MD. I like to improvise, so I mix everything live - semi-improv....
B) Me and my brother share a studio at his flat. We use reason with a midi keyboard (I don't have one at home yet...), a yamaha rmx1 thingy and we record directly to MD or harddrive. We work mostly like this: I use reason, he uses the rmx1, we start recording and do pure improvisation for the entire length of an MD. When we're done we smoke a spliff and play it back! Its the most rewarding way to work for me coz its astonishing what we stumble upon sometimes. We did such a session yesterday and I think it was bloody good! Its live, spontaneous and so open for possibilities...
I think we think we are the new Tangerine Dream or smthng....
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 11:00 [#00325583]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Co-existence: #00325564 | Show recordbag
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The improve thing sounds a blast. I'm going to do something similair with one of my mates when I get my laptop.
He'll play decks and drums and I'll use fruity loops softsynths or maybe rebirth's RB-303 we'll have to record it to his mac, any ideas on how to get two line ins (one from the laptop and one from a mic) into one? Can you get splitters that'll do that sort of connection?
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Chri5py
from my Solarbear (United Kingdom) on 2002-07-26 11:01 [#00325584]
Points: 2903 Status: Lurker
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1. I'd like to know the best method too...
2. No... sorry. This is turning out to be a really boring post... :(
3. First, I'll play around with my tiny Casio SA-67. I'll build up a nice tune and structure to match. Use suitable sounds from the music 2000 library, I edit the sound using the very limited editing tool to how I would like it to sound in realation to the part it's playint in the song. I'll then place in the melody structure and devise a bass pattern or various sound effects.
Depending on how I'm feeling, who is about at the time and what the song is now sounding like, I'll created several styled drum loops, usually emphisizing (hmm spelling) on a paticular type of percussion instrument.
Afterall of this I will constantly edit and change (usually most of the track instruments, effects and tune) for a period of roughly 3-4 months... whilst working on another song.
Thats about it
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 11:09 [#00325589]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Chri5py: #00325584 | Show recordbag
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Good to see you like doing lots of tweaking of a track :)
I usually get bored and shelve 'em after a month or so...
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Chri5py
from my Solarbear (United Kingdom) on 2002-07-26 11:11 [#00325592]
Points: 2903 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325589
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Lol.... I didn't say that didn't happen to some tracks... nowerdays I just can't get enough.... gotta go back for more until I ruin it!!! Mwa haa haaaa
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 11:15 [#00325599]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325583
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Well, my bro has a Soundblaster Live soundcard and it features a mixer, so he has plugged the rmx1 into the computer. Alternatively we use an external mixer (my brother built one himself!). I guess you need a mixer!
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jand
from Braintree (United Kingdom) on 2002-07-26 11:16 [#00325601]
Points: 5975 Status: Moderator | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325583 | Show recordbag
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yeah...Tandy can sort you out what you need to do that...
But might be worth buying a little mixer for added control...You can pick up
a simple 2 channel one from Tandy as well...shouldn;t cost much more than 20 quid...
p.s. Haven't forgotten your CD BTW...it's nearly at the top of my ever growing todo list at home so should be done sometime over the next week or so...
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 11:38 [#00325633]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Co-existence: #00325599 | Show recordbag
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I was thinking of plugging the line out from his 2 way mixer from the decks into the mac, but I'd still need a way of plugging the mic & line out into his mixer (both ports of which are linked to the decks) I suppose he could make do with one deck, but that's still one port too few :(
I'd actually need a 3 (4?) port mixer- one for line out from decks, one for the mic and one for the line in from the laptop. I suppose we could just get by with 2, using just a mic to pic up the decks & drums...
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 11:57 [#00325671]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325633
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hmmmm... do you have a tapedeck or some any kind of additional recording equipment? I've used a tapedeck as "premixer" with a rather decent result...
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 12:14 [#00325684]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Co-existence: #00325671 | Show recordbag
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My tape deck is ancient- I used to use it with my spectrum :)
Still, it might be worth trying :)
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regital
from Baltimore (United States) on 2002-07-26 12:19 [#00325687]
Points: 800 Status: Lurker
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I use a DAT recorder and it works great. The recorder is small so I can take it anywhere to sample sounds. The most important part is the mic. The better the mic the better your samples will be.
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Chri5py
from my Solarbear (United Kingdom) on 2002-07-26 12:21 [#00325689]
Points: 2903 Status: Lurker
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Co-existence and regital: Your tracks on the net at all? I want to have a listen...
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regital
from Baltimore (United States) on 2002-07-26 12:23 [#00325691]
Points: 800 Status: Lurker
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oh yeah... forgot about question 2 &3
2. Never happened to me
3. I record any samples I want through the DAT recorder. Create beats and melodies on the Triton and Nord or I'll have friends that can actually play instruments come and play. I'm partial to violins and acoustic guitars although I have a friend who can play the Digerido. Any vocals are recorded also and then I arrange it all in Protools. Add any effects etc. and then Compress it all before I burn the final audio track.
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 12:43 [#00325714]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325684
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Well, I should be more spesific (its a long timne since I did stuff like this) You probably need an extra amplifier. You connect your desired number of lines to the amplifier (via tapedeck or taperecorder or so ). Then you can connect the amplifier to the mixer via the amplifiers headphone outlet. Did that make any sense?
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 12:44 [#00325718]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Chri5py: #00325689
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I'm afraid not... I'm not to competent with internet technology....
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 12:47 [#00325720]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular
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and please exkjuse my spelling today :)
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jonesy
from Lisboa (Portugal) on 2002-07-26 12:53 [#00325728]
Points: 6650 Status: Lurker
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Can I hook my decks mixer to a four-track?
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 12:58 [#00325735]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to regital: #00325691 | Show recordbag
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re: "real" musician friends. Yes, I've still been meaning to transpose my piece "vanilla hub" to midi, put it through cakewalk to get sheet music, then record my mate who is grade 8 violin playing each of the 3 parts.
Jonesy: From what I understand, yes.
Co-existence: Surely using the headphones as a line out really messes with the sound quality? I plugged the headphones of my MP3 player to a hi-fi aux and it sounded really bad..
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nanotech
from Sukavasti Amitaba Pureland (United States) on 2002-07-26 12:59 [#00325736]
Points: 3727 Status: Regular
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1. I jacked a 120 min digital recorder from target (dept. store in the US). It has a decent mic, and in and outs. so i record the sound, then insert a mini cabel into the comp's mic, record it, then produce it (edit it/noise reduction/fx).
2. Yes, and i get very pissed, but it's a sign that i must be doing somthing progressive.
3.I'd like to rant on this, but it's take me sooo long. so here's the basics, as dealing with the sound it'sself, not prewriting with concept/lyrics. Esentially, writing a song is the same as text. (Prewrite, rough draft, revise/edit, final copy).
3a. Create a database of samples. (mostly via soft sound design (mostly done with creating my own ensambles in reaktor that'll create the sounds i'm looking for + little glitches of cool sounding shit). (create/edit/process)
3b. create a database of loops
3c. Run loops/samples through acid to create ideas dealing with direction.
3d. repeate steps a,b,c, plus adding new lines all making a general blueprint.
3e. make a rough draft.
3f. edit, arrange, etc.
then i throw everying into logic or reason to put in extra polish/etc.
3g. master (which is a major bitch because i love complex tracks with over 100 tracks [which a part of me says is a downfall]) so mastering is a huge stpe in my eyes.
This is how i make the instrumental, i basically repeat the smae processes for vox, then meld the two, then master, then final draft, then polish, then final draft, then publish.
heh :) hope that helps.
some programs i use are: soundforge, cool edit, FL, reason, acid, logic, reaktor, a TON of FX plugs. I can't stress FX plugins enough, they are a major factor in my music.
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 13:03 [#00325741]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325735
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I'm into lofi :)
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 14:36 [#00325818]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to nanotech: #00325736 | Show recordbag
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re: FX
I used to think they were overatted, but I'm using them more and more...
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 14:48 [#00325829]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
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Is it just me or are portable DAT drives ridiculously expensive?
Looks like I'll have to get a recordable minidisc :(
any alternatives?
What's the big advantage of DAT over MD anyway? I thought MDs were meant to be cd quality...
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flea
from depths of your mind (New Zealand) on 2002-07-26 14:49 [#00325831]
Points: 9083 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325412
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1. I just use the mike on my headset..on the multimedia head phones..and you can record straight onto the windows audio recorder...
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nanotech
from Sukavasti Amitaba Pureland (United States) on 2002-07-26 14:49 [#00325832]
Points: 3727 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325829
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dat's suck, IMO. i have no idae about mini disc. What are you trying to do? record samples for your comp? of record songs from your comp?
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 14:51 [#00325834]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to nanotech: #00325832 | Show recordbag
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I want something portable tha tI can use to sample real world sounds then put into my PCs line in to use in tracks.
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 16:02 [#00325942]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325829
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Dat is bloooody expensive! I use to work for this college radio station and that enabled me to borrow portable DAT recorders and some decent mics. The sound quality was stunning. With seperate mics for each channel - and long cables - I made some really awsome stereo samples. DAT has the widest frequency range. Minidisc has a frequency range lower than cd so its not that good...
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 16:05 [#00325945]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Co-existence: #00325942 | Show recordbag
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If I've got another multimedia module next year I may have access to Dat recorders, but I want something that'll do the job myself...
I'd mainly use it outside to capture birdsong/water running/machinery so I'm not bothered with it being mono.
Would a minidisc with a good mic be the best bet?
Cheers
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 16:06 [#00325947]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325945
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Sure!
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 16:20 [#00325965]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
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Can anyone recommend any decent "all round" mics/mic brands?
I've been looking at some "shure" brand mikes, but they seem v. expensive and quite specialist in that they're each aimed at being used for a specific purpose.
Ideally I'd like something that I can use to sample drums, a bass guitar, violin and also ambience. Am I being unrealistic? Do I need to get 2 or more mics?
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 16:43 [#00325996]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Ceri JC: #00325965 | Show recordbag
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Okay, let me rephrase that;
Which of you have mics that; a) are not hideously expensive, and b) you are happy with the sound quality from.
Please list brands & models...
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Co-existence
from Bergen (Norway) on 2002-07-26 16:43 [#00325997]
Points: 3388 Status: Regular
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Weekend everyone!
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-26 16:45 [#00325999]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Co-existence: #00325997 | Show recordbag
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Tsskk! I'm in work for another 3/4 hours and besides, you shouldn't make me think someone had posted a serious reply, then dash my hopes ;-(
What mic do you use, co-ex?
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skodt
from Toronto (Canada) on 2002-07-26 20:07 [#00326135]
Points: 672 Status: Regular
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i'll let you in on some cool lo-fi recording devices that are dirt cheap adn sound way better than taking a clean sample and adding fx.
take an old shitty walkman w/record function and earphones. put the earphones near the soundsource adn hit rec. sounds rad!
buy a dictaphone>palm audio reccorder.
old air to air mikes from portable tape decks form the early 80s
i could go on, but i don't want to give away all my secrets!
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-29 09:12 [#00328983]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
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Surely headphones can't pick sound up?
I did consider a palm audio recorder, but they don't seem very good for much other than spoken word...
I saw a Roland TB-606 at the weekend for £120. V. tempting, but my holida yis too near...
I did get a 4 channel mono micro-mixer though. :)
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princo
from Shitty City (Geelong) (Australia) on 2002-07-29 09:17 [#00328988]
Points: 13411 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #00328983
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TR-606 ?! heh...clearly a collectors item surely.
theres a TR-505 in a 2nd hand store near me.. going for $120 (aus)...but im not trying to "catch them all" (pokemon). and no i do NOT like Pokemon :|
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sacharin
from New York City, Boston, the Hag (Netherlands, The) on 2002-07-29 09:21 [#00328991]
Points: 113 Status: Lurker
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Nanotech... it sounds like a very uninspired way to write. Don't you have a musical idea before you start a song? Or do you just screw around with samples until you find something that sounds tolerable?
Perhaps not.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-29 09:36 [#00328995]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to princo: #00328988 | Show recordbag
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I managed to convince myself that the 808 & 909 in Re-birth are better & I already have them :)
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korben dallas
from nz on 2002-07-29 12:51 [#00329115]
Points: 4605 Status: Regular
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1. Everynow and then - however far from portable - I use protools free, as i get some stupid glitchy conflict with cubase - then chop it up into bits, and export as wav (or aiff as the case may well be).
2. Mmmhh.. I played around with an array of effects a while back and got some LP5 sounding stuff . should look it up again actually
3. It all depends, generally I start playing around with loops in cubase - generally a simple drum pattern then synth (or vice versa) - then generally a heap more drums .. then arrange it .. then deconstruct it .. roughly speaking :)
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od_step_cloak
from Pleth (Australia) on 2002-07-29 14:04 [#00329157]
Points: 3803 Status: Regular
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1) sorry, never do, only a few vocal samples of myself and mates done wit ha dodgy old mic (standard pc one) that i use as background bits n pieces in some tracks.
2) nah dont think ive ever done that, but once i was trying to write some tunes and i accidentally came up with the guitar riff from enter sandman. fluke!
3) use fruityloops. and drumsynth to make the sounds (cool coz you can mod the .DS files in FL without saving individual samples)
i write tracks left to right almost completely, but i often start with a theme/idea/texture/riff and work from there.
i dont usually do the drums first but the last one i did started with those glitch drums.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-30 08:54 [#00330341]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
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Okay, a new question:
I know the old "hardware vs. software" debate is one that has been brought up before, but I was wondering... Those of you who use both hardware and software- Which on its own is better and also what ratio of them do you typically use? E.g 20% hardware 80% software etc.
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nanotech
from Sukavasti Amitaba Pureland (United States) on 2002-07-30 09:47 [#00330388]
Points: 3727 Status: Regular | Followup to sacharin: #00328991
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those are just basics as to the technical aspects. You can't teach inspiration, nor can you acuratly describe it in a moments time over a few sentances on a MB. I assumed that The reader of that post already had his ideas, and was curios as to how to manifest these holons into an exsistence other than their mind.
You want some insiration techniques? why not smoke some crack? or finger yourself? I mean, come on. Do you really think you can be-little the whoel MB as to saying no-one gets that it should be assumed that you ppl already have an idea as to what you want to make?
Who the hell just fucks with samples? Rephlex records? Little 11 yr old kiddies with FL? I certianly hope no-one on this MB.
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nanotech
from Sukavasti Amitaba Pureland (United States) on 2002-07-30 10:03 [#00330396]
Points: 3727 Status: Regular
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That's a fair question.
With the current trends it's soon going to be that softsynths will overcome. All you'll need (and this is all i run) is a digital studio, and a midi controller w/ keys and knobs.
But since this trend needs a few years to evolve, currently there are great synths that soft synths, or the thieves at dash synthesis (the cloners for reaktor), can't fully dup. And a very strange phenomina; if one was to execute a triangle wav at 440 hz, on a soft synth, and on a hard synth, the "sound" is corresponding to the synth. To sum it up, soft synths sound soft, hard; hard. This is simmular to vynal/CD.
My theroy is this: the soft synth wavform is at a higher resolution, and isn't as "gritty" as the low-res, analogue equipment. (you can find the same in these digital-analogue synths; where all you would want in them are their talents.)
As fair as a question this is, it's a very hard one to answer, because the answers are catered to the person's needs. It all pretty much depends all on what you want to do. heh, i get a parelell question like this all the time: "If I were to punch you like this what would you do? (in martial arts)" I reply: "It all depends on the cituation, the surroundings, and on what my intent is on how i wish to end the conflict."
As for the ratio: it's 90% soft synth "talent," and 10% midi-controller. I only use the midi controller for tweaking mulitple effexts/lfos/(etc) in my composing...but i use it to hell, combined with my firends "wheels of steal," when i spin. and when i DJ, the ratio is about 30% soft, 70% hard...the laptop is merely an input itno the tables, an oscillator if you will.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-30 10:22 [#00330402]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to nanotech: #00330388 | Show recordbag
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Ha ha, I thought this was aimed at me till I noticed it was at sacharin :0)
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nanotech
from Sukavasti Amitaba Pureland (United States) on 2002-07-30 10:30 [#00330408]
Points: 3727 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #00330402
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yeah, man. But i dont' have bad blood with that guy, it's just that he might have gotten caught up in the "cold' way i tried to present my way of making music, and assumed that i had no inspiration, fire, passion, spark, etc. All simply missunderstandings, but who;s to say i'm not in a place where i can sharply thrust at him for not thinking with his whole mind. You see, i'm not upset at him, but upset at the way he thought. He didnt' think, therefore, he wasn't.
I'm pretty sure (or at least hoped) that you understood what i wrote, the postes were primarly intended to help you, and if anyone was able to asimaltie anything from it, i'm even happier! :).
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2002-07-30 10:34 [#00330413]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to nanotech: #00330408 | Show recordbag
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I understand what you mean- sometimes when you get artistic block, forcing yourself through it by working in a cold clinical way often helps.
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nanotech
from Sukavasti Amitaba Pureland (United States) on 2002-07-30 10:50 [#00330423]
Points: 3727 Status: Regular
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Ok, i'm not upset, and am not tring to say that my opinions arent' open for interpretation, nor am i tryign to be condesending.
When i posted the method on how i make music, i tried to tell it in a way a teacher would teach a student. and i tried to do that in a way that was so basic, and cold, that anyone could notice at leat two main ideas: 1. Making music, is very simular to writng a story. how do you make music? you write a track. Infact, there are tracksheets, and other tools to help song writers pre-write (especially), log, etc. and 2. This is a basic way to make music, and is my way of making music.
again, i'm not putting anyone down in this post, jsut triend to shed light.
Ok, about the little triffle against sacharin. I was trying to give him the binifit of the doubt. I was trying to say that he was attacking me on false ground, on a misunderstanding of the way's i wrote music, and i was attacking him for doing so. I wasn't trying to say that i use this "cold" approach when i have no spark, or am suffering writers block, i was just trying to explain how i write music, and besides, that's only the basics. I just assumed that everyone picked up on these things. Even though, "forcing yourself through it by working in a cold clinical way often helps." holds true for some people, and even me at times, this is not what i was trying to convey.
get it now? :)
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