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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/10/2018 in all areas

  1. It's a common progression for creative people, even experienced ones. You can read up on a what a lot of other people have done to break through the point of losing excitement to do a track and actually do the work of finishing it, but I think in general what you really need to be told is just to FINISH YOUR DAMN TRACKS. No tricks, no shortcuts, just sit down and get ready to go through the bog of working on it regardless if you feel interested or excited by it or not. I say there's not much good a lot of more specific advice can do for you because it's all as unique a process to you as your music style is. You won't know what the best way for you to get "motivation" to get through it until you do it. And do it again. And again. And again. To be serious about doing an art means to employ a dedication to its discipline - in other words, get ready to sacrifice lots of time that won't be fun. Everyone here that ever got successful at music had to go through the same ritual and just accept it as part of what we do. I get the feeling what you're running into is just losing that OMG THIS IS AWESOME feeling we all get when starting something and getting the idea this could really be something and then just quitting it when that "high" runs out. Without experience in getting through the other end of it and going through the meticulous stages of making sure every single little fucking thing in it is perfect, you won't get through that barrier. The encouragement part is, once you start getting experience in doing it, it can really build up quick. In fact, I personally make it a point in the soundtracks and albums and stuff I do now is to start a bunch at a time, work on them until I feel like I've got them at a good place, and then go back and do the "finishing" part for all of them in a "stage". I don't get obsessed with making sure I focus and start and finish one track at a time anymore because I've personally found that I work better in "batch bursts", what I call them. I'll get a bunch of tracks up to "nearly finished" stages, then one day I'll just burst right through and do the finishing stages for all of them in a single day because where my mind and energy at is "finish the job". No more "come up with something that could be something" or "ok, start getting some next parts going for this shit", it's "ok, the composition and arrangement is done, now to finish them off". So, in actuality, you accidentally painted yourself into a good corner where now you can work on building a shitload of "finishing" experience. Start with one track, take as much time to make it perfect as you need, finish it and release it. Then do the same for another. Then the same for another. Then do 3 with a made up weekly schedule for each. Release. Then another 3. Release. And so on. I tell you straight, few things in the world are as satisfying as finishing a song after you went through the not-fun part of doing it. It's like a non-gross orgasm that lasts all day. Then you realize you're quickly getting better and faster at doing it because the satisfaction of finishing a song is also a major EXP. POINTS burst. It really feels like you level up the first time you get an Ocremix posted, then your first whole album finished, then your first album published by a small label and so on. And those experience points don't go away as quickly as some other achievements. So there's your motivation - sit your ass back in that chair and get to work and you'll get day-long orgasms you don't necessarily have to wipe off, and then find out you secretly jumped from Level 1 to Level 8 in just a few days and secretly picked up some "abilities" along the way, like being able to hear missing notes, missing instruments, wrong instruments and whole wrong sections just by listening to your own WIP a few times. You'll be surprised how accurate I am here.
    3 points
  2. Just letting everyone know that I'm working on my Area 6 arrangement heavily before giving it off to performers. Contacting a few people to see if they're interested in helping critique; I think it's really going to come to life after all the advice I've got and a ton of listening to a few Jazz albums. Also just so everyone knows, I'm going to be opening... a lot more performer slots. Like, double what I had before.
    1 point
  3. another termina (with a touch of marbule!) is taken by @Earth Kid and @Jorito, in a funky electronica/ethnic hybrid! this will be the last track and they're speeding through it, so hopefully the next news will be that it's finished and we're prepping the last of the admin stuff. i did convert and tag all 27 tracks we have so far, and we've compiled the last of the art that we need, so we're just about there.
    1 point
  4. I'm going to make Clipped Wings into a full out rock song. I need people to help me with this. I shall edit this post when I have made lryics. I shall also sing the lyrics so people can tell what I want them to sound like overall. Actual title will be "(We Got) Clipped Wings" Going to have a spoken monologue in the beginning. Again, pm me for more info/if you find willing musicians/singers. Thank you.
    1 point
  5. This is fun indeed. Is the pop at the very beginning intentional? I'm going to guess not... perhaps we can just chop that off before posting. I agree with Larry about the vocal and hats competing, it is because the hats are mixed dead center and the vocal is also primarily in the center... imo the vocals are mixed well enough to get the job done, but the hats need to be much more stereo-separated, that will remove that competition, and take focus off of the repetition of the toploop. The arrangement is great, although the soundscape is quite samey throughout; a proper breakdown besides the Bowflex interlude would have really helped. The vocals are funny and well enough performed, and do bring smiles. The track could definitely use a mixing cleanup and the vocals could be mixed for much more presence and impact... but what is here works well enough and it is super fun. Gotta go with it. YES
    1 point
  6. The drum programming sounded too repetitive over time, which dragged this down. Along with that, I'm not a fan of the vocal mixing, with the drums sort of smothering the lyrics instead of the singing being more upfront; it just draws more attention to the step-above-metronome feeling of the drums. Vocals ain't the best by traditional measures, but the cheese is thick with this one. Whatever vocal layering happened from 2:15-2:22, then later from 3:35-4:00 was just muddy. The bass work was particularly good, but got obscured for the most part due to the mixing. The Bowflex ad at 4:32-4:45 was fun, but the voice work should have been de-essed, so the inclusion felt sloppy. The arrangement was fun & spirited, so it carries this. That said, the mixing lacked clarity, which undermined the writing, and the drum writing droned, which left this dynamically flatter than it should have been. We don't need perfection, but I also don't think it should have been a mixed bag with the production and drums. YES
    1 point
  7. Ah, I've been enjoying this one quite a bit. I didn't feel it was all THAT cheezy overall - if that bowflex ad wasn't in the middle of the track, I would've actually taken it at face value. Also, Ab Solution... I just got it. HA! Anyhoo, it's much bouncier than the source, seeming to take you on a less serious, more fun filled adventure, and I'm digging it. The production is pretty solid, save for a rendering error in the beginning of the track (it sounds like the mic was being turned on). The arrangement is pretty spot on, with some pretty neat cameos thrown in there (I'm thinking of the 'Moves like Jagger' reference at 2:20). Yeah, it's really good - you certainly earned Bentley Jones' praise. Let's see this one go up! YES
    1 point
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