Wrongplanet Musicians' Showcase

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TBH I've never liked using prefab drum loops, I think partly because I couldn't get the satisfaction of making the pattern myself previously. Even with the ability in Ableton to just throw the whole thing in the slicer dicer I like having different lengths to choose from. If anything that's what a transient shaper would probably give me - the ability to pull a drum out of something that's too clicky for my taste.

I'm not a fan of prefab drum loops, either.

While not personally into EDM myself, it's not something I'm ruling out. I just happen to be staying busy in other musical arenas. I'm to the point that I've sequenced so many arrangements where I played in the drum part from a keyboard that all my patterns and fills are starting to all sound alike. I've started using pattern sequencers and building my own library with variations to try to prevent my drum parts from becoming stagnant. D'n'b producers are in the business of manipulating drum loops, and I don't see how they keep the creative juices flowing.

As far as transient issues go, why not just use a compression side-chain or something like CV gating if you're using Reason? I'm going through a phase right now where I'm giving each track its own EQ setting so each track has its own little place in the spectrum and the harmonics of one won't get in the way of the others. That always cleans things up and gets me a fairly sparkly mix, but may not be applicable to what you're doing.

It just works more easily to go through my one-hit sample banks; pick a good BD, pick a good snare, get the hats and cymbals together. I like to design the mood, the feel, etc. myself and so far its been a lot easier for me to build my own loops than try to get prefab loops to conform to my needs or preferences.


That's what I've been doing all along. I essentially build a loop first, figure out - on each instrument - what formants create the mood or aspects in a particular sound that I like, and then I try to remove what's not needed, especially cutting away the inaudibles on the low-end with highpass filters. I think my only real epiphany (okay, I asked some people...) recently was that I like too much lower-mid content and need to discipline myself to cut out more of the <600Hz material. When I listen to any music in my car I notice that anything that seems to come out at eye or head level is between 1 - 2 kHz in emphasis and most production that feels full-spectrum, crisp-edged on its sounds, and properly 3D (they way I like it) has a lot more polished emphasis in that content and upward, seems like the key way to be able to hear that stuff clearly is to cut as much as possible below 600hz both to reduce masking and also reduce the amount of 50-100hz content needed for bass and kick (which also makes for much cleaner and crisper low-end). For the <600hz range it seems like 'less is more' holds true and while its not particularly gratifying on flat response monitors its significantly moreso anywhere and the psychoacoustic processing of the mind still generally infers the bottom weight (particularly in something like dark dnb).

Its things like this that were always a bit illusive to me and its exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do: go really deep, dark, drippy, but have it come through this clear and this three dimensional. That sort of rebalance is probably the key:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0g8EZnj3lA[/youtube]

Right. And it's a matter of personal taste, also. That example actually strikes me as a little bit on the metallic side, but on the other hand the filter sweeps keep it interesting.

Neither is there a one-size-fits-all for getting it just right. When I get through all this handbell stuff I'm learning (I put my ideas down in notation first so I won't forget, mark it up with a pencil to get choreography, and then memorize and work it up to tempo), I'm going to go back to the drawing board on sound design. In my spare time right now I'm programming an Obie Matrix 1000, which is only slightly easier than a Yamaha TX7. When I have more time to devote to it, I want to start working on patches that ONLY work within a narrow spectrum. And then I'll categorize them according to groups of patches that work extremely well together by design. No more guesswork or tweaking EQs except maybe at the master level.

I've finally disciplined myself to keep my LPFs low on basses. Too much of my work in the past kept mids really high on the final mix. And as if my synth basses weren't bad enough, it really stood out the few times I've played a real electric bass. That changed when I got my G&L L2500. It has a treble boost, which I don't use that much, but does come in handy sometimes. My favorite tone so far emphasized bass <200Hz, cut mids WAY down and left treble as-is for a beautiful slap. There's nothing like having a growling, snarling monster to shake things up!

I've got a question for all you musicians ( I didn't want to make a thread about this, so I hope someone will answer anyway):
I would like to start to learn piano.
I must say I have practiced recorder when I was a child (also the one with the bass clef) and then I practiced classical solo guitar for 10 years (in between I also practiced electrical bass guitar for 3 years but just with tabs). Nonetheless, I've always struggled with classical guitar playing styles. Especially because of its partly non-linear note arrangement on the frets. So finding the notes on the guitar was even more difficult than playing styles. I wasn't particularly good at it so to speak.
I've always wanted to try out the piano (it would be an e-piano but anyway). Now I wonder...what do you consider to be more difficult to learn and maybe to master...piano or classical guitar? (mind you, I'm not talking about just strumming some chords).
So you have two cleffs in piano music, right? That sounds complicated but then again, the notes are all linear on the keyboard.....

I started with guitars and picked up some basic piano playing. I find piano harder. I think that whichever you find more difficult or preferable is likely to be a completely personal thing.

Question for the musos; do you like and listen to your own music? I really like my new song, I listened to it 8 times today, which souncloud posted on my facebook, and I was a little ashamed of it.

Mostly I don't feel entirely happy about anything I've done, so I must have done something right this time.

I think within a week of being done with a tune, when I'm satisfied with it, I'll check it from different types of speakers and even earbuds to see how the dimensions hold up (which sadly there's always something that irks me). After that - I'll come to like my stuff and occasionally listen to it perhaps..... 6 to 12 months after the fact? I have to put a bit of distance on it for the perfectionism to wind down a bit and enjoy it as if someone else had written it.

At one point I was learning classical guitar and taught myself a few pieces on the open strings, some drop-D, and stopped just short of 5th position. I've found classical guitar absolutely horrendous for several reasons. Because of my interest in composition, I find it particularly awful to write for because it is such a specialized instrument with highly specialized technique. It's almost like learning a whole other language, even for a musical instrument--alternate tunings, 1/2 barre, full barre, positions, and so forth. My biggest complaint is I find it extremely limiting within the ordinary context of classical playing, especially in regards to contemporary music. But it's not a horrid instrument to learn to play with a little patience.

But I think it's more difficult than piano!

With guitar, especially if you're going with a nylon-string with a mile or so between strings, a flat fretboard, and a bridge you can't adjust--all corrected on the electric guitar, I might add--you have so many mechanical issues such as how to keep the left hand behind the frets without touching other strings by accident AND you also have to know what to do with the right hand. LH numbers are 1,2,3,4 while RH is "pima," RH uses thumb, LH does NOT... Sounding pitch is an octave lower than written...

Piano is much simpler from an operational perspective. Middle C=Middle C. Naturals are white keys, accidentals are (mostly) black keys (with exception of enharmonics, of course). To play the note you want, just play it. The keys are laid out in a pattern that repeats with every octave, so there's no guesswork about where you are on the instrument--even a blind person can sit at the piano and find his way around and play just as competently as someone who can see. Piano has a wider playing range. Guitar trumps piano every time on the playing range of one hand in a single playing position, but unfortunately it's normally restricted to one hand. Functionally, the range of two hands together on piano is comparable to that of guitar, maybe slightly more on piano, but piano has the advantage of being able to move both hands into separate playing positions and covering the entire instrument. The piano is also capable of playing smaller intervals than guitar. The guitar's polyphony is limited to 6 notes, while the piano is capable of 88-note polyphony. Nothing sounds like a classical guitar, of course. But the piano does have a wider dynamic range than guitar and greater tonal variety than guitar under normal playing. You can play harmonics on both instruments, of course, but the design of the guitar makes it much better suited for harmonics than piano.

But I'd say the real selling-point of piano in terms of ease-of-use is really the simpler and more elegant User Interface, in contrast to the cryptic strings and frets of a guitar.

Anyway...

About the two clefs: You just get used to it after a while. Think of piano as just another guitar in which every chord you play is a barre chord. Start by learning triads by type: major, minor, augmented, diminished. Start those on every possible key on the piano and memorize them. Practice those in root position and inversions. Then add 7ths. Memorize chord progressions. And then hit some literature, like Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven--maybe even some Brahms and Chopin if you're feeling frisky, and nothing teaches hand independence like some Bach inventions and fugues. Relate all your chords and inversions to notes in both clefs and you'll eventually recognize them by sight. We tend to think of chords as a modern guitar-strumming invention, but honestly Mozart is full of triadic chords and dom7ths. Relate everything to a chord structure or tonal center and you'll be reading piano music in no time. Same applies with classical guitar, and classical guitar is full of chords. Especially if you study flamenco. The difference is that in classical guitar every note is written down instead of shorthand like chord charts and fretboard diagrams. But after you've seen it a while in guitar, you'll naturally start to prefer certain shapes. Same applies to piano, just in a more generalized kind of way.

Scales are like movable guitar scales that you really associate more with electric guitar and bass than classical... When I teach piano, I start scale studies by memorizing the C-scale pattern, which also applies to D, E, G, and A along with their parallel minors. Other scales patterns are irregular patterns that sometimes imitate the C pattern in one hand or the other but usually don't follow a parallel pattern in both hands. Scales that start on a black key will usually start with fingers 2 or 3. Tucking or crossing over the thumb is a commonly used technique. Arpeggios are a LOT easier on piano than guitar.

Since you already have some experience reading music, I'd suggest getting the Faber & Faber Piano Adventures accelerated method books 1 and 2. I even use those with beginner students starting in the 4th grade. There is an "Adult Piano Adventures" that I used to get all the time for my older students which is a complete method including music theory, but I reserve that one for a select few adult students that have zilch musical literacy. The older beginner accelerated books is aimed more for the middle school crowd but could also work really well for college-age through middle-age.

I know what you mean. And when I record something that actually works, I can't listen to it enough!

I heard about a famous jazz bassist (Gary Peacock, actually) who will have students play then ask them, “So, what do you think about what you played?” And they’ll say, “What do you mean?” And he’ll say, “You know, so what do you think?” And they’ll go, “Eh, I don’t know.” And he’ll say, “Okay. There you go. That’s the problem.”

As far as my own music goes, here is what I run into most often: Making music is a matter of artistic survival. Even if I come up with a bad tune, I still have to remain committed to my work. I end up "believing in" everything I do and will sometimes listen to something enough that I become immune to all the really bad parts and convince myself that it's the most wonderful thing on the planet. So I really have to be careful that I don't like my own music too much.

My "Space Music" series is different in that much of it is intended as a cathartic experience. It has its good moments, sure, but I'm not here to win any Grammys or impress anyone. Sometimes a bad track or composition is nothing more than practicing a skill that puts you in a great position to make something absolutely stunning right around the corner.

When I started learning guitar I first had to choose the guitar as an instrument. I also had the piano in mind but finally settled for the guitar. Unfortunately, my love for guitar music didn't help me too much in mastering it. I always remained mediocre, no matter how hard I practiced. Bass guitar, on the other hand, was a lot easier, less complex and I was able to play even difficult things out of my memory ( I also practiced a lot). But did I prefer this instrument over the other? Not so much but it still seemed to be better suited for me.

Thanks a lot for this elaborate and in-depth answer. That's what I was looking for. I think I would have tried it out anyway but to know a little bit about its differences and similarities may be a starting point.

here is a youtube link,
a new song for Jesus' glory

http://youtu.be/S7Z5RQ5lWwY

and i'll be listening to some of your music
good job!

listening....just started 30 seconds about....

amazing...
fav parts
when the echoing snare came in, i had vision of a ufo...
and when it got silent, and came back with the higher pitch noise,
loved it

wow i really enjoyed this, so awesome!
i'll pm u and ask if u have more songs somewhere else online

Thanks for listening!

That's interesting