--The post what you are working on *right now* thread--

[TaoTapeTao]

Thanks, I appreciate it. And yeah there's definitely some Bibio influence in there. I love his old stuff

[747Music]

That's some really great stuff TaoTapeTao. Nice n' mellow.

[TaoTapeTao]

thanks!

I'm actually almost done with an album.. so I'll post a link somewhere soon lol

[Elephant Face]

Made this a year ago.

http://soundcloud.com/elephantface/corso




Non-sequiter:

Do any of you guys make music just for yourselves? I don't upload to Soundcloud anymore really, and I deleted around twenty tracks from there sometime last year because I just didn't think they were that good.

I make stuff all the time, but with no plan to release it or anything. I played a show last year, and it was a fun challenge and I got a positive reaction, but nothing overwhelming.

Honestly, I don't think anyone gives a shit about the kind of music we make outside of niche communities like this one... But then again, I can record one synth line into a sampler and mess with it for a week and I'm utterly fascinated where I'm sure most would be bored to tears. Maybe what I'm doing isn't that interesting to begin with, or maybe we could call it idiosyncratic or self indulgent. It feels like exploration and perhaps in musical terms we would call it experimental, which I think to some is a polite way of saying boring, weird, or unlistenable.

And let's be honest, many just attempt to recreate the music we like with little to no innovation, so where you may enjoy what you made, and we may enjoy what you made, no one else will. Not the case for all, and many artists that belong to this forum have made some fantastic music, and I follow them on Soundcloud and listen to everything they upload... and some sound like shitty software music.

To quote The Books, "Others are saying things much better than we ever could;
as the quiet become suddenly verbose." Me using that particular quote reinforces the validity of it's content. And that's exactly why I keep the noises I make to myself most of the time these days. Why listen to our BOC knock-offs (BOC-offs?) when we could just listen to BOC? Why paint from a photograph and strive for photorealism when we could just go look at the photograph? The photograph is a better photograph than the painting will ever be and BOC are the best BOC there is.

I understand that music can be a personal or shared experience, but I want to know how many of you are trying to find an audience for your music and who's just doing it for their own sake?

[The Telepathic Kid]

a lot of the stuff I make I make with only myself in mind. I do it because I want to. I still put it on soundcloud though.

[Pantheon]

a lot of the stuff I make I make with only myself in mind. I do it because I want to. I still put it on soundcloud though.

Thats the exact same as me, and perhaps the best way to create music

Also, just finished this one:
http://soundcloud.com/skywave/cool-me-down

[747Music]

a lot of the stuff I make I make with only myself in mind. I do it because I want to. I still put it on soundcloud though.

that sounds about right for me too. But I like my tunes enough that I want to share it with others just in case someone out there likes it too. But when I make my tunes I don't really have anyone else in mind. I just go with what feels/sounds right to me.

[lyst]

I agree with all of you guys. I guess it's a big line between what separates a hobbyist and a professional. I actually got disgusted one day when I saw an electronic artist put on twitter or something "Just pushed out two new beats this morning" like, where the hell was the time and the heart put into it?? But then hey, if the guy is thinking monetarily he may have to be producing at that high of a capacity.

Personally though yea, I only create stuff that sounds great to my ears. I love hearing my music advance, listening to what i first made and what I made last.

Something I noticed a lot of in all the stuff on soundcloud right now is that people are focusing more on how technical a song can get, eg: immense amounts of sidechain, how broken a beat can sound. instead of just taking a listener through a song. And these people seem to be getting the most attention too. Almost like if i spent 3 months straight just learning tricks on Ableton, I can get insta-fame on SC. Kind of sad to me. I like learning and growing as I produce, and that way if i see something that would sound great in one of my songs I can throw it in, but i'm not throwing shit in JUST to complicate the piece.

[2020k]

Submitted this for OOT5 at the beginning of the year. It didn't make the final tracklist, but alas, I'm very proud of it as it's one of the more personal pieces I've made. The number stations correspond to a moment in time and there's a little hidden audio secret inside it as well: http://soundcloud.com/twenty20k/2020k-closed-cases

[TaoTapeTao]

Yeah although I do want to expose my music to other people and get different opinions on it, primarily I make music that I enjoy and want to listen to. I guess it started from hearing bands and artists and really liking their stuff and wanting to have more of it. The only alternative for me was to make my own stuff that had a similar sound or quality to it so I'd have more to listen to lol. But at the same time, I always almost feel pretentious listening to my own stuff. Idk why.

[Jonse]

I agree with all of you guys. I guess it's a big line between what separates a hobbyist and a professional. I actually got disgusted one day when I saw an electronic artist put on twitter or something "Just pushed out two new beats this morning" like, where the hell was the time and the heart put into it?? But then hey, if the guy is thinking monetarily he may have to be producing at that high of a capacity.

Personally though yea, I only create stuff that sounds great to my ears. I love hearing my music advance, listening to what i first made and what I made last.

Something I noticed a lot of in all the stuff on soundcloud right now is that people are focusing more on how technical a song can get, eg: immense amounts of sidechain, how broken a beat can sound. instead of just taking a listener through a song. And these people seem to be getting the most attention too. Almost like if i spent 3 months straight just learning tricks on Ableton, I can get insta-fame on SC. Kind of sad to me. I like learning and growing as I produce, and that way if i see something that would sound great in one of my songs I can throw it in, but i'm not throwing shit in JUST to complicate the piece.

I've always thought the attention to that sort of stuff was strange as well. I have absolutely no idea how heavily sidechain compressed, off-beat music can be so appealing to so many people.

[The Telepathic Kid]

im actually a fan of that lazy off beat sounding hip hop instrumental stuff.

looool :3

[TaoTapeTao]

honestly I'm a fan of almost any type of music as long as I can find some sort of soul or inspiration in it. Obviously it's my personal opinion but I generally avoid anything that to me sounds overproduced or uninspired. And with (almost)any genre, there's both the good and the bad.

I don't really follow soundcloud stuff just because there's so many artists and I never have the time.

But idk when it comes to making your own music, john frusciante's aesthetic comes to mind. He's said a lot in interviews that he makes music first to listen to himself and "trip out to" and secondly for his audience. I think that most artists make music that they like to hear and I really follow that kind of thing. But at the same time, I like showing my stuff to other people because if other people can dig it, why not?

[Pantheon]

im actually a fan of that lazy off beat sounding hip hop instrumental stuff.

looool :3

Same here. Oh well, more for us then it seems

[Elephant Face]

I'm happy to see that you guys are down to Earth about this stuff.

I feel really stupid when I listen to my own music. But I do it pretty often. It' just like masturbating: It's like a guilty pleasure and I'm always scared I'm going to get caught doing it.

As for the whole Sidechain obsessed, soundcloud producer scene-- I'm pretty tired of it. When Lone and Keaver and Brause first reached my ears back in 2009, I hadn't heard anything quite like it, and it was fascinating. But now it's a dime a dozen at a much lower quality. Tons of people ripping each other off, all trying to sound like Starslinger or Flying Lotus.

Soundcloud is full of beat-makers plastering comments anywhere they can fit them in an effort to get attention themselves. Comments like, "DOPENESS!" or "Ill!" get on my nerves. Super insightful critical analysis! Not that every thought you share has to be earth-shatteringly profound, but it's so obvious what they're up to.

Despite my grumpiness and distaste with all this stuff, I'm in the mood now and I want to try to do stuff again. It's fun. I just haven't had a lot of time lately. And also, this whole attitude is kind of spilling over from real life. I'm a studio art major and I hate my peers.

Another one from the vault.
http://soundcloud.com/elephantface/contraflow

[Jonse]

Tons of people ripping each other off, all trying to sound like Starslinger or Flying Lotus.

Soundcloud is full of beat-makers plastering comments anywhere they can fit them in an effort to get attention themselves. Comments like, "DOPENESS!" or "Ill!" get on my nerves. Super insightful critical analysis! Not that every thought you share has to be earth-shatteringly profound, but it's so obvious what they're up to.

This x1000. I don't even know how many Flying Lotus ripoffs I've seen in the past year or two. Before them their were BoC ripoffs and Aphex Twin ripoffs. Why the hell does everybody want to make things that sound exactly the same?

For example, I like Tycho as a musician, he's pretty talented, but he's trying to be BoC. There's no getting around that. If he would keep some of the BoC-esque elements and try and expand a bit on top of that, he could come up with something all new and be more enticing. The same goes for those who are trying to be Flying Lotus.



And yes, Soundcloud seems a bit annoying now. I've been putting my music there for a while but the one thing I decided not to do was to run around following everybody and sending messages like "hey, check me out plz" in attempt to get more followers. Seems like a whole lot of other people are though because I get messages every day regarding someone who wants me to check out their dubstep or something.

[kyriakos]

http://soundcloud.com/kyriakosioannou/rest-in-light

[Jonse]

Working on this vignette.

[Techboy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7FeViOasAQ
Covered a friend's song on piano, loads of fun.

[lurkingrecords]

http://soundcloud.com/ganzfeld_engine/ganzfeld-engine-low-g-demo

New lo-fi kinda 'work in progress' that I started a few hours ago.