Originally posted in The Playground, but realised that this thread is much more appropriate.
Hi guys,
Just like BoC, after a long radio silence, I’ve finally resurfaced. I originally thought I'd posted the original post to kick-off this thread at the start of last year, turns out it was 2 years ago. Quick re-cap...
Previously on m_thomp’s Twoism posts:
I was eager to start making music and canvassing for opinion about what the best route to go down actually was. Having considered your responses I opted for Ableton and jumped straight in at the deep end - in truth I started in earnest at the start of 2012 (I work on BoC time). If Ableton were a video game, I’d like to say my current capability is at the ‘Novice’ or ‘Easy’ difficulty level (the lowest being ‘Amateur’ the highest being ‘Expert’). In short, I’d consider myself marginally above ‘awful’. And it’s debatable whether I’ve risen that high.
The bulk of last year was spent generating lots of ideas/sketches without biting the bullet and committing them into a full arrangement. I guess I lacked the confidence to follow through on the fleshing out those ideas.
I then had some baby-shaped impetus. My woman got knocked up, and my Ableton playtime was running out. So towards the end of the year, with varying degrees of success, I arranged 3 pieces.
The baby is now born (girl, 4 months old, cheers) so I’m looking to get back into the music-making fold. But, with the time gap, distance and clarity that 4 months of changing shitty nappies brings, I wanted to get some constructive criticism on where I’m at. Which is why I’m back on here: to share with a knowledgable, clued-up and informed crowd of what I’ve been upto (baby not included) and gain some feedback.
So here’s a breakdown of the three pieces, which today, after endless attempts to export the 'true' sound of the tracks out of Ableton, I've managed to shove onto Soundcloud:
The first and the worst. This is a very naive piece, and one that tends to suffer from 1) the lack of an engaging intro (it feels, and is, sort of bolted on, as well as a bit Euro-Housey) and 2) a ‘throw enough mud and see if it sticks’ mentality. I think there are some good ideas in there (and, no, none of those appear in the first 2.30 mins) but I’ve kind of buried them in a fog of effects rather than emphasize them. This hasn’t been mixed down or EQ’d and relies on a lot of global send/return tracks which would probably make the mixing and EQ’ing difficult (but don’t know because I haven’t tried, and I haven’t tried because I don’t know how to do it).
Second one and probably my favourite. For this, I deliberately copied the arrangement of an existing song – that’s just the arrangement and not the sound (my song and the copied song sound very different) in a bid to focus my work by giving it a template to follow. There is a prize if you can guess what the copied song is. Again, there is no mixing and EQ’ing on this track. This track also relies on a few global send / return tracks.
The Third one – my goal on this track was to avoid a static 4/4 rhythm, instead going for a rhythm that was constantly shifting (albeit subtly). This too started life as me trying to ape another track (a static 4/4 track) but ended up somewhere very different. I think it's a bit ramble-y, and perhaps suffers from me showing some of my influences a bit too obviously - I grew up loving the Orb, so there's a bit of a meandering, unfocussed, themes drifting in-and-out vibe to it. Again, there is no mixing and EQ’ing on this track.
I think, as a result of the global send and return tracks, when I try to render these tracks they lose some of the effects. The result is the rendered track don’t include a lot of the effects applied to them.. it’s almost like m_thomp Unplugged. I’m not sure of how I can avoid this. I’m trying to find a workaround for this (NB - I think I've cracked this now, as the Soundcloud version sounds a lot closer to the Ableton 'Master' track).
So what am I looking for from you guys? An honest critique, mainly. And guidance too, as many of you are music-makers/producers in your own right, with impeccable taste too it must be said, an experienced helping hand to avoid known pitfalls or advice on ways to improve would be invaluable. I feel as though there must be a world of do's and don'ts out there that I've stepped in through sheer blind ignorance and diddly-squat in the way of any musical education. I'd certainly class everthing I do as a novice's work-in-progress (and not a balloon), so please go gentle on me!
