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NEOGAF's Official Music Production Thread: calling all producers

Servbot24

Banned
I want to get into music production, but I don't even know where to start, there's soooo many options for gear/programs, etc. Overwhelmed.

Ableton is a very good place to start imo. Find a tutorial for the basic interface, and after that you'll very quick get the hang of it and have a blast experimenting.

Also it's a good idea if you can get a basic midi controller to start (with keyboard if you've training there).
 
A thing of note from the Gaming side, KORG MO1D

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=537618
http://www.detune.co.jp/korgm01d.html

KORG M01D Main Specifications
Product Name:KORG M01D
Product Summary:The music workstation for Nintendo 3DS Downloads (only available on Nintendo eShop)

- 8 part multi-timbral synthesizer with 342 sounds (max 24 voices)
- - includes all of the original sounds from the KORG M1, selected sounds from the KORG 01/w and some all new sounds developed for the M01
- Master effects: Reverb and Delay
- 8 track/max 64 step sequencer for 1 scene/ up to 99 scenes
- Sound browser, Mixer, Keyboard
- Easy input “KAOSS” mode for notes, chords and drums using the touch screen
- Exchange song data with other Nintendo 3DS using Nintendo local wireless communication and via the Internet
- 3D viewing of M01D on the 3D Screen


Release date: May 2013 – Japan. Summer 2013 - worldwide

Folks are excited, especially given some of the apparently insane things people eventually managed with the prior KORG software for the old DS and DSi.
 
Oh my gawd! KORG puts out 3 different analog grooveboxes for 150$ each! *faints*

MNbFNCD.jpg

S42mwnR.jpg

SAP6cZl.jpg


http://www.korg.com/volcaseries

Presentation

I need all three of these.

How much is the Australian RRP going to be?
 

VariantX04

Loser slave of the system :(
So I contributed one song to this incredible video game compilation album called World 1-2 featuring Akira Yamaoka, Austin Wintory, Jessica Curry, Chipzel, etc. It's an amazing effort directed by my good friend and fellow GAF member, Echoes. You can stream the full album on Bandcamp or buy it on iTunes.

Bandcamp
iTunes

My track is "Resurgence of Hope". It's very much in line with my album work, as was requested of me. But it was written 6 months ago and I think i've improved tenfold since then. Either way, enjoy this magnificent album!

Nice one, snare is good and I liked the melodies throughout. Cool stuff.

Just had a track out myself, some breakbeat action working on climbing the charts at Beatport.



https://soundcloud.com/yanixmusic/kostas-g-sadies-choice-yanix

Thanks! Your track is quality stuff man. Loved it! I could learn a thing or two from your build-ups. Now gonna go through your previous stuff.
 

Fusebox

Banned
Can you try and upload something to your soundcloud and let me know if it works?

What's the story behind the Neogaf album? Did I miss a thread?
 
Can you try and upload something to your soundcloud and let me know if it works?

What's the story behind the Neogaf album? Did I miss a thread?

I was having trouble too, but that Nightmare remaster was just uploaded today. Use the old-school uploader for now, it's linked on the upload page somewhere.

Nah, the NeoGAF album is a pet project of mine. A few HaloGAF members are hopefully helping but it's not some huge, expansive thing GAF's allegedly working on.
 
Thanks! Your track is quality stuff man. Loved it! I could learn a thing or two from your build-ups. Now gonna go through your previous stuff.

Thanks for checkin it out, appreciate the kind words. Don't know if it's helpful, but I put up a project capture video as a track of mine played for a bit of a behind-the-scenes look. Maybe it'll be interesting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vggSeiZp6Qs Make sure to hit full screen and view in HD if you want any chance of actually seeing things, haha
 

VariantX04

Loser slave of the system :(
Hey has anyone seen Whiskers on GAF lately? I haven't seen him post in a bit.
Hey yeah haven't posted here in a bit. I've been in Dubai for the past few days. I came for this great opportunity that could help me in my career but sadly the person I was supposed to meet couldn't make it due to an emergency. Gonna reschedule for end of May. Also, Florence and the Machine is playing here tonight so that should be fun! I'm gonna be back home tomorrow and catch up on all the tracks on this page.

Thanks for checkin it out, appreciate the kind words. Don't know if it's helpful, but I put up a project capture video as a track of mine played for a bit of a behind-the-scenes look. Maybe it'll be interesting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vggSeiZp6Qs Make sure to hit full screen and view in HD if you want any chance of actually seeing things, haha
Dude that's awesome, any insight at all is appreciated. Will definitely check it out when i'm back home tomorrow.
 

VariantX04

Loser slave of the system :(
Got a new song out: In Good Spirits

Tried to keep it as simple as I could by avoiding cramming in solos that didn't need to be there in the first place. I plan to revisit this approach in some other songs down the road.

I posted it in the Bandcamp OT a while back, but I have some demo tracks up for an upcoming album, NeoGAF Vol. 1: Believe.

I also have a SoundCloud page, the most notable tracks probably being remasters of Nightmare's theme out of Metroid Fusion, a proof-of-concept remaster of Arcterra's theme from Metroid Prime: Hunters (which itself is a remix of Phendrana's theme), and the Lounge jingles I did for Revival and Nemesis (both from Halo 4).

Great stuff! I really dug Near Zero. And we should revive the GAF comp idea.

Thanks man.

And we should really do another Neogaf compilation, the last few were awesome.
Yes! We need to make up for the last G.A.M.E. comp that never saw the light of day. And I checked out your minibrute jam. It's good but it ain't Fusebox on guitar good. I WANT TO HEAR MORE OF YOUR GUITAR WORK ASAP-LIKE.

Thanks for checkin it out, appreciate the kind words. Don't know if it's helpful, but I put up a project capture video as a track of mine played for a bit of a behind-the-scenes look. Maybe it'll be interesting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vggSeiZp6Qs Make sure to hit full screen and view in HD if you want any chance of actually seeing things, haha
Dude your work is cleeeeeeeean as hell. I wish I was half as organized as you are. Color coding and shit, I wish I had the patience for it because going through my old stuff is such a bother haha. Two questions:

1) How do you draw in your automation in Logic?
2) What VSTs did you use for that track?
 
Dude your work is cleeeeeeeean as hell. I wish I was half as organized as you are. Color coding and shit, I wish I had the patience for it because going through my old stuff is such a bother haha. Two questions:

1) How do you draw in your automation in Logic?
2) What VSTs did you use for that track?

1. I draw it manually with the mouse, node by node...and yes, it can be a huge pain in the ass that way. But it's the only way I can get it to do exactly what I want.

2. Ummmm....a few I believe. Sylenth1, Albino 3, Logic's own ES2, Logic's EXS-24 Sampler (for the piano), Pro 53, and maybe Massive.

I'll probably make a few more of those vids at some point, I have another one in my youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nov6_4Ybaw

I'm pretty slow when it comes to making music. Some people are able to knock one out in a few days and even in just a few hours. But I usually take weeks to finish something. There's a lot of automation to double check in the end, plus mixdown work, and I usually like to rest my ears after the creative process before finishing the mixdown and checking the final premaster on a variety of sources before calling it 100% finished. But I'm pretty anal when it comes to certain things in my tracks. I wouldn't be able to take it if I found out afterwards I had a crash set at -6 db for half the track and accidentally set it to -7 db for the other half, or something like that. So I also go through all my automation at the end, line by line, to make sure I didn't screw something up or fail to copy and paste something properly. By then end, I usually end up saying to myself 'I never want to listen to this damn thing ever again' but when you put that much effort into it, it feels really good when it's finally done. And when I can finally bring myself to listen to the track again weeks/months later, it feels even better knowing I didn't just rush it for the sake of finishing it sooner and doing a half-assed job.
 

Tr4nce

Member
Good to see this thread still alive!

Good video man. As an avid Logic fan myself, I appreciate it. Good use of plugins I see! Don't worry about the time you spend on your music. Better to go for quality instead of quantity, but ofcourse everyone has a moment where your inspiration is just boosting you through the project. I almost work the same way as you do, with all the coloring coding and stuff. And also it's good to see that your mix is peaking at about -4DB (?) which is very good. No clipping, and leaves room for the mastering guys at the labels to tweak some stuff.

I recently did a remix for a label which I can't mention yet, but it was the first time i actually finished a tune in under 6 weeks. Amazing. But ofcourse, I already was given some melody lines, and chord lines, as well as bass lines and stuff like that. Still it felt very satisfying. Keep it up dude! ;)

Agent Whiskers, good to see you are still banging out tunes as well. Haven't really had the time to check out some of your new stuff, but I'm sure it's great as usual. You too, keep it up! :D
 
Hey guys, posted another project video, this time using mainly Ableton. I really like Ableton, but unfortunately, they STILL have not fixed delay compensation for automation, which is mind blowing. So, probably going to be using mainly Logic going forward and just using Ableton for drums and chopping audio via rewire.

Anyway, I solo a few pieces for better clarity, hope you find it interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxuZA7PqGkw
 

double jump

you haven't lived until a random little kid ask you "how do you make love".
i need to come here more often but this thread always gets buried and I didn't have it subbed.
 

Accoun

Member
Anyone has experience with MIDI-USB cables/interfaces? Is it actually worth to get something pricier? Or will the cheapest one suffice? Are there any differences?
 

J10

Banned
Anyone has experience with MIDI-USB cables/interfaces? Is it actually worth to get something pricier? Or will the cheapest one suffice? Are there any differences?

I went cheap - Midisport 2x2. Half the ports don't work and the latency is awful on the the other half. I imagine spending more would have been better.
 

Fusebox

Banned
Synth gaf give me advice.

I've just sold my eurorack modular, Minibrute, Shruthi, OTO Biscuit, Monotribe and some other bits and pieces from my studio and I've got lots of money for a new synth.

At this stage I'm leaning toward the Prophet 12, just waiting for one to come in locally so I can get my hands on but so far from the demos it sounds awesome. I'd sell my Tetra if I got it so I'd just be left with the Prophet 12, Minitaur and Blofeld (and a DX7 in the closet) which is a good combo covering a lot of sonic territory. I considered the A6 but it seems a bit flaky and I thought hard about the Virus too but I suspect they have a big hardware update coming out soon. I also considered the Solaris but for some reason it doesn't give me gas like the Prophet 12 does.

What synths would you recommend for around $3-4k?
 
thanks man, appreciate it. any tips or stuff that bothered you?

I did notice that a number of tunes had pretty much everything right in the middle (mono), which is good to a degree, especially for big systems, but some stereo separation can help add flavor and richness. Obviously you don't want to do this with the bottom frequencies, but mid range and top end basslines, effects, even hi hats do really well with a smidge of widening. Maybe try a touch of sample delay or general panning of hats or some intreresting, subtle delays for top end basslines in the future. Assuming you have the synth Massive, there's an effect on that called Dimension Expander that's really cool on mid/high bass sounds but ONLY if you use it sparingly. Too much of that can easily ruin a sound. Another cool trick is to use something like Ozone's multiband stereo imaging suite, where you take a stereo bass sound and divide it up into 4 frequency ranges. You can then set the low end to mono, the lo-mid to mostly mono, leave the mid untouched or add slight width, and then spread out the very top for a nice, wide effect.

Other than that, everything sounds well produced and pretty phat. Definitely dig the Nintendo sounds mixed with the rough basslines.
 

Cidfox

Neo Member
I did notice that a number of tunes had pretty much everything right in the middle (mono), which is good to a degree, especially for big systems, but some stereo separation can help add flavor and richness. Obviously you don't want to do this with the bottom frequencies, but mid range and top end basslines, effects, even hi hats do really well with a smidge of widening. Maybe try a touch of sample delay or general panning of hats or some intreresting, subtle delays for top end basslines in the future. Assuming you have the synth Massive, there's an effect on that called Dimension Expander that's really cool on mid/high bass sounds but ONLY if you use it sparingly. Too much of that can easily ruin a sound. Another cool trick is to use something like Ozone's multiband stereo imaging suite, where you take a stereo bass sound and divide it up into 4 frequency ranges. You can then set the low end to mono, the lo-mid to mostly mono, leave the mid untouched or add slight width, and then spread out the very top for a nice, wide effect.

Other than that, everything sounds well produced and pretty phat. Definitely dig the Nintendo sounds mixed with the rough basslines.

damn, that's so crazy. You're probably the 5th person to tell us that. Thank you for at least letting us know how to fix it. We have shit panned but I guess it still feels too mono. Def going to use that ozone multiband stereo image suite. Really appreciate the feedback.
 
I have a preview up for a little one-off album I'm doing called Umbrage, which should hopefully release by the end of August. I'm filing it under Alternative but it covers a bunch of weird territory genre-wise. As of this post I've got 7 of the 11 tracks finished!
 

Fusebox

Banned
Prophet 12 Minitaur and Blofeld would be an amazing trio. You have so much ground covered with that setup.

I ended up getting the Virus Polar TI2, I'm a bit over the DSI Curtis filter in my Tetra and it's all I can hear in the 12 demos now.

The Virus is amazing btw, I should have bought one of these years ago. It does everything I need and then some, and the TI plugin is badass for workflow. It does have a slightly dark sound but I can easily restore top end with Ozone when I need to.
 
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