Another couch session from tonight, lemme know what you think… I like it myself I think it the basis for something but I feel like it needs something to lift it up a bit… not mixed or mastered btw just an ipad draft
2 Likes
That’s dope! I would ride a board by night for hours while listening to this.
I think you have everything you need here. Two options: make it a shorter piece. No shame in making two minutes bangers. Or go down the dub treatment road with big delay / reverb burst on some elements.
2 Likes
Thanks for the critique man, yeah In its current form its a bit long with too little variation, glad you liked it I’m gonna finish up in Ableton when I get the chance…
1 Like
I was wondering if any of you use iPad apps to add scratches to your productions?
I found Wiggle for Iphone, which is fun, but I guess I am looking for something with a fader as well.
I would also settle for an app that can do some standard preprogrammed scratches using my own music/sound sources.
I know it’s far from ideal (and I feel foolish for selling my SL1200s in the early 2000s), but it might be a way to incorporate some simple scratches in my beats. I can always resample and mangle the hell out of those to make it more unique.
Any tools that you can recommend?
I don’t know about ipad apps, but you can definitely do some basic scratch sounds like stabs and baby scratches by parameter locking the LFOs on the Digitakt. You just have to think through things like how fast your hand would be moving if you were doing it for real.
The better option would probably be to pick up something like the Numark DJ2Go2. I think there’s a version of Serato on ipad. They’re like 90 dollars new so it shouldn’t be too hard to find an even cheaper used one. I think this would also be the most fun option since you would also be able to just mess around with some scratches whenever you felt like it without having to rearrange your space to accommodate a bigger controller.
1 Like
These are dope as hell! Just heard another one on your ig thats dope as well. Sorry to hear you went through some tough times, but it’s good it’s going better. Your tunes always inspired me a lot!
2 Likes
Thanks a lot, my man! I’ve been very inspired by the high and constant quality of your musical output as well, in all honesty!
I’ve got to say that the quality of the music made by the usual suspects in this thread is really inspiring and motivating. Props to all of you guys, you make me want to get my shit together to not be left behind!
4 Likes
my motivation/inspiration ran out this week. after getting into a groove making stuff almost every day for months, it kinda felt like i ran out of steam. i’ve also been sleeping poorly and not exercising enough, so it’s a whole bunch of things conspiring against me. maybe it’s time to go deep and focus on learning piano, read “dilla time,” and regroup.
hope all’s well with everyone.
what are some tips or tricks people learned this week? how about any potentially inspiring tracks or videos?
3 Likes
I watched this a few days ago. As someone who is still really behind in terms of hip-hop knowledge, it was super dope to hear how Alchemist hustled to where he is now. It didn’t even show his beatmaking process, but it still made me want to go and make a beat. 
Sorry your inspiration is out. 
Sometimes a mental reset is required before your brain clicks back into beat mode. Sounds like you have some ideas to be productive in the mean time, which is great. Hope your inspiration hops back in no time. 
4 Likes
Seems like completely normal stress/recovery cycle to me
Exercise and proper sleep can decrease your ‘allostatic load’ (chronic stress) allowing you to recharge and free up the energy for more of that awesome stuff you make!
Haven’t been doing much myself. Family issues have taken up most of my energy and recharging is hard because our youngest still wakes up 3-4 times per night.
Did some random noodling with the sp404 and Digitone. Fun, but no real progress so far. I do feel however, that I am discovering more and more what sound/vibe I am aiming for currently.
I have been listening to a lot of music. This playlist contains some awesome stuff:
Have also been listening to some of the earlier Dataline work again. Love that sound.
5 Likes
I think this is the right idea.
Right now I’m not focused on making new beats. I pretty recently figured out some MIDI stuff on the Circuit Rhythm and so now I’m able to fully control it from the Digitakt the way I’ve wanted to since I bought it. So I’ve been working out the kinks by reprogramming some of the beats I did last month on the Rhythm so that I can run them from the Digitakt with the Digitakt handling the drums and the Rhythm handling the melodic samples.
I’ve been doing a lot of that and experimenting with some synth stuff. I figured out some interesting granular things that you can do with the Digitakt and the MIDI loopback. I’m still working on that.
I say all that to say that there is a lot that you can be doing besides making beats that still kind of keep that momentum going. Learning an instrument strikes me as a particularly good way to go about it because even if you’re completely blocked and uninspired, you can practice. Everyone needs to practice.
Along those same lines, I think it would also be a good time to focus on the nuts and bolts of things. Like the other day when you were asking about compression. I think this is a good time to do something like pick a sample, any old sample, pick some drums and just try different things out. Don’t worry about making it work as a beat. Don’t worry about anything but the technique.
12 Likes
I completely agree with this approach. I was going to say the same exact thing before I read Doug’s post. If you are anything like me there are a million little technical things I neglect when I am producing a lot of material. When I am in a creative lull, I force myself to do all the administrative work associated with making music. It’s not the most exciting work but it feels good to get things of the to do list and can sometimes lead to unexpected creative places.
The other thing I would say is try and lean in to the less creative moments. For years, I have had the mentality that a day I didn’t make music was a day wasted. And the natural lulls/refractory periods would do a serious number on my mental state. Just speaking for myself here, but a lot of my identity is tied to music creation. And if it vanishes I start to feel a little vanished too. But I’ve learned to just go read a book or watch a show and chip away at the small things, recognizing that the creative periods always return.
6 Likes
Agree with the above. I’ve shared this tip before, but it always helps me stay inspired and productive:
Split your production proces into pieces, and try to focus on just a single part each session. Do a session(even if its just 20 minutes) of one of the following, and then just call it a day, don’t force yourself to finish anything all the time:
- search for samples
- sample and chop the samples you found
- find/make drumsounds
- make cool synth patches to use later
- make drum patterns
- make loops
- make a song out of those loops
- mix a song
- etc
Another thing which helps me a lot is listen to music of producers I admire. Dilla is always good, but lately I’ve been into Ras G… I still have so much to learn!
5 Likes
@rockpapergoat I can totally back this, and highly recommend piano or whatever instrument you are feeling.
I’ve been wiped out by a pretty heavy workload since the start of the year, and some other stress - my 14-year old small dog was attacked by a vicious 20kg dog while he was being boarded, and ended up in the hospital for a week. The other dog literally ripped the door off the cage my dog was in and pinned him inside. Miraculously no broken bones or internal injuries, but bites are nasty and the infection got into his joints. Thankfully the antibiotics look to have finally cleared stuff up and he’s walking again and doing great, but it was touch-and-go there for a little while.
Anyway, that’s probably TMI, but basically I’ve not been able to concentrate on tracks either, and we are under another “state of emergency” here in Tokyo, so there’s no real going out. I’ve found a lot of solace in guitar though lately. It’s a wonderful way to unwind after work. I’d been neglecting it a bit, so it’s really nice to get back into it.
I’ve had a bit of a hangup about trying to record as much as possible, but I’ve come to grips with the notion that just playing music for the sake of playing is fantastic in its own right. I turn on a bit of fuzz and tape delay and just zone out improvising for an hour or two. It’s almost transcendental.
Anyway, I’m just going with it at the moment, and I’m sure the pendulum will swing back to wanting to create tracks again soon.
So yeah, instruments can be great during these kinds of times.
“Comic Tones for Mental Therapy” (Sun Ra)
4 Likes
nice, nice. i’ve been digging into j. rawls, kev brown, and dark house family lately.
i appreciate everyone’s suggestions and taking any time at all to weigh in here. i might just spend less time in front of screens and do some woodworking or train a bit for a 5k in a month.
it’s always cool to see people posting tips and such here. i hope we can keep it going, keep supporting each other, and keep it positive.
5 Likes
Damn hope your dog is doing allright!
Do you ever record those improvised guitar sessions? It’ll probably contain some great samples, but maybe that ruins the sense of just playing for fun.
1 Like
Ras G is awesome. My style of beatmaking is quite different than his, but I feel a really strong connection to the guy based on all the interviews with him I’ve seen. I was so bummed when he passed as I had hoped I could meet him in person some day.
I’ve also got the same Sun Ra connection. DimensionsTomorrow is from Sun Ra and both my dogs names (Rocket and Comet) were inspired by Ra tunes/albums as well.
4 Likes
Cool, I never realized that! My dad was a fan of Sun Ra’s music, And I always felt like Sun Ra would be a hiphop producer if he had been a couple of decades younger.
2 Likes
not sure if you’ve heard this one yet, but it’s enjoyable. i used some dialog in a couple of tracks awhile back.
3 Likes
Yeah, I’m going to start doing that more for sure. One of the other goals I have is to start using mics rather than recording direct, as I like the idea of having my amp and my physical space in the recording.
What I’ll probably start doing is getting in the habit of just starting recording to my Zoom H6 when I sit down, and let it just record the whole time, rather than starting and stopping it. I think at first it will probably break the flow a bit, but if I get in the routine of that, I’ll eventually forget that it’s even on. I can just erase the recording if there’s nothing interesting, but can also start archiving interesting bit for tracks.
1 Like