Who makes music by ear?

[brettheaslewood]

I've never once been taught a musical theory lesson (i never listened at school, would just sit and play guitar in the practice room)
I have no idea which notes im playing when it comes to actually writing note, im just aware what works with what.
When people say "got my sub hittin at 200hz" - i sit here like this

I'm a reason user, i have no spectrum anal lieza - i just eq by ear and what sounds good.

anyone else go by ear solely as apose to all the textbook shit



i bet my tunes would sound better if i went by the textbook to be honest, but i'd rather learn from my own mistakes and make music that i enjoy making

[wizeguy]

I have/had no experience at all with theory side but have picked up a bit as i've gone along,
EQ wise probably half and half really.

I think it's good to try and do a bit of reading now and then but not vital imo

[Dystinkt]

I know a good deal about the technical aspect of production like eqing etc, but my theory knowledge is non existent. Just work to if it sounds good it probably is good.

[benjam]

Everyone should learn the basics of theory IMO even if your going to ignore it.

[cmgoodman1226]

I played in orchestra for 7 years. That being said, aside from my knowledge of keys and a bit of beginners music theory, my knowledge in this area is novice at best. I feel like the style of music that we're so ingrained with (not as producers, but as people who have been listening to music since we were young) gives us the seemingly inherent ability to hear what sounds good and what doesn't. While I know about different keys, I still usually play by ear. I can hear when a progression is pleasing or displeasing and I go from that. All this being said, a good basis in musical theory is still priceless, but mainly if you're looking to create a bunch of different melodic lines, as a knowledge of music theory would help you to see what harmonies might work best and how to resolve lines. As far as things like EQ and what not, I do follow some guidelines, but I know very little about that and mixing, so I do a lot of that by ear as well (might be why my mixes still sound shit though).

[atticuh]

Everyone should learn the basics of theory IMO even if your going to ignore it.

IMO, if everyone understood how important the composition is to making a song sound epic or filthy, we would have far less threads on how to synthesize "x" producer's sound, and far more on how to write good melodies.

[ChadDub]

CMGOODMAN. THAT TRACK IN YOUR SIG IS HUGE

[Comfi]

The more I learn about the technical aspect of music production the more my idea of what sounds good changes.

For example, when i started producing at first, when i had zero technical ability, I though my tunes were awesome. Now I look back and can see how empty they sounded, and how I could have mixed them way better and stuff like that. I think learning about the technical side is very important, im not saying i'm good at it or even understand the more intermediate/advanced side of it, but I want to so I can progress as a musician.

With theory, though, you don't need to know about it. I have basic music theory knowledge from my guitar playing days, but I rarely use it. I think writing with a trial and error mindset births more interesting tunes sometimes.

[jaydot]

Yeah I do, I would like to learn more, I think it'd improve my game a bit, just a lot of effort... and I think you can get by to a point. (Obviously not as good as if you knew what you were doing in certain elements but still)

*when I say a lot of effort I don't mean it as a burden, I mean it's time consuming, but probably good in the long run.

[Electric_Head]

I pretty much do everything by ear.
I know a few note changes that`ll get certain feelings through but it`s all self-taught really.
I played the piano when I was 12 but that`s many years ago.
I have an ear for percussion and melody so it helps but not always.

[project 1]

I'm pretty new to all this making music malarky and i'm excatly the same when I hear people talk about hitting 200hz with sub etc. I always go by what I think sounds good.

The main thing I don't understand is eq'ing and compression! I know this plays a big part in putting beats together and stuff but I think it's my lack of musical knowledge that holds me up when I read up about it. I used to dj so I know how to read music, bars, BPM etc I just don't get all the 'this needs to be this frequancy, decibell' etc

Anyone know any good tutorials on compression, eq'ing? ta

[Electric_Head]

I'm pretty new to all this making music malarky and i'm excatly the same when I hear people talk about hitting 200hz with sub etc. I always go by what I think sounds good.

The main thing I don't understand is eq'ing and compression! I know this plays a big part in putting beats together and stuff but I think it's my lack of musical knowledge that holds me up when I read up about it. I used to dj so I know how to read music, bars, BPM etc I just don't get all the 'this needs to be this frequancy, decibell' etc

Anyone know any good tutorials on compression, eq'ing? ta

You`re looking for this thread : Most embarrassing thing you've done producing?

[brettheaslewood]

I used to dj so I know how to read music

dont mean to be the twat that jumps at ya' , but really? you can read music from being a dj?

i want to learn piano.
lesson, or try self teaching?

[Electric_Head]

I used to dj so I know how to read music

dont mean to be the twat that jumps at ya' , but really? you can read music from being a dj?

i want to learn piano.
lesson, or try self teaching?

of course self teaching dude
get a 'how to play piano for dummies'
or 'learn to play piano in 10 days'

they are more than sufficient to get you playing.

[brettheaslewood]

saying this, should probly invest in a piano im mean im skint as fuck, so a keyboard to learn on hahaha

[Electric_Head]

saying this, should probly invest in a piano im mean im skint as fuck, so a keyboard to learn on hahaha

just make sure to add a single fart on one of your keys so while you`re playing bach it occasionally farts
comic relief n all

[Comfi]

saying this, should probly invest in a piano im mean im skint as fuck, so a keyboard to learn on hahaha

just make sure to add a single fart on one of your keys so while you`re playing bach it occasionally farts
comic relief n all

I used to love the cart preset when I was wee.

[VirtualMark]

When people say "got my sub hittin at 200hz" - i sit here like this

the idea behind this is so that it punches well on a club system.

I'm a reason user, i have no spectrum anal lieza - i just eq by ear and what sounds good.

thats good assuming that your monitoring system is accurate. to be honest it probably isn't, unless you live in a football stadium sized house. the spectrum analyzer will show up sub bass frequencies that you might not be able to hear accurately and also give you a bit of visual feedback on your mix.

of course, my ears are my most important tool. but the visual feedback is useful too, as is the theory stuff. obviously if you're playing in an orchestra, every instrument has its own place, and people can hear where a sound comes from. but when you try to cram a load of different sounds onto a 16bit stereo wave file, things are very different. similar instruments can mask each others sounds and get lost, and sounds can overlap a lot in the lower frequency bands. learning a bit of mixing skill is essential to make it sound nice.

[cmgoodman1226]

CMGOODMAN. THAT TRACK IN YOUR SIG IS HUGE

'preciate ya.

[project 1]

I used to dj so I know how to read music

dont mean to be the twat that jumps at ya' , but really? you can read music from being a dj?

i want to learn piano.
lesson, or try self teaching?

haha maybe I worded that wrong what I'm basically trying to say is, I know how to write an intro, drop and general tune etc but what I don't get is the technical side of things? I read so much on here about you guys talking about making music but it means nothing to me. I would like to be able to take my music to the next stage and stop making things by ear, Just wondered if there was any kind of tutorials on compression and eq for beginners that I would roughly understand?