Your weakest point(s)?

DubMikey · Post by **DubMikey** » Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:24 pm

So, I was wondering what you people find to the weakest point(s) in your production? I've been pondering about this question for quite a while now and thought it would be interesting to ask.

Personally, I can't stand my sound design and my melodies. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get towards the sounds that I want, and it's killing me.. Literally killing me. I have an unbelieveably hard time writting melodies too. Some days I seem to have no problem getting a good melody down, but that is rare.

Benedict · Post by **Benedict** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:40 pm

My weakest point is: I don't know production.

I've been a live keyboard player for 15 years but when it comes down to it, being a composer or whatever is meaningless unless it sounds professional to regular people.

Up until recently I've had the attitude of..

I don't need to care about mixing and production, we have NERDS for that

However, now I realize that it's definitely a 50:50 split between content and presentation - and boy have I got some catching up to do...

Cubicle · Post by **Cubicle** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:13 pm

I don't know really, I think all my points are equal. If I have to choose than it will most likely be keeping things interesting and adding the right emotion/atmosphere to a track.

lloydy · Post by **lloydy** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:19 pm

Focus,like now i'm sitting here with logic open and a track ready to lay out and arrange yet i'm in here posting listening to one of my old tracks on soundcloud lol.
No in all seriousness my mixes could do with becoming a bit better but the focus thing is a proper problem for me.

Genevieve · Post by **Genevieve** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:29 pm

Sound design and mixdown (kinda going hand in hand). Making things sound 'pretty' basically. I cram a lot of fucking shit into anything and change from one set of drums into the other within a measure. It's mah style and it's what I want my shit to sound like, but I can't make it work as well as I want to yet. I'm getting there though. Automation is key.

Sound design also keeps me from writing the melodies I like. I know that once I have a nice sound, making melodies is a breeze. I've improved with this, though and have written a bunch this week.

I'd be a lot better at this if I'd apply myself and worked more with a 'layers' mindset. I notice my shit sounds best when I analyze what frequency range is 'lacking 'something and just insert it in there like a piece of a puzzle. I should approach it more from the bottom up 'does this range have what it needs? Yeah? Alright, what about the next one?" Make everything sound good on its own within a certain frequency range and cut out the unwanted shit at the end when every element is in place and I need to make them work together.

DubMikey wrote:So, I was wondering what you people find to the weakest point(s) in your production? I've been pondering about this question for quite a while now and thought it would be interesting to ask.

Personally, I can't stand my sound design and my melodies. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get towards the sounds that I want, and it's killing me.. Literally killing me. I have an unbelieveably hard time writting melodies too. Some days I seem to have no problem getting a good melody down, but that is rare.

Dude, just detune some saws and make a stab or longer sound out of it. Really simple. Put that on every first hit of every bar (same note or another, doesn't matter). Or use a chord finder to give each bar a different chord. Those chords are gonna sound a lot better than just one note. Then get a square wave and make a bleep out of it or just a lil' high pitched sine stab. Accentuate the chord progression with those. You won't believe how simple most sound design really is and how good this'll sound.

When you've got that pretty, but kind of boring base, THEN you need to start tinkering with filter modulation, effects, waveforms, etc.

Sound design AND melodies work best when you're not trying to picture the whole melody + modulation in your head but do it stepwise. Keep it to a simple progression. It's the LAYERS that make it sound cool. I used to do it like this back when I first started and had melodies out the ass. But then I got in the habit of having this one complex progression/sound in my head and I couldn't get my ideas down anymore.

ehbes · Post by **ehbes** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:21 pm

Vocal chopping

chekov · Post by **chekov** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:32 pm

i think my mixdowns generally sound fairly clear but they've got no punch to them

mromgwtf · Post by **mromgwtf** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:16 pm

>making music

lloydy · Post by **lloydy** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:32 pm

mromgwtf wrote:>making music

sidi · Post by **sidi** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:44 pm

arrangement is simply impossible for me

ChromaRhythm · Post by **ChromaRhythm** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:07 pm

Making clean-deep-distorted basses.

Procrastination.

Finishing songs.

My phone & dubstepforum are distractions.

@Cubicle, your avatar and song goes hand to hand with each other. Dope.

Benedict · Post by **Benedict** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:25 am

Making electronic music as a solo producer is very lonely compared to making music as a band.

It's a pity that electronic musicians don't work together more to counteract individual weakest points.

DrVinnyBoomBeats · Post by **DrVinnyBoomBeats** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:21 am

I don't really know how to use DAWs to their full potential, so a lot of the time I do things the absolute hardest way. I guess if you think about it though, if you know how to do something and it works, however you do it doesn't matter. I'm stubborn and try to learn everything by trial and error instead of watching tutorials or anything.

Efrafa11 · Post by **Efrafa11** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:35 am

Consitency, I guess...
One track will be mixed well but the idea is crap.
Another track has a great idea but I can't get anything to sit right.
Or the mix and idea is good, buts it's stuck as a 32 bar loop because i can't figure out a bridge.

123kidd · Post by **123kidd** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:44 am

I tend keep tweaking and loose sight of the bigger picture at times.
Really attempting to translate a strong sense of emotion into the song.

Kongret · Post by **Kongret** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 1:52 am

I start doing complextro and end up with death metal.

But the worst is pr, everything to do with labels and all that stuff. You send your stuff to people and then wait for months and get no response in the end. I just don't get it -_-

mromgwtf · Post by **mromgwtf** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:38 pm

Kongret wrote:I start doing complextro and end up with death metal.

But the worst is pr, everything to do with labels and all that stuff. You send your stuff to people and then wait for months and get no response in the end. I just don't get it -_-

You don't need labels to release music.

Blingley · Post by **Blingley** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:14 pm

Definitely lead melodies. When I get one, I can harmonize it without any problems, but getting one that's good and catchy to begin with is really difficult.

fragments · Post by **fragments** » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:23 pm

^Theory and writing harmony and melody are the hardest for me. Working on that though. I'm better at everything else. This is, of course, speaking relatively.

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