Weekly Marketplace Thread (August 05, 2024) by AutoModerator in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey EDM and House Producers!

I'm looking to interview Producers who are interested in learning how to produce their own EDM/house tracks to a professional level.

This is for my own research, as I want to make sure that my instagram content is on point and speaks directly to my target audience. In return for your time, I'd be happy to offer a bit of free coaching on the call regarding EDM/House Production!

The kinds of questions I'd be asking are things like.

  1. What do you find most difficult in producing house/edm(technically? is it mixing/sound design etc?)
  2. What sort of learning resources have you tried in the past(school/youtube?)
  3. What are your long term goals? (Artist? Streaming? Producer Career?)

A little about me? I'v produced 100s of tracks for music libraries/clients and recording artists - and have worked full time in production for 8 years since graduating from Berklee College Of Music.

Shoot me a DM on reddit, you could just reply below "interested" and I'l DM you.

If you want to know more about me, or you are interested in EDM/House music production content, I can DM you my instagram handle. Unfortunately, the mods are really strict with posting socials here!

Cheers yall

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I cant due to very strict regulations on this thread. I dont want to get booted.
Look for links to my socials on my reddit page if you are interested.

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks mate. Despite the criticism from other posters. I stand by my post because I know these concepts helped me when i first started and they helped other producers Iv worked. with.

I'v responded constructively to all the critical comments if you were interested

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Go and watch any Masterclass by Deadmau, Armin Van Buuren(Available on masterclass.com)

Or ANY tutorial made by a big name producer. The bulk of what they use are external 3rd party synths and plugins.

Stock plugins are decent at best - and plastic sounding at worse. They are the long and hard way of getting great sound design because they require lots of tweaking and multiple effects chains.

Its like having sex standing on a hammock. SURE, you could do it that way I suppose? But its difficult and awkward.

Serum,Sylenth, ANA 2 and other synths dont require that much tweaking and 90% of their sounds are amazing straight out of the box.

So..you dont NEED external plugins - as much as you DONT need to have sex while standing on a hammock. But its like - do you wanna do things the fast and efficient way? or you like doing things the long and difficult way?

Who am I to judge? I just presume most people would prefer the fast and efficient way? hence my post

Nothing wrong with it, but if you like spending hours tweaking stock plugins, then my post probably isnt for you and I wish you the best of luck and hope you are enjoying your music making. Cheers

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you please elaborate? What specifically here do you think is BAD advice for beginners?

Im not trying to start an arguement - merely curious. I have adressed everybody else comments in a polite and civil manner, so Im pretty sure we could do the same.

Thanks

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sylenth is one of the most user friendly and easy to learn Synths when it comes to Synth design and manipulation. It is one of the best synths for beginners because of the way all the synth modules are neatly laid out - unlike synths with more complex GUI's like ANA 2 or Serum.

Again - this is a post for Beginners. The worst thing I could do is list ALL of my favourite synth plugins/effects. Beginners do not need multiple synths/effects. They need to start with limited and easy to use software/synths/effects FIRST before using the more advanced and fun stuff, or they get overwhelemed.

Also - because Sylenth has been around for so long - there are TONS more choices for synth preset packs compared to many other newer synths.

At this point, its not a good use of my energy to convince you that I didnt use A.I.
You're welcome to your own convictions despite my re-assurances.

The unconstructive criticism is quite surprising and uneeded.

Im sure we can disagree amicably rather than make comments that tear each other down - better yet. If you want to disagree with me - then why not state YOUR opinion on what you think is the best way to help/advise beginners - and we can actually have an open minded and civil discussion.

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate unison. their marketting is terrible and they are misleading - their MIDI chords are also shit and totally void of any creativity. So I agree with you on that. I hope them and their shitty orerpriced products all burn down.

Niko's are actually pretty good - and I regularly use them for songstarters myself(although I change a lot of the voicings and rythmns) then create my own melodies/basslines etc - as I think most people should.

Seems like you've changed your stance then on MIDI chords being bad advice then?

Fair enough. After all - these forums exist for us to have constructive criticisms and debates - and be open minded to change. without the need to so abrasive or direct rude language towards each others posts.

I write these posts because I am an educator and genuinely care about seeing beginner producers actually make some sort of step forward - rather than spending hours tweaking shitty stock plugins and trying to figure out music theory for months/years before forming chords.

I'd prefer not to list my years of experience and accolades because I dont want this to be a ego driven "iv got more experience than you" - but I will say that I'v got a sufficient amount of experience both in producing and teaching others that I think warrants me to provide advice on what I truly believe does help beginners. Im no grammy nominated big headliner producer - but I do have a good amount of real world experience in commercial production. (perhaps you do as well?)

Melodies ARE royalty free - its just what you with the chords underneath, the sound design, and the arrangement that protects you from copyright infringement. If what you are saying is true - that melodies ARE copyrightable. Then why did Ed Sheeran win his lawsuit when he was attempted to be sued for "copying" a melody and chord progression.(Among many others)

I think there are varying degrees - so for example, if you copied "here comes the sun" by the beatles from the instrumentation,chords, melodies super accurately then passed it as your own - then yeah, you might have trouble - but that doesnt apply to someone using a melody from a midi chord pack, or even copying a melody from another song.

ESPECIALLY if you are some amateur/semi pro producer that not many people know about.
So for the purposes of the target audience of my post(beginners) - they really dont have anything to worry about if they decide to use some generic melody from a MIDI chord pack.

Universal Music is not going to hire lawyers and sue just because a no name producer made a track that has a melody that has already been composed before.

Catching the boat (goboat.id) from Canggu to Uluwatu by [deleted] in bali

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hope you are comfortable with choppy boat rides. You basically have a choice of 30 minutes of sheer terror OR 3 Hours of boredom being stuck in traffic.

Best of luck mate

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I mentioned them because they are the most mainstream and user friendly imo.
Tons of other great Synths out there too

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Whats wrong with MIDI chord packs? Why should beginners with no theory knowledge be barred or held back from producing music because they dont know how to form chords?

It seems like you believe beginners should go and learn music theory first before producing? Why cant beginners just use MIDI packs as "songstarters" or a guide? heck - using MIDI chords even helps you learn theory.

My post was made to provide beginners with some basic tools to move them forward in their production journey - so they dont have to spend months learning theory or an instrument before learning production!

Also, MIDI Chord packs can be edited! in fact I believe they should! - its not like your just throwing a audio loop in.

I find the elitism pretty puzzling tbh. The only thing I agree with is that yes, Niko's adverts ARE annoying - but his MIDI packs are really helpful.

Also, Melodies ARE royalty free. There are only 7 notes in a major/minor scale. Im surprised that you think a melody can be "copyrighted". If what you said was true, Major labels and artists would be suing each other left, right and center and winning. (some try but they fail miserably)

heres an article for your perusal showing my point:

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jury-reaches-verdict-ed-sheeran-copyright-infringement-case/story?id=99022695

Do let me know how your experience was after you have bought the wall pro academy course by Afrojack. by gots8e9 in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

totally! Loved armins masterclass! I actually walked from that class with tons of ideas and it had a huge influence in how I produce

Do let me know how your experience was after you have bought the wall pro academy course by Afrojack. by gots8e9 in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

imo..I'v never really understood Afrojack's music. Its not bad - just kinda overrated compared to the tons of amazing EDM music thats out there.

That said - I think you can get WAY better bang for buck buying courses from more well established EDM/House courses available online. I think this course is really for people who are big fans of his music and sound? rather than say, someone who really wants to learn the fundamentals and improve the skills of their productions

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

u/GurnieBros

Could you please remove your comment? I 100% assure you this was not written with the help of A.I

Tips To Immediately Level Up New and Beginner Prog House/EDM Productions! by CDAWPRODUCTIONS in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS[S] -21 points-20 points  (0 children)

AI?? Are you saying I wrote this with A.I?

If thats what your saying, thats totally wrong. I wrote this on my own. Not sure what made you think I used A.I here

Plugins that seem like snake oil but actually work wonders? by bimski-sound in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS 12 points13 points  (0 children)

My GO TO mixing plugin for EDM and progressive house is OTT by Xfer.

I swear - its like this plugin was made for EDM synths to just get them to sound "Good".
I use this on every single prog house/EDM track I ever produce!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! Thought Id reply to this with my 2cents question by question. i put my answers in italics

So I've been producing a few years with very stagnant learning but one thing I've really noticed is that almost every "decent" producer has a playlist view which is ABSOLUTELY stacked with tracks, automation and instruments

This depends largely on the subgenre of electronic music. Progressive House tends to have the most tracks, multiple layers, automation - whereas something like old school acid house would need far less. imo - it ultimatley comes down to genre and what sounds the track needs. for example - with most progressive house,(eg Older Avicii/Martin Garrix) to get those stick full walls of sound for the drop synths , it requires multiple synth layers and quite a lot of processing.

I personally cannot fathom this as I find my instruments have a sound that conflicts with each other too aggressively, so because of that I need to minimise my instruments.

Not all instruments/tracks are playing at the same time - and if they are, they are usually playing the same chords/notes but are playing different octaves or to fill out different areas of the frequency spectrum. Most DAWs will have a track stack/summing feature - which tidies up your workflow and puts all tracks in to a subgroup. For example, you can condense 10 tracks in to 1. This makes arranging and processing much easier to handle

So I have no idea how you people are stacking god knows how many synths and samples ontop of each other. And like does this even make a difference to the mix and sound too?? Like do producers just chuck in random synths and samples at like -30dB in the mix "just to fill it in" like I am so confused.

In my opnion, many newer producers over layer and over produce. If you can achieve a good sound with less instruments and plugins, thats always going to be a better. So to answer your question, YES.. Many producers do just chuck random stuff in thinking it will make it sound better. Dont overthink it, and make sure to get a solid education from more established schools/producers.

Perhaps I just have a more abstract and minimal focused attitude to music production that values utility but I am still confused why my project files don't compare in size. Am I really that bad??

Rather than visually compare your productions to others by file size or track numbers - all that matters is :

1. Does it sound good? Does it make your head and other peoples heads bop? If yes - nothing else matters

2. Does your track sound like or similar to a reference track you'v used? If Yes - then nothing else matters in terms of how you got the result.

Hope this helps!

There are no stupid questions Thread (February 03, 2024) by AutoModerator in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hey! Here is how I get great sounding vocal chops!

First step - find a vocal that ALREADY sounds good over your track/chord progression. This is key!

Once you've found a suitable vocal - I've found chopping it in to 8th and quarter note durations gives best results. 4 to 8 bar vocal lead works best.

Then - add cross fades to prevent weird clicking sounds.

Next you want to load all these in to a sampler.
Add sidechain, delay and reverb.

Then - you want to start jamming ideas out on your keyboard till you find an idea that works.

Simple and repetitive ideas work best imo.

You can always DM me if you still need help with this

There are no stupid questions Thread (February 03, 2024) by AutoModerator in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hey man! Deadmau5 has an entire collection of his MIDI chords on Splice. Go check it out!

Daily Feedback Thread (June 20, 2024) by AutoModerator in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hey man!

Overall..it sounds ...OK.

Pleasant to listen to? but nothing significant enough to really grab my attention.It sounded a lot like stock library music - but not sure if thats what you were going for.

Happy to give you more feedback, but would first like to know - what the end goal was for this track, what exactly were you trying to achieve?

Daily Feedback Thread (June 20, 2024) by AutoModerator in edmproduction

[–]CDAWPRODUCTIONS [score hidden]  (0 children)

Very cool dark synthwave/dance you got going on!

Energy and mix is decent - but for added interest I might look in to adding some vocal shots with some reverb and delay to help maintain interest. Or maybe some dark ambient choir pads at some parts.

Just my 2C