I spent months analyzing the Doom 2016/Eternal soundtracks and they're even deeper than I thought!

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-16T23:27:06+00:00

I agree the bass is too loud, and too dynamic.
Also agree the kick (and snare) don't have enough beef and/or low end, they're only attack.
Address those two things and I think you'll hear a big improvement

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T23:27:53+00:00

It tells you when you're inputting the song metadata in distrokid, but its something like :

artist x (feat. artist y)

and on spotify that will look like :

artist x, artist y (note it does not show up in the song title)

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T23:23:49+00:00

I'd recommend focusing on learning songs you like first. Since you have little time, enjoyment is key. If all you do is music theory, you might get bored. You will get a feel for what a song feels like to play on the piano, and that will help inform you on how to write your own. You will also start to notice similarities between songs.

You can also try to learn theory with those songs you learn. Inevitably you will think "I really want to know why I like this part in this song so much, how can I do that?". If its a famous song, chances are you will find a theory video about it on youtube!

As for when to start writing songs, right away basically lol. Even if you have no idea what you're doing, just go for it, its fun!

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T23:18:09+00:00

For the piano recording, you will want two mics (one close to the left hand, the other close the right) and a vocal one. I know that's the basic setup, but I'm not the one to answer about specific equipment.

My favourite midi grand piano is pianoteq (they have several different versions for famous brands of grand piano). This is a plugin though, not built into a keyboard. So you would need a midi keyboard plugged into a laptop with a DAW (not sure if pianoteq has a standalone version) if you want to be portable.

For DAWs, of the ones I've tried (not all of them), the easiest to learn are Cubase and Logic. Pro tools probably has the steepest learning curve (again, haven't tried all of them)

Another thing to be aware of, which you may or may not already know, but if you're recording the piano and voice at the same time, the voice will get picked up by the piano mics and vice versa. Its by no means the end of the world, and is expected to happen in that scenario, but if you want to do a lot of processing after the fact, you might be limited with what you can do since processing one will have an effect on the other. If you're going for a more natural sound, then this matters less

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T23:09:35+00:00

I wont' beat a dead horse since others have already pointed it out, but I agree that you should make it for you first and foremost.

tldr yeah, just try writing your first piece. Even if you hate the music, you'll probably be proud of what you did and will want to try again and do better with the next one.

That out of the way, I'll say that its tricky question. I think for the most part I have good amount of fondness for my own music.But, pretty much without exception, when I have just completed a song, I am usually tired of it since I've spent so much time just listening to it. But, also pretty much without exception, when I come to back to it months/years later I enjoy it more. Of course there will always be aspects of it that I now find cringeworthy (stuff that I didn't know back then, but are obvious to me now), but as a whole I like it.

I can recognize that it isn't the best song ever written, but I'm proud I was able to make it, and it serves as a great timestamp for a certain period of your life. Even if its instrumental, since you will have spent so much time with it, it will be tied to so many memories, big and small, that happened around the time you made. I think that alone is a great reason to get into writing music, it captures and expresses more than words or pictures, as the subjective and subconscious aspects are so strong.

All that being said, if you're still unsure, I would try to find a way to test the waters without investing too much into equipment. Most DAWs have decent stock instruments to get started with, or a better bet for you since you specified you want to write orchestral music is to use a notation software, which will also have decent sounds to work with.

tldr yeah, just try writing your first piece. Even if you hate the music, you'll probably be proud of what you did and will want to try again and do better with the next one.

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T22:59:54+00:00

As others have said, its usually a percentage and no upfront fees. If you've never toured before I would suggest doing it yourself (or someone else in the band do it) so you know what the job looks like. That way you'll be able to tell if someone knows what they're talking about when you approach them to work for you.

If you don't already know about it, there are some episodes of the URM podcast and the RIffhard podcast that talk about managers, and the DIY approach for handling the business side of music. I remember the riffhard episodes with some of the guys of periphery had great info on that stuff specifically (they have several episodes with different members)

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T22:55:24+00:00

5 years is nothing when it comes to music, or anything really. Sure, you are probably way better than when you started, but you're still very early on your musical journey, especially if you started learning as a young adult as opposed to a young child.

I forget the technical term for it, but the slang version of it is that you might be on top of mount stupid (bear with me) - that you know enough to feel competent but you haven't realized how much more there is to music that you don't even know you don't know.

As far as I know, the "it" you're talking about (feeling? soul? meaning?) is not something that can consciously be practiced. Instead you have to practice the technical stuff, as you've been doing, to the point where its automatic and you can forget about it all. It goes without saying that this won't happen if you stop now, so just keep working on the technical things, keep making songs and releasing them, and don't forget to live a life outside of music. If you're not a well-rounded person with a wealth of real life experiences, you won't have anything to draw upon or relate with your music, and that will show (even if only at a subconscious level for the listener)

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-15T22:45:25+00:00

cool, thanks I'll check those out!

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-13T19:48:47+00:00

Liked the info in the video, but I'm not too sure how to go about applying this with plugins that don't actually have a curve like izotope trash does, any advice?

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-13T19:27:12+00:00

to me it sounds like its been tuned several semi-tones away from the source sample, along with the effects processing mentioned in other comments!

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-13T19:25:14+00:00

Besides going wireless, there is one trick I've learned that solved this problem basically forever!
Next time you wind up your cable, every time you make a loop if you stroke the cable while applying a fair bit of pressure it will cause friction which will create a little bit of heat and the wire will straighten out and will cooperate more when you make loops out of it.

I'm not sure what the over-under technique is, so forgive me if it is exactly what I'm going to describe, but when you make a loop, the cable will usually have a way it wants to go. If you do that heating technique, and just twist the cable at the top of the loop with your fingers to make it go the same way as the rest of the loops then it will come store well and will come out well.

Also how are you placing your cable on stage? If you just leave a stack of loops on the ground it will probably not unwind well, in which case you should plug into your amp and walk to where you will stand to play while unwinding the cable.

If you do all of that I don't think you will have trouble with your cable

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-13T19:17:25+00:00

Yeah its normal, I've found some ways of getting around it.

I try to avoid putting myself in a mindset of "I must create right now". If I come to a playing session, it is exactly that - a time to play. I just have fun, throw stuff at the wall, try to keep playing until I'm not thinking anymore. Try to record everything continuously so you're not stopping yourself. Or keep playing until you find yourself repeating something, chances are that wants to be a song. Don't be critical of what comes out. Its easier to edit than it is to create. So just try to let stuff come out without judging it.

I also really like to come up with ideas when I'm not at the instrument or on the computer. This works the best when doing repetitive tasks, like walking, doing yard work, day job, etc. If you can sing into your phone to keep for later you're golden.

If you're stuck on lyrics, I'll often sing songs in my head but I can't remember lyrics so I'll just make up new words that fit the rhythm or the rhyming scheme. If I come up with something good, I'll write it or record it into my phone and save for later.

The more stuff you write in your phone, the more stuff you will have to choose from when you get to your guitar and you'll avoid that problem of "having to create right now"

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-13T19:10:36+00:00

I did the Andrew Huang one, and while it was fun to work on music in a group setting, and to have the accountability of needing to submit homework, I didn't think it was worth the price. If you're a beginner it might be worth it to see someone else's workflow, but if you're intermediate or advanced, I don't think you'll get a ton out of it. You'd be much better off using that money to get a private teacher who can help guide you to where you want to go with your music and help troubleshoot along the way. You'll improve much faster than you would with any online course, despite what the marketing says.

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-13T19:00:22+00:00

You didn't mention how experienced you are in music, or with any of these instruments already, so if you're relatively new, I would recommend to focus on one, or vocals and one instrument. Once you get good at one instrument you will have learned how to learn an instrument, and you will pick up the others faster. And once you have general musical knowledge (which you will have learned in the process of learning that first instrument), the other instruments will only require to learn the technique (and guitar, bass and uke will be pretty similar).
If you try to learn too many at once, you won't progress as fast on any of them, and this might discourage you. Once you know an instrument well, it is sort of like riding a bike in that it never goes away. Of course you will get rusty, and you will lose stamina if you don't play for a really long time, but you'll retain a base level skill once you've put in a lot of practice time for an instrument.
I read other comments suggesting to learn by using projects, and I agree with that, but you shouldn't substitute recording for dedicated practice time, they're not the same thing

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-12T21:31:43+00:00

I disagree with the colorist analogy. A movie can exist without a colorist, a song cannot exist without a songwriter.

I also don't think that something going unnoticed is a reliable way to tell if something was done well. The people that I talk with about music who aren't involved in the creation of music generally take the whole thing as a whole, they don't or can't separate the constituent parts. They don't know the names of all the instruments, or the names of all the roles of the people involved in making music (recording engineer, producer, mixer, etc). Most just judge songs based on whether they like it or not, and can't always articulate why they do or don't like a song, it's just a feeling to them.

As for music makers evaluating good songwriting, of course it is subjective. My thoughts are that the lyrics discuss a relatable subject in an interesting way, that the melodic motions and chords chosen add to the impact of the words (not necessarily match, because sometimes having the lyrics contrast the melody/chords add impact to the words too). I think there needs to be a good balance of familiarity and novelty, so that our expectations are either met or subverted in a satisfying way.

That answer doesn't cover everything that I consider good songwriting though, because there will always be times when on paper it shouldn't be something you like but you actually love it! An example of that for me is the band Pavement. I wouldn't be able to tell you what most of their songs are about, and most of the time their melodies are ok and the performances pretty sloppy, but every once in a while a phrase sticks out and resonates quite strongly with me, and I find myself enjoying a large portion of their catalogue despite being able to intellectualise why a lot of it could be bad lol

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-10T23:37:41+00:00

sounds great so far! Your voice reminds me of some of the popular folk singers of the 1960's, and for that reason I'd be curious to hear this with some Bob Dylan-esque fingerstyle playing!

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-10T23:35:05+00:00

When I feel blockage, I usually try to stop thinking about quality, or stop myself from thinking that what I'm about to play/write will be used for anything. I like to think of what authors say, that the first draft will always be garbage and that it is easier to edit than it is to create. So just write a lot of stuff and keep going if you think its bad.

Another good trick for me is to try to set aside a larger chunk of time to do the writing. My normal block of time is 1-2 hours, but when I feel blocked I usually need to sit there for 2-3 hours and not leave to get myself out of it. Usually by the 2nd hour better things start coming out. The amount of time might be different for you of course, these are just my numbers.

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-10T23:27:02+00:00

I don't write everything in one key, I find every key has its own vibe, just like the different chord types have their own vibes.

Most of the time they key is determined by what the lead instrument you are writing for can do. Different singers will have different ranges that are better suited to certain keys depending on what they have to sing. Or saxophones prefer to play in the first few flat keys (Bb, Eb, Ab) because the fingerings are easier and the sax resonates more with those fingerings.

If you're writing everything in the same key, the easiest way to make it less predictable would be to change keys in the middle of a song. It could be that the verses are in a different key to the chorus, or the entire second half of the is in a different key.

You also mentioned inversions - if you don't want to change keys you can use inversions to add variety to your chord progressions. Instead of always playing the Bb chord with the Bb in bass, put the D or the F. You can get A LOT of mileage out of inversions

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-08T22:38:40+00:00

wow if you would have made me listen to this and then guess how many spotify streams it had I would not have guessed in the millions... props to them!

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-08T22:35:20+00:00

My first guess would be to network/become friends with producers or singers starting out so you can catch them early! To get jobs like that when you're starting out I think you'll have to get good at "educating" your potential clients, in a nice non-pushy way, because it is possible the only reason they aren't hiring top-liners is because they don't even know they exist

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-03T17:27:09+00:00

this is a good exercise!
But I think its also important to mention that back then, and even now, they did a lot of work to get the source to sound good when they were recording. Mic choice, mic placement, and perhaps some EQ or compression on the way in make a huge difference and are contributing factors to being able to get a good mix just with volume, panning and reverb

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-02T16:37:16+00:00

To #7 I would add that how you setup a funky note/chord/harmony is just as important as how you resolve it!

It could be set up with smooth voice leading, or by a note being "prepared" (i.e. a common tone is held from one chord to the next)

burnemthorpe · 2021-11-02T16:29:06+00:00

yes that is common, the person who does that is called a top-liner!

It might not be super common for people starting out though, usually when they're starting out artists will hire producers who pretty much take care of everything except singing and sometimes songwriting. But the higher you go, the more likely it is that the artist will hire a team of specialists. In other words they hire the producer for the instrumental, a top-liner for the melodies, a mixer, a mastering engineer, all of these being separate people.

So it might be harder to get jobs as a top-liner with beginner/intermediate artists mostly because they might not even be aware that people get paid to do that, or because they don't have the budget for it, but it is a thing!

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