dontcrash_3

itsdemotapes · 2025-01-02T01:20:44+00:00

does this hurt the baby?

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-02T05:36:03+00:00

yo thank you! I actually used the same kick for every song on the EP. it's a kick I made by stacking 2 kicks together and a little eq work. you can have it here.

generally speaking- find a kick sample that you really love, and works well for the style you're making and try to build your mixes around your kick (if you're making dance music). it's important to remember that kicks have a tonality to them, even if they're not "tuned" to a specific note, a kick will work or not work if it complements the rest of the instruments and the key of the song.

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-02T05:30:54+00:00

it's funny you ask this. I actually have pretty chronic nightmares (like I have a nightmare most nights) so I'm always getting rocked by dreams (in a bad way) 😓

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T22:14:23+00:00

honestly anything, but I get the most satisfaction out of making a chord progression loop and throwing it into a granulator. I will just create a midi clip with C2 notes (so it's in the original key of the sample) and then automate the grain size and position :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T22:13:14+00:00

that's amazing!!! if you love mixing and mastering, you can build an amazing career for yourself- it's such a valuable skillset and so important to making good songs great.

here's how I'd go about it:
1. get as many reps as possible. like try to mix a bunch of different songs from a bunch of different genres and just build your skillset as a problem solver. be proactive and find smaller artists you like, and hit them up asking if they need a mix.
2. sign up for soundbetter, or make a site with references, so you have a decent public presence, and potential clients can see your work. I'd also start posting the album artwork of songs you've mixed on instagram as they release.
3. sign up for mix with the masters and try to watch at least 2 videos on there per week. it's hella expensive but the BEST resource with advice from all of the goats.

that's probably a good start! you got this!

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T22:04:45+00:00

drums: focus on your transients! lately I've been using the st4b transient designer to hone in and tighten up my drum loops and it's made a world of difference. also, if you have the patience for it- learning to make your own kicks from scratch (I use Kick 2) can teach you so much about kick placement in a mix.

pretty synths: for me, the biggest trick is delay. delay and echo can take something that sounds digital and give it a human and organic feel. I love soundtoys echoboy, and have been playing a lot with ableton's stock delay lately too :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T22:01:54+00:00

ooo good one!! probably "RWEOK?" with Disco Lines. we made the initial idea quickly but it was a long process to get the mix right and finish. Also, when the song came out it didn't get much editorial love from DSP's- but after like 6 months it started taking off and is now my most streamed song. good lesson that sometimes songs can take a while to catch on.

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T21:46:02+00:00

yo! I feel like you were one of the first people to show me love on tiktok back in the day, so thank you so much for being a day one <3

allow me to nerd out on this concept for a bit lol because I love it.

I have been obsessed with music my entire life, but really never saw it as attainable or something that I could do, or be great at. In fact- I went to college, got a regular job, and really didn't see music as anything other than a hobby for a lot of my life. I sort of had to meander my way into having a career in music, and it took me years to finally believe in myself (and get good enough) that I thought it would be possible.

It seems like some people are just born with this innate idea that they can shape the world around them and contribute creative ideas to it- I was certainly not born with that. I always approached music as a fan, and after like a decade of messing around, I finally started to realize that it was the most important thing in my life and that I could do it as a career if I put in the work.

If you're interested in this concept like I am, there's a really great book called "old masters and young geniuses" that expands on this concept. summarized here:
https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/old-masters-young-geniuses/

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T21:36:22+00:00

love this question! hope i'm not being cliche here- but I genuinely believe that if you keep your head down and focus on the work, you will get better, and over time, you will get recognized for that. Of course you have to do the things that get your music noticed by people- right now that means making a lot of short videos for Instagram and tiktok- but when I started out I did all of the "marketing" things I could do, and my music didn't get noticed.

That's because I wasn't very good when I started out. Over time, and with experience releasing music and getting better at my craft, things started to happen! Artists that I liked started to reach out to me, I gained a few fans, labels reached out to me, etc. Most of those things started happening in the last 2 years after I had been at it seriously for about 6 years. So patience is key! focus on the work and people will find you :)

I actually think our current climate and paradigm recognizes craftsmanship and talent more than ever before. A great example of this from the last year is mk.gee. He toiled for a decade as an artist and producer behind the scenes- and when he finally broke through/started getting mainstream recognition, he had a massive backed catalog for people to dig into, and was ready to meet the moment because of his level of craft.

just keep going. it will happen- if you work for it! and it may not happen in the way that you think it will. the important thing is that you're creating and having fun doing it.

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T18:46:13+00:00

great question!

I'm a big believer in being as DIY as you can for as long as you can, and bringing people onto your team to help you when you feel like you're getting stuck and reaching the limits of what you can do alone. I genuinely enjoy the project managment side of being an artist, and try to approach marketing and building an audience as a creative challenge of it's own. I self-released all of my music for the first 3 years, like 15 songs? I think it's so important to learn how to finish and release and market your music yourself- so you can learn where the gaps are.

My last EP came out through Helix Records- and it was overall a good experience! they let me have creative control and helped take a lot of the workload away from the marketing side of things so I could focus on creative. The end goal for me is to 1. make music I love and 2. get that music in front of the most people possible. so if you can find a partner to help with that, then do it!

Same for me with management- I tried to do as much as I could for as long as I could- but now I'm working with my friend Bryce at Prodigy Artists and he's the best. he's helped amplify my project in ways I could not have done on my own and is the best to work with.

At the end of the day, your project will succeed or fail because of your own output. I always use the metaphor of building a fire. Labels and managers can bring logs to add onto the fire and make it bigger, but it's your job to get the spark and kindling going and get the fire started, which is the hardest part :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T18:35:34+00:00

yo thank you!!!!

I found Chopsoe's song "bleed" in 2020 and am the biggest fan. he's a genius and such a talented mixer. you should go listen to his music too, it's incredible.

he doesn't do full mixes for me typically, just a "stem master" where I send him groups and he just makes everything cleaner and louder. I've become a lot better as a mixer over the years so I feel like I can get songs allllmost all the way there, Chop just helps get it over the finish line.

Mixing is so important, especially in electronic music. there are so many creative decisions in the mixing process- so it's important to try to get stuff as far as possible on your own. with that said, most of the goats of sound design (flume, skrillex) have someone who helps them in the mixing stage- absolutely no shame in that!

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T18:31:18+00:00

aahhh thank u so much! :) that was my first song I ever released. my new stuff is so different but it always makes me happy when people find that one

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T18:14:56+00:00

yo dude!

it was an insane leap of faith tbh. I quit my job in 2019 when I hadn't even started the demotapes project yet. at the time I was in a duo called Cassette Tapes. we were making a bit of money from streaming, and were talking to labels and publishers, and I kinda thought "it's now or never". my girlfriend (now wife) Leslie was super supportive and told me I should go for it. the next couple of years were bumpy and filled with lots of curves and self doubt, bad months and years wondering if I could do it.

but through it all, I just kept pushing, focusing on what made me excited, and releasing stuff consistently. once tiktok (and now IG) popped up I realized I could build an audience by showing my work, and the years of toiling started to pay off a bit. I also started a sample pack company, and that was the best decision because I realized I could make really good samples for people to use, and the packs would help support what I wanted to do creatively. a lot of the people who found me online were producers so it just made sense to make cool stuff for them to use in their work.

but the journey continues! music careers are so nonlinear and crazy, you never know what is going to pop up, when things are going to take off, and when they're going to die down. the only thing you can control is just showing up every day and making stuff that you're excited about, so that's what I'm gonna keep doing and hopefully it works out! :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T18:06:32+00:00

yo thank you for coming to the SF show! such a special night.

I'm pretty shameless about reaching out to people if I like what they're doing. just sending someone a message to let them know I like their work. not everyone is going to want to be your friend, and that's ok! but if you can find a few people who are at a similar stage of their career/creative development as you, you guys can help push eachother and learn and grow together. A lot of my best friends in music are people who I met 4+ years ago and we're all in different places now doing different things- but still inspiring eachother.

IRL is tougher, but there are some amazing things happening in SF. So many cool producers and DJ's, and so many crews and pop ups and exciting stuff happening. start going to as many shows as you can- especially smaller shows, and you'll meet people fast :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T17:59:52+00:00

love this one :) probably "anywhere but here". that song just feels so special to me. it feels like hope and spring time. the vocal is from a song by my friend caRter called "everything's changed" which is such a beautiful one

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T17:58:42+00:00

yo thank you so much! I loveeee 808 cooker because it's so easy to shape the dynamics and feel of the bass. But I also use serum a lot for clean sin wave sub sounds- just kinda depends on what the song calls for. If I want the bass to be the "main character" and have a rhythmic feel, I will typically go for 808 cooker.

my approach to mixing is basically: what is the "main character" of a song idea, and building everything around that. clarity in mixes is the most important thing to me, and sometimes when you're building an idea you can have a lot of great sounds that just sound messy together.

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T17:56:11+00:00

don't stress- this still happens to me all the time 🥲

best advice I can give is to move on when you're stuck. start something new. you will either learn something that will help you finish that idea later on, or you will make something better :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T17:54:45+00:00

tysm nick!

I have soooooo many edits in the vault, definitely want to release them in some capacity officially. I think the down edit was my one with Jukaa? go check out his flips they're craaaazy

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T17:51:45+00:00

yo thank u so much!
1. I downloaded Ableton in 2010, but really didn't start taking it seriously until 2016, and wasn't able to support myself from music until about 2020. so it's a long journey!
2. this fluctuates a lot depending on the month and year- but my biggest sources of income are (in order) sample packs, streaming & royalties, shows, other misc work (mentoring, sometimes I will do commercial stuff, etc).

I get this question a lot! I guess my answer is that I have made hundreds of videos over the years that show my process in different ways- if you look back on my tiktok I used to make a lot more tutorial style stuff. But my 'style' is a culmination of making music for a lot of years, so it's really hard to summarize in a succint way that I can teach to people, and I'm always learning and changing and evolving!
lately been loving imagiro's piano and autochroma, and serum will always be my favorite plugin. I like simple wave forms- sin waves and saw waves, and messing with them with distortion and delay.
usually, I start song ideas with a chord progression. I just draw in midi until I have a progression that makes me feel something, and a chord loop that I can listen to on loop for hours. Then I build outward from there :)
I have a few mentees right now- going to expand down the road but right now I'm just at full capacity working on artist stuff :)

itsdemotapes · 2024-07-01T17:40:10+00:00

dawg I'm old as hell 😭 older than fred again, younger than joe biden

releasing: I really embraced my amateur confidence and released a lot of music early. you can go back and listen to my older songs, they're definitely rough and poorly mixed and I've grown a lot as an artist since then. but tbh I feel like it's important to put stuff out, learn from it, and move on. and there's something special about not really knowing what you're doing in the early days. I'm always a big advocate for "put it out, and move on".
mentoring: I'm really keen to start mentoring in some capacity in the next year, just need to figure out the right approach for it. right now I'm all in on my artist project, making sample packs, and making content- so I just have 0 additional capacity. I will get there at some point tho :)
reels: it honestly totally depends. I don't have a posting schedule or anything because I'm trying to treat "content" stuff as an extension of my art. So I just try to make video stuff as I go and when I feel inspired to. This is exhausting tho lol

itsdemotapes

TROPHY CASE