Thoughts on this article?
AnsweredClosed
Bumped into this article the other day and wondered what your thoughts would be on it? A lot of it made sense conceptually but seemed potentially inefficient.
Skip to section content
GratuiTousStaff
Zach
GratuiTousStaff
Zach
GratuiTousStaff
Replies (5)
GratuiTousStaffHey Zach!
I didn't read the article, but after a quick skim, I'm assuming it's talking about remaking music, and using that as a guide to understand the basics of music production.
I've actually had this argument with the producer community before..
It's a very tricky topic because there's a very fine line between copying, learning, and becoming a producer with your own sound.
Here's an interesting question for you to think about..
How many producers do you know today that have their own unique sound?
In my opinion, not as many as there used to be back in the day.
When you hear about iconic music producers, we know them for their style.
Now what happens is people see these producer's success, and try to emulate it.. This is a continuing trend in every industry.. something becomes popular, people copy it, and it becomes very competitive.
A great example is Dubstep. When I started learning music production, almost every tutorial was based on the Dubstep genre.. very often showing how to do "LFO Wobbles".
But a couple things to think about:
- Dubstep is not very popular anymore
- Dubstep never made it to the mainstream radio for everyday users to listen to (it was a very niche crowd, even though popular at the time)
- Many of those techniques may not carry over to normal beatmaking
The argument is "remake music to learn music production".
And while yes, you can learn what's going on, you're not necessarily learning to make your own music, and that's my argument.
Being unique is what makes you stand out, even if it's a long-term game.
But then the question is "how do you learn music production without copying?".
And the answer is learning the basics of music production.
This means:
- Learn how melodies work (keys & scales)
- Learn to make your own drum loops (one shot drum samples)
- Learn how to further enhance a melody (automation.. sky is the limit here)
Another secret I pass onto you members of my platform is learning different genres like Dance, Hip-Hop etc.. try to play with different tempos.. try to start making a beat from scratch with your melodies first, then your drum loop first the next time.
Over time if you keep at it, you become a well-rounded producer understanding the core basics of music production.
If you remake music, I personally don't think it teaches you to make your own music, which is ultimately the end goal most producers are wanting.
To make their own beats from scratch, to find their own sound, and do their own thing.. whether it's just a hobby or they're trying for this professionally.
What are your thoughts on the concept, Zach?
It's a touchy subject which often gets downvoted from my mindset, but I do have my music made available, and as you can hear, it's very diverse.. dance, emotional beats, etc.. I'm my own producer, not trying to copy any one 🙂
ZachI actually had a lot of the same ideas while reading it that you talked about here. The one thing that made me take it seriously is the similar concept of learning an instrument.
I'm a classically trained saxophonist and the overall concept of what the article was getting at was really similar to the way you learn to play an instrument. When you learn an instrument you don't immediately start writing or improvising your own music. You start by playing easy and simple pieces of music that have already been written so you can learn how to actually play the instrument itself. In theory, one could apply this same logic by treating the DAW itself as an "instrument". The idea behind it is that by starting with remaking songs, you learn how to use the DAW effectively and efficiently without having to focus as hard on your own creations. (The article I read also advised to split the time between your own work and recreation evenly to ensure you develop your own creativity). I think another big part of this process is doing just about everything by ear in order to learn problem-solving. i.e. Your drop doesn't have enough impact, you've already solved the problem before when you had to figure out the tools and aspects of an impactful drop in the songs you remade. (Really a lot of this comes down to how much of an 'instrument' is a DAW)
Now I also understand that there is a big difference between classical training and music production. The biggest of these differences being the time it takes to learn this way. The learning songs by ear aspect would be incredibly difficult (potentially impossible) for absolute beginners with 0 music theory or ear training. However, as someone who has a lot of experience with both of these things, I thought it might not be a bad idea just because of how similar it was to how I first learned music.
Another two things I thought might kind of apply here is, one, a fairly common saying in the Jazz improv world: Improvisation is 90% listening. In order to make music you have to have at least some sort of idea as to what you want to make and that comes from listening. Two, being many Jazz educators have their students transcribe solos when teaching their students how to improvise.
Anyway I'm not really trying to argue for or against the concept here just trying to give my general thoughts.
GratuiTousStaffGood points and thanks for sharing!
I just try to push you guys as students to being your own producer, avoiding trends, and truly learning the tools for what they are.
Music production trends come and go, and if you've learned to make music only a certain way, if the music genre fades, all those skills go with it for the most part.
In music production it's important to understand if you create one genre, it's not like you can easily go and create another genre.. they are very unique with their own special techniques, rhythms, and sounds you use.
If you continue with my teaching methods, you will see you become a well-rounded producer creating music that YOU want, in your OWN style!
ZachYeah that makes sense!
Thanks for discussing with me!
GratuiTousStaffNo problem, Zach!
My questions area is always here for you. It's very quick for me to respond and I reply just as fast as if you'd email me.
Thank-you for using it.
Hope you're finding your solution for how to use FL Studio in a live setting (when I mentioned FL Studio's Performance there). Even if FL Studio is not the solution, it's most important to understand what works for you, can you easily back it up and transfer to another computer, and will the company be here in the long-run so you don't have to keep learning new software so you can keep progressing forward etc.
Keep at it! And thank-you so much for your membership!
Keep asking away with questions!
At the moment I am uploading new videos to the Oxygen Pro Help Area. 🙂
This question is closed. No more replies can be submitted.
