Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

An excellent post. To futher speak to these points:

Think about an art class. Natural talent or not, just about every 
artist can benefit from formal training. The purpose of the class is 
to teach the ins and outs of art, start with specific excercises and 
challenge the student to achieve, perhaps in areas that seem 
unrelated or uninteresting at first. 

Over time the artist in the student begins to pool this experience 
together and, with new knowledge, strike out in his or her 
ownindividual direction.

Now the artist is in charge of the artist. To keep learning, to try 
new things, to honestly judge his/her accomplishments... these are 
the real goals. Commitment, bravery, experimentation and taking on 
challenges keep the artist moving forward.

Don't start off setting goals like "I want to write a hit" or "I want 
to sound like XXXXX does". Instead start off loving what you are 
trying to do and be willing to go into new directions, perhaps away 
from your initial interests that brought you to music 
theory/composition.

If you are not exposed to a style of music or trained in a specific 
way, seek that exposure and training. If you don't have knowledge of 
mixing or mastering, then get a big book on that topic and actually 
finish it. Gear changes all the time, but most,if not all, of the 
concepts you will learn will survive all the fluctuations in popular 
music styles.

Beginners must be spoonfed, experts must be reminded that no one 
knows everything. In short, all are students, even the teachers we 
look to. How open a mind and how creative your ideas are all you 
really bring to the keyboard.


--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, erik_magrini@B... wrote:
> Great post from another website I frequent, author unknown:
> 
> "Alright, you know how kids are always going "How do I make my 
mixes sound 
> better?" and what not. The answer is so simple really. Just love 
what you 
> do, study and practice.
> 
> Think about it all day, every day for years and keep learning, keep 
trying 
> new ideas all the time.
> 
> First off you have to be creative enough to come up with a good 
idea and 
> some people just don't have that. If you do have the ideas then you 
need 
> to have the patience, knowledge (technical) and confidence to bring 
it all 
> together into something that you know is good. There aren't any 
formulas 
> for that. It takes time and effort, more of both than most people 
have or 
> want to give. People are so quick to ask for eq frequencies and 
> compression settings and what software to use and what synth is 
good for 
> this and that. There are more than enough books and web resources 
that 
> will give you general guidelines.
> 
> Man... this is art and people want recipes. I understand that there 
is 
> nothing wrong with asking questions, I do it more than most. But 
when you 
> ask for a decade's worth of knowledge and experience in one broad 
question 
> it's obvious that you need to be more self sufficient and dig for 
what you 
> want. Does anyone want the journey from here to there... or is it 
all 
> about achieving everything right now?
> 
> I don't know why people think that electronic music is any 
different from 
> drawing, writing, sculpting, etc... You don't see people on forums 
asking 
> "How do I paint like Michelangelo?" but somehow... because you can 
click a 
> few notes into a drum grid on a shareware program and say "Whoa I 
made a 
> beat!" the idea that a finished product is right around the corner 
> presents itself. Then people start doing stuff and in a month's 
time don't 
> understand why their mixes aren't on wax yet. You can load a drum 
kit 
> consisting of clean hits that are already processed to work 
together into 
> a softsampler, spend a while learning to write basic patterns, then 
throw 
> a sampled bassline or melody over it... and on pc speakers hear a 
real 
> track. This is akin to doing a decent job on a paint by numbers 
project 
> and then expecting to paint for a living. 
> 
> It's normal to be ambitious at first and you should be, but you 
have to 
> keep things in perspective.
> 
> There is something that a lot of people forget... In dance music 
half of 
> the art is in the mixing and engineering. It's not a science, it's 
taking 
> theory and technique and learning it so well that it becomes 
> transparent... and you start using that knowledge in a thoughtless, 
fluid 
> way. It's the fact that you know the rules and know them well 
enough to 
> break them in your own fashion. The guy that engineered the latest 
pop 
> tune on the radio would probably do a rotten job at making an 
underground 
> dance tune tear it up because that is not his passion. If you don't 
really 
> want something it's just not gonna happen. If you do and have the 
knack 
> for it, it will. It's just a natural progression. That has been the 
way 
> forward since the beginning.
> 
> Nowadays it is so easy to start making music with computers... 
everyone 
> wants instant gratification. There was a time when you had to 
commit 
> yourself to this because you had no choice but to spend a lot of 
cash just 
> to get started. Then you had to rely on your own ambition and 
creativity 
> for new techniques. It seems like the attitudes have gone wrong in 
dance 
> music. People used to take it as a joke because they thought it was 
easy 
> to do... just computer generated, robotic beats. Now people are 
taking it 
> seriously, trying to be producers and want it to be just that easy. 
I 
> don't get it."
> 
> rEalm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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