Tricks, Tips and Shortcuts Archives

Limitation Breeds Creativity

We are at our least creative, when we have the most options.

Choice is paralyzing. The myraid of possible paths expands in our mind, like a thousand voices, each clamouring to pick me, pick me!

Even if you DO pick one, that only makes the others louder, and before you’ve taken more than a step, you wonder if perhaps you’ve made a mistake, maybe this other instrument, or effect, is even better…

Thing is, it’s not really about making the ‘right’ choice – it’s about narrowing the focus, finding a mental framework within which the creative juices can flow.

Learn From the Classics

I recently took on a music project for a buddy of mine – it’s an 80’s-style track to go with his new (and awesome) tabletop game, Fight to Survive. Check out his kickstarter here.

An interesting wrinkle is that, while the game hearkens back to campy buddy cop shows and classic martial arts movies like Bloodsport, the game is actually meant to span the entire 20th century. Which means the track should too.

The project is nearly finished now, and while I have largely failed to span an entire century of music in a single track, the effort taught me a great deal about the value of creating music from earlier time periods.

Understanding Your Synths With Presets

Remember the first time you opened your DAW and started fiddling with the synths? There were so many controls, knobs, sliders, matrices, all interacting in strange and magical ways.

Very cool. And very intimidating.

You might have turned a knob here, tweaked a filter there, then gotten frustrated when the sound it produced wasn’t earth-shatteringly awesome.

Many people throw up their hands and switch to the built-in presets at this point, but if you’re like me, this feels a bit like cheating. Fortunately, there’s a way to better understand your synths, with the help of (not by relying on) presets.

Things I’ve Learned Scoring a Movie Trailer

I’m nearing the end of scoring for a movie trailer I imported (just a pet project for practice, nothing pro yet). I’ll post it up here once it’s done.

It’s been a surprisingly fun ride (most of the time), and I thought, ‘hey, maybe someone else could benefit from my impressions, as someone new to this sort of thing.’

And so here we are.

The Sound Profile of An Instrument

I’ve been training my ears using the Golden Ears program (or more recently, with my personal patch, which you can create on Ableton), for a few months now.

The program starts by boosting or cutting certain frequency ranges in various musical genres, which you try to guess at.

In the process, you build familiarity with the qualities that each frequency range tends to bring out. You also get a sense of how individual instruments sound when boosted at these ranges.

Now, I’m no expert at this. But I’ve noticed certain common patterns in how I perceive instruments, which might simplify the process of classifying what we hear.

Focus, Focus, Focus!

I’ve listened to songs that confuse or irritate me. Some sounded like they were going in an interesting direction, and then just crashed. A few made me want to drop my monitors off a cliff.

The real gems though, are the complete package: They grab you, pull you in, and keep you riveted right to the end. The music, lyrics, and effects all combine beautifully to create a masterpiece.

Personal preference, as always, plays a significant role here. But one of the other critical differences between the former and the latter, is how well the different parts focused on a specific idea, or emotion.

Ear Training: What Am I Hearing?

Anyone using the Golden Ear CDs to improve their attention to musical detail? I’ve been using it for a few months now, and I LOVE it, seriously.

There’s something crazy-satisfying about hearing more and more nuance in music – like a secret superpower, but y’know, less crime fighting.

It also helps us understand the frequency range of different sounds, so we can make better editing decisions during mixdown and spot problems before they’re printed.

Those CDs are pricey though, so I’m sharing here what to listen for at different frequencies. Like I said, it’s satisfying. You like being satisfied, don’t’cha?

When it’s Time to Ask for $$$

Yesterday evening, I submitted my first artistic grant. If successful, it will pay for up to six months of mentorship with one of the recording studios I’ve been working with (I’ll stay quiet on which one, at least for now).

It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me, mostly because I hate asking for money. Nevertheless, the advantages to having some sustained lessons in a recording studio environment are just too good to ignore.

Instead of pretending I know all about the grant application process, I thought I’d share my personal experiences with y’all, so you can know what to expect.

Continue reading “When it’s Time to Ask for $$$”

The Slog

A few weeks back, I was checking out a thread on GearSpace (formerly GearSlutz, before the #MeToo movement caught up with it), about the type of work available for someone with audio engineering training.

The replies were not inspiring.

Signs You’re About to Burnout

As someone who historically struggles with motivation issues, the topic of burnout is an important one to me.

If you’ve ever hit your limit before, you know one of the main symptoms of severe burnout is a loss of desire to work on your chosen project – or really to do anything that doesn’t have to do with resting your overtaxed body/brain.

Your motivation is precious. I mean, the whole operation depends on it. So it helps to know when burnout is on the way, oui? Here’s what I’ve noticed in my own burnout struggles.