UncleAge.
UncleAgeAfter several years of lurking around music related forums, mostly company sponsored like this one, I have noticed that their is relatively little talk about music. I check in to most forums each day mostly cakewalk, zynewave, kvr and gearslutz with a few others sprinkled in for variety. Most topics are usually about “what”s best” or “I can’t get this to work, help me”. But suprisingly, considering the audience (the wide set of influences) that are available in most of these communities, very little is discussed of the art, craft and inspiration of making music.
A lot of forums provide an area for members to showcase their music. And a few members do so and await comments, which are usually sparse yet constructive. What I would like to know is what is inspiring you right now? Inspiration can come from many sources so I’ll narrow things down a bit. As you grow as a musician or producer or engineer, what is happening around you right now that is providing that inspiration to grow? Is it some new or old artist that you just got turned onto? Is it a book, lecture or person that you experienced lately that has you coming up with new ideas? Is it a new chord change that you finally got your head wrapped around and now you’re considering taking a day off from work cause the ideas are just streaming out of your head and you want to try to capture them all?
Let’s consider the music side of things. What have you heard lately? Where is it taking you? Where were you coming from? Would you mind sharing?
Mike GHmmm,
Thanks for your post UncleAge.
I’m also struggling for inspiration, there are soooo many styles that sound great and I’m not one who gets hooked on one particular style, I’ve been looking to find what I’d like to record for a year or so now, tried electronic, blues, jazz, rock, tried just recording live instruments, tried applying effects etc.. bottom line is I could do loads of different stuff but I don’t know what I “want” to achieve. Also a related issue is that when I think I want to try some dance hi bpm track I can’t technically get the results that are in my head.
I think I’m interrested in two separate things, music technology and making music. The two are obviously related but also very separate. At the moment I’m trying to puersuade some of my musical freinds to come round and I’ll record their stuff so I can just focus on tech stuff.
Then I can come back later when I’m an “expert” at techy stuff and have a better stab at recording my own stuff (Maybe!!!)
I would love to see some people upload entire podium projects (not just ready mixed down audio files) so I can play at tweaking them and arranging, doing the techy stuff etc…
And I’m sure others would probably say this too, I feel embarrassed at uploading my “experiments” cause they sound awful (my wife tells me they definately stink!!)
Hope that adds to your post.
Cheers,
Mike G
sam ci agree. i can tell you that for awhile, maybe three or four months i regularly posted my music and commented on others music in two forums. but…………it was just too silent so i stopped, both posting and listening. makes no sense, i know………
maybe we need a true music forum. no politics, gear, etc. just music postings, collaborations, comments, and general music discussion.
all these musicians becoming engineers might not be good!!
UncleAgeHonestly, I am surprised at the small offerings of collab work around the net. And I too think that a lot of people don’t post their own work because they think its not up-to-snuff. But I also think a lot of stuff doesn’t get posted because it sits on our comps unfinished. We get an idea but never get around to completing it. Now add to that the idea that a lot of us don’t jam/compose/practice with other musicians and you get this void that should never exist really.
My current inspiration is coming from working with guys in my area that shoot small video stuff and the indie film guys. It makes think outside the box a little since a lot of times there are clear goals for a project. In some ways it makes me sit my creative hat to the side and put on my management & techy hat(s). Also, I have had a chance to dip into the spoken word scene a bit and shoot a few performances. Total distraction that clears my head and lets me get back to things with a clear slate. Music wise I haven’t had a lot of inspiration floating my way. I’ve been vibing to some trip-hop/chillout stuff but nothing to get real excited about.
On a funny side note, I was in the car the other day and a Beach Boys tune was playing, I think it was Good Vibrations. I’m not a BB fan but I let it play just for the change of pace it brought to the drive. I found myself picking apart the arrangement and wondering hmmm, how’d they do that? I mean really, how did they get each sound and harmony to come out that way? And I started thinking about trying to reproduce a whole bunch of songs/sounds just to see if I could. This may be a my new thing this summer. Too funny…
UncleAgeIt would be interesting to round-robin a few tunes and see how bad we suck. Seriously. Either from scratch or a cover. Once we get all the tracks laid down everyone could have a go at mixing it. Then we could post all the mixes and have a good laugh 😉
UncleAgeYou know collab work is not a new idea but I think that we could kill a few birds with one stone, so-to-speak. I will post those thoughts in a new thread though since they are not totally in line with the original post.
sam cwell, i have no shortage of finished tunes. in most forums the link is attcahed to my signature.
you can check a few out and see if you still want a collaborator. i think for a home hobbyist my stuff is o.k. some attempta i have had at collab did not work as well as i would have hoped becasue of such a different musical taste. if you check out any tunes you can comfortably say, “no thanks!”
here is only a small few……….
UncleAgesam that is some tasty stuff you have there. If you don’t mind a few comments….
I hear quite a few influences in your tunes some tasty Larry Carltonish style wrapped in some Pink Floyd-Steely Dan type phrases augmented with a touch of sam c.
I might be giving away my age a bit there but I hope you take it as it is meant, cause I like what I’m hearing. Nice imagery. I guess I better wrap up a toon or two and post it so that I can see if I fit in as well 🙂
sam cdamn uncle age!!! nice call on the influences!
thanks for the kind words. i look forward to hearing a few of yours.
UncleAgeListening to your music made me think about finishing the lyrics on a few of my own. I gonna try and wrap up 3 of them and get them posted over the weekend.
And on a side note I bookmarked your AP page Sam so I can see what else you add in the future.
RejectSpeaking for myself, my main influence comes in writing lyrics that people can relate to. That, however, requires the a reaction from somebody actually listening to my music, and…to put it straight; no one does. Last time I actually finished a serious song-project was about a year ago, or something to that extent.
I’ve tried posting my music on forum, and give other peoples music a listen, but no one returns the favour, so I grew tired of it.
I should probably give live gigs a go, but with so much things going on in the puter, Im having trouble “moving the sound” from my home-studio onto the live stage.
I remember back in the days when I used to play the bass in a band. Things were so much simplier and you fed off each others inspiration and will.
UncleAge@Reject wrote:
I’ve tried posting my music on forum, and give other peoples music a listen, but no one returns the favour, so I grew tired of it.
Imagine late 50’s thru early 70’s jazz musicians having the resources we have available. There probably would have been this whole other culture created from all the stuff these guys would have put on the net that couldn’t make it into albums.
@Reject wrote:
I remember back in the days when I used to play the bass in a band. Things were so much simplier and you fed off each others inspiration and will.
So true.