pouët.net

Where to start......... I'm looking at getting back into making music again and I must admit, a lot of my earlier stuff was very bland. I never really knew how to make something sound interesting. I can come up with ideas, but they don't translate too well musically.

I know there are tons of musicians on Pouet, I was kinda wondering if peeps could give me pointers and tips to make more interesting sounding stuff.

I'm mad on D&B and Dubstep, so if someone could give me some *ahem* "sound" advice, I'd be well happy.

Thanks fer yer time guys. :)

I'm using Re-Noise, if that's any help?

try knitting

Maali, I love you, but you're not helping. :P

get familiar with www.kvraudio.com and www.freesound.org - two really good sites if you want to load up on VST-s and samples... as for "making things more interesting", well... listen to more music? :)

dubstep?
two sqr wave generators in octave (monotone and with glide at around 250ms), they both go trough one lowpassfilter at around 800Hz, with the resonance at arround 70%. put a synced sinewave LFO on the filterfreq. experiment.
love that sound!

Another thing I've always had problems with are timings, (bars/beats/measures). My musical knowledge is pretty limited, (I think that explains why my tunes are so bland). I love listening to music, it's just getting ideas from those songs into my own. :(

Garg: Been noseying around on that freesound site for a short while now, definately helps. :)

i give the exact oposite advice than gargaj.
learn how sound works from the bottom up, experiment with the basic legos, try to do some of your own synths and just fuck around with things you're not supposed to do as much as you can.
avoid listening to others music, you'll just end up trying to copying it, failing and getting demotivated. do more, do diferent, learn how to produce, mix and master. there are books, there are sites, invest time in it.
but above all: do more, when you get bored of doing more, do diferent. just do.

i guess that advice works too, but i would disagree that it helps when you want to be genre-conscious... it helps when you already established a level, but for starters you're going to copy _anyway_, so might as well cut to the chase.

well, if you want to do interesting dubstep first you need to know how to produce well produced dubstep and then you need to think out of the box (and know how to produce out of the box). i figure it's easier going production / experimental first and niche specific (which seems to already be your driving passion towards music so you'll always end up doing it whether you plan it or not) than the other way around. might avoid getting stuck with the same old formulas and instead force you to develop your own style on the margins of the genre, which for me is alot more interesting, but others would probably disagree.
eitherway, the key formula imho is always to be nike: just do it. when you're bored: do something different, but keep doing it. and get educated on production while doing it. nothing worse than a composer with good ideas who cant mix/eq his tunes properly.

I think you should use some psychedelics to clarify the process of turning an idea into actual piece of art.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/timbaland-featurette-beaterator/55124

search no more.

The way to learn how to produce well produced dubstep is to listen to a lot of dubstep. When it comes to well-defined genres such as dubstep, there isn't really a lot of "out of the box". There is a tried and true formula with variations on top, and that's it.

So, your music sounds "very bland", your knowledge is "limited" and you admit to having basically no ideas of your own. Maybe I'm misreading you, but you sound like someone who knows "a little bit" visual basic and who wants to code the next ableton live. There seems to be a mismatch between skill set and ambition here. :) But, maybe you are too hard on yourself. Do you have any music I could listen to?

Have you tried getting away from tracker-only music production, f.e. have a go at bidule/max/whathaveyou, play a real instrument, beat-boxing, singing, writing lyrics, anything?

gloom: if you're talking about the boring stuff, yes, and thats it. i prefer the good kind, and thats usually very unique and borderline to the genre. then again this boils down to subjective preferences so to each their own.

Thanks guys, got some good inspiration going here. :)

As for tomaes: I can't play any instruments, the only way I could do anything was messing around with Octamed years ago on me 'miggy. I did use AcidStudio, but felt like I was cheating far too much.

trying to learn an instrument can be inspiring on its own. if you have patience for the learning curve and practice. or fool around using it the wrong way to do sounds you can use.

I have a violin around here I've been itching to use. ;)

violins rule

Limit yourself.
Don't "find on the internet" and install every VSTi/VST fx known to man, but find a select few instruments and effects and learn to use them.

If you want to make something "interesting", find some rhythm loops that aren't drums (washing machines, construction site noise, whatever) and try to build tracks around them. Then at least your starting point will be something else than everyone elses :)

8-bit buggery: dubstep producer bible.

gloom: i am quite surprised to read your statement, since dubstep is one of the LEAST "well-defined" genres within the uk bass music cosmos (especially compared with uk garage). basically the only "frame" is approx. 140bpm and a subbass, and even the drums are much less "fixed" than f.e. in dnb. you need to listen to more diverse stuff. :) enough dubs 2 is on its way btw!

also, in terms of listening to more music while being interested in dubstep: please listen to OTHER music than dubstep. if you just listen to dubstep and want to do dubstep, it will be boring at best and incest at worst.

it IS good to be genre-conscious, but to be genre--conscious you have to know the genre's roots. so, for the "dub" part, go and listen to authentic jamaican dub music of the 1970s. don't go for the commonplaces though - don't just get the lee perry and king tubby best-ofs, but go and explore some rare 12" extended versions and 7" b-sides. and for the "step" part, it is essential to "inhale" the spirit and pace of uk garage, and also to explore late 1980's and 1990's uk (digital/steppers) dub. these are the pillars dubstep is built upon. if you will not consider that, your dubstep will sound just like slow-down drum'n'bass at best.

((in fact it might be important to remind the reader on the obvious, namely that dubstep in fact is NOT slow-down drum'n'bass.))

:)

hey dip, please give me some recommendations about rare dub 12" and uk garage. i don't want to compose dubstep, but i like quite a lot tracks in this genre, so it would be interesting to explore its roots. when i last tried to do this, i eded up on king tubby and lee perry best offs :) give me some names.

what is it all the trendy kids these days are listening to?