I’d like to hear some ambient breakcore 
maybe we need a new genre competition in this forum…
just for laughs and to get ppl outside of their comfort zones and trying new things
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I’d be down! Never made any breakcore but made some ambient in the past. Would be an interesting experience for a competition like that
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Back in april I participated in a ‘Callapril’ event on a different synth forum. I was randomly paired with another participant and told to make a track together. Which was a lot of fun! All the other participants also had a good time with their randomly assigned partners.
First we video chatted for a few hours, talking about music and getting to know each other. Then we worked on music. Sending stuff back and forth. Video chatting to discuss what we liked and didn’t like and where to take it. Making up something together that neither of us would have made on their own. And I’m still in contact with him, video calling occasionally.
We actually started work on a new collaboration recently but unfortunately something happened and he is unable to continue at the moment.
Anyway, I was planning to blatantly copy that format next april and introduce it here on the forum. But maybe we should just have such an collaboration-event/competition sometime soon?
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But isn’t that normal? Everyone has got writers block from time to time. And it’s also normal to dislike what you just have created, at the latest the next time you’re listening to it. Either you love it or you hate it. But that’s not a problem. In case you hate it just keep your composition on your drive and finish it later. It doesn’t matter if a couple of days, weeks, years or even decades later. You know what’s funny? You’d probably be surprised if you’d listen to your own unfinished stuff that you’ve made a long time ago and you almost or even completely forgot about it. But if you do so, you’d recognize the true potential of what you’ve composed. Suddenly things you didn’t like before are cool, it just needs some changes, additions and of course a new mix and master to become great. Personally I’m always surprised how many really great ideas I had in the past when I’m listening to my old stuff. If there were enough time I would use my today’s skills and possibilities and remake them all.
Ok! We don’t have to talk about your production quality, your production quality is always good. I think it’s partially even better than many “professional productions”, and many “professional productions” don’t sound that “professional” anymore. I’ve never thought that home production without professional gear can result in a way better sound than any “professional production”, but I experience it myself more and more. I guess that’s because the bar for making music lowers, just like you said. Back in the days someone creating music was a rare exception and it was hard to get a foot in the door, but today everyone can produce music quite easily and there are millions of so-called “labels” out there, which literally everyone can set up. All you need is an internet connection and a website. And because of this many “professional productions” don’t have the same standard than “professional productions” have had in the past.
Would be interesting… 
There’s a competition called MBC that’s best for collabs and weird mixed music styles and weird stuff in general.
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From what i know there’s an artist called Sewerslvt which makes something really interesting. Songs that mixes ambient, drum n bass, acid and breakcore at the same time. Shit, I even heard of a crazy person that mixed classical music with breakcore, that’s crazy what people can make.
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Indeed, maybe the next MBC should be a collab with a mix of styles. I’m up for it!!
Yeah, man, start it up! 
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Cool! I’ll set something up for september as I’m busy in august. Besides that will give people time to find the courage to sign up.
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So, my main faults:
- I have the worst case of GAS, I call it GAS is Greener syndrome, forever chasing the utopian workflow or software to get let me do what I want to do - therefore I never come close to mastery of tools, forever cursing the work I need to do to learn the new tools I have imposed on myself. Therefore I hit roadblocks and, oh, hey, DAW X is out, maybe I should try that…
- I let my lack of “proper” music theory become a thorn in my head and I’m constantly doubting that the music is “valid” as I haven’t composed it with the “correct” knowledge. There are reasons for this, which I won’t get into here, but a simply as possible it’s from childhood and overbearing, judgmental parents.
- I obsess over the process, rather than the content, I do what has been described earlier by repeating the same loop over and over, tinkering obsessively over a handful of dB’s gain here or there, then I get sick of the loop and run headlong into the same mistakes on a new project.
- I either introduce too much variation where it isn’t needed, or not enough where it absolutely is.
- I’m crap at the little transitional stuff.
- I try too hard to make stuff I think might impress somebody, seeking validation, rather than pure expression.
That’s about the state of things, sounds silly to type it out as each could be resolved - but, oh lord why do I overshare, I suffer from lets say “conditions” and I’m sick of having to “work on myself” or identifying “learning opportunities” and yeah - I’m sick of fighting my impulse to indulge my stupid brain lol. Oh well, onwards and upwards, maybe. Maybe.
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Well written, feeling very similar. Maybe for each of these points there is a positive concept to deal with it.
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Aside from parental influences, it can be helpful to remember that theory arose as a response to praxis, and exists as an analytical art that attempts to codify and understand music after the fact. Theory is always secondary to praxis, even though much music can be made with theory as the starting point. The important thing is to remember that humans play music. They don’t work music. You can work on music, but that’s work as a form play
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And they don’t need to study/learn music to be able to create (good) music, they just have to feel music.
Yes, @slujr is still waiting for your contribution to his contest. 
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At some point I stopped writing bridges in my “pop” songs. I don’t think every song needs one but most do. I have to force myself to do something, anything, in the last bit of a song now just so it feels right. Seems like writing bridges was something I’d do automatically back in the day, I don’t know what happened.
I’ve definitely settled for bland lyrics in the past too, but I learned my lesson there. It’s better to just let a song sit around instead of attaching lame words to it because I know I’ll never rework the song once I record it.
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I don’t really hear a lot of modern pop music, but haven’t bridges fallen out of favor generally speaking? If that’s what you’re exposed to, then that might be an influence on your own music?
I know, I feel bad that I haven’t finished it yet. Summer just is a busy time for me, hanging out with family.
That’s another weakness of mine, having way too many nearly finished projects. I should really try to wrap things up before starting a new project.
I will try your suggestion for combating looper-i-tes, thanks!
I am a lazy raccoon.
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Quit stealing my cat food
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well, hide it somewhere then, I come at night, covered by the dark, straight out of the trash, unto your patio - racoon with aptitude
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That’s true. I don’t go out of my way to listen to modern pop but it’s all over the place so I hear a lot of it anyway. I’d guess one possible cause could be the switch to loop based productions on computers vs. songwriting at a piano or another instrument.
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@BriocheBaps I remember your thread earlier this year with you looking for professional help with your GAS is Green syndrome. Which seems like quite a struggle with no easy solutions. I just hope you will get some help soon and get it under control.
As others said, music theory is primarily a tool for analyzing music. It can be a great tool in the composition process to solve problems. And incredibly powerful when you want to study other people’s music. But I think that sticking to what music theory says is “correct” can yield incredibly boring and safe music. So going by the strategy of “if it sounds good, it is good” seems like a wise plan. But I know that can also be easier said than done.
That seems quite possible indeed. I think there is something to be said to figure out the bulk of the track and arrangement on an (acoustic) instrument away from the computer screen.
When I mess around with my synths in a DAW-less kind of way I get a very different sounding tune. It’s much more elongated. Sections last longer and I definitely don’t do any 4, 8, 16, etc number of bars. I just change things when I feel they should change. Sometimes I leave things going too long, but rarely too short like I do on the computer.
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Interesting subject. About me, I’m weak for creating colorful chords progressions and not too-basic harmonies. I’m still not really good at this, so this took me quite time to make even a small chord progression I’m happy with.
About studying music, I’ve got the luck to go to a few composing classes years ago in a famous classic music school in Paris (the Schola Cantorum, I’ve managed to enter for a few courses… fun fact that at this time I didn’t know that school was famous! 
).
I went there only 4-5 times only (that was the deal), and that was not easy for me, working on sheet music for piano, but a very good exercise to break some limits and tries things diferently than composing behind my computer.
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